Harry Potter 1. Final Beginnings

Peering through his window, Harry Potter pathetically sighed as the rain poured outside. "This is just pitiful," Harry grumbled as he stared at nothing in particular, "I hate the rain, don't you Hedwig?" he asked his faithful snowy owl. To Harry, the rain always seemed to make everything more complicated and frustrating, especially during Quidditch season.

Harry stretched his arms high above his head, hoping that something exciting would happen outside. For a few days now, Harry had been wishing that Lupin or Ron and Hermione would come and rescue him from the hellhole he was living in. He knew that no one was going to come save him from spending one final morning with his malicious relatives, the Dursleys.

Thankfully, Uncle Vernon would drive Harry to the London King's Cross Train Station today and soon he would be able to reach his beloved magical world. But for now, the young wizard was stuck in the non-magical world watching the rain pound against his cracked window. In one more hour Uncle Vernon would hustle up the creaky staircase, pound his chubby fist against Harry's bedroom door, and then order Harry to make everyone their breakfast.

Fluffing her snowy white feathers, Hedwig hooted loudly to grab her owner's attention just as he was drifting off into his old memories. The owl was alerting Harry that Uncle Vernon was slowly making his way up the staircase. Her acute ears picked up the sounds of the overfed-Muggle breathing heavily as he pulled himself up the small steps. Hedwig hopped back inside her metal cage, due to the fact that Uncle Vernon did not enjoy having an owl loose in his house. She ruffled her feathers as Harry shut the door to her cage, "Sorry Hedwig," Harry muttered unhappily to his pet. Narrowing her beautiful yellow eyes at the bedroom door, Hedwig hissed just as the doorknob began to jiggle.

A chubby, grey-haired man entered Harry's room with a stern expression on his face. "It's six-thirty, come and make us some bloody breakfast," he demanded in a gruff voice. Uncle Vernon was never a very pleasant fellow; he had beady eyes that always glared at Harry to show his great distaste for the boy. "No more having to stay up half the night hearing that bloody bird _hooting_," Uncle Vernon shook his chubby red finger at Harry, "And _no more magic _in the house…" Glaring once more at Harry, the grumpy, overfed uncle slammed the door after his plump behind.

A chubby, grey-haired man entered Harry's room with a stern expression on his face. "It's six-thirty, come and make us some bloody breakfast," he demanded in a gruff voice. Uncle Vernon was never a very pleasant fellow; he had beady eyes that always glared at Harry to show his great distaste for the boy. "No more having to stay up half the night hearing that bloody bird ," Uncle Vernon shook his chubby red finger at Harry, "And in the house…" Glaring once more at Harry, the grumpy, overfed uncle slammed the door after his plump behind. 

"Great…" Harry jumped off of the edge of his hand-me-down bed and quickly pulled a knitted wool sweater over his head. It was one of the many wool sweaters that Ron's mother had knitted for Christmas. Even though it was still September, the morning air that was breezing through the cracked glass window allowed Harry to see his breath.

Grabbing his suitcases to carry downstairs, Harry left Hedwig for last since she did not enjoy being moved around so much in her metal cage. Pocketing his trusty wand, Harry ventured down the stairs to find an overly pump child impatiently tapping his foot.

Dudley Dursley was a very selfish child, who was now stronger and taller than Harry. With a double chin for a short neck, this plump child waddled to wherever he was searching for food. Harry imagined that Dudley could eat the entire world and still be asking what was for dessert. Dudley grew uglier and uglier as the years passed by, his thick, brown hair matched the same slicked-back style that his father always had and Dudley lifted his nose higher and higher in the air whenever Harry was around like his mother would do. Dudley narrowed his beady brown eyes at Harry like the wizard had just vomited all over his favorite shirt.

"Well hurry up, I want my breakfast!" Dudley commanded sternly as he played with the black tie that was around his fat neck. The Dursleys must have been going somewhere after Harry was dropped off at the train station-they were all wearing their very best outfits. A matching black jacket was stretched out to the limit on Dudley's plump body. He pointed to the kitchen with a chubby index finger that was almost as thick as a tree trunk. "You better cook something _better_ for today," he warned as Harry brushed by Dudley without looking at his cousin.

"Well hurry up, I want my breakfast!" Dudley commanded sternly as he played with the black tie that was around his fat neck. The Dursleys must have been going somewhere after Harry was dropped off at the train station-they were all wearing their very best outfits. A matching black jacket was stretched out to the limit on Dudley's plump body. He pointed to the kitchen with a chubby index finger that was almost as thick as a tree trunk. "You better cook something for today," he warned as Harry brushed by Dudley without looking at his cousin. 

Harry secretly rolled his eyes at his fat relative, "I'll fix bacon this time…" he grumbled under his breath. Just as he went to reach for a frying pan, Dudley waddled into the kitchen and gave him a nasty look. Not knowing what Dudley was angry about, Harry went on preparing to cook breakfast. "What is it, Dudley?" Harry snorted when he couldn't take the staring contest any longer.

"What _else _besides the bacon?" the cousin glared at Harry as if to tell him that he needed to cook something more than just some bacon.

"What besides the bacon?" the cousin glared at Harry as if to tell him that he needed to cook something more than just some bacon. 

"More bacon," Harry retorted without thinking twice about it. He went to the refrigerator to grab the bacon and ignored Dudley's shocked expression. _You could stand to starve to death for a few months_…Harry thought darkly to himself.

"More bacon," Harry retorted without thinking twice about it. He went to the refrigerator to grab the bacon and ignored Dudley's shocked expression. …Harry thought darkly to himself. 

Giving him the look of death, Dudley began to pout about Harry only feeding him three strips of bacon, "That's all?" When the young wizard did not reply back, he stomped out of the kitchen with his face beat red. Dudley was going to whine to his mother about Harry's cooking again.

_Only another hour of this_, Harry told himself as he nearly burned his finger when he laid the strips of bacon on the smoldering frying pan. This would be the last time Harry would have to listen to his terrible relatives. He would be soon turning seventeen and then he could leave for good. Once he was free of their orders, he would become an Auror like he had always dreamed to be.

Thirty minutes later, Harry and his Uncle Vernon were on their way to the King's Cross train station. They sat in the tiny automobile in complete silence, never saying and never exchanging glances with one another. Uncle Vernon had a triumphant expression in his beady eyes; soon he wouldn't have to listen to that blasted owl hoot all night long. He kept his eyes fixed on the traffic ahead of him as they sped down the busy streets of England.

Harry hoped that his friends would save him a seat on the train; he did not want to sit with Neville Longbottom and his pet toad again like he had to last year. The young wizard's eyes lighted up when he saw the train station off in the distance. _Soon_… Before Uncle Vernon had completely parked the car, Harry jumped out of the vehicle and went to the back of the car to grab his suitcases and Hedwig.

Harry hoped that his friends would save him a seat on the train; he did not want to sit with Neville Longbottom and his pet toad again like he had to last year. The young wizard's eyes lighted up when he saw the train station off in the distance. … Before Uncle Vernon had completely parked the car, Harry jumped out of the vehicle and went to the back of the car to grab his suitcases and Hedwig. 

As Uncle Vernon struggled to heave his heavy body out of the driver's seat, Harry conjured a spell to make his suitcases and Hedwig feel feathery-light. Harry knew that his relative would not lift one of his chunky fingers to help Harry carry his suitcases nor hold Hedwig for him. Pretending that his suitcases were extremely heavy, Harry dragged himself along the paved street with Hedwig under his arms and headed towards the entrance to the train station. They entered the station and then walked to the platform nine and three-quarters where Harry would take his leave.

"Be good Harry," Uncle Vernon snorted in an unloving tone to his nephew, "Hopefully I won't see you until the end of the school year…" With that being said, Uncle Vernon left Harry at the odd platform without saying goodbye.

Checking his surroundings, Harry grabbed his suitcases and Hedwig without any effort and ran right through the stone pillar. Hundreds of witches and wizards were bustling around the train platform trying to board the Hogwarts train for school or to kiss their children farewell. Sighing with relief this time, Harry carried his things to the nearest luggage space on the side of the train and then boarded the Hogwarts Express.

Immediately, Harry began his search for Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. After he passed a few open booths, he finally found Hermione sitting in one of them all alone. She was stroking her fat orange cat with Chrooshanks purring loudly. She just happened to glance away from her window to see Harry standing in the doorway with a bright smile on his face. "Harry!" Hermione carefully moved her cat off her lap and then jumped out of her seat to hug him. "I'm so glad that your Uncle wasn't too mad at you for trying to set Dudley's shoe on fire a few weeks ago…"

Hermione had grown a few more inches; she was almost as tall as Harry was now-even without wearing her thick black shoes. The witch's long, curly brown hair was cut considerably shorter this year, it reached just an inch below her shoulders. But her personality had not changed much; she was still the brightest witch of her age and always had a book handy. Grinning from ear to ear, she wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and gave him a warm hug. "Can you believe it Harry? This is it-our final year at Hogwarts!"

Nodding with a sly smile, Harry was wondering where Ron had gone to. The redhead was usually waiting for him with Hermione. "I'm just happy that I survived this long," he half-joked as he glanced around the booth that Hermione had selected. Empty chocolate frog wrappers were stuffed into the side of the seat across from where Hermione was sitting with her cat; Ron was definitely around. "Where is Ron?"

"I think he said he was going around the booths to see if you had accidentally been stuck with Neville again-" Hermione thought about it for a while, "He's been gone for quite a while…maybe we should go search for him."

It was usual for Ron to get lost or to find trouble at the worst of times. One thing that Harry did not want to do was to save Ron from Draco Malfoy again. Harry was nearly expelled from the school the last time Ron had accidentally stumbled into Malfoy's booth.

Farther and farther back they traveled, until there were only five more booths on the train to check for Ron. Two were empty, leaving only three more options to find the missing redhead.

One of the booths had drawn Harry's full attention though. The curtains had been yanked across the windows, blocking the view of whoever was inside the booth. As he drew closer the entrance of the booth, his breath shortened and suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked in a low whisper. Hermione decided to take a peek at what was inside the booth, she brushed by Harry and reached out to open the sliding door.

"Hey! Don't open that!" Neville Longbottom cried from a few booths ahead of them. He bolted out of his booth with a slimy, brown toad in his hands, "Our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is in there…" he panted loudly.

"How do you know that?" Harry asked a little too loudly.

Swallowing hard, Neville glanced over at the dark booth and then checked to see if anyone was listening in on what he was about to tell him. "My grandma and I saw the professor board the train…" the nervous boy whispered in reply. "He was wearing a dark black cape and had the hood pulled over so no one could catch a glimpse of his face… The professor went into that booth and drew the curtains so no one could look inside…"

The know-it-all witch rolled her eyes in disbelief, "Neville…" she sighed unhappily, "How do you know that he is our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?"

Neville was never a clever or swift boy; he wasn't very good at any of his school subjects in fact. The only class that compelled him enough to raise his hand was Herbology. He was afraid of everything; he was practically the boy who was always picked on at school. Clumsy and forgetful, Neville was very loyal to his friends but had only just begun to act brave around them.

Nervously glancing around again, Neville Longbottom told them what he had heard about the new professor that Albus Dumbledore had hand-picked himself. "Everyone says that the new Dark Arts teacher is a _vampire_," sweat trickled down Neville's already pallid complexion when he explained how he had found this information out. "My grandma was speaking with Professor Sprout when we were out at Diagon Alley buying my school books…"

Nervously glancing around again, Neville Longbottom told them what he had heard about the new professor that Albus Dumbledore had hand-picked himself. "Everyone says that the new Dark Arts teacher is a ," sweat trickled down Neville's already pallid complexion when he explained how he had found this information out. "My grandma was speaking with Professor Sprout when we were out at Diagon Alley buying my school books…" 

Again Hermione did not believe him, "Why would Dumbledore allow a vampire to teach at the school?" she seemed troubled by this news. "They aren't allowed near the school grounds, it said so in-"

There was a loud thump in the booth across from Harry, he could hear some muffled cries coming from inside. "Doesn't that sound like Ron?" Harry interrupted Hermione when she was about to say which book she had found out about all of the rules at Hogwarts.

Forgetting what she was about to say, Hermione nodded with a curious expression. "It does sound like him…" she followed Harry as he crept closer to the shut booth door.

Carefully sliding the door open, the Gryffindor students found Ron gagged and tied up. From what Harry could tell, the redhead yelped with joy when he saw his friends standing in the doorway. "Welpft," Ron muttered as he scooted closer to Hermione.

"Who did this to you Ron?" Hermione was absolutely shocked to see that Ron's lip was split open and his left eye was black and blue.

Before Ron could say who the perpetrator was, a blonde student, dressed in green robes, exited the last booth on the train. Standing a foot taller than Harry, the Slytherin casually made his way over the group of Gryffindors. "_Well-well_…" Malfoy snorted with laughter, "What do we have here?" The pureblood wizard stuck his nose high into the air, "Looks like _your pathetic friends _finally found you _Weasley_..."

Before Ron could say who the perpetrator was, a blonde student, dressed in green robes, exited the last booth on the train. Standing a foot taller than Harry, the Slytherin casually made his way over the group of Gryffindors. "…" Malfoy snorted with laughter, "What do we have here?" The pureblood wizard stuck his nose high into the air, "Looks like finally found you ..." 

Harry clenched his fists, "_You_ did this to Ron!"

"I caught your friend here snooping around in my booth," Draco Malfoy narrowed his dark eyes at Harry, "and I don't appreciate being spied upon!" He had a pleased look on his smug face, "Maybe you'll know now not to mess with me, _Weasley_!"

"I caught your friend here snooping around in my booth," Draco Malfoy narrowed his dark eyes at Harry, "and I don't appreciate being spied upon!" He had a pleased look on his smug face, "Maybe you'll know now not to mess with me!" 

"You won't get away with this Malfoy!" the witch grumbled unpleasantly towards the Slytherin, "There is a professor in the next booth and all I have to do is yell for help and…" Hermione let her voice trail off to show that she meant business.

Shaking his head, Malfoy smirked at his house rivals. "_My father_ is _personal_ friends with the new professor..." he also let his voice trail off to have the same effect. A terrible gut feeling reached Harry; anyone who was a personal friend of Lucius Malfoy was trouble indeed.

Shaking his head, Malfoy smirked at his house rivals. " is friends with the new professor..." he also let his voice trail off to have the same effect. A terrible gut feeling reached Harry; anyone who was a personal friend of Lucius Malfoy was trouble indeed. 

"I bet tying me up and tossing me into one of those empty booths made you feel really _special_, Malfoy," Ron snapped. "But I really don't think you want be shooting your filthy mouth off when you are outnumbered four to one."

"I bet tying me up and tossing me into one of those empty booths made you feel really , Malfoy," Ron snapped. "But I really don't think you want be shooting your filthy mouth off when you are outnumbered four to one." 

"If you try anything, _that _professor will be out here in a matter of seconds believing that _you_ are the culprits...not me..." Rolling his eyes at Ron's threat, Draco Malfoy focused his attention on Harry. "So, _Potter-_" he snorted, "Are you ready for this year's Quidditch matches?" he raised a questionable eyebrow at his seeker rival.

"If you try anything, professor will be out here in a matter of seconds believing that are the culprits...not me..." Rolling his eyes at Ron's threat, Draco Malfoy focused his attention on Harry. "So, " he snorted, "Are you ready for this year's Quidditch matches?" he raised a questionable eyebrow at his seeker rival. 

Harry did not enjoy the way Malfoy was hinting that he was going to lose to the Slytherin team this year, "Have a new broom Malfoy? Or did you finally get some talent?"

All four Gryffindors beamed with delight, making the Slytherin feel a little outnumbered right then. Keeping his mouth shut this time, Malfoy glared at the seventh years as he pushed by them in a heated rage. The Slytherin stomped down the middle of the corridor and suddenly veered into an open booth where some of his companions were staying. Harry could hear Malfoy slam the booth's door shut and mutter a few swear words to his friends.

"Thanks for the save," Ron praised his friends as he wiped the blood away from his chin, "I can always count on you guys..."

By nightfall, the Hogwarts Express arrived at the edge of the school. Everyone was relieved that they had finally made it to their destination. The trio made their way off the train to find the usual horseless carriages waiting for students to climb inside. These horseless carriages were actually not horseless, winged, black horses led the carriages to Hogwarts. Thestrals could only be seen by someone who had witnessed a death, Harry could see them quite well and now Ron and Hermione could see them too. They grabbed the first available carriage, after greeting the thestral, and traveled to the large castle surrounded by a glistening lake. Remaining silent during the short ride, Harry wondered if the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor would be like all of the others except for one…terrible.

Once they had reached the castle, the headmistress of the school greeted all of the arriving students. Minerva McGonagall's vibrant red hair was slowly fading into a light grey. On her was her usual dark emerald-hued robe, glistening in the light and making her golden eyes shine brightly in the torchlight. Glancing around, the headmistress' eyes lighted up with relief when she noticed that Harry had safely returned to Hogwarts-without any disasters like the years before. "Hello Mister Potter-are you ready for your final year?" McGonagall inquired with a bright smile on her thin red lips. She continued to greet Hermione, Ron, and the rest of the seventh-years as Harry thought deeply about her question. The boy had no idea whether he was prepared enough for the final outcome of this year-but he knew the end was coming sooner than later. "Go right inside you three," the Scottish professor pointed to the Great Hall where the arrival feast and speech were being held.

As they entered the elaborate dinning hall the trio were greeted by a familiar ghost who was holding onto his head with one pasty, transparent hand. "Hello Sir Nicholas," Hermione beamed brightly to the Gryffindor's House ghost, "Have an eventful summer?"

Nearly Headless Nick nodded as best as he could, he did not want to frighten the first-years by showing his nearly severed head. "I was finally admitted to the Headless Hunt. After careful deliberation by the president of course... I think he was sick of me requesting to join the hunt so many times," Headless Nick added with a transparent wink. "Enjoy the feast," he chimed pleasantly as he floated away from the Great Hall doorway.

They were next greeted by Neville, Colin, Ginny, and Seamus; they had saved them seats at the Gryffindor dinning table. Sadly looking around at all of the faces at the Gryffindor table, Ron gloomily took a seat. "I miss Fred and George...they were such a blast to have around during the speech and sorting days...Now what am I suppose to do to keep myself entertained-huh Harry?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Well maybe you could actually pay attention to the headmaster's speech this time around-so at least one of you won't go and break the rules _again _this year."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Well maybe you could actually pay attention to the headmaster's speech this time around-so at least one of you won't go and break the rules this year." 

"Oh shut up Hermione-there are no more rules for us to break anymore anyways..." Ron snapped as he heard his stomach grumble loudly. "I hope we get to eat soon..." he whispered to Harry once Hermione was done scowling at Ron.

A bright flash made Harry's pupils shrink ten times their normal size; he took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes to bring them back to normal. "Colin-I thought McGonagall told you that you weren't allowed to use that bloody camera anymore?" He carefully placed his glasses back on to be surprised to find that Colin did not have his old-fashioned camera in his hands.

Grinning from ear to ear, Malfoy lowered the camera from his eyes to reveal the sinister sneer on his mouth. "I thought I'd get a _before_ picture of you _Potter_..." he stated loudly with the group of his usual Slytherins laughing loudly behind him.

Grinning from ear to ear, Malfoy lowered the camera from his eyes to reveal the sinister sneer on his mouth. "I thought I'd get a picture of you ..." he stated loudly with the group of his usual Slytherins laughing loudly behind him. 

Harry wondered what Malfoy was going on about, "Before what, _Malfoy_?"

Harry wondered what Malfoy was going on about, "Before what?" 

"Before the Slytherin Quidditch Team take the Quidditch Cup _and _win the House Cup this year..." the blonde Slytherin handed the camera to one of his cronies for them to hold. "I'll just love to see the look on your face when we-"

"Before the Slytherin Quidditch Team take the Quidditch Cup win the House Cup this year..." the blonde Slytherin handed the camera to one of his cronies for them to hold. "I'll just love to see the look on your face when we-" 

"That won't happen Malfoy," Ron interrupted sharply.

Raising his eyebrows at the redhead, Malfoy's sneer grew longer just before he opened his mouth to speak. "I would try to save all of your _vocabular_y Weasley...You just might need all of those _big _words for when you _lose_ to us in the finals."

Raising his eyebrows at the redhead, Malfoy's sneer grew longer just before he opened his mouth to speak. "I would try to save all of your y Weasley...You just might need all of those words for when you to us in the finals." 

Walking past the two dining tables just in the nick of time was Professor McGonagall, she barked at Malfoy and his cronies to return to their table before the sorting started. On her way towards the staff table, she winked to the Gryffindors cheerfully and went to her seat. She turned her attention to the man sitting to the left of her, the headmaster of the Hogwarts school.

Standing up in his seat, the Great Hall fell silent as they watched him raise his hands to settle down the chattering first-years who did not know what was going on at the time. "We will begin with the sorting..." Dumbledore breathed softly so the students would strain their ears to hear what he had to say, "...and then proceed with the rules at Hogwarts for those who do not _know_ them and for those who still won't _follow_ them..."

Standing up in his seat, the Great Hall fell silent as they watched him raise his hands to settle down the chattering first-years who did not know what was going on at the time. "We will begin with the sorting..." Dumbledore breathed softly so the students would strain their ears to hear what he had to say, "...and then proceed with the rules at Hogwarts for those who do not them and for those who still won't them..." 

Albus Dumbledore preferred to be soft-spoken, giving him the appearance of a wise elderly wizard nearly matching the skills that Merlin himself had once possessed. A bright twinkle could always be found in his eyes, which made him more trustworthy than the rest of the staff members. His soft grey beard floated a few feet above the ground, his matching curly grey hair was past his waist. Like always, Dumbledore preferred to wear multi-colored robes with a matching bent wizard's hat.

Ron fell asleep during most of the sorting. He would snort in his sleep whenever the Gryffindor table cheered as a new student took a seat at their dining table. He was finally rudely awaken by Hermione nudging him with her pointy elbow, "Alright-alright...I'm waking up...bloody hell..." he muttered unhappily just before Dumbledore began to go over the school rules.

Remembering most of the rules by heart, Harry barely paid any attention to Dumbledore's familiar speech. His attention had fallen upon an unknown face sitting right next to Hagrid. Straining his eyes to see who they were, he was unsuccessful due to the fact they were covered in shadows and Hagrid's massive body blocked most of the view of the new staff member. Again Harry was worried about something, but he could never put his finger on exactly what was worrying him so much. Dismissing his uneasy stomach as nothing more than jitters, he tried to focus on the headmaster.

A pause came in Dumbledore's speech; he had finally finished telling the first-years the rules at Hogwarts; he glanced over to his left with a pale smile on his face. "This year we have one new professor," Dumbledore began the introduction of the new teacher with a soft voice, "This professor is very talented in the Defense Against the Dark Arts. I hope you all treat this professor with upmost respect…"

Severus Snape rolled his eyes when Dumbledore had told the faculty and the students about the brand new Dark Arts professor. _I hope this one doesn't stutter and smells like a wet dog all the time_, he laughed to himself as the headmaster continued to speak. This time, the new Dark Arts professor was not sitting next to Snape like the original ones had always done. The new professor was a complete mystery to him and the rest of the staff.

Severus Snape rolled his eyes when Dumbledore had told the faculty and the students about the brand new Dark Arts professor. , he laughed to himself as the headmaster continued to speak. This time, the new Dark Arts professor was not sitting next to Snape like the original ones had always done. The new professor was a complete mystery to him and the rest of the staff. 

"A. S. Hunter will be our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." As with tradition, the called professor stood up from their seat to have the students familiarize themselves with the new professor.

The first thing that drew attention to the students and the faculty was the professor's dark blue hair, it swayed from side to side a few inches below the professor's shoulders as they bowed their head to the students. Raising her head back up, the female professor took her seat beside Hagrid with a humble appearance on her pallid face. Everyone assumed that the new professor was nervous about being introduced to the students, so they ignored the fact that she was dreadfully pale for the entire feast. Hunter had dark eyes, there was no light bright enough to penetrate through the black ice that covered them. The professor never moved her lips or smiled at Hagrid as he told her all of his experiences at the school. This professor appeared emotionless to everyone.

"She sorta looks like a vampire, doesn't she?" Ron hissed to his fellow classmates at the dining table.

"That's what you said about Professor Snape the first time you saw him," Ginny Weasley muttered in a bored voice.

_This is the witch who took my chance at teaching the Dark Arts!_ Snape was enraged that such a meek and humble professor could convince Dumbledore to hire _her_ as the Dark Arts professor rather than choosing _him_. Bending his fork in half, Snape tried to contain his rage in silence while the headmaster finished his speech.

Snape was enraged that such a meek and humble professor could convince Dumbledore to hire as the Dark Arts professor rather than choosing . Bending his fork in half, Snape tried to contain his rage in silence while the headmaster finished his speech. 

"Hermione-Hermione-did you see what Snape just did?" Luckily Ron had found something to entertain himself with for the rest of the speech; otherwise he would have fallen back asleep again.

Harry shifted his attention away from Dumbledore's speech to watch Snape tighten his grip on the ruined silver fork. He had never seen Snape so infuriated by the appearance of a new Dark Arts professor. Glancing over to the new professor, Harry couldn't understand why Snape would hate such a modest professor-she didn't feel like any major threat to Snape's position. But there was one thing that bothered Harry, the Dark Arts professor just happened to find him staring at her.

A sudden cold chill shot down his spine, warning him that this new professor did not enjoy being stared at. Harry made eye contact with the witch for a brief moment and felt as if an icy dagger was being forced through his forehead. Quickly, he looked away from the professor while rubbing his forehead tenderly. Harry hoped that this new professor couldn't read minds like Dumbledore and Snape could.

Hermione had a concerned expression on her brow; she had noticed that he was rubbing his forehead as if it was in pain. "Harry?" she touched his shoulder lightly to see if he needed any help, "What's wrong?" Her hazel eyes searched his for answers that he didn't want to say out loud in public, but there was nothing wrong with Harry. The pain subsided rapidly and Harry pulled his hand away from his forehead.

"Nothing is wrong, Hermione," Harry smiled brightly to her to reassure her that everything was perfectly normal. There was no reason for worrying. It wasn't Harry's scar that was burning in pain; it was just a part of his mind that was throbbing madly. Ron beamed with joy when Dumbledore had conjured the food on the house tables and the faculty table. "OOoo! It's roasted ham this time you guys!" he squealed with delight as he reached to grab four slices of ham with one hand and two slices of bread with the other.

- - - - - - - -

"C'mon Harry! It's our first day of class-I don't want to be late for Defense Against the Dark Arts!" Hermione stubbornly placed her hands on her hips and tapped her black shoes against the stone floor.

Harry grabbed his books and bolted down the stone steps to find that his friends were impatiently waiting for him by the large fireplace. Ron was playing with the handmade rug with his shoe, while Hermione was throwing her hands into the air wondering what in the world Harry was doing upstairs in the boys' sleeping dormitory.

As they picked up their pace, the trio discussed hastily what they had heard about their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. "I heard that she has been living off of chicken's blood for nearly a hundred years now!" Ron exclaimed just as his legs burned while they were climbing up the stone steps to the first floor. "She must be wicked old then, right Harry?" Ron asked with a gleam in his eyes just when they reached the first floor entrance.

Scratching the back of his head, Harry gave Ron a clueless shrug of his shoulders, "She didn't _look _that old to me..." Of course, Harry was having second thoughts about the new Dark Arts professor-she seemed too innocent to actually be that well trusted by Dumbledore.

Hermione snorted loudly, "Vampires never age you two-we learned that our third year in Hogwarts, or don't you remember?" The clever witch fell silent for a moment, "Besides... Professor Hunter can not be a vampire since we have Dark Arts class first thing in the morning."

Thinking back Ron paused in the corridor for a moment and rubbed his chin with his fingers, "Hmm...third year, third...year..." he strained his mind to concentrate very hard at that moment. "A-ha! I never payed any attention to that essay on vampires. I thought it was bollocks since Professor Snape was teaching that week..."

For a while Hermione just stood in the middle of the corridor with a furious expression. But then she muttered something silently under her breath and she returned back to her normal know-it-all self in no time whatsoever.

On the way to the Dark Arts classroom, the trio passed the entrance to McGonagall's office on the left of the corridor. When the headmistress' office was out of their viewing range, the seventh-years slowly progressed towards the door to the Dark Arts classroom. They were all nervous about their first class with a new professor, but they were especially nervous about their first meeting with a supposed vampire. No one knew what to expect from a vampire, the only person that they knew to ever meet a vampire was Hagrid. What they had heard from Hagrid wasn't very helpful either-due to the fact that he had gotten into a fight with a male vampire and had apparently lost the argument.

Upon entering the classroom, the trio were surprised to find the classroom had not changed very much since last year with their last professor, Professor Barrister. The massive dragon skeleton still hung from the rafters of the ceiling, and portraits of the former Dark Arts professors were still covering the bare walls. One thing had changed though, the classroom windows were boarded shut and several candles were floating above the students' heads. For a moment, Harry wondered what the new professor would have in her office...He pictured a gothic designed coffin with vials of different types of human blood in her office cupboards.

A cool breeze made Harry shudder as he took a seat next to Ron and Hermione, he exchanged nervous glances with them. "Well...here we go..." he whispered.

"What if she tries to bite us?" Neville Longbottom hissed to Harry and Hermione from far behind them; all of the Gryffindors surrounding them nodded in agreement. "What if she lures us into one of those trances that I always hear my grandmother talk about, where they put you into a hypnotic daze, huh?"

Dean Thomas shook his head at Neville and his finger at him. "The last time you trusted your grandmother about things that have to do with the Dark Arts you nearly ended up being attacked by that grindylow last year...because you offered it a piece of tuna..."

"How was I suppose to know that it was going to be offended if I offered it some fish!" Neville cried out in his defense.

Shaking his head even more at Neville, Dean glanced at Hermione and Harry and whispered something quickly to them so Neville could not hear. "I don't really know how you guys put up with it...but you guys must be very loyal to still stand next to him without worrying about something falling on top of your heads..." Dean folded his hands across his chest and remained silent for the rest of the semi-interesting conversation.

"Come on you guys...the new professor can't be _that _bad since Dumbledore told us that he selected her for the job, right?" Lavender Brown wanted to be as positive as possible about the new Dark Arts professor. "Right Hermione?" she nudged her fellow roommate with her pointy elbow to grab her attention from staring up at the dragon skeleton.

"Yes, quite right..." Hermione trailed off without even thinking about what she had just murmured. Above her head was the dragon skeleton, which wasn't anything new for her to see, but what was hanging down from the dragon's skull was definitely new. Due to the darkened room she wasn't really able to depict what was hanging down from the skull but she could tell that it was something large and furry. "Harry," she grabbed his wrist to catch his attention, "What is that hanging from the skull?"

Squinting his eyes at the skeleton high above his head for a moment, he adjusted his glasses twice before he finally came to a decision. "I think it's a...bat, Hermione..." he scratched the back of his head when he noticed her shudder in disgust, "I forgot that you don't like bats..."

"A bat? Where!" Lavender squeaked in a high-pitched voice at the same time Neville let out a little squeal of fright. "I _hate_ bats...they are so revolting... I don't know what is worse-a rat...or a rat with leathery wings..." she muttered just before the candles above their heads blew out. Lavender immediately stopped speaking when they were all enveloped in the darkness-everyone felt very vulnerable right then. "What's going on?" she whispered to anyone that was still sitting around her.

"I believe you should give bats a second chance-they are lovely creatures once you get used to them," hissed a cold voice from behind the Gryffindors which made them all jump with fright. They heard a snapping sound and then the candles were burning once more; everyone could now see who was facing them.

Dressed in a black dress with matching black high-heeled boots, the vampire professor was a strange sight to behold. Apparently not believing in the classical witches' robes, she wore her dress cut down to her knees. Her blue hair was perfectly straight, swishing back and forth as she made her way to the front of the classroom. Fitting the main description of a vampire, her skin was deathly pallid but her appearance was very healthy-looking. She appeared to only be in her mid-thirties, but everyone knew that this could be a facade.

Whispers commenced as the students scrambled back into their proper seats, they kept one weary eye on the professor at all times. "Settle down...we have much to discuss since this is our very first class together." The blue-haired professor patiently waited for the whispers to fade away. "First off, my name is Professor Hunter...you may call me Miss, Professor, or Professor Hunter-either way will suffice. I highly suspect that most of you have never seen a vampire before...no wait-let me rephrase that...I suspect that most of you have never seen a creature that will _admit_ they're a vampire. I am only a half vampire, so don't think that a simple _Lumos_ spell will send me back to the darkness from whence I came."

"Now, for the requirements and what you will learn for the next year," she smiled with her sharp fangs shining in the candle light. Before she began, the creature that was perched on top of the dragon skeleton swooped down towards the students. Letting out a glass-shattering cry into the silent room, a furry black object floated above the students' weary heads. Gliding towards the professor, the bat flapped its leathery wings one final time to gain enough altitude. A large vampire bat landed on the professor's right shoulder with miniature goggles on the top of its head. Elegantly folding its wings before the students, the bat chirped something to its owner.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to the bat pleasantly, "Before I forget, this is Quinn. He's a real _sweetheart _and he'll sometimes sit on your shoulders-if you permit him that is of course." Hunter lowered her voice as she spoke to the bat, the students all exchanged nervous glances when the bat suddenly nodded in reply as if it had an intelligent mind. Obeying its master, the bat took off after adjusting the goggles on his head with the delicate claws on the tips of its wings.

"The requirements for this class will be your 'Defense Against the Dark Arts for the Advanced' book, 'Dark and Mundane Creatures of the Magical World,' 'Curses of Black Magic,' and 'How To Defend Against the Darkest Creatures in the World.' You need all of these books by the next Hogsmeade trip...you all have a week to do so." She noticed all of the confused faces, "Why so many books you ask? We're going to cover extra material this year...we need to take extra precautions." The vampire glanced around to spot Hermione boldly holding her hand high in the air, "Yes...Miss Granger, correct?"

"Yes," Hermione was a bit stunned to find that the professor already knew her name. Biting her lip for a minute she asked for the purpose of the curses book, "We've already gone over curses, Professor Hunter..."

Hunter's icy eyes shone in the candlelight, "Then I'll expect even more out of your class, Miss Granger... We'll be having a lot of _fun _this year. Moving on...our schedule for the year will consist of studying dangerous half breeds like werewolves, vampires, redcaps-" she glanced back over at Hermione. "_Yes_, what _is _it Miss Granger?" It was apparent that the Dark Arts professor was becoming sick of Hermione being a know-it-all every possible second.

"We've already studied werewolves and vampires, Professor Hunter..." Hermione was trying to be as humble and subtle as possible with the vampire's patience.

Sighing, Hunter went over to Hermione's desk with an emotionless look in her black eyes. "Tell me Miss Granger-what _have_ you _not _already learned in this class so I can teach it to you and your classmates?" When Hermione decided to keep her mouth shut this time, Hunter raised a questionable eyebrow at the student. "Let me guess who taught you _all _about _werewolves_ and _vampires_-Professor Lupin...?" her voice grew cold when she said the werewolf's name.

Without thinking twice, Harry decided to stand up for his family's best friend, "Lupin was a _great_ Dark Arts professor..." he narrowed his green eyes at the startled vampire.

For a moment the professor stared curiously at Harry as if she had discovered one of his weaknesses, "Remus Lupin is a kind fool. One that cowers behind others and keeps his nose stuck in books all the time. He may know about werewolves-I'll give him that much credit-but he knows nothing else about the Dark Arts." Turning back to Hermione, Hunter told Hermione to keep the rest of her comments to herself for the remaining hour.

Harry was fuming with anger now, "And _how_ do you know _all_ about the Dark Arts, professor?" He suddenly froze with fear when Hunter turned around and pointed at the doorway as she stared him down dangerously.

"Don't come back into my classroom until you learn to keep your thoughts to yourself and you learn some _proper_ manners..." Hunter continued to point at the classroom door until Harry finally gathered all of his belongings and left his seat. When he paused at the doorway, she snapped her fingers so the wooden door would fling open and slam against the stone wall. "_Out Mr. Potter_!" Hunter growled as she glared darkly at him.

Storming out of the classroom, Harry was about to slam the door behind him when it suddenly decided to do it for itself. He stomped down the empty corridor with his face growing redder with every passing second. The Gryffindor was confused, angry, and worried all at the same time. _She's dangerous_...


	2. The Hogsmeade Trip

Sitting lazily around the dining table, Harry and Ron were exhausted from their first week of being back at Hogwarts. Hermione was busily getting a head start on her homework along with Ginny. Dean was trying to prove to Seamus that a glumbumble truly produced a fluid that caused melancholy as Seamus tried to stop himself from bursting out laughing. Neville was silently listening to the others as he sat next to Lavender Brown, who was playing with her food with her shiny metal fork and sighing as if she was already bored. Parvati Patil was on the left of Hermione, she was reading over Hermione's shoulder trying to see what answers she was writing down for their N.E.W.T. Herbology class.

"_How many _N.E.W.T. classes are you taking-_exactly_, Hermione?" Ron asked with both of his eyebrows raised at her as she continued to write down more information on a long piece of parchment.

Glancing up at him, she gave Ron an annoyed expression, "_Five-if you must know_..." Hermione muttered hotly under her breath as she went back to madly scribbling answers about Hellebore, a poisonous plant that is used in Drought of Peace.

Now realizing that he had brought up a sour topic for Hermione, Ron wanted to continue on with the conversation and try to ruffle up her feathers to at least have her make a mistake on it. "Only five this year, Hermione? Didn't you say you were going to at least take _seven _this year?"

"_Oh-shut your mouth Ronald_..." Hermione snapped back at him; she was ready to snap her quill in half right at that point in time.

"Shutting up now," he whispered in a frightened voice when she gave him a look with daggers coming out her eyes. Ron quickly turned his attention to Harry, who had a concerned and depressed look. "Are you alright Harry?" Waving his hand in front of Harry's face finally pulled his friend away from the back of his mind, "Hey-What's wrong Harry?"

"I can't believe that I was kicked out of my favorite class in less than forty minutes..." he sighed pathetically to the students surrounding him at the table.

"Well we were all a little rough on her for her first day...I probably corrected her too much..." Hermione trailed off as she caught Parvati reading her essay on Hellebore plants. She swiftly rolled her parchment up by tapping her wand on the paper before Parvati could read anymore.

Laughing a bit about the incident, Ron nudged Harry with his elbow, "You were the worst out of us though, Harry... What in the bloody hell were you thinking when you said that-huh?"

Giving Ron his third or fourth glare of the day, Harry folded his arms across his muscular chest. "Thanks for your support," he snapped in a bitter tone.

"I know what will make you feel better Harry," Ginny grinned from ear to ear. "I heard that Professor Snape and Professor Hunter got into a heated argument this morning."

"Well that's news to celebrate about-" Ron spit most of his food out of his mouth as he spoke and reached for his goblet, "-to Harry being second in the greasy git's book!" Ron winked to Harry as most of the members of the Gryffindor House raised their cups to Harry, "Knew you could do it, Harry!"

While the Gryffindor table celebrated, Snape was still furious about his _little run-in _with the new Dark Arts professor that _happened_ to be downstairs in the Dungeons. He had only left his classroom for a few minutes to lock his office up. When he came back, he found his rival professor examining his Potions classroom. Barking at her to get out of his classroom in a much more peeved fashion than usual, the two argued bitterly. This was the fist time the two had ever spoken to one another and already they despised each other with a passion. What amazed Snape was that this new professor wasn't afraid of Snape like the others were. She had gotten in his face and told him that he was a "childish, greasy, ponce" for yelling at her for staring at a "dusty classroom" that he was "moodily protecting." Hunter did have some wits on her though; that was the only thing he liked about her. But Snape's new rival was more than just a threat-she was his new sworn enemy.

Staring at his silver cup; that had magically appeared once he sat down at the staff table; he thought about his revenge on the new professor. While he was doing this, he just so happened to lift his head up to find the blue-haired professor giving him a worried expression.

Quickly, Hunter glanced away from him; she started up a conversation with Hagrid and made sure to never glance over at the Potions Master again. Hunter didn't touch her plate for the remainder of dinner; she was still nervous from her first week of teaching and her stomach was tied up in knots. As Hunter was about to leave, she snatched a green apple from a gold bowl in front of her and literally sucked the fruit dry.

As she silently passed by the house tables, the vampire suddenly decided to stop at the Gryffindor table. "Mr. Potter...may I have a word with you?" she tapped her foot on the stone floor impatiently as he clumsily stumbled out of his seat. Leading him out of the dining hall, she narrowed her cold dark eyes at him. "I must say, Mr. Potter-do I_ frighten _you _that _much?" she was referring to the way he was trying to remain a few feet from her reach and how she could hear his heart racing.

Nervously Harry shook his head in reply, "No...professor..." he was trying to keep his voice steady.

"_Liar_..." Hunter snorted quietly as she took a step closer to him; she was at least five inches taller than him. "I'll give you two options Potter. One, you are allowed back into my classroom only if you can keep your comments to yourself. Or two, you can miss another week of Defense Against the Dark Arts until you cool your overheated ego. Detention is never an option with me-I won't let you off that easily if you're thinking about that." Suddenly Hunter held her hand out to make an accord with Harry.

At first he didn't want to shake hands with her. Harry shivered when he touched her pallid hand. Her hand was freezing cold and he could feel his warmth being sucked right out of him. Immediately he pulled his hand from shaking hers any longer. Something dark lurked inside the vampire, he could sense it, and Harry definitely did not want to find it out either. He quickly said his goodbye to the professor, after saying he would return to her class on Thursday, and rushed through the empty corridor.

Silently she reached for her spare emerald apple and took a large bite from it. After she was done chewing, she sucked the apple dry and tossed it out an open window in the empty corridor. For a while she stared off into the darkness outside the castle's window; with her night vision she could spot a raven soaring across the pitch black sky. Briefly closing her eyes, Hunter could smell something sweet nearby but she lost the scent when she was nearly run over by another professor.

"I'm so sorry," apologized an odd-looking professor with spectacles nearly twice the size of her actual eyeballs. "I was too busy reading my palm..." The curly-haired woman showed Hunter her wrinkled palm without any warning; the vampire stepped back trying to avoid the hand being shoved right into her face.

Hunter felt a little threatened when the geeky professor invaded her personal space and snatched her hand to read her palm, "Is this _really _necessary?" As she tried to pull her hand away from the obviously mentally insane professor, Hunter spotted the Potions Master glaring at her as he went back downstairs to his musty Dungeons. The professor had a sly grin upon his pallid lips which made the vampire think that something was up.

Turning her attention back to the wacky professor, the vampire wondered what the point was to read a dirty palm. "So is this what you do to _everyone_ you _see_?" Hunter confronted the bug-eyed professor without any consideration.

"Oh no," squeaking with glee, the Divination teacher found an interesting line on the pallid palm and began to examine it closer. "I give every new professor their future by reading their palms..." Adjusting her huge glasses, Professor Trelawney pulled Hunter closer and twisted her arm in an awkward position to read the rest of her palm. "My name is Sibyll Trelawney...I'm the Divination teacher here at the school..."

Rolling her eyes in an agitated way, Hunter snapped at Trelawney to release her palm before she killed her in the Entrance Hall. Trelawney ignored everything the vampire said. "So you used your _inner eye _to find me outside of the Great Hall, did you?" Hunter said with great disbelief.

"Oh no-Professor Snape was kind enough to remind me that I have not read your palm yet and told me that you were somewhere around the main floor..." the long, curly-haired professor squealed again when she found something else interesting on Hunter's left palm.

Immediately, Hunter turned her narrowed eyes towards the entrance to the murky Dungeons, "He did, did he?" Her mind was now set on revenge with the Potions Master, "How kind and considerate of him," she muttered sourly.

- - - - - -

"What is the purpose of a moonseed potion?" The Potions Master openly ignored Hermione's raised hand, "Anyone?" He carefully stopped in front of Neville's cauldron with a sneer stretched across his pallid lips. "How about you, Mr. Longbottom-do you know the answer?" One reason that Snape always picked on Neville was because he was so easy to take points away from. "We haven't heard from you in a while, Longbottom," he jeered without a second thought.

What amazed Snape the most was that Neville, Ron, and Harry were able to pass their sixth year of Potions and managed to be in his N.E.W.T class. Hermione being in his N.E.W.T class never really surprised him, he predicted that he was stuck teaching that insufferable know-it-all until she graduated from the school.

Swallowing hard, Neville stammered out an answer-which happened to be correct. "It allows nocturnal creatures to survive in the sunlight for a period of time..." The Gryffindor student noticed that Snape's nostrils were flaring and Neville tried to lean as far back as possible.

Everyone fell deadly silent when Snape muttered "Correct" under his cold breath and gave him a menacing look. Sharply turning around to the chalkboard, Snape flicked his black ash wand so that ingredients and amounts spilled across the blackboard. "Since you're on a roll today Mr. Longbottom, why don't you tell the class what two ingredients are missing from the board?" He was planning on Neville not knowing the answer this time.

A light suddenly sparkled in Neville's eyes as he read the names of ingredients on the board to himself, "Flobberworm mucus and...Billywig wings are missing..." he proudly stated.

Almost dropping his jaw in amazement, Snape was astounded that Neville was correct for the second time today in Potions. "Stay after class Mr. Longbottom," the hooked-nose character hissed in an icy tone as he glared darkly at the plump student. Deep in the back of his mind he knew that someone had helped Longbottom out, he didn't have a clue who it was-but he would find out soon enough.

Snape continued on with class as if nothing was wrong; but everyone knew that Neville knowing something in Potions was a concerning matter to the professor. "Everyone will need to find these ingredients around the grounds of Hogwarts or in Hogsmeade-since the first trip is Friday you'll have plenty of time to gather enough ingredients for Tuesday's class. Especially you, Mr. Longbottom, since you know _so much _about moonseed potion..." he added with a sly look.

When class was over with, Snape curtly reminded Neville to remain behind so loudly that the Gryffindor grew bright red in front of his fellow classmates. Slowly dragging his feet to the front of Snape's desk, Neville kept his eyes fixed on his worn-out brown shoes as he was interrogated by the cold-hearted professor. Thankfully, Neville had been warned by Harry about Snape's ability to read minds if you ever made eye-contact with him.

The Potions Master demanded that the Gryffindor tell him who had helped him, before he would give Neville a week's worth of detention. As Neville tried to explain, he stumbled across his words and ended up speaking in nonsense. "Just give me a name _Mr. Longbottom_..." Snape threatened with little patience left.

Pausing with fear, the easily-frightened boy had to make a hard choice: to betray the person who helped him or face Snape's furry. "It was Professor Hunter..."

In a matter of minutes, the fuming Potions Master stomped up the stairs of the marble Grand Staircase to the first floor where the Dark Arts classroom was. Nearly kicking the door open to get inside of the classroom, Snape found the classroom completely empty. Trying to keep his rage in check, he bellowed loudly in the classroom for the vampire to come from out of her supply room. There was no reply, he glanced everywhere around the room except for the ceiling and saw nothing. "Merlin's beard, she has no damn right to intervene in aiding Longbottom with his potions-I'll _kill her_..." he muttered hotly under his breath when he finally gave up searching in the empty classroom. "Where is that shrewd woman hiding now?" Snape muttered a little too loudly to himself.

"Oh, I don't know...why don't you try looking _above_ your greasy head, eh?" snapped a voice from high above him.

Lifting his head up, he quickly spotted the vampire hanging from the ceiling with her arms folded smugly across her chest. "Oh..._hello_..." Snape coughed when he felt somewhat intimidated by her dark glares from above. With agility and grace, she dropped down from the ceiling and landed on her feet in a blink of an eye. The two were face to face now, "Longbottom tells me that _you _helped him-"

Hunter laughed at his statement, "You wanted to come chew my head off because _I _merely helped a student be better prepared for your class? I'm sorry to disappoint you professor, but you won't be able to tell me to _back off _like you do with the _others_."

For a moment, Snape stood there clenching his pallid fists just wishing that he could strangle her and get it over with. "You do not need to be teaching _my _students about _potions_ when it is _my _job! I've been doing this for nearly seventeen years and I certainly do no need your _expertise_. So you will just have to _back off _and let me do _my _job!" His dark black eyes narrowed at her with hatred; the two professors were inches away from killing one another but managed to just glare at one another instead.

"You've always been this egotistical, haven't you Professor Snape? Or are you finally jealous of me since I am teaching the _one job _you've wanted _all of your life_?" Hunter cocked a curious eyebrow at Snape when he bit his lip in anger, "Let's not act like strangers-You despise me with a passion and I hate you just as much..." she smiled wickedly at him. "Do you want to know something?" the vampire whispered in a low voice, "The only reason you never got this job was because you are so _terrible_ at being a _faux _Death Eater..."

Snape lost his temper with the Dark Arts professor, "Dumbledore's brain has been _fried_ thanks to the last battle with the Dark Lord, that's the _only_ reason he picked a _blood-sucker_ like you!" His jaw was rigid with anger; his eyes were locked on her bitterly; he held his tongue to control his temper.

"You're an arrogant, fame-seeker Snape!" she threw her hands widely into the air.

Something flickered in Snape's eyes; she had accidentally triggered something that finally made him lose all of his calm and collectiveness. "Since we're on the subject of telling one another who we _really are_-let's talk about _you _shall we? You are a loud, boisterous, know-it-all who enjoys sticking their nose into other people's business," he smirked when she stiffened with anger. "Hmm...what else? You're also an annoying, fancy-laced, shrewd who deserves to be put in her rightful place...which is _underneath_ my shoe."

"Get the hell out of my classroom-" Hunter swiftly raised her wand in the air to prove she was not joking around this time. "OUT! Before I decide to _curse_ you out," she hissed with her pearly white fangs shining in the light. The vampire's eyes were glowing a bloody hue to show how angry she was with the Potions Master.

He had seen something in Hunter's icy black eyes, just before they turned red. It was fear. The Potions Master never really wanted to actually hurt her but she had reacted as if he had done so. Snape realized that she had a good reason to react the way she had done, he had just bursted into her classroom and openly insulted her before trying to resolve the conflict with a peaceful discussion.

The Dark Arts door suddenly banged open, which startled both Hunter and Snape.

They were surprised to find Dumbledore standing in the doorway, sternly tapping his foot on the stone floor. "Well," the headmaster sighed loudly, "At least I know the new protection spells are working correctly..." he gestured to the fact that Hunter had sparks coming from the end of her wand. "Stop the problem before it even happens."

Hunter's glowing crimson eyes turned back to an icy black as she gave Dumbledore a regal bow. "Sir," she said as if it was a reflex to her whenever she saw the headmaster. Pocketing her wand before Dumbledore asked her to, she glanced at Snape with a dark expression on her brow.

The headmaster did not smile this time, but he did not appear very disappointed with the both of them. He admired the classroom as he stepped inside, "It's very clean in here, Miss Hunter..." the elderly wizard came down the steps and went over to the vampire's side. "I just wanted to let the both of you know that you'll be escorting the students to Hogsmeade for the weekend."

"You must be joking, Albus," Snape muttered in a peeved voice. "I have better things to do this weekend than watch _students _with _her_."

"Like openly harassing a fellow teacher?" Hunter snapped back at Snape as her black eyes narrowed into tiny slits.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, "Severus...This will be the perfect time for you and Miss Hunter to turn over a new leaf. I want all of the Hogwarts staff members to get along swimmingly-otherwise this year will never work out..." He rubbed his chin, which was barely visible thanks to his long, curly, grey beard. "But come along Severus-" he chimed all too brightly, "You only have ten minutes to grab some lunch before you have to teach again... Good afternoon Miss Hunter," he bowed before he turned his back on her.

Carefully, the headmaster led Snape out of the Dark Arts classroom with a faint smile still visible on his thin lips. "I know you already know this...but you're very lucky. She would have ripped you to shreds..."

Snape raised a questionable eyebrow at the headmaster, "I'd rather be dead than lucky right now..." he grumbled as they went back to the Grand Staircase.

"Nonetheless-you two are going to have to work together and you two better get along or I'll have to figure something else out."

_Why is he so damn keen on us being buddy-buddy towards one another? Isn't it a little too late now? How did he know that we were fighting in her classroom?_..._Merlin's beard-how does he know all of these things anyways! _Snape was completely lost in his thoughts while they walked down the moving marble staircase.

"I want all of the staff members to trust one another this year-due to the circumstances with Riddle and his Death Eaters gaining more power." The headmaster glanced at Snape, who was now frowning unhappily, and stopped at the bottom steps of the marble staircase with the faint smile still present. "Just try to get along with each other, Severus-that's all I'm asking of you," he turned back around and silently climbed the steps to the first floor once again. Dumbeldore was most likely going to find Professor McGonagall in her office and have a few words with her.

Grumbling under his breath, the Potions Master traveled back to his dark and dreary Dungeons without eating any lunch. Thankfully Snape's next class was with his favorite sixth year Slytherin and the brilliant Ravenclaw students. His mind was set on what Hunter had said to him-she did know him very well, he had to admit. Sitting at his desk now in his classroom, the professor began to twirl his green quill around his fingers as he thought about what had happened. She was holding back on him though, he could tell. He had seen her true fierce power several times before; he knew exactly what she was capable of.

Class went well for Snape, there were no unwanted explosions this time from his last two classes. He was able to give his favorite house, Slytherin, twenty house points and even managed to take five points away from Hufflepuff. The Potions Master seemed to forget his argument with Hunter and that he had to work with her on Saturday afternoon.

On his way out of his classroom after his two classes, he spotted Hunter leaning against the stone wall across from his classroom door. "What do you want?" he snarled in a heartless voice.

"Dumbeldore told me to apologize to you _before there are any grudges between us_," she was mocking the headmaster's calm voice. Lifting her head up, Snape noticed that her eyes had changed color-they were now royal blue. Hunter tilted her head to the side as if she was studying him, "Is there something wrong?" She had asked in such a different voice it almost startled Snape that she could speak so softly.

Shaking his head, Snape locked his classroom door with a flick of his wand and then turned back around to the vampire. "You don't need to apologize to me..." he knew that he also needed to give her an apology but he would never admit it.

Hunter smiled at him, "_Good_-because I still think you're an _arrogant fool_," she pushed her blue hair behind her ears. Her eyes changed back to the color of an endless pit; whatever was in her mind had gone away. Turning away from Snape she went towards the Slytherin common room and slowly faded away in the shadows of the Dungeons.

- - - - - - - -

The middle of the second week marked the highlight of Harry's school year-he had received a gift from Lupin by owl during lunch. Hedwig had come into the courtyard with a heavy load in her sharp talons; a brand new broom. Rapidly tearing the brown wrapping paper off his new sporting broom, Harry was surprised to find that the broom was actually handmade. Harry's friends asked him who had made it but Harry just shrugged in reply, "I dunno..." He snatched the note from Hedwig's beak, "Lupin said that a friend of his made it for him-he says it's the fastest broom he has ever seen..."

"Well it doesn't look very fast-does it?" Ron commented loudly as he reached out to touch the broom very lightly. He was afraid that it was very brittle and would break from the slightest stress. "Why don't you give it a test ride after classes today, Harry?" Ron suggested out of the side of his mouth so Hermione wouldn't hear him.

The bright witch narrowed her eyes at Ron, "I can hear you perfectly well, you know that Ron?" Her curly brown hair glistened in the light, she was reading another book about Herbology.

"Do you ever stop reading, Hermione?" Ron snorted with disgust, "_Does she ever stop reading_!" he exclaimed loudly to anyone who would listen. Throwing his hands in the air, he snatched the broom from Harry's lap with frustration showing in his blue eyes. "Let's test this bloody thing right now-who needs lunch _anyways_?"

Before Ron could leave, he was stopped by a group of green robes with their noses raised high in the air. "Going to try out your new _twig_?" Malfoy grinned at Ron darkly, "I thought I'd never see the day Potter testing out a _knut-made broom_..." The pure-blood blonde nudged his friends with his elbow, "Of course I knew you would always ride a broom made from _twigs_, _Weasley_..." An automatic response of laughter came from the group of Slytherins who were standing behind Malfoy.

"Why don't you shove it Malfoy!" Ron grumbled in reply as he brushed by the Slytherin group bitterly.

Malfoy snickered with great ease, "Again with the harsh comments, Weasley...hasn't your mother ever washed your mouth out with soap for comments like that?" he paused when he knew that Ron could still hear him. "Oh, I forgot...your family can't _afford_ soap like everyone else can..."

Clenching his fists, Ron turned back to face Malfoy with his wand in one hand and the broom in his other hand. "That's the final bloody straw!" he bellowed so loudly that everyone in the courtyard turned around to see what the commotion was all about. "I'm so _sick _and _tired _of your _pathetic _insults, you slimly _ferret_!"

Something in Malfoy's jaw twitched, he never wanted to hear the word "ferret" ever again. "_Why you filthy little Weasel_! _Take that back_!" he ordered in a peeved voice.

On Malfoy's command, three wands were aimed directly at Ron besides Malfoy's wand. It was the usual bunch in Malfoy's worshiping group; his girlfriend, Crabbe the idiot, and Goyle who could have been very well more idiotic than Crabbe. They all had malicious grins on their shallow faces; they were going to take great pleasure in hexing Ron.

Coming to Ron's rescue, Harry and Hermione dropped their book bags with their wands at the ready. Everyone ducked underneath the stone benches or hid behind the stone pillars to make sure that they would not get in trouble for taking part in it.

Malfoy immediately used a Blasting Curse on Harry before he could get to Ron's aide. Harry was sent into the air by the curse, but as he was about to hit the ground he was caught by someone's strong hands. Looking at the hands around his torso, Harry was relieved to find that it was Hagrid who had caught him. "Thanks Hagrid..." he sighed with great relief as the half-giant helped him back on his feet.

Hermione had managed to get revenge on Pansy Parkinson by placing a curse on her that Malfoy had placed on her years back. Grinning from ear to ear, Hermione watched as Parkinson's teeth grew tremendously in size, making her look like a beaver that had not eaten anything for several months. All Parkinson could do was wail as her teeth continued to grow in size; her teeth were now down to her waist.

After casting the curse on Harry, Malfoy swiftly turned on Ron; who was busy turning Crabbe and Goyle into giant yellow canaries. Raising his wand high into the air, he was just muttering the hex on the redhead when someone stepped in front of Ron to protect him. To Malfoy's horror-he had just cursed a professor by mistake. Instantly he lowered his wand in defeat, stepped away from the professors standing next to Harry and Hermione, and backed right into the Potions Master.

"'re ya alright Professor 'unter?" Hagrid asked as he took a step closer towards the Dark Arts professor as she stood awkwardly in the middle of the courtyard.

Covering her mouth suddenly, Hunter turned a pale shade of green as she struggled to stop herself from belching. She could feel something slimy and long moving its way up her throat. She quickly conjured a golden bowl to catch the thing that finally fell out of her mouth when she could no longer hold it in.

A fat, slimy black slug slipped out of her pale lips and clunked into the bowl-it was still alive too. Within seconds another wretched slug came out of her mouth and dropped into the bowl. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to stop the hex, Hunter sat down at the closest stone bench and kept her head over the bowl depressingly.

"She just took a hex for me..." Ron was shocked beyond all reason; well at least beyond _his _reasoning skills.

Sneering brightly at everyone, Snape aimed his ash black wand at the still-wailing Parkinson to end the hex that had been placed on her. Of course this only stopped her teeth from growing any further, she would still need to have them cut back to their normal size in the Hospital Wing. Malfoy's girlfriend hid behind him as she tried to decide whether to scream at Hermione or to have Malfoy do it for her.

Before the Potions Master could give the Gryffindor students some strict punishment for what they had done to his wonderful Slytherin students, the headmistress came rushing over to her students' aide. "I'm ashamed of all of you..." McGonagall snorted at her golden trio peevishly in her heavy Scottish accent. "I would expect more from seventh years-especially you Miss Granger..." the grin on Hermione's face vanished completely. The headmistress turned around to scold at Malfoy and his cronies also, "Just because you're Head Boy of your house doesn't mean you will be able to get away with everything-Mr. Malfoy..."

"Minerva-I heard the _entire _confrontation...Let me assure you that is was not _my _students who started this _little _argument," Snape interrupted respectively with his best interests in only protecting his Slytherin students.

"Sweet mother of Circe...th-at's a bloody lie-" Hunter grumbled with her back turned on them all; another slug slithered out of her mouth and fell into the bowl. Just as she got the slug out of her mouth, one more would rapidly progress its way up her throat. Spitting out her seventh slug, the vampire swerved around in her seat to glare at the Potions Master. "I heard the _entire _argument just _perfectly_...Mr. Malfoy owes Mr. Weasley an apology-" she turned back around as she felt another slug wiggling around in her mouth.

Luckily Crabbe and Goyle could not speak due to them still being enormous canaries, they just chirped back at one another in a furious panic. Soon enough they would molt back into themselves-but that would be fourteen more minutes from now. Ruffling their yellow feathers in anger and snapping their beaks at each other-they would not be able to defend their fearless leader.

"I don't care _who _started it-you _all _will be receiving detention and I'll be sending letters to you _parents_ about this..." McGonagall snorted again as she glared at the Potions Master for trying to protect his guilty students. Suddenly, a brilliant plan formed in her mind to punish Snape for trying to weasel his students out of trouble. A plan so brilliant that only he would realize that she was punishing him. "Severus-would you aide Professor Hunter by giving her a potion, please? Something to cease the slugs..." McGonagall snickered to herself silently when he fell deadly silent. "I'll escort your students to the Hospital Wing, Severus..." she grinned brightly as she made Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle, and Malfoy gloomily follow her back into the castle.

"A'right...there's nothin ta see 'ere," Hagrid moved away from his favorite students and told the onlookers to get to their next classes.

Muttering curses under his breath, Snape stood impatiently next to the Dark Arts professor with a sneer present on his thin lips. "_Well_?" he grumbled at her when another slug slipped out of her mouth and slid down the bowl, "Are you coming or not?"

Nodding quickly, Snape stormed off before Hunter could even stand up. Sighing slightly to herself, Hunter glanced over at the golden trio and Hagrid with an emotionless look. "Thank you professor," Ron whispered to her as she felt another slug wriggling up her throat. She gave him a nod and a thumbs-up sign in reply as she walked into the castle with her remaining dignity.

Ron handed Harry his new broom back, "Here Harry...at least your new broom didn't get destroyed...right?"

Somewhat pleased to find that Snape was waiting for her in the Entrance Hall, the vampire went down the cold marble steps with the bowl held directly underneath her chin. As she walked downstairs, she counted how many disgusting slugs were in the golden bowl. Hunter counted up to sixteen slugs before she belched out one more slug to add to the revolting pile.

Silently entering the potions classroom, Hunter found that Snape was already hard at work on creating a potion to cure her from vomiting anymore slugs. Watching him carefully, the vampire took a seat in the front of the classroom-near the spot where the professor was working feverishly. Even though the Potions Master did not know, his arch rival was studying him and all of his movements. Secretly smiling at him, Hunter was led to believe that he enjoyed being needed by others.

Thinking ill thoughts the entire duration of making the potion, Snape stubbornly continued to scowl at nothing in particular in his classroom. Finally he finished the anti-slug potion for the vampire and walked over to her to slam it down on her desk that she was sitting at. "_Here_..." he muttered sourly at her when one more slug came from her mouth. He was brimming with happiness right then-Snape wanted revenge terribly but Malfoy had already done it for him.

Just when the nineteenth slug hit the bowl Hunter snatched the potion and reluctantly chugged it down without any second thoughts. Closing her black eyes due to the potion's bitterness, the Dark Arts professor hoped that it would work as rapidly as possible. She opened her eyes after a minute passed by without feeling a slug wriggling up her slender throat. "Much better..." she whispered to herself. Lifting her head up, she smiled towards Snape sincerely, "Thank you..."

Her awkward softness towards him shocked him greatly, he thought that she would continue where they left off last night but she couldn't bring herself to do so. "It's my job, remember?" Snape replied smoothly so it wouldn't seem like he was still flabbergasted by her kindness. He suddenly realized that he was acting civil towards her when he was still irritated by her presence; he quickly frowned at her and pointed at the doorway. "Now that you're done spitting out those _revolting slugs_-you can leave my classroom so I can decide a proper punishment for my students..."

"Let me guess...No house points will be taken away and they will all need to brew potions for you as _severe _punishment for what they just did," Hunter's voice was no longer sweet sounding. She smirked at his scowling face, "You're so damn predictable Professor Snape-so predictable..." Standing up she handed her bowl of slugs to him, "Now these little guys will at least feel at _home _with _you _around..." winking to him she left his potions classroom without another word.

- - - - - -

Saturday was warm and welcoming to the Hogwarts students as they merrily gathered around the courtyard to chat busily with their friends just before they headed out for their trip to Hogsmeade. Huddled into different groups, each student excitedly told one another what they would buy this time around at Honey Dukes or at the new prank shop Fred and George Weasley had just opened last year.

"I just have enough money to buy three butterbeers, one Zonko product, and one of the Dark Arts books that Professor Hunter wanted us to buy..." Ron fingered his leather bag of coins that was resting soundly on his clammy palm. He glanced over to see that Hermione was rolling her eyes at him, "_What_?" he grumbled at her.

Flipping her curly brown hair behind her shoulders, Hermione gave Ron an irritated look as he in turn gave her a befuddled look. "You're going to _waste _your money on butterbeers and Zonko products instead of buying the book that you _need _for our Dark Arts class? Are you _insane_?"

"_Now_ she finally gets it..." Ron snickered brightly as he quickly pocketed his leather bag. He beamed when Hermione had nothing more to bother him about and she just turned her attention back to Harry.

Loud laughs could be heard nearby the golden trio, all three of them lifted their heads up to see who was making the loud ruckus. Draco Malfoy and his loyal cronies surrounded the frightened Neville Longbottom; they were trying to make him burst out into tears like he had done so many times before. The blonde was leading the attack on the poor plump boy, he harassed Neville about his "crazy parents" and his "equally looney grandma." After every pause that Malfoy made, his cronies would burst out into laughter and then taunt Neville even more.

Just before Neville was about to cry for his grandmother to come rescue him from the Slytherins, the golden trio tried to save him from the green-robed students. "Why don't you leave him the hell alone, huh Malfoy?" Harry snapped bitterly at his arch nemesis; he was no longer sleepy. "Or does picking on someone help you raise your terribly low self-esteem?" his two friends nodded in agreement.

"Do you enjoy putting your nose into other people's businesses, _Potter_? Because I could fix that by breaking it..." Malfoy threatened darkly as he turned around to face the Gryffindor Seeker at eye level. He raised his tightened fist to show that he was going to defend his threat this time if he really had to. The smirk quickly disappeared from his sly lips when he spotted one of the teachers. "_We'll finish this later_..." Malfoy snorted with disgust at the Gryffindor group as he signaled for his cronies to follow him.

Once they were gone, Neville relaxed and wiped the beads of sweat away from his forehead, "Thanks guys..." he stuttered slightly as he waited for his heart to beat at a normal pace. "I just hope that when he meant _later_, that he was talking about after we get back to Hogsmeade...at least there are professors around here during the weekends."

"Don't worry Neville, we'll get those bastards back soon enough...Just wait and see," Ron slapped the Gryffindor on his back roughly, making Neville flinch in pain. "We just have to make you a little bit tougher, that's all..." he glanced over to Harry, who nodded in reply that he would help Ron make Neville a tougher person.

Rubbing his nose and making a loud sniffling sound, Neville's teary eyes suddenly lighted up, "Really?" he asked with some enthusiasm in his weak voice.

The redhead gave Neville a quick nod, "Really-really..." Harry laughed at Ron's comment but he soon fell silent when he felt something sharp hit the back of his head.

"Hey-!" Harry flipped around to see that it was Hermione who had suddenly decided to flick him in the back of the head with her dainty nails. "Why did you do that for? I didn't do anything _wrong _this time!" he narrowed his eyes at her when she beamed with happiness.

A smile spread across Hermione's red lips, "That's for not wanting to buy all three of your Dark Arts books like you are suppose to do..." she then leaned over to the right of Harry to flick Ron on the ear, "You too, mister..."

"OY!" Ron growled in a peeved voice as he jumped back in fright; he wasn't prepared for Hermione picking on him for not wanting to buy all of the books he needed. "You've grown more violent this year, haven't you?" he added with a glare aimed in her direction.

Just kill me now, Snape sourly thought to himself as he tried to drown out all of the students' voices with his own. Not saying a single word when Hunter finally appeared in the courtyard ready to go, Snape stubbornly led the students to Hogsmeade. Of course the Potions Master was still peeved with Hunter, but he had promised the headmaster that he would get along with the unbearable vampire.

Leading the back, the vampire kept her face shadowed from the bright sunshine that was breaking through the grey clouds. She kept her pallid face emotionless like an ice queen found in children's fairy tales; Hunter knew that it would be a very long day. _That egotistical, dragon-breathed-_

Tilting her head to the side in curiosity, she spotted a student making his way towards her. "Can I help you with something Mr. Weasley?" the Dark Arts teacher asked in a soft voice.

"Er..." Ron paused for a moment; he had drawn a complete blank. "Oh, right-now I remember..." he laughed at himself for a few seconds. "I just wanted to say thank you again for taking that hex for me on Wednesday..."

Raising a questionable eyebrow at the boy, Hunter smiled at him for making her forget about having to spend all day with the dark and gloomy professor. "You owe me some _stronger_ toothpaste, Mr. Weasley...Otherwise-you are _very _welcome." Secretly she was laughing to herself about how much he reminded her of his equally clumsy father, Arthur Weasley, and how the simplest things could draw his full attention. "How has detention been, by the way? McGonagall isn't being too rough on you and your friends, is she?"

When Hunter had mentioned the word "detention," Snape had turned his head to see who was talking about his third favorite past time. Frowning at the sight of Ron walking with the Dark Arts teacher, the Potions Master tried to ignore the annoying boy by just eavesdropping on their conversation and keeping his eyes away from them. _Yes, how terrible is it Weasley? I bet he's scrubbing the floors in the abandoned girls' bathroom on the second floor...oh wouldn't that be just wonderful if he was... _

"Nah, it's not that bad this time around actually...Just have to polish the House Trophies that Gryffindor has won so far and then mop the boys' dormitory.Nothing dreadful so far..." Ron made sure that his voice was just loud enough for Snape to hear.

Ginny softly nudged Harry, "It looks like Ron has a crush on a certain teacher..." she giggled.

"Hmpf," Hermione snorted under her breath. Harry noticed that her cheeks were flushed pink like she was peeved about something Ginny had said.

Once they had reached Hogsmeade, Hunter instructed the students to return to the cobbled street in front of Honey Dukes by eight o'clock sharp. "If I catch any underage wizards or witches smelling of fire whiskey..." she paused for a moment to think of their fate. "I'll make you'll believe that an eternity in the company of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and all of his hellish instruments of death is a picnic compared to five minutes with me and a quill." The Dark Arts teacher smirked at all of the underage wizards' and witches' horrified expressions, "Go on. Run off and have some fun..."

"So..." Hunter clapped her hands together as she watched the students break off into different directions. "Want to go get a drink? For old times sake?" she glanced over her shoulder to see that the Potions Master was already gone. "I guess that is a no then..."

Heading towards the bookstore, Hunter wondered if they had any new interesting books to read. The vampire was slowly turning the door knob when she felt a sudden electrical shock. Immediately, she pulled her hand back to see that the bookstore owner was shaking their head at Hunter. Not understanding why she wasn't allowed to enter the store, Hunter was surprised to see a small sign on the door's window. _Half-breed protection spells. Werewolves, vampires, inferi beware_!

Wandering into the Boars Head Pub with a dark scowl on his face, the Potions Master smoothly made his way to the bar. He stopped dead in his tracks though when he saw Hunter sitting at the bar with her head hanging low. _Good she's in a weak stage_, Snape eased his way over to the vampire to have his revenge when he noticed that she was pulling glass out of her right hand. "Looks like you are finally losing your touch," he commented in a sly voice. "Lose a fight did we?"

Hunter chuckled in laughter as she tugged the last piece of glass out of her knuckle, "No...I won..." She motioned towards the tattered leather book that appeared to be stained with blood.

The bartender handed Snape a pint of fire whiskey before the hooked-nose character even ordered. "What's this?"

"I knew that you would eventually _slither _into here," the vampire opened and clenched her wounded hand to see if she had broken anything.

He smirked, "I'm not supposed to drink while on the job..."

"Do you _always_ listen to the headmaster like you're a _three-year_ _old_?" Hunter gave him a toothy grin when he narrowed his eyes at her. "But I guess you sometimes _bend _the rules, otherwise you wouldn't be in here-now would you?"

Trying not start a full conversation with his arch enemy, Snape took a long sip from his pint. He kept his cold eyes focused on all of the different kinds of alcoholic bottles stacked behind the bar. _Maybe if I stay silent, she'll go away_.

"So...how is _he _these days...?" The vampire tilted her bloody hand from side to side as she examined the healing wounds.

Never giving Hunter a fleeting look, the Potions Master cleared his voice as he thought about what exactly she meant. "Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" he cocked his eyebrows but he refused to look at her.

"Been clean for fifteen years now," she revealed her bare wrist to him.

Snape snorted, "You? Clean? I hardly believe that..."

"Why are you suddenly trying to act civil with me now?" she pushed her blue-hair behind her ears.

"What do you mean?" The Potions Master caught sight of two tiny bite marks on the side of her pallid throat.

She pointed at the lone table in the back of the pub, "Because if you still hated me with a passion, you would have taken your free drink to that empty table and ignored me for the rest of the evening."

_Blood and flames, she's right_! Awkwardly standing next to the vampire at the bar, he knew there was nothing to say to save his hide; she had caught him in the act. "Don't try to flatter yourself," he finally snarled at Hunter in an icy tone, "I still want to drive a stake through your heart... If you have one that is," he took his drink and left Hunter at the bar all alone.

Hunter traced the mouth of her dirty pint glass as she listened to Snape drag the wooden chair around the empty table so he wouldn't have to look at her. _You already have_...


	3. Introduction To Wandless Magic

On Tuesday morning the sun was shining brightly, there was not one hint of a cloud in the blue sky, and there was no wind whatsoever. It was the _perfect_ day to have the Quidditch tryouts for the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Qudditch Team. Yesterday it poured buckets of rain on top of the Slytherin and Ravenclaw teams, forcing them to cut their tryouts short.

Puffing his chest out proudly and casually walking across the Quidditch field, Harry felt his ego boost as the Gryffindor students gave him their full attention. Today, Harry would have to pick several new team members-but he was going to get some help from Ron on making the right decisions.

The two of them made the perfect pair, they thought highly of themselves because they were seventh years _and_ they were the very "elite" Gryffindor Qidditch Team members. As for Ron, the redhead enjoyed being treated as a role model and a symbol of popularity. Ron's dream was to win the Quidditch Cup this year and shove it right in front of Malfoy's prissy nose.

This year was going to be very difficult for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, they had lost two teammates last year very suddenly. Both of the Beaters had been murdered by Death Eaters when they were attending one of the Quidditch World Cup matches in England. No one dared to speak about it anymore.

Staring at the five new recruits for the position of being a Beater, Harry folded his arms across his chest and Ron mimicked his friend's motion. "What do you think, Ron?" Harry whispered to him.

Ron had a disgusted expression on his face as he watched the five new recruits fumbling around with their broomsticks and their bats, "I think we are screwed this year..." He smacked his forehead when one of the younger students dropped their bat on their foot and began yelping out in pain.

"Well...all we need to do is pick the two best out of the five here."

"You might as well just close your eyes and pick one-they are all in the same pitiful shape," Ron could now picture the Quidditch Cup being handed to Draco Malfoy instead of him and Harry. "We are so bloody screwed," he shook his head in a disappointed sort of way.

"Alright then," Harry cleared his throat loudly so he could grab all of the younger recruits' attention, "We'll get started now-so if you all could mount your brooms..."

"WAIT!" cried a Gryffindor student with a rackety old broom in her hands; she was running over the group of recruits to tryout. "Sorry I'm so late," she apologized quickly to Ron and Harry as she mounted her broom, "I blew up my cauldron in Potions..." she explained humbly to the boys. She was a slender, young fifteen-year old with short brown hair and bright green eyes. Harry and Ron had seen the fifth year before but they had never really gotten the chance to know her besides her name.

"It's about time you made it here," Harry pretended to be irked by her late arrival, "Where's your bat?" he raised a questionable eyebrow at her.

"Oh shit," she spat when she had suddenly remembered where she left her bat.

Harry sighed, "Ron could you go get Kelsay a bat please..."

The redhead continued to stand next to Harry in a somewhat strange trance, he was off in his own little world right then. Ron hadn't seen Kelsay since last year and he was absolutely stunned by the way she looked now. He gave her a visible smile as he stared at her in a state of entrancement.

"_Ron_," Harry flicked his friend's ear to make him snap back into reality, "Go and fetch her a _bat_..._Now_."

"Oh-right!" Blushing slightly, Ron bolted across the Quidditch field over to the supply box; he spent four minutes trying to find a spare Bludger bat. Once he found one, he tried to act manly and tough in front of Kelsay as he handed the bat to her, "Here you go..." he continued to blush.

"Thanks Ron!" Kelsay gave him a bright grin which just made the redhead turn even redder in the face.

When all of the recruits were up in the air; or at least five feet off the ground in some cases; Harry released the Bludgers from one of the supply boxes and told the recruits to aim the Bludgers towards the goal posts. While they tried to hit the Bludgers hard enough to make them go in the direction they wanted them to, Harry and Ron watched from down below and they shook their heads at the entire show. The only one who was doing a nearly decent job at hitting the Bludgers was Kelsay, but she wasn't the greatest Harry had seen either.

"What do you think?"

"_She said thank-you_..." Ron was clearly off in his own little world once again.

Harry pulled Ron's left ear until he finally focused on helping Harry pick two Beaters for their team. "I think we should choose Kelsay and Skip...what do you think?"

Ron had a dazed look in his eyes, "Will you stop getting that look on your face every time I say her name!"

"What!" Ron cried in his defense, "You use to do that _all the time_ when _Cho_ was around..." Glancing away from the recruits above him, he gave Harry a very serious look, "Skip and Kelsay will do," he stated loudly.

"Thank-you...that's all I needed to know," Harry gave Ron a sly look, "Now you can go back to staring at Kelsay's a-"

Cutting Harry off before he could finish his sentence, Ron hissed "_SHUT-UP!_" in a very dark voice so he could get the point across that he wasn't _just_ staring at the girl.

Slightly smirking, Harry bent down and snatch his brand new broom from the green grass, "Well I'm going to go tell the good news to Skip and Kelsay then..." When Ron didn't reply, Harry secretly rolled his eyes at his love-stricken friend and mounted his broom. When the broom lifted him easily into the air, the Gryffindor was amazed by the fact that the broom was easy to handle. "Ron-_RON_! Hey you!" he waved his arms to grab the redhead's attention for just a few moments, "This broom is great...You can't believe the handling on this!"

"Yeah...great Harry..." Ron tried to ignore his bothersome friend and tried to find Kelsay up above once more.

Grumbling under his breath for a moment, Harry stuck his pink tongue out at Ron and blew him a raspberry. "Let's see how fast you are," he whispered to the broom.

A bright red flash zig-zagged past the young Gryffindor recruits and then weaved in and out of the goal posts. For five minutes Harry zoomed around the Quidditch field avoiding the recruits and Bludgers with such ease he could almost close one eye and still manage not to run into anything. Screaming at the top of his lungs with excitement, Harry couldn't believe how fast and agile his new broom was. After he felt that he had tested his broom just enough, he dived back down to the grass next to Ron with a bright grin on his face.

"_Bloody hell Harry_!" Ron's mouth was wide open and his eyes were wide with excitement, "I think I want to change my statement-we're going to _win_ the Quidditch Cup this year..._and _the House Cup!"

- - - - - - - - -

Strolling back up to the front of the classroom, Hunter politely asked for her students' full attention for a few minutes; she stood in front of her desk and smugly folded her arms across her chest. "I want everyone to study the information on the board for our next class. You all will need to bring earmuffs to class on Monday. We'll be practicing defense spells against banshees' screams and how to drive them away from you for good."

"You're bringing one _here_?" Seamus Finnigan interrupted suddenly and without raising his sweaty hands, "A real one?" The poor boy had been particularly afraid of banshees ever since his grandparents were killed by its shrill cries.

Hunter didn't mind being interrupted anymore-as long the students interrupted her for a very good reason or to point something out. "Yes Mr. Finnigan-a _real live_ banshee...Can't do much with a _fake dead _one-now can we?" the class laughed at her joke quietly, "So don't forget your earmuffs, otherwise you'll be spending a month in the Hospital Wing..." She glanced at the ticking clock that was sitting on her desk, "If you are done with your notes you may go..."

As the students quickly left the Dark Arts classroom to get to their final class of the day, one student lagged behind to speak with Hunter. Remaining in his seat at his desk, Harry twiddled his thumbs as he patiently waited for the classroom to empty.

"Rumor has it that you're very _gifted_ in the Dark Arts, Mr. Potter...is this true?" her cold black eyes locked onto him.

Frightened to lift his head up to see her expression, Harry just nodded silently hoping that he would finally blurt it out and get it done with. He was somewhat curious of her question though, _Why would anyone care about that rumor? I know much worse ones about myself_...

"Hmm..." she tapped her long fingers on her folded arms, "Then I must request that you continue learning as many spells as you can..." Hunter smiled at him when he finally lifted his head to give her a strange look. "That's the only reason you would remain behind in class today... If you want-I can teach you a few more useful spells...Once a week for a few hours-Sundays perhaps?"

"What-what kind of useful spells?" Harry was still unsure about spending anymore time with the vampire.

Smiling, Hunter went to the other side of her desk and started to search through drawers to find something she needed. "Aha!" she cried when she found what she was looking for, "Haven't used this in ages-but we'll see if it still works..." Blowing the dust off an old black wand, Hunter pointed it up towards the ceiling after it was cleaned, "Lumos Solarum!"

A brilliant blast of light, almost as bright as the sun, was generated from the tip of Hunter's abandoned wand. Shunning her face away from the bright light, she muttered "Finite Incantatum" and the spell ended. "Now-" Hunter shook her head to make her eyes return to normal, "Catch Mr. Potter..."

Harry awkwardly caught her hardly-used wand, "What am I suppose to do with this?"

"Snap my wand in half," the vampire simply stated.

"_What_!"

Rolling her eyes, Hunter strolled over to where he was sitting at. "Brake the _damn_ stick..." she narrowed her coal-colored eyes at him.

"Okay-okay," Harry glanced at Hunter just before he snapped the vampire's wand into three pieces, "Whatever you want-It's _your_ wand..." The boy didn't understand why she wanted her perfectly good wand to be broken, especially since you can't repair a wand once it has been broken.

"No one knows of this Mr. Potter, so if word gets out-" she lifted her pallid hand over her broken wand pieces, "Then the Ministry will lock me up for good..." Hunter gave her student a nervous glance, "If I teach you this-you must promise that you'll never speak of who taught you this...ever."

"But professor," he whispered to please her, "Even if you can repair a broken wand-it won't cast spells anymore. Even Olivander can't repair wands that have been snapped into pieces...it happened to Ron's wand-" Again Harry was doubting the magical powers that the vampire had in her, more than ever now that her wand was ruined. "Besides, you can't repair a wand with just a wave of your hand..."

"Tell me-how old are you?" she growled between clenched teeth.

"Seventeen..." once more he gave her an odd look.

"I have three hundred year-old blood in me, I think I might have a _clue_ of what I'm doing here." Biting her lip for a moment, her black eyes focused on the broken wand and she kept her right hand a foot above the pieces. For a while nothing happened, Harry was about to officially place the vampire in his crazy file stack when the pieces suddenly twitched.

Leaning closer to his desk, Harry cautiously watched as the splinters of wood slowly pull themselves together and form their original slender shape. Somewhat shocked at this miraculous event, the student glanced up at his Dark Arts teacher to see that she was looking away from her wand with a faint smile on her lips. Four seconds later, her wand suddenly shot up from the desk and into her hand; it was glowing a faint blue hue.

"Ah, now for the real test," Hunter snatched one of Harry's books and tossed it as high as she could up towards the dragon skeleton. Aiming her wand at the tumbling book, the vampire conjured the Impediment Curse which stopped the book immediately in mid-air. "I told you I had a clue," she winked at the flabbergasted Gryffindor.

"How-how did-you-?" Harry nearly choked on his words, "That was bloody fantastic!" he finally blurted out loud. "You'll teach me how to do that?" there was a trace of hope in his voice.

Cocking an eyebrow at him, the vampire gave the boy a sly look which could make anyone's spine shiver with uneasiness. "Yes-I can teach you _how to do that_," she turned away and started to walk over to the floating book. "Under one condition," snapping her fingers the book fell from the air into her ready hands, "You must not tell a soul of what I am going to teach you this year."

Harry nodded with a bright grin, "Of course professor," he watched the vampire walk back over to him. "Where did you-?" he started to asked but she shoved his book back into his face.

"And you just thought I was a grouchy vampire who had no _clue_ about real useful defensive spells...Look at you now-you can't learn enough from this old bat," Hunter laughed quietly when she noticed him blushing from embarrassment. "Don't worry-I was starting to doubt myself too..." she slipped her wand into the left sleeve of her dress. Stepping away from his desk, she went to the next desk adjacent to his and took a seat, "Bloody hell this chair is uncomfortable-how can you stand this for _seven years_? At least they've improved since I went here though."

Secretly laughing as she fussed with the wooden chair, Harry started to see that she wasn't as bad as he thought she was. He was relieved that she wasn't his enemy; at least for right now anyways; and she was starting to remind him of Lupin.

"I know we haven't made the greatest impressions on each other on our first day of class together...but...I hope we can turn over a new leaf?" When Harry agreed, she clapped her hands together and gave him a bright look, "Excellent! Now-why don't I write you an excuse for your class?"

"Professor-" Harry blurted out just as she was halfway out of her seat, "Can I ask you something?"

Sitting back down in her seat, she nodded at him curtly, "Not a personal question is it?" Hunter asked with a weird expression on her pale face.

"No," he awkwardly glanced down at his books for a second, "How can you use magic without your wand, Professor Hunter? I've never seen anyone do that before..."

"Merlin's beard-you're the first person to ask me that question!" she seemed quite pleased with this fact. "Mr. Potter-have you ever caused things to happen-extraordinary things-before you even knew of Hogwarts?" Hunter had grown serious in less than a minute.

"Yes..." he paused for a moment, "Make glass vanish, force doors to lock and unlock on their own-" Harry stopped himself, "Wait, what does that have to do with-"

Hunter grinned, "The magic isn't in the _wand_, Mr. Potter... The wand just helps witches and wizards focus their magical powers. A spell's words just focus their minds on what to picture what will happen. Power does not come from a twig and a piece of unicorn hair-it comes from within...it comes from your heart and your soul. The wand just helps compact a human's magical powers into one spot that is easy to control. Do you understand this Mr. Potter?"

"I think so..." Harry was shocked at what she had just told him; he was shocked by the way it actually made sense to him. "Why do you want me to learn wandless magic?" he didn't want the conversation to be over with yet.

"You want to be fully prepared when the war comes-don't you? Besides there are other types of attacks and defensives than just waving and flicking a _twig_ around in the air like a stupid git. But you don't strike me as the fencing type," Hunter left her seat and hurried over to her desk to write Harry an excuse to his next class, "I'll tell you more on Sunday a week from now...alright? Now...what class are you suppose to be in right now?"

Harry let a depressing sigh out; he wanted his questions to be finally answered and to skip his least favorite class in the process. "Potions..."

- - - - - -

"Mr. Potter..." Snape snapped darkly as Harry entered his classroom, "You're fifteen minutes late!" he casually strolled over. "Since you have no excuse," his lips dangerously curled into a horrific smile, "I'll just have to send you to the headmaster's office with a week's worth of detention..." The Potions Master's sly smile faded when the Gryffindor suddenly pulled an excuse out of his pocket and handed the parchment to his teacher.

Snatching the piece of parchment from Harry's hands, Snape vigorously read the excuse that Hunter had written for the boy. A sign of building fury could be seen in Snape's sudden rigid jaw. "So...you think a _petty _excuse like _this-_" he slapped the parchment with his left hand, "will allow you to enter my N.E.W.T. class fifteen minutes _late_?"

The few students who were chosen to be in Snape's elite N.E.W.T. class all fell deadly silent as the Potions Master publicly humiliated Harry for being so late. Malfoy and another fellow Slytherin, Daphne Greengrass, began to snicker quietly as they watched their favorite teacher insult Harry for his incompetence.

"But professor..." Harry should have known better than to come back to class, he should have just stayed in the Dark Arts classroom and continued chatting with Hunter. "Professor Hunter wrote and signed the excuse-" he also should have known better not to mention the Potions Master's arch rival out loud during class.

Narrowing his eyes into tiny slits of black, Snape crumpled the piece of parchment with a look of triumph on his pale complexion, "As I stated earlier...this petty excuse will not get you out of detention and allow you to enter my N.E.W.T. class as _late _as you already are."

Hermione suddenly stood up from her seat with her face beet red, "Professor-If he has the excuse written and signed by a _professor_, then it is _valid_. It says so in-"

"Miss Granger...I am pleased to inform you that you are also going to be in detention with Mr. Potter-" the Potions Master smirked when she went white with dread. "Then the both of you can remind each other about the consequences of _speaking out of_ _turn _and _arriving to my classroom late_." Snape glared at Harry, "I thought you'd learn by _now_ Mr. Potter...but I can see that old _habits_ can't die _young_." The hooked-nose character barked at the class to continue writing down their notes and ordered the two Gryffindors to follow him to Dumbledore's office.

"It was worth a try," Hermione shrugged depressingly at her friend.

"Thanks anyways Hermione..." Harry whispered with a faint smile still present on his lips. He was pleased that he wasn't going to suffer through detention all alone; he was lucky to have friends like that.

Later on that night, Harry and Hermione spent their evening scrubbing the floors of the Dungeons for one of their many detentions with Professor Snape. Sadly enough, the Potions Master had won the argument and Dumbledore allowed Snape to give the two seventh years a week's worth of detention. As they scrubbed the hallways by hand, a pair of heavy black boots stopped in front of the spot they were cleaning.

"What's this?" Hunter asked in an emotionless tone, "Did Professor Snape give you detention for being late today?"

Harry and Hermione stopped cleaning the dirty stone floor to nod in silence; the Potions Master did not want them speaking while they were cleaning. "He wouldn't accept the excuse you wrote for me..." Harry whispered as low as he could.

A dark expression fell upon her brow, "Are you serious?" When they both nodded in reply, the vampire frowned at the closed door of Snape's office, "I'll deal with this myself then..."

Snape's office door swung open without warning, "I thought I _told _you two not to _speak_ to each other when you have de-" The Potions Master stood there in his doorway with his jaw dropped open, _Oh fuck_...

"Hello..." the vampire snapped with her eyes glowing blood red, "Can I have a word with you?"

"Er...I'm very busy right now..." Snape coughed and tried to block the entire doorway but Hunter pushed him roughly aside. "But you could just _barge_ right in and make yourself at _home_..." Snape growled when she grabbed him by the sleeve and tugged him back inside his office.

"I'll make this easy enough for you-" Hunter growled back just before she slammed the door shut behind him.

Five minutes later, Hunter came out of Snape's office and quietly shut the door behind her, "You are free." She watched both of their faces lighten up immediately, "Get out of here before I get in trouble here for sticking out my neck for you two..."

When the three were gone, Snape locked his office door with a quick flick of his wand. Peevishly glaring off at nothing, the Potions Master tossed a paperweight across his desk as he laid back in his chair. _Revenge_, he though darkly as he sat there, _Must have revenge_... Then suddenly a brilliant plan formed in the black of his clever mind, _Perfect_.

- - - - - - -

"You know what tomorrow is...right?" Harry raised a questionable eyebrow at Ron as he eagerly counted his money for the next Hogsmeade trip.

Ron glanced up, "No...what?"

Sometimes Harry wondered how Ron would get through life without Harry's help or Hermione's, "It's Hermione's _birthday_ on the nineteenth-Ron..."

A look of terror fell upon Ron's freckled face, "No...you're joking right?" When Harry shook his head in reply, Ron leapt from his bed and in the process spilled all of his coins on the wooden floor. "What am I going to do!" he cried, "Hermione nearly bit my head off last year when I forgot her birthday!" Ron began pacing back and forth across the wood, "Did you already get her something?"

"Yeah-I got her some Arithmancy books and stuff this time...she seems really interested in that subject this year..."

The look of terror on Ron's face turned into panic, "What am I suppose to do then! I can't just _pop over_ to _Hogsmeade_ to get her a gift before_ tomorrow morning_!"

"Well you better come up with a gift here fast then Ron...You recall what Hermione said last year if you didn't remember her birthday this year-"

Ron shivered in fear, "She can't really do that, can she?" the sound of terror had once again returned to the redhead's voice. Then as if the lightbulb in Ron's mind suddenly clicked on, a brilliant plan formed in the back of Ron's mostly confused mind. "Can I borrow your dad's invisibility cloak and the map Harry?"

"Ron, we have Astrology tonight-at midnight, remember?"

A grin came over Ron's face but then it quickly faded away into a frown of disappointment, "I don't know what to get her..."

Smacking his forehead at Ron's stupid statement, Harry tried to explain the obvious to his best friend. "What does Hermione do in her _spare_ time Ron...?" he asked in a low growl.

"Read...?"

"So that means you should go get her some..." Harry's voice grew faint so Ron could finish his sentence and appear to be a genius.

"Books...?"

Harry nodded, "That will do..."

"But I don't want to get her _another _book this time...She has enough of them already," Ron whined slightly. "I'll get her a new hat...didn't Crooshanks tear her witch's hat into pieces last year because a mouse was inside it?" Before Harry could reply, Ron beamed at his second brilliant idea he had in less than five minutes. "Oh shit..." he hit the side of his head with the palm of his hand, "I forgot..."

"Forgot what?"

Sighing, Ron gave his friend a sullen look, "I'm going out on a date with Kelsay tonight...We're suppose to go walk around the lake after dinner or something stupid like that..." He began pacing back and forth across the wooden floor, "I can't cancel out on her...but I can't not get Hermione a gift..." It seemed like Ron was torn between two girls and he was having trouble with which one he should choose. "Harry! Could you go get Hermione's hat for me! I'll give you the money and everything... Besides you're so much better at being all _stealthy-like_ than I am."

Before Harry could even get a word out, Ron took his stuttering reply as a simple form of a "yes" and started to gather his coins. "This should be enough, thanks so much for this Harry! I knew I could count on you!" He patted the flabbergasted Harry on the back as he dropped several coins into his front robe pocket.

To make matters worse for Harry, the very person they were speaking of came walking into the boys' dormitory with a faint smile on her face. "Harry-" she laughed at the confused and frustrated expression on his face, "I haven't seen that look since our N.E.W.T.s last year...Are you two ready for some dinner?"

- - - - - - -

Collapsing into her comfortable reading chair, Hunter snapped her fingers so her brand new, blood-stained book floated over to her from its spot on the bookcase. She didn't want to move because on her shoulder was Quinn, who was sound asleep. Leaning back in the black leather chair, the vampire's eyes gleamed as she carefully opened the tattered book to the first page.

Hunter and Quinn were not the only ones in the vampire's private chambers. Curled up by his owner's black boots, a pure white wolf yawned loudly as he waited for Hunter to start a fire. Nudging Hunter with his paw, the gytrash's glowing red eyes focused on Hunter's hand; he wanted her to pet him. After receiving a good scratch behind his snowy white ears, the gytrash lowered his head and went back to sleep. "Good boy Brooklyn..." the vampire sighed as she returned her attention back to her book.

After reaching the tenth page, she felt her eyelids suddenly grow heavy. _Blood and flames, what time is it_? She snorted in disbelief when her pocket watch told her it was only ten-thirty. _Time for some coffee then_...

Tapping the bat on the top of his head, she whispered something into his sensitive ears. Groggily, Quinn opened his eyes to see Hunter's tired eyes looking into his own. Hopping off, the vampire bat landed onto the tiny, round table next to his master's chair so she could get out of her seat. The goggles were still attached to the top of his head; he looked quite adorable in them. But that bat hated being adorable so Hunter never told him this fact. Twitching his nose as he sniffed the air for something to eat, he squeaked at his owner just before he crawled to a bowl filled with strawberries.

Quinn squeaked something to his blue-haired owner, but Hunter grabbed a strawberry from the bowl he was plopped in front of and stuck it into his mouth to shut him up. Unfolding his wings in a great hurry, the vampire bat used its tiny claws on the tips of his leathery wings to pull the strawberry out of his mouth. The vampire bat chirped a few more sounds to his owner before he went silent to devour the smothered strawberry. He finished it off with a small burp.

Upon hearing her footsteps, Brooklyn leapt to his feet with his tail wagging profusely; he wanted to go with her. Whining softly, he waited for Hunter to give him the signal to join her side. His ears perked up as he watched her stand in the doorway with a frown on her pallid face.

"Alright come on," Hunter smirked at the bright light that was now shining in the dire dog spirit's eyes. "But you're not getting any coffee...you keep me up enough as it is," she muttered to her favorite pet.

Meanwhile, the Potions Master was sound asleep with his head far back against the top of his chair and his mouth hanging open. His long dark hair covered his relaxed forehead and his shut eyes. With his arms folded smugly across his broad chest, his mind drifted off into the bleak nothingness without a sense of time or reality. But his always-troubling mind got the best of him and forced him to wake up.

Snape despised missing his dinner hour, especially since he had been missing his dinner for a week now due to the first years leaving such a terrible mess in his dungeons. If he didn't stand right over the first years for the entire dinner hour, they would never finish cleaning the mess they made or not do a decent enough job of it.

If he couldn't fall asleep, then he would make himself fully awake. Heading upstairs to the Great Hall to find himself some more of his much-needed coffee, he sharply turned the corners of the corridors until he finally bumped into someone. Snape hit them head-on; their foreheads smacked together and they both fell to the floor on their behinds. He could hear glasses shatter and books tumble and they both hit the stone floor. "_Why don't you watch where the bloody hell you're going_?" Rubbing his forehead with a scowl on his face, the Potions Master glared at the person he had run into.

"Blood and flames," Hunter muttered to herself bitterly as she pushed herself up to kneel on the stone floor. With a wave of her hands the pieces of shattered glass floated into the air and magically began to repair themselves; Snape noticed that the glasses were in fact coffee mugs. Holding the two coffee mugs in her hands she muttered a spell and the mugs refilled themselves since all of the contents had been spilled all over the corridor floor. The vampire released the coffee mugs; they floated in the air without tipping over their contents; and made a rag suddenly appear in her hands. In a matter of seconds, she had the brown liquid cleaned from the stone floor and she made the dirty wet rag disappear from her hands. Once the floor was clean of all debris, Hunter snatched the coffee mugs from the air and stood up from her kneeling position.

"Why do you have _two_ coffee mugs...?" Snape raised a questionable eyebrow at the vampire. God forbid the day he should ever apologize for something he had done on accident to someone else. He heard a low growl coming from somewhere behind Hunter, "_What is that_?"

"Is this a game of twenty questions?" Hunter snapped back bitterly, "Because I always win that game..." Turning her head, she whispered to her pet gytrash to be quiet, "It's a gytrash. I hope I don't have to explain to you what they are..."

Before Snape could mutter out another word, the vampire roughly handed him one of the coffee mugs once he was back up on his feet. "As for your other question... I just _thought _you would enjoy a cup of coffee since you've been_ so busy _and all..." she grumbled as she turned away from him with a snort.

"Come," Hunter brushed by Snape without a second glance with Brooklyn trailing right behind her. _He can have my coffee_, she thought sourly to herself. Turning the corner, the Dark Arts teacher glanced back to see if he would come and apologize. After a few seconds, she shook her head at her pathetic wish and wandered back up the stairs of the Grand Staircase.


	4. Banshees, Nogtails, and Snape Oh my

"Earmuffs?" Hunter asked all of her students before they entered her Dark Arts classroom, "Put them on only when I tell you to-Mr. Longbottom!" the vampire yelled as Neville started to put his fluffy pair on. After counting all of her students, she placed a note on her classroom door warning no one to enter and locked the door with a snap of her fingers.

For today, the chalkboards, desks, chairs, and bookcase had been removed from the classroom and two chained boxes nearly ten feet tall and wide sat in the back of the room. The classroom was large enough to have a witch or wizard duel once everything had been removed, but there would be just enough room to practice defensive spells for twenty students and their professor.

"Gather around please," Hunter seemed to be in a great mood today, "We'll be practicing defensive spells against banshees. First off, I'll teach you two different spells that you can use on banshees. Once you all have the hang of it, we'll start working on the two banshees I've brought. Under _no circumstances_ will you _remove_ your earmuffs after we begin our lesson. Once the banshees are back in their crates, you can remove your earmuffs." She glanced around at the students' pallid faces, "Don't be worried-there are much worse things to fear."

"Hear that Finnigan?" Draco Malfoy hissed from behind the Gryffindor, "You don't have to worry about the _big-bad banshee_ coming after you..." he sneered as his Slytherin cronies snicked quietly.

"A brief background on banshees," Hunter pretended to ignore Malfoy's annoying interruptions in order to prove something later. "Banshees' scream will kill-the only problem is that you can't know they are near until they scream. Sometimes you can get lucky and the approaching banshee will screech before it is near enough to do any damage to you-but most of the time no one is _that_ lucky. One thing you must remember is that you can stand two to four screeches before you are rendered unconscious by their high-pitched screams...or before you die. So, when you are faced with a banshee, make your spells count-otherwise the banshee will destroy you without hesitation."

When Malfoy noticed that Seamus Finnigan was sweating madly with fear, he decided to push his luck. "You better not _mess up_, Finnigan-or you'll end up like your grandparents..._dead_."

"Banshees are always female...they originated from Scotland back during the Medieval times. Some say they came from the Mists of Avalon, a magical place where most creatures originated from during King Arthur's reign. Banshees are the omens of death for ancient Scottish families, especially families whose names begin with Mc or Mac. They follow the families wherever they go, one banshee per family pretty much, and their screeches foretell death of a family member. That's why banshees can be found outside of Scotland. After the members of the family are gone, which could happen over the course of hundreds of years, the banshees are free to wander the world killing whoever they come across." Turning around, Hunter told her students to come closer to the chained crates.

"Now for the easiest part...I know two spells to make banshees' deadly screams go silent. This first one is particularly specialized for banshees and the strongest spell for you all to use. Repeat after me," Hunter cleared her voice, "_Tacere Ululare_."

Everyone mastered the first word of the spell but had trouble with the last; it took several minutes before they could finally pronounce the last word. "This is going to be a long lesson..." Harry whispered to Hermione as they all repeatedly tried to get the last word correct.

"Difficult spell I know," the professor of Dark Arts sighed pathetically, "but you can use this spell on more than _one_ banshee. For the second spell, this one is actually simple..._Glaciare Vocis_. Easy, eh?" she watched them all nod in reply, "Too bad it only works on one banshee and not for very long either."

Glancing at the room, Hunter noticed that Malfoy was still picking on Finnigan; a clever plan formed in the back of her mind. "For example," she muttered the easiest spell at Malfoy and barely aimed her wand at him. A blue colored breeze with sparkles of white flowed from the tip of Hunter's black wand to Malfoy's opened mouth. "It basically freezes the victim's voice long enough to protect your ears or to make a quick get away, nothing more though."

Malfoy opened his mouth to speak but only puffs of icicles came out instead of words. Sourly glaring at the smirking faces that belonged to the Gryffindors, the pure-blood folded his arms stubbornly across his chest. In a few minutes Malfoy's voice would thaw out and he would be able to speak perfectly once more.

"I'll remember these spells," Ron whispered with a wide grin present on his freckled face.

"Now for the hardest part," Hunter said loudly to grab everyone's full attention once again, "Put on your earmuffs and remember your spells...Try to silence the banshee before it releases its _fourth_ scream, alright?" As Hunter moved closer to the chained crates, the students could hear wails and muffled screams just before they put their earmuffs on. "FORM A LINE PLEASE!" she yelled at the top of her lungs; the students could barely hear her yells.

Tapping the chains on the first crate with her right hand, Hunter quickly placed her earmuffs on just as the chains dropped to the floor. A faint glowing, green hue began to shine through the cracks of the crate, a stench of death filled the classroom's already musky air. The top of the crate creaked open; but no one heard it do this of course; a skeletal green hand suddenly gripped the side of the crate which made everyone jump back with fear. Another hand gripped the unchained crate just before it pushed itself up out of the box, everyone shuddered at the sight of the creature. The Dark Arts creature was in the shape of a woman with floor-length black hair and a skeletal, green-tinged body.

Standing up, the banshee was about the same height of a woman and with its long black hair covering up its face-it looked almost human. For a moment the creature just stood there; its facial features completely covered; with the classroom deadly silent. Then it took a step forward, the banshee's bare feet touched the stone floor with such elegance it reminded Harry of the vellas he saw when he was fourteen. But this elegant movement turned into a deathtrap for as soon as it approached Malfoy, the pure-blood could see the banshee's skeletal face and horrid purple-hued eyes. Stretching out its neck slightly, the banshee began to open its mouth to produce such a loud scream that everyone covered their ears with their hands even though they had earmuffs on already. The banshee's sudden movements forced the long black hair that covered its face to move away and reveal its dreaded complexion.

Leaping back from the awful sight, Malfoy held his earmuffs closer to his ears just as the banshee released a second glass-shattering scream. When Malfoy did not fall down unconscious or stagger from its voice, the banshee decided to screech even louder to make him fall over dead. Remembering what Professor Hunter had said about only surviving four screeches, Malfoy aimed his wand directly at the banshee's open mouth. Even though no one heard him yell out the spell, the insufferable screams finally ceased and the banshee grabbed its throat in confusion.

"NEXT!" Hunter called as Malfoy proudly strolled back to the end of the line with his nose held high in the air. "Come on Mr. Weasley," she muttered to herself since no one would hear her say it. In the back of her mind she could feel something was not right today; she could smell it in the air.

By the time Ron was ready to face the banshee, its voice was thawed out and ready to be used again in full volume. Narrowing its purple eyes at the redhead, the dark creature was not going to let a _second_ child defeat its powerful voice. The force of the banshee's screech nearly sent Ron to his knees but he managed to stay strong against the creature. When it was Ron's turn to fight back, he first rolled up his sleeves, and then took aim with his wand.

"NEXT!" Ron Weasley stuck his tongue out at the glaring Slytherins as he walked past them; he was proud that he had defeated the banshee in two screeches versus Malfoy's four. The redhead also winked at Harry and Hermione as he puffed his chest out proudly in a silent boasting manner.

As each student continued with the task of silencing the banshee, each completed the task within their boundaries Hunter had set for them. Even Neville silenced the banshee after three screams; he couldn't hear his fellow Gryffindors cheering him on at his accomplishment. When class was nearly over, the only student who hadn't faced the banshee was the one who feared it the most-Seamus.

Seamus was shaking uncontrollably as he stood in front of the silenced banshee, he wanted class to be over with so he wouldn't have to face his fears. But before the Gryffindor prepared himself to battle the banshee, Hunter unchained the second crate and gave Seamus a thumbs-up sign. The poor boy went into a panic as a second banshee joined the first, everyone thought he was going to faint even before they let out a scream.

The two banshees had a conversation with one another, discussing in different types of wails of what was going on. The first banshee filled its fellow creature in about how nineteen students had defeated its powerful voice, while the second wailed to have revenge on the boy in front of them. When they finally came to an agreement, Seamus was about ready to run behind his friends for protection. Looking at each other for a few seconds, the two banshees turned on Seamus to release two screeches at the exact same time.

Wincing from the force and the high-pitch of the joined banshees' screams, Seamus wanted to surrender. He glanced over his shoulder at his friends to see them cheering him on; they wanted him to conquer his fears. Swallowing hard, Seamus turned back to face the two banshees with his wand ready. He aimed in between the banshees and finally gained enough courage to yell out a spell that would silence the both of them.

A flash of white struck both banshees as they started to screech in unison for the second time. The screams were cut off short and the banshees grabbed their throats trying to force even a tiny cry out. The banshees realized that they were finally defeated and they both retreated to their separate crates.

Once they were locked and chained, Hunter moved the crated banshees over to the darkest corner of the classroom with a simple spell. She removed her earmuffs and two cotton balls from her ears while the class followed her lead, "You all did wonderfully!" Hunter beamed to her proud students. "Now, before you leave for your next class-I need to award some points..." the vampire began to walk towards her desk that was off to the right side of the room now.

"Five points to Malfoy for being first to try his best against the banshee," the Slytherins smirked at everyone else, "Five points to Potter for besting the banshee in less than a minute," the Gryffindors beamed even more. "Twenty points to Finnigan for facing two banshees, conquering his fears, and managing to silence them in three minutes," Seamus dropped his jaw as his friends cheered him for his new found courage. "Dismissed...well done class!"

When the majority of her students were gone, she called out Harry's name. "Don't forget you have _detention _this weekend Mr. Potter," she snapped in a cold voice to make her little lie sound a little more believable. "Two o'clock sharp in my office on Sunday, understand?" Hunter watched Harry lag behind Hermione and Ron.

Of course Harry knew exactly what the vampire was talking about-his secret lessons on wandless magic. He had been anticipating his first lesson on the complex subject since the day she offered. Pretending to seem disappointed about having detention with his Dark Arts professor on Sunday afternoon, Harry nodded curtly at her and muttered "Yes professor," before he caught up with his friends on the third floor. Secretly he was beaming with excitement and giddiness; he only had to wait six more days.

- - - - - - -

Harry nudged Ron with the pointy end of his right elbow, the redhead was slipping into a deep sleep thanks to their dreadfully boring class. Sick of hearing Professor Trelawney's drolling voice, the two boys had drifted off. Thankfully, Trelawney was a very clumsy person. She bumped into their table just as she was asking Dean a question about his tea leaves. Before she was about to ask Harry and Ron what they could see in their tea leaves, Harry woke his friend up so they wouldn't get caught. "Tell her something about your _leaves-_" Harry whispered to Ron when he just gave his teacher a blank look.

"Oh right..." grabbing his tea cup, nearly spilling it all across the table, the redhead made a wild guess at what the shape was in his china cup. "I see..." he picked the two shapes he knew well enough about. "I see...a man and an umbrella," he placed his cup back down on his saucer.

Professor Trelawney's big bug-like eyes locked onto Ron just before she snatched his tea cup to look at his tea leaves, "What does it mean then?" So far all of Ron's made up predictions on his tea leaves were _wrong_. This was making his crazy professor begin not to trust his judgement in her class.

Pausing for a moment, Ron bit his lip as he tried to strain his brain for the small tidbit of information he desperately needed to survive in this advanced class. "An annoying, uninvited visitor will come bursting through this classroom...?" he shrugged slightly with his shoulders.

Trying not to laugh at Ron's smooth tactic, Harry casually glanced away to hide his snickering smile. Suddenly he noticed something floating by the open window, _What in the world_? He looked around at the next open window, a transparent image zoomed past the second window releasing a loud wail.

"_HELP_!" Peeves screamed at the top of his clear lungs as he floated right through the tower's stone wall. The troublesome poltergeist cried as he zipped around the Divination classroom knocking everyone's tea cups off their desks. Ducking underneath Harry and Ron's rounded table, the ghost hoped that the tablecloth draped on the table would save him from being found.

There was one solitary knock at the trapdoor on the floor of the classroom; Harry and Ron's table began to shake violently when Peeves heard the trapdoor creak open. "Forgive my intrusion Professor Trelawney-but I believe a certain _annoying creature _fled into your classroom," the vampire's black eyes fell upon the quivering table in front of Harry and Ron. "This will only take a moment," Hunter hissed as she strolled over to the small rounded table.

When Hunter's dark boots could be seen in front of the table, Peeves stopped shaking and the room went deadly silent. Harry could see the Dark Arts professor rolling her eyes at this sight; she began mentally counting down with her fingers for something to happen. Just as she was down to one finger, Peeves tried to make a quick getaway. Almost as if he had been lit on fire, the troublesome ghost zoomed through the table.

It seemed like the two had been running around the castle all day because Hunter was prepared this time to grab the annoying poltergeist. With inhuman strength and quickness, the vampire snatched Peeves' right leg before he could fully gain enough altitude to runaway from her. "I'm going to bring you back to life long enough so I can rip you to _shreds_!" she snarled at Peeves as he begged for mercy and forgiveness in front of the entire class. "Apologies once more," bowing her head at the befuddled Divination teacher Hunter retreated to the back of the classroom.

Dragging the ghost behind her, the two bizarre creatures departed the Divination classroom bickering and yelling back and forth at each other. "I will teach you the true meaning of defacing someone-" Hunter growled while Peeves meekly replied, "It was just an old pain-" just before the trapdoor slammed shut.

Everyone in the classroom focused on Ron, even Professor Trelawney was giving him an astonished expression. "My dear boy," the somewhat-mentally insane professor swallowed hard before she said anything else, "Your prediction was correct-twenty points for Gryffindor..."

Harry nudged Ron with his pointy elbow once again, "Good going," he smiled brightly once Professor Trelawney continued to go around the room examining tea cups and leaves. "Did you use your _inner eye_ this time Ron?" Harry joked slightly as Ron glanced around to make sure no one was listening.

"No-I heard from Kelsay that Professor Hunter has been chasing Peeves all morning." Ron whispered quietly just incase he would get in trouble for being a fraud. "I just thought that Peeves would pick the last place Professor Hunter would want to go inside-"

"Professor Hunter is not _afraid_ of Professor Trelawney, Ron..." Harry interrupted with a small sigh.

Arching his eyebrows at his best friend, Ron nodded his head. "Yeah-_but_... everyone hates to run into _looney Trelawney_..."

"Has anyone told you that you're always blunt?" Harry tried to hold in his laughter.

"What? It's the bloody truth!" the redhead said a little too loudly.

After class, the two Gryffindor seventh years returned to their common room on the seventh floor since Divination was just in the other tower. They both retired to their dormitory, trying to decide whether or not they needed to reorganize their trunks and suitcases. Harry finally accepted the fact that he had to take better care of his robes and began to fold all of the clothing he owned. As for Ron though, he finally accepted the fact that he _had_ to count all of the money he had left over from his last trip to Hogsmeade.

- - - - - - - -

The instant the students entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, a putrid stench hit their faces so quickly that their eyes began to water. "_What_ in the bloody hell is that stench?" Draco Malfoy snarled loudly as the golden trio took their seats a few rows in front of him. "Didn't your _mother_ teach you to _bathe_, _Weasley_?" The Slytherins all roared with laughter, "Oh that's right...I forgot that you're too _poor_ to _afford _any _soap_..."

Ron turned a deep shade of red as he slouched even more in his wooden chair; he didn't want to retaliate this time due to the fact that McGonagall threatened to expel Harry and him if they were caught fighting again. When Hermione and Harry were about to jump out of their seats to defend Ron, but he grabbed their arms and forced them to sit back down. "You remember what McGonagall said about getting into another fight with _Malfoy_..." he hissed in a low whisper.

Both Harry and Hermione were extremely surprised by Ron's clear mind and his sudden control over his temper. Usually it was Ron and Harry that were taking action while Hermione kept the cooler head, but this year Hermione had become so sick of Malfoy's taunts that she wanted to turn him into something worse than a ferret. "I wouldn't be talking so loudly _Malfoy-_" Hermione snapped back in a cold tone, "I hear that _ferrets_ smell worse than a mountain troll..."

Opening his mouth to say another rude statement, Malfoy quickly stopped himself because the Dark Arts professor came into her classroom with an unpleasant look on her pallid face. Instead of saying anything back, he frowned darkly at the golden trio and wished that someone above would strike them all down in a fiery end.

Coughing from the overpowering stench in the classroom air, Hunter waved her hand in front of her nose trying to catch a breath of fresh air. "Sorry for the smell class..." the vampire coughed in between her words, "I just wanted to get this lesson done and over with...I've always hated the smell of pigs right after you've eaten lunch." Walking to the front of the classroom, she waved her hand over a single long crate and magically moved the crate closer to the students. "We'll get the hands-on experience over with and read the text on Monday..." she explained just when Hermione was about to raise her hand and ask why they were going over a new creature already.

"Inside this crate," Hunter kicked the wooden box softly with the tip of her black boot, "are four piglets. All are exactly alike except for one...this exception only differs in their eyes. It will take you a few tries to decipher which one is the nogtail and not a piglet. I'll award anyone ten house points if they will come to the front of the classroom and pick out the Dark Creature correctly."

"Um...Professor Hunter?" Pansy Parkinson raised her hand into the air with a disgusted look on her flawless face, "Do we actually have to _touch_ the right piglet...?"

Hunter gave the Slytherin girl a curt nod in reply, "If you want the ten points you'll have to get a little dirty...This _is_ a N.E.W.T. class Miss Parkinson." To the vampire's astonishment, all of the eager looks on her students' faces faded away; no one wanted to smell like a pig when they still had one more class after this. "You must be joking..." she snorted in an unhappy voice, "I can _always_ make this little exercise a _requirement_ for _all _of you-unless someone is _brave_ enough to get a little mud on their hands...?"

Standing up from his seat, Ron slowly moved to the front of the classroom to earn the ten points that no one else wanted. Ron had no idea what creature they were studying today but since no one else was going to give it a try-he thought that he might as well. "Find the different one?" he whispered to Professor Hunter.

"Yes, Mr. Weasley...find the nogtail for the class if you wouldn't mind," Hunter snapped her fingers and the top of the crate magically vanished out of thin air. The instant the top of the crate was gone, a fresh breeze of the stench filled the classroom making everyone turn a shade of green and hold their noses. "Blood and flames I'll have to remember to put an extra window in this classroom for tomorrow's class..." Hunter coughed loudly as she backed away from the crate with a expression that nearly matched Parkinson's look earlier.

The four baby pigs let out high-pitched squeals when they realized that they were not back at the farm and the fact that their mother wasn't around. Hunter was right about the piglets being all exactly alike at first glance and second glance; they were all equal in size and color.

Contemplating about what other factors and details he could use to decide which piglet was not in fact a piglet, Ron suddenly noticed that one had slightly longer legs and its tail wasn't thin and curly like a pig's tail should be. The unmistakable grin on the redhead's lips made Hunter laugh slightly,_So much like his father_...the vampire thought smugly to herself as he bent down to grab the nogtail.

Being a little overconfident in himself, Ron meekly reached out to grab the stubby-tailed fake piglet and wasn't prepared for the Dark Creature to put up a fight. Squealing and trying to bite Ron's fingers, the nogtail began to swiftly run around the large crate in quick circles and zig-zagging in the opposite direction whenever Ron tried to grab it. "Come on you little-" he muttered sourly as he spent five minutes trying to grab the tiny piglet-like creature.

Once he had gotten a tight hold on the nogtail, it released a high-pitched scream that was almost as powerful as the banshee's screams. "Bloody hell!"

"Wonderful Mr. Weasley, _fifteen_ points to Gryffindor-" Hunter gave the redhead a quick wink, "you found the nogtail without even knowing what it was...Superb!" She glanced around at the wide open windows in her classroom, _Blood and flames, I hate this part-I'll smell like a damn pig for the rest of the day_-_Lovely_... "Mr. Weasley, if you would kindly walk in front of your fellow classmates and show them what a nogtail looks like..." she narrowed her black eyes, "Since _no one _wanted to get their hands _dirty_..."

Obeying his teacher's orders, Ron started to walk in front of the Slytherin and Gryffindor students holding the nogtail right in front of their faces just so they could get a full whiff of the Dark Creature's awful smell. To get revenge on Malfoy, Ron made sure to grip the nogtail a little bit tighter when he shoved it right underneath the pure-blood's pointy nose.

"Nogtails are found in rural areas across Europe, Russia, and America. As you can all tell now, they resemble a piglet except for a few minor details. These Dark Creatures will always remain the size of a piglet-they have thick stubby tails instead of a curly tail like a pig has, longer legs, and narrow black eyes. Does anyone know why nogtails are considered Dark Creatures?"

When Ron was having his fun making Malfoy pissed off, the pure-blood decided to mouth something so harshly at the redhead his comment made Ron freeze with shock. Hunter noticed the Gryffindor's sudden change of behavior and called on Malfoy to answer her question. A superior look fell upon Malfoy's smirking face, "Nogtails curse farms, Professor Hunter..." he simply stated while giving Ron a dirty glare.

"Correct..." she grumbled as she shut the open window, "The next time I catch you making a derogatory remark to your fellow classmates-you'll be washing their dirty laundry for a week...Do you understand me Mr. Malfoy?" Hunter was not at all intimated by Malfoy's mother or the man head of the Slytherin House; she did not care if he was going to report her threat to Snape or to his mother-Narcissa. "Thank-you Mr. Weasley, you can bring the nogtail back to the front of the classroom..."

"As Mr. Malfoy said-nogtails curse farms. They slip into a pigsty and suckles an ordinary pig. The longer it goes undetected by the farmer, the longer the curse that falls upon the farm. For example-the farm will have a plague of locusts, crops will diminish into nothing, a long dry season, wells run out of water, and sometimes the farm animals will die. Thanks to Mr. Weasley's demonstration, you should all assume now that nogtails are very fast and difficult to catch...The only way to drive a nogtail and its terrible curse away from a farm is what...?"

Theodore Nott, a Slytherin, raised his hand high in the air before Hermione could get her hand away from her lap. "Only a pure white dog can get rid of a nogtail. Usually farmers have an albino bloodhound running around the farm... The albino bloodhound chases the unwanted nogtail away from the farm-which ensures the fact that it will never return to that farm."

Harry chuckled quietly until Hermione stomped on his foot and gave him the same stare she had given the Slytherin, "_Not-funny_!" she hissed in a voice which clearly told Harry not to make fun of her today.

"Perfect...It seems like you all have a knowledge about these smelly creatures," Hunter sighed with relief that nothing had gone wrong in her class so far. Snapping her fingers again, the crate sealed itself-blocking the stench of mud and pigs' droppings from entering the air once more. "Monday and Thursday of next week we'll read our textbooks and take notes, alright? Class dismissed..."

Hunter opened her classroom windows once her students were gone from the room, "Thank Merlin...no more bad luck..." she sighed with relief as she glanced at the bright sun shining outside. "_Bloody weather_-_Always cheerful_. Why can't it always be raining and cloudy...eh?"

- - - - - - - - -

"Why do you have detention Harry?" Hermione asked as she placed her brand new witch's hat on top of her curly brown hair. Harry had successfully made it to Hogsmeade without being discovered by anyone or anything that would alert the Prefects, Filch, or Snape of him being somewhere he wasn't suppose to be. He barely made it to the small town before all of the shops closed down for the night and ended up going through the secret passage in the Shrieking Shack to return to Hogwarts. One thing he was pleased about was that Hermione loved the hat so much that she was now wearing it constantly. Even though she didn't know about Ron forgetting her eighteenth birthday, for the second year in a row, and that Harry was the one who had actually got her the gift, she was brimming with happiness and appreciation towards the redhead.

For a moment Harry paused as he tried to come up with a lie that Hermione and Ron would believe if it came from his lips. "Professor Hunter caught me trying to sneak another book out of the Restricted Section on Monday night," he held his breath.

"I told you that sneaking into the Library to get Dark Arts books wasn't a brilliant idea," Hermione seemed to accept Harry's lie as the truth.

Lazily opening one eye, Ron yawned loudly before he asked when Harry would be done with his detention. Ron had not forgotten what Harry had done for him last week, he promised to help Harry with his Astronomy and Divination homework for the next week. After lunch today, Ron took an hour nap on the Gryffindor couch since he spent all morning searching for Kelsay to see if he could convince her to go out on a second date with him.

"I won't be back for a while, I dunno what she's going to make me do..." he shrugged at them; at least he was telling the truth this time. "I'll probably be done by dinner time-I'll meet you guys in the Great Hall, okay?" Harry left before they asked him any more questions, he didn't want to lie any more than he had to.

Walking down the marble Grand Staircase, Harry didn't really take any notice of the paintings hanging on the walls of the castle. But on the second floor Harry spotted that one painting had been smeared with magical paint that flashed the words "Peeves was here" several times in bright vibrant colors. It didn't surprise Harry that the poltergeist would deface paintings. Ever since Fred and George Weasley left school Peeves had taken over as the top prankster in Hogwarts once again. Peeves didn't totally destroy the painting though, it would just take Filch a few days before he could fully return the painting to its original state.

Drawing closer to the ruined painting, Harry realized that it wasn't one of the usual magical paintings that were hanging on the stone walls around Hogwarts. This painting was just a plain old portrait, there was no magical spell cast on it to bring the subject to life like the rest of the paintings were. Since he was unable to see the face of the character, Harry glanced at the bottom of the painting's gold frame to find the name of the defaced character. "Drake Sweethart," he could put his finger on where he had heard the name before. Glancing down the empty corridor, Harry decided he had better hurry over to Hunter's office before he was late for his very first wandless lesson.

Knocking on the Dark Arts professor's office door for a few minutes, Harry patiently waited for the vampire to tell him to come inside. There was never a reply. Confused, Harry knocked a bit harder and waited again. When there was still no reply-he reached for the doorknob. Peering inside the office, the seventh year Gryffindor tried to see if Hunter was inside or not. "Professor Hunter?" he asked in a small whisper as he decided to take a step inside.

At the beginning of the September, Harry believed that the new Dark Arts professor's office would be dark and dreary with cobwebs stretched all over the room. He half expected to find the window boarded or nailed shut and the office barely visible. Ron thought that there would be vials and jars filled with human's blood all over the vampire's office desk and cupboard.

Somewhat shocked by the state the office was currently in, Harry took another step inside and closed the door silently behind him. Just like the Dark Arts classroom-the vampire's office was completely spotless and cobweb free. The lonely window was wide open, rays of sunlight were pouring through and hitting an elaborate honey-colored desk; which was located in the middle. On her desk were three different stacks of books, parchments, and notes; all were neatly sorted and lined horizontally on the desk. Everything that Harry and Ron had speculated about what was inside the vampire's office was utterly wrong. Harry felt like a fool for believing that the Dark Arts professor's office would be covered with cobwebs and blood.

Calling his professor's name one more time, Harry assumed that she wasn't in her office at all, _Maybe she forgot_...? Harry knew better that he should leave her office and patiently wait for her outside by the door, but he didn't listen to the little voice inside his head this time. All he wanted to do now was explore the vampire's office since it was so strangely clean and perfect in appearance.

Slowly walking around the well-kept room, the Gryffindor first went over to the wooden shelves that lined one of the stone walls and examined the objects that were placed neatly on the shelves. His green eyes widened when he spotted a picture frame with a black-and-white picture inside the cracked glass. Peering closer to the picture, Harry noticed that it was of Hunter's family; or so Harry was led to believe. In an instant he recognized the Dark Arts professor as she stood in the middle of the picture with two other people; she was smiling and laughing as if she was truly happy when she was younger. Standing next to her was a younger boy who was a few inches shorter. He had bleached white hair and was getting his hair ruffled by an older man standing behind him and Hunter. The older man had the softest smile Harry had ever seen as he gave his two children a long hug and ruffling his son's hair several times.

"See you have met my family Mr. Potter..."

Harry jumped back again from the sound of Hunter's cold voice; he nearly bumped into the wooden shelves as he tried to get a few steps away from the vampire. "I'm sorry professor... I kn-knocked," he stuttered quickly.

"Of course you did," Hunter laughed darkly as she glanced over at the moving pictures for a few seconds. "Photographs are never really enough, are they?" her voice had grown sorrowful all of a sudden. The vampire reached out and took the family photograph off the shelf, "This was such a long time ago... Before I was turned," She glanced away from the picture to see that Harry had his eyes lowered in embarrassment. "Come, " Hunter placed the picture frame back in its proper place, "Sit down."

Taking a seat, the seventh-year nervously twiddled his thumbs as he watched the Dark Arts teacher take a seat in front of him. Harry was hoping that this conversation would start where they had left off a week ago.

The vampire began to play with a paperclip she had found on her desk. "If there comes a time when you don't desire to have wandless magic lessons with me, just let me know. You don't have to give me a reason either," she gave him a different look. "I practice an orthodox way of magic and you will feel a little uncomfortable with it at first. But I promise you that if you stick with it, you'll be able to face your darkest fears without the aide of your friends' courage..."

"When will I be able to repair a broken wand?" Harry had been holding the question back for some time now.

Laughing to herself quietly, Hunter gave the boy a toothy grin before she replied. "When you can repair your wand...you won't need me around anymore," she tossed the paperclip across her desk. Leaning slightly forward in her seat, the vampire made direct eye contact with Harry. "You seem troubled..."

"I'm just a little nervous, that's all..." Harry scratched the back of his head as he tried to pull his green eyes away from hers.

"You'll need a clear head before you can start your lessons...why don't we start next week then?" Hunter couldn't help but hear Harry's pounding heart and watch his twitching mannerisms. "I'll cut your _detention_ short, how does that sound Mr. Potter?" she pushed herself out of her chair and winked at him. "Next Sunday...be ready, alright?" She could tell that the boy still did not trust her; which was a key ingredient to making the lessons successful.

- - - - - - - - - -

Frowning at his empty potion bottles and jars, Snape slammed the cupboard in his private store room. _How can I be running low on everything! It's only been a month since school has started_, the Potions Master shook his head at the terrible state his private store room was in. _The first years are the worst you've taught this year-they use too many ingredients_..._Not to mention the fact that they blow up at least one cauldron every class_. Sighing depressingly, he stormed out of his private store room and went into his office.

A few minutes later, Snape came stomping out of his office with a leather sack slung over his right shoulder. Inside the tan sack were several empty glass jars, blue-tinted potion bottles, and some metal or tin containers. The sack was already heavy with all of the jars, bottles, and containers being empty; Snape would have to fill them all with the potion ingredients he was running low on.

Thankfully enough the Potions Master wouldn't have to travel very far to get the supplies he needed for his classes on Wednesday. Most of the potion ingredients were running around the grounds of the castle and they were easy to catch for the most part. Slouching slightly from the weight of the leather sack, Snape went up the cold stone steps that led to the entrance hall. Collecting potion ingredients was very time-consuming for the busy professor, he would have to give up his dinner hour so he could finish before sun-down.

Without looking where he was going again, Snape came storming out of the Dungeons area and, once again, ran right into someone. The Potions Master managed to regain his balance since he did not want to fall down a flight of stairs right then. When he thought was going to survive the run-in unscathed, a book hit Snape right in the face.

"_Blood and flames_!" Hunter snarled darkly as she realized who had knocked her down once more. "I never receive any peace for _five damn minutes _with you, do I!" Leaping to her feet in one rigid action, the vampire muttered more swear words under her breath.

Snape gave her an odd look, "Are you heading to the _Library_?" He was cautiously holding the book she had thrown at his head; he still wanted his revenge on her. "I'll save you the _trip_," the Potions Master stuck her book into his leather sack.

"_Give it back_," her upper lip twitched to show her pearly white fangs. Hunter narrowed her black eyes at him when he teased her by moving his leather sack behind his back so she could not snatch it. "_Give me the damn book Severus_!" The vampire suddenly stiffened and covered her mouth with her pallid hands when she had heard her words.

"I wasn't aware that we were on a _first name _basis now..." he seemed irked by the tone she had used to say his name.

"I didn't know either..." Hunter swallowed hard before she slowly backed away from the peeved Potions Master. "You can _keep _the book," she bitterly spat at him. "It's ruined now that you've laid your _greasy_ hands on it..." With that being said, she gave him the cold shoulder and headed back upstairs to her private chambers.


	5. Dumb Reminders

After lunch on Thursday, the golden trio slowly approached the Dark Arts classroom on the first floor. Harry had successfully survived his first month of the school year without any major dilemmas or near-death experiences. Of course, he was somewhat worried about what he would have to do on Sunday with his wandless magic lessons.

While Harry was pulling blank pieces of parchment from his book bag and one of his several Dark Arts books, he was nervously glancing around the room. The classroom no longer smelled the same. It now smelled as if blood had been spilled in the classroom; just like a battlefield.

The Dark Arts professor did not appear to be in a good mood this afternoon. "Words of _wisdom_," she snapped coldly to her class, "I have not had much sleep for the past few days thanks to a pounding headache which _refuses _to leave... I advise that no one crosses my path today, understand?" The vampire watched her students nod in reply, "Good...Turn to page two hundred and sixty-one if you would..."

"At least she took the time to warn us," Ron whispered to Harry with a hidden smirk.

Making a piece of white chalk appear out of thin air into her hands, the vampire began jotting down big letters on the chalkboard she had moved into the classroom earlier that morning. "Inferi," she said aloud just incase no one could read her neat handwriting, "Yes-a very controversial subject at times like this...but I believe you all need to know. This lesson will not be for the faint-hearted, because I'll be providing a _live _demonstration-" Hunter heard Neville Longbottom whimper. "With rats of course..."

"How many of you have heard of Inferi?" Hunter conjured a plump brown rat right out of thin air. "Please explain what Inferi are for the class Mr. Malfoy," she held the rat by the scruff of the neck as she searched her desk for something.

Draco Malfoy couldn't help but smirk as he gave a simple definition; like he somehow knew the subject very well. "They are animated corpses, controlled by the wizard who created them-"

"_Dark_ wizard Mr. Malfoy," Hunter corrected him in a sour tone, "No _good soul _would go digging up graves hoping to raise the dead to do their bidding." She finally found what she was looking for-a gleaming silver dagger. "Like Mr. Malfoy said, Inferi are animated corpses-" she drove the dagger into the rat's chest without giving any warning. Tossing the bloody rat on her desk, Hunter wiped the blade clean with a simple snap of her fingers.

Next, she pointed her wand at the limp rat corpse and muttered a few words in Latin. After the bright yellow flash, the dead began to twitch as if it was having a seizure. In less than a minute, the once-dead rat was back on its feet sniffing the stack of papers on Hunter's desk. "Mr. Rat," Hunter growled in a cold voice, "Would you bring me Miss Granger's book?"

Hermione went a darker shade of green when the bloody rat climbed onto her desk and began to drag her book away with its sharp teeth.

"Now, what are some possibilities of destroying Inferi?" the vampire patted the dead rat on the head when it had brought Hermione's book to her. "Anyone?"

"Well...you couldn't kill it...since it's already dead and all," Harry bit his thumb as he thought of ways to kill the dead. "Could killing the Dark wizard who created the Inferi work, professor?"

"Wonderful, yes... Now what is the other possibility?" she snatched the rat by the scruff of the neck once more. "Something you can inflict on the Inferi?" When she received blank stares, the vampire tried to think of hints that would help them. "All Dark creatures are afraid of something...Inferi are especially terrified of being...?" Hunter released a long sigh when there were even more blank stares in her classroom, "Alright. They hate fire...they fear being burned..." Pointing her wand at the rat's tail, she set it on fire; the rat screeched in pain as the flames traveled up its back.

Dropping the burning rat on her desk, Hunter snapped her fingers to have the Inferi disappeared from sight. She could tell that some of her students were ready to faint or vomit their lunch. "Based on what you have seen and what you have learned today, you will need to write two parchments on the history of the Inferi. Are there any questions?" The Dark Arts teacher tilted her head to the side as she watched Ron scramble for the door, "Are you alright Mr. Weasley?" _Poor boy_...

- - - - - -

Sitting alone in the Restricted Section of the Library, Hunter twirled a white quill as she thought long and hard about what to write down. She frowned for a moment when she had lost track of where she was; her mind kept wandering. Flipping a page back, the vampire suddenly remembered what she was writing about. _Headache-curing potions_, _keep focused_!

After a few minutes, she slammed the book shut and slid it across the desk, "No good..." Hunter pushed her blue hair behind her slightly-pointed ears, _If I only had that damn book I took from Hogsmeade_... Her black eyes changed to a crimson hue, _Too bad that bastard has MY book_. Scratching her head, the vampire was trying to recall the title of the book so she might be able to find a copy in the Library. _Focus-focus-FOCUS_!

"Professor Hunter?" Ima Pince, the Librarian, had a concerned expression on her face. "This book was left here last night with your name on it... Does this belong to you?" she delicately held up a dark green leather book.

Frowning at it for a moment, Hunter did not recognize her own book. It had been cleaned, the blood stains had vanished. "Potions for the mundane," she mentally smacked herself for forgetting a title like that so easily. "Yes, it's mine. Who returned it?" In the back of her mind, the vampire knew exactly who did...but why?

The Librarian shrugged, "I don't know. But this was the book you were looking for though, correct?"

"Yes, thank you Ima," Hunter graciously took her coveted book back. Once the Pince had left, the Dark Arts teacher flipped the book open to see what Snape had done to it. _Maybe he jinxed it_..._I wouldn't put anything past that bas-_ Suddenly, a sharp pain started in the back of her head. It felt as if someone was slowly driving a nail into her skull. Once she could focus her black eyes long enough on the ingredients for the headache-curing potion, she knew that she couldn't make this potion on her own. She needed _his _help.

At first, Hunter fought the urge to go to the Dungeons, but when her headache became so painful that her eyes were watering she finally ventured into the murky lower levels with a set purpose. She hoped that the Potions Master hadn't already left for dinner, but luck was with her, the hooked-nose character locking his office door just when he was about to get something to eat. "Professor Snape..." she whispered as she nervously walked over to him.

_What does she want now? _Snape lifted his stare from the floor to the vampire's cold, black eyes, "Can I help you with something...?" he couldn't understand why she was suddenly downstairs in the Dungeons.

"You wouldn't have a potion or remedy that would cure a headache lying around, would you?"

Nodding politely to her instead of curtly, Snape did not know what had really come over him. Unlocking his office with a flick of his wand, he held the door open for Hunter to enter the room first. _Stop acting like a damn gentleman!_ he scolded himself for his awkward behavior, "You shouldn't have a headache after making all of the students _violently ill _after your lesson on Inferi..." _There-now that sounds more like you_...

"I say Professor Snape," she said in a voice almost as smooth as his own, "That's the closest thing to a _compliment _you have ever said to me..."

_A compliment? _Snape raised an eyebrow at the vampire, "Do you know that you're a bitter-sweet person sometimes...?" Coming from Snape's thin lips it was suppose to be a cold insult, but somehow it had turned into a _second_ compliment.

The vampire pretended to ignore his personal description of her, but her eyes cautiously met his as she tried to hide her embarrassment. "I need the strongest remedy you have," Hunter coughed slightly to bring her dizzy thoughts into one solid image-a potion to end the headache.

_Just don't open your mouth and say anything else that you think is suppose to be insulting, alright? Just get her damn headache potion and send her along her merry damn way_... The Potions Master went to the other side of his office, where a large cupboard was filled with odd-colored potion bottles that were labeled perfectly and arranged in alphabetical order. Raising his right index finger, he skimmed across the names and labels of the potion bottles until he found one that contained the correct ingredients to cure a troublesome headache. "This should do the trick," he gingerly handed her a glass bottle filled with a chunky yellow liquid.

Lifting the bottle up to her eye level, Hunter watched the disgusting liquid bubble and foam at the slightest disturbance. "I just knew you'd end up handing me a potion brewed from centipede legs, frog eyes, salamander scales, and toasted grasshopper thoraxes..." she shook her head at the thought of gagging the frothy liquid down her throat just right before dinner.

"I don't mean to be persistent but-" Snape paused for a moment to try and find the correct way to word what he was thinking exactly, "-how long have you had this headache...?"

Darkly narrowing her eyes at the Potions Master, the Dark Arts professor wondered if she should really say what was on her mind or stay silent and hold her tongue. "Ever since _you _rammed into me and stole my book," Hunter pocketed the potion in her robes to hide her smirk when Snape nearly choked on what she had muttered.

For the past few days he was trying to redeem himself by being kind and helping her whenever she needed it. As for today's charade though, Snape didn't know what he was doing until he had already opened his mouth and let words slip out. He remained frozen until she gave him a bright smile which puzzled him even more.

Hunter turned away and opened his office door, "Thanks for the potion, I think we're even now, Severus..."

Unfreezing from the spot he was standing in, Snape began to follow her to the doorway pondering on what to say back. "Just don't bother me for another week-" he growled in a fake vicious tone as she headed down the dark corridor. "Avalon..." the Potions Master whispered once she was gone.

The vampire hurried up the Grand Staircase to the second floor where her office was located. Kicking the door open and slamming it as loud as she possibly could, Hunter heard a squeak coming from high above her head. The only reason she had made all the noise was to wake up the bat that was soundly sleeping in her office on the ceiling. "QUINN!" the Dark Arts professor roared so loudly that her voice startled the bat enough to cause him to fall to the stone floor. _I will kill him-I will-I WILL!_ she swore to herself as she placed her hands on her hips and stood before the dazed bat. "Get-up," Hunter snarled.

The vampire hurried up the Grand Staircase to the second floor where her office was located. Kicking the door open and slamming it as loud as she possibly could, Hunter heard a squeak coming from high above her head. The only reason she had made all the noise was to wake up the bat that was soundly sleeping in her office on the ceiling. "QUINN!" the Dark Arts professor roared so loudly that her voice startled the bat enough to cause him to fall to the stone floor. she swore to herself as she placed her hands on her hips and stood before the dazed bat. "Get-up," Hunter snarled. 

The vampire bat tried to give her a look of confusion with his large beady black eyes; he tilted his head to add more to the effect. All the bat received was a cold glare from the vampire's pitch black eyes. Finally, he squeaked in reply just before he suddenly began to grow in size. Quinn's black furry head began to sprout some bleached blonde hair and his large pointy ears shrunk considerably. Within a few seconds, Quinn the vampire bat was no longer a bat-but a full grown, blonde male. "Why such yelling, dear sister?" Quinn straightened his white shirt collar and started to brush cobwebs off his shoulders. The Animagus was clearly a few years younger than Hunter and unlike his sister-his eyes were an electric blue color.

Hunter narrowed her black eyes, "Severus Snape _stole _my potions book and then suddenly returns the bloody thing to me today like he had done nothing wrong! _He drives me fucking insane_!" Hunter did not enjoy speaking about the Potions Master.

Quinn laughed at the frown on his sister's face, "I haven't heard you spoken ill of someone since Remus..." He suddenly began to beam with joy, "Dear sister-_do_ _you not know what this means_!"

"It means nothing of the sort that you think of," she snapped back darkly, "He _throughly enjoys _to have me indebted to him-"

Her brother shook his head, "He does this out of _affection _for your heart..." he cut her off with a sweet smile.

"I do not _have_ a heart, remember dear brother? Nor a soul..." Hunter could not bring herself to look him straight in the eyes. "And he does _not _do it out of _affection_," she added coldly.

The younger vampire continued to smile at his older sister, "Do not worry dear sister. I will deal with him if you want... Perhaps dumping a bucket of soapy water over his greasy head with clear his mind...?" Quinn spotted the corner of Hunter's lips curving into a barely-visible smile, "How about a cup of dragon blood to sooth your mind?"

- - - - - - - -

"Come in," Hunter called loudly. It was around two o'clock on Sunday afternoon.

Timidly opening the door, Harry poked his head in the Dark Arts office first before the rest of his body. He had decided to come to his private lessons on wandless magic after much debate with himself. "Good afternoon Professor Hunter," Harry humbly started to say as he closed the door behind him.

"I wonder where people come up with these crazy assumptions," she interrupted him. "If Stan Shunpike is a Death Eater then I'm the damn _tooth fairy_," Hunter snorted as she read the article with a very closed mind. "What complete bullocks," the vampire had spotted another article which wasn't true whatsoever.

Harry had read the newspaper this morning for once, the obituaries page had tripled in size and there was no more cheery news. The article on Stan Shunpike, the conductor of the Knight Bus, claimed that he was caught trying to produce the Dark Mark in the sky and he was immediately sent to Azkaban for life. As for the other article Hunter was currently reading, it was focused on the vampire population and how their growing race was affecting the Wizarding and Muggle world. Since it was about vampires; a race only well known to a few wizards and witches who weren't one; the article was very disrespectful and was discouraging to the readers.

"By the look on your face, I can tell you've already read today's news..." Hunter crumpled the newspaper with one hand, tore it into tiny shreds, and then threw it out the window in her office. "I don't know why I even bother to read it," she glanced at the seventh year for a second. "Take a seat," she signaled to a small wooden chair a few feet near the spot Harry was standing. "Now," Hunter began in a cool voice when Harry took a seat, "I'll have to explain how this exactly works before we try any wandless magic... Have you tried making spells without saying the incantations but mentally thinking about it?"

What a horrible experience it was for Harry too; he learned to use Shield Charms without muttering a single word but it took him all year to master it. "Yes, Shield Charms..." he didn't want to go into detail how long it took him to accomplish the feat-he felt slightly embarrassed by it.

Hunter unpocketed her wand, "It takes a _considerable_ amount of mental strength to use wandless magic and you have to control your emotions besides that. Of course, I don't expect you to master this art in a few weeks but...If you try hard enough you'll be able to mend your broken wand-" she snapped her wand in half like Harry had done last week, "With a simple wave of your hand..." The broken pieces floated above her lap as she waved her left hand gently without a second though. "So-do you think you're ready for this Mr. Potter?" Hunter seemed a little excited.

Biting his lip, Harry finally nodded, "Is that my first lesson...mending broken wands?" It seemed very unlikely that he would be able to repair a broken wand on his very first lesson.

Hunter laughed, "No, not for right now..." she grabbed the two pieces of wand and handed them to Harry, "When you get the hang of wandless magic I want you to start trying to mend my wand. If you can fully repair the wand then I can't teach you anything else."

Accepting the broken vampire's wand was a total shock to Harry, "I can't keep your wand while I'm learning wandless magic! What are you going to do if you really need-"

"Don't fret Mr. Potter," Hunter gave him a reassuring smile, "I can manage without my meaningless stick for a few months... The first thing we'll try is mastering control over a very simple spell..." Hunter suddenly snapped her fingers and a book on her desk began to float, then another book started to hover next to the other one until six books were floating above her work desk. "I believe the first spell you learned in Charms was levitation-am I correct?"

Staring at the books, Harry nodded in reply as he wondered how she could perform a magical spell without even looking at the objects she had conjured the spell upon. "Correct," he responded quickly when he realized that she was waiting for him to reply verbally.

"The trick with wandless magic is if you can get the hang of conjuring simple spells then you really don't even need to focus all of your attention-like I just did." The Dark Arts professor plucked one book from the air while the others remained floating two feet in the air.

"But Professor Hunter-" Harry interjected with a befuddled look on his face, "I thought eye-contact was the main essential when conjuring a spell on objects or living things..."

Hunter smiled, "If the mind needs help to focus, then-yes, you will need to sustain eye-contact with the objects." Carefully placing the book where it was floating before, the book resumed its place like it had never been moved at all. "All you need to do is have a mental picture in the back of your mind, then you can begin to focus on other things. As long as your mind doesn't completely stray from keeping things afloat of course...so we'll get started!" Clapping her hands together, the vampire jumped out of her chair and grabbed a small green stone from her work desk and tossed it over to Harry. "Get your wand out, focus all of your attention on that stone, say the spell aloud, and then we'll go from there."

Observing the green stone for a few seconds, Harry realized that it was in fact an emerald. He looked over to the Dark Arts professor and she nodded at him to go ahead and cast a spell on it. "Wingardium Leviosa," he said quietly as he maintained eye-contact with the emerald. The priceless stone easily rose into the air and floated at Harry's eye level as he kept eye contact and his wand on the stone the entire time.

"Good...now tell me what thoughts were in your mind when you were conjuring the spell, Mr. Potter. Exact thoughts if you don't mind..." there was a tiny flicker of excitement in her black eyes.

Pausing, Harry frowned to himself as he thought back on what was running through his mind when he was levitating the emerald. "I guess I was thinking about the stone rising in the air and staying at my eye level-"

"There are other things on your mind besides that-I know that for a _fact_ Mr. Potter..."

"Well-" Harry started to say, "I was remembering how Ron used the spell to levitate the mountain troll's club to save Hermione from being smashed to bits...and how excited I felt when I made the spell work properly for the first time." Harry's cheeks went a shade of pink from embarrassment.

"That's what I wanted to hear-emotions and thoughts are hard to control. But-all your thoughts were linked together on the levitating spell, so you do have _some_ control over your mind..." Hunter rubbed the back of her neck for a moment as she thought of a way to approach the next step in the lesson. "I want you to hold the emerald in your hand, close your eyes, picture the stone in your mind, say the spell aloud, and use your wand. Understand?"

Harry understood how important it was to take baby steps when learning magic. Doing as Hunter said, the Gryffindor tried to picture only the emerald sitting in the palm of his hand as he kept his eyes shut. Whispering the spell and flicking his wand, Harry pictured the emerald floating back at his eye level like it had done before. When he though he had accomplished the feat, he opened his eyes to see the emerald right in front of his face, "Cool..." he smiled brightly.

"Perfect, Mr. Potter-now-" Hunter took his wand away from his hands and caught the stone before it fell to the floor, "I want you to do the exact same thing except this time you won't have your wand...Alright?"

Taking a deep breath, Harry took the emerald back from the vampire and held it loosely in the palm of his left hand just before he closed his eyes again. Like he had just done, he pictured the stone just sitting there and shimmering in his hand. "Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry said it a bit louder to force his mind to picture the stone floating at his eye level for the third time. As he mentally imagined the emerald rising into the air he suddenly thought about everything else around him, he opened his eyes to see what had happened.

"Almost had it-" Hunter rubbed her forehead for a moment, "Except you had it float right to my head..." There was a tiny red circle on her pallid forehead, "Try it again and keep your mind focused on the emerald _only_...then we'll work on without saying the spell," she handed the green stone back to him.

It took Harry four more tries before he had gotten it right. The next step proved to be a little more difficult then the others, Harry wouldn't have anything to tell him if he made the stone float or not except for touch. When an hour had passed, he was blue in the face trying to focus enough to make the stone float. "_This is impossible_-" he muttered to himself sourly.

"Nothing is impossible," she said hotly in reply, "Clear your mind for a moment...Think back to when Professor Flitwick was teaching you the charm-how great it felt when you successfully conjured the spell," her voice was as smooth as velvet. "Now, keep that feeling in your mind as you picture the emerald floating..." Hunter watched him close his eyes and begin to focus on the mental image of the stone.

A few minutes later the stone was floating just below his chin, Harry grinned from ear to ear when he noticed this. "Brilliant-" he plucked the stone from the air and handed it back to her.

Just like it was an automatic response, Hunter lifted the jewel into the sunlight with one hand and shut her right eye as she examined the stone for any scratches. When it had passed her examination, she cleaned it meticulously with the end of her robe sleeve and then pocketed the precious stone in one of her front robe pockets. The vampire took notice of Harry's strange looks and she just smiled back at his confused expressions. "True thieves are almost like dragons," she said in a very clear voice like she was speaking to a classroom filled with students. "They both have dangerous tempers, they are attracted to anything shiny...They collect hoards made up of hundreds of shiny objects, and they will defend their hoard to the death by any means possible."

"I don't mean for this to be an insult Professor Hunter but-" he coughed to cover his pausing, "You remind me a lot of Remus Lupin..."

The books Hunter had maintained to keep hovering over her work desk for so long suddenly crashed back down to the ground. It was clear that Hunter had lost all of her focus on the floating books; she gave him a broken smile. "Thank you for the compliment Mr. Potter, but I'm not like Lupin..." Shaking her head, Hunter tossed Harry's wand back to him, "That's good enough for today...Two hours of this has probably made your brain shrivel in size. Keep up with the levitation on small pebbles or forks this week-then once you have an understanding of how to control your emotions try levitating some books. Next week we'll have a little fun," she winked to him as she folded her arms across her chest.

"A little fun...?" Harry asked in a curious voice.

"Play with some fire and ice spells...how does that sound? Maybe you can set Filch's bottom on fire the next time you see him," Hunter chuckled softly to herself as she waved for the office door to open for Harry. "See you in class tomorrow Mr. Potter," she called as he silently left her office. _That went well_..._for once_...


	6. An Unknown Illness

Tuesday morning right after breakfast, Professor Snape prepared himself for his N.E.W.T. Potions lesson with a melancholy attitude. Something odd had swept over the professor in the past five days. He brushed the change in his attitude as just something temporarily and it could be cured with a simple potion. He had spent three days trying different potions to bring himself back down to his usual moody self, but none had made any successful improvements. After breakfast he drank a purplish-green potion-hoping that it would return him back to normal.

Stubbornly tapping his foot on the stone floor, Snape slowly came to realize that his potions would not help him out this time. The potion should have worked an hour ago but the Potions Master could still feel that awkward feeling deep inside of him. It was a mixture of emotions of loneliness and longing, and a strange feeling of wanting something more in his life. Since he had never felt like this before, he thought it was an undiscovered illness but when his own potions couldn't cure him-he knew it was something more than that.

He then came to the next conclusion that something mentally was wrong with him or he had been placed under an undetectable spell. Being placed under a spell seemed more logical to the Potions Master so he decided early to spend his lunch hour and his dinner hour reading in the Library trying to find what spell had been cast upon him. Then he remembered that he had missed several meals in the past two weeks and maybe that was the cause of his sudden change in behavior. Snape quickly changed his mind and mentally told himself that he would have lunch and dinner just incase that was the cause of his indescribable problem.

Just as he came to another solution to his "incurable illness," fifteen students filed into his Potions classroom without saying a single word-just the way Snape preferred it to be. Even though he barked at the seventh years to pull out their Potions books, the students could tell that there was something wrong with the professor-he didn't sound as cold-hearted as usual.

A brilliant plan came to the Potions Master's mind...he could pick on Neville Longbottom, which usually made his reputation for being a heartless professor as strong as ever. Halfway through class, Snape turned on the fumbling Gryffindor with a faint smirk on his thin lips. _Just make him nervous enough so he messes up on his potion and then take twenty points away from him_..._Yes-that sounds like your old self_, he told himself as he approached Neville and his bubbling cauldron.

"Mr. Longbottom," Snape snarled, "Tell me _why_ _your_ Drought of Living Death isn't a light shade of lilac like everyone else's." He smoothly folded his arms across his chest and gave Neville a dark look to add to his menacing appearance.

Lifting his head up away from his bubbling cauldron, Neville didn't appear as nervous as he usually would be if Snape had cornered him into answering his overly harsh questions. "I haven't added the sopophorous bean juice yet Professor Snape," the boy stated so loudly that everyone else in the dungeon turned around to listen in on what Neville was telling the fuming professor.

Snape stood in front of Neville and his cauldron as dumbstruck as he could possibly be, _How the hell did he know that! He can't possibly know that-not after six years of teaching this cowering, plump boy! He would never know this_...The Potions Master's gaze fell upon Hermione Granger, who was standing a few feet behind Neville, _She must have helped him-she had too_... "_Miss Granger_..." he snapped at the brightest witch of her age, "_You _helped Mr. Longbottom-_didn't you_?"

"No, Professor Snape-" Hermione's voice didn't crack like it would whenever she was telling a lie to her professors.

Glowering at the two Gryffindor students, Snape turned away from the both of them and went to see how his Slytherins were progressing. _If she didn't help Longbottom-then how in the hell did he know what he was talking about! Unless_... After checking Draco Malfoy's cauldron and telling him to stir the potion in the other direction, Snape returned to Neville and his cauldron with the same scowl on his face. "_Mr. Longbottom_," his patience with the forgettable boy was wearing thin. "Tell me which way you must stir the potion," the Potions Master's voice became so cold the students could have sworn that they could feel chills running down their spines.

For a moment Neville considered to answer his question wrong so the Potions Master wouldn't give him detention, but then Neville realized that he was in a lose-lose position. "I-I have to stir it counterclockwise sir," the plump Gryffindor mentally prepared himself for the threats of cheating and their consequences but Snape just silently stared at Neville instead.

_Where is his bloody Potions book? _Snape's dark eyes quickly scanned Neville's little working area to see if the boy's Potions book was within eyeshot. To the Potions Master's dismay, the book was slammed shut and too far away for the Gryffindor to read anyways. _He must have cheated then! Like he did before_... "Did anyone _help_ you, Mr. Longbottom?" Snape growled with a sinister look in his black eyes.

"No-" Neville was trying not to tremble in front of his professor.

By now everyone was watching poor Neville being harassed by Professor Snape into admitting something he didn't do. When Snape had finally come to a decision, he smirked at Neville in a way to tell him that he wouldn't like the words coming out of his thin lips. "Start again Mr. Longbottom-prove to me that you didn't get _any _help," the Potions Master took his wand out and aimed it at the nearly-finished Drought of Living Death; the pale pink liquid disappeared without a trace.

"Professor Snape-there are only ten _minutes_ left in class! It took us an _hour _to get as far as we did on the potion-" Hermione was bright red in the face, "Neville won't be able to finish the potion before class is over!"

A look of triumph spread over Snape's face; his reputation for being a cold-hearted teacher was finally back. He causally glanced over to the girl with the same smirk on his thin lips, "Then Mr. Longbottom will have to stay _after class_ and finish the potion _by himself_, now won't he?"

"You're only doing this to make Neville feel like he was _wrong_ the entire time..." Harry muttered just loud enough for Snape to hear; he didn't really care if he got detention with Snape for sticking up for Neville.

The instant Harry spoke, Snape turned on Harry with an expression of pure hatred. He noticed that the "Chosen One" had dirt smudges all over his face and his hair was tangled and matted; it was obvious that the Gryffindor team had Quidditch practice this morning. "And what would you do _differently_, Mr. Potter?" Snape hissed between his crooked teeth, "Just _assume _that Mr. Longbottom is _right_ just this _once _out of the seven years that he's been _quivering _in my class?"

Harry snapped back a harsh comment so quickly that he didn't even know what he was doing until it was too late. He was just as red in the face as Hermione was now.

"How does three days of detention sound to you Mr. Potter? Or are you going to try and push for five days and be just like your _father_?" This was the first time Snape had insulted Harry's father in public, but this was also the first time Harry had sworn and called a professor a "beak-nosed, grease ball, who deserves to live under his shoe." The Potions Master grabbed Harry's Potions book and threw it at his face, "_Get out of my classroom Potter-I _don't want to _see _your _miserable_ _face _until tomorrow night in my office!_ Understand_!"

Once Harry had gathered his supplies and his other belongings, he slammed the dungeon door behind him and stormed straight upstairs muttering swear words under his breath. When Harry was gone, Snape turned back on Neville and told him to begin to make another Drought of Living Death-immediately. After he had accomplished this, Snape excused the rest of his class with a simple wave of his hand and resumed barking orders at Neville for the entire lunch hour.

Dinner couldn't come soon enough for the irrate Potions Master, he sat at the staff table with the darkest look possible on his pale face. No one at the High Table dared to speak to Snape, they didn't want to have their heads chewed off. Picking at his food sourly with his fork and not choosing to make any eye contact with anyone, Snape just wanted to have his meal in peace and to be left alone. The only reason he was eating dinner was because he had missed lunch and he was desperate to be rid of his sudden "illness."

He was so focused on his dinner plate that he didn't see an overly large black bat sitting right next to his gold goblet. The bat had its tiny leather wings hugging something small and red; Quinn had to squeak several times before Snape took notice of him. When he finally got Snape's attention, the bat unfolded its wings to reveal a plump strawberry. Even though the Potions Master didn't know that Quinn was actually Hunter's younger brother in disguise, he surprisingly reacted quite well to the new visitor. "Hello," it seemed that Snape was just pretending to be pissed beyond all reason to hide his new problem.

Gingerly, the bat nudged the fresh strawberry onto Snape's barely touched dinner plate and then squeaked pleasantly to the hooked-nose character. Strawberries were Quinn's favorite food, he would devour three dozen in a few minutes if he had the chance. It was a rare sight to have him give up one of his most prized strawberries as a gift.

As Snape took the strawberry, he could have sworn that he saw the black bat bow its head in respect before it took flight and flew back to its owner. Glancing away from the strawberry, the Potions Master looked at the opposite end of the staff table to see someone smiling sweetly at him. The moment he locked his eyes on the Dark Arts professor he felt his heart instantly stop beating and his "illness" suddenly disappeared. As if cold water had been thrown at his face, the truth hit him so fast he couldn't focus on one thought long enough-but he did know one thing for sure... He was falling in love.

- - - - - - -

During breakfast on Sunday morning, an owl had been sent to Hunter directly from the Ministry of Magic with several stacks of letters in its beak and claws. The vampire didn't want to open the letters in front of the entire staff and students but the urge to find out why the Ministry had sent her so many letters finally got the best of her. Ignoring her fellow teachers' inquisitive looks and whispers, Hunter tore several of the envelopes open with a simple snap of her fingers and began reading a pair of letters at the same time.

Five minutes later, Hunter left her seat at the staff table with every single letter burning into grey ashes on her plate. Not saying a word to anyone, not even to Dumbledore when he called her name, she stormed out of the Great Hall and headed straight to her office with the emptiest expression on her face. She stubbornly remained in her office until two o'clock in the afternoon when Harry came to see if he was going to have his private lessons on wandless magic still.

Before he could even knock on her office door, Hunter swung it open with the exact same look still lingering on her pallid face. Close up, she looked as if she had been drained of life for the hours she had locked herself in her gloomy office; she was paler than usual and there were bags appearing underneath her cold eyes. Looking down at the seventh year, Hunter tried her best to give him a fake smile. "Why don't we have the lesson outside Mr. Potter, eh?"

"Are you sure you're feeling well Professor Hunter?" Harry gave her a worried expression with his green eyes, "Maybe you've caught Hagrid's cold..." he suggested in a casual tone of voice.

"Nonsense!" she snapped at him with a little more vigor in her voice this time, "We absolutely have _no _time to _waste_ on you learning wandless magic before the year is over with!"

"Why do I have to learn wandless magic before the end of year...?" he suddenly felt a bit suspicious about the private lessons now.

Her eyes narrowed into tiny black slits, "_Because_," she muttered hotly at him, "You'll be on your _own _once the school year ends-you'll need _all_ the _help_ you can get to _defend_ yourself from the Dark Lord..." With that being said, Hunter slammed her office door behind her and locked it by drawing an imaginary circle around the doorknob with her left index finger. "Besides," she tried to pretend that she wasn't enraged at anything at all, "I want my wand back _before _you leave Hogwarts..."

Hunter glanced around the hallways on the second floor to see if anyone was eavesdropping or hanging around somewhere. When she felt that the corridors were empty, the vampire turned back to Harry with the same fake smile on her lips. "Come on-follow me," she headed towards the Grand Staircase.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked her loudly; if no one was around then it was alright for him to speak as loud as he wanted to.

"Outside, Mr. Potter-outside..." she grumbled sourly back in reply. _Maybe some fresh air and something to keep me preoccupied will do me some good_...Hunter tried to reassure herself as she went down the marble steps.

Once they were outside, Hunter led Harry towards the Greenhouses where Professor Sprout's cherished magical and non-magical plants were being raised and cared for. They went to the greenhouse labeled as number four; this greenhouse that was restricted to students under the age of sixteen due to the dangerous plants that were inside. Harry did not take Herbology this year-Ron and Hermione did though.

Touching the door handle to the greenhouse, Hunter quickly pulled her hand away as if she had been burned; Harry could see that the handle was glowing bright red now instead of gold. "Damn thief spells," she muttered as she shook her right hand trying to cool it down. Biting her lip for a moment, she tugged a small bottle of frothy yellow liquid and poured the disgusting substance over the handle. The liquid began to sizzle and bubble until it hardened over the door handle. "There we go..." Hunter tossed the empty glass bottle to the side of the greenhouse; Harry could hear the glass shatter on contact with the ground. "Come inside," she grabbed the handle without wincing in pain this time.

A rush of hot air hit Harry's face as he stepped inside the greenhouse, his glasses suddenly fogged up and beads of sweat started to drip down his forehead. Looking all around at the plant life in the greenhouse, Harry felt the strange sensation of being surrounded. If Professor Sprout had taken such precautionary measures in making sure the door was thief proof then Harry was certain that the plants inside this greenhouse were very deadly. "Are we allowed to be in here without Professor Sprout's permission...?" he asked the Dark Arts professor as she shut the door with a snap of her fingers.

Not wanting to answer his question, Hunter silently walked past him and signaled for him to follow her to the center of the greenhouse. The first thing that caught Harry's eye was a black, leafless tree that was about six feet tall. Of course, what made him focus on the tree was the fact that it was on fire. "Two tasks for you today Mr. Potter," Hunter grumbled under her breath as she casually strolled over to the burning tree, "The first is to retrieve some fire seeds for me..." The vampire gingerly reached out to pluck one of the blazing seeds from its blackened branches. "Glacius," she whispered quietly as an icy breeze of icicles appeared in left hand. Blowing the icicles towards one of the burning seeds, the seed immediately froze and fell into her the palm of her hand.

Walking away from the tree, she dropped the seed into Harry's open hands for him to examine closely; he jumped slightly from the shock of the seed being so cold. Harry was amazed that the burning seed did not try to set itself ablaze one again, but he was also curious why his Dark Arts professor had to say the spell this time when he was suppose to be learning nonverbal spells also. "Professor Hunter-" he had the same worried look on his face, "Is this spell not suppose to be nonverbal...?"

Hunter rubbed the temple of her pallid forehead, "I am not very well at the moment Mr. Potter," she sighed loudly. "I don't have the strength right now to perform any nonverbal spells..." she was surprised to see his concerned expression.

"Do you want your wand back then-maybe you'll have enough-" Harry started to fumble through his robe pockets trying to find where he had exactly stuffed her broken wand.

"_Wands_," Hunter snapped back at him, "_Are useless twigs_, _Mr. Potter_..." A sharp pain surged through her forehead once again, this time forcing her to close her eyes to make it cease. When the terrible pain had subsided, she gave the Gryffindor a weak smile, "Forgive me...I've just had a terrible day...Let's get a start on the lesson-shall we?" Changing the subject and desperately trying to focus on something else was the only thing she could do until she could get more of that disgusting potion from Snape. "I believe you know how to perform a simple freezing charm, correct?"

"Of course professor," he tried his best not to appear worried about the vampire anymore.

Biting her thumb for a moment, Hunter's clever mind was slowly turning as she thought about how they would approach the new charm this time. "Same routine as last week, Mr. Potter. Just picture the icy wind coming from your hand and keep your thoughts focused on the charm...The only thing that will differ is your control over the ice-you'll have a harder time," the vampire resumed rubbing her temple with her index fingers.

Even though Harry had been diligently practicing on levitating his school books, he wasn't prepared to perform a freezing charm without the aide of his wand. Staring at his hand for the longest time, Harry guessed that he had the same look Ron would always get in Potions class whenever he was frustrated beyond all reason. After an hour had passed and nothing had happened, he sat down on the ground next to the fire seed tree to give his mind a bit of a rest. He had not heard his Dark Arts professor make a sound since she had told him his instructions on performing a freezing charm without a wand.

Glancing around the greenhouse, he found her staring out at a foggy window with her arms folded loosely across her chest; she seemed to be very far away. "You have to work at it Mr. Potter," Hunter whispered so softly that Harry had to strain his ears to hear what she was saying. "Wandless magic is just as hard as trying to catch smoke with your bare hands..." she turned her head to stare at him, "Try thinking of the memories you had during the winter-snow fights perhaps?"

There was a memory that always put a bright smile on Harry's face. During the last trip to Hogsmeade before Christmas break, last year, the golden trio secretly set off to the Shrieking Shack to have their long anticipated snowball fight. Harry couldn't forget how much fun he had with Ron and Hermione-he would never forget the wonderful times he had shared with his best friends.

Having that fond memory stuck in the back of his mind now, the Gryffindor got back up to his feet and placed his hand underneath one of the burning seeds. Closing his green eyes, he pictured the snowball fight and how much snow had been falling all around them, then he pictured the icy wind that had sent the falling snow dancing across the air. With the icy wind blowing in his mind now, he suddenly felt something wet on the palm of his right hand.

Filled with excitement this time, Harry quickly glanced at his hand to see a tight ball of wind with miniature icicles and snowflakes turning slowly inside the ball. Quickly, he blew the icy at the burning seed and it immediately froze over, broke away from the branch, and dropped into Harry's hand which sent shivers up his spine. From behind him, Harry could hear Hunter clapping loudly for him; he turned around to beam proudly.

"Very well done Mr. Potter..." she swiftly moved away from the foggy greenhouse window and signaled for him to follow her out, "I think that is enough for today," she hummed lightly as she kicked the greenhouse door open. Once they were out of the greenhouse, the vampire locked the door behind her by drawing another imaginary circle and then told Harry to clean the crusty yellow doorhandle with his wand.

As Harry followed the Dark Arts professor back towards the castle, he gingerly tried to make his frozen fire seed float in the palm of his hand. Since he was forced to watch where Hunter was heading, he could only levitate the seed just a few centimeters above his palm before he lost all concentration on the spell. "What were you going to teach me for the second task Professor Hunter?"

"Oh trust me," she faintly smirked towards him, "You'll enjoy this task more if you learn it next Sunday..." In truth, Hunter was feeling very depressed about the letters she had received from the Ministry of Magic. All she wanted to do was retreat to her office to drink away all of her new found misery, but she knew her brother would never allow her to do such a thing unless her had a few drinks with her. "Keep practicing Mr. Potter," the vampire stopped in front of the double oak doors that led to the entrance hall, "You're a greater wizard than I had expected..." Once again she gave him a fake smile, "See you tomorrow in class," Hunter turned away from Harry and started to walk towards the lake without making a single sound.

Harry carefully watched her silently stroll away from him, he felt somewhat bad for his suddenly depressed Dark Arts professor. Whatever had been written in the letters, it was obvious that it was something terrible enough to make Hunter lose her train of thought. He went back inside the castle to find Hermione and Ron arguing around about something. Sighing to himself, Harry joined his friends with a smirk on his face while the two told them what meaningless subject they were fighting about this time. Even though Harry knew that he might not see the end of this year, he was still pleased that he could still have one more day with Hermione and Ron-and that was all that mattered to him.

- - - - - -

"Explain once more dear sister," Quinn lowered his blunt sword so they could have a few minutes of rest before they began to fence again. "I do not understand this..." he frowned slightly as his sister sighed loudly in frustration.

Hunter narrowed her black eyes at her younger brother, "They will not accept the payment on our home Quinn! What is there not to understand!" She threw her hands into the air and began to pace back and forth while slashing with her sword at nothing in particular, "Damn those Ministry bastards..."

"If we have the money for the payment-" he interjected softly, "Then why will they not accept the payment dear sister?" The young blonde vampire had a befuddled expression on his pale face, "That is what I do not understand...unless we do not have enough money to fulfill the payment then-"

Swearing under her breath, Hunter interrupted her sweeter brother without a single thought about it. "_We have enough money Quinn_!" she couldn't help it by yelling at him-it was in fact all his fault.

He remained confused about the subject, "Then why do they not-"

"_Because Quinn Seaburry Sweethart_!" Hunter pointed her blunt sword at his chest, "_You stole most of the money from the shops in Hogsmeade_..._AND THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC KNOWS IT TOO_!" her eyes had suddenly changed color. "This is your damn fault Quinn! If you hadn't pinched the entire townspeople two weeks ago-NONE OF THIS WOULD BE HAPPENING TO ME!" With all of that off her chest, Hunter could breathe again. "I warned you dear brother," she grumbled as she poked him in the chest with the tip of her sword.

It seemed like Quinn was about to burst into the argument and try to prove that he wasn't at fault this time, but he remained silent because he knew that it _was_ his fault. "What else did the letters say?" he sounded a little depressed about the subject now.

"I am no longer permitted to go to Hogsmeade, my work pay has been cut in half, and if I step out of line again-I'm going to be sent to Azkaban for seven months..." There was no hint of shock in her voice, she knew that this would come to haunt her sooner or later in her life. "Oh," she casually added, "Our account at the banks has been terminated and all of the savings we had are now canceled," Hunter just wanted to go crawl inside a hole and die.

Quinn could tell that his sister was very angry with him, but he could also tell that she was on the verge of crying due to the new dilemma they were now in because of him. "Avalon-" he made his fencing sword disappear out of thin air, "I will fix this-I swear to you that I will..." Before Hunter could say or do anything back at him, Quinn gave his sister a tight hug even though she protested at the top of her lungs.

"Get off me!" she snarled at him while he messed her blue hair with the palm of his hand. "Stop it!" Hunter hated it when her younger brother would pick on her, "This is no laughing matter Quinn!"

There was a knock at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom door. The feuding vampires froze where they were standing when they heard a second knock. Pointing at the dragon skeleton, Hunter glared at her blonde brother until he finally agreed to turn into his Animagus form and hide in the dragon's skull. Hunter dropped down from the stone ceiling and softly landed on the floor. Fencing on the ceiling was one of the better perks about being a vampire; she made her sword disappear in a puff of black smoke.

Opening her classroom door, she was shocked to find the Potions Master standing before her with several yellow potion bottles in his arms. "What are you doing here?" she glanced down at the disgusting frothy liquid in the glass bottles and then back up at his smirking face.

The second he saw her emotionless face Snape felt his heart accidentally skip a beat; he was falling for her more and more with every passing day. "I thought you said that you might need a few more potions," he coughed to stop his voice from cracking which threatened to reveal his true feelings for her. _Besides-I could hear you screaming at yourself from all the way down from the other end of the corridor_... Although he would never admit out loud, he was very worried about the depression she had found herself suddenly in.

For the first time in days, Hunter gave the Potions Master a true smile, "Thank you Severus..."

His eyes lingered on her beautiful smile, _Why can't she smile like that all the time whenever she says my name_? "I hope three bottles will do...?" he raised his eyebrows at her. Snape stood in the doorway hoping that she would invite him inside but she never did; he was somewhat heartbroken that she wasn't leaving her classroom or her office anymore. "How have you been feeling lately?" for once he allowed his voice to sound sincere.

"I would _love _to tell you that I'm feeling _so much better_-but that's a lie," Hunter grumbled as she took the potion bottles from his arms without even warning him.

The sudden contact with Hunter's hands made the Potions Master twitch; he nearly dropped the glass bottles on the stone floor. _Get a grip man_! he told himself sourly when he noticed that Hunter was giving him an odd look. "Are you _always_ that cold?" Snape tried to cover up his embarrassment about her hands brushing up against his.

"_Yes_," she snorted unhappily as she took the potions from his arms, "Thank you Severus..." Hunter's tone of voice sounded final, like she wanted him to leave her alone in her depressing misery. "Goodnight," the vampire went back inside her classroom and started to shut the door on him.

Snape stuck his hand out to catch the door before she had completely slammed it shut, "Wait-" he begged in a weak voice. He was relieved to watch her open the door for him, "Why don't you come down for dinner...? Get you out of your classroom for a little while...It will do you some good," the Potions Master tried to act as appealing as possible. _Please come with me_..._I miss seeing you at dinner_...he mentally begged.

Hunter bit her thumb as she held the headache-curing potions in her arms and thought about his proposition, _What's come over him! He's acting so strangely_..._Maybe he wants something in return for the potions_. Glancing up at the dragon's skull, the vampire could see a black leathery wing waving her goodbye, _You planned it_!

What happened was that Quinn had written a letter to Snape during the weekend asking for more of the headache-curing potion. Hunter knew she should have never taught her brother how to copy her handwriting, but someone had to pay the bills and write the proper letters while she was busy teaching the classes. The young vampire had decided to take matters into his own hands. He was trying to make up for all of the accidental trouble he had caused his sister.

"I _suppose_ a change in scenery will help," she shrugged her shoulders. Turning her back on the Potions Master for a few minutes, Hunter ran to her desk to place the potion bottles down in a safe place. Coming back to the doorway, she was amazed to see that Snape still had his hand in the doorway-just incase she decided to change her mind. "I never see you during the weekends anymore-or have you been just trying to hide from me?" she changed the subject so she could take her mind off her brother trying to set her up with the Potions Master.

Nearly gaging on his own tongue when she was proposing that he was actually trying to hide from her when in fact he was desperately trying to see more of her, Snape gave her a nervous look. "I've been running errands. Restocking my inventory in the dungeons..." It was somewhat comforting to the Potions Master that she had taken notice of his sudden absence, almost like she had been trying to find him for the past few days. He had never felt the feeling of being missed, he used to think that no one would remember him once he was gone.

"Do you need anymore assistance in collecting the rest of your missing potion ingredients...?" she cleared her voice quietly. "I've probably depleted your stock of grasshoppers..." She knew that the bug population was disappearing due to the fact that the weather had become darker and that the temperature was slowly dropping.

"I have five left," Snape gave her a smirk to show that he really didn't mind that her demand of headache-curing potions had completely wiped out his stock of ingredients. He glanced over at Hunter to see if she had any more color to her complexion.

"Is there something wrong?" Hunter raised a questionable eyebrow at him.

Snape curtly shook his head and looked away, "No..." All he wanted to do was stare at her for the rest of the evening; he couldn't help himself. But every time his black eyes wandered over to her, he felt the sudden urge to push her against a wall, raise up her dress and make hot passionate-_What in the hell am I thinking about_!

"Again, thank you for the potions Severus..." Hunter tilted her head to the side as she examined the new frown on his face. She thought he was giving her the cold shoulder now that they could be seen by the students and staff and left him to go eat.

Multiple shivers ran down his spine as he thought about her lips touching his skin, _Now I'll never be able to fall asleep tonight_. Shaking his head, he forced himself to return to his normal despicable self. "It's going to be a _long_ night..." he muttered sourly to himself as he took his seat at the High Table.


	7. Old Habits Never Die

Pretending to be extremely pissed off about something, the Potions Master slammed the door shut with a quick flick of his wand. The classroom fell deadly silent when they heard the door alarmingly lock itself shut; there would be no way out. "Today-we're going to create a Levitation Potion," Snape waved his wand at the blackboard so chalked-in words would spill across it. "Four key ingredients are missing from the chalkboard here...Anyone care to tell me what they are?" He raised his eyebrows at the sight of Hermione and Theodore Nott both lifting their hands into the air at the same time, _Which one-which one_? he thought with a sneer. "Mr. Nott-please answer the question for me," Snape ignored Hermione's glare.

Straightening up in his seat, Nott cleared his voice so there would be no confusion on what he was stating out loud. "Aconite, belladonna, and hellebore are said to be used in the mixture that is spread on broomsticks to make them fly..." He beamed at Hermione and then mouthed: "You can answer the last one-Gryffindor." This was the second time Nott had beaten Hermione at answering questions before she could; it was his new favorite pastime.

It was obvious that the Potions Master knew that Nott had purposely forgotten the final missing ingredient so Hermione could seem _important enough_ to answer the question still. Snape was highly pleased, he had taught his Slytherin students very well on havocking revenge on the students from other houses. Pretending that he had just recently took notice of Hermione's raised hand, Snape called on her with little interest in what else she had to add to Nott's answer.

"A billywig stinger is the final ingredient that is missing, professor. They help provide the extra levitation needed to keep a broomstick afloat for as long as wanted." Hermione shot a rude look at Nott while he just smirked right back at her. Apparently ruffled by this new threat, Hermione stubbornly folded her arms across her chest and snorted disapprovingly at the Slytherin's recognizable sneer.

The Potions Master turned his back on the class to fill in the missing ingredients with another quick flick of his black-as-ash wand. "You all have less than an hour to brew this potion-you may begin."

Like the last Potions class, Neville was the first to complete the Levitation Potion. He kept to himself so the Potions Master wouldn't bother him or try to suspect and accuse the plump boy of receiving help again. The truth was that the Gryffindor had been getting the extra aide he needed from a Potion book Hunter had loaned out to him. Even though the book actually belonged to Hunter's younger brother, Quinn had added cheating notes and shortcuts all over the pages of the book.

When everyone was nearly complete with their potion, Snape ordered the students to bottle up their Levitation Potions and write their names on the glass bottles before handing them in. Once he had collected all of the bottles, the hooked-nose character strode back to the front of the classroom to try out the potions. "Why don't we try Mr. Longbottom's first?" _Since you've been doing so well in my class now_, he added sourly to himself.

Tugging on the wooden cork lid, Snape began to pour the potion on something he had taken out of his writing desk with his free hand. A high-pitched chirping started to sound off when the liquid hit the creature pinned to the wooden desk. "Maybe if your pet toad flies above your head Mr. Longbottom-you might not _lose_ it as often as you do..." Snape sneered as he stepped out of the way so the students could see Neville's pet toad, Trevor, croaking and chirping with fear.

"Oh no..." Neville was biting his fingernails already as he watched his fat toad just sit on the edge of the Potions Master's desk. He had been searching for Trevor all around the castle this morning-the only place he didn't check was the dungeons. "Poor Trevor," he sighed unhappily as the toad continued to croak loudly.

Fed up with the toad just sitting there, Snape used the back of his hand to knock the pet off the edge of the desk. As the toad fell to the stone floor, something miraculous happened-it started to hover above the ground with its legs sprawled out as it was trying to brace itself for the fall that was suppose to come. It took a few seconds for the toad to realize that it was never going to finish the fall; it glance down at the stone floor below and then chirped happily. Trevor then began to swim through the air as if it was underwater instead of hovering four feet in the air.

The Potions Master snatched the amphibian from the air, poured a new liquid all over Trevor's porous skin, and then tossed the toad back at Neville with an ungrateful sneer on his thin lips. "At least you put enough effort into your potion this time Mr. Longbottom..." Snape strolled back to his writing desk where he had placed the rest of his students' potions.

Like he was tired of the whole thing, Snape went on in a boring manner as he checked the remaining Leviatation Potions. _Bloody hell-doesn't anyone mess up in Potions class anymore_! Sighing unpleasantly when no one's potion went terribly wrong like he had hoped, he excused the class right when the bell rang.

When everyone was gone, he smiled to himself once more. As strange as it sounded, all the Potions Master wanted to do was see more of the vampire. He had not seen her at breakfast; which made him very gloomy. Even though his mind was telling him to go and check up on her, he knew better not to bother someone when they are depressed from experience. _It's almost lunch time anyways Severus_..._Maybe she'll drop by the Great Hall for a quick snack_.

He remembered the dream he had of her last night; he mentally pictured Hunter sinking her fangs into his neck. Shivering at the image, Snape turned his mind away from the vampire's awfully sharp fangs and rubbed the sides of his neck subconsciously. Glancing around his classroom he saw a huge brown speck on the grey stone floor, "What the-" Snape walked closer to it with some caution.

Releasing a loud croak, Trevor hopped towards the Potions Master's shiny black shoes trying to see if he was its owner or not. Somehow, the toad had wriggled free from Neville's robe pocket and had done it without Neville knowing.

"Do you have an escape wish or something?" Snape grumbled as he bent down to snatch the pet from the floor, "Were you an Azkaban prisoner in your former life?" He was beginning to wonder how Trevor could escape its master every single time in the past seven years. Lifting the toad up to his eye level, Trevor blinked at Snape and then chirped cheerfully at him, _Very odd pet indeed_.

- - - - - - -

"Sister-" Quinn glanced away from the sun rising in the sky from the Dark Arts classroom's window, "The bank will require the payment in two morrows-what are we to do about it?"

Irritated by her brother's persistence about questioning her until he was pleased enough with an answer, Hunter folded her newspaper into a tight round ball and threw it at his head. "Do not _bother_ me when I am _thinking_, Quinn..." she narrowed her black eyes at him and then returned to formulating plans. Hunter was sitting at her working desk, drumming her fingers on the wood, and staring off into nothing; her brother thought she had gone mad.

Frustrated, Quinn began to pace back and forth in front of her; he had learned this trick from Hunter-it helped ease his nerves. "What to do...what to do..." he bit his lip as he strained his mind to come up with the perfect plan before his sister.

Hunter jumped from her chair when the brilliant plan finally came to her mind, "I think I've got it..." she glanced over to her brother who had finally ceased pacing. "After my classes today, we will both take a little trip to London...how does that sound dear brother?"

As if he knew what she was getting at, Quinn raised a questionable eyebrow back at her, "But you said we were not to st-"

"This isn't going to be some petty damn _pure-snatching ordeal _Quinn! This is going to be a _bloody heist_!" Hunter was brimming with energy now, her depression was finally gone. "We'll wipe the bloody bank clean...Just like old times! But first...we'll need some help-"

Frightened by Hunter's sudden asserting attitude, Quinn backed over to the window to make sure no one listening in. "_Help_...?" he squeaked with his bright blue eyes opened wide with fear. "You mean help from-" the younger vampire swallowed, "-from our _old friends_...?"

"Go tell Lucius Malfoy to alert the others to meet me outside of the Leaky Cauldron-tonight at nine o'clock...I will retrieve Fletcher myself, understand?" She had a malicious grin on her pale lips, _I will finally have my revenge_... Hunter beamed proudly as her brother transformed into his Animagus form, "Try to not give them too much information, brother...I want to explain some of it myself," she quickly added as Quinn flapped his way out of the window.

- - - - -

Folding his arms across his chest, an unhappy Death Eater snorted when one of his companions told him what time it was. "What are we standing around here for-someone is bound to see us standing out in front of the Leaky Cauldron for no bloody reason!" He stood in the cobbled street very awkwardly for a moment and then asked his friend what time it was now. "Where the hell is she?" the Death Eater grumbled sourly when it was five minutes past nine. "She is never late..." he added quickly.

"She can be late _once_, Walden," snapped the friend who had a gold pocket watch in the palm of his hand.

"Easy for you to say Lucius!" Macnair hissed between his yellow teeth, "You were set free from Azkaban for denouncing your allegiance to the Dark Lord-_I_ on the other hand...am still wanted to be hung by the Ministry of Magic! Or did you forget this, Lucius?" he had both of his fists clenched tight. Walden Macnair had changed his appearance since he was still running from the Ministry of Magic. He had darkened his muddy brown hair to a pitch black. For the past few years he was trying to get rid of his heavy Scottish accent and try to sound more British; so far he sounded like he was German.

Clicking his pocket watch shut, Lucius Malfoy sternly glared at Macnair with his nose pointed into the air to show that he was better raised. "Keep your head on-" Malfoy ignored Macnair's rude hand gesture, "No one will find us here..."

Lucius Malfoy was around six feet tall and his platinum blonde hair had been cut back-now it only reached his shoulders. The pureblood had lost his good looks over the two years during his stay in Azkaban. Forced to sell most of his expensive robes and Dark Arts items, Malfoy was reduced to wearing petty black robes that Snape had been kind enough to buy for him. The pureblood was most indebted to Hunter though, she had given him enough money to survive for the year-which had nearly reduced her to shambles also. He had just been divorced; semi-pleased about the entire event still; the moment after he was locked up in Azkaban. Even though he wasn't pleased to know that he was penniless and homeless the moment he was released from the wizard prison, he had somehow managed to find a new woman in his life. This woman was different from Malfoy's old acquired tastes...She worked for the Ministry of Magic, and she didn't have much of an annual income like Malfoy was use to. She was a pureblood though and that fact was good enough for him.

As Macnair muttered more rude comments under his breath, two loud popping sounds suddenly came from right behind them. "Hello boys..." Hunter's voice was smoother than usual, "I see you both haven't killed each other yet-that's always a good sign." She placed both of her pallid hands on Macnair's and Malfoy's shoulders, "We're one short...Where's our cold-blooded killer?"

"Antonin is currently doing something for the Dark Lord," Malfoy snorted when he called Voldemort by his proper title. "I hear that Quinn got himself into quite a bit of trouble a few weeks ago."

The second person who had apparated with Hunter coughed nervously and tried to remain hidden behind the vampire. Removing her hands from the Death Eaters' shoulders, Hunter turned her head to glare at the man cowering behind her. "He wasn't the only one who got himself in trouble," she narrowed her emotionless eyes at Fletcher.

This dirty, weary-eyed man was well-known by everyone in the Wizarding World as a very sneaky thief who would steal from his very friends if he had the chance to. He always wore clothes that made him smell like that last time he had taken a bath was Christmas. Never trustworthy and most likely to stab you in the back, Fletcher had an upbeat personality and lived for fire whiskey.

It was apparent that Macnair had never really taken notice that the dirty thief was with Hunter-he talked about Fletcher as if he wasn't even around. "Let me guess, the brown thing that sounds like a bell?" the Scottish Death Eater was having some fun with Fletcher's first name now. He spotted Malfoy's blank look; sighing, Macnair whispered the word "Dung" into Malfoy's ear.

"That's pretty good Walden," Fletcher piped up from over Hunter's shoulders; he was actually being serious about it too. "I'll have to write that one down later-" he made a stale mental note to himself.

Hunter completely ignored Fletcher just like Macnair was doing; Fletcher had stolen from the both of them and they were still not pleased with him. "Quinn is back at the house, why don't we go there for a drink or two, eh?" the vampire smiled at her fellow Death Eaters for the first time in years. "A change in company is always rewarding Walden," she took note of his frowning brow and his stiff upper lip, "What do you say?"

"Alright, I guess..." Macnair glanced back at the Leaky Cauldron to see if anyone had spotted them, but luckily enough no one had. Reaching for something behind his shoulders, he pulled a hood up and over his face to keep it concealed.

Hunter grabbed Fletcher by the neck robe collar and forced him to apparate with her since he didn't know the way to her house. Which was probably a very good thing too, since he always tried to steal her priceless silver collection.

"Bloody hell, what is Quinn doing now?" Hunter grumbled as she stood in the street right in front of her un-welcoming home. From the street she could see inside their kitchen, where Quinn was wearing a fluffy white chef hat. "Uggh," she moaned when she realized what he was actually cooking, "I despise his spinach puffs..." Turning to see if Malfoy and Macnair had followed her or not, she watched as Fletcher sneakily tried to steal Malfoy's pocket watch.

Malfoy went bright red in the face, slapping Fletcher across the face with the back of his hand, and holding the thief by the scruff of the neck with his other hand. "_How dare you try to rob me of my great-grandfather's pocket watch_!" Violently shaking Fletcher, the pureblood finally tossed the thief on the paved street once he had retrieved his golden pocket watch back. Looking up to see Macnair's and Hunter's surprised expressions, Malfoy simply shrugged his shoulders at them. "Where's that drink you promised, Avalon?"

Laughing, Hunter signaled for her friends to follow her inside. "And to believe that I actually missed you guys," she smiled brightly as she opened the front door. "Come in when you can stand Dung!"

"Anyone hungry?" Quinn stuck his head out of the kitchen door with his pearly white fangs shining in the light. Frowning suddenly, the vampire only saw two men standing inside the dinning room, "Where's Dung?"

"He's a little shaken up at the moment," Macnair winked at Hunter and Malfoy as he walked around the dinning room. Macnair could remember the last time he had been at the vampires' home, they were counting up money and examining jewels they had just stolen. Something caught his eye though, boxes were filled to the brim with books and clothing. The boxes were neatly stacked next to the dinning room table. "What's happening here-are you leaving us Avalon?" for once in his life Macnair sounded worried about not knowing what was going on.

Following Macnair into the dinning room, Malfoy glanced at the moving boxes with an unhappy look on his darkened face. "The Ministry is moving you out, aren't they?" the pureblood turned to see that Hunter was on the verge of tears. "I thought the Ministry wouldn't take the house away unless-" He fell silent when he recalled what had happened to him when he was sent to the wizard prison. "I guess they can still do that..." Malfoy grumbled sourly as he took another pitiful glance around the dinning room.

"I'll go get us some drinks," she tipped her head in respect to the two Death Eaters before she went into the kitchen to see what her brother was up to. A horrible stench hit her nostrils the moment she entered the kitchen, she began to eye what her brother was cooking on the stove. "What in the world is that _smell_ dear brother?" Hunter's cold black eyes were starting to water from the strong bitter stench.

"Polyjuice Potion," Quinn stuck a wooden spoon into the tiny pewter cauldron, which he had placed on the top of the stove. "You aren't the only one with brilliant plans," he took a whiff of the potion. "Anyways...I believe there are two bottles left in the cupboard over there-"

Somewhat proud of her younger brother, Hunter quickly patted him on the back and snatched the remaining bottles of fire whiskey. Glancing at the bottles, she noticed that one was nearly twenty years old, "Better save this for something to celebrate about." Hunter stuck it back into the cupboard and walked out of the kitchen with only one bottle in her pallid hands. As she poured the drinks, the front door creaked open and Fletcher dared to make his appearance inside the home. "Someone must have smelled the liquor," Hunter teased quietly.

Fletcher went to take a seat next to Malfoy but the pureblood threw a huge fit and forced Fletcher to sit next to Macnair instead. "Don't even _think_ about touching my pocket watch," Malfoy snarled darkly at him, "or I'll _cut_ your hands off..." It was obvious that the threat had succeeded for Fletcher did not come any closer to Malfoy for the rest of the night.

To add to the dreadful effect, Macnair advised Malfoy on how to carry his threat out successfully. "You might need to borrow Avalon's dagger," Macnair hissed to Malfoy from across the dinner table, "It's easier to cut through bone with _her_ knife..."

"You have no sense of being polite at the dinner table do you Walden?" Hunter rolled her eyes at him as she poured herself a drink and then one more for her absent brother. "Once Quinn is done in there-I'll explain..." Pulling out an extra chair out of thin air, she took a seat next to Malfoy and sipped on her fire whiskey silently.

"We were summoned here?" Fletcher asked a little too loudly as he gulped down his first drink in a matter of seconds. Unlike the Death Eaters, Hunter had forced the dirty thief to accompany her to her home since he and her brother were the main cause of her stooping to thievery once more. The only reason Fletcher was still breathing was because Quinn and him are such good friends, Hunter didn't want to lose her brother's trust.

About five minutes of silence passed, only ending when Quinn came out of the kitchen still wearing his white chef hat over his short blonde hair. Surprisingly, Malfoy broke out into laughter when he noticed the charred hole on the very top of Quinn's chef hat and Macnair finally joined in. Feeling embarrassed, Quinn snatched the cooking hat off his head, threw it at Malfoy's laughing face, and then stubbornly took a seat at the head of the table between Fletcher and Malfoy. "Shut up Dung," Quinn snapped at his friend when he heard him chuckling about the chef hat also.

Standing up from her seat, Hunter cleared her throat to grab everyone's full attention so she could begin with the plans. "I know I haven't asked much from you..." she didn't make any eye contact with Fletcher, "but I'm now asking you for your help." Hunter glanced down at the reddish liquid in her half-filled drinking glass for a few seconds, "If this plan works...we'll have enough money that we won't need to be worrying about where we will be sleeping next." Waiting for her words to sink in, the vampire finally raised her glass into the air with a faint smile in her lips. "To one last raid...?" she watched each of their expressions carefully.

Quinn and Malfoy stood up and raised their drinking glasses into the air at the exact same moment, "To one last raid!" They both seemed excited about the proposition of being richer than they had ever dreamed of being, especially Quinn since he had never been wealthy in his entire life.

Nervous at first, Fletcher seemed to be calculating a way of how he could be the richest out of the rest of them. When he believed that there would be a way to steal a little bit more extra cash for himself, he stood up and poured himself another drink before he raised it into the air.

Glancing at all of the people standing up around the dinner table, Macnair did not look too pleased about another heist. The last one he went on with Hunter had nearly ended killing the both of them; they barely managed to escape with their bodies intact. "It will be very difficult to pull this off when we're one short Avalon," he said wearily.

"We're more experience now, Walden..." Quinn reassured his sister's old friend.

When Macnair did not seemed too convinced by the younger vampire's words, Hunter lowered her glass to give her full attention to the Death Eater. "It _will_ be harder without Antonin...you're right about that Walden-" she smiled weakly at him, "Just trust me please..."

Frowning, Macnair finally stood up from his seat with his drink in his hand. They all clanked their glasses together while Macnair said "To one last raid," and finished off their drinks in one quick gulp. Once that was all settled, Quinn ran back into the kitchen to get the spinach puffs he had been secretly cooking since Hunter hated the food.

As they drank a little bit more and chewed on the fluffy spinach puffs, Hunter tried to go over the plan before she was too tipsy to remember what she actually talking about. "Tomorrow we will rob every last galleon from Gringotts Bank," a dark pleasant gleam could be seen lurking in her black eyes.

Malfoy shifted uneasily in his seat, "How are we going to do this? We will be recognized the moment we walk into the bank." The prospect of being sent to Azkaban for the second time in two years frightened the pureblood; he never wanted to go back there.

Her gaze fell upon Quinn, "We have one plan to ensure that no one will recognize us, Lucius…"

"I've been brewing up a Polyjuice Potion for the past few months," the younger vampire explained in a boastful tone of voice. "I've even managed to make the effects of the potion last a little bit longer than usual," he took a sip of his fire whiskey as the rest of the group stared blankly at him. "What? I'm too good-looking to be a potions expert now!" Quinn seemed flustered by their strange looks.

"In the morning I'll go and collect some hair samples from some _prime candidates_ that I have been watching all of this evening. When I return, we'll drink the Polyjuice Potion and be on our way to the Gringotts Bank like we're ordinary customers." Hunter continued in a soft voice.

"Gringotts has raised their security precautions since last year Avalon," Macnair interrupted without any regret for doing it. "They only allow twenty wizards or witches inside the place now... It will be harder to get us _all_ inside the bank without looking suspicious."

"Only three of us are entering the bank," she glanced at Quinn and Malfoy for a split second and then glared at Fletcher when he was eyeing her silverware. "Walden, Dung, and I will stroll into the Gringotts Bank like _ordinary customers_," she turned her smile back to Macnair. "You and I will enter the bank first, Dung will follow us inside a little bit later to help us carry the rest of the gold-"

"Please don't tell me we're going to try and pull that couples act off again..." Macnair moaned pathetically when he knew where her plan was suddenly going.

"You," Hunter pointed at Macnair, "will go before me to one of the counters and try to withdraw some money from your account..." As if she knew what next he was going to say, she cut him off sweetly, "Don't worry about the account...I'll have the vault keys along with the vault numbers when I get the hairs from the _prime candidates_. Of course your account will be completely empty...Which you will hotheadedly deny and begin throwing a pissy fit right in the middle of the bank. Once you have everyone's attention, that is when I will go to the next available counter. I will order the goblin to give me everything they have or I'll threaten to blow his head off his neck...Upon receiving the money, I will tell the goblin to give a third of the money bags to you and pretend that everything was just a big mess up. When you end your little _temper tantrum _and leave the bank without another word, Dung here will come into play." Glaring at the dirty thief, Hunter slammed her glass down on the wooden table to pull his attention away from the silverware. "I will instruct the goblin to give you half of whatever is leftover. You will collect the money bags and follow Walden back outside of the bank. Hopefully, if no one has caught on with what is going on...I will take my exit peacefully from the Gringotts Bank and join the both of you on the steps..."

Hunter turned her attention to Malfoy and Quinn. "As for you two...you will be my scouts..." she noticed their unhappy expressions, "When Walden and Dung get outside...you will be waiting for them on the marble steps right in front of the bank. They will sneak you the money bags just incase there is a problem inside the bank and they have already set off the alarms. You both will be Ministry workers who guard the bank... If the alarm is sounded off-the both of you will then pretend to _capture_ Walden and Dung and apparate them out of there back to my house, alright? If all three of us manage to get outside without any problems-then you can join us and apparate out of there."

- - - - - - -

Worried about where she could be, Snape searched the castle high and low for her on Friday night and Saturday morning. He had checked several times in the Dark Arts classroom for her-including the ceiling just incase she was trying to hide. Finally, he forced himself to knock at Hunter's office door to see if she would answer. Standing awkwardly in front of the office door, he heard a tiny whimper from inside, Snape knocked once more before he reached out to open the office door.

It creaked open the second his hand brushed up against the doorknob. For a second he stood in the doorway wondering why he was stupidly breaking into the vampire's office when she wasn't even around. He head another whimper and glanced down at the stone floor to see Hunter's pet gytrash lying on its back waiting for someone to play with it. Staring down at the dire dog spirit, Snape took a chance by bending down and reaching out to pet the creature.

Growling at first, Brooklyn sniffed Snape's outstretched hand. Realizing that it was a familiar scent, the gytrash began wagging its tail. Brooklyn had been left behind to guard Hunter's office while she was away; it was pretty lonely being locked up in the office for several hours. Snape scratched the gytrash's right ear while it barked at him trying to tell the Potions Master that it had been left alone for nearly two days without anything to chew on. As he continued to scratch, the Potions Master looked around Hunter's office to see if she was hiding from him. "Where's your master?" he asked the white dog with an unhappy look.

"She's gone to London, Severus," said a soft, delicate voice from behind Snape.

Jumping up, he was embarrassed to be found snooping through Hunter's office and playing with her beloved pet. "Headmaster..." Snape coughed uneasily as he faced Dumbledore, "I was just checking to see-"

Luckily, Dumbledore smiled brightly to the Potions Master and raised his right hand to silence him, "No need to explain..." The elderly wizard curiously glanced at the gytrash who was now licking Snape's hand, "I see you have made a new friend Severus..." Dumbledore pretended not to see the Potions Master's blushing red face, "Miss Hunter had to take care of a few things in London...things that she could not put off thanks to the Ministry of Magic. I was just about to have a cup of tea in my office, would you care to join me?" there was a twinkle in the headmaster's warm eyes. "Of course, your new friend is invited to join us also..." Dumbledore smiled at the gytrash while it demanded more loving attention from Snape.

- - - - -

"Be careful with it!" Quinn barked at Fletcher as the dirty thief took a silver goblet from the young vampire's hands and nearly spilled the goblet's contents in the process. "You only need to take a _sip_ of it-" he added when he thought Fletcher was going to chug the entire liquid down all at once.

Pulling off a disgusted-looking face while he drank the potion, Fletcher was glad that he wouldn't have to drink every last drop. "Bloody hell Quinn! It tastes like the shit of the pork!" his face was turning a light shade of green.

"And he should know too," Macnair grumbled as he continued to read the _Daily Prophet_ with a faint smirk on his lips. The Scottish Death Eater sat in a tacky floral-printed lounge chair, which Quinn had stolen from a Muggle home for his sister's birthday, listening to Fletcher's horrid descriptions of the potion's taste.

Watching the scene Fletcher was making from the dinning room table, Malfoy rolled his eyes at the entire thing. "_Get a bloody grip_," Malfoy snarled as he opened his pocket watch to see the time, "It doesn't taste _that awful-_" he scowled at the dirty thief.

The front door swung open, Hunter was grinning from ear to ear with several new items in her arms, "Christmas came early boys!" she laughed brightly. Heading to the dinning room table, she placed the items she had stolen neatly on the wooden table. "Everything is here..." Hunter whispered to herself as she examined the vault keys, pieces of hair, and vault numbers which went with the golden keys. "Alright-The blonde hair is mine," she pointed at the slender white hair with some regret, "It belongs to someone named Valerie Star, this is my vault key...and the vault number is five hundred and six," she pocketed the vault key.

Amazed, Malfoy glanced over at Quinn and Macnair with his eyebrows raised with wonder. "How did you manage all of this...?" he hesitated before questioning her any further, "I thought vault keys were pretty tough to steal from wizards..."

"Let's just say-I had to _hang_ the information out of them," Hunter answered smugly. "Walden-" she handed him three items, "Here's your key and vault number...as planned-your vault it completely wiped out. Oh, and your name is William Wordsworth," the vampire handed him a black hair. Turning to Fletcher, Hunter also gave him three items. "You are Graham Wellington, alright Dung?" she waited for him to nod in agreement, "Don't try to steal anything else while we're in Gringotts..." Next, Hunter handed Malfoy and her brother two strings of human hair, "Lucius-you are an Auror named James H. Caliber... and Quinn your Auror's name is Michael Bell...Any questions so far?"

Macnair spoke up, "How many are we permitted to kill this time Avalon?" he asked his question like it was some kind of joke.

"The usual amount, Walden," Hunter examined the blonde hair in the palm of her hand, "Enough to ensure that the job is finished..."

- - - - -

The Gringotts Bank was colossal in size; it towered over the other magical shops in London. Surrounding the bank were seven foot-tall black, speared gates all outlined with gold foil; this was a recent addition to the bank due to the restriction of magical folk in the vaults. The first pair of doors were made of bronze, which were watched by an uniformed goblin and two Aurors. These three made sure that suspicious-looking characters wouldn't enter the bank in the first place.

Unfortunately, the line into the Gringotts Bank was much longer than anyone had planned, but none of the thieves seemed too worried by it. Malfoy and Quinn were standing on the steps of the entrance to the bank, pretending to be the Aurors who always stood in front of the bank for two years now. No one noticed the Aurors' voice change, including the goblin but he was never really fond of humans anyways. The blonde thieves were now brunettes to their greatest dismay, and their robes were royal blue; which Malfoy protested to wear at first.

Flicking her long blonde hair over her shoulders, Hunter smiled sweetly at Macnair with her blue-hued eyes locked onto his face. "How does my dress look, _honey_?" Hunter could barely keep a straight face.

"Just wonderful _sweetheart_," Macnair was having trouble not laughing at the loving face she was pulling off so smoothly. He readjusted his robe collar and then his black-rimmed sunglasses with some prestige. "This better work...I feel like a total prat," Macnair snorted under his breath just as Malfoy and Quinn allowed ten more people inside the bank. Noticing the goblin's cold glares in their direction, Macnair glanced at the closed bronze doors and then back at the suspecting goblin. "He better let us in," he growled.

"I'm more worried about the other two that guard the silver doors-they are the ones who decide whether you appear like a thief or not," Hunter whispered to Macnair, she sounded a little worried.

Macnair gave her a weird look, "You're kidding right?" his voice was a little too loud so he quickly added, "That's great that you got the job, _sweetheart_!" When he thought it was safe again, he lowered his glasses so he could look at her eye-to-eye. "Then what is the point of the Aurors...?" he wasn't happy now.

"The Aurors are trained to spot Death Eaters-that's what they do...Goblins are trained to spot thieves, it's always been this way!" Hunter patted Macnair on the shoulder to show her condolences for him being simple minded; he glared back at her in reply. "_I love you too sweety_," she sneered loudly at him as Quinn and Malfoy gave them the okay to enter the bank.

The two thieves glided over to the bronze doors and went inside after the uniformed goblin bowed to them respectively. "Nervous?" she asked Macnair as they stood in front of the silver doors that were the actual entrance into the Gringotts Bank.

He noticed the engraved writing on the silver doors, "Now I am…" he whispered back to her. His mind was wondering on possible escapes if something went terribly wrong; he worried about Fletcher messing everything up for them.

The two goblins that guarded the silver doors opened them for the two thieves and bowed as Hunter and Macnair entered an elaborate marble hall. Immediately, she spotted small dark creatures moving around the bank. It was more goblins; all doing their jobs with great speed. Some were leading wizards and witches to their personal vaults, while others were measuring precious stones and jewels of all kinds and sizes.

"See you in a minute sweetie," Hunter said loudly to Macnair as they stood before the marble counters where goblins were sitting and counting their money. Macnair kissed her on the cheek with disgust when a goblin stared directly at them. "Be careful Avalon," he whispered as he pulled his face away from hers and departed to the first available goblin off to his far right. Going to the left, Hunter confidently strolled over to a goblin who was weighing an emerald with some scales.

"Salutations," muttered the goblin as he scribbled down how much the emerald weighed, "Welcome to Gringotts Bank. I personally apologize for the line outside, but precautions must be taken." The goblin's speech sounded unsympathetic and memorized like he had to say this to every customer. "What may I do for you?" he finally asked when he placed the beautiful emerald off to the side of the counter.

Hunter stared at the emerald; the pea green color of the precious stone shined in her eyes as she watched it hungrily. "I would like to deposit this," she unpocketed a fake gold watch and placed it on the white marble counter. "Then I would like to make a withdrawal from my vault…" she stopped herself from giggling with excitement.

"You have a key and a vault number, miss?" asked the goblin. His nose wrinkled as he waited for her to hand him a vault key; he tapped his long fingers on the marble as Hunter searched in her robe pockets.

Glancing over to her right, Hunter saw that Macnair was just about to put on his act as the goblin told him that his vault is empty. "_EMPTY_!" Macnair boomed at the diminutive creature, "I just put three hundred galleons in there last week! CHECK AGAIN!" he ordered the goblin with an annoyed voice. The plan was working, Macnair was slowly grabbing everyone's attention and soon a small crowd of wizards and witches began to form around him. Once he knew that he had an audience, he began to rant even louder.

"Here it is," Hunter grinned brightly as she slipped the goblin her stolen vault key, "The vault number is five hundred and six…"

The goblin picked up the fake gold watch and began walking away with it to hand it to another goblin; he stopped midway and went back over to Hunter. "You know that this watch really isn't made of gold, don't you?" he whispered to her so he wouldn't embarrass her in public.

She now had him exactly where she wanted him. As Hunter listened silently, she began playing with her right robe sleeve until the goblin finished explaining why her watch was useless to be put away into a vault. "I see…" she whispered. "I guess I'll just make a withdrawal instead then."

He nodded approvingly, "Same vault number as before I presume?" he asked just before he was about to lean away from her and get off his high stool.

Now Hunter could allow herself to laugh out loud, "No…a totally different vault…" she sneered maliciously as a blade slid out from her sleeve that she had been playing with earlier. Somewhat enjoying this, she shined the knife in his face near his exposed throat. "Don't you hate cleaning these things?" she hissed with some joy in her blue eyes as she ran her index finger along the edge of the blade.

The goblin swallowed hard, "I'll just go put this watch away for y-" he was leaning away but Hunter snatched his neck and pulled him back to the position he was in before. He began quivering as Hunter released his throat and made her blade sparkle next to the white marble on the counter.

"I would love to let you do that," she said in his tongue, "but…you are more useful to me right here. I want you to have one of your fellow workers to bring me ten bags containing the total of ten thousand galleons…understand?" The vampire moved her blade to his throat, "I know every word in your language…so don't even try to signal to the others about what I am doing," she threatened him sternly. "I would not try to make any trouble if I were you…my companions will not be pleased if they are found or caught." Hunter hid her blade back into her sleeve as a goblin walked past the marble counter with two money bags in his hands. When the new goblin was gone, Hunter made the blade shine in the direction of the goblin's eyes as he went to grab a fellow goblin to get the money from several unknown vaults.

A few minutes later, he returned with sweat rolling down his forehead. "They are bringing you your money…" he said with distaste. The goblin narrowed his yellow eyes at Hunter, "You know you won't make it out of the silver doors alive…" he commented to her sulkily.

"When the bags get here-I want you to give_-_" Hunter glanced around the bank to see if Fletcher had made it inside-but he had not, "_-_half to that man yelling over there..." She pointed with her thumb off in Macnair's direction and then bit her thumb when a witch casually stared in her direction. Worried that something had happened to Fletcher, Hunter was quickly planning a new strategy in the back of her mind.

Two goblins came waddling over to Hunter and her goblin; she hide her knife once again when they drew closer; with their arms filled with money bags. Luckily, since the threat of Voldemort returning from the dead was still going on, it was common for the magical folk to withdraw all of their life savings from Gringotts Bank at once. They left without saying a word or a single care about the unusual amount of money being taken away by one human.

Hunter grinned as the goblin opened the first leather pouch to show her that it was at least one thousand galleons in there, "_Excellent_…" she beamed as she turned her head slightly to see that the crowd was still observing Macnair's frantic cries of someone stealing his beloved money.

The goblin signaled for another goblin deliverer to take four of the money bags to Macnair and then he pushed the remaining six money bags in front of her. The goblin saw that her cold blue eyes were now green with greed; she grinned to him and then glanced away from the precious stone to him. "How much does it weigh?" she asked with some hunger in her voice.

"Three pounds…" the goblin muttered as Hunter's face lightened. "_You want that too_?" he snarled in an unpleased voice; he had worked on the emerald for weeks making it as elaborate and as spectacular as possible.

With the snap of her fingers, the emerald disappeared from the marble counter and into one of Hunter's empty pockets, "_I'll take it to go_…" she smirked with great pleasure. "Thank you for your _business_," Hunter carried three money bags in each hand. Lightly humming to herself, Hunter could hear Macnair's flamboyant cries of his vault being emptied die down; she guessed that he had finally received his money but she was totally wrong.

There was a sudden scream in the bank; Hunter flipped around and saw the crowd that was around Macnair was now backing away from him. "DEATH EATER!" cried a witch in purple robes at the top of her lungs; "DEATH EATER!" she gasped and others around her began reaching for their wands.

"Ah-shit…" Hunter growled under her breath. She turned back to see her goblin inching his way towards the silver doors, _Oh no you don't_! Whispering a spell, the goblin froze before he could reach the end of the marble counter. "And stay there too, ungrateful bastard…" she hissed at him with a nasty look.

One stoutly tall wizard with a grey mustache raised his wand at Macnair and was starting a spell that would stop Macnair dead in his tracks. The problem was that the Death Eater was only just realizing what was finally going on, the Polyjuice Potion was wearing off and his exposed wrists clearly showed his Dark Mark. Hunter bit her lip as she stood there; she couldn't understand where Fletcher was-he was suppose to be in the bank by now.

Lifting her blade high, she threw it and the blade embedded itself into the wizard's left shoulder. Instantly, everyone froze as the wizard screamed in pain trying to pull the cursed blade from his shoulder. There were more screams and the crowd around Macnair suddenly thinned because they all had thought that he had harmed the wizard and not Hunter. Macnair took this opportunity and bolted across the marble hall; blocking hexes and jinxes the entire time. He ran towards Hunter with a pallid expression, "I think we've overstayed our welcome!"

Hunter saw that the two goblins were closing the silver doors, trying to lock them both in. "Time to go!" she grabbed his arm and they slipped across the marble hall towards the silver doors spending most of their time fighting off spells.

Macnair yelled out two spells, the goblins crippled to the ground as they tried to push the silver doors shut the entire way. They leaped over the limp goblin bodies and continued to run, "You like surfing?" he asked Hunter as they could see the bronze doors beginning to close far ahead of them.

Pointing his wand at the marble floor, Macnair yelled out a charm which covered the white marble with a thick layer of ice. Slipping and sliding across the frozen layer of ice, they barely squeezed past the bronze doors into the open air where Quinn and Malfoy were waiting for them.

An alarm was sounded and the crowd outside the bank turned to spot Hunter and Macnair standing awkwardly on the marble steps-panting and sweating with the money in their hands. "Um…I think it would be a good time to disappear now…" Hunter whispered in a desperate voice. Quickly tossing some money bags to Quinn and Malfoy to lighten their load, Hunter and Macnair backed up against the bronze doors as the magical folk who were waiting in line for nearly an hour surrounded them. Popping out of thin air, the two fake Aurors successfully made it out of situation.

A flash of light came from the right corner of the top of the stairs; it smacked Hunter directly in the face and she went completely blind. She heard Macnair yell out an unforgivable curse. Suddenly she felt him grab her hand and the loud noises and screams of anger suddenly disappeared.

- - - - -

"We have eight thousand galleons!" Quinn sang happily to himself as he handed Macnair three more leather bags, "Plus some!" he beamed even more with happiness.

Macnair weighed the bags in his hands and then raised a questionable eyebrow towards the younger vampire, "Where did Fletcher run off to?" he asked as he pocketed one of the bags into his robe; Hunter told them they could each keep two bags of money after the heist.

"Ran like a scared dog with his tail in between his legs the second the Minister of Magic showed up at the front of the line demanding to speak with a few of the goblins in charge of the bank..." Malfoy replied. The once-again blonde sat in the tacky lounge chair with his feet resting on a small matching cushion, "Lucky that you both came out when you did...The Minister only had enough time to hex Avalon and not the rest of us."

After a while, Malfoy went into Hunter's bedroom to check on her, "You alright?" he asked her quietly as he took a seat right next to her on the miniature pull-out sofa.

Malfoy could see that her pupils were dilated and the black in her eyes were replaced with white. "At least I can see again…still burns though," she whispered. At that moment she remembered that there was something in her robe, "I got you something," digging deep into her pockets she pulled out the three pound emerald.

Nearly falling over from the sight, Malfoy choked and forgot to breathe. "This is _mine_?" he squeaked as he finally remembered to inhale and exhale. Hunter nodded in reply and placed the pea green stone into his hands, "Bloody hell-it's heavy!" he lifted it up to his eye level to inspect it more carefully.

"Three pounds," Hunter replied as she watched Malfoy's eyes turn green like hers had done when she first spotted it at the bank. "This should be enough to buy you a new home also," she was shocked to have the Death Eater hug her so tightly.

After a while Hunter finally came downstairs into the dining room to have dinner with her old friends and Quinn. Macnair reenacted his entire speech to the goblin when the creature told him that all of his money was gone from the vault. "I just feel sorry for the next bloke who goes into the bank and pulls the same thing when his vault is _actually empty_..." Quinn laughed loudly.

"I fell sorry for Dung-the next time I see that bloody coward-" Macnair grumbled sourly as he finished his cup of tea. Everyone steered clear of the fire whiskey this time, they had all gotten a little too tipsy the night before.

Once dinner was over with, Hunter helped the Death Eaters recount the money to see if there would be enough to split it all equally with the four of them. Snoring away in the floral-printed lounge chair was Hunter's brother, his mouth was wide open and his head was touching his left shoulder.

Malfoy caught her watching her brother, "Home sweet home, eh?" he said in a joking voice.

"So how are you feeling lass?" Macnair asked in a very positive voice this time around as Hunter handed him two thousand galleons.

"Much better…" Hunter whispered softly. Murders or not, Macnair and Malfoy were her true friends and would stick by her side as long as they were alive.

- - - - - - -

Slowly nodding off in his office chair, Snape's grip on his drinking goblet loosened as he fell into a deep sleep. The Potions Master had a little too much to drink that Saturday night, but at least he wasn't alone this time. Curled up by his feet was Hunter's pet gytrash, who was pleasingly chewing on a bone Snape had conjured for it.

Howling out loud all of a sudden, Brooklyn leapt to his feet when he heard a familiar whistle from outside. His master was finally back.

Snoring himself awake, Snape found the dire dog spirit scratching his office door and whining enthusiastically. "What? Do you want to go out?" he yawned loudly as he climbed out of his office chair and slowly progressed to the door. He only just realized that his wine goblet was still in his right hand; luckily it was empty before he fell asleep. "Alright, I'll let you out..." the Potions Master grumbled as he swung his office door open.

The goblet hit the stone floor the instant Snape saw who was standing in his doorway, "Avalon..." he nearly choked with fear of being caught with her pet gytrash. "I can explain," Snape blurted out when he could tell that Hunter was angry with him, "I was worried about you, so I went searching for you in your classroom...but you weren't there. Obviously you weren't there because you were in London at that time-but I didn't know that..." He smoothed his long black hair quickly to hide the fact that he had passed out drunk in his office. "Then I went to your office and I knocked-knocked for a while too...then the door _suddenly opened_. Can you believe it? Bloody hell my head hurts," he rubbed his forehead and tried to focus long enough to continue with his explanation. "I found your dog here and he followed me out so I didn't know what to do but give him a bone and some attention and..." Snape closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them, "What a bloody headache..."

"You broke into my office because you were _worried_ about me!" Hunter knew that he was drunk, so she took care to yell loudly in his face.

"No, no, no..." Snape waved his arms into the air very wildly, "The door opened _itself_..."

Narrowing her eyes at him, Hunter tapped her fingers impatiently on her folded arms as he tried to explain some more. "_By itself_?" she snorted.

"Yes..."

"You're bloody drunk, why should I believe what you're saying?" she said in a very skeptical voice.

Snape leaned against the stone wall for some support, "I'm telling you the truth-on my word..." he made several weird hand gestures and then finally gave up.

"What was that...?" she stared at him strangely; Hunter had no idea what hand gesture he was trying to create.

"I've already forgotten," he muttered sourly as Brooklyn barked at him for some attention. "_Shut up_-don't make my headache any _worse_!" Snape's head was spinning now and he just wanted to find the nearest toilet.

Sighing, Hunter bent down, snatched his wine goblet, and then placed her free hand around his waist. "You need to go to bed..." she pocketed the goblet in her robe and made him swing his left arm around her shoulders. "Come on...I'll help you pass out in a fairly decent place," she half-joked to him.

Being dragged back into his office, Snape continued to complain about the terrible headache he was having, while the vampire frantically glanced around his office searching for the door to his private chambers. Hunter was beginning to question herself of why she was helping her arch-enemy so much these days.

"I didn't brake into your office-I swearses..." Snape hiccuped quietly.

"I know you swearses," she snickered slightly as she carried him to a blank stone wall in the back of his office. "How do I get in...?" Hunter asked in a small voice as Snape leaned against her even more.

Not really knowing what was going on, the Potions Master reached out and tapped six different stones on the blank wall without even thinking about it that much. The stones suddenly began to rearrange themselves to reveal a large room that was sparkling clean. A fireplace was located to the far right with two lounge chairs near by it, a bed was off near the back of the room, and the walls were lined books, potions, and priceless heirlooms. To the left was a shut door which probably led to the Potions Master's bathroom.

"Why are you drunk in the first place?" she questioned him without expecting him to really answer her.

"_Because_," he replied hotly, "I'm _miserable_ and I'm _lonely_..." Snape finally noticed that her hand was around his boney waist, "What are you doing...?" he asked her loudly as if she had somehow violated him.

"I'm helping your sorry ass to your soft bed...hopefully," Hunter made him stumble forward onto his bed. She didn't want to move him anymore so she conjured a blanket for him and draped it across his body. "I'll be back in a minute-I'll bring you something for your headache..." the vampire told him softly as she started to walk away from the side of his bed.

He reached out and grabbed her hand before she could get too far away from him. "I'm sorry for being a _prat_ to you for the past two monthses..." Snape looked very tired and unaware of what was really going on around him.

The vampire said nothing to him; in truth she was still shocked by his new odd behavior he had adapted to in the last few weeks. Hunter walked away from him and went back into his office to grab a few items before returning to his side with a potion in her hands. "I need you to drink this before you pass out or puke on me-alright Severus?" she bent down and gave him the bottle.

"When did you start making potions?" Snape asked just before he swallowed the nasty-smelling liquid in one long gulp; he hiccuped once again when he was done drinking it.

Opening her mouth to reply but Snape was already out cold with the potion bottle still in his hands; she smiled weakly at him. "Sleep well Severus," she patted him on the shoulder as she took the glass bottle away from him. _At least I know great sleeping potions_...she told herself as she silently left. Hunter whistled to Brooklyn and the two night-time creatures ventured through the dark dungeons without a single care in the world.


	8. Halloween Night

"Focus Potter-FOCUS!" Hunter yelled bitterly at him as she stood on the dying grass and brittle leaves right in front of an enormous tree. "Stop thinking about bloody Quidditch for a moment and focus on the task at hand!" she tapped her left foot impatiently on the ground, "_Concentrate_! How many times must I tell you these things!"

Jumping out of the way, Harry was too busy concentrating on the Whomping Willow's massive tree branches which were trying to flatten the boy into a pancake. His second task was suppose to consist of him conjuring a fire charm the instant he needed to if he was ever going to be in moral peril. Of course, the only thing quick and dangerous enough on the school grounds was the Whomping Willow. This was going to help Harry prepare his mind to face Voldemort when the time would come, but he clearly couldn't see the point in facing a Whomping Willow when he could barely focus long enough to move out of the way of the tree's branches.

Hunter smacked her forehead as the Gryffindor began leaping and rolling out of the way of the incoming branches and completely forgetting about conjuring the fire charm. _He's worse at focusing on the task at hand than Severus when he was drunk out of his bloody mind_! _What is on this boy's mind today_! Raising her hand into the air, Hunter yelled out "Immobulus" to freeze the tree. "Come here Potter...we need to have a little chat before you continue chasing your tail in a small circle here..."

Carefully, she placed her hand on the boy's shoulders and stared at him eye-to-eye in complete silence for a moment. "Tell me what is on your mind today Potter...You're not focusing on anything-something must be bothering you," Hunter gave him a slightly concerned expression as she watched his eyes wander away from hers and begin looking out towards the castle.

"It's stupid really," Harry started to mumble under his breath as his cheeks began to turn a pale shade of pink. "You see...Halloween is on Wednesday-and Ron has someone already and I..." he glanced down at the ground to hide his embarrassed face.

Obviously not understanding what he was telling her, Hunter gave him a befuddled look. "What's so special about Halloween being on Wednesday...?" she didn't understand anything that Harry was mumbling about Ron.

"There's going to be a huge party on Halloween-Professor Dumbledore announced it on Friday during dinner...dancing and everything," Harry didn't really seem too excited about the party though.

"And you're depressed about it-_because_...?"

"Ron already has a date-and I..." he fell silent for a moment, "I don't have anyone to ask-and all of these girls are flocking around me trying to make me invite them to the party..." Harry scratched his head, "It's getting really irritating," he added softly.

She continued to stare blankly at him, "There's going to be a Halloween party...with dancing...?" Hunter swallowed loudly. Harry blabbed on how all of the girls were trying to give him chocolate candies which were spiked with love potions. "Why don't you just ask one of your friends, Potter? Maybe once you have someone going with you to the dance then your little _fan club _will stop following you around with poisoned candies, eh?" the vampire finally suggested.

"Which friend should I ask?" Harry didn't have any clue who he would ask now.

"_I don't know who the hell you are friends with_!" Hunter smacked her forehead again in frustration, "Hurry and decide so we can get back to your private lessons-come on! Hop to it!"

Before Harry could think of anything, Hunter lifted the spell off the damaging tree and shoved him back in front of the tree. Immediately, his mind went straight back to dodging the branches instead of using the fire charm to drive the tree from attacking him anymore. From far away he could hear Hunter calling out orders to stop worrying about the branches and focus on the charm, he thought that she was insane.

"Immobulus!" Hunter growled under her breath as she stormed over to the Whomping Willow with her eyes glowing a light hue of red. "Alright...I'm going to give you a quick Dark Arts lesson Mr. Potter," she stood next to him with her index finger pointed at his face. "First...When facing a vampire-you must _never_ _ever_ call one _insane_...do you understand? They become highly offended by lowly remarks like those. Second, I would not recommend making one angry-they have a very malicious temper. Third-" she poked him in the chest roughly, "_never underestimate a vampire's ability_...No matter what the situation is-okay?" Grabbing the edge of his robe collar, Hunter effortlessly lifted him off the ground and carried him out of the Whomping Willow's range. "Stay-watch-learn," she barked as she stormed back to the tree and lifted the spell once again.

Harry's jaw dropped as he watched the Dark Arts professor remain standing in the same spot but managing to duck and dodge the tree's branches without much movement. When one of the Whomping Willow's branches tried a frontal assault, Hunter snatched the branch with her right hand and pulled it towards her so it wouldn't get away. Since she was busy holding one branch, the tree's other branches were just about to gang up on her but the vampire had a trick up her sleeve. In an instant, flames shot out of Hunter's left hand as she held the branch still. The other branches retreated away from her immediately and the Whomping Willow wanted nothing else to do with her. Before releasing the burning branch, she waved her hands over the flames until they died out. Turning her back on the tree with full confidence that the Whomping Willow would not try to attack her again, Hunter smirked at the Gryffindor.

"Child's play Mr. Potter...simple and clean..." Hunter shrugged her shoulders at his bewildered look. "And it has nothing to do with me being a vampire," she added when he opened his mouth to speak. "I could do that when I was a child in Hogwarts-mind you I couldn't set the tree on fire like that without the aide of my wand...but nonetheless-You don't need to be focusing all of your attention on the tree...only a small portion of it." She placed her cold hand underneath his dropped jaw and shut it for him with the smirk still present on her pallid lips. "Even your father could do it Mr. Potter...it was a game he use to play with the others."

"A-a-game?" he stuttered the words out finally. "How is that a game...?" Harry couldn't believe that a child, let alone his father, would consider setting a Whomping Willow on fire a _fun_ game.

Rolling her eyes, Hunter snatched the hand-knitted scarf that was hanging around his neck and then proceeded to throw it at the Whomping Willow. The red and yellow scarf caught itself on one of the branches and dangled above the ground by ten feet. "_Your father_," she spat in an annoyed tone of voice, "would enjoy taking his enemies' articles of clothing, books, or precious gifts and tossing them onto the Whomping Willow's branches. He would then stand in front of the tree with his friends laughing at the sight of his enemies trying to retrieve their items back from it. That's why it's considered a game to your father, Mr. Potter."

For a moment Harry could hear the hatred boiling inside of her, he reminded her of Snape when he had accidentally found out that his father used to bully Snape when they were children. Harry loved his father dearly, but the things his father did when he was younger were nothing to boast to his friends about. "No one has told me that before..." he whispered quietly.

"Not even _Lupin _would want to tell you about it Mr. Potter," Hunter kept her eyes on the Gryffindor-colored scarf which was now blowing in the fall wind. "So," she quickly changed the subject and glanced over her shoulder at him, "Retrieve your scarf Mr. Potter-make your father proud..."

- - - - - - - -

Ron gave his friend a strange look, "What on earth happened to you, Harry!" he nearly choked on the apple slice he was chewing the second Harry came into the Gryffindor Common Room. "You're as black as smoke-and what did you do to the scarf my mom made you!" he let a yelp out when he spotted the now charcoal hand-knitted scarf.

"Harry!" Hermione came running down the stone steps when she heard Ron throwing a huge fuss over the ruined scarf. "You look like you've been scorched by dragon fire!" she began examining Harry to make sure that he wasn't injured anywhere.

Chuckling to himself, Harry was pleased to see that they still worried about him every once in a while. "I'm fine Hermione-I just had a spell backfire on me..." _Literally_, he added to himself silently. He noticed that Ron was dreadfully pale as he held the burned scarf, "Maybe your mom could make me another one Ron?" he asked in a semi-hopeful voice.

"Just don't tell her how you ruined it in the first place-she'll go insane if she ever finds out..." Ron warned in a very weary voice as he swallowed the rest of his apple slice.

As Harry dragged his feet over to the nearest leather couch, Hermione narrowed her eyes at him as she thought about what he had told her and Ron. "What spell backfired on you Harry?" she seemed all too curious about the subject now.

Moaning silently to himself, Harry somehow knew what Hermione was trying to get at. "I was trying to set Malfoy's robes on fire but I somehow managed to mess it up-and the spell backfired and hit me instead," Harry lied bluntly without a single care. He was exhausted beyond all reason, he had spent three hours running around the Whomping Willow only to be out-showed by a professor who just stood there twiddling her thumbs most of the time. But what bothered him the most was what Hunter had told him about his father's game with the destructive tree. _Had my dad picked on Hunter also_? he thought in the back of his mind as he unknowingly pulled two large pebbles out of his robe pocket.

Hermione stared at him peculiarly, her brown eyes were suddenly fixed on the stones Harry was semi-consciously playing with in his hands. "I didn't hear Malfoy boasting about successfully facing you one-on-one today..." she gave a fleeting look over to Ron; which told him to come over to the couch where Harry was resting on. Her eyes widened the instant Harry began to force the pebbles to hover above his hands without the aide of his wand, "Harry-" she coughed. "_Where did you learn that_?" she hissed as Ron came over to see what Hermione was gawking so strangely at.

"Bloody hell Harry-how are you doing that!" the red-head yelped in an excited voice when he spotted the pebbles floating in the air.

Realizing what he was doing, the stones suddenly dropped back down into his sweaty hand and he swiftly pocketed them back into his robes. Harry had never told them about the private lessons Hunter was giving him on wandless magic-but it appeared that they would find out soon enough. "Alright..." he sighed as he sat up straight on the leather couch, "I've been hiding something from you guys..." he felt guilty enough about it already but their unhappy expressions made it even worse.

"You've never been able to perform wandless magic Harry," Hermione whispered in a tiny voice just incase someone would hear. "Where have you been these past few Sunday afternoons?" she finally demanded in a very hurtful voice; she had believed that Harry told her _everything_.

"I've been getting private lessons-" Harry started to say.

"From whom?" she frowned at him disapprovingly.

"Professor Hunter," Harry sighed when he saw Ron nearly choke on his second apple slice, "She was teaching me a wandless fire charm today...hence the burned clothes..." he glanced down at his ruined robes. "Look-" he could tell that Ron and Hermione were upset with him for not telling them about the lessons, "if Professor Hunter gets caught giving teaching me wandless magic-she's going to be sent to Azkaban..."

Sitting on the edge of the leather couch, Hermione continued to stare at him with a hurtful expression on her face. "You could have told us about it so we wouldn't be so worried about you," she scolded him for a few minutes. "Did you read today's news Harry...?"

"No...why?" Harry couldn't see what Hermione was getting at.

As if Ron knew at once what Hermione was getting at, he walked over to one of the studying tables and snatched the latest printing of the _Daily Prophet_. Ron handed it to Harry with a quick glance to Hermione, "This is why Harry..." he pointed to the big bold letters at the top of the front page.

"Twenty thousand galleons stolen from Gringotts Bank..." Harry read the headline out loud, "But what does this have to do with-"

Hermione stared him down, "Read it..." she whispered.

"Saturday morning, four thieves disguised as Aurors and regular customers robbed the Gringotts Bank blindly. Twenty thousand galleons have been reported missing-including a rare emerald weighing around three pounds..." Harry skipped through the rest of the boring interviews with the witnesses and read the final paragraph about the robbery. "Three wizards were killed while the thieves were escaping...The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, managed to subdue one of the thieves but they managed to break free before any action could be taken against them." He lifted his green eyes away from the newspaper, "What does this have to do with my private lessons with Professor Hunter?"

"She left Hogwarts late Friday night. I saw her slipping outside at eleven-" Ron blushed slightly when he remembered why he was up so late on Friday night.

"What we're saying is that you should be very careful around Professor Hunter, Harry..." Hermione finished for Ron. "I don't know if Professor Hunter was thief in her past life, but I-"

"Wouldn't put it past her," Ron finished for her this time.

Harry handed the newspaper back to Ron with his mind racing with millions of the thoughts about this new information. "Okay-okay...I'll keep an eye out," Harry smiled smugly to the both of them; he was relieved to see Hermione and Ron return his smile. "Now who's up for a game of Exploding Snap, eh?" he raised his eyebrows at his best friends.

- - - - - - - -

Sitting at their dining table half-awake, the golden trio told Ginny about what had happened to them so far today. The seventh years' Monday afternoon classes comprised of being chased around the green houses by a venomous plant due to the fact that Ron had accidentally set it on fire and dodging vases that imps were throwing in the Dark Arts classroom.

"I'm telling you though," Ron argued with Hermione, Harry, and Ginny, "I swear that Professor Sprout and Professor Hunter have it out for us! I mean-" he threw his hands into the air. "Isn't it a little _strange_ that we were attacked by their creatures right after one another...?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron, "Doesn't it strike you as odd how the venomous plant in the green house _suddenly _caught on _fire_?"

Just as he opened his mouth to say something back at her, Ron's second greatest weakness; besides food; walked past him giggling quietly with her friends. His eyes followed as Kelsay continued to walk down the corridor, he could have sworn that she was laughing about him. "I'll-" Ron finally tore his eyes away from the Beater, "catch up with you guys after lunch, alright?" Before he could listen to their replies, he sprinted down the hallway to find his girlfriend.

"He's just like a love sick puppy," Ginny sighed pathetically.

Slamming the book she was reading like she was suddenly in a heated rage, Hermione grabbed her book bag and left Harry and Ginny without another word. The bright witch had been very jealous since Ron would not stop speaking about Kelsay; it was driving her insane.

Ginny raised a questionable eyebrow at Harry, "Angry..." she shrugged her shoulders.

Remaining silent, Harry was giving considerate thought about asking Ginny to the Halloween dance; he had thought about it all night long too. At first he felt fear paralyze his body when he opened his mouth to ask her, but he remembered that this was Ginny he was asking-not someone like Cho Chang. "Er-Ginny?" Harry blurted out a little too loudly for comfort. When she turned her eyes to stare at his red face, Harry felt the fear attack him once again. "Do-y-you want t-to go to the Halloween party with me?" he swore that it was over one hundred degrees in the castle as he waited for her answer.

"Sure," Ginny didn't take any notice of Harry's bright red complexion, "No problem."

Harry sighed with relief, he could finally tell the group of girls, who were trying to force him to take one of them, to go fly a broom.

For the remainder of the day, Harry stayed completely silent with Ginny and only commented on things he was sure she couldn't answer on. As for Ron, he was grinning from ear to ear since he found out that Kelsay was only laughing about how adorable he was. Hermione avoided Ron as much as she could; she couldn't stand hearing Kelsay's name one more time from Ron's lips. All Harry knew was that the Halloween party was going to be very interesting this time-especially since had a date he could stand.

- - - - - - -

Around late Wednesday afternoon, Hagrid began bringing in his famous giant pumpkins for the Halloween feast and most of the teachers helped decorate the Great Hall for the party. Two were missing: one was already hiding in the dungeons to get away from all of the cheerfulness while the other was celebrating Halloween by themself. The headmistress directed the staff on the decorating and told a few of the house elves what to prepare for dinner. As Hagrid set the pumpkins down on the tables, Professor Flitwick carved the pumpkins and placed lighted candles in them using several different charms.

"I swear those two are so alike," Professor Sprout whispered to Madame Hooch secretly as they hung paper decoration around the walls of the Great Hall with their wands. "Both love the Dark Arts," she started to name them off the top of her head without any effort. "Both hate public-oriented events, they favor being alone the most-"

The broom flying instructor raised her eyebrows at the short, out-spoken woman. "Are you saying that they are going to start..." Madame Hooch quickly glanced around so McGonagall wouldn't spot them gossiping, "...dating...?" her yellow hawk-like eyes narrowed slightly.

"Of course!" she squeaked enthusiastically. "Did you not see Severus' face when Miss Hunter never arrived to dinner on Friday night? He was depressed more than usual!" Professor Sprout shot a paper cut in the shape of a bat onto the stone wall with a simple flick.

"Ladies-Stop with the gossiping!" the headmistress glared at them sourly, "You'll have plenty of time to do that _after_ decorating!" McGonagall could hear them well enough to know why they were speaking about.

Once the decorating was finished, it was nearly time for dinner to begin. Giggling girls were rushing to their common rooms to change into their best dresses while the boys struggled to drag their feet towards the Great Hall once they could smell the food. When it was past six, the Great Hall was filled to the brim with laughter and cheers from the over-excited students and professors.

Harry and Ron were still waiting for their dates in the Gryffindor Common Room very impatiently. "I can't believe we picked the slowest girls to be our dates..." Ron muttered unhappily as he adjusted his bow tie. They were both in their best suits; luckily though, Ron had bought himself a new suit before the end of his sixth year. "All of the food will be gone by the time they get ready!" he wailed.

Ten minutes later their dates finally came downstairs to the main part of the common room. Both of the boys were dumbstruck by their dates' drop-dead gorgeous dresses. "I'm glad we picked the slowest ones," Harry whispered to Ron as their dates greeted them in a very proper manner.

Both of the girls were dressed similarly, each wore a delicate white dress with their hair pinned on top of their heads. Ginny wore a pearl necklace while Kelsay wore a golden peacock broach on the top of her dress. They, of course, were pleased to see the boys staring at them like they had just been confounded. Hermione had helped Ginny get ready for the dance but the bright witch refused to dress up and become the "fifth wheel" of the group. She pretended that she had to study for an exam in her Ancient Ruins class.

Around seven o'clock, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Kelsay entered the dinning hall to find themselves being called "fashionably late" by their friends. This time Harry didn't care if he had arrived late, he was glad that he was able to go with Ginny and actually have some fun at the party. As the headmistress started her speech, Harry's eyes fell on Ginny, who was sitting right beside him.

Somewhat feeling his eyes on her, Ginny turned her head and asked what he was staring at.

"You look great, Ginny," Harry whispered to her so no one else could hear him.

Ginny blushed at the compliment, "Thanks," she muttered as her eyes lowered to the food on her plate.

- - - - - - -

"What are you reading _this_ time...?" Snape leaned against a bookcase across from Hunter with a suspicious look on his face. He was trying to act like a smooth operator in front of the vampire.

Frowning at Snape, the vampire turned her back on him without saying a word. _Maybe if you ignore him, he'll go away_... she sourly thought to herself. The Dark Arts professor pretended that she had not heard him and continued to read her book.

"Are you giving me the cold shoulder now?" The Potions Master smirked at her like he knew exactly what she was thinking. "Why aren't you downstairs with everyone else?" He noticed that her body stiffened as she tried to ignore him. Leaning closer to her, he peered over her left shoulder to see what she was reading. "_Oh_," he smugly folded his arms across his chest and shook his head at her choice of reading material.

This finally got Hunter's attention, "What?" she turned her head slightly in his direction. "What is wrong with sprites?" her black eyes narrowed.

Snape acted like he wasn't very interested with their conversation, "It's Halloween night... I thought you would be out with the _children of the night_ sucking the blood of innocent Muggles..." he shrugged off the dark expression she was giving him.

"You are really childish sometimes," she snorted as she slammed her book shut. "I prefer not to drink _human blood_," Hunter hissed in a whisper, "too bittersweet." Finally facing the Potions Master, she decided to play his little game. "Why aren't _you _downstairs terrorizing the students with your presence?"

He retorted with more questions for her, "Aren't you the least bit _curious_ of what is happening down there?"

"No," she snapped in reply as she tossed her book onto the nearest study desk. "You attend _one _you've attended them _all_," Hunter muttered under her breath. She couldn't figure out what game they were playing now but she didn't want him to win. "Why are you _here_ if you are so _curious_ about the Halloween dance then, huh?"

"I thought you might enjoy some company..." the Potions Master said as if he was talking with the wind. "_Blood-suckers_ get lonely...don't they?" he teased in a soft voice.

Hunter raised a questionable eyebrow at him, "I can't decide if you are trying to _drive me insane _or if you are trying to _act like a respectable gentleman_..." She studied the look in his eyes for a moment, "I _definitely _know that it is _not_ the latter," the vampire wrinkled her nose. Tilting her head to the side, she suddenly noticed something she had not picked up on earlier.

As the vampire moved closer to him, Snape could feel his heart start to race when her pallid face was just inches away from his. He slowly backed up into the bookcase with a puzzled expression, _What is she doing now_?

Pushing him farther back into the bookcase with one hand, Hunter gave him an evil grin when she was centimeters from making contact with him. She kept him pressed against the bookcase as she used her free hand to fix his robe collar. "Your collar is curled up," the vampire's fangs barely grazed his left ear as she whispered this.

Snape could have sworn that his blood had run cold and his skin crawl the second she touched him; like she was death itself. His eyes widened when her nose brushed his as she straightened his collar and her red lips were dangerously close. A soft scent of lilies and vanilla caught the Potions Master's immediate attention. The same feeling he had felt about her when she had come to him asking for headache-curing potions was slowly taking over him. His dreams of pressing his lips against hers could be a reality now.

Cautiously leaning forward to kiss her, the Potions Master's dreams shattered when she turned away from him and lifted her hand to release him. He started to lose his balance when he had kissed nothing but air, but Hunter's strong hand slammed him back against the bookcase.

"_Nice try_," Hunter smirked at him, "But _no_," her dark black eyes quickly changed to a blood red hue. "_Leave me alone if you know what is good for you_," she threatened in a cold voice as she headed out of the Restricted Section of the Library.

Once the Dark Arts professor was gone, Snape hit the back of his head with the wooden bookcase for his stupidity. _What the fuck were you thinking_? _Get a grip of yourself for Merlin's sake_! Pushing his black hair away from his face, Snape wondered how much longer it would be before he could see her again. It was becoming an addiction...whether he wanted it to be or not.


	9. Have Faith In Me

Quinn stubbornly folded his arms across his chest, "You're late..." the younger vampire snapped hotly. "You said you would be back by _four_-it's _six-thirty_ my dear sister! What have you been doing all day, eh? Don't give me that look-I was worried about you!"

Ignoring his bantering, Hunter played with her blue hair until it tumbled down to her shoulders. It was hard enough for Hunter to sign over the deed of her house to the Ministry of Magic, she didn't need any more shit in her life right then. "Why are you so edgy, dear brother?" she handed him books she had bought for him. "What is it?" she finally asked when she noticed his uncharacteristically silent behavior.

Suddenly someone stood up from Hunter's office chair with a weary look on their face, "We have a slight problem lass..." Macnair was clearly ruffled about something that was on his mind, "It's about Fletcher..." The Scottish Death Eater leaned against her desk without much thought, "We had some of our spies in the Ministry notify us that he has been captured..."

Hunter sighed loudly, "Blood and flames..." she lifted her head to glanced at her brother's unhappy look, "They're going to give him a Truth Serum...aren't they?" When Macnair nodded, the vampire began rubbing her temple with her index fingers and pacing back and forth in her office. _There's only one way to solve this_, she mentally ran through all of their available options. "Quinn...could you excuse us for a few minutes?" she wanted to speak with Macnair privately.

For a moment Quinn gave her a puzzled look, but he then set the brand new books on his sister's office desk and bowed to the both of them. Obeying his older sister, Quinn transformed back into a bat and floated out of the open window without making a single peep.

"We have to kill him Avalon," Macnair whispered when Quinn was gone from the room, "Before he spills too much information about our raids and puts you in a very tight opposition against the Ministry."

She continued to pace with her hands rubbing away the oncoming headache, "He is an unworthy cause to remain alive I know...but my brother is best friends with him-we can't just lob off his head-" Hunter could see a sneer form on Macnair's lips. Sighing she stood still in front of the Death Eater, "If my dear brother finds out that _I_ ordered a death penalty for Fletcher-he will never forgive me..."

"It's not like that has stopped you before..." he commented just to make her glare at him, "I'll make it look like an _accident_," he said simply with a dark sneer still present on his scruffy face.

"_Of course you will_...you always do-just like you did with Durmstrang's Headmaster," she snapped coldly at her old friend. "Wouldn't slipping him a forgetfulness potion work just as easily? He can't talk when he doesn't even remember what to say..."

He nodded, "It would work. But slipping into the Ministry and giving him the potion is easier said than done... Killing him would be quicker," Macnair hissed in a low voice.

"I might have someone who would be willing to give Fletcher the potion," the vampire scratched the back of her head. "If they fail...you have my permission to slice Fletcher's head clean off his shoulders. How does that sound?"

Macnair grinned maliciously, "_Fantastic_..."

- - - - - - -

Panting loudly, Harry popped his back in three different places before he jumped back onto his handmade broom. "Okay-let's try that play again," he called to his three Chasers at the top of his lungs, _And get it right this time-we only have two more days of practice_! Speeding back into the air, he blew an old whistle Hermione had given him when he was announced Quidditch Captain last year. "Kelsay-you _stay_ to the _right_-yes that side!" The Chasers and Beaters were continually getting tangled up. Harry finally gave up and told his team to pack it up for the rest of the day.

Thankfully, Quidditch practice ended just before three o'clock and Harry sprinted back towards the castle without saying anything to Ron. He felt his heart pounding in his chest by the time he had reached the Dark Arts professor's office. Just before he knocked on the door, the vampire swung it open and peered down at him with an expression of curiosity. "I'm-not-l-ate-am-I?" Harry's words were all strung together.

"Three more seconds then you would have been," Hunter smiled weakly at the boy, "Follow me...We have much to do today."

Heading back outside, Harry took notice that they were walking towards the Whomping Willow once again. "Today we are going to put your three wandless spells to the _ultimate_ test Mr. Potter," Hunter announced loudly as she stood in front of the swaying tree.

"Against the tree again?" Harry did not see the point in facing the tree for the second time in less than a month.

"No," she smiled, "Against me Mr. Potter...A wizard duel!" The Dark Arts professor cracked her knuckles and headed towards the Whomping Willow. "The rule are simple: no wands, only three spells can be used, and take advantage of your surroundings."

Harry laughed, "I can't duel you-you're a teacher-"

"Well, I was going to let you have the first attack...but since you need some motivation-" In an instant, her left hand produced a magical fireball which immediately caught Harry's attention.

Barely having enough time to react, Harry dodged the fireball but managed to have his hair singed in the process. Leaping back up to his feet, the Gryffindor tried to focus his mind just enough to defend himself. By the time he could form a few icicles in his dirty hands, the vampire had vanished from sight. Confused, Harry ventured closer to the Whomping Willow to see if he could find the missing professor.

Remembering the boy, the Whomping Willow decided not to attack Harry this time around; the tree's branches still had superficial burn marks. Placing his hand gingerly against one of the tree's branches, Harry could not figure out where she had gone to. Then he heard a twig snap directly above his head; he looked up to see Hunter leaning against the trunk on a branch twenty feet above him.

"You underestimate me, Mr. Potter..." Hunter growled in an icy tone Harry had never heard her use before, "Now why would you want to do that?" She snapped her fingers to shoot flames down at the branch he had his hand on, lighting the tree on fire.

Panicking, the Whomping Willow frantically began whipping its burning branch back and forth; which knocked Harry into the air and rammed him into the very trunk of the destructive tree. Slightly stunned, Harry watched as the tree waved and flailed its branches around desperately trying to put out the flames. Now he at least knew what Hunter had meant by taking advantage of his surroundings.

"Don't expect mercy from your enemies Mr. Potter..." She carefully peered down at him with an evil sneer on her red lips. Black smoke swept around her as she watched him try to regain his senses.

Harry's eyes opened wide when he heard her snapping her fingers, _Oh shit_... Scrambling for his life, he tried to move out of the Whomping Willow's reach before she could light anymore of the branches on fire. But Harry wasn't quick enough to get out of the destructive tree's range in time; he was blocked in by one of the tree's thickest branches. Rolling, leaping, and dodging the burning branches, the boy avoided most of them as he slowly inched his way out of the tree's range.

Sitting on the sturdy and unmoving branch, Hunter laughed to herself as she watched him work his way through the maze of smoke and branches. "You'll have to do a lot better than that Mr. Potter!" she teased from above the chaos.

_Bloody hell-I'll never get away_..._I'll have to stop the willow from_..._THAT'S IT_!_ STOP THE TREE_! _FREEZE IT!_ With a determined look in his green eyes, Harry held his ground as he conjured the freezing charm that would save his life. Blowing the icy wind he could feel the hot, sticky air progressively growing colder. When the smoke had cleared, he was proud to see that half of the Whomping Willow was completely frozen solid.

A short clapping sound could be heard above him, Hunter was kneeling on her now-frozen perch with a dark gleam in her eyes. "Impressive...but you still have to deal with me," she hissed. Dropping twenty feet and gracefully landing on the frozen grass, Hunter stood before Harry with her crimson-hued eyes narrowed. "Have any more surprises up your sleeve Mr. Potter?"

Knowing that he needed to react quickly before she could, Harry slid across the slippery ice and went right past her with his tongue sticking out. He then clamored up the frozen half of the Whomping Willow while Hunter sent flames flying in his path. _Have to think fast-get out of here alive_...Harry panted as he almost lost his grip on a frozen branch he was hanging from. Instead of dropping from the branch, a brilliant plan formed in the back of his mind as Hunter turned on him.

"Enjoy the ride Mr. Potter," Hunter laughed just before she melted the ice off the branch he was desperately clinging to.

With the branch now free from the ice, the Whomping Willow decided to get rid of the troublesome humans at the exact same time once and for all. "Oh shit," Hunter could see a branch coming straight at her. Slamming the branch at Hunter, Harry was sent to the ground and conveniently landed on Hunter as she moved out of the tree's raging furry. "_Get out of the way Potter_!" Hunter pushed the dazed boy off her just as the tree was about to smash the both of them into pancakes; Harry slid across the ice and out of the way when the branch suddenly came down. Closing his eyes, he heard the sound of ice breaking.

Not wanting to open his eyes, Harry did not hear the Whomping Willow try to smash anything else which meant... He forced himself to open his eyes to see if his professor had been flattened. To his relief, there was nothing but cracked ice where Hunter had been. Harry suddenly felt someone grab his shoulders from behind and pull him back to his feet; turning around he smiled to his professor.

Hunter returned the smile, "You're bloody insane...but brilliant Mr. Potter," she scratched the back of her head. "I think we're done for the day..." the vampire popped her jaw back into its proper place, "Are you alright?" she asked in a pleasant tone of voice.

"I'm fine...how about yourself?" Harry couldn't believe she was still in one piece and standing right next to him without a single scratch.

"Good," she patted him roughly on the back, "You're getting better at focusing your mind...What would you like to learn for next week?" Hunter brushed the crushed pieces of ice from her blue hair, "Conjuring items or a shield charm?"

"Conjuring items..." Harry wanted to give the poor Whomping Willow a break this time. At least he knew that Hunter wasn't his enemy; she had saved his life when she could have allowed the tree to flatten him. He now looked at his Dark Arts professor with complete trust in everything she said and did. This was the entire point of the lesson-having him learn to trust her without a second of hesitation.

"When is your first match?" Hunter changed the subject.

"Um...Thursday I believe..." Harry stretched out his arms as they headed back to the castle, "We're playing against Ravenclaw," he added.

She nodded, "I'll come watch it...I haven't see Quidditch in ages," Hunter sighed to herself. She missed flying in the air; the vampire glanced up at the sun and narrowed her black eyes at it. "It's going to storm tonight..." she patted Harry on the back once again, "Come to class prepared for a little quiz tomorrow."

Harry groaned loudly; he had completely forgotten about the quiz the Dark Arts professor had announced at the end of class on Thursday. "_Right_..._quiz_..." he mumbled.

- - - - -

Folding his copy of the _Daily Prophet_ newspaper in half while sipping on some tea, the Potions Master casually glanced at the new potions book that was sitting on the edge of his desk. It was Monday night and Snape had not seen Hunter since Halloween; he missed her terribly. He had noticed that she had been avoiding the Library lately.

As he stared at the book his mind began to drift away. He then remembered what had happened on Sunday night...when he was spying for Dumbledore. How Pettigrew snickered behind his back and how Macnair had suddenly become friendlier to him. He couldn't understand why Macnair kept asking him questions about Hogwarts...questions that only had to do with the owl delivery system. Of course, Snape told everything to Dumbledore what had happened on Sunday with the Death Eaters.

Sighing loudly, Snape left his office to go search for the one person who could cheer him up just by simply saying his name. Every place he checked though provided him with more stress; she was no where to be found. Just as he walked past the dining hall for the fifth time in less than ten minutes, Snape was stopped by the headmaster.

"Have you lost something, Severus?" Dumbledore's soft eyes searched Snape's cold expression for any clues to what was troubling him.

"Not _exactly_, headmaster," the Potions Master said in a very respectable voice. _More like someone_...he mentally thought to himself. It was nice for Snape to think to himself around the headmaster without actually being heard; being a skilled Occlumens did have some advantages.

The elderly wizard smiled at Snape, "I believe what you are looking for is at the Quidditch stadium...but you didn't hear that from me," Dumbledore winked.

Just as he was about to thank the headmaster, Dumbledore wandered back into the Great Hall pretending like he had forgotten something in there. Snape smirked behind the older wizard's back, _I'll never figure out how he knows these things_...

Hunter sat in the stands of the Quidditch stadium with her knees tucked underneath her chin. Her mind was somewhere else as she stared off at nothing in particular. The cold November air played with her loose blue hair and sent shivers down her spine, _So cold_... It had snowed a foot this morning, but by tomorrow afternoon it would turn into large puddles of water.

Jogging through the snow towards his depressed master, Brooklyn suddenly decided to bury his face into a large pile of snow to see if something was hiding there. The dire dog spirit wagged his white tail madly as he pranced over to Hunter with a frozen frog in his mouth. He enjoyed being out of the castle when the sky was a gloomy grey hue.

"Alright, arlight," the vampire took the frozen frog and chucked it back across the stadium for her pet to find. "I bet you can't find it this time," she smirked while Brooklyn just growled playfully in reply. Her slightly-pointed ears picked up on the sound of snow being crushed under someone's footsteps. "Am I missing another Halloween dance?" she asked in a curious voice as the Potions Master crossed the frozen field.

"Not this time," Snape began tugging his favorite green and silver scarf off his neck, "You look like you've been out here for hours," he handed her his scarf. The Potions Master sat down next to her and looked solemnly at her, "I don't mean to state the obvious but you do not look very cheerful..."

Her hands were shaking as she wrapped his warm scarf around her frozen neck, "So you've come to make me feel even worse...?" she chuckled sourly. "You don't like to listen to what others tell you, do you?"

Snape shrugged his shoulders at her, "That's how I am these days...stubborn as an ox." He noticed that she had moved a foot away from where he was sitting, "You don't trust me, do you?"

"Don't be insulted," Hunter wrapped her arms around herself, "I don't trust _anyone_." Glancing away from her pet furiously digging up snow to find his frozen frog, she gave the Potions Master a weak smile. "If it makes you feel any better...I hate _you_ the most."

"May I inquire why?" Snape asked in a semi-pleasant voice.

Narrowing her black eyes at him for a moment, Hunter mentally counted all of the reasons on her fingers. "_You _are a bothersome, irrational, egotistical prick-" she started in a bored voice.

"Oh," Snape stopped himself from blushing, "Is that all?"

"I'm not done yet," Hunter snapped with her nose wrinkled in his direction. "_You_ are disrespectful of other's privacy, cynical, boring, and not to mention downright-" she froze when Snape suddenly reached over and placed his index finger over her frozen red lips to quiet her.

Snape smirked at her, "You're never going to let me have a turn, are you?" he noticed the corners of her lips slightly curl.

"And let you have the upper hand?" Hunter snorted with disgust, "_Never_."

Bounding over to his master, Brooklyn had to dig his hind paws deep into the snow to stop himself from colliding with the Quidditch stands. He dropped the frozen frog on Hunter's lap and impatiently waited for her to throw it again; he kept both eyes on his favorite toy. Barking loudly at his master, the dire dog spirit demanded that she keep playing with him or else.

"Severus will play with you," the vampire tossed the frozen frog to him, "Since you two are such good _friends_ and all..."

Rushing over to Snape, Brooklyn wagged his tail madly as he carefully watched the hook-nosed character gingerly lift his toy. "Strange choice for a chew toy," the Potions Master muttered as he examined the frozen frog. Just when Brooklyn thought that Snape wouldn't throw his toy, Snape suddenly chucked it into the air.

"_Traitor_," Hunter grumbled under her breath as she watched her pet sprint after his toy. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be torturing some miserable first-year with detention right now?" she was getting a little sour about his presence now. "If you're going to mock me, get it done and over with. I have better things to do with my time."

"I just wanted..." the Potions Master paused for a moment to find the right words to say, "I just wanted to talk. That's all," he bit his lip. Silently, he was wishing that she would let her guard down long enough for them to make a connection he had been longing to have.

Hunter gave him a strange look and started to laugh at what he had just said. "Blood and flames," the vampire shook her head in disappointment. "If you had said that to me when we were still in school, I would have probably fainted-" she was no longer laughing. "I had the biggest _crush_ on you when I started school. I thought you were _perfect_ in every aspect ..." she sighed as if what she was revealing to Snape had long since passed.

"And what about now?" the Potions Master somehow knew her answer would be a negative one but he had at least broken a hole through the wall she had built to block him out.

Feeling a bit uneasy, she shifted in her seat before she replied. "Now..." Hunter tugged the scarf he had loaned her off her pale neck, "Now I can't even _stomach_ the thought of you." The hole Snape had successfully created was resealed in a matter of seconds. She shoved his Slytherin-colored scarf in his face, jumped down from the stands, and headed back towards the castle.

"Avalon," the Potions Master scrambled out his seat to chase after her, "Avalon!" _Please come back_._ You can't leave just yet_! He sighed with relief when he watched her stop dead in her tracks on the frozen field. Once he caught up with her, Snape gingerly reached out to touch her shoulder. "I didn't mean..." he could hear her sniffling.

"Then why are you _still _here?" Hunter's pallid face was hidden underneath her vibrant blue hair. When he did not reply soon enough, the Dark Arts professor whistled for her gytrash to follow her back to the castle. "_Nice try_," she hissed through clenched teeth.

Slightly stunned by what had possessed him to keep so silent, Snape released a long sigh as he let her go. He could see his puffs of breath floating in the cold air. Feeling a bit more depressed than he had started out before he spoke with the vampire, he wandered back to the Quidditch stands to figure out where he had gone wrong. Snape shivered in the bitter cold as he tried to come up with a master plan to make everything right again.

- - - - - - -

There was a soft knock at Hunter's office door around ten o'clock at night. "What now," Hunter growled as she tossed her quill across her desk with a sour expression. The dark look in her cold eyes suddenly lightened when she found the Potions Master standing in her doorway with a bottle of fire whiskey in his hands. "For me?" the vampire eyed the bottle with suspicion. When he handed her the fire whiskey, Hunter graciously took it and slammed her office door on him without a word of thanks.

_There goes plan A_, Snape scratched the side of his head as he waited for her to allow him to come inside.

"You didn't poison it, did you?" Hunter slightly cracked her door open to give him a curious expression.

"No..." _That's plan B_, he silently thought to himself. The Potions Master sighed loudly when she shut her office door on him again, _How long will this go on_?

After another minute, Hunter allowed Snape to come inside her Dark Arts office. "Don't mind the lack of light," she said in a humble voice as she handed him a glass already filled with fire whiskey. Hunter motioned for him to take a seat in front of her desk, "Would you like a strawberry?" she ignored a hiss from the ceiling; it was coming from her brother.

Glancing up at the ceiling, the Potions Master felt uncomfortable with the dark glares the vampire bat was giving him with its beady eyes. He noticed that Hunter did not take a sip of her drink until he had made the first move. "No thank you. I've been thinking about what you said earlier..." he pondered about how she would react this time; especially since he had poured Truth Serum into the fire whiskey. He had taken an antidote before he knocked on her office door so he wouldn't accidentally say something he didn't want her to know about.

"The _egoistical prick _part or-"

"The _other _part," he didn't enjoy the thought that she still felt the same about him even when she had been slipped a Truth Serum. "I wanted to apologize for what I might have said or done in the past when were in school..."

"Okay," Hunter leaned back in her chair and neatly placed her boots on the edge of her desk. "If that's all, you can go retreat to your musty dungeons with your _tainted _fire whiskey," her black eyes suddenly changed to a blood-red hue. "You think I would fall for a pathetic trick like slipping Truth Serum into my drink? I've been a Death Eater too long to know what it smells like and tastes like..." Cracking her knuckles, she got up from her seat and moved over to him with a dark sneer on her red lips. "If you want to talk freely with me, I give you permission and my word that I will speak the truth." Her glowing red eyes quickly faded away to a lifeless black hue; like they were the holes of a bottomless pit; as she examined his facial features.

Snape snorted, "The word of a _Death Eater_?" he knew that he could never trust her then.

"No..." Hunter glanced away from his cold eyes, "The word of a friend." For once in her life, she gave the Potions Master a bright grin, "You better hurry up and explain yourself before I change my mind about letting you leave my office _alive_..."

Narrowing his equally black eyes at the vampire like he still didn't trust her, Snape finally asked her what he had been meaning to ask for over several weeks. "Would you accompany me to the Quidditch game...?" he felt just like a schoolboy being punished by the headmaster for setting James Potter's robes on fire again as Hunter stared him down.

"Alright," she bent down slightly so their noses where almost touching like she had done the last time they were alone. "It's a date," Hunter gently pressed her frozen lips against his.


	10. Thanks For All Of The Venom I Have In Me

"ANOTHER TEN POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR!" cried the Quidditch announcer, Dean Thomas, over-enthusiastically when his house was in the lead.

For the second game of the season, the Quidditch stands were filled to the brim with students, teachers, and proud parents. Red-gold and blue-bronze flags were waving constantly in the bleachers as the best Quidditch teams battled for possession of the Quaffle. Everyone was excited about the match because the Gyrffindor team had lost the Quidditch Cup to Ravenclaw last year, and the Gryffindors were determined to take the Quidditch Cup back.

Silently sitting in the teacher section of the stands, Snape really didn't have his mind or eyes on the Quidditch match. The Potions Master had his cold black eyes focused on the Dark Arts professor; he would only look away from her when she would catch him staring at her. He desperately wanted to talk to her, but there was one problem: Hagrid was sitting right between the both of them. Snape had not been quick enough to arrive at the Quidditch stadium like Hunter had; the half-giant was already sitting next to the vampire by the time Snape had reached the teacher section of the stands.

Since yesterday, Snape had not yet had a chance to speak to Hunter without someone or something getting in his way. This frustrated him to the point of assigning seven detentions to his students for doing nothing particularly wrong on Wednesday night. He was forced to miss his house's Quidditch match against Hufflepuff due to Ron Weasley trying to hex Pansy Parkinson because she had _supposedly _said something rude about the redhead's girlfriend. Not being able to see Hunter nor speak to her was driving him insane; he had never felt this way about someone before.

Glaring at the half-giant's turned back, Snape was enraged that Hagrid was cheerfully chatting away with Hunter when Snape could have been sitting next to her. The hooked-nose character strained his ears so he could hear their conversation over the loud cheers and screams.

"Wouldn' we git in trouble if we taught that ta the kids?" Hagrid scratched his beard as he thought about what Hunter had proposed to him to teach his students next.

Hunter laughed, "Heavens no," she sounded very confident in herself. "I would clear it with the Ministry of Magic first, of course..."

"Where would we find 'em though? It took mi most of mi life ta find one-where would we find forty of 'em?" Hagrid seemed pretty uncertain about the subject they were secretly whispering to each other about.

"Just leave that part to me Hagrid...If I can pull it off-will you teach it?" her face grew emotionless as she waited for his answer; she was deadly serious about the subject at hand.

Sighing with an unhappy look on his face, Hagrid finally nodded his enormous head in reply. "Only if ya pull it off," he whispered to her as he turned his attention back to the Quidditch match. The half-giant jumped to his feet when a Gryffindor Chaser easily knocked the Quaffle through one of Ravenclaw's goal posts, "'ORRAY! GREAT SHOT!" he bellowed loudly as he frantically waved his red-gold flag as high in the air as he could.

_This is going to be a very long day_...Snape sourly thought to himself as he tried to figure out a way to speak to Hunter without drawing anyone else's attention in the process. If he asked to switch seats with Hagrid then the Care of Magical Creatures professor would most likely blurt something out that Snape didn't want anyone else to know about. Suddenly, the Potions Master felt something hit the side of his face; his face grew very rigid as he narrowed his black eyes at the perpetrator.

"Sorry Professor Snape," Hagrid swallowed loudly as he calmly sat back down. The half-giant's frantic flag and arm waving had gotten out of hand and Hagrid had accidentally smacked the Potions Master.

Obviously ruffled about being hit in the face by one of Hagrid's gigantic hands, Snape muttered bitter comments and pretended to go back watching the Quidditch match. _Damn hairy, over-grown, clumsy_...Snape's thoughts faded when he heard Hunter snickering to herself about something. Turning his head and slightly leaning back, he realized that she was laughing at him; he automatically narrowed his eyes at her too.

Grinning slyly at him for a moment, Hunter continued to snicker to herself as she went back to watching the Quidditch match. _He is kinda cute when he_ _is angry_, she thought to herself very smugly. As she watched one of the Ravenclaw Beaters knock a Bludger directly at one of the Gryffindor Chasers, someone sat down to the right of her without her even knowing.

When a familiar seventh-year boy wearing red and gold Quidditch robes sped past the teacher section of the stands, Hunter heard a voice she hadn't heard in many years. "GET THE SNITCH HARRY!" Slowly turning her head to the right, she spotted her enemy out of the corners of her eyes; he was sitting right next to her.

"_Lupin_..." Hunter's black eyes had suddenly turned a light shade of red as she glared at the werewolf. "_Enjoying the sunlight_?" she hissed in an icy voice when he gave her a fleeting glance.

Remus Lupin kept his yellow tinted eyes on the match as he spoke with the vampire quite warmly. "I should say the same for you..." he sounded very tried and weary right then. The old Dark Arts professor still wore his shabby hand-me-down suits which were only in one color-brown. His golden-brown hair had streaks of grey; being a werewolf had worn the poor wizard out even though he was only thirty-five years old. "How is the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position holding up for you?"

"The students _still_ praise you if that's what you are asking," she snapped back at him in a bitter voice. Hunter had never gotten along with Lupin since the last time she had seen him, which was four years ago. "_How is Tonks_?" the vampire sneered at him just to piss him off.

This got Lupin's full attention, he frowned slightly at her as she continued to glare darkly at him. "What is that suppose to mean Avalon?" Lupin asked in an unhappy tone of voice.

"You know _exactly _what it means, _Lupin_," Hunter snapped back at him stubbornly.

Biting his lip for a moment, the werewolf knew that Hunter was still angry at him for what he had done to her such a long time ago. He thought after four years she would had finally forgiven him. "How many times must I tell you that I-" Lupin's soft voice was drowned out by the sound of cheers when Harry had caught the snitch.

By the time the cheering and screaming was dying down, the vampire had already stormed down the steps of the stands before Lupin could try to say anything else to her. Automatically following her, the Potions Master quickened his pace as he tried to catch up with her as she headed back to the castle. "Avalon-" Snape hissed through his clenched teeth as she continued to stomp across the crunchy grass, "_Avalon_!"

Quickly calming herself, Hunter stopped dead in her tracks and waited for the Potions Master to catch up with her. Her eyes were gleaming in the sunlight at him when she noticed a concerned expression on his shallow face, "How is your head?"

Snape grumbled under his breath, "I can't believe you thought that was funny..." He finally began walking with her at the same pace, but made sure he was at least three feet apart from her just incase anyone was watching.

"I didn't think it was funny," she said seriously, "I thought it was _hilarious_," she smirked brightly at Snape as he pretended to glare at her. "You couldn't stand one minute of not sitting next to me, could you?" Hunter laughed as he tried to deny the entire thing without smiling back at her. "I had a lovely time with you though..." she whispered softly.

Entering the castle, the two professors stood awkwardly next to the four giant hourglasses. "Would you like to come have a drink?" Snape asked before anyone could enter the castle and ruin his chance to be alone with her for the hundredth time that day.

"Only if you include one of your headache-curing potions in your delicious offer," Hunter gave him a weak smile; she had plenty of stress to deal with now that Lupin was here. When he agreed, she gave him a light kiss on the cheek just before the entrance doors creaked open. Without saying another word, the vampire slipped through the crowd of students unnoticed by everyone, and disappeared down the stairs to the dungeons as she chatted with Draco Malfoy along the way.

As Snape tried to follow Hunter, he was abruptly stopped by Dumbeldore and a shaggy-haired man which Snape instantly recognized. "Severus, just the man we were looking for," the headmaster said in a smooth voice, "I was wondering if I could have a few words with you and Remus, if that would be alright of course." Even though the Potions Master wanted to tell the headmaster to leave him alone, Dumbledore had spoken in such a tone which made the point across that Snape wouldn't be able to say no.

Glancing back at the entrance to the dungeons with an unpleasant look, the hook-nosed character solemnly followed the headmaster and Lupin up the marble steps of the Grand Staircase. _Why me_! Snape thought to himself. When he had finally gotten the chance to see Hunter for the first time in two days, his plans were once again foiled by some new force. He silently cursed both the headmaster and Lupin as he dragged his feet behind them as they headed to Dumbledore's office.

The Potions Master tapped his fingers impatiently on his folded arms as he listened to the elderly wizard discuss matters of grave important with Lupin and him. It felt like hours to Snape as Dumbledore went on and on for a lengthy period about subjects he could really care less about right then. Occasionally, Snape would scowl at Lupin when Dumbledore wasn't paying attention; he still despised Lupin because he used to be friends with James Potter and Sirius Black. Finally, Dumbledore got to the point of why he had asked Snape to accompany Lupin to his office; it was a good thing too because Snape was getting edgier by the minute.

"Remus is going to stay here for a while-and I need you to brew more Wolfsbane potion for him Severus...If it wouldn't be so much trouble," again Dumbledore used the same tone of voice which told Snape that he wouldn't be able to back out of it.

"Of course headmaster," Snape said as he grinded his teeth, _Can I leave now_? "I will have the potion ready by next week..." he directed this mumbled comment to Lupin.

Lupin seemed relieved that the Potions Master had agreed to continue brewing him the Wolfsbane potion; Snape had been making the potion for him for at least five years now. "Thank you Severus," the tired werewolf tipped his head in respect to Snape, "You don't know how much I appreciate you doing this for another year..."

Shrugging Lupin's comment off like it was nothing at all, Snape stood up from his seat when Dumbledore had not said anything else. "Is that _all _Headmaster?" he tried not to sound too agitated. When Dumbledore had excused him, Snape calmly walked out of the headmaster's office and then sprinted down the marble staircase when he knew no one was watching him except for the paintings.

By the time he had made it back down to the dungeons, he had been gone for two hours. Snape found a blank piece of parchment floating right next to his office door. As he grabbed the parchment, he pulled out his black wand to reveal the invisible words. He somehow knew what it was going to say even before the words appeared, "Blood and flames..." Snape sighed unhappily as he finished reading the note.

- - - - - -

Pacing up and down the white steps of the Grand Staircase, the vampire bit her thumb as she thought about what to do with the current problem she was facing. Her steps were deathly silent; she didn't want to wake up the sleeping paintings and cause herself even more stress. Just as she walked past a painting of a posing knight, the knight scrambled through the other paintings trying to catch up with Hunter. "My Lady!" Sir Cadagon called as he accidentally knocked one of the sleeping portraits out of the chair they were resting in. "My fair lady!" the clumsy knight hissed loudly to the left of her.

Hunter turned her head to see the knight bowing gracefully to her; she in turn bowed her head in respect to him, "Sir Cadagon I presume?" she asked in a small whisper. She had heard stories about the clumsy knight and how eccentric he could be at times.

"Yes, my fair lady," the knight removed his metal helmet to reveal his long, wispy white hair. "Forgive me for my impertinence, but is there something troubling thee my fair lady?"

Long ago Hunter would have considered herself a mental case if she found herself having an intelligent conversation with a painting, but now she knew that in the magical world-anything was possible. "Truthfully...I have many things troubling me," she rubbed her temple to indicate that she was having another painful headache.

The knight's white brow curved into a frown, "When fair ladies, such as thee, were troubled by their minds during my times...I would play them _romantic_ love songs," he pretend to be playing a harp. "I shall fetch my harp for thee-" Sir Cadagon sang in a very broken voice as he started to push his way back through the other paintings to get to his own.

"Thank you Sir Cadagon but that will not be necessary," whispered a smooth voice from behind Hunter. "I think I know what is troubling the _fair lady_..." Lupin winked to the vampire as he stopped on the step right next to her. His tinted yellow eyes shined in the faint light, "Why don't we go for a stroll in the _moonlight_?" the werewolf asked Hunter politely.

_Blood and flames I hate it when he does this to me_...Hunter sourly thought to herself when she had the choice of listening to a painting whose voice sounded like a vulture's or having an argument with a werewolf. Sighing loudly, she bowed once again to the unhappy knight, "Maybe some other night Sir Cadagon..." Hunter tried to sound disappointed about not being able to hear the love song.

Following Lupin down the steps of the Grand Staircase and across the courtyard like she was being forced against her own will, Hunter tried her best to keep her temper in check. Four years wasn't nearly long enough for her to forget what he had done to her; she would never forgive him for it. Pocketing her shaking hands in her robes, the vampire walked at an unusual slow stride with her enemy. "What do you want to speak with me about _Lupin_?" she made sure to be at least five feet away from him.

"You still don't trust me do you?" Lupin took notice of her dark looks and how far she was staying away from him.

She laughed darkly at his question, "I trust _you_ as much as I can trust _Pettigrew_, if that answers your question."

"Look-Avalon-" Lupin stopped in his tracks and stood stubbornly in front of her, "I don't know exactly _why_ you hate me so much now...If you told me-then maybe I could make it up to you-"

Hissing at him with her eyes quickly glowing red, Hunter took a step back from his outstretched arms. "I don't _hate_ you Lupin-I _loathe_ you with _every fiber of my being_!" _Maybe I should have faced the terrible harp song_..._it would most definitely be better then listening to his lies_. "What do you want to tell me Lupin? I know you didn't come all the way to Hogwarts just to have another argument with me...Since you're such a _soft-minded werewolf_ and all," she rolled her eyes at him secretly.

Lupin folded his arms loosely across his chest as he stood in front of her and continued to receive all of her cold glares. "Harry told me that you are giving him private wandless magic lessons..." he sighed pathetically when he knew very well that all of their conversations would always end up with an argument. "He also tells me that you saved his life from the Whomping Willow last week..." he cocked a curious eyebrow in her direction.

"It was my fault the boy was facing the tree in the first place...I did not save his life," Hunter tried to deny everything. "It wouldn't look very good on my record if I allowed the Whomping Willow to flatten one of my students, now would it?" He gave her that same wolfish-look he use to give her such a long time ago. Quickly shaking her head about the familiar look he was giving her, Hunter pretended to ignore him completely. "I told him not to tell anyone-and what is the first thing he does? _He tells you_..." she snarled in a displeased voice.

"You haven't changed one bit Avalon..." Lupin chuckled to himself brightly, "Still believe that you can't perform one good deed since you've been a vampire..." The werewolf tilted his head in a curious manner, "How is your brother? I haven't seen him in a few years either..."

Snorting about the subject about her beloved brother, Hunter pushed her blue hair behind her slightly-pointed earsas she thought about what to say. "Quinn managed to find a bit too much of mischief and now the Ministry of Magic is trying to pin me for it all."

"Well you can't blame him...He's only nineteen years old at heart and he's been playing dead for nearly fifteen years..." He casually glanced up at the shining moon, it was nearly full, "One more week until the next full moon," Lupin sighed unhappily.

"When is the wedding, Remus?" Hunter asked in a very calm voice to break the awkward silence. She tried to sound like she could care less about her enemy getting married, but her glowing red eyes changed back to black as she waited for him to answer her question.

He bit his lip and tore his yellow eyes away from the moon, "In a few months..." Lupin stared down at his shabby brown dress shoes as he searched for the right words. "_Avalon_..." he started to whisper to her but she sharply cut him off.

"Tonks is a very lucky girl," Hunter gave him a broken smile with her pallid lips, "Very clumsy and young...but very lucky..." Trying to keep a very positive attitude about the entire thing, she patted him swiftly on the shoulder and congratulated him. "Mrs. Weasley told me about the wedding a few months ago...she was absolutely brimming with happiness," she said before he could ask her who had told her about it all. "I wish you both the best of life and happiness..." Hunter didn't sound very cheerful as she said it though. After giving him her heart-felt best wishes, Hunter turned away from him and began to trudge back to the castle with an imaginary rain cloud hanging directly over her head. _Thanks for all of the venom Remus_...

Knowing better, Lupin did not try to run after her...at least their conversation didn't end as horribly as the others had before. He scratched his mud-colored hair as he watched her leave him standing next to the lake alone. It was the very same spot he had asked her to the Yule Ball during her second year at Hogwarts. "Just wonderful..." he sighed sadly to himself.

- - - - - - -

"Now the trick with conjuring items without your wand is that you must picture the item you want to appear without any help of your memories-it has to do with your imagination..." Hunter whispered to her favorite seventh-year student on Sunday afternoon. "We'll try something very simple first-something you see every day," she rubbed her chin as she contemplated about what would be easy to conjure. "Ah-ha!" she cried when she came up with the perfect solution to her problem. "Make a snitch appear, Mr. Potter...I believe you know what they look like well enough to imagine one," Hunter winked at him cheerfully.

Tightly shutting his green eyes, Harry could easily picture a golden orb with miniature wings zooming around in the back of his mind. He was concentrating so hard and for so long, he swore he could actually hear the snitch zipping around his head. Harry only opened his eyes when he heard Hunter clapping her hands; he just caught sight of a snitch flying just above his eye-level.

"Wonderful..." Hunter seemed very pleased with Harry's progress in learning wandless magic, "You've been practicing I see, Mr. Potter." Tapping the side of her head, the vampire contemplated on the next object he should conjure out of thin air for her, "We'll have to try something a little bit harder this time...Hmm," she muttered to herself. Then, as if a light bulb had turned on inside of her mind, the vampire's pallid lips curved into a sly smile. "Conjure a miniature toy hinkypunk..." Hunter beamed at her wonderful idea.

Straining his mind for a few minutes, Harry tried to remember what those dark creatures actually looked like. He remembered that they were always carrying a lantern to lure their victims into the murky depths of the fog and marshes. Hinkypunks were transparent, blending right with the fog they loved to hide in. Biting his lip as he tried to picture a toy and a somewhat cuter version of the dark creature, Harry suddenly felt something soft fall on top of his head. Carefully opening one eye, Harry was relieved to see a plushy version of a Hinkypunk staring right back at his face.

Before he could have a better look at the stuffed Hinkypunk he had made, Hunter snatched it off the top of his head and tossed it on her desk. "This time try conjuring a green chair for me, Mr. Potter..." the vampire was enjoying this little game now.

At first Harry thought this would be as simple as conjuring a stuffed dark creature or a snitch, but the larger the object-the harder it was for Harry to perform the spell. His face grew red as he tried to conjure the green chair his Dark Arts professor wanted, "This is impossible..." Harry finally stopped concentrating when he was turning blue in the face and forgetting to breathe.

"The bigger the item you want to conjure, the more difficult it will be..." Hunter pulled her hair back behind her slightly-pointed ears, "Try picturing the chair in your mind piece by piece," she suggested in a calm voice. "Give it a try at least," she narrowed her eyes at Harry when he gave her a skeptical look. "Close your eyes-" the vampire purred in a soft but stern voice, "First picture the chair's legs...Make sure there are four..."

Harry opened one of his eyes to give her another look of disbelief; he quickly closed it when she barked at him for not doing what he was told.

"Picture the seat of the chair next...then the back of the chair...Now change the color to green and keep your mind focused on it. All you want is the green chair, nothing else-just the bloody chair. You can't live without this chair...if you don't have this chair right now you will have no purpose to your life..." Hunter folded her arms smugly across her chest when she spotted a green chair appearing right behind the boy, _Good, good_..._Trust is the key Mr. Potter_... "Why don't you sit down for a spell, Mr. Potter?" she finally asked him in a cheery tone of voice.

Quickly opening his eyes, Harry spun around to see the green chair before him; it was just as he had imagined it. "Brilliant!" he beamed to himself about his major accomplishments so far in the lesson. "Now what else do you want me to conjure?"

She laughed in reply, "Don't get so cocky Mr. Potter, you're not a complete master at this yet...just remember that." Subconsciously biting her thumb, the vampire was pondering on whether to make the next object very difficult to conjure or not for him. "Since you think you're ready for something a little more _complex_..." Hunter snapped her fingers and made a wooden bird cage appear in her pallid hands, "Create a bird to put in this bird cage, Mr. Potter."

The first thing that came to Harry's mind was a chirping blue bird fluttering around in his mind, just as he had pictured the golden snitch earlier. Focusing all he could on conjuring the twittering bird, he opened his eyes only when he heard a bird tweeting a few inches before him. Harry was beaming with pride when he saw a tiny blue bird ruffling its feathers in the cage until he noticed something was wrong with the bird.

"You forgot about the eyes Mr. Potter," Hunter's pallid lips curled into a sneer just before she waved her hand over the bird and it disappeared in a puff of black smoke. "Try once more...it's not so easy, is it Mr. Potter?" the vampire teased.

Half an hour later after toiling with specifically remembering that a bird had eyes, a beak, and two legs-not three, Harry was finally able to conjure a perfect twittering blue bird. Mentally drained, Harry didn't have the strength to boast about his accomplishment this time around.

"Wonderful Mr. Potter!" the vampire ruffled her student's hair lightly and patted him approvingly on the back, "Well done..."

There was a small knock at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom door just before the door creaked open. "Harry?" a scruffy man nervously entered the classroom, "It's nearly five-thirty...did you forget about our daily walk?"

Growling under her breath, Hunter stepped away from the boy with a dark gleam in her black eyes. "We're finished for the day Mr. Potter, I expect to see you next Sunday afternoon..." the vampire never looked directly at Lupin.

As if sensing the terrible vibes being emitted by the two half-breeds, Harry quickly rushed out of the classroom with Lupin. "She doesn't like you very much, does she?" the seventh-year boy whispered in a small voice as they were walking down the long empty corridor heading back to the Grand Staircase.

"Believe it or not, we use to be the best of friends at school..." Lupin yellow-tinted eyes gleamed for a moment when he thought back to his days at Hogwarts. His eyes soon became dull though when he stopped remembering his bright childhood, "Come on, we have much to discuss today..."

Wandering downstairs to the lower levels of the Dungeons, Hunter stuck near the shadows as Slytherin students appeared in the dark corridors every once in a while. She ventured to the Potions Master's office and knocked on his door. When there was no reply, she impatiently began tapping her foot on the stone floor and knocked again at the door. Guessing that he was not in his office, she trudged over to his dungeon classroom with a scowl on her face. Sighing loudly, Hunter felt a little depressed about not finding Snape in his usual places; she dragged herself out of his classroom.

Hunter's ears twitched when she heard a low mumbling sound coming from the private store room next to his musty dungeon classroom. As she drew closer to the closed door, the vampire heard a very familiar voice. "Bullocks...Look at what you've gotten yourself into...After you swore you would never make another potion for that-" The Potions Master's voice was drowned out by a loud hissing sound.

Silently pushing the door open, the vampire poked her head in to find an inch of yellow smoke spilling out of the cauldron and covering the entire stone floor of the private store room. A faint smile appeared on her pallid lips when she spotted Snape busily working on a potion. Hunter made sure not to make him notice her entrance and watched the Potions Master at work.

His greasy black hair was tied back into a small ponytail, as he loomed over the hissing cauldron with a dark frown on his sullen face. He would throw several different ingredients into the cauldron and then stir the new ingredients in until the smoke pouring out of the cauldron was a new color. Instead of wearing his usual black robes, he had a white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a pair of black slacks on. Pausing momentarily, he rolled his right sleeve down and wiped the sweat that was dripping down his forehead. Snape's black eyes caught sight of the blue-haired professor standing at the doorway and he immediately froze.

"_Hello_..." Hunter shut the door behind her, "Enjoying yourself?" her voice was very cheerful for once.

Wiping his brow once again, Snape returned her smile with his heart racing due to presence. For more than once that day, he thought that he had lost her for all of eternity. "Come to mock me, have you?" he had some trouble forming his thoughts into words.

"I just wanted to talk. That's all..." Hunter smiled at him without showing her fangs; she knew that her over-sized incisors intimidated even the strongest beings. "Wolfsbane potion?" she asked with a hint of curiosity as she drew closer to the cauldron.

"Why do you have such a vast knowledge of every subject known to man?" The Potions Master wasn't very serious about what he had observed of her. He was slightly taken aback with her carefully chosen words she used to retort back.

"You must use all of your resources before the final grain of sand in your hourglass falls," she mused quietly as she examined his ingredient list. It was ironic, for a vampire to be worried about not having enough time to learn about the world when they would live until the world turns to dust. Hunter causally glanced over at the bubbling liquid in his pewter cauldron, "Hmmm..."

"What?"

Hunter moved away from the cauldron closer to him with such elegance, the Potions Master could have sworn she was dancing just for him. Again, she positioned herself so her nose was almost touching his. "There is one thing I do not know very much of," the vampire whispered with her red lips brushing against his, "You..."

Cautiously, he lifted his rough hand and brushed her pallid cheek ever so gently. At first, he thought this was a terrible trick she was using on him for the past week just to have her revenge. Snape stared deeply into her eyes to see something he had never seen before-an unexplainable warmth. "Did you want a private lesson?"

"_Perhaps_," she gave him a devilish grin.

For a few seconds, they stood there in silence, just centimeters from each other's body. Both wanted to take their time but a sudden, uncontrollable hunger took over their calm composure. The vampire smoothly began undoing his top collar buttons as they quickly backed into an empty cauldron behind them. They locked lips before they could think about the consequences and soon their tongues were intertwined. Slipping the belt off his trousers and dropping it on the stone floor, Hunter was pacing herself as she undid his robe buttons; their lips still locked of course. Meanwhile, Snape was having trouble finding a way to get her out of her dress; he couldn't find any bottons or zippers. If he couldn't find any way in soon, he was just going have to rip it off her.

Hunter's slightly-pointed ears picked up footsteps approaching. "_No_..." Without any warning, she hastily pulled away from the Potions Master and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Suddenly, the door to Snape's private store of potion ingredients and cauldrons creaked opened. An unsuspecting headmaster entered the dungeon with a somewhat pleasant expression on his elderly face. He was humming to himself quietly until he noticed that Snape was half-dressed and disheveled. Dumbledore stood silently in front of the Potions Master as if he was deeply considering what was going on. "Perhaps I'll come back at _another_ time..." the elder wizard said in a wise voice as he slowly backed out of the room.

"Merlin's beard," Snape hissed once the headmaster was gone; his cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. "Avalon...?" he awkwardly began buttoning up his robes as he glanced around the deadly silent room.

As quickly as she had disappeared, the vampire reappeared a few feet to the right of the Potions Master. She was tying her blue hair back into a tight ponytail and pushing the edge of her dress back down. "I should go...you really need to finish that Wolfsbane potion... Forgive me," Hunter went over to him and helped him with his robe collar.

"What are you doing Friday night?" he gently pulled her hands away from his exposed throat and held them delicately in his own. "I want to take you somewhere very special-no interruptions this time..."

Smiling weakly, she gave in and agreed to go on a second date with him to Hogsmeade. "Get back to your potion...I've distracted you for too long," she whispered smoothly. Before she pulled her frozen hands away from his, she gave him a very peculiar look. "If I knew any better, I'd say that you fancy me..." Hunter kissed him on the lips until she could feel his grow numb and cold just like hers.


	11. Aide From The Unlikeliness KindOf People

After her final class on Thursday afternoon, Hunter rushed to her office before she departed. She had easily lied to Dumbledore about where she was going for the remainder of the day, claiming that she needed to take her pet gytrash hunting in the woods. Quickly, she snatched her stolen bag of coins and a black witch's hat, and then whistled to her anxious pet to follow her out of her office. Quinn was still sound asleep on his sister's shoulder and would remain asleep for at least another hour.

Obviously pleased about finally being able to get out of the gloomy office, Brooklyn pranced around his master and wagged his white tail furiously. He urged his master to hurry up through constant barking and whining; the dire dog spirit wanted to go on a trip.

Avoiding everyone, Hunter left the castle without causing much distraction; just as she had wanted. They walked at a brisk pace through the courtyard and fields until they reached the Forbidden Forest, then began jogging through the dense forest. Once they were far enough away, Hunter picked up her pet easily in her strong arms and apparated from Hogwarts.

Several seconds later, they popped right out of thin air in a deserted, dark alleyway. Dropping the spectral hound to the ground lightly, Hunter fed her pet a blue pellet which was the size of a bumblebee. While her gytrash chewed on the pill, she pulled her blue hair back into a bun and hid it underneath her hat. The vampire watched as Brooklyn's fur changed from a snow white to a muddy golden hue; he was now a normal Muggle-looking dog. She waited for her gytrash's teeth to shrink away into tiny incisors before she strolled out of the alleyway into the shining sunlight.

"Good morning starshine," Hunter grinned as she watched her brother stretch out his leathery wings and yawned loudly. Quinn swooped down from his sister's shoulder and transformed back into his human form still yawning. Momentarily glaring at his sister, he followed out of the darkened alleyway.

Even though it was November and there was a bitter chill in the air, the vampire was feeling very hot as she casually walked down the streets directly underneath the glaring sun. Hunter wished she could give herself one of those blue pills to stand the sunlight, but she knew that she was highly allergic to moonseed and it was too much of a risk to try it again. Sighing loudly, Hunter was at least glad that the hat was keeping the sun's glare away from her pallid face.

Slowly heading towards a small street with nothing but homes on every side, the two magical creatures went past unsuspecting Muggles without any problems. Counting silently in her head, Hunter whistled at Brooklyn to halt when she had counted to thirty-one; they stood in front of a red-brick house. _Here we are_...she thought to herself as she walked to the front door of the house.

At first glance, no one who knew Mr. Malfoy well enough would believe that this was his new home. The house was medium-sized, not exactly what the blonde Death Eater was used to-but it was big enough for two people. The only way you could tell that the house was owned by a pure-blood was the snake doorknocker; which was made out of solid silver, of course.

Knocking three times on the wooden door, the vampire impatiently tapped her foot on the front steps while Brooklyn panted with his tongue freely flapping out of his mouth. Hunter heard footsteps but the door never opened. Sighing, she pounded on the door with a fist, "Open the bloody door before I melt away you ungrateful bastard!" she yelled.

The doorknob clicked and the door creaked open, "Will you _shut-up_! I have very suspicious Muggle neighbors-I don't want anymore problems with those filthy, non-magical twits!" Malfoy growled just before he allowed them into the house.

Once inside, Hunter smirked at Malfoy when she saw how elaborate the inside was. "Somehow I expected you to do something like this to poor Medusa's home..." the vampire glanced up at the hanging glass chandelier and the silver-hued ceiling. "You can't stand it to hide your wealth, can you Lucius?" Hunter laughed at his sour look.

Lucius rolled his eyes at her, "You're suppose to come over tomorrow...why are you here today?" He pushed his blonde hair behind his ears, "Medusa was planning a wonderful dinner for your visit tomorrow..."

"I have other plans tomorrow that I can not get out of," she waved her hand to dismiss the subject, "We have much to discuss..." Hunter's eyes gleamed at her old friend. Bending down halfway, she patted Brooklyn on the top of his head and told him to stay put. She turned her head to see that Quinn was already gone, he had gone to a different room most likely.

Tipping his head slightly in reply, the Death Eater had her follow him to his private office; actually, it belonged to Medusa but he enjoyed claiming that it was his own. Silently shutting the door behind them, Lucius motioned for Hunter to sit. "How is Draco fairing in your class Avalon?" he wanted to get that subject out of the way as quickly as possibly.

"Second only to Mr. Potter, Lucius," she removed her hat and placed it neatly on her lap, "He asks about you...every time I see him now." She frowned at him, "Draco misses you Lucius-especially at the Quidditch games now. Why don't you wr-"

"I've _already_ tried that-Walden has already tried that for me also...My letters won't get through the security spells anymore-I have tried everything. Believe me, if I had any other options I would use them, Avalon..." Lucius sounded very defeated right then.

Hunter bit her lip as she concentrated deeply on something, "He wants to visit you for Christmas-he told me to ask you for this."

"Narcissa has become _very shrewd _in the last year-she does not want me _influencing_ the boy any longer. Since she is still a loyal servant to the Dark Lord, she plans on making Draco one also... She believes that I would convince my own son not to follow the Dark Lord when I've worked for him for several years of my life. But I have _you_ to _thank_ for that bullshit about me _resenting_ the Dark Lord in the _public _during my trial, now don't I?"

"At least you're still alive Lucius-you could have ended up like your sister-in-law's husband...soulless and forever locked in Azkaban..." Hunter kept the smirk on her pallid lips. "Where did my dear brother go?"

He shrugged, "Probably cooking something again in the bloody kitchen I suppose," Malfoy didn't sound to enthusiastic about it though. "Are you two arguing...?" the pure-blood wizard finally asked with an emotionless face.

"Quinn is very upset with me about Fletcher's _disappearance_..." Hunter ignored Malfoy's snort of disapproval, "I was hoping that he would cool down by now...but if he is cooking furiously-then he must be still angry with me." Lowering her black eyes for a moment, she pondered on whether or not she should ask her old friend about something. "Have you spoken with Walden lately?"

"Not since Sunday-after he received some information on the owl delivery system from Severus for me..." Lucius stroked his perfect pale chin with his index finger and thumb, "How is the Potions Master these days? I haven't seen that egotistical prick for two years..."

Blushing slightly, Hunter lowered her charcoal-hued eyes once again to hide the embarrassment of being associated with Snape for the first time. "I really wouldn't know..." her voice trailed off as she thought about their date tomorrow.

"I don't believe that for a moment," Malfoy chuckled to himself with his eyebrows raised at the vampire, "You've been madly head-over-heels for him since you've known him." Leaning forward in his seat, he narrowed his cold grey eyes at her as he examined her different expression. "And with that smile on your face, which doesn't seem to wash off by the way, I would have to say you know _exactly _how Severus is these days." Malfoy suddenly smirked about something he had just realized, "You have a date with him tomorrow, don't you?" he blurted out loud.

Hunter sighed loudly and rolled her eyes at him this time around, "Don't start on this Lucius-you're trying to make me feel guilty about bringing up the subject of Draco on you-"

"I would never do such a thing..." Lucius hissed in a smooth voice as the smirk on his thin lips grew longer. "I'm pleased for you though, Avalon... It took him bloody long enough to pull his act together. I was beginning to think that he was-"

Glaring darkly at her old friend, he fell silent when he knew he had said too much about her Potions Master. "I need to ask you for a few favors Lucius..." Hunter asked in a very small voice; she despised asking for favors and depending on others for help.

"I am at your service," he bowed his head respectively to her, "You helped me obtain most of my wealth...so I think I can provide you with a few favors in return. What do you require?"

Biting her lip once again, Hunter concentrated on what she need the most from the Death Eater right then. "I need you back in the Dark Lord's services..."

Malfoy nearly choked when he heard the request, "_What_?" he struggled to cough the word out. "_You _told me to _resent_ serving him though-_in public too_! Why do _you_ want me to _change my word suddenly_! The Dark Lord would _kill_ me for the mess-up in the Ministry of Magic and resent serving him during my trial-if I was _insane _enough to go back to him that is! What are you planning anyways?" he raised his white eyebrows at his old friend.

"Establishing my line of spies and allies-" Hunter mumbled quietly, "Walden said he would keep check on the Death Eaters..." She gave him a sly look, "If you trust me-we could pull off what we've been waiting so long for."

Pondering on what she was hinting for a few moments, Malfoy nodded in reply to her favor. "Alight-I'll see what I can do for you..." he didn't sound too excited about granting her this favor. "What is the other favor?" the pureblood sounded like he was dreading this already.

"Have your lovely fiancee Medusa keep tabs on the Ministry of Magic for me, if you wouldn't mind asking for me?" Hunter gave Lucius a sweet and innocent look with her black eyes.

He smiled maliciously, "I'm already having her do that for _me_ my dear," he leaned back in his fiancee's chair to be more comfortable. "_That_ I at least can promise you one hundred percent."

Standing up, Hunter bowed her head at the Death Eater thanking him for graciously helping her out, Hunter left the new Malfoy mansion.

Hunter placed her hat neatly on her blue head as she stepped back into the harsh sunlight, _Damn it's scolding today_... Carefully whistling to her pet gytrash, she waited for Brooklyn to be at her side before she set off. She would leave her brother at the Malfoy Mansion for a few days; she hated leaving him cooped up in her office in his Animagus form all day. They pushed their way through the crowd to the same abandoned alleyway and apparated directly to their next errand.

Popping back into existence, the two dark creatures ventured out of a new musty alleyway and stood at the edge of a cobbled street. "Diagon Alley," Hunter took in a breath of fresh air and could smell spices and pumpkin juice nearby. "We'll probably need a few tokens to get them pleased with the thought of granting me favors again..." she glanced down at her dog with a faint smile on her pallid lips. "Come on, it looks like you could use a drink," the vampire joked to her beloved pet.

After buying three drinks, a dog bone, and a few blood lollipops; Hunter easily moved through the crowded streets to find the entranceway to Knockturn Alley. Slipping into the darker side of the alleyway, Hunter gingerly strolled down the cobbled street and searched for one specific shop. She stopped in front of a shop with the windows bolted shut and a broken wooden sign hanging above the front door. Reading the sign, she chuckled to herself about how ironic it was to have a repair shop and have the shop's sign broken.

Opening the door, the vampire stood in the doorway and listened to a melancholy tune telling the owner that a customer was in the shop. "Come in-I'll be there to help you in one moment..." called a ruffled voice from the back of the repair shop.

Stepping inside the shop, the vampire silently closed the door behind her and her pet with two drinks and a box of lollipops in her arms. Glancing around, Hunter examined the discarded dark art objects thrown all over the back of the shop and the blackened portraits of past owners of the shop. Hunter walked past the portraits, nodding and greeting each one warmly, until she was to the back of the shop and stopped in front of a man bent over an object. Tilting her head to the side, she watched him send some sparks towards a gold-encased object until it began glowing a warm green hue.

"There," the man straightened up and brushed the ash off his shoulders very elegantly. "How many I help you-" he lifted his gaze and immediately smiled at Hunter. "Avalon!" the young man beamed brightly as he shook her hand and greeted her. "I haven't seen you in years-you look absolutely radiant Avalon!"

Bowing her head, Hunter received the same sign of respect from the shop owner. "Hello, Ambassador Lyude," the vampire smiled at the young man; he couldn't be a day over eighteen.

"Oh come on now...you and your proper ways..." Lyude snorted as he pulled his long red hair into a ponytail. "I've missed you dearly," he heard a bark from behind her and he smiled at Brooklyn, "I've missed you too Brooklyn."

"I brought you some drinks and snacks from Diagon Alley," Hunter handed him the two cups of pumpkin juice and the box of blood lollipops.

Lyude wiped the sweat from his forehead with his black sleeve before he took the drinks and lollipops from her. "Wonderful-I haven't been to Diagon Alley in _ages_..." he drank one of the cups in two quick gulps, "Blood and flames I love the taste of pumpkin juice." It appeared he was trying to savor the spicy taste in his mouth for a while, "Blood lollipops?" he raised his red eyebrows at her curiously.

"Kinda ironic-having blood lollipops for bloodsuckers, eh?" Hunter gave him a sly smile as she patted her pet gytrash on the top of his head. "You don't seem very busy right now..." she peered at the rest of the shop, "How is the business?"

The redhead shrugged, "You haven't been here for a while, have you?" he placed the remaining pumpkin juice and the blood lollipops on a dusty table nearby. "Business has been downright dreadful...With all of this talk about that twit wizard, Voldemort-right-taking control of the world and how all of the half-bloods are on his side. Damn wizards at the Ministry tried to close all of the shops here in Knockturn Alley. Bastards tried to close my shop but I fought them off. Only a few shops still remain here-now they're open to half-breeds only..." Lyude spat bitterly about trying to be forced out of business, "I _do_ hope you have a job for me though..."

Hunter smirked, "Don't I always? I trust only you with my weapons. You're the best I've seen in years."

"Well," Lyude said humbly, "One tries their best when they're alive for two hundred years..." He sighed, "What can I do for you Lady Hunter?"

"First, you can take this heavy load of gold coins off me," she tossed the bag of coins to Lyude with a dark gleam in her black eyes. "Then you can upgrade my revolver and my sword," she unpocketed her favorite revolver and her short dagger. Throwing her revolver at his chest, she then whispered a spell on her dagger and it grew into a full length sword. Quickly, she tossed the sword; with the sharp end pointing down; and Lyude caught it gracefully.

"Specifications?" he narrowed his black eyes at the end of the revolver's barrel.

"Silver bullets and a silver-plated edge for the dagger if you wouldn't mind."

He cocked an eyebrow at her, "Hunting werewolves are we?" Lyude, like all long-living vampires, hated werewolves with a passion. "Did you finally find the one that attacked you when you were a child?"

"Perhaps," she growled unhappily, "I just hate being without silver during a blue full moon." Hunter pushed her blue hair behind her ears, "Can you do it?"

Lyude smiled, "Of course...I can't turn down the business and my dear friend..." he bowed at her and carefully set the weapons on the table next to the pumpkin juice and lollipops. "You look wonderful-I must say, Avalon. I hear you are working for Hogwarts, is this correct?"

"Yes-at least the half-breed problems aren't reaching the school yet..." Hunter sighed loudly. "How are the others doing?" she asked in a small voice. "How is your sister Charlotte?"

The red-haired vampire rolled his eyes, "She's in one of her bloody _moods again_-cooking like crazy downstairs..."

Laughing about the thought of her brother cooking with Lyude's sister, Hunter patted the ambassador on the shoulder. "Don't worry Ambassador-my brother is doing the exact same at home."

"Your brother and my sister would be perfect for one another," Lyude started with a faint smile. He had been trying to hook the two vampires together for the past five years, but unfortunately he has been unsuccessful in the matchmaking prospect.

She nodded in agreement, "Too bad my brother is too busy playing matchmaker for his older sister and not just worrying about himself."

"Ah-is that why are you smiling so much today?" Lyude chuckled brightly at her. The vampire ambassador was the dark creature who had donated his blood to Hunter when she had been left in a dark alleyway for dead. Lyude's sister then later donated her unnatural blood to Hunter's brother when he was found by Lucius Malfoy a night later. Lyude knew every secret of Hunter's, including her hidden feelings for a certain hook-nosed character. But in turn, Hunter knew everything about Lyude, which sometimes frightened her.

He frowned for a moment as if he was trying to remember something he had already forgotten, "I have wonderful news though," he finally said. "My Lord is going to be the new Minister of Magic-" he sneered with his pearly white fangs showing.

Hunter suddenly grinned at her fellow blood brother, "Are you dead serious?" she choked on her words. She had never expected this to happen, let alone during an important situation with the Dark Lord having more and more followers.

"Can't get any deader," Lyude smirked as he comfortably folded his arms. "My Lord was very pleased with the moonseed potion you showed him and now all of the wizarding population believes him to be a non-half-breed. He has the entire support of the half-breeds here in London and throughout Scotland, and nearly half of the support from the humans-"

"But when will he be accepted into office Lyude?" Hunter cut him off with a soft voice; she was not trying to be rude.

He frowned once again, trying to recall the date of when the former Minister, Cornelius Fudge, would be replaced by a new one. "Not until January I believe..." he sounded unsure of himself, but usually he was right with his guesses. "We only have to suffer these bloody half-breed laws for only a few months longer..." he sighed with some relief.

Hunter bit her lip as she thought of how to make sense of all of the words and questions that were getting tangled up inside her mind. "Your master still refuses to side, doesn't he?" there was a hint of hope in her voice.

"My Lord will never join your old master's side...My Lord favors your opinions and views on this war-he will fight for the humans if you convince him that it is the right thing to do," Lyude stated confidently.

She smiled, "That's what I wanted to hear... I'll come back in a few hours-my weapons better be done by the time I get back Lyude..." The blue-haired warned her friend in a sarcastic voice; Hunter didn't expect him to finish her weapons until Saturday. She knew very well that the longer he takes on her weapons, the better they will be. "See you on Saturday, Ambassador Lyude," she bowed her head in respect to him.

He in turn did the same, "Take care of yourself...and watch out for those _damn werewolves_...I hear Greyback has been spotted near Hogsmeade," Lyude sounded a bit worried. "I don't want my apprentice to get killed by a werewolf before I can teach you anything else worth while!" he called as she and her pet walked out of his shop. The ambassador listened to the melancholy tune play quietly in the air; he could tell that Hunter was troubled by something.

- - - - - - -

Hunter sat up straight in her coffin, accidentally banging her head on the lid to her dreary bed, "Shit!" she muttered to herself as she rubbed her forehead. She was shivering all over and sweat was dripping down her face; she was having a nightmare again. Before tonight, she thought she had cured herself of her frightening nightmares with sleeping potions-but apparently they did not work for long. Even though she was muttering curses to herself about being stupid enough to bump her head on her coffin lid, she was still trembling about what she had dreamt.

Breathing slowly, she laid back down to clam her mind. With her eyes wide open, she stared into the darkness and could see the little grooves in her wooden coffin. Focusing on the grooves, Hunter refused to let her mind drift into a thought or go back to sleep; she had spent many years doing this. She wondered what the point was of trying to fall asleep with a peaceful mind, she would just wake up screaming again.

Soon the darkness of her coffin finally got to her, her eyelids grew heavy and she drifted back to sleep. About twenty minutes later, she banged her head against her coffin lid for the second time. "Bloody hell-" she grumbled when she thought she was getting another headache.

Sighing, Hunter stared off into nothingness for a little while and forced her mind to cease thinking all together. But then her thoughts got the best of her, _What if this is punishment? What if you're suppose to live the rest of your immortal life like this? This is punishment for what you've done...isn't it? Watch everyone you love grow old and die off because you took innocent lives... _Hunter shook her head and pushed the lid to her coffin open; she despised having conversations with herself.

Climbing out, she wandered over to a dusty bookcase and examined the spines of the books for a few minutes. Silently, she tugged a green leather book from its tight spot and blew the dust off it. At first she didn't want to open the book; she didn't want to revisit the horror that was just waiting for her return. Finally gaining enough courage, she opened the leather book to reveal three newspaper clippings.

All three clippings were from the obituary section of the _Daily Prophet_. One was for her real father's death, the second was for her foster father's death, and the third was for her own death. Staring at her own childhood picture, Hunter's mind flashed back to bloody fangs and screams. Hunter slammed the book shut, "You have no future-all you have to look forward to is death..." Her mind began to disagree with her again, _But what about...?_

- - - - - - - -

Remaining silent as he escorted her to Hogsmeade, Hunter could see that he had a thin smirk on his lips. The vampire could clearly tell that he was extremely pleased about something as they walked in the brisk November air. At least this time she was not shivering from the cold wind, she had his Slytherin scarf wrapped around her slender neck. Glancing up at the sky, she noticed several grey clouds covering the moon. "Where are we going Severus?"

"Just follow me," he continued to smirk as they walked down the cobbled street together. Luckily, no one had spotted the two venturing off to Hogsmeade together; they both knew that their teaching reputations would be ruined if they were found out. The Potions Master had spent hours trying to come up with the perfect second date for them. It had to be just perfect; nothing could go wrong this time.

Stopping abruptly in front of the Boars Head pub, Snape grabbed Hunter's shoulder when she hadn't noticed him stopping. "We're going in here," he smirked at her when he saw a sign of relief in her pallid face. "I hope you don't mind that we just have dinner in the pub..."

There weren't too many choices for a vampire to eat anymore in Hogsmeade thanks to the new half-breed laws, but at least the Boars Head was still open to all creatures. Hunter nodded to him, "This is fine, I could use a drink anyways..." she weakly smiled in his general direction.

Snape opened the door for her like a perfect gentleman and then followed her into the pub. A wall of smoke and drunken laughter hit their faces, the pub was crammed full with wizards and witches drinking, smoking, and eating. They managed to find one clean table and two empty chairs; Snape went and ordered the drinks and something to eat. He came back from the bar with two large pints of fire whiskey, "Bloody hell it's busy...isn't it?" his raised his voice a little so he could be heard over all of the drunken laughter.

Taking one of the fire whiskeys from his hands, Hunter nodded in agreement. She could hear him perfectly even if he decided to whisper to her, but she didn't want to point it out to him. She didn't want him to feel like a complete idiot. "So, how many detentions did you give to students today, Severus?"

"I believe _seven_...?"

"You don't sound so sure of yourself..." she took a long sip from her fire whiskey.

He noticed the sly look she was giving him, "My mind wasn't really focused on my classes today..." The Potions Master wanted to change the subject quickly, he didn't want to talk about himself today. He wanted to hear everything he could about Hunter; which felt pretty peculiar to him due to the fact he had never really cared about someone else's past. "You've never told me where you worked before you came here..." he said in a very curious voice.

The vampire slowly set her drink on the table, "I worked in the Ministry of Magic before here," Hunter avoided eye contact with him, "I was head of the Raid Section..."

"I would have never guessed," he drank a little bit of his fire whiskey, "So, you have been working with Arthur Weasley for a while I presume?"

Hunter nodded, "For at least ten years...I used to work for him and then I was promoted when I stopped a dragon from attacking innocent bystanders in Scotland." He asked if she had a particular interest with dragons. "They hold my interest," Hunter muttered as she took another sip of her fire whiskey. She was growing tired of answering his personal questions, she wanted to turn the focus back onto him. "You do know that Dumbledore is having a meeting with all of the staff on Sunday, correct?"

"Yes, I remember," Snape could sense that she did not want to talk about herself. It seemed like she was acting a bit cold towards him, like she had before when they first met. "Is there something wrong Avalon?" he asked in a low whisper.

She kept he eyes fixed on the reddish liquid in her glass but finally lifted her eyes to give him a weak smile. "I didn't get much sleep last night...Forgive me for being so short with you earlier... How did you know that Mr. Weasley worked in the Raid Section?"

"I know that through Dumbledore," Snape admitted humbly; he didn't want her to know about the Order of the Phoenix until Dumbledore said she could. "I also know that through Lucius Malfoy," he said in an emotionless voice. Since Malfoy had been released from Azkaban thanks to his own word to the Minister of Magic, Snape has never wanted to make amends with his old friend.

She smirked at the thought of Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy arguing back and forth at each other like they had done such a long time ago. "Those two did love to quarrel about everything..." Hunter could clearly picture the rubber duck incident in the back of her mind.

"You know Lucius then I take it," Snape did not seem very surprised by this.

Hunter couldn't keep a straight face, "He is one of the most egotistical pure-bloods I have ever met..." Glancing around the full pub quickly, she slyly added, "But I do think his wife is much worse than he is..."

The Potions Master smiled back in reply as he watched her take another drink; he was pleased to see that she was back to her warm self again. "I wonder where our bloody food is..." Snape stretched his neck and peered over at the bar to see two plates abandoned at the left end of the counter. "You never saw me do this..." he told her without moving his lips. Taking his wand out from his robe pocket, he muttered a summoning charm and pointed the tip of his wand at the food.

Floating above everyone's head the plates went unnoticed by the other witches and wizards in the bar, they landed softly on Snape and Hunter's table. "Is this even what you ordered...?" Hunter asked in a small voice when she noticed that the food was in fact fish and chips.

"Not exactly," he had just realized that it was fish and chips too, "But I'm starving... Aren't you?"

She wasn't in the mood for fish right then, but she felt like everyone's eyes were on her. "I could have done better with a rare steak..." Hunter muttered to herself without having the Potions Master hear her.

After having their stolen fish and chips dinner, Snape and Hunter left the over-crowded Boars Head pub and headed back to the path that led to Hogwarts. They were both silent for the majority of the walk.

Hunter glanced back up at the darkened sky to find the clouds had disappeared and a shining white orb was directly above them. _This isn't good...I thought the full moon would be tomorrow..._ she nervously thought to herself as she walked next to Snape. Her black eyes constantly switched views from left to right of the trees surrounding the dirt path.

Noticing that she was very tense about something, Snape took a step closer to her so his hand was almost brushing against hers. Finally gaining enough courage, he took her hand in his with a very gentle movement.

The vampire stopped in her tracks immediately and twitched when he had grabbed her hand. She lowered her black eyes at him holding her pallid hand; his hand felt so warm compared to hers. Lifting her head back up she saw him smiling at her, Hunter smiled weakly back at him. Her thoughts were cut off when she heard a howl off in the distance, "What was that...?" she hissed to Snape in a frightened voice.

Snape gave her a strange look, "It's probably just a wolf," he brushed off the ominous howling as nothing to fret about. "Nothing more than that," the Potions Master reassured her in a confident voice. Releasing her hand, he placed his arm around her shoulder and made her start walking with him down the dirt path once again. "Everything is just fine," he whispered in her ear softly when he could feel her tense back up again.

"Severus-" Hunter started to say in a weak voice.

He glanced over at her, "What is it, Avalon?" Snape could tell was something was wrong by the tone of her voice.

Biting her lip for a moment, she moved away from his reach and stood firmly in front of him. "Severus-I think we should..." Hunter looked into his familiar cold black eyes and her words faded away. She caught sight of movement from far behind him; her eyes went white with fear. What she had seen was something she never wanted to see again-grey fur.

"Avalon...?" the Potions Master whispered when he suddenly noticed her eyes changing colors.

Keeping eye contact with him, she heard a twig snap coming from the right side of the trees. _Move to the left when I tell you too_... she had to make sure that he understood what was going on.

_What is it_...?

Hunter tightened her fists when it became deadly silent; she would only have a few seconds to warn Snape to move out of the way. A new feeling was taking over her, she felt like she _had_ to protect him from the creature no matter what. What she didn't know was that this is the true feeling of being in love with someone.

_NOW!_ she told him when another twig snapped; this time the creature was only several yards away.

Snape moved as quickly as he could to the left and barely caught sight of a grey blur brushing past him. By the time he realized that the grey blur was in fact a werewolf, the creature had already pinned Hunter to the ground.

The werewolf's jagged teeth were only centimeters away from Hunter's face as she struggled to hold the creature's jaws shut with her bare hands. She was so focused on the werewolf's jaws, she never took notice that the monster's claws were cutting into her pallid flesh.

Using the quickest spell he could yell out, Snape watched the werewolf fly into the trees and disappear into the darkness. "_Avalon_!" the Potions Master sprinted over to her to see if she was still alive or not. He saw a the four inch gash in her shoulder but other than that she was unharmed. "Come on, we have to get out of here," Snape turned his back on the trees for a moment and tried to help Hunter to her feet.

"Se-sevv-erus..." Hunter's eyes were still snowy white when she saw a shadow suddenly looming over him. _"Behind you_!" she finally yelled when she thought the werewolf was about to attack.

Turning around sharply, Snape found him face to face with a malicious werewolf drooling all over his shiny black shoes. _Oh fuck_, he thought when he could have sworn the werewolf was smirking at him. Narrowing his eyes at the creature, Snape stood his ground in front of Hunter; at least he would die a hero. Just as the Potions Master aimed his wand at the monster, it raised its powerful right paw and swiped at Snape.

"SEVERUS!" Hunter screamed when she watched the werewolf effortlessly knock Snape out of its way. _No-no-no this can't be happening_...she told herself as she prayed for him to get back up.

When the Potions Master didn't get back up, the werewolf turned its attention back on the vampire. Hunter pushed herself up to her feet as quickly as she could and slowly stepped away from the creature. It was obvious that the werewolf had come for her. Her eyes changed to a blood red hue when she knew that the werewolf wanted to break her slowly, just like a child toying with a common house fly by first ripping off its wings to render it helpless. Taking a few more steps back, she hissed at the werewolf with her fangs shining in the moonlight. "_I will kill you_..." she warned.

The werewolf snarled back at her in reply and then extended its claws even farther to show that it did not intend on losing. It finally had enough with toying around, the werewolf lunged at her with its jaws wide open and all of its claws fully extended. Luckily, Hunter had enough time to step to the side and give the monster a powerful right hook. She quickly stepped back when the werewolf tried to swipe at her with its dangerous claws.

Howling with rage, the werewolf made a sharp one-eighty degree turn and caught Hunter completely off guard. With one swift swipe, it had managed to knock her to the ground helpless. It drooled even more when the vampire began to crawl backwards from it; Hunter knew that she was at a disadvantage now.

The grey werewolf slowly stepped towards her with its yellow eyes shining in the moonlight. Hunter bumped into one of the broken trees the werewolf had snapped in half earlier, which cut off her only available exit. Swallowing hard, she waited for the malicious monster to make one final lunge at her. She wouldn't have a chance. When she saw the creature leap towards her with its claws extended, Hunter shut her eyes tightly and waited for it all to be over with.

She opened her eyes when she heard a whining sound, the grey werewolf was snarling and slowly backing away from where she was. Knowing that it had absolutely nothing to do with her, she lifted her head to see another furry monster looming over her. "Oh great there's two of them..." Hunter muttered to herself.

The new werewolf, which was covered with silver fur, growled at the grey werewolf as it climbed over the broken tree where Hunter was lying in front of. Snarling at each other, the two werewolves circled each other cautiously; trying to decided whether one could defeat the other.

Taking this new advantage, Hunter got to her feet and slowly began to slip away from the battling werewolves. She definitely did not want to stick around to see which werewolf would win the little standoff. Just as she was about to be home free, the grey werewolf caught notice and went after her. "Oh shit," Hunter bolted down the dirt path as fast as she could with the grey monster gaining up on her. Glancing over her shoulder, the grey werewolf was almost on her with the silver werewolf following close behind.

Just as the grey werewolf took a swipe at Hunter; knocking her face-first into the dirt path; the silver one suddenly attacked the grey one. As the vampire tried to regain her senses from the hard fall, the two werewolves clawed each other just a few feet away from her. When Hunter could focus her eyes once again, all she could see was grey and silver fur and a lot of white teeth.

The silver werewolf finally got the upper hand over the grey one and it slashed the grey one directly across the face. Whining, Greyback backed down from the silver werewolf and retreated back into the shadows of the trees. Once the silver werewolf was sure that the other one was gone, it finally took notice of Hunter.

"_P-please_..." she whispered as she backed away from the new silver werewolf ever so slowly, "_D-don't do t-this_..." The vampire was very weak, she wouldn't have the strength to outrun this new werewolf.

Towering over her, the werewolf lowered its head so its jaws were just inches away from her face. Drool was dripping from the corners of its mouth and splashing all over the dirt and Hunter's boots. Its yellow eyes locked onto Hunter's wide white eyes and the silver werewolf produced a low growl.

"_Please-please don't do this-Please Remus_..." she begged in a soft voice as Lupin sniffed her blue hair carefully. "_Please Remus_..." Hunter had recognized the werewolf from her childhood; he had attacked her during her sixth year at Hogwarts; she could never forget those yellow eyes.

Lupin's hard yellow eyes suddenly softened when she had said his name-he had taken his Wolfsbane potion for once. Whining softly, Lupin licked Hunter on the face as she began crying with relief.


	12. Exposing A Secret

Folding the newspaper in half, Hunter's cold black eyes skimmed over the main headlines of the _Daily Prophet_. Three people were brutally murdered by Greyback last night in Hogsmeade; she was glad that it wasn't four instead. Sitting back in the wooden chair, she continued to skim over the eye-witnesses' accounts of what had exactly happened. Greyback had supposedly been spotted in Hogsmeade several days before with two of his fellow Death Eaters.

Thanks to Macnair, who had warned her a few weeks before, she knew who the other Death Eaters were. Peter Pettigrew was ordered by his Dark Lord to keep an eye on Snape, while Beatrix Lestrange was ordered to make sure Hunter didn't leave Hogwarts during the full moon.

Unfolding the newspaper roughly, a sharp pain was triggered in her right shoulder suddenly. Hunter closed her eyes and grumbled swear words under her breath; the pain was becoming unbearable and irritating. Placing her left hand softly on her bandaged shoulder, she whispered a few magical words until the pain finally subsided. Once the pain was gone, she went back to finish reading her newspaper.

The problem with wounds caused by Dark creatures is that many of them have to heal naturally and with help from some healing herbs and potions. Madame Pomfrey had given the vampire some magical herbs to aide in the healing process and had stitched her shoulder back together in some places. What made Hunter furious about it though was the fact that Madame Pomfrey tried to keep her in the Hospital Wing for the remainder of the night so the nurse could keep an eye on her. This wasn't the first time Hunter had broken one of her shoulders, she knew perfectly well to keep the movement of her right arm at an absolute zero for the first few days.

But this was easier said than done, Hunter had to teach Harry more wandless magic today. Frowning about the fact that she would have to cancel the private lessons, she crumpled the newspaper up to ease her rage about being an invalid. She was relieved about one thing though, Snape was still alive. Hunter didn't know what she would have done if he had been killed by Greyback. He was still in the Hospital Wing unconscious this morning; she promised herself that she would check on him again.

Closing her eyes for a moment, the vampire leaned back in her chair and let a long pathetic sigh out. It had been a long, tiring night for her. Her slightly-pointed ears twitched when she heard the Library doors creak open; she kept her eyes closed. Listening to the footsteps coming closer to where she was resting, she could smell something like wet dog in the air.

"Rough night I hear," Remus Lupin whispered as he took a seat across the desk from her. He took notice of the crumpled newspaper and could tell that she was in one of her sour "invalid" moods again. The werewolf had a few nicks and cuts on his tired face and scarred hands, but otherwise, he was unharmed from last night's fight with Greyback. When she did not reply back to him, he believed that she was angry with him still. Taking a deep breath, Lupin was determined to set everything straight between them this time. "Look-I know you think that I meant to-" he bit his lip for a second. "I know why you are so angry with me...why you are so afraid of me..."

Hunter opened her eyes and raised a questionable eyebrow at him, _You do, do you? _she thought to herself secretly. Staying silent was probably better for her; she didn't want to fight with him-especially since he had saved her life last night.

"Last night-I recognized that look you were giving me...like I had seen it from somewhere before." Lupin watched the vampire's look become uneasy and she immediately stiffened, "I didn't mean to attack you when we were younger Avalon..."

Like all werewolves, he couldn't remember anything once he became a werewolf before the invention of the Wolfsbane potion. When Hunter was pleading with him last night, Lupin somehow recognized her voice and suddenly remembered that he had attacked her when they were at Hogwarts. Hunter had overheard Lupin's friends talking about pranking Snape, during their fifth year, and she decided to go to the Shrieking Shack to stop the prank. At the shack, she had accidentally stumbled across Lupin in his werewolf form without knowing about it until it was too late. Barely escaping with her life, Hunter was terrified of Lupin and never spoke to him again even though he was still in love with her until he thought she had died.

"I remembered how frightened you were too..." Lupin's yellow-tinted eyes hazed over as he thought about their past. "I-I never meant to hurt you Avalon-" he glanced back at her and smiled sweetly, "You understand me, don't you?"

Standing up, Hunter weakly got out her chair and appeared to be walking away from the conversation. Then, she stopped right next to him and placed her hand on his shoulder gently. Leaning forward, she kissed him on the cheek, "Thank you Remus..." With that being said, Hunter walked out of the Library with a pathetic sigh. She had finally forgiven him-after fifteen years.

Immediately, she ventured downstairs to check up on her Potions Master. A terrible pain was in her chest as she continued to think about last night. Her stomach became uneasy whenever she thought about Greyback attacking Snape. Keeping an emotionless face, Hunter entered the Hospital Wing to find that Madame Pomfrey had left her office to go get some breakfast. Silently, she wandered towards a hospital bed that had curtains all around it; Hunter paused before she gingerly pulled one of the curtains to the side. Her cold black eyes softened to a light blue when she saw that the Potions Master was still unconscious, _Severus_... Biting her quivering lip, she did not want to start crying again for the second time this morning.

Madame Pomfrey had left Hunter's chair still next to Snape's bed; as if the nurse knew that the vampire would return. Taking a seat, she sniffled a few times until she could pull herself back together. Deep down, she knew that it was her own fault that he was hurt-Greyback was only after her. Watching his bandaged chest slowly rise and fall, Hunter prayed that he would wake up soon. Hunter lifted her trembling left hand and held his ever so gently, like he had done with hers last night. "I'm so sorry Severus..." she whispered as she tried to stop the oncoming tears even harder, "This should have happened to me..." Lowering her head, she finally let a tear drop down to the stone floor. Finally, Hunter couldn't take it any longer, she bursted into tears begging for him to wake up. Lowering her head even further, she continued to cry while holding his hand gingerly in hers. "_Severus_..."

Not knowing how long she had fallen asleep with her head lightly resting on Snape's hospital bed, Hunter cracked open her eyes when she felt something brush against the top of her head. When her reddened eyes could focus clearly once again, she lifted her head to find that Snape was patting her lovingly on the head. "Severus...?"

Snape smiled weakly at Hunter when her eyes locked onto his; he could tell that she had been crying for quite a while. As he took a long breath, the Potions Master felt a terrible pain in his chest. Momentarily glancing down, he noticed the three strips of bandages covering up a large claw mark on his chest. When he was unconscious he did not know why it was hurting him so much to breathe, now he understood. He appeared worn out even though he had been asleep for almost two days. "Hey stranger..." he finally whispered back when he had gained enough strength to speak.

Tears fell from her blue eyes once again, "I was so worried that-" Hunter started to say but she ended up drowning out the rest of her words with her crying. She let go of his hand to stand up and wrap her arms around his neck very carefully. "I love you so much..." she whispered to him between sobs. Her right shoulder felt like she was having a curse placed on her as she hugged him, but she knew that it was worth every second of the unbearable pain. "How are you feeling...?"

"Like I was hit by a _bloody _train," Snape rubbed the side of his head, messing up his black hair. He spent a few minutes trying to sit up in the hospital bed but was unsuccessful until Hunter helped him with her good arm. "Some second date..." the Potions Master sighed unhappily as he noticed that her right shoulder was completely bandaged up like his chest was. "How is your shoulder?"

The vampire shrugged the question off like her injury was nothing to fret about, "It still stings from time to time...but I'm more worried about you..." She carefully placed her left hand over his again, "I had a wonderful time with you Severus...Even though we were nearly mauled to death by werewolves-"

"There was more than one...?" he asked her before she could say anything else.

She had forgotten that he was already unconscious when Lupin had come from his hiding place in the forest to save her from Greyback. Taking a deep breath, Hunter tried to explain everything that had happened last night after Greyback had attacked him. Most of it had gone by so quickly that Hunter couldn't remember every single detail of the attack.

"Did Remus really save you?"

"Yes he did," she whispered in a emotionless voice. _He finally did_...

"Is he staying here for the rest of the month still?"

"No-he is leaving tomorrow..." she sighed.

"You sound relieved-" he raised a curious eyebrow in her general direction.

"I am..." _For everything_..._You're still safe and alive_...

Just then the two professors heard Madame Pomfrey's high-pitched voice and Dumbledore's soft and calm voice. Hunter quickly kissed Snape on the cheek and whispered to him that she would come check up on him in few more hours. With that being said, she disappeared in a puff of black smoke, thanks to the benefits of having vampire blood in her, before the nurse and headmaster pulled back the curtains around Snape's bed.

- - - - - -

"Bloody hell," Ron mumbled under his breath as he glanced at the note pinned to the notice board in their common room. "This isn't fair," the redhead pouted slightly when he was finished with reading it. "We can't go to Hogsmeade for two bloody weeks!" With a scowl, he tugged his gloves off and threw them at the nearby couch.

Hermione rolled her brown eyes, "It's not the end of the world Ron," she went back to reading her Ancient Runes for the upcoming test she had on Tuesday. "There are worse things than missing four trips to Hogsmeade you know..."

He frowned in her general direction, "Like what Hermione? Missing one question on your Ancient Runes test because you didn't study for fourteen hours like you usually do?"

"No," she snorted at him, "You didn't hear about what happened to Professor Snape, did you?"

Ron raised his red eyebrows, "What happened to Snape?" he was curious about this subject now.

Just as he was climbing through the portrait hole, Harry heard the question being asked from at least thirty feet away. "Everybody has been talking about it since yesterday... Where have you been?" Harry smirked at Ron as he pulled off his muddy Quidditch gloves. "He was attacked by a werewolf on Friday night, he's been in the Hospital Wing since then."

"Brilliant! That means we won't have him on Tuesday!" Ron beamed brightly.

"Ronald!" Hermione glared at him darkly, "Professor Snape was almost brutally murdered along with-" she stopped suddenly.

Harry and Ron plopped down on the couch next to her with an interested look in their eyes. "What else do you know Hermione?" Harry asked with a big cheesy grin on his chapped lips.

For a moment she pretended to ignore them both by burying her nose back into her Ancient Ruins book, but she soon lifted her head to see them still grinning at her. "Oh-alright I'll tell you-" she slammed her book shut and eyed them both sternly. "You can't tell anybody else...understand?" When they nodded quickly in reply, she glanced around the common room and then finally cleared her voice. "I heard Madame Pomfrey speaking with Professor McGonagall yesterday afternoon in the Library. I was writing my Herbology paper-"

"Oh come on-get on with it Hermione!" Ron groaned loudly.

She shot him a dirty look with her brown eyes but continued on like she had never been rudely interrupted. "Apparently-Professor Hunter was with Professor Snape when he was attacked by the werewolf-"

Ron smugly folded his arms across his chest, "I knew it-since day one when those two were quarreling in the middle of dinner-that they would get together!"

"You must be joking," Harry snorted with disbelief. "They would make such a _lovely couple_ too," he muttered under his breath.

"I guess they are a couple..." Hermione shrugged her shoulders at them. "Professor McGonagall even said that Snape tried to protect Professor Hunter from the werewolf..."

Harry paused to think about what she had said. "_Tried_? Did he fail or something?"

Knowing that she had already said too much to her friends about something they shouldn't even have known about, Hermione sighed loudly in frustration. "Remus saved them both..." she whispered in a low voice. "I guess Professor Hunter ended up braking her shoulder and getting a few cuts on her-but I haven't seen her at all since Friday afternoon."

"What about Snape though, Hermione?" Ron seemed a bit too eager to hear the damage report on his least favorite teacher.

"Madame Pomfrey said he was unconscious all of Friday night, he apparently didn't wake up until yesterday morning. She said he had a nasty claw mark on his chest from the werewolf..." she simply said. "He'll probably be teaching again by Tuesday though... You know how much he loves abusing students."

Grumbling under his breath, Ron went back to pouting-but now he was doing it because Snape would still be teaching. "This day just can't get any worse..."

"Hey-what time is it?" Harry asked when he realized that Remus Lupin would be leaving Hogwarts before dinner.

Hermione raised her eyebrows at him, "Nearly two-thirty, why?"

"Just wondering..." he muttered quietly. "I'm going to go find Remus...before he leaves..." Harry left the Gryffindor couch without saying anything else to his friends.

Wandering down the steps of the ever-changing Grand Staircase, Harry found Lupin examining one of the moving portraits very closely. Like always, Lupin appeared exhausted and there were a few nicks and cuts on his face. The werewolf grinned at the boy, "How was Quidditch practice today Harry?" he turned away from the painting.

"Alright... They're getting better-slowly but surely," Harry cracked a smile at the old Dark Arts professor. "How-how are you feeling?" he finally asked with a bit of hesitation in his voice.

"Better than Professor Snape and Hunter," Lupin sighed pathetically when he had said the vampire's name. "I frightened her to death on Friday night I think..." he commented in a weak voice as if that thought had been bothering him for the past two days.

Harry couldn't blame the vampire one bit, facing two werewolves in one night would be enough to make a person spend the rest of their life hiding in a broom closet. "So, I guess she's still not speaking with you then?"

"No," he glanced back at the painting, "We're friends again..." Lupin's yellow-tinted eyes seemed to be glowing warmly now.

- - - - - -

Humming to herself, Hunter walked down to the Dungeons with a faint smile on her pallid lips. In her hands were three items: two were boxed-up chocolate frogs and the other item was a magical "get-well" card. She was planning on leaving the gifts in Snape's office so he would find them when Madame Pomfrey released him from the Hospital Wing.

The rumors of her and the Potions Master being together were quickly spreading throughout the castle. If the ghosts and the paintings were already talking about them, then the vampire knew her reputation had already been ruined. Hunter didn't want to risk anymore suspicion by being caught sneaking into Snape's office, so she instead hid in the shadows whenever she heard Slytherins coming down the hall.

Once it was all clear, she swiftly tapped Snape's office door with her left hand while whispering a counter spell to unlock the door. When the door creaked open, Hunter slipped into his office and the door clicked shut. For a moment she stared at his desk pondering on where would be the best spot to place the chocolate frogs and card so he would be able to find them easily.

As she thought, she suddenly felt a cold draft in his office. Glancing around, the vampire spotted that the blank stone wall had a large hole in the middle of it. _He's already been released from the Hospital Wing_? Hunter awkwardly froze with Snape's gifts in her pallid hands when she heard him cough from inside his private chambers. _Oh shit_-

Slowly walking back into his office with his eyes fixed on the stone floor, Snape was busily brushing his teeth with a green toothbrush. He was wearing grey boxer shorts, the rest of him was completely unclothed. The Potions Master froze when his black eyes caught sight of black boots in his office. Lifting his head, he saw Hunter standing in front of him with an embarrassed expression on her face. He ceased brushing his teeth and he stared blankly at her for a moment.

Hunter tried to break the ice between them by smiling weakly at him and making her usual smart-ass comment. "Nice boxer shorts..." she chuckled silently to herself as she watched panic flood his face.

Swiftly glancing down at himself, the Potions Master suddenly realized that he was only wearing his shorts and nothing else. His cheeks turned bright red before he jumped back into his private chambers without another word. A minute later he came back out of his private chambers with a black robe draped around him. "_How did you get in here_?" Snape tried not to swallow the toothbrush that was still sticking out of the side of his mouth.

"I've watched you lock your office door a few times...I know the counter spell..." Hunter explained quickly as she wiped the smile from her lips. "I wanted-I wanted to leave you these in your office so you would find them when you left the Hospital Wing." She showed him the three items in her hands. "I apologize...I didn't think you would already be back in your office-" she started to say in a soft voice but she fell silent when he reached out and touched her frozen hands.

The Potions Master cracked a small smile at her; he could tell that she was embarrassed about being caught sneaking into his office. "Thank you Avalon..." he leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the lips. "I missed you..." Snape whispered as he took the gifts from her hands and placed them gingerly on his office desk. "You look better," he commented with a hint of relief in his voice.

Taking a few steps towards him, she stood on the tips of her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck since his chest was still badly wounded. "You were very brave," Hunter whispered in his ear as she closed her eyes and hugged him tightly.

Snape brushed her frozen cheeks with his warm hands, "You're my angel of the night...I'll always protect you..."

- - - - - - - -

Attention to all Wizards and Witches in the England region:

Due to the new Section 14 area 12 laws, or otherwise known as the Half Breed laws, all Half Breeds will not be able to shop in Diagon Alley or KncokTurn Alley until they receive a special pass from the Ministry of Magic to do so. All Half Breeds must register at the Ministry of Magic or they are not permitted to be around the non-magical public. If an unregistered Half Breed is found in the non-magical public, they will be taken to Azkaban for trial. Half Breeds will not be able to work full time due to their unpredictable behavior. Half Breeds will only receive one-third of their pay due to last month's law on Half Breed Tax (see Section 14 area 7).

- Cornelius Fudge, Minister Of Magic

Crumpling up the parchment and then shredding it into thousands of little pieces, Hunter swore under her breath about the new Half-Breed Laws the Ministry of Magic were putting into effect. She threw the pieces out of her small window with a dark gleam in her eyes, _This is WAR_... the vampire vowed to herself. Hunter glanced over at her just-modified weapons and could just picture murdering every last person in the Ministry in the back of her mind. Realizing that she was wishing the death of several hundred witches and wizards, she took slow, deep breaths to calm down. She fell back into her office chair and rubbed her temple with her fingers gently, _Stop thinking about carnage_... _Don't turn back into your old self_. It had been a while since Hunter had sincerely thought about murdering innocent people just to have a laugh.

She couldn't help herself but smile when she thought back to randomly selecting pitiful Muggles to kill for her old master. Quickly, she shook the images away from her mind, "Stop this," she growled at herself. Hunter frowned as she stared at the weapons on her office desk; there was a faint voice urging her to take strong measures against the Ministry of Magic.

The vampire lowered her head, she missed her beloved foster brother. Sadly glancing around her cold office, she released a pathetic sigh. "I hate to say this Brooklyn-" she whispered to her pet gytrash, who was curled up next to her office desk, "But I miss Quinn..."

Raising his head up, the dire-dog spirit yawned loudly and whined softly at his master in reply. He was missing his master's brother too. Quinn would always play with Brooklyn during the daytime since they were both stuck in the office, now the gytrash was alone all day until dinner time.

As she lazily sat in her office chair and scratched her pet behind his ears, a brilliant plan suddenly came to her mind. "Why don't you come to class today, eh?" Hunter asked her faithful pet, "How does that sound?"

Tipping his head to the side as he carefully listened to his master's soft voice, Brooklyn ecstatically wagged his long white tail.

- - - - - - -

Tapping his wand on the black chalkboard, the Potions Master narrowed his hippogriff-like eyes at his N.E.W.T. students with a deep frown on his pale face. For the entire class period, Snape could not figure out why in the world everyone was smirking right back at him. He knew he should be worried when Neville Longbottom was even grinning at him for some strange reason. Trying to ignore his students' odd looks, the Potions Master went along with explaining the advantages and disadvantages of adding phoenix feathers to an aging potion.

"Phoenix feathers will prolong death in certain potions-but will only last for a few hours at the very most. The magical properties of the feathers will also heal certain wounds and will-in some cases-act as a youth potion." Snape's cold black eyes suddenly caught sight of someone passing a scrap piece of parchment to another classmate. "_Miss Turpin-_" he snapped bitterly at the Ravenclaw girl with a very disappointed look on his face.

Freezing with the folded piece of parchment in her dainty hands, Lisa Turpin lost all of the color in her face when she was caught passing notes during his Potions class. She temporarily glared at Anthony Goldstein, the Ravenclaw boy who had passed her the note in the first place.

"Let me see the note Miss Turpin..." Snape growled in a malicious voice with his hands ready to snatch the scrap parchment from her if she disobeyed his order. "_Now Miss Turpin_," he narrowed his emotionless eyes into tiny black slits when she nervously glanced around at her fellow classmates as if she was going to be murdered soon.

Her hands trembled as she finally gave the note to the furious Potions Master, "I did not draw it Professor Snape," Turpin muttered quickly in her defense.

Momentarily giving the note a fleeting look, Snape thought it was a pathetic drawing but then the image suddenly registered in his mind. Taking a second look at the scrap piece of parchment, his eyes widened when he realized what the drawing was all about.

Turpin cowered in her seat when the Potions Master violently crumpled the note. "I swear I didn't draw it, Professor Snape..." she tried to say in her defense.

Leaning forward, Snape made sure his irritated face was just inches away from the Ravenclaw's. He made full eye contact with the student so there was no possible way of her lying to him about who drew it. "_Who drew this Miss Turpin_...?" his voice was soft but stern.

Swallowing loudly, Turpin finally broke under the pressure and blurted out Goldstein's name. As Snape was just about to vent all of his fury on Goldstein, the Ravenclaw boy in turn automatically pointed to Wayne Hopkins. The blaming game went on for several minutes until there were only three students to pin the fault on.

"Well," the Potions Master darkly stared down the only three Gryffindors in his N.E.W.T. class. "Which one of you passed this _lovely _drawing to everyone in class...?" He still had the scrap piece of parchment smashed in one of his tightened fists. "_Well_!" Snape barked at Neville Longbottom; he knew he could get an answer from that clumsy fool at least.

Carefully glancing over at Hermione and Harry, Neville was contemplating on what he should tell the enraged professor. But Neville didn't need to say anything this time, Snape made full eye contact with the plump Gryffindor and immediately flipped around to stare down Harry and Hermione. "Stay after class Miss Granger and Mister Potter," he ordered in his coldest voice.

Just as Snape went back to the chalkboard, the bell rang to signal that class was finally over with. All of the students leaped out of their seats and sprinted to the classroom door. None of them wanted to be around to find out how peeved Snape was about the drawing. When everyone was gone except for Hermione and Harry, the Potions Master folded his arms across his chest sternly.

"_So_," Snape hissed between his crooked teeth, "Would you two mind explaining to me what the point of this drawing is...?" He released the scrap piece of parchment from his tight grip and handed it to the two Gryffindors.

Tilting his head to the side as Hermione unfolded the note, Harry couldn't help but smirk when he spotted the magical drawing was of the Potions Master. The drawing was of the hook-nosed character with long, greasy black hair giving a kiss to what appeared to be a drawing of Professor Hunter. Hermione and Harry knew exactly who drew the drawing, Ron and Kelsay, but this note had been passed around the Hogwarts castle since Monday afternoon.

"What are you smirking about _Potter_!" Snape's stern black eyes glared maliciously in the direction of the two students.

Harry tried to wipe the smile from his face, "Nothing sir," he muttered to Snape frigidly.

Being snake-like, Snape enveloped his hands around the edges of his dark robes, "Do I look pleased to you _Potter_?" He snarled at him, "_Do I_?"

"No, sir," Harry said as a faded smile suddenly formed on his lips.

The Potions Master towered over the two students with a terrible look in his cold eyes; they had finally crossed the line. "Unless one of you explains to me what this _little drawing_ of yours is all about-" Snape started to threaten with a nasty expression on his pale face.

"Professor Snape-" Hermione interjected in a calm voice, "I was the one who drew it..." She was going to have to take the blame in the end sooner or later for stupidly telling Ron and Harry what she had overheard a few days ago. "I overheard Madame Pomfrey speaking with Professor McGonagall about-" she paused and glanced nervously at Harry for a bit of help.

Knowing exactly what she was trying to do, Snape barked at her to finish up what she was trying to say with even more threats. _You're not getting off so easily this time_, he thought to himself as he watched Hermione bite her lip in confusion.

"They were talking about you and Professor Hunter," she coughed out as she prepared herself for the oncoming yelling.

- - - - - -

Gloomily entering his un-welcoming office, he staggered over to his very comfortable office chair. The Potions Master fell into his chair with a loud sigh and he tossed the scrap piece of parchment at his office desk. He not only had to deal with troublesome students passing notes about a secret relationship he was having with another professor but with being a secret Death Eater as well. It was becoming more difficult for him to play as a spy for Dumbledore these days...he didn't know how much longer he could keep it up. The day that Voldemort would find out that Snape was spying on him the entire time would most likely be the day he dies a terrible death. Of course Snape wasn't afraid to die-it was just how he would be murdered in the end that frightened him.

He suddenly felt two light hands touch his tense shoulders. Lifting his head, he noticed a familiar face smiling sweetly down at him. Hunter was standing behind him trying to make him relax.

"Why are you in here?" Snape asked in a curious voice. This was now the second time she had snuck into his office when he wasn't around.

"Because tis _yours_," the vampire smoothly whispered in his ear. A questionable expression formed on her face when she caught sight of the crumpled parchment, "What is that?"

He grumbled darkly under his breath that it was nothing but Hunter reached over him and took the note from his desk. Smoothing the scrap piece of parchment out, she weakly smiled at the moving magical drawing. "Is_ this_ what is bothering you today?" the vampire said it as if it was no big deal, "A _stupid_ little drawing of you kissing someone..." Tossing the note back on his desk, she kissed him on the lips gently, "I think they to forgot to add that smile you always give me before you kiss me..."

The Dark Arts professor began to massage his shoulders and the back of his neck until he felt the headache slowly subside. Once he was somewhat relaxed and his eyes were closed, he felt her lips on his neck; she was kissing him softly. His neck would sting after her lips made contact with his skin; her lips were as cold as ice. He was nervous about her kissing his neck; always wondering if she was going to fall into temptation and bite him. Trying not to cause him any more stress or worry, Hunter carefully made sure that her fangs would never touch his rough, pale skin. Within a few minutes she had found his most tender spot on his neck-which was also the same spot he would be most vulnerable to a vampire.

"Would you like to continue our lesson?" Snape asked as he felt her bitter cold breath on his neck.

"Yes, professor..."


	13. Birthday Surprises

Sitting around the Gryffindor Common Room, the golden trio and Ginny rapidly discussed about the Half-Breed Laws that the Ministry of Magic had just enforced. They had woken up early to discuss their plans and their thoughts. Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione did not want anyone else to hear them either. It was freezing in the castle, the Gryffindor fireplace was already set ablaze and cups of hot coco had been placed on the table in front of the fire for any of the students. Ron finished his hot coco in two quick gulps while the others tried to heat their hands with the warm china cups.

"I wonder what is going to happen to Hagrid, Professor Hunter, and Professor Frienze... I hope they aren't forced to leave the school..." Hermione sighed pathetically; she didn't enjoy the new Half-Breed Laws that had been enforced for more than three days now.

Snorting unhappily, Ron stubbornly folded his arms across his flat chest, "All we can do is wait for Fudge's replacement and for that short, ugly toad advisor of his to die. Then all of our problems will be solved!"

"That will only solve _half _of _my _problems, Ron..." Harry added in a sour tone of voice.

"Besides, the Ministry or Umbridge can't do a damn thing to make Hagrid and the others leave Hogwarts, Hermione. Dumbledore will never allow that to happen. Don't worry too much about it..." Ginny mused as she sipped on her hot coco.

"I promise that none of them are going to leave Hogwarts for good, alright?" Harry reassured Hermione with a grin.

Ron wrinkled his nose and frowned slightly; this was his expression when he was performing some form of thinking complicated thoughts in his mind. "What about Lupin?" he asked his friends quietly. "Didn't he want to become a mediwizard?"

"You read the new laws Ron, they said that Half-Breeds can't work in any field that pays more than one hundred galleons a month," Harry grumbled bitterly.

"It's just not fair..." Hermione cried out in a helpless voice, "First the mistreatment of house elves-now this! The Ministry of Magic is destroying every intelligent creatures' spirits about finally being accepted as equals...It's not fair I tell you!" Her face grew bright red and her brown eyes narrowed into tiny slits to show her boiling anger. "We should do something about this..."

"Oh no-" Ron shook his head, "I'm not wearing another one of those _stupid_ badges that have some terrible word on it, with each letter actually symbolizes _something meaningful_...I'm not going through the whole S.P.E.W. thing all over again!"

Ginny leaned over to Harry, "_Here we go again_..."

Narrowing her eyes at Ron, Hermione glared at the redhead. "You think my badges are _STUPID_!" she yelled at the top of her lungs at him, "How can you be so inconsiderate of others' rights, Ronald!" When Ron started to look for Harry's help, Hermione told Harry not to help his friend out this time. "You know who you've turn into Ron?" Hermione growled Ron cowered next to the Gryffindor fireplace, "You're turning into _Malfoy_..."

Immediately gasping at the thought of being referred to Malfoy, Ron took Hermione's statement as the worst insult that he had ever heard of. "You take that back," he snapped at her in a bitter rage.

Before another terrible fight could occur between the two Gryffindors, Harry tried to stop the argument by sternly ordering them to go take a seat at the couches. Once they were sitting directly across from each other, Harry stood in front of them with a concerned look in his green eyes. "I don't want you two fighting anymore, do you understand me? I'm so _sick_ of everyone fighting around me...We have much _bigger_ problems right now to worry about-like Voldemort for example." He took notice of Hermione's depressed and defeated expression, _She is so worried about everyone else when she needs to start worrying about herself_..._Good old Hermione_. "We have to work together if we want to get rid of these Half-Breed Laws...right Ron?"

Sighing, Ron grumbled "Right" under his breath and forced himself not to look at Hermione's beaming face. After thinking for a moment, Ron raised his eyebrows at Harry, "How are we going to do this anyways? And please don't tell me that it involves wearing stupid flashing badges on our robes twenty-four-seven!"

- - - - -

Hunter's cold black eyes snapped open when she heard someone whispering her name from the corner of her mind. This voice had driven her nightmares, which had been haunting her for weeks. But the voice was a nightmare in its own way. Breathing slowly, the vampire tried not to let her fear and worries catch up with her-at least not just yet. She glanced over to her right to see Snape still lost in his pleasant dreams. Hunter tore her eyes away from his peaceful expression when she heard the voice calling to her again. _The end-it's finally coming_..._I can feel it already_. "Sweet dreams my love," she looked back at him, _For they won't last forever_. Silently moving a bit closer to him, she kissed him gently on his lips before she vanished into black smoke.

The Dark Arts professor sat on the frozen rooftop of the astronomy tower with a heavy fur coat wrapped around her black sleeping gown. A small gust of wind danced around her as she fixed her eyes on the sun that was slowly rising into the sky from over the horizon. Tilting her head slightly back, she let all of her troubles float away with the wind as she watched the fading stars in the disappearing night sky. Hunter turned away to make sure she would not feel the singeing pain of the sun's rays striking her pallid face.

"Hello love," chirped a cheerful voice near one of the stone statues to the right of Hunter.

She quickly flipped around to where she had heard the familiar voice, but there was no one there. Turning back around, she found herself face-to-face with a young, energetic man. "Hello brother..." Hunter was smiling brightly at him; she had missed him dearly for the past few days.

"Thought I would forget it-didn't you dear sister?" Quinn returned his sister's smile with an even larger grin. "Happy birthday love," the blonde vampire handed her a polished bottle as he continued to grin from ear to ear.

"Thank you Quinn," she curiously watched the dragon's blood sparkle in the glowing warm sunlight. She pretended that she was very pleased with his gift, but she was more pleased to have him speaking with her again. "You didn't need to get me a gift for my birthday..." Hunter started to whisper in a soft voice but her brother roughly patted her on the back.

"Hey," Quinn chuckled, "That's what brothers are for-to spoil their sisters everyday and _especially_ on their birthday!" The blonde vampire wrapped one of his arms around his older sister and gave her a small hug. After rubbing his arms and bickering how cold it was, Quinn took a seat next to Hunter on the edge of the rooftop. His blue-tinted eyes sparkled with warmth as he continued to smile as his sister.

Hunter eyed him suspiciously, "I specifically told Lucius not to let you out of his house until everything blew over..." she started to growl in a displeased tone of voice. She quickly pocketed her brother's valuable birthday gift, "How did you get out?"

Smoothing his blonde hair back, Quinn gave his sister a sly grin which meant he had pulled a trick on Lucius. "He can't take jokes very well...can he?" his hair automatically spiked back up on him. "I _accidentally_ mentioned about something I had read in the newspaper to him and he kicked me out of the house for no bloody reason..." Quinn coughed to cover up his cracking voice.

"You told him about that Percy Weasley boy getting his old job, didn't you?" she narrowed her cold black eyes on him.

"_Perhaps_..." Quinn coughed again as he quickly tried to change the subject. "Speaking of telling... Did you tell old _Sevi_ that it was your birthday today...?" His grinning smile faded away when Hunter said nothing in reply, "He doesn't know?"

"Only you Quinn, only you..." she lowered her head as she whispered this. "Dumbledore warned me that Umbridge will be poking in and out of this place to keep an eye on me-so you better remain hidden for the time being..." Hunter rubbed her shoulders as another gust of wind hit her, "I'm glad you're back...I missed you little brother..."

- - - - - -

Sighing as she silently sipped her afternoon tea, the vampire was staring off into the nothingness in front of her without a single care in the world. Her brother was sound asleep on her shoulder; he had obviously flown all night long to get back to Hogwarts without being seen. Wednesday was always a boring day for the vampire, she only had four classes and it mostly involved teaching second and third years simple spells. Staring into her cup of tea, Hunter never took notice of the owls suddenly flying into the dining hall; she never received any mail. Hunter was suddenly startled out of her daydream when several large packages fell from the sky and landed next to her cup of tea. "What in the bloody hell-?" she curiously tilted her pallid head to the side as she poked the brown packages cautiously.

Bickering loudly at the top of his tiny lungs, Quinn squeaked at his sister wondering why he had been so rudely woken up by her. His beady black eyes locked onto the packages and he screeched with delight for her. "_Birthday presents dear sister_! _OPEN THEM RIGHT NOW_!" Quinn squeaked to his sister as he hoped off her shoulder and landed next to the packages. Lifting one of his leathery wings, he pointed at the closest package to him, "_Open this one_," he ordered.

"You're a bit demanding today..." Hunter mumbled to her pet bat as some of the teachers and students were giving her odd looks for the seven packages that were lying around her at the staff table. To shut her brother up, Hunter snatched the package he was ecstatically pointing to with his tiny claws and began to rip it open. She paused when she saw what was inside the package-a gothic-styled picture frame.

Carefully lifting the picture frame out of the brown package, her black eyes went wide with astonishment when she saw the picture. It was a picture of her mother and her father; a picture that had been stolen and torn into pieces when her father had been found murdered. This was the only photograph of her mother she knew of, it had been neatly placed on their fireplace after she had died. Sniffling slightly, Hunter smiled at the repaired photo-this was the only item she wanted back in her possession since the day of her father's death.

She felt Quinn's leathery wing brush up against her frozen hand, glancing down she found that he was holding a small note in his fangs. Taking the note from him, after she gingerly placed her priceless family photo on the staff table. _I've held onto this photo for quite some time now. Don't ask how I got a hold of it, it's a long story and difficult to explain. I've been holding on to it since you were reported dead. But now that you're back-you can have your photograph of your mother and father again. Happy Birthday Avalon. _Biting her thumb, Hunter glanced down at the signature at the bottom of the note, it was from Lupin.

Quinn squeaked at her to open the other presents; he couldn't stand to see his sister on the verge of tears-especially in public. "_Come on_! _Let's see what else everyone got you_!" he screeched at her in a demanding tone of voice.

Knowing that he was trying to keep her mind off the thought of her dead parents, Hunter patted Quinn sweetly on the head. With one last look at the photograph of her parents, she placed the picture frame back into its package along with Lupin's sweet note. She reached for the softest package, it was wrapped with brown paper and tied neatly with string. The vampire glanced at the name of the sender and smile weakly; it was from Mrs. Weasley. Knowing what the gift already was before she tore it open, Hunter pulled out a hand-knitted black sweater with a large red 'A' in the middle of it.

"_Bloody hell it's hideous_! _Put it back-it burns my eyes_!"

Submitting to her brother's request, Hunter quickly stuffed the sweater back into its package before anyone else could get a good look at the gift. The vampire then snatched a small brown box and read the words scratched onto it; Hagrid had misspelled her first name. Opening the tattered brown box, she was surprised to find that the half-giant had given her beautiful black leather collar for Brooklyn. Hunter lifted her head and glanced down at the end of the table to see Hagrid beaming bright at her; she mouthed a polite "thank-you" in his direction.

"_Oh sure_..._the gytrash gets a present while the faithful brother bat is stuck with nothing_..." Quinn muttered in a high-pitched voice to himself. "_Open that one_," he hopped over to the smallest package out of the bunch.

Once again listening to her brother, Hunter tore the brown paper of the small round object as softly as she could. She held a small velvet-coated box in her pallid hands, "I wonder what in the world this is..." Opening the box, her eyes were glowing a reddish hue as they locked onto the large ruby ring that was before her. This gift was from Lucius, he was the only one who knew that her favorite stone was a ruby. Pulling the ring out of the velvet box, Hunter slipped the ring onto her middle right finger and admired it for a few moments.

"_He probably stole it_..." her brother snorted in a jealous tone of voice. He hopped over to the next gift, it was tattered just like Hagrid's package was. "_I bet this one is from Macnair_..."

Quinn was right of course about the sender; Macnair had given Hunter a peculiar Dark Arts object. It was a long piece of gold with carvings of dragons with their mouths open at each end. This was a Chinese finger trap-or at least is was suppose to be one. Instead of trapping the victim's fingers like its name says, this Dark Arts object would cut both of the victim's fingers off. "This will come in handy..." she whispered to herself as she examined the symbols and designs that were carved into the gold.

There were only two gifts left unopened now. One, Hunter already knew, was from Lyude and his sister. The other however...Hunter did not have the slightest clue who it was from. She picked up the package that Lyude and his sister had sent her for her birthday. Hunter laughed when she saw what the gift was-blood lollipops and homemade blood-soaked strawberries.

"_Finally_!_ A gift for me_!" Quinn leaped on the bag of blood-drenched strawberries and held them close to his furry chest with both of his leathery wings. "_These must be from Charlotte_!" he was finally happy that someone had not forgotten about him.

Hunter stared at the last gift with a concerned expression on her brow; she did not know whether to open the gift or not. There was no name on the top of the package and nothing to hint who the sender was. Biting her lip for a moment, Hunter finally decided to open the gift. Slowly tearing away at the package, while her brother was happy singing happy birthday to himself, Hunter suddenly stopped when her hands felt something cold and smooth. Tilting her head to the side, she tugged the unfamiliar object out of its brown packaging. She frowned at the round crystal object that was encased with gold at the very top of the orb. "Do you know what this is?" Hunter whispered to her brother without moving her lips.

Quinn ceased dancing around Hunter's dinner plate with his favorite treat and tilted his head in confusion at the new object. "_Perhaps tis a crystal ball_...?" he suggested in a quick squeak.

As Hunter stared at it, she could have sworn that the swirls in the crystal were twirling and moving around in the orb. Lifting the object so it was just inches away from her cold black eyes, Hunter narrowed her eyes to decipher whether or not the swirls were moving. The white and grey swirls suddenly began forming an image that she instantly recognized. It was Snape scorning several young Ravenclaw students out in the entrance hall. "I know what this is..." she hissed in a pleased voice. "This shows me what I am wanting to see..."

"_Like a crystal ball then, right_?" Quinn plopped his bag of bloody strawberries on her dinner plate and stretched out his leathery wings.

"Not quite," she whispered as she carefully placed the crystal orb back into her robe pocket. "This thing detects who you are thinking the most about and shows what that person is doing..."

He yawned loudly, "_Sooo-that means you can check on what old Sevi is doing whenever you want then_...?"

Hunter shot a stern look at her brother, "Not whenever I want Quinn..." she grumbled under her breath.

Feeling like someone was watching her, Hunter turned away from her persistent brother and glanced around the dining hall. Her eyes softened when she spotted that the headmaster was smiling sweetly at her; he was the one who had sent her the crystal ball. Making eye contact with him for a few seconds, she mentally thanked him for the gift. Dumbledore nodded in reply and then went back to his conversation with McGonagall.

Just as Snape was wandering into the dining hall for a quick bite to eat, Hunter brushed past him carrying odd-sized brown packages. "Oh, hello Severus..." she tried not to blush when she had said his name since they were still out in public.

He raised a questionable eyebrow at all of the items she was struggling to keep in her arms, "I thought you said you never get any mail...?" The Potions Master was standing as still as possible holding the door open for her; he knew he was drawing attention already. "Were did you go this morning?" he hissed between his teeth in a low voice so no one would hear him.

"I needed some fresh air," Hunter was embarrassed with all of the birthday presents in her arms; she knew she owed an explanation to him about it. "I've got to get these to my office. I'll speak with you later, alright?" Hunter smiled weakly at him while he scowled darkly at her in reply; she knew he was just trying to keep his reputation.

Sighing, Snape muttered a disappointed "yes" and allowed her to slip out of the dining hall. He slammed the door behind her to keep up with appearances and barked at the staring students to mind their own business before he gave them detention. Gloomily, the Potions Master stormed to an empty seat beside Hagrid and Sprout and began eating his lunch in complete silence.

"'ello Professor Snape," Hagrid beamed at the scowling professor without a single clue that Snape did not want to speak with him. "'ave a good mornin'?" the innocent half-giant asked in his normal booming voice.

Snape slightly lifted his head to glare at Hagrid, "_No_," he simply growled in reply. _It's never a good morning or even a good day for me if I have to speak with you_... he thought darkly.

"Oh," Hagrid seemed a bit puzzled to find Snape in a terrible mood today. "What did ya get Miz 'unter fer 'er birthday, professor?" he finally asked after Sprout had encouraged Hagrid to ask the question even though Snape did not seem in the mood to chat.

Dropping his fork onto his plate, Snape turned away from his food that he was concentrating so much on and stared blankly at the Care of Magical Creatures professor. "_Birthday_?" he coughed in disbelief, "She never _told_ me about today being her _birthday_..." Snape suddenly realized why Hunter had so many packages with her.

"She didn't tell you Severus?" Professor Sprout leaned over the staff table to enter the conversation that she knew she shouldn't be in.

He momentarily narrowed his emotionless eyes at Sprout, "_Why would she mention it to me anyways_?" Snape hissed bitterly at her. He did not like what the two professors were insinuating about him being involved with Hunter; even though it was true.

Turning a bright shade of red, Hagrid remembered that he had been told not to talk about Hunter around Snape for the time being. "Oh-nothin' just wonderin'...that's all," Hagrid nervously reached for his drink.

The Potions Master was pleased to see Sprout's frightened expression and that she quickly turned away to speak with Professor Trelawney about something. _That took care of that_... he sighed happily to himself. Though he appeared as calm as ever, Snape was actually panicking in the back of his mind. _Blood and flames, what am I suppose to get Avalon for her birthday_! _Why didn't she tell me that it was her damn birthday_! _Am I the only one who didn't know anything about this_!

"Um, Professor Snape-" Hagrid tapped the Potions Master's shoulder with his large, dirty index finger.

"_What-what-what_!" the hook-nosed character snapped at the warm-hearted half-giant. "_What do you want Hagrid_!" Snape hissed in a dangerous tone of voice.

Swallowing loudly, Hagrid pointed to Snape's hand nervously, "Yer grippin' yer fork too tightly-yer bendin' it in 'alf."

- - - - - - -

Pacing back and forth in front of Dumbledore's office, Harry tried to keep his patience as he waited for the headmaster to venture out. _Come on_... _I don't have that much time_... Harry sourly thought to himself when he knew that he had knocked on Dumbledore's office door at least thirty times now. The Gryffindor was just about to pound as hard as he could on the office door when Dumbledore finally appeared with a multi-colored scarf and a matching cloak draped around his shoulders.

"We have plenty of time Harry," Dumbledore whispered in a soft voice as he allowed the seventh-year inside his warm and cozy office. "We have still have an hour-if I am correct..." the headmaster glanced at an old-fashioned clock sitting on one of his many book shelves. "Plenty of time indeed," he gave Harry a reassuring smile.

Harry nodded curtly in reply; he knew it would take them thirty minutes plus it would take another thirty minutes for him to get outside on time. "I just hope he realizes how hard it was to do this," Harry mumbled under his breath as he put gloves over his hands and wrapped his red scarf around his neck.

"I'm sure he will be very pleased," Dumbledore commented as the two walked over to the large elaborate fireplace in the headmaster's office. "You remembered everything-correct?" the elder wizard asked in a soft voice.

Quickly patting his chest down with his gloved hands, Harry finally felt a heavy lump in his left robe pocket, "Yes-I have everything..." _Now very much time left now_... Harry told himself in the back of his mind, _We must hurry_...

"We will be very prompt, do not fret Harry," Dumbledore could hear everything that Harry was thinking in his mind. With that being said, the headmaster took a large vase and grabbed a handful of sand from inside before he handed the vase to the boy. Once Harry had a large handful, Dumbledore went first and threw the Floo Powder into the center of the fireplace and called out their destination's name.

Once Harry had crawled out of the Leaky Cauldron's overly-large fireplace, Dumbledore lead the way out of the place. "Stay very close, Harry," the headmaster hissed his order to the student in a some-what gentle voice, "We do not want to be separated from one another..."

Venturing out to Diagon Alley was a very dangerous task for Harry these days. The Dark Lord always had spies and Death Eaters posted in the main towns where he knew Harry would be. As long as Harry remained close to Dumbledore, he would be safe and no trouble would be caused.

As Harry followed Dumbledore in the same sort of stroll, the Gryffindor noticed that Diagon Alley had changed quite dramatically over the past few months. A majority of the shops were now closed or out of business, due to the fact they had been frightened away with the truth of Voldemort finally returning. The businesses that remained open had wanted posters of supposed Death Eaters and Half-Breed Laws posted all over their doors and windows warning any suspicious characters not to enter their shop. Just looking at how the state of things were going in Diagon Alley made Harry's skin crawl; the darkness was swallowing up all of the light now.

While Harry was glancing around at the new look for Diagon Alley, the young wizard accidentally bumped right into Dumbledore without any warning. They were already at their destination; Harry had forgotten how close the place was-he had not been there for many years. "Sorry Professor Dumbledore," Harry's cheeks grew bright red from embarrassment.

"It's quite alright Harry, let's go inside..." Dumbledore's soft warm eyes scanned the area of the nearly-deserted cobbled street to see if there were any signs of danger. When he believed it was safe, Dumbledore ushered the boy inside the shop.

The moment Harry entered the shop, he dropped his jaw with a shocking expression on his face. Olivander's wand shop appeared as if a troll had just decided that the shop would make a good place to live in. Wand boxes were smashed everywhere, pieces of different kinds of wood were lying all over the floor, and most of Olivander's wand shelves had been demolished into piles of sawdust. The wand shop had been a bit unkept before, but now it seemed to be in ruins.

"What happened here Professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked in a nervous tone of voice.

Before the headmaster could answer Harry's complicated question, a wizard stuck his head above the shop's desk; which had the words "The Dark Lord Has Returned" cut into the front of it. "Albus?" Olivander questioned with his wand at the ready in his shaking hands, "Mr. Potter?" Narrowing his eyes for a moment at the two wizards, the wand shop owner finally realized that they were who they actually appeared to be. "Blood and flames," he sighed out with relief. "You both should not be here... It's too dangerous to be wandering around these streets anymore," Olivander stepped out of his hiding place and lowered his wand.

Solemnly glancing around his half-destroyed shop, Olivander straightened his robe collar and stood in front of the two wizards with a forced smile upon his face. "What can I do for the both of you?" his voice cracked a little.

"We need a wand-" Harry started to say, but he was cut off by Olivander's small chuckle.

"Of course you need a wand-this is a wand shop, isn't it?" the wizard was actually smiling for real this time. "Mind you, I don't have many wands left... Most of them have been destroyed..." Olivander started to say more but he held his tongue still for the time being. They didn't need to know all of the details of what had happened to his beloved shop. "Who is the wand for? Is it for you Mr. Potter?"

Harry shook his head, "No-it's not for me...it's for someone else..."

"Someone else, eh? Has Mr. Ron Weasley broken his wand again?" Olivander asked in a curious voice.

"No," Harry said again. "It's actually for Hagrid... Rubeus Hagrid-it's his birthday today and I thought I might get him a proper wand-"

"Say no more! I have the perfect wand for him!" Olivander rushed to get the wand from one of the wand boxes that had not been smashed yet.

- - - - - -

Harry did not have the heart to tell anyone about Diagon Alley being in complete shambles or that Olivander was leaving England permanently tomorrow. He kept silent as he sat in Hagrid's thatched hut at the enormous table right between Ron and Hermione. The two were still fighting and Harry had to act as the referee whenever he was around them. Thankfully, Ron and Hermione were on their best behavior while they waited for Hagrid to open his birthday presents.

Staring at the three gifts in front of him, the half-giant sighed with a great big grin on his face. "Ya didn' need ta do this," he continued to insist in weak voice; Hagrid appeared as if he was going to cry.

"Of course we do," Hermione said in an overly-cheerful voice. She stretched her arms across the table and carefully moved her present closer to Hagrid's massive hands. "Here, open my present first..." the clever witch smiled brightly. Hermione's present was the largest out of the three and was in the shape of a fruit basket.

Tearing the colorful wrapping paper off as delicately as possible, Hagrid seemed very pleased to find two dozen's worth of blueberry muffins. "Oh-thank ya 'ermione!" he was now grinning from ear to ear. "This will go well with yer cup of tea..." the half-giant handed one muffin each to the golden trio and kept one for himself.

"_Oh no_," Ron hissed between his teeth as he eyed the blueberry muffin that was before him. "Hermione's_ killer_ _muffins_," the redhead nervously glanced at Harry to see what he would do with the inedible muffin.

The two had begged Hermione not to bake her _famous _blueberry muffins earlier that day but she had decided not to listen to their advice. Hermione's first failure in life was cooking, but no one had taken the time to point this out to her. She was so headstrong about being perfect at everything, it was useless for Harry or Ron to tell her that she was the worse cook in the world. The reason Harry and Ron called them "killer muffins" was because Ron had thrown one at Harry's head but it had missed and hit the wall behind him. Instead of breaking into thousands of little crumbs all over the floor, the muffin had left a three-inch dent in the stone wall.

Luckily enough, Hagrid was just as bad at cooking as Hermione was and his teeth were much stronger than the golden trio's. Hagrid swallowed the muffin down in two quick bites while Harry and Ron were busily discussing on ways to destroy the muffin without harming themselves in the process.

"There is also this Hagrid," Hermione pulled a rolled up newspaper out of her robe pocket and smoothed it out on the table in front of him. "The three of us wrote this for you Hagrid..." she momentarily glanced at Harry and Ron to see if they were paying attention at all.

"Hermione wrote most of it though," Harry added quietly before he took a sip of his tea; at least that was still tasty.

"Fer me?" Hagrid raised his bushy eyebrows at the three of them, "What on earth fer?" He dragged the newspaper closer to him and tried to focus long enough on the title of the article.

Knowing that Hagrid couldn't read very well, Hermione decided to give him a summary of what the article was all about. "It's a protest letter..." she stated very proudly.

"Protestin' what?" the half-giant asked in a very curious voice now.

"Protesting about the way half-breeds are being treated and how the Half-Breed Laws should be revoked-" Hermione was just about to get into the juicy details of the article when Ron rudely interrupted her so he could speak with Hagrid.

Ron snatched his gift and slid it over to Hagrid when he was sick of hearing Hermione blab on about nothing important. "Here ya go Hagrid, this one is from me!" the redhead beamed brightly when Hagrid began opening the gift and had placed Hermione's gifts to the side.

Tossing the wrapping paper into the fire to the right of him, Hagrid admired the brand new umbrella in his dirty hands. Hagrid desperately needed a new one after Fang had accidentally devoured the handle and the tip of the umbrella several months ago. When he was just about to try a spell with his new umbrella, Ron cleared his throat and explained that his gift was a Muggle object. Frowning at the three of them for a few moments, Hagrid placed the umbrella back on the table.

"I think you'll find this gift more useful..." Harry said softly as he handed Hagrid a slender box tied up with string.

Befuddled by what Harry was hinting, Hagrid gingerly untied the string and tugged the top of the box off. Tears of joy began dripping down his cheeks from the corners of his eyes when he recognized the gift that was being cushioned by royal blue velvet. "Ya got mi a wand," he sniffled as he tried to wipe the tears away with the back of his sleeve.

"Happy birthday Hagrid," Harry said to the Care of Magical Creatures professor with a warm smile on his face.


	14. Evil Plans and Burning Projects

From the moment she entered the dining hall to the instant she left, Hunter constantly frowned at the new intruder in the castle. Leaning back in her seat, the vampire played with the dull table knife in her pallid hands as she kept both eyes on the enemy. Hunter never touched her food and remained silent all Sunday morning.

Everyone was surprised by Umbridge's sudden visit and most did not know why she had decided to pop by Hogwarts for no particular reason. But there was a reason and a purpose to Umbridge's unannounced visit-the Ministry worker was here to find out who had written the article about the "beastly" Half-Breed Laws. The Minister of Magic did not want an uprising from the half-breeds and he didn't want the rest of the magical world to know too much.

The revolting toad-like woman had taken Snape's seat next to the headmaster; he was forced to move down to the end of the table and sit next to Hunter. Scowling and muttering swear words under his breath about the terrible Ministry worker, the Potions Master took a seat between Hunter and Hagrid. For the first time in ages, Snape greeted Hagrid first. He gave the Dark Arts professor a fleeting glance and said nothing to her; he knew better than to bother her right then.

Looking around at the end of the staff table, Snape suddenly realized something. All of the half-breed teaching and working staff at Hogwarts were sitting at the very end of the High Table as if they were being rejected. Snape paused to think about his discovery for a moment, _Then why am I at the end of the staff table also_...? The answer was quite clear to him, it was because he was an ex-Death Eater. Umbridge was wanting to separate all of the Ministry of Magic's supposed enemies out of Hogwarts before any more damage could be done.

Snape pushed the thoughts of being sent back to Azkaban out of his mind, he had better things to worry about-like Hunter's birthday present. He had spent the past four days planning and finding the perfect gifts for his vampire mistress. The Potions Master had it even rehearsed, everything he would say and do. He wanted it to be absolutely perfect for her since he was the only one who did not know that it was her birthday. Instead of looking in her direction, Snape slyly brushed his leg against her's to get her attention.

Hunter tore her eyes away from the malicious Ministry worker and looked over at the Potions Master. Her facial expression was still shaped into a dark frown as she made eye contact with him, but her eyes had changed to a cool blue hue. _What is it_? the vampire's soft voice sent shivers down his spine.

_You look beautiful today_... Snape tried not to smile as he said this; he grabbed his drink and took a long sip to hide his smirk.

The blue-haired vampire coughed to cover up her laugh; he always seemed to find the perfect way of cheering her up.

_Are you going to be busy later on today_...? the Potions Master curiously asked when he knew he had made her laugh.

Hunter had to think for a while about what she had to do for today, _I'll be done with everything by five most likely_... _Why_? She ceased playing with the dull knife in her hands, Hunter was interested in hearing his reason.

_Because I have barely seen you in the past four days_, Snape stated simply as he took another swig of his orange juice. _And because I miss you_... he added softly before Hagrid tapped Snape on the shoulder to ask him a question.

- - - - - -

"Potter!" Harry immediately halted when he heard his name echoing throughout the hallway. Turning around, he half expected to find Professor McGonagall ready to scorn him for not successfully transfiguring his pear into a parrot on Wednesday. He was somewhat relieved to see that it was the Dark Arts professor who was impatiently waiting for him to turn around. "Come on Mr. Potter... We're not going outside today," she placed her hands on her tiny hips as the Gryffindor wandered over to her. "We'll have your little test _indoors_!"

Giving her an odd expression for a moment, Harry couldn't understand how the vampire could test him on everything he had learned inside the castle without anyone else finding out about it. "But Professor Hunter how-"

"Trust me," Hunter smiled to him reassuringly, "You'll be wishing that all of your tests were as entertaining as this one..." Glancing around the hallway, Hunter ushered him towards the grand staircase, "We're heading to the fifth floor I believe..."

Harry wanted to ask her more about what she was going to test on him exactly but whenever he opened his mouth, the vampire would whisper to him to keep quiet. Once they were at the entrance to the fifth floor, Hunter stopped him before he entered. "This is the accord, alright?" Hunter hissed in a soft whisper. "Peeves and the rest of the ghosts are having a bit of fun on the second floor and are keeping everyone entertained for a while. Meanwhile, the portraits have informed me that Umbridge is snooping around here on this floor and Dumbledore does not want her to be doing this..." She nervously glanced over her shoulders, "Now, this is what I want you to do. I want you to use every wandless spell that I have taught you and _drive_ the old bat back downstairs where she belongs."

"You are giving me permission to use my magic to jinx Umbridge...?" he couldn't believe that this was actually happening.

"You'll only get to do this once, so don't start getting ideas that you can do this to Malfoy whenever you want to now..." she smirked at her student. "The point of this is-" Hunter saw his skeptical look, "-yes there is a point to this Mr. Potter...The point is that you'll learn how to control you powers in tight situations and keep yourself out of real danger by being caught-"

A painting next to the entrance of the fifth floor began speaking with the vampire, "Umbridge is near the statue of Boris the Bewildered..."

"Right," Hunter quickly thanked her painting spy before she turned her attention back to Harry. "I've planted a few objects around the floor that you might find useful..." she poked her blue head into the empty corridor. "Everything looks good...you better get going..."

"But-" Harry whispered in protest when his Dark Arts professor was nudging him into the deserted corridor, "_What if I get caught_?"

Hunter shrugged her shoulders in reply, "You'll probably be expelled," she smirked at his pale complexion. "Good luck," the vampire hissed cheerfully in his ear as she gave him one final nudge of "encouragement" into the corridor.

_Why did I even agree to do this?_ Harry mentally kicked himself for allowing himself to get caught up in these sort of things all the time. _I wish Fred and George were here, they would know what to do with Umbridge_... The lightbulb suddenly clicked on inside of Harry's head, _That's it_!_ I'll just do what they would do to Umbridge...perfect_! Pleased with his unbeatable plan on getting rid of Umbridge, Harry confidently strolled down the empty corridor without any worries of being expelled.

Examining the pictures for an hour and having short conversations with them every once in a while, Hunter kept herself busy as she waited for someone to come running out to the grand staircase. She released a sigh of relief when she heard a high-pitched scream grow louder until a soggy, green fuzz-ball sprinted down the marble steps and finally disappeared.

Harry finally came wandering over to the grand staircase and bowed elegantly when his teacher began clapping. "Did I pass?" he readjusted his glasses.

"You have a knack with revenge my dear boy... Just like your father and godfather-I must say. Well done," Hunter patted him on the back. "You better run to your common room before Umbridge comes back with Dumbledore," she tipped her head in respect to him before she started walking back downstairs.

- - - - - -

"You must be joking...Harry Potter actually did that?" Quinn had spotted Umbridge running around in circles trying to find someone who would help her on the second floor. "I almost fell off my perch I was laughing so hard," the young vampire reached for one of his precious blood-covered strawberries on his sister's desk.

Hunter smirked as she thought about Umbridge waddling around in front of the entire school covered from head to toe with dead gillyweed, fish heads, and rancid water.

Sucking the strawberry dry in a matter of seconds, Quinn wiped the blood away from his lips with the back of his sleeve. "I wonder if we can do that again the next time her overly-plump bottom finds its way into Hogwarts...?" he grinned brightly to his older sister. Quinn stiffened when he could suddenly hear someone's heartbeat, "Ugh, blood and flames," he grumbled sourly before he changed into his Animagus form. Flapping his wings only once, Quinn gracefully landed on the desk and began devouring the last blood strawberry.

Knowing who it was, Hunter silently went to her office door and pushed it slightly open. She peered through the opening in the doorway, "_What are you doing here_?" she hissed at the Potions Master. "_Have you forgotten that Umbridge is still prowling around in the castle_!"

"It's past five o'clock..." Snape explained in a smooth voice as he opened her office door to allow himself inside. "No one knows that I'm here..." he added when he saw her dark look.

"You don't remember do you...?" Hunter sighed loudly when he shut the door behind him.

"What? _What_?" he thought Hunter was going to be very upset with him if he didn't remember what he was suppose to remember soon enough.

The vampire pointed to her office door, "It has to remain unlocked... It's one of the Half-Breed Laws, Severus," she sighed pathetically. "The Ministry says that _all housing facilities and offices_ _belonging to half-breeds must remain unlocked at all times_."

"Oh that..." Snape grumbled in a very disappointed voice as he opened the door slightly. The Potions Master suddenly decided to close the door again, "Umbridge is still trying to get the smell of fish-heads off her skin... We'll smell her the instant she walks up the grand staircase," he reassured her quietly.

He slowly approached her when she did not react to his joke. The Potions Master kissed her lightly on the cheek, "You've been a stranger lately..." he smiled sweetly at Hunter. No matter how many times he smiled at her in private, the vampire was always stunned by the fact that he could actually pull off the facial expression. Carefully, he placed his warm hands on her hips and pulled her a bit closer to him. Just as the Potions Master opened his mouth to say something else to her, screeches began sounding off from behind him.

Flapping his leathery wings madly in the air, Quinn began squeaking at the top of his little lungs in a language only Hunter could understand. The Potions Master turned around and stared at the bat peculiarly as if he was actually trying to figure out what Quinn was screeching about. Standing next to Snape now with a horrific expression on her face, Hunter could not believe what Quinn was yelling at the Potions Master.

"_How DARE you KISS my baby sister in front of me_! _You damn ruffian, do you not have any manners_!_Get out I say_! _Out-out-OUT_!" Quinn hissed when the hook-nosed character just stared blankly at him in return.

Curiously glancing over at Hunter, who just shrugged in reply, Snape raised his eyebrows at the vampire bat. "Did I forget to bring you a strawberry treat or something?"

This comment made Quinn especially furious. "_TREAT_! _How can I eat when you're too busy snogging my sister and having a treat of your own_!" He narrowed his beady eyes at Snape, "_I would bite your nose off right this moment if it wasn't the size of a bloody grapefruit_!"

Smacking her forehead, Hunter let a load moan out, "Just wonderful..."

"Has he gone mental?" the Potions Master carefully watched as Hunter roughly grabbed her pet bat and carried the enraged creature over to her office window.

"_Mental_! _You're the mental one thinking that I would allow you to act like my dear sister is a piece of your damn property_!" Quinn continued to screech even when his sister tossed him out of the window and locked it shut behind him. "_I'll have my revenge on you yet, you yellow pansy_!" with that being said, the young vampire glided on a warm air current and headed towards the Forbidden Forest.

Hunter leaned against the stone wall, "Well-at least it can't get any worse..." she glanced back out the window to make sure that her brother was in fact gone.

"Do I need to buy a bat muzzle for whenever I come and visit you now?" Snape half-joked to her to make her feel not so embarrassed about the entire thing.

She laughed, "Quinn just doesn't like it when people touch me... He gets very protective sometimes," _Like brothers always do_...she added mentally to herself. Hunter fell silent when she felt his hand brush away her blue hair from her neck. Closing her eyes for a moment, she felt as light as air whenever he touched her. Opening her eyes again, the weightless dream she was in faded away. "I missed you too..." she found herself whispering in his ear as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

- - - - - - - -

"Do you realize what the consequences would beif you were caught?" Dumbledore was very concerned about the matter. "Are you even listening to me?" the headmaster narrowed his soft eyes at the vampire sitting directly across from him.

"Do you realize what the consequences would beif you were caught?" Dumbledore was very concerned about the matter. "Are you even listening to me?" the headmaster narrowed his soft eyes at the vampire sitting directly across from him. 

Hunter dark eyes were focused on the gold galleon that was dancing on her left hand's knuckles. "Potter drove Umbridge away, she won't return for a while..." she mumbled under her breath. "I know the risks, Sir," she lifted her head and gave the headmaster a reassuring smirk. "Hagrid is dying to have that lesson and the students need to learn how to curse..." she flicked the galleon into the air and caught it with her other hand. "These are dark times... And times like these, you must use drastic measures..."

The headmaster knew that she speaking the truth, the students do need to learn new ways of protecting themselves against the new threats in the magical world. "Just make certain that no one finds out that Hagrid is involved... I can't bear the thought of him going back to Azkaban again," Dumbledore sighed loudly.

Standing up from her seat, she bowed to the headmaster in respect, "As you wish, Sir..." The vampire pocketed her gold coin and strolled to the office door to leave; Hunter stopped when the headmaster called out her name.

"Avalon...Have you heard anything yet...?" the elder wizard asked in a soft voice.

"Nothing yet, Sir," Hunter opened the door and slipped out of the headmaster's office. Humming to herself, the vampire wandered back downstairs and finally ventured outside of the castle. "Lovely weather," she commented to herself when she was pleased to find that the sun had disappeared behind a thick cover of grey rain clouds.

She went to Hagrid's thatched hut to speak with him about the lessons the two had secretly planned for weeks now. Knocking on his door, Hunter was surprised to find the door creak open all by itself. _Half-Breed Laws, remember Avalon_? she reminded herself just before she heard Fang howling at the top of his lungs. "Oh, quite down Fang!" Hunter hissed at the boar hound as she opened the door enough to slip inside the hut, "It's only me..."

Hagrid was brewing some sort of broth when Hunter entered his home; he dropped his wooden spoon into the bubbling liquid when he heard her voice. "Wat did 'e say?" the half-giant asked enthusiastically. "Can I teach mi students about 'em er not?" His brightly-lite eyes grew dull when he saw Hunter's emotionless expression; he thought she was going to bring him terrible news.

Suddenly, Hunter smiled at Hagrid, "Of course he said yes... Just as long as we don't get caught-" she lost her breath when the half-giant grabbed her and hugged her tightly. "Hagrid-" she coughed when she thought he had hugged her long enough.

"Oh-sorry," Hagrid released his tight grip on her and dropped her back on her feet again. "So Dumbledore was just peachy with it?" the half-giant was brimming with excitement now. "I can't believe it...I get ta teach mi students about raisin' dragons!" he was grinning from ear to ear as he said this.

- - - - - - - -

"Bloody hell I love the winter nights," Quinn sighed as he sat on the rooftop's edge and kicked his legs back and forth like he was an impatient child. "Especially when there is a full moon..." the young blonde vampire smiled a toothy grin at his older sister. He stretched his arms out and yawned loudly when his sister did not reply. "What do you think dad would say if he was here right now...in front of us...?"

"_Quinn-how many times must I tell you-Hunter is not your toy_..." she half-joked as she tried to pull her blue hair into a ponytail. "He would comment on your hair, that's one thing I'm sure of..." Hunter pointed at his spiky blonde hair. "_How long are you going to keep that haircut_? _Your ears will get cold during the winter-_"

He did not smile, "No, seriously dear sister... What would he say if he knew what had happened to us...what we have become...?"

Sighing, Hunter lifted her head to see the full moon glowing in the pitch black sky. "He would be proud of us Quinn... Proud that we have survived for this long and that you're still his innocent son." Quinn had not killed anyone yet, which was something Hunter could not say for herself.

"What would he say about you...?" Quinn asked in a soft voice.

Hunter looked away from the moon to smile sweetly at her beloved brother, "Probably that I've been feeding Brooklyn too much and he's getting fat..." she laughed quietly to herself. "Seriously though?" she glanced down at her feet as she thought long and hard about her brother's question. "He would be pleased with me that I have protected you all this time..." the blue-haired vampire patted Quinn on the back. "C'mon...I'll fix you a cup of tea, you look like your ears are freezing to death..." she laughed at her brother's frowning face.

- - - - - -

"Al'ight-who wants their project first?" Hagrid beamed as he pointed to his wooden dinner table that was now outside his hut. A large blanket was carefully draped over something lumpy on his dining table. Hagrid's students suspected that the lumpy something was alive-but the blanket never moved. "Aw-c'mon! It's not goin' ta bite ya or anythin'!" the half-giant chuckled when the large group of students did not move.

Draco Malfoy rolled his eyes at Hagrid's comment, "That's what you said last time with that _hippogriff_...and it almost _killed _me!" The blonde Slytherin shuddered at the thought about being attacked by Buckbeak again. Flicking his head sideways to see if his Slytherin companions were paying attention, his blonde hair covered his dark grey eyes. "My _father_ would not be pleased to know that another creature has attacked someone-" he let his warning voice fade away.

Draco Malfoy rolled his eyes at Hagrid's comment, "That's what you said last time with that ...and it almost me!" The blonde Slytherin shuddered at the thought about being attacked by Buckbeak again. Flicking his head sideways to see if his Slytherin companions were paying attention, his blonde hair covered his dark grey eyes. "My would not be pleased to know that another creature has attacked someone-" he let his warning voice fade away. 

A frozen mud clot slapped the back of the Slytherin's neck, "Mind your own business, _ferret_!" Ron hissed at him sourly.

Before Draco could turn on Ron, Hagrid uncovered the table to reveal multicolored eggs that were the size of a human head. They sparkled in the warm sunlight and caught everyone's attention immediately. Harry, Ron, and Hermione instantly recognized the different colored eggs. "Those are dragon eggs!" Ron cried out in horror when he knew that it was a terrible thing for Hagrid to have in possession right then.

"Very good Ron!" Hagrid grabbed the first dragon egg he could get his massive hands around, "Ya each get an egg!"

Harry yelped out in confusion, "_What_!" He and Hermione began to argue out loud with Hagrid about if anyone from the Ministry of Magic found out that he was giving students dragon eggs. "Hagrid-it's illegal! You can't just hand out dragon eggs to us! You'll be sent-" Harry glared at Draco when the Slytherin smirked pleasingly to his cronies.

"Professor 'unter 'as made it clear that this is perfectly legal," Hagrid gave Harry an egg to shut him up, "and Professor Dumbledore has okayed it al'eady." The half-giant then handed Ron his very own dragon egg, "I'll explain ta ya all what ya must do with yer dragon eggs," Hagrid said before Hermione could interrupt him. "Ya all must take good care of yer eggs durin' yer Christmas 'olidays. When they 'atch-" he started to say.

"Wait-wait-wait..." Draco rudely interrupted his teacher without a single care about doing so. "You're telling us that we are going to _raise dragon eggs_?" he snorted in disbelief. The Slytherin knew that there was something illegal with the project, he just had to dig deeper to uncover it.

Hagrid nodded with a bright smile on his face, "Yes...and when they 'atch, ya all pass yer projects!"

"So-when they hatch...we pass?" Ron asked in a highly skeptical voice as he examined his egg with some curiosity.

"_Yes_-but ya 'ave ta keep real good care of yer egg...or it will never 'atch. After it 'atches, ya all 'ave ta care fer 'em fer the first two weeks-" Hagrid was interrupted again by one of his worried students.

"B-but we have to feed them when they hatch...?" Neville was already shaking and sweating in fear of having a pet dragon over Christmas break.

Nodding with the same grin on his face, Hagrid handed out several pieces of parchment to his students. "This will 'elp ya with feedin' and speedin' up the 'atchin' process," the half-giant said loudly as he passed out the instructions. "It usually takes three months fer 'em ta 'atch but ya should be able ta 'atch 'em in one month. Ya can not use magic on 'em-we made sure of that. The hex isn't very pretty mind ya, so I wouldn't suggest tryin' it. The one thing ta remember is that the better ya care fer yer egg, the quicker they 'atch."

"What will you do with them after we pass our projects, Hagrid?" Harry asked just as Hermione was about to.

"We 'ave ta give 'em ta Ron's older brother in Romania. We got the eggs from 'im actually..." Hagrid replied in a proud booming voice. "So," he clapped his massive hands together, "Are there any questions?" His voice was cheerful and upbeat while the students were making low whines.

Hermione was bound and determined to figure out how Hagrid was going to get away with having the class raise dragon eggs for an entire month. "But Professor Hagrid-I clearly remember that raising dragons was _illegal_ unless you are a certified breeder... The law can't change _that _dramatically in six years time."

With a satisfied expression on his face, Hagrid ordered that the students should read over their parchments and immediately begin caring for their egg. He told the seventh years that they could now return to the dining hall since he had taken them outside during their lunch hour. Once the students were leaving, Hagrid silently pulled the trio away from the group so he could answer all of their questions without any rude interruptions. "This project was suggested ta me months ago by Professor 'unter when the 'alf-Breed Laws were just comin' inta effect... At first, I didn't think that the Ministry would let us-but they did after Professor 'unter spoke with the Minister." The gentle half-giant scratched his forehead, "They are just newborns anyway...they won't cause any trouble fer the month. We're givin' 'em back ta the dragon raisers in Romania at the beginin' of February."

The golden trio exchanged nervous expressions, "How did Professor Hunter even convince the Minister of okaying this project?" Hermione was beginning to have her doubts as she held her dragon egg ever so carefully in her hands.

"Professor 'unter 'as a great background with mythical creatures and such...'er foster father use ta raise all sorts of endangered mythical creatures. She is the on with the breedin' license fer dragons." Hagrid said all of this in a firm voice to reassure his three favorite students, "Dragons listen ta 'er exceptionally well fer some reason." With that being said, Hagrid followed them back to the castle so they could have a bit of lunch before their afternoon classes began. "Don't worry 'ermione, Professor 'unter 'as already taken care of everythin' fer me," Hagrid said in a pleasant voice.

During lunch, the Gryffindors were desperately trying to read Hagrid's handwriting on the parchments he had handed out. "Does this say _two _or _fish_, do you know?" Neville asked Harry once the golden trio had made it back to the Great Hall.

"I wish _we_ could raise dragon eggs," Ginny pouted.

For the rest of the afternoon, all of the seventh year students in the Care of Magical Creatures class tried to keep their eggs warm by holding them close to their bodies. Luckily, their body heat was sufficient enough to heat the dragon eggs for the remainder of the day. When the last class of the day was finished, everyone with eggs took slower steps and precautions to make sure that they wouldn't break their dragon eggs.

At the back of the line to enter the Great Hall was Neville, he was trying not to trip and crack his egg. He was still clumsy at times, but everyone was use to that fact except for Hermione. While he was cautiously trying to enter the dining hall, Neville was suddenly stopped by Draco and his Slytherin cronies. "W-what ddo you-wantt?" Neville Longbottom asked in an uneasy voice.

"I was just wondering Longbottom..." Draco hissed between his teeth, "Will your dragon grow up to be as _pitiful_ as you?" The blonde smirked from ear to ear while his companions bursted out in laughter. "Or will it be just as crazy as your mum and dad?"

In a heated rage, Neville charged at Draco with one fist flying and the other desperately clutching to his dragon egg. Draco had expected an attack from Neville, he quickly moved out of Neville's path and stuck his foot out to have Neville trip over it. As Neville fell, his egg slipped out of his sweating hands and began falling down towards the hard stone ground with him. "Noooo!" Neville cried out as he hit the ground before the egg.

Closing his eyes, Neville expected to hear a loud crack, but after a few moments he heard nothing of the sort. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had heard Neville's cry from the dining hall and they came running out to aide the clumsy boy. Neville didn't notice them at first because he was too busy watching his egg float an inch above the ground. "How...?" Neville whispered to himself.

Suddenly the egg floated higher in the air and zoomed towards the top of Draco's head; everyone began to believe that it was possessed. A figure appeared out of nowhere holding the egg in their pallid hands, "Tell me...Mr. Malfoy...when was it that I told you not to pick on any more of your fellow classmates?" Hunter hissed at him coldly. With a dark look in her emotionless eyes, she lifted Neville back to his feet and handed him his egg. "I think a nice visit from _your father_ will do the tick," she added sharply to Draco.

"Bloody brilliant," Ron whispered to Harry when the redhead noticed that Hunter did not have an invisibility cloak on. Hermione was too busy being worried about poor Neville than to notice that Hunter had appeared out of nowhere.

Using her inhuman strength, Hunter grabbed Draco's right ear and easily lifted him a few feet from the ground. "Ow!" Draco winced in fear more than in pain when he was now at the vampire's eye level. "I'm sorry-I'm sorry-" he was immediately dropped when he had apologized.

"Go straight to my office Mr. Malfoy, where I will deal with you _personally_!" Hunter shouted bitterly at the blonde Slytherin. "I will not put up with your behavior _any longer_!"

Draco whimpered and cowered like a wounded animal in front of everyone. "Yes, Professor Hunter..." he muttered dryly in reply as he got back up to his feet.

She pointed down the hallway and Draco solemnly dragged his feet towards the Grand Staircase. With a dark glare, Hunter forced the rest of the Slytherins to leave and she then turned on the Gryffindor students. "I suggest that you four should go back inside the dining hall before Professor Snape finds out about this matter..." she turned her back on them and headed down the darkened hallway until she disappeared completely in the shadows.

"How did she do that?" Ron asked out loud with Neville nodding in agreement.

Hermione snorted at Ron and Neville, "Did you not learn anything about vampires in our third year? They can disappear into the shadows...and reappear when they step into the light. We had a question on our O.W.L.s about that!" she shook her head in disgust.

The golden trio and Neville heeded the vampire's advice and returned to the dining hall before Professor Snape could get a hold of them. As they ate at their table, Harry's owl fluttered down from an open window up above the dining tables and dived down onto Harry's shoulder. In the snowy owl's beak was an envelope addressed to Harry. When Harry took the letter from his beautiful pet, Hedwig began helping herself to Harry's roast beef.

Ron and Hermione ceased eating at Harry tore open the envelope, "Who is it from Harry?" Hermione asked him in a low whisper.

Harry carefully unfolded the letter and then read it silently to himself, "It's from Lupin," he hissed back to his friends. "He's inviting us to his wedding..."


	15. Disaster At The Yule Ball

Leaning back in her chair, Hunter had a warm cloth placed over her forehead and a bottle of Snape's headache-curing potion in her cold hands. The vampire was glad that she would have a week off from all of the drama at Hogwarts, she couldn't take very much more. She rested in her chair until the cloth on her forehead lost all of its warmth, Hunter pulled it off her face and sat properly in her seat again. Her black eyes locked onto the culprit who was causing Hunter all of this stress-an unopened envelope addressed to her and Snape. She had always wondered what it would be like if people associated the two of them as a couple, but now she knew that it was a frightening proposition.

Glaring at the envelope from Lupin, Hunter knew exactly what was inside-an invitation to Lupin and Tonk's wedding. Lupin had always known about Hunter's secret obsession with Snape since she had attended Hogwarts. But as she thought about Lupin getting married to Tonks, Hunter felt bitter and heartbroken about the subject. The werewolf was her closest friend-he could understand her like no one else could. The thought of finally losing Lupin to another woman was a painful blow, but she knew that she still had her Potions Master.

Hunter took a swig of the headache-curing potion as she stared off into nothing in her dark office. As she tossed the wet cloth onto her desk, her eyes caught sight of the glittering gold bracelet on her right wrist. Sighing softly, the vampire examined the gold snake bracelet Snape had given her for her birthday. _I saw it and it reminded me of you_...she could clearly remember him saying just as he gave her the gift.

As if he somehow knew that Hunter was thinking about him, Snape silently opened the Dark Arts office door and peered inside the dark room. The Potions Master stepped inside and locked the door behind him; he could care less about those pathetic Half-Breed Laws. "Hello stranger," he slyly whispered as he plopped down in the chair in front of her desk. "Headache again?" Snape asked when he saw the yellow potion bottle in her hands. He was about to say more but something caught his attention, he had spotted his name written on the envelope on Hunter's desk. "What is this?" the Potions Master snatched the letter before Hunter could and started to tear it open.

"It's an invitation to Lupin and Tonk's wedding," Hunter smirked when Snape immediately dropped the letter back onto her desk with a disgusted look.

"Why would he address the invitation to the both of us...?" he looked at the vampire suspiciously.

Hunter smiled sweetly at him in reply, "Because...Lupin believes that we are a couple and so does the rest of the world..."

The Potions Master snorted in disappointment, "So much for keeping it a secret and all..." He glanced away from the wedding invitation, "What are you doing this Christmas break?"

"I'm going find a new place to stay at this weekend. Then I'm coming back here on Monday for the remainder of the break...why?" Hunter knew exactly why, but she loved to make things difficult for Snape.

"I was just curious... I was hoping that you would like to accompany me to the Yule Ball on Christmas Day," Snape couldn't help but smile as he said this.

Agreeing to his offer, Hunter finished off her headache-curing potion and made the bottle magically disappear. "I thought you despised dancing and those sort of celebrations...?" she raised a questionable eyebrow in his direction.

"Before I had a girlfriend...yes...I despised those sort of celebrations," Snape cunningly smirked at the vampire when he saw her jaw slightly drop. "Now I can stand them."

- - - - - - -

Harry sighed as he tried to focus his green eyes on the piece of parchment Hagrid had given him to aide with raising the dragon. _For half of each day, the egg must be kept in a temperature of 90'F to 120'F, followed by a half day at 40'F to 60'F_. Somehow, Harry highly suspected that Hagrid must have copied the instructions from a book or from someone else. The words were barely legible, but they were spelled correctly.

"Well that's easy enough then," he commented to himself sarcastically. He would have to have his dragon egg under his robes to keep it warm enough and then leave it outside to keep it cool enough.

Scratching his head, Harry continued to read what else he had to do to ensure a passing grade in Hagrid's class. _The embryonic dragon can survive under inadequate incubation conditions, but not for long_. _It usually takes 3 months for the egg to hatch, but if under special care-the egg will hatch in one month if it is raised properly_. The seventh-year glanced down at the dragon egg, which was currently wrapped with two sweaters, that was nestled in his lap. "This will be harder than I thought..."

"Oy-Harry!" Ron poked his head into the boy's dormitory; his face was bright red. "Bloody hell is it cold outside..." the redhead muttered as he dragged his feet over to his bed. Plopping down onto his bed, Ron wrapped himself and his dragon egg with a blanket his mother had knitted for him. "This half-day cold half-day warm business is starting to get on my bloody nerves," he groaned as he shivered underneath his blanket. "Just think, we have to do this for an entire month too..."

"Yeah..." Harry whispered quietly; he was thinking about something else. He was glad that Ron was at least staying at Hogwarts for the Christmas break this time around; he didn't want to be left alone. They weren't going to Ron's house for Christmas because Fred and George had given their parents a paid trip to France as a gift. Of course, Ron was sour about not being invited to France but he forgot about it once he had learned that Kelsay was staying at Hogwarts during the break also.

Ron gave his friend an odd look, "Do you think Hermione made it alright to her parent's house?" He somehow knew what was deeply troubling Harry.

"I hope so..." he rolled the parchment on raising dragons up and stuck it next to his bed on his night stand. Hermione had suddenly decided to spend her Christmas break with her parents and she had not told Harry or Ron until Saturday morning just before she was about to leave. The boys were always worrying about her, even though they wouldn't admit it out loud. "Did you finally find a gift for Kelsay...?" Harry asked just as Ron was dozing off on his bed.

Yawning loudly, Ron hugged his dragon egg tightly, "Of course I did..."

Harry shook his head when he could hear the redhead already snoring, _Night Ron_... Glancing over at the closed window next to his bed, the boy with the lightening bolt scar watched as tiny snowflakes fluttered their way down from the black sky.

- - - - - - - -

Walking across the street, Hunter glanced up at the street lamppost which was producing a warm yellow glow. The vampire shivered slightly when she felt a snowflake land on the back of her neck. She stood at the corner of the street watching the houses on the other side; her cold eyes were fixed on the houses' open windows.

Each home had their fireplaces lit with the families all gathered around the burning embers telling stories. Muggle children were playing with their new toys while the parents and grandparents had a few drinks and shared past holiday experiences. Family pets were curled up beside the fireplaces, each were sighing with content just before they drifted to sleep.

A weak smile spread across Hunter's lips; she had always enjoyed watching families since she barely had one of her own. Folding her arms across her chest, leaning her back against the lamppost, and hiding in the frozen shadows, Hunter continued to watch each family with curiosity. It was no use to remember her original family anymore, every time she did it only brought back painful memories. The only warm memory she had of Christmas was when Hunter had her first snowball fight with Quinn and her foster father.

"Beautiful night..." the vampire sighed warily to herself as she looked back up at the street lamppost. It was flickering on and off for some strange reason. Soon the warm glow died away and there was only a faint yellow flicker coming from the inside of the lamppost's stained glass. Staring at it with a wrinkled nose and a befuddled expression, Hunter took a step away from the lamppost to examine it properly. "How odd..." she nervously glanced around the dark street to find that the other lampposts had died away also.

"I don't understand how you can watch _pitiful Muggles _like this when you're nearly a demi-god..." hissed a cold hoarse voice.

Hunter slowly turned her head to see a hooded figure sitting on an old rickety bus bench several feet away from her. She could feel her blood freeze when she recognized the ominous figure's glowing red eyes. "_You're late_," she snarled darkly as she took another step away from the lamppost.

The hooded figure carelessly glanced up at her, she could see him smiling at her. "I was disposing unnecessary items, my apologies." His gloved hands patted the empty spot on the bench next to him, "Come and sit Avalon, we have much to discuss..." he ordered in a strict voice.

Glaring at the shadowy figure with her equally red eyes, Hunter cautiously took a seat next to him; she did not trust him. "I have done _exactly _what you've ordered my Lord..."

"I need you to do something _else_ for me involving the boy-" the Dark Lord was cut off sharply by Hunter's laughter.

"_Do something else for you_! You're supposedly the _greatest _wizard since Merlin! Why do you still require my ever-present aide?" Hunter exclaimed loudly. "Or has this been a _lie_ all along, my Lord?" she added slyly.

Narrowing his crimson eyes at her, her tried to ignore her cynical comments. "I need you to bring that boy to me... _Harry Potter_..."

"I need a few more months, my Lord. I have just barely earned his trust-"

The Dark Lord gave her a smile which told her she wouldn't be able to talk her way out of this situation. "You better start working on it...or otherwise Dumbledore will have to find a new professor to teach Potions at Hogwarts," he threatened in a cold voice.

"You better keep your promise then," she snarled back.

"Yes, of course. You'll be my right-hand Death Eater once more. You'll get to murder as many Muggles as you see fit..." he could see something flicker in her eyes when he spoke about her killing again. "I know how much you crave to sink your teeth into those Muggles' necks," the Dark Lord glanced over at the houses full of innocent families. He could sense that Hunter was thinking about something else now, "And I'll let him _live_."

- - - - - -

"OUT OF THE BLOODY KITCHEN! OUT WITH YOU!" a female voice bellowed just as Quinn was shoved out of the kitchen into the living room area. "AND DON'T COME BACK IN HERE!" the kitchen door magically slammed itself shut.

Moodily muttering under his breath and glaring at the shut kitchen door, Quinn stomped over to an empty chair at the dinner table like he was a five-year old boy pouting because he didn't have it go his way. Folding his arms across his chest, the blonde vampire tried not to make any eye contact with the other three people at the table.

"What did she do wrong this time brother?" Hunter grumbled as she poured fire whiskey into his empty glass.

"The duck isn't seasoned properly-" Quinn quickly finished his drink off and made his sister to fill it back up once more, "-and the potatoes are undercooked-"

"QUINN! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER WORD FROM YOUR MOUTH!" the woman snarled from inside the locked kitchen, "MY COOKING IS JUST FINE!"

Quinn snorted in disbelief, "Yes, if you're a _dog_..." he slyly winked to his sister thinking that he had gotten away with it.

Storming out of the kitchen with her face bright red, Medusa threw one of her kitchen towels at his face. "Stay out of _my kitchen_, understand?" she snapped at the young vampire as she shook her finger in a disappointed way at him. Turning sharply, the future Mrs. Malfoy went back to the kitchen to finish preparing their pre-Christmas feast.

"_Kitchen Nazi_," Quinn hissed between his sharp teeth just before he tossed the dirty cooking towel at his unsuspecting sister's face.

"Can you _really_ cook Quinn?" Draco Malfoy asked in a curious voice. The two young blondes were sitting next to each other at the middle of the dinner table while Hunter and Lucius were at the far left end. Sitting in Draco's lap was his precious dragon egg, which was wrapped up with a warm silk blanket. He was following Hagrid's hatching instructions once Hunter had told him that she had helped the half-giant write them.

Hunter nearly choked on her drink when she had heard Draco's question, "It's the _only_ thing he can do..." she coughed out with a bright grin on her pallid face. She neatly folded the kitchen towel and handed it to Lucius; he in turn tossed it over his shoulder without a care where it landed.

The two vampires had been invited over to the Malfoy's house to have an early Christmas dinner Sunday night, but they weren't the only ones invited. Death Eaters Macnair and Dolohov were due at the Malfoy house any minute. Lucius' future wife, Medusa, wanted to meet all of his close friends even though a majority of them were cold-blooded murders. She had met Hunter before, they had worked together at the Ministry, but this was the first time Medusa had met Quinn.

"_I can do others things too_..." Quinn snapped bitterly in reply to his older sister, "I just _choose not _to _do _them in front of _you_-that's all..." The blonde vampire turned his full attention to Draco, "I'm _the _best cook you will ever know my dear boy!"

Rolling her eyes at her brother's comment, Hunter glanced over at Lucius to see him doing the exact same thing. They both began to mouth what Quinn was telling the Slytherin seventh year without him knowing, _I can make the best spinach puffs_-_which instantly melt in your mouth_.

"I can make the best spinach puffs-which _instantly _melt in your mouth," Quinn said proudly.

Lucius smirked, "He never changes does he?" he whispered in a soft voice as he watched the two continue on with their conversation. The pure-blood turned his head slightly to see a concerned look in Hunter's black eyes, "But you haven't changed one bit either..."

Her pallid face became characteristically emotionless, "Please don't say that Lucius." She didn't want Lucius' comment to be true, especially since she was working for the Dark Lord again.

"Why do you say that? Don't you enjoy being the good-looking, cynical one out of the group?" Lucius half-joked when he knew that something was troubling her.

Luckily the doorbell rang, Hunter jumped out of her seat before Lucius could and told him that she would get the door. The second she opened the door, one of the two shady figures wrapped their arms around Hunter and hugged her tightly. "Merry Christmas lass!" Macnair boomed in a loud voice as he twirled Hunter around in his arms.

"_Macnair-_" the vampire laughed loudly when he lifted her off the ground, "_-put me down_!"

Once the Scottish Death Eater was done greeting his old friend, he placed her back down on the ground and gave her a quick peck on her frozen blushing cheeks. "Did your birthday gift made it safety through Filch's mail standards?" he asked with a bright grin on his face; Hunter rarely saw him like this.

"Yes, thank you Macnair..."

Walking over to the front door, Lucius greeted Macnair and the other Death Eater warmly with a faint smile on his lips. "So-you finally managed to drag Antonin with you, Walden..." the pure-blood wizard stepped aside so the two Death Eaters could enter his house. "Come on in, Medusa is nearly done cooking..."

"Funny, I thought Quinn would have taken over the kitchen by now," Dolohov commented slyly to Hunter as he walked past her. Antonin Dolohov rarely spoke, but when he did-everyone would fall silent to hear what he would have to say.

"Lightening has struck you twice!" Draco yelped with some excitement in his voice when the four Death Eaters returned to the living room busily chatting away with one another. "You didn't have to go to hospital or anything like that?"

Before Quinn could reply, his sister did the answering for him. "You see Draco, Quinn is a bit different from _other_ people..." she gave her younger brother a toothy grin as she took her seat at the dinner table again.

"Didn't balloons keep sticking to him when that happened?" Macnair sneered from across the dinner table.

Opening his mouth to snap a harsh comment back at the Macnair-Hunter insult tag-team, Quinn forgot about defending himself when the kitchen door suddenly flung open and a tall, brown-haired witch entered the living room with a platter of potatoes and slices of duck meat. "How long did you cook this...?" the blonde vampire asked quietly as he poked one of the potatoes with his fork.

Ignoring his comment, Medusa smiled brightly to everyone else at the dinner table, "I hope everyone likes duck and potatoes!"

- - - - - - -

Sitting at the staff table with a blank expression on her face, Hunter remained completely silent while everyone else chatted away like social butterflies. Though the vampire was staring down at her empty plate, she could feel someone watching her. Lifting her head slightly, she spotted Snape glancing momentarily in her direction. This was the first time he had seen her since she had returned to Hogwarts this afternoon.

Hunter did not want to make any eye contact with him; she did not want him knowing the truth. She was enraged with herself for how she had allowed herself to get into this mess. Looking back at him while he passed a bowl of fruit to McGonagall, there was a glimpse of happiness in her cold black eyes. Rubbing her wrist secretly as she thought about her new troubles, Hunter was pulled out of her thoughts when Hagrid poked her sharply in the shoulder with his massive index finger. Quickly snapping back into reality, she locked her eyes onto the half-giant so she wouldn't drift away and lose focus.

"Can ya pass the potatoes, please Miz 'unter?" Hagrid was brightly grinning from ear to ear; like he always was.

Trying to remain silent and not start a conversation between the both of them, Hunter handed him the large oval plate filled with freshly baked red potatoes. As she gave Hagrid the potatoes, her eyes accidentally happened to stray away from the half-giant's face and found the Potions Master staring directly at her. Immediately locking her black eyes back onto Hagrid, she already knew it was too late. She had heard his thoughts, _What's the matter_? Knowing that he would try to ask and find out more, Hunter flashed a smile to Hagrid and was about to leave the staff table when Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement.

"I would like to announce that for this year's Yule Ball, there will be a masquerade theme. I encouraged everyone to dress in their best costumes for the Yule Ball this Saturday night." With that being said, the headmaster sat back down in his seat and everyone began chattering away again.

A few minutes later, Hunter managed to slip out of the dining hall. The vampire retreated to her dark office so she could freely pace back and forth as she pondered on what to do. Snape would come find her but not until after dinner-he didn't want to make his feelings for her obvious to anyone else. Hunter didn't have much longer though, she needed to find a way so he would not be able to just simply read her mind to figure everything out. If Voldemort knew that she had told Snape-whether by accident or on purpose-he would kill Snape in a heartbeat.

_Work on something_, she mentally suggested to herself when she couldn't come up with any better than just ignoring him completely. Sitting at her desk, Hunter began jotting down notes for her N.E.W.T. Defense Against the Dark Arts classes after the holiday break. Three minutes after she began writing notes on curses, there was a soft knock at her office door.

Though he did not receive a reply to come inside like he usually would, the Potions Master cautiously entered the vampire's office without her permission. "Hello stranger," he tilted his head slightly in confusion when she did not acknowledge his presence. "Have you become mute _and_ deaf while you were away?"

Again, Hunter did not reply or simply glance in his direction; she continued on writing notes for her upcoming classes. Guessing that she was still listening to him though she was furiously scribbling down words on two different pieces of parchment, Snape looked at the single oval window in her office. He squinted his black eyes as he stared off into the darkness and found that it was snowing outside. Lifting his right arm a bit higher than his head, he leaned his arm against the stone wall and focused his dark eyes on what was happening outside. "Look at it fall," he whispered quietly to himself. "Do you still want to go to the Yule Ball now that we have to wear tacky masks?" Snape asked in a curious voice once he became bored with watching the snow. When there was no reply from the vampire, he glanced over his left shoulder to see her still jotting down notes.

Moving away from the oval window, Snape went up behind the Dark Arts professor and peered over her shoulder to see what she was so deeply involved with. _Curses_, Snape read silently to himself as he stood behind Hunter's chair. "You're working yourself too hard," the Potions Master announced loudly behind her, "Why don't you take a break and spend some time with me..." Snape hoped that his comment would finally make her look at him.

When he received the same cold shoulder from her, Snape decided that he would purposely distract her from writing as revenge for ignoring him. Carefully, he brushed her silky blue hair over to one side to expose her bare shoulders and neck. He began massaging her shoulders but her writing quill never twitched from his warm touch. Then he leaned over her to kiss her neck; Snape was able to find her most tender spot in less than a minute.

Even though he didn't know it, Hunter began writing down words that no longer made sense to her or to anyone who spoke English. She couldn't break now! She was doing this to save his life and she was already crumbling thanks to several kisses on her neck from him. Determined to drive him away to protect him from the consequences of being involved with her, Hunter stiffened and continued to give him a cold shoulder.

Frustrated when he did not grab her attention from her notes, Snape stepped away from her with a dark look in his eyes. Trying to contain his anger, the Potions Master decided to try one last time to get her attention before he left her alone in her gloomy office. Quickly, he went to the front of her office desk and slammed both of his hands down on the desk to force her to look at him. Again-there was no response from the vampire. "Avalon-just look up at me for a damn second!" he yelled at her. "That's all I need for you to do-just look at me..." _Let me know if you still care about me_...

Hunter wanted to snap her quill in half, jump out of her seat, and fondle with him right then and there but she knew that she couldn't. She didn't want to live out the rest of her miserable life knowing that _she _was the cause of his unfortunate death.

Keeping his eyes on her, Snape watched the vampire leave her seat to grab a Dark Arts book from her only bookcase. Just when Hunter thought that the Potions Master was going to give up and return to his musty dungeons, he suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders and roughly pushed her back against her bookcase. "_Look at me Avalon_!" the hook-nosed character yelled as he kept her pinned against the wooden bookcase and him.

As she tried her hardest not to make eye contact with him, Snape kissed her passionately on the lips as he held her tightly in his hands. Snape knew that he had won the argument when he had heard Hunter drop the book onto the stone floor. He released her from his death grip when she finally broke down and kissed him back; he placed both of his hands on her slender hips and pulled her body closer to his. "Don't _ever_ do that to me again," he sighed with relief in her ear just before he began to nibble on her neck again.

"_Severus_..." Hunter started to plead with him to stop everything but she lost her words when she felt him unbuttoning the back of her dress. Her skin began to crawl when she suddenly felt his warm right hand slowly hiking the bottom of her dress up higher and higher. Closing her eyes, she begged for him to take her, "_Please_..." it was as if she could hardly breathe as she waited for him.

He pushed her back against the wooden bookcase with one hand while his other hand slowly traveled up her bare leg. Snape was moving slowly to punish her for ignoring him earlier-he wanted to make her wait. But she couldn't wait any longer, the Potions Master felt her tug the leather belt off his pants and hastily throw it onto her desk. Unbuttoning his pants, Hunter moved herself closer to him and began to gently kiss his neck. Snape shivered the instant her frozen hand slipped down his grey boxers and made contact; he started to pull her panties down in response.

Not able to take it much longer, Hunter pulled on a book in the bookcase to have the stone wall left of them disappear and reveal her private chambers. Letting her panties fall to the floor first, the Potions Master lifted Hunter into his arms and they both faded away into the darkness of the vampire's private chambers.

Waking up two hours before dawn, Snape could feel his left wrist burning with pain. It was the Dark Lord calling all of his Death Eaters for another secret meeting. He wouldn't go to this meeting this time around, he just wanted to stay right where he was. Staring at the dark wood a few inches above his head, the Potions Master had always wondered what it would feel like to sleep in a coffin all day long. Surprisingly, it wasn't _that_ bad lying in a coffin-they weren't cramped or uncomfortable like he thought they would be. Snape lowered his dark eyes from the coffin lid to watch the blue-haired vampire sleep with her head resting on the lower part of his chest. Carefully, the Potions Master began caressing her blue hair until she began stirring out of her deep sleep. He smiled sweetly at her when she lifted her head slightly to see who was messing with her hair; her eyes were barely open but she smiled back at him. "_I love you_..." Snape whispered softly as he ran his hand through her blue hair.

"_That's_..._nice_..." Hunter replied just before she closed her eyes again and fell back asleep on his chest.

The Potions Master watched her sleep in his arms a bit longer until his eyelids grew heavy and he finally drifted back to sleep as easily and quickly as Hunter had done.

"_SHIT_!" Hunter grumbled under her breath the second her forehead made contact with the wooden lid of her coffin. Pushing the lid off her coffin, the vampire solemnly glanced around her private chambers to find any signs of her missing Potions Master. When she knew that he was gone, Hunter got out of her coffin, put her silk robe on, and wandered into her office to work on her unfinished class notes.

Sitting down in her office chair, Hunter tapped her fingers impatiently on the wooden desk as she thought about where Snape could have gotten to. Her shining black eyes caught sight of something resting on top of her stack of unfinished class notes; a faint smile spread across her pallid lips. Reaching out, she gingerly snatched the black rose and held it close to her heart as she thought about last night. "Keeping him safe will be harder than I thought it would be..." the vampire whispered to herself as she looked at what Snape had written on her pile of notes. _My angel of the night_, Hunter silently read to herself, _More like his angel of death_...

- - - - - - -

Collapsing in his comfortable reading chair, Snape released a depressing sigh out. He was glad to be finally back from the Death Eater gathering, but he was especially grateful that he was _still _alive. The Potions Master could barely keep his dark eyes open as he watched the logs burn in his fireplace. A burning pain in his limp left arm was the only thing keeping him awake; his arm was broken in three different places.

As he stared off into the burning embers, the Potions Master could remember every single detail that had happened that morning and early afternoon. The Dark Lord wanted to discuss matters about the involvement of the werewolves with the rest of his followers and to see how much progress his Death Eaters had made. When the Dark Lord left, the Death Eaters began to chit-chat with each other about other things and any interesting news they had heard since their last gathering.

Snape didn't want to spend one minute longer at the Death Eaters' secret hideout and meeting place; he wanted to get back to Hogwarts before Hunter began to seriously worry about him being gone. As the Potions Master was leaving, Wormtail and Greyback suddenly blocked off his exit to ask him a few questions. Snape knew that Greyback was the werewolf that had attacked Hunter and him on Halloween night, but there was nothing he could say or do about it. He couldn't lay one finger on Greyback without risking his own life by disobeying Voldemort.

It was very peculiar that Greyback and Wormtail were only asking him questions about how he was "enjoying his winter holiday" and his "winter break from teaching Potions all day long." Snape knew that they were up to something, but he wasn't exactly sure what they were intending to do. Then Wormtail finally asked Snape something which made the Potions Master's blood boil, "You haven't been driven _batty _by all of those _traitorous scum_ at Hogwarts, Severus?"

The rat Animagus did not need to make his point any clearer for Snape, he knew exactly whom Wormtail was speaking of. Snape had attacked Wormtail when the coward had made a rude comment about Hunter. He didn't care how Wormtail had found out, but he was going to make him pay for insulting her. The Potions Master was just barely prevented from killing Wormtail thanks to Macnair intervening.

Macnair had managed to pull Snape out of the fight, but could only do so by breaking his arm. It was as if the Scottish Death Eater had been watching Snape's back and protecting him from any signs of trouble since the beginning of September.

Shaking his head disappointedly at himself, Snape knew that he should have never reacted to Wormtail's harsh comment. Now the sneaky rat would scurry back to his master to tell Voldemort what juicy information he had just retrieved from Snape. The Potions Master gingerly placed his broken arm on his lap; it would take an hour for the potion to be effective in healing his broken bone. He remained in front of the fireplace with a dark look in his eyes, Snape would have his revenge on Greyback and Wormtail one of these days.

"Severus?" Snape's face grew pale when he heard Hunter calling out his name in his office. Glancing down at his limp arm, the Potions Master would have to quickly roll his sleeve back down to keep his glowing Dark Mark hidden. He had managed to cover half of his Dark Mark when the vampire quietly entered his private chambers.

"Severus?" Hunter smiled softly at him when she spotted him leaning back in his favorite reading chair in front of the fireplace, "There you are..." As she walked over to him, Snape tried to hide his broken arm from her but ended up yelling in pain when he accidentally lifted his arm too hastily. Giving him an inquisitive expression, Hunter finally understood why he was muttering swear words under his breath.

Even to the naked eye, it was clear that Snape's arm was broken. The Potions Master prepared himself for her questions about how on earth he had managed to break his arm or where he had been for the past twelve hours; but she never said a word to him about it. She didn't say anything because Hunter had caught sight of the glowing skull and snake tattoo on his forearm. Kneeling in front of his chair, the vampire reached out to touch his broken arm but Snape barked at her that his arm was perfectly fine the way it was. "Let me look at it Severus, I know how to speed the healing process..." she said cooly when he continued to fuss over her looking at his broken arm.

Finally, Snape allowed her to look at his left arm but began regretting it when the lightest touch would feel like knives digging deeper into his skin. Gently stretching his arm out towards her, Hunter leaned forward so she could spit on the area of the break.

"That's very _sexy_," Snape slyly commented just before her spit touched his skin. He knew that vampire spit had special properties which relieved immense pain, otherwise the vampire wouldn't be able to suck blood from their sleeping victims without them noticing. Flinching for the first few seconds as Hunter rubbed the spit into his skin, Snape finally relaxed when the pain subsided and his left arm felt completely numb.

"Look away," Hunter instructed as she stood back up so she could have a better grip on his broken arm. The only way to make the healing process faster was to set the broken bone back in its proper place.

Snape lifted his black eyes to stare at his stone ceiling while she reset his broken bone; thankfully, he could barely feel what she was doing. In a matter of seconds, the vampire had properly fixed his broken arm and was slipping a cloth sling over it. He lowered his eyes when he felt her carefully place his left arm close to his chest. "You need to rest until your arm fully heals," she whispered in a soft voice as she bent over and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Why don't I make you some tea, eh?" Hunter disappeared from Snape's view for several minutes but then finally reappeared with a warm cup of tea for him.

Graciously taking the tea cup from her with his right hand, he took a long sip and closed his dark eyes as he felt the warm liquid travel down his throat. Opening his eyes, Snape found the vampire standing in front of the fireplace watching the logs burn. "Why don't you ask me how this happened? Or-why I left you this morning?" the Potions Master finally asked her in a curious voice.

Hunter turned away from the fire to answer him, "You have your secrets and I have mine," she simply replied just before she sipped on her cup of tea.

- - - - - - -

"No-no-no!" Quinn bellowed at the top of his lungs when his sister made another mistake. "You're doing it all wrong! You have to step left-_left_!" he stubbornly placed his hands on his hips, "You _do_ know your right from your left, don't you?"

"No-no-no!" Quinn bellowed at the top of his lungs when his sister made another mistake. "You're doing it all wrong! You have to step left-!" he stubbornly placed his hands on his hips, "You know your right from your left, don't you?" 

Hunter narrowed her black eyes at the younger vampire, "Why don't you put some lipstick on so you can _really _act like my _mother_!" she snapped back hotly.

He had only been back for a day and Hunter was already preparing herself to strangle him. The younger vampire had spent four days at Lyude's home for the holidays; though Hunter wanted him to stay with Lyude_ permanently_. She was only putting up with his insults because Quinn was teaching her how to ballroom dance, which was one of the very few things she couldn't do.

"Again!" Quinn instructed once he decided that he couldn't come up with a snide comment.

Twenty minutes later, the blonde vampire began yelling at his sister again. "The _man_ leads the _woman_ in the dance! Not the other bloody way around!" Quinn hissed at her with his fangs showing.

"You're hardly a man..." Hunter growled back with a dark gleam in her eyes.

Quinn glared at the blue-haired vampire, "Do you want my assistance or not, dear sister?"

Staring down at her feet, Hunter muttered a "yes" under her breath and quickly apologized to her brother so he would continue teaching her how to dance.

- - - - - - - -

_Meet me at the bottom of the Grand Staircase_, Snape read silently to himself when Hunter's pet bat had delivered him a message. His thin lips curled into a soft smile when he saw her signature at the bottom of the note, _Love, your angel of the night_. Clearing his throat, the Potions Master set the message on the mantle of the fireplace and finished his drink of fire whiskey. Snape straightened his black, button-down jacket and smoothed his long black hair down. _Here we go_...he told himself as he walked out of his private chambers and headed upstairs to meet his date at the bottom step of the Grand Staircase.

The Potions Master tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for his vampire date, she was three minutes late now. Everyone was already inside the dining hall finishing their Christmas feast; Snape's stomach was growling at him to hurry up and eating something. Turning his back on the Grand Staircase for a moment, Snape glanced around the abandoned hallways; which were covered with wreaths, holly, and mistletoe.

"You haven't been waiting long, have you?" whispered a soft voice from behind him.

Glancing over his shoulder, the Potions Master nearly lost his balance and fell off the step he was standing on. At the very least to say-she was breath-taking. She was wearing a slender black dress with an elegant black velvet jacket, and black silk gloves. The vampire pushed her hair behind her slightly-pointed ears with her shining brightly in his direction. Hunter was different-she was now a raven-haired beauty, her eyes were an electric blue hue, and she didn't look a day older than twenty-five.

Hunter smirked at the hooked-nose character, "You can close your mouth now..."

Staring oddly at her for a moment, Snape couldn't get over how different she looked now. "How...?" he started to ask but she placed her index finger over his thin lips to silence him.

"Aging potions...if you take one long enough-your hair will change into the color of the potion," she explained softly as she lowered her gloved hand from his lips. "Besides-this _is _a masquerade ball-" Hunter raised her mask so Snape could only see her glittering blue eyes and her red lips, "It's _all_ about disguises..."

- - - - - - -

"Harry-Harry?" Ron lifted the mask off someone's face to realize that it wasn't Harry, "Oh-sorry 'bout that..." the red-head carefully placed the mask over the fifth-year's reddened face. Staring at every male's masked face, Ron was trying to spot a pair of familiar green eyes. "Harry-is that you?" he narrowed his eyes at the masked seventh-year before him.

Sighing loudly, Harry lifted his mask slightly so Ron could see that it was him hiding behind all of that ceramic. "Did you go and check on our dragon eggs, Ron?" He despised keeping their eggs outside in the freezing air for half a day and then placing their stone-cold eggs in bed with them to keep them warm for the other half of the day. Harry and Ron had made a brilliant discovery though, the bathing water in the Prefect's Bathroom was ideal for the dragon eggs to be kept in for the warmer part of the day. Besides, Harry couldn't spend one more night with ovoid-shaped egg poking him in the stomach.

"Find someone to dance with yet?" Ron asked in a curious tone of voice.

"No," Harry grumbled under his breath. "That blonde over there is dancing with every single girl he can find," he pointed to a tall, spiked-hair blonde who had five girls ogling over him and his beautiful black mask.

Ron's jaw dropped down, "Wha-he can't have five can he? What's he going to do with five!" the red-head was in a panic now. "Is he dancing with my _sister_!" he growled in a dangerous tone.

Meanwhile, the Gryffindor boys weren't the only ones who were having trouble with finding someone to dance with. Hunter stood next to Snape with her arms folded disappointedly across her chest; he didn't want to dance with her in public. The vampire glared at him with her electric blue eyes, _Everyone else is dancing Severus_! she mentally argued with him.

No one had seen them enter the dining hall together; they had just timed it perfectly for the students were just beginning to dance; Snape wanted to hold onto his dignity a bit longer if he could. _None of the teachers are dancing Avalon_...he said in a calm voice.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "_No one_?" she let the words slip right out of her mouth but none of the teachers standing around them paid any notice to her. _Dumbledore and McGonagall are dancing together_! _Aren't they bloody teachers, Severus_! Hunter was slowly losing her temper with him.

_They are headmaster and headmistress_! _No one dares to assume that they are having a relationship_-

Hunter's eyes color quickly changed to red when she had heard Snape make a fatal slip-up, _Oh_..._I understand this now_. _You don't want to ruin your reputation by having everyone find out that you're in a relationship with me, that's it_! Tugging off her silk glove, she hit it against his closest shoulder with a dark look in her eyes. Just when she was about to open her mouth to tell Snape how much happier she would be if he just dropped his over-exaggerated ego in a bottomless pit somewhere in the Gobi Desert, someone politely tapped her on the shoulder.

"Would you care to dance, Professor Hunter?" asked a young blonde and he bowed before her. She took the young blonde's hand, after she shot another dirty look at Snape, and followed him to the middle of the dance floor.

"So...are the two _lovebirds_ arguing?" asked the masked blonde as he lightly placed his hand on Hunter's hip and began leading her on the dance floor.

"_Quinn-_" Hunter snarled at him without moving her lips, "_What are you doing here_!"

Her younger brother simply smiled at her with his fangs slightly showing, "Just having a bit of fun, dear sister... That is all..." Quinn caught her glancing down at his feet to see which way he would be leading her next, "Keep your eyes level with me!" he instructed sharply.

"_What if you're caught_!" she nervously glanced around the dance floor to see if anyone was looking at them suspiciously. "If Dumbledore catches you here-he'll ring my neck for this! Do you understand me Quinn!" Hunter hissed.

"There is nothing to worry about here," Quinn twirled her around and then pulled her back into his arms. "_Stop looking at your bloody feet_," he hissed in her ear. "What are you two lovebirds fighting about now, eh? Did old hook-nose not want to _deflower_ his reputation by dancing with you?"

Turning to the left, Quinn nearly ran into the enraged Potions Master who had heard everything Quinn had said. "_Oh no_," Quinn squeaked when he lifted his blue eyes to see Snape's hippogriff-like eyes staring down at him.

"_Deflower my reputation_?" Snape's jaw was rigid and his entire body was stiff as a board. "My, my...for a _student_...you certainly speak like you're _capable_ of a _real threat_-"

Hunter went paler than usual, she quickly removed her mask and lightly touched Snape's shoulder. "Please-Severus...he didn't mean it...just let it go..." she started to plead with him. "He can't hold his fire whiskey-"

The music had died down and everyone stood in a circle around the two professors and the masked blonde. Now all of the students and professors knew that Hunter and Snape were having a relationship-Snape was jealous that his vampire girlfriend was dancing with some younger lad.

"If you're so _jealous_ of me sneaking a dance with Professor Hunter out on the floor here, why don't you just say so? Or you could have just asked to politely cut-in-" Quinn started to say in a low growl.

Taking his remark as another insult, Snape could no longer hold his anger. He sent Hunter's younger brother to the floor with a powerful right-hook and he had managed to break Quinn's nose. "I never do anything _politely_...you should know this by now..." Snape spat as he hid his throbbing right hand in his dress robe's front pocket.

While blood was gushing from his nose, Hunter quickly helped her stunned brother back to his feet and covered his bleeding nose with a white towel she had conjured. "Come on, I'll take you to the Hospital Wing," his sister whispered solemnly to him.

"Professor Hunter-" Dumbeldore stood in front of her with an unhappy look in his soft eyes, "Bring him to my office...I want to have a few words with you..."

McGonagall poked Snape roughly in the ribs with her index finger, "Don't think you won't be joining them also..." she narrowed her eyes at him in a disappointed sort of way.

Feeling somewhat like a child, Snape silently followed McGonagall out of the dining hall only moments after Dumbledore had led Hunter and the blonde student out. The Potions Master glared darkly at the sight ahead of him, Hunter had her arm around the young blonde's shoulders and she was fussing over him like he was her child or something. _Who is he anyways_?

- - - - - - - -

"_This is Quinn_?" Snape coughed out the words once Hunter and her younger brother finally spilled the beans to Dumbledore and McGonagall. "_Your pet bat_?"

Quinn wanted to snort at Snape, but his broken nose was still healing so he hissed at him with his fangs showing instead. "I'm her _brother_ too..."

"I just wanted to keep him safe-that's all Headmaster!" Hunter covered her frozen hands with her face, she was so embarrassed by everything that had happened that night. "He's the only family I have left..." the vampire pleaded in a tired voice, "Please don't send him away..."

The headmaster raised a questionable eyebrow at Quinn, "I'm guessing that _you_ were the one behind the thievery in Hogsmeade, am I correct?"

"Old habits die hard," Quinn shrugged his shoulders as he held the wet cloth over his dripping nose.

Dumbledore glanced over at McGonagall for a moment and they exchanged looks. Standing up from his seat, the headmaster finally had come to his decision. "Your brother can stay," Hunter and Quinn both sighed with relief, "But you have to keep him _in line _from now on." The elder wizard shook a frail finger at the younger vampire, "No more mischief!"

As the two vampires and the Potions Master left Dumbledore's office on Christmas eve, they remained completely silent. Snape finally tried to speak with Hunter when she was about to lead her brother into her office near the end of the darkened hallway. "Avalon-I didn't mean it when I said-" he started to say in a concerned voice to her.

"_Nice try_," Hunter snarled at him in a cold voice. "We'll talk about this tomorrow..._maybe_... I'm too tired to argue any longer..." she opened her office door and let her wounded brother in first. "Goodnight," she didn't even look back at Snape as she slammed her office door right in his solemn face.

"Goodnight..." Snape lowered his head and turned away from the locked door, "Avalon."


	16. Back Into The Darkness

Yawning loudly, the male gytrash kept one paw over an ovoid-shaped dragon egg as he eagerly watched his master play against the master of the dragon egg. Brooklyn whined softly when he felt a snowflake land on top of his white head; the wolf-like creature hated the cold weather.

"Come on-" Hunter growled under her breath as she stood in front of Harry with her back half-turned. Munching on an apple, the vampire blocked his over-exaggerated attacks with very little effort. "Focus on attacking their weak points," Hunter instructed when she could feel his attacks getting weaker. Taking another bite of her apple, she suddenly lunged forward to catch Harry off guard and knocked his sword out of his hands with one quick swipe. "You need to focus more..."

Trying to catch his breath, the boy gasped for air as he stood with his head in-between his legs. Once he had gathered enough strength to speak, he lifted his head to find her smirking at him as she continued to eat her red apple. "The-apple...it's distracting..." he lied through his clenched teeth.

Hunter took one final bite from her apple and tossed the apple core over her shoulder without a care where it landed. "Pick up your sword and let us try again," the vampire sighed loudly. They had spent an hour fighting and she hadn't even broken into a sweat yet.

When Harry didn't respond, Hunter walked over to his fallen sword and stood for a moment in front of it. Suddenly slamming her foot down on the tip of the sword, the handle flew up off the ground into her open hand. "Take your sword Mr. Potter," Hunter hissed in an emotionless tone of voice.

Again, Harry did not take the sword back from her; he was exhausted, wet, and not to mention cold. The vampire narrowed her black eyes at her student, "Your enemies won't give you a chance to catch your breath! Now take your sword!"

Knowing that she wasn't joking around, Harry took the sword back and immediately began fighting her. Harry took the Dark Arts teacher's advice and focused on the vampire's weak point-her chest. Managing to block a few of her attacks, he lunged his sword forward without much control of his weapon. His green eyes went wide when the tip of his sword made contact with the vampire's right shoulder.

A dark red stain appeared on Hunter's cream-hued blouse and Harry immediately began panicking about what he had done. Tugging the sword out of her shoulder, while the boy apologized every time he took a breath, the vampire curiously glanced at the dark blood dripping from the sword's tip. She held herself back from licking the blood off and instead used the end of her sleeve to wipe the blood away. After handing the sword back, Hunter pulled out a small red vial from her pant's pockets and took a quick sip from it. Then she rolled up her right blouse sleeve to get a better look at the stab wound; it was already healing. "Wonderful Mr. Potter! That will be enough for today then..."

Staring at her happy expression with a look of horror on his face, Harry couldn't believe that she was glad that he had stabbed her. Instead of asking her why she wasn't angry with him and just ending up even more confused, the boy asked what was in the potion vial.

"Dragon's blood," she placed her sword back in its wooden sheath. "Their blood is nearly the same as a vampire's, same healing properties pretty much." Hunter noticed his befuddled look, "You haven't heard of the legend about dragons and vampires, have you?" Glimpsing up at the grey sky, the vampire could spot several white snowflakes tumbling down towards her.

"After St. George taught the dragons how to speak, nearly a hundred years after he had passed away-a dragon was taking a beautiful virgin back to his cave to devour her. Villages would use their young virgins as sacrifices to keep the dragons from eating the entire village. Once they were at the dragon's cave, the virgin began begging for her life to be spared. The dragon found the virgin's voice so alluring, the dragon decided not to devour her. Now, back then, dragons were shape shifters-at least the ancient dragons were. The dragon changed himself into a human and the two fell in love. Soon they had a son, but he wasn't completely human as his mother had hoped. He had inhuman strength, amazing transformation skills, immortality, and great intelligence-but he also had a deep hunger for blood. This boy finally went into the villages and began conquering them, the villagers called him Dracul. He was named after the special Order he had created, the Order of the Dragon. His son, Dracula-"

"Dracula? The first vampire?" Harry coughed out his words.

"One in the same," Hunter smiled. "Dracula destroyed everything in his path. He turned all of his followers into immortal beings like himself...then Dracula finally disappeared..."

Harry's green eyes widened with interest, "What happened to him?"

"Some say that he was brutally murdered by his enemies and buried by a small lake. I have heard that he has just settled back down in his homeland to remain with his newly found immortal beauty...and to command his Order of the Dragon." Hunter glanced down at the snow beneath her boots, "Time to go inside, it's getting a bit nippy out here..."

With a simple wave of his hand, Harry changed his glittering sword back into an azure butterfly and watched the bug fly out of his open hands. "I'm getting the hang of it finally," the seventh-year smiled at his teacher.

"You've improved greatly," Hunter ruffled his brown hair as she whistled for Brooklyn to follow them back inside the castle. Brooklyn gingerly grabbed the dragon egg with his teeth and pranced proudly next to his vampire master.

As they headed back to the warm castle, Harry glanced over at his teacher with thousands of questions running through his mind. "Where did you learn how to fence?" he finally blurted out.

"From my dear brother," Hunter tapped her sheathed sword against her thigh, "Best there was too... Cooking and fencing were his greatest passions in life, besides pulling pranks on others."

"Did you and Professor Snape make up yet?" he asked in a small voice.

"_Mr. Potter-_" the vampire's pallid face grew bright red, "You shouldn't be asking those sort of questions..." They walked in silence until Hunter finally spoke again, "I haven't seen him or spoken to him for a week, if that's what you're asking me..."

Stepping inside the castle, Hunter and Brooklyn paused for a moment at the entrance doors so her pet could give Harry his dragon egg back. "Would it be alright with you if we have your private lessons a bit earlier next Sunday?" the vampire asked as Harry quickly wrapped his dragon egg with a red cloth.

"Yeah, that's alright with me..." the boy didn't want to question why. "What time?"

Tapping her fingers on her blushing cheeks, Hunter tried to come up with a new time. "How about ten?" _I can't believe I'm still getting that git a birthday present after what he said_...

Wandering back upstairs with Brooklyn by her side, the vampire hummed to herself until she reached her office. "What are you doing out here?" Hunter hissed at the large bat fluttering near her office door.

"_Your lover is inside your office and demands that he speaks with you alone_," Quinn squeaked in a unhappy tone of voice. "_He barged right in about twenty minutes ago and RUDELY disturbed me_ _from my sleep to find out where you were_. _I tried to get him out but he stunned me, tossed me out here and has locked the damn door_." The young vampire landed on Brooklyn's furry white back and stubbornly folded his wings across his tiny chest.

Muttering under her breath, Hunter pounded her fist against her office door, "_Open this door right now_!" She stepped back when the door creaked open on its own, "Severus?" Hunter poked her head inside her office to find it completely dark inside. Opening the door all the way, she cautiously examined the area; there wasn't a soul in her darkened office. _Blood and flames he's in my bloody private chambers_!

Quickly, she unsheathed her sword so she could use it to frighten the Potions Master out of her bedroom at least. Hunter tugged on one of the books in her bookcase and patiently waited for the secret passage into her private chambers to be revealed. Taking one step inside, she was amazed to find her wooden coffin was gone along with the rest of her belongings. "What on earth did you do with my things!" Hunter snarled as she turned around to glare at the hook-nosed man leaning against the stone wall behind her.

"They are downstairs," Snape replied in a soft voice. His black eyes had a warm look to them this time; he had missed seeing her.

"Downstairs?" Hunter nervously glanced around to see if he had moved anything else from her room.

The Potions Master weakly smiled at his beloved, "I moved all of your belongings to my private chambers..."

"Wha-what? Why?" she didn't know what was going on and it was making her flustered. "Why would you do that!"

Again, he ignored her dark and disapproving glares, "Because you don't deserve to be alone at nights..." Snape paused for a moment, "Because-I miss holding you in my arms, caressing your blue hair, seeing your beautiful smile, kissing your perfect lips, and hearing your sweet voice. I miss _you_ Avalon..."

Lowering her sword, the vampire's pallid lips slowly formed a broken smile for him. _Blood and flames_..._it's the other way around, isn't it? You'll be the death of me_... "I'll stay with you but you have to do me one thing," Hunter eyes gleamed in the darkness.

- - - - - - - -

"Oh bloody hell," Ron disappointedly mumbled under his breath when he spotted the hook-nosed professor filling in for their vampire professor. "He better be teaching us _just_ for today..."

Hermione rolled her eyes at the redhead; they were back to their normal routine in less than a day. "It's the first class you've had since winter break and you're already complaining Ronald?" she hissed at him.

"I just didn't want my first class of the new year to be with _Professor I'm-so-jealous-of-my-lady-dancing-with-some-prat Snape_, that's all Hermione." Ron slyly winked at Harry, who just simply smirked at his best friend's comment. "You should have seen it Hermione," he added as they took their seats, "Broke the poor guy's nose."

"_Silence_!" the Potions Master snapped at the large class before him, "We have no time to spare in class today for _idyll chatting_." He folded his arms across his chest and gave each student a dark and ominous glare. His wish was finally granted, he had complete control of what he was teaching to the N.E.W.T. Defense Against the Dark Arts students. Snape flicked his black-as-ash wand at the chalkboard behind him so four words appeared, "Can anyone tell me what these are?"

Using this opportunity to get a bit of revenge on his least favorite students, Snape called on Hermione Granger even though her arm wasn't raised high into the air like it usually was. "Miss Granger, would you care to enlighten the class?"

Hermione went extremely pale, she had absolutely no clue of what those spells written on the chalkboard were. This was the first time she had ever heard of them.

Shaking his head at the bright witch, Snape made a "tisk tisk" sound to show how disappointed he was with her. "You don't know Miss Granger?" he smirked when she lowered her head depressingly. "Today we will be discussing _curses_..." the Potions Master pointed his wand at the curse at the top of the list.

"_Crescendo_," he pronounced the first curse. "This curse is the same as a banshee's cry. It drives the victim insane with loud piercing screams, which _they_ can only hear, until they lose their hearing completely or they die."

Harry exchanged nervous looks with Hermione and Ron, _Why would Professor Hunter want us to learn about these curses?_

Pointing to the second curse, Snape once again said it out loud for the class, "_Sforzando_. This curse devours the victim in darkness and painfully drains them of all energy. If the curse is not lifted, the victim will have their life sucked out of them."

"_Conmezzo_," the Potions Master aimed the tip of his wand at the third curse, "This curse is also known as the _Breaking Point Curse_... As you can guess from the curse's name, it breaks every bone in the victim's body. The curse takes time to fully work and the victims usually are able to stop the curse in time."

"_Intercerto_... This curse also has another name, _The Black Death_. It causes the victim's throat to swell until they choke to death."

The class had believed that the Unforgivable Curses were the worst curses out there, but now there were four more they had to watch out for. Chills went down their spines as they listened to Snape go into deeper detail about each of the curses; none of them wanted to hear more about the gruesome curses. Finally, the Potions Master had the Dark Arts class open their books to read about the protective spells they could use against the curses while he went over them aloud.

Slowly nodding off in his seat, Ron leaned forward until his nose touched his opened book on his desk. He couldn't take it any longer, the redhead had spent all of last night playing wizard's chess with Kelsay in the Gryffindor Common Room and he was exhausted. Ron had so gracefully fallen asleep that Hermione and Harry had not noticed that their friend was drooling on his book until it was too late.

Catching Ron asleep in his class brought a cruel smile to Snape's pale face, he silently moved to the front of the redhead's desk and waved his wand over the wet Dark Arts book. The book suddenly slammed shut with his face still in it, making Ron yelp out in panic when he snapped out of his deep sleep because his nose was in immense pain.

"What in the bloody hell!" Ron desperately tugged the closed book off his reddened face to find out who had jinxed his book.

"Maybe if you _paid attention _Mr. Weasley-you wouldn't need to be so _rudely woken _by your _neglected, drooled-on _DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS BOOK!" Snape snapped at the embarrassed Gryffindor boy, "Five points from Gryffindor for Mr. Weasley's disruption in class..."

Rubbing his swollen red nose and shooting dark glares at the Potions Master as the teacher returned to the chalkboard, Ron muttered insults under his breath that only Harry and Hermione could hear. "That's child abuse, that is..."

"Just settle down Ron," Harry advised in a low tone of voice.

"Did you just _say _something Mr. Potter?" Snape sharply turned around with his eyebrows curiously raised at the boy.

Knowing that he was caught no matter what he said to Snape, Harry decided to at least make the comment a good one. "Yes, Professor Snape." Harry waited for Snape to ask him to repeat it out loud for the class to hear. "I was asking Ron where he thinks Professor Hunter is today," he watched his Potions Master stiffen upon hearing the vampire's name.

"Professor Hunter is _ill_," Snape replied hotly just before he turned back around to the chalkboard.

Ron snorted in disgust, "Yeah, probably ill from _snogging_ with _him_ all night long..."

"_Shut-up Ron_!" Hermione secretly punched him in the shoulder to keep him quiet. "You're going to get us in trouble again!"

"_Again_?" Ron said a bit too loud.

- - - - - - -

"Bloody hell-why is it so damn cold in here!" Macnair snarled as he rubbed his shoulders to stay warm. "Did you leave a window open or something?" the Scottish Death Eater shot a dirty look towards the shortest Death Eater standing behind him. When the other wouldn't reply, Macnair turned around, grabbed the short man by the collar and shook him violently. "Answer me you little ass-kisser! You're not any better than the rest of us!" his puffs of warm breath hit the pudgy Death Eater's face.

Peter Pettigrew glared darkly at Macnair, "I did _not _leave a window open Walden!"

"Don't call me by my first name you little sniveling piece of shit," Macnair snapped as he shoved Pettigrew into the wall with a simple push of one hand. With the sniveling fool out of the way, he whipped out his wand before he took one more step inside their secret hideout. "Fuck it's freezing in here," he growled as his eyes moved from side to side.

It was darker than normal, not to mention that it must have been forty degrees colder than when they had left the hideout. The shadows soon began playing tricks on their eyes. Macnair finally ordered Greyback to light his wand so they could see what was in front of them. When a faint green light spilled across the hallway, Macnair spotted wet footprints on the wooden floor.

"Someone is or was in here..." Greyback whispered in a cold voice. "I smell irises in here..." the werewolf cautiously sniffed the air.

"Flowers?" Bellatrix Lestrange shrieked in a high-pitched voice, "Flowers can't survive in this cold!" she exclaimed to Greyback.

Already knowing who had broken into their hideout, Macnair grabbed the rat Animagus and pushed him in front of the rest of them. "Since you're our master's right-hand man... Why don't you show us how to murder an intruder, eh?"

Quivering for a moment, Pettigrew took out his wand to protect himself from whoever was inside their secret hideout. He gingerly followed the fresh boot tracks on the wooden floor to a door that was usually locked because it was the Dark Lord's room. The short Death Eater noticed that the door was slightly cracked open, "They're in there..." Pettigrew hissed between his yellow teeth.

"_Brilliant_ deduction Pettigrew," Macnair mocked with his arms folded smugly across his chest. "Why don't you go _prove_ your theory, eh?" he sneered pleasantly at the rat Animagus.

The coward stood still in front of his mater's now-unlocked room; the Dark Lord had forbidden them to enter the room. His hands trembled as he thought about being cursed by the Dark Lord for entering, but then he thought about his master praising him for capturing the intruder single-handedly. Puffing his chest out and creating enough fake courage, Pettigrew pushed the door quickly open and stepped back.

When nothing happened, Macnair nudged Pettigrew into the dark room with the tip of his boot. "Go inside you _miserable _coward," the Scottish Death Eater snarled. "Piss yourself just because it's _dark_ in the room-" he grumbled sourly. As he watched Pettigrew nervously edge his way into the Dark Lord's room, Macnair silently prayed that Pettigrew would get brutally killed.

Macnair poked his head into the room after the pudgy Death Eater finally decided to enter thanks to Macnair's taunting. Just as Macnair spotted glowing red eyes in the very back of the room, a shiny object flew past him and hit Pettigrew squarely in the right shoulder.

Wailing, Pettigrew desperately tried to pull the dagger, which was embedded deep in his shoulder, out. While the rat Animagus was screaming at the top of his lungs, Macnair was secretly smirking about the entire thing.

Soon the other Death Eaters bursted into the room with their wands at the ready but Macnair stood in front of them so they wouldn't attack. "What brings you here lass?" Macnair stuck his frozen hands into his robe pockets.

The vampire smiled viciously as she played with another dagger in her pallid hands, "I thought I might come to _play_ for a while..." Hunter whispered in a cold voice.

Finally pulling the dagger out of his shoulder, Pettigrew aimed his wand at her. "You're a _traitor-_" he spat at her, "You should not be here!" The short Death Eater glared darkly at his worst enemy. "How did you even find this place?"

"I showed her of course," Lucius stepped out of his hiding place from behind the wooden door. The pure-blood walked over to Hunter's side; she was leaning back in a leather chair with her muddy boots on Voldemort's spotless desk; "The Dark Lord instructed me to do so..." he hissed in a soft voice.

"_Lier_!" Pettigrew snarled.

Standing up from the Dark Lord's chair, Hunter stared Pettigrew and the rest of the Death Eaters down for a moment. "Your master invited me to your little _hideout_...It was a little too warm for my tastes though," she added with a sneer.

"_She lies_!" the rat Animagus tried to convince the other Death Eaters hiding behind him.

The other Death Eaters didn't know who they could trust-Macnair was clearly pleased to have the vampire back on their team and Pettigrew wanted to thrust a wooden steak in her heart. But before they could make up their minds, Pettigrew tried to curse Hunter but she was already a few steps ahead of him.

Instantly disappearing in the darkness, Hunter reappeared just inches in front of Pettigrew with her red eyes glowing. Snatching him by the throat and pressing her spare blade into his thick neck, the vampire's crimson eyes gleamed as she watched him struggle for his life. "If I had _lied_, _Pettigrew_, I would have already carved out your skull and given it to your mother as a vase..." she hissed in an emotionless voice while the coward violently shook in her hands.

"I'd like to see that, actually," snapped a cold voice from the hallway. Everyone recognized the voice and immediately stepped out of the doorway to allow their master to enter his room. As the Dark Lord silently walked into the dark room, his followers bowed their heads to show their deep respect for him; all except for Hunter and Pettigrew. "Put him down Avalon," Voldemort ordered in a harsh voice when he noticed that the vampire had his right-hand Death Eater pinned to the dusty wall.

Slamming the back of his head into the wall just before she released him from her deadly clutches, Hunter gave him a bloodthirsty look as she slowly pulled her blade away from his fat neck. "_You're lucky he showed up, Pettigrew_," the vampire hissed, "_Next time you won't be_..." she added in a cold voice.

"I believe that most of you remember Avalon Hunter," Voldemort's red eyes flickered when he said the vampire's name. "From now on, she is welcome here-"

"_B-but my Lord_!" Pettigrew interjected with a desperate look in his beady eyes. _Am I the only one who doesn't trust her_!

Voldemort narrowed his crimson-hued eyes into tiny slits in Pettigrew's direction, "SILENCE PETTIGREW!" His pale lips curled into a vicious smile when Pettigrew began cowering in fear. "As I was saying..." the Dark Lord spat, "You will listen to her until I return back from Scotland-she is in command during my absence," he chose to ignore Pettigrew's horrified stutter, "Is that clear?"

"But my Lord," Bellatrix hissed in an uncertain tone of voice, "Surely you don't _trust_ her enough to...?" Her hopeful dark eyes lowered to the floor when her beloved master just nodded curtly in reply.

Slyly glancing over her shoulder while Voldemort's Death Eaters tried to persuade their master to change his mind, Hunter spotted Macnair's bright grin and Lucius' thumbs-up signal. Their plan was working...so far at least.

- - - - - -

Skidding across the wet kitchen floor, Quinn was busily whipping frosting in a metal bowl and trying to ignore the house elves' cries for help. "Oh pipe down!" the young blonde vampire snarled at the ten house elves; who were all petrified from the neck down; "Give me twenty more minutes to finish baking this bloody birthday cake!"

"Dobbey thinks vampires don't have birthdays," one stubborn house elf grumbled loudly to himself. "Especially such _nasty_ ones," the other nine house elves laughed at Dobbey's insult.

"Well," Quinn stopped whipping for a moment to glare at the house elf, "Quinn thinks house elves would make a _delightful_ _snack_ for Quinn's hungry pet..." A faint smirk spread across his face when the petrified elves gasped with fear after Brooklyn had snarled at them. "Do you want to start with the rudest house elf, Brooklyn, while I finish up this cake?" Quinn secretly winked to the gytrash; Brooklyn wagged his snow white tail and licked his fangs in reply.

The kitchen doors swung open, "Blood and flames Quinn!" Hunter narrowed her eyes at her brother when she spotted the ten house elves lying petrified all over the kitchen floor. "_What is this_?" she pointed at the closest frozen elf.

"I don't see anything," Quinn hummed to himself as he continued to whip the cream-colored frosting.

Bending down, Hunter picked one of the stiff house elves off the kitchen floor to shove the magical being right under her brother's nose. "This _isn't _what I told you to do! _I_ told _you _to make a _mess_ in the _dining hall _so they would have to _leave _the _kitchen_ to _clean it up_ and then you could _sneak in_. I definitely did not tell you to go on a bloody petrifying-spree here!"

"Dobbey thinks vampires are the stupidest magical creatures-" the house elf started to spat in Quinn's face but Hunter snapped her fingers to silence him up.

Raising an eyebrow at him, Hunter finally let a long sigh out. "Alright-I'll admit...they can be pretty damn annoying..." she placed Dobbey in front of Brooklyn's drooling mouth just to get revenge on the house elf. "Just make sure you erase their minds before you leave," Hunter winked to her younger brother.

"How were the private lessons with Potter today?" Quinn asked as he went over to the oven to check on his rising cake. "Is he any better at curses yet?"

Hunter snorted, "I think allowing Severus to teach my class about curses was not the greatest thing for me to do. Potter seemed terrified to try out the curses today...poor boy. He managed to strangle a bluebird though," she ignored all of the house elves' gasps. "How much longer with the cake, dear brother?"

"DON'T RUSH AN ARTIST!" Quinn snapped as he sharply straightened up to give her a dark glare, "It's not funny..." he mumbled when she was trying to hold back her laughter.

"You look _so cute_ when you're angry though," she teased him like an older sibling should do.

"I'll _petrify_ you if you're not careful," the blonde vampire tipped his puffy, white chef hat to the side.

She teased him even more, "_Oh_, _I'm so scared_ _of a vampire wearing a hat that looks like a cream-puff_!"

"Sausage-breath," Quinn muttered stubbornly when he couldn't think of any else to say. Leaning over to see how the cake was in the oven window, the young vampire handed his bowl of frosting to his sister. "I think it's done..." he didn't use any mittens to pull out the cake, "Pour the frosting over this."

Carefully, Hunter covered the golden cake with the frosting and began changing the color of the frosting so it read "Happy Birthday Severus." She took the frosted, multi-colored cake from her brother's hands once it was finally decorated, "Thank you," Hunter gave Quinn a quick peck on the cheek.

"Anything for you sister," he sighed as he scratched his head and glanced down at the nine petrified house elves on the kitchen floor. "You have everything?" Quinn called just as the kitchen doors shut behind her. Folding his arms across his chest, he raised a questionable eyebrow at Brooklyn, "Now...what shall we do with these fellows?"

Hunter rushed downstairs to the Dungeons to beat Snape to his private chambers; she had asked Draco Malfoy to keep the Potions Master busy while she got everything ready for his birthday. Luckily, she had five minutes to add the final touches before he entered his private chambers.

Just when he thought that everyone had forgotten his birthday, the depressed Potions Master lost the rain cloud over his head when he saw Hunter standing in front of him with a frosted birthday cake with his name on it. Snape smiled at the Dark Arts professor when he had seen all of the trouble she had gone through to make sure he would have a surprise birthday.

"Happy Birthday Severus," she whispered after he blew out the candles on his cake. Before he could say anything, Hunter placed the cake on the small desk next to his bookcase and then handed him a small black box out of her robe pocket. "This is for you..."

Opening the box, Snape was shocked to find a glittering talisman made out of a massive diamond, several rubies, bronze, silver, and gold. "Avalon-" he didn't want to accept anything this valuable when he knew that she was hurting for money, "I can't-"

"My father gave me this talisman," Hunter lifted the priceless heirloom out of the box and fixed the golden chain so he could wear it. "This will protect you from what lurks in the darkness," she clasped the golden chain around his neck. "I want you to have it..." the vampire placed her frozen fingers on his lips when he opened his mouth to speak.

Frowning at her for moment since he would not be able to have his say in this matter, Snape finally stuck the beautiful talisman underneath his black shirt. "Thank you," he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the lips, "But I'd rather have you for my birthday..."

The loving look Snape was giving Hunter made her heart break. Lifting her head, the vampire smiled weakly at him, "I love you..." _More than you'll ever know_...


	17. The Curse

"Continuing from where Professor Snape left off last week," Hunter said in a monotonous voice once her students had taken their seats, "Can someone please remind the class what the four curses that Professor Snape taught you are?" The vampire glanced over at Hermione to see if she had her arm waving madly in the air like it usually was, but this time the bright witch was deadly silent. "Mr. Potter," Hunter called on her favorite student; she at least knew that he had been practicing the curses with her yesterday; "Care to answer the question?"

Standing up, Harry cleared his voice so everyone could clearly hear his answer. "Crescendo...Sforzando...Conmezzo...and Intercerto..." The seventh-year Gryffindor grew pale when he noticed that Hunter had pulled a minuscule pebble out of her robe pocket; she was going to have him demonstrate the curses in front of the class. Yesterday, Harry vomited several times after watching what the Crescendo spell had done to the poor mouse he had conjured. He knew that the majority of the class would not be able to stand hearing the torment let alone watch it.

"Very good, now for a demonstration if you wouldn't mind Mr. Potter," Hunter could hear several of the students' hearts miss a beat. "I would advise conjuring buckets if most of you don't have strong stomachs," the vampire said loudly as Harry walked to the front of the classroom and stood to the right of her.

Handing him the pebble, she told him to transfigure it into a harmless mouse. This task was simple since Harry had spent all of yesterday morning transfiguring pebbles in mice and then changing them back into pebbles once he had successfully cursed them to death. He gave his Dark Arts professor a worried expression after he had a black mouse squeaking madly in his hands but she just gave him a nod of approval.

After he temporarily confused the mouse, which was the least Harry could do for the poor creature, Harry placed the dazed rodent in front of his feet. Everyone in the classroom crowded to the front row to see the nasty effects of the new curses. Pulling out his wand, Harry focused on the only thing that made his blood boil-Peter Pettigrew. Once his pure hatred for Pettigrew had taken over, he aimed it at the defenseless black mouse and yelled out the first curse. "CRESCENDO!"

Suddenly, the rodent came out of its daze and began screeching at the top of its tiny lungs. It began running in circles shaking its head madly as if a tick had crawled into its ear. Then the black mouse quickly jerked its head from side to side, as if it was trying to knock something out of its ears, until blood began dripping out of the rodent's pink ears. With one final cry, the mouse fell on its side dead with blood still pouring out of its ears and nose.

"That is exactly what will happen if your attacker uses the Crescendo Curse long enough on you..." Hunter kept her voice emotionless as she examined the facial expressions of her students. "Just like a Banshee's cry-your eardrums will burst and your brain will finally explode from all of the violent vibrations."

Ron's face was bright green, "I think I'm going to be sick..." he swallowed loudly to stop his stomach fluids from moving up his throat any further.

Glancing back Harry, Hunter gave him another nod of approval to move along to the next curse. He quickly changed the dead mouse back into a lifeless pebble and then back into a rodent, this time it had brown fur. Temporarily stunning the poor creature once again, Harry kept eye-contact as he said the second curse, "Sforzando!"

This time the mouse released one small squeak and lazily glanced around as if something had just pricked its back. Sitting on the stone floor, the rodent sniffed the air and warily eyed the students who were watching it with wide eyes. At first, none of the students noticed any change with the brown mouse, but soon they could see that it was losing weight; it got to its feet when it realized that something was wrong. Its barely palpable ribs were now sticking several centimeters farther out than normal and its brown skin was beginning to sag to the ground. The mouse was just skin and bones when it finally collapsed. After it had all of the life sucked out of the mouse, its remains turned into a small pile of dust.

"Now you know what Dementors do to their prisoners in Azkaban-suck the life out of them until they are nothing but dust..." Hunter sighed sadly when she thought of that dreadful place; facing Dementors was her second worse fear. The vampire handed Harry a new pebble since it was a bit harder restoring dust back into a living object.

Doing exactly what the Dark Arts professor had taught him, Harry aimed his wand at the grey mouse and yelled out the next curse. "CONMEZZO!" The seventh-year boy twitched slightly whenever he heard the mouse scream in pain.

Starting from the tail of the mouse, every bone in its body was slowly snapped into pieces. Once its back legs were completely broken, the grey mouse began using its front feet and clawing its way across the stone floor to get away. The mouse continued to scream until the final break was made in its neck. Its dead body laid withered and distorted in front of the sickened students.

"If you manage to get away or break the eye-contact of your attacker, this curse will immediately stop. But if you're stunned or petrified first..." Hunter let her voice trail off to prove her point that the curse was still deadly.

Quickly changing the crippled mouse's body back into a pebble, Harry made the final transfiguration spell for the last curse. This time Harry changed the pebble into a fat brown rat. It was the only way he could perform the curse-it had to look exactly like Pettigrew. "Intercerto!"

At first, the rat started to make a sniffling sound as if it had a common cold. The sniffling grew louder until the rat began coughing as if it was having trouble getting air. Soon, the large rodent was rolling on its back vigorously scratching its neck as it struggled to breathe. Even though it had managed to dig a hole through the side of its throat, the rodent still choked to death. All of the students screamed when the rat's eyeballs popped out of its eye sockets in its final seconds.

"I don't think any of you want me to explain," Hunter solemnly glanced over at Harry to see that he was green like the rest of his fellow students. She could never fully watch this curse-it brought back too many horrible memories.

There was a sudden loud thump from the back of the group of students. "Professor-" Hermione was desperately trying not to vomit, or at least not be the first to do so, in front of everyone.

Hunter sighed, "Mr. Longbottom fainted," she finished for the bright witch as if she had been expecting this to happen all along. "Thank you Mr. Potter," she lightly placed her frozen hand on his shoulder with a sad expression on her face. "You are all excused to the bathrooms," the vampire waved her hand at her students.

While the students rushed out of the classroom, Hunter went to her desk to grab a potion that would wake up Neville. The vampire leaned over the plump Gryffindor and carefully placed the lid of the potion underneath his nose so he could get a good whiff of it. When he snorted himself awake, Hunter helped him back up to his feet and told him to go to the bathroom if he needed to.

Carefully placing the lid back on the potion, Hunter didn't notice that Harry was still standing in the same spot with an unhappy expression. "Why do you always look away whenever I use the Intercerto Curse and not the others Professor Hunter?" Harry finally asked what he had been meaning to ask yesterday morning.

Sighing loudly, Hunter went back to her desk to place the potion back in its proper place. "Do you really want to know Mr. Potter?" she asked him once she had decided to tell him the truth if he wanted to know so badly. It took a lot of guts for a student to ask their teacher such a personal question.

Harry nodded in silence when he realized that there was a greater answer to his question than what he had thought.

"Someone used the Intercerto Curse on my foster father. I was forced to watch him slowly and painfully choke to death..." she subconsciously rubbed her neck as she thought about her past. "You may see a harmless rat choking in your mind but I see my foster father's white face whenever you use the Intercerto Curse." Hunter awkwardly glanced down at the stone floor with her black eyes focused on her black boots.

Knowing that he shouldn't have asked such a personal question, Harry bit his lip to make sure that he would keep his mouth shut for the remainder of class. But there was one more question that was still lingering on in the back of his mind.

"_Peter Pettigrew_," Hunter whispered in a soft voice to break the awkward silence between them, "was the one who killed my foster father." The way she had said the rat Animagus' name reminded Harry of how Lupin and Sirius would always speak of Pettigrew. They had always said Pettigrew's name as if it was dripping acid on their tongues. "I would appreciate it if you didn't tell that to your friends..." the vampire lifted her head slightly to see his face when she could hear his heart beating a little bit faster.

The seventh-year Gryffindor curtly nodded in his Dark Arts teacher's direction just when the students came wandering back into the classroom from the bathrooms. "I promise I won't tell a soul, Professor Hunter," Harry swore to her without moving his lips. Now Harry knew the hidden connection that Lupin and Hagrid had been speaking of so long ago. Their families had been betrayed and murdered by Peter Pettigrew...and they both wanted revenge on the coward.

- - - - - -

"Come along-I've got a special treat fer ya taday!" Hagrid boomed loudly as he ushered his Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students to the Quidditch Stadium stands. "Take a seat in the top three rows if ya wouldn't mind," he told his Care of Magical Creatures class once they were in the stands.

Taking a seat on the third to last row of the Quidditch stands, the golden trio exchange befuddled expressions as they stared at what was in the middle of the Quidditch field. "It looks like just a huge pile of snow if you ask me," Ron muttered hotly as he wrapped his hand-made scarf tighter around his dragon egg. "Hey-who is _that _guy?" the redhead nudged his friends and pointed to a young man who was standing in front of a huge mountain of snow in the center of the field.

"I dunno," Harry shrugged his shoulders as he squinted his eyes to get a better look at the man. He was wearing an aviator cap with goggles on top of his bright blonde hair and seemed to be whistling to himself as he waited for everyone to take a seat.

Once everyone was sitting, Hagrid waved his massive hand from the back of the Quidditch stand to signal the young man on the field to begin with whatever he was suppose to do. "Now none of ya be scared...this creature is completely harmless! It won't bite ya unless ya provoke it ta," the half-giant told his students after he was done waving.

Ron leaned over to Harry and Hermione, "Where have I heard that one before?" he snickered lightly to himself.

Nervously glancing over his shoulder at the mountain of snow behind him, the strange-looking man pulled out his wand and tapped its tip on the back of his shoe to send a few sparks into the air behind him. Then he took the tip of his wand and pressed it against his pale throat so everyone would be able to hear him speak. "Oy!" he yelled at the top of his lungs so he could grab everyone's full attention, "My name is Qu-uilic!"

"Forgot his own name, did he?" Ron jeered quietly with his friends.

Hermione shot him a dirty look, "Leave him alone Ron," she snapped bitterly at him. "It's quite obvious that he's a bit nervous..." she fell silent when Quilic began speaking again.

The redhead went wide-eyed, "You fancy him, don't you Hermione!" he finally realized why she was being so over-protective for the young man.

"I work for the Ministry of Magic in the Raids Department," Quilic took his goggles off his face so they would hang around his neck. "I am also a certified Scotland dragon breeder," Quilic glanced behind him once again at the huge mountain of snow. Taking his wand off his throat for a moment, Quilic whistled at the top of his lungs.

For some reason, the way the dragon breeder had whistled made something click in the back of Harry's mind. _That sounds so familiar_... But before Harry could think more about the perplexing matter, the mountain of snow in the middle of the Quidditch field began trembling.

Shaking the sparkling snow off its black body, a large Hungarian Horntail dragon appeared out of the mountain of snow behind the dragon breeder. First stretching out its black, leathery wings, the dragon then yawned loudly as if it had been asleep while it was hiding in the snow. The magical creature was magnificent with its glistening black scales, undamaged leather wings, and perfectly-shaped horns and spikes. Growling softly, the Hungarian Horntail dragon stood obediently behind Quilic with its royal purple eyes fixed on him.

"This is Cyrilla," Quilic seemed perfectly at ease now with the dragon breathing down his neck. "She's a twenty-two year old Hungarian Horntail," he held onto his aviator hat with his free hand. "Pretty much she is a teenager..." the dragon snorted as if it was disgusted with the comment he had just made. "Professor Hagrid told me that you were all rasing dragon eggs and I thought you might want to meet one up close before your eggs hatch and all..." Quilic took his wand away from his throat again for a second and muttered something to the dragon, "When your eggs hatch, the first thing you have to have on hand is food. Just like any good parent, you'll have to provide food for your hatchling until it is a week old. Then you'll have to teach your baby dragon how to hunt for its own food."

For the first time in his entire life, Ron raised his hand to ask a question about his dragon hatchling. "By teaching our dragons how to hunt, you mean by providing _live _food like a chicken or something?"

"Small bluebirds would be a good choice for the first week actually," the dragon breeder answered in a soft voice. "Then, probably the hardest part about raising dragons, you will need to teach them how to fly."

This statement caused some whispers between the students, "Teach them how to fly...?" Neville Longbottom swallowed loudly as he thought about his previous experiences with flying on a broomstick.

"I believe most of you know how to ride a broomstick..." Quilic ignored Neville's frightened comment, "If not, you'll just have to learn with your hatchling!" The young dragon breeder turned around and pointed his index finger down towards the ground.

Obediently, the Hungarian Horntail dragon lowered its head and opened its mouth wide in front of its breeder. Quilic's head was about half the size of the dragon's opened mouth as he leaned forward to take a look at something.

Conjuring two dragon-hide gloves, he turned back to the class to tell them more about raising hatchlings. "Dragons are able to breathe fire the moment they hatch," Quilic quickly put the protective gloves on. "Since they are just like all hatchlings, dragons won't have complete control of their fire-breathing abilities for several days. You will need to wear dragon-hide gloves around your dragon until you are certain they can control their abilities, otherwise you'll be sent to the Hospital Wing with multiple burns on your hands. Another thing to watch out for is that dragon hatchlings _love _to chew on things, including the ones who are rasing them." He turned around the placed his protected hands on the dragon's sharp white teeth, "Of course, you don't need me to remind you that dragon's teeth can tear through your flesh like tissue-paper if they really were provoked to do so."

Harry smirked, "He's very optimistic, isn't he?" he noticed that Ron was smirking also but Hermione was stubbornly ignoring them both.

"The main thing to watch out for is this tiny thimble on the roof of the dragon's mouth," Quilic pointed to the pink thimble. Taking a deep breath, the young dragon breeder touched the thimble and suddenly jumped back away from the dragon's mouth. Shaking his head for a moment to regain his senses, he explained what had just happened. "This thimble has electricity running through it," he took his aviator cap off to get rid of the static that was still in his blonde hair.

Hermione's hand shot up in the air this time to ask the dragon breeder a question. "Why does the dragon have an electric thimble on the roof of its mouth?"

"Wonderful question!" Quilic took a few steps back from the dragon's opened mouth and moved to the magical creature's side. "The main reason dragons are able to fly is that they are able to produce helium inside of them thanks to a few chemical reactions in their stomachs. If the dragon expels helium from it's stomach, the gas will pass the electric thimble on the roof of the dragon's mouth. This electricity causes the helium to turn into flames, thus creating dragon fire!"

The moment he finished explaining the purpose of the electrical thimble, the dragon made a demonstration with the dragon fire. All of the students were amazed, it was if the dragon actually understood everything the dragon breeder was talking about.

When Care of Magical Creatures class was over with, the students gathered down at the Quidditch field to see the Hungarian Horntail dragon up close. The dragon behaved well around the students and didn't make a sound as the students awed at the magnificent beast. While the boys got a better look at the dragon, the girls in Care of Magical Creatures class swarmed around the young dragon breeder and bombarded him with questions about himself.

"What's your last name?" Lavender Brown was asking Quilic the most questions out of the gaggle of girls.

"Sweethart," Quilic coughed as he tried to step back from the girls who were slowly encircling him. He loved the attention but not this much.

All of the girls squealed when he told them his last name, "He certainly does _look_ like a _sweetheart_, doesn't he?" Mandy Brocklehurst whispered quietly to the other three girls.

Five minutes later, after everyone had gone, the young dragon breeder let a long pathetic sigh out and leaned against the dragon's plated chest. "These girls just can't get enough of me..." he made his aviator goggles and cap disappear out of thin air and scratched the back of his blonde head. "At least the lesson went well, right dear sister?" Quinn lifted his head to see his sister's royal purple eyes glowing softly in his direction. "Yeah, you're right...Dad would have been proud... Maybe I'll become a breeder like him when I get older," he lightly patted the Hungarian Horntail dragon on her shoulder as he said this.

- - - - - - -

Wrapping Snape's scarf tighter around her pallid throat, Hunter carefully looked around the empty streets for any signs of spies. She stood next to the flickering lamp post waiting where she had met him before; at least this time it wasn't snowing. Nervously biting her thumb for a moment, the vampire wondered where her old master could be. Voldemort was never late-nor did he tolerate his followers being late either.

Hunter momentarily glanced away from the bus bench to watch the Muggles' house lights turn off. She was now completely alone in the dark. "_Where are you_?" the vampire whispered softly when she could smell the stench of death in the cold air.

Baring his teeth, Brooklyn snarled viciously when his highly-sensitive ears heard movements in the shadows from across the street in the bushes. He crouched closer to the ground when he saw his master tighten her grip around her wand.

"_Did you bring it_?" hissed an emotionless voice.

The vampire looked back over to the empty bus bench to find the Dark Lord sitting there with his red eyes glowing in the darkness. Hunter patted Brooklyn on the head to allay the doubts of her faithful pet gytrash, "It's alright..." she whispered softly to her pet.

It was obvious that the Dark Lord was not in the mood for pleasantries tonight, something must have gone wrong. "_Did you bring it_?" Voldemort snapped once again in a darker voice this time.

Showing a crooked smile on her lips, the vampire tipped her head in respect to her old master before she spoke. "You see-I-I had some problems with getting it-" Hunter started in an apologetic tone of voice.

"_What do you mean by some problems_!" Voldemort spat the words out like they were venom.

"Dumbledore has it now, my Lord," Hunter slowly took a step back as she said this. She somehow knew that her failure in retrieving the item that he desired would result with a terrible consequence. "I couldn't get my hands on it after it was in the possession of the headmaster... He has too many protective spells on-"

Voldemort stood up from his seat, "_I thought I told you to get the Marauder's Map no matter the consequences_!" Before his apprentice could explain any further, he pointed his wand at her and used the Intercerto Curse on her. "_Maybe you will take me seriously the next time I ask you to steal for me_!" he snarled at her as he watched her slowly choke to death.

The second the Dark Lord cursed his beloved master, Brooklyn's snow white hair stood on end and he began snarling. Brooklyn attacked Voldemort to save and protect his master for the last time. Tightly griping onto Voldemort's arm with his sharp teeth, the gytrash managed to break the Dark Lord's eye contact with Hunter.

She coughed and gasped for air when the curse was lifted from her. "_Bro-_" Hunter tried to get up on her feet to save her loyal spectral hound but she was too late. Instantly, her black eyes changed to white hue when a bright yellow flash struck Brooklyn directly in the chest. She watched with horror as the gytrash burned away into ashes; his remains floated down by Voldemort's feet.

"_I want the Marauder's Map by next week_-_otherwise I will do THIS to_ _Snape_ _instead_!" Voldemort spit at the pile of ashes next to his feet before he turned away and disappeared into the darkness.

Falling to her knees, Hunter lowered her head in sorrow to mourn the death of her faithful pet. She could barely breathe; her heart was racing twelve times faster than its normal speed. Blood tears rolled down her checks from the corners of her eyes, _Brooklyn_... the vampire reached out to touch his pile of ashes.

Hunter grabbed a handful of his ashes and held it tightly in her fist for a minute. She loosened her grip and opened the palm of her hand to find a flat black stone shaped like a wolf made from her pet's ashes. This was all she had left of him now.

Knowing better not to stay too long in front of the darkened Muggle homes, the vampire tried to push herself back up to her feet. The moment she did, there was a terrible pain in her chest as if someone was driving a steak through her heart. She leaned against the flickering lamp post when she suddenly felt weaker than before, _What's wrong with me_?

Her breath fell short and she began to cough again; she was about ready to pass out. Covering her mouth with her free hand to muffle the sound of her coughs, Hunter felt something wet on her hands. Once she thought she was done coughing, the vampire lowered her hand from her mouth to see something she did not want to see. Her warm blood was all over her hand.

_I'm bleeding from the inside_...Hunter frozen hands were trembling from fear when she finally knew what was going on. Voldemort had placed a curse on her so she would have to drink blood every single day to remain alive. He was doing this to make her thirst get the better of her-so he would have his cold-hearted apprentice back in business again. There wouldn't be a way to lift the curse, only the Dark Lord would know and Hunter was sure that he wasn't about to do that either. _He's winning now_... she glanced back at the blood dripping off her hand.

* * *

**Notes: **This chapter is really bloody...don't ask how I came up with some of this stuff. I actually wrote this chapter _after _I watched _Who's Line Is It Anyway_? Hehehe. I would like to take this time to thank my reviews, especially since there are more than two now! squeals I should bake cookies for all of you guys...hmmm.

**Lady Hexa Knight** - Thanks for always reading my stuff and helping me with some ideas hun. Hope you feel better. P.S. You're such a little computer sneek!

**Zigmagesto - **Thank you for taking up some of your time to explain the whole Dracula story to me! I didn't know you were from Romania! That's pretty sweet especially since you write wonderful vampire stories and the whole myth about Dracula comes from your country. (I ENVY YOU!) Thank again though, and I promise to read the newest chapter to your vampire story. Just been a bit busy with everything, ugh.

**Snarkastic - **Thank you for your review! I know I don't have many reviewers. It's probably becuase the start of my story is so terrible. I'll probably re-write it. Thank you again!

**Nefariousfixation - **Yup, vampires are interesting characters alright! Thank you for reviewing! It means a lot to me since I don't have that many.


	18. Trouble

Stumbling across the crowded Muggle street, Hunter kept her head lowered so no one would be able to see her glowing red eyes. The vampire's hands were still covered in blood and they were shaking as if she barely had any energy left. She was starving to death, she needed to feed soon...and the Muggles were beginning to look very promising to quench her thirst. Trying to keep her face hidden from everyone, Hunter crossed the road without looking for any incoming cars or buses.

The terrible pain shot through her chest again, causing her to stop in the middle of the street. Hunter only lifted her head when she heard a horn honking several feet away from where she was crossing the road. Something triggered in the back of her mind, as if her inhuman senses were taking over now. With only a few seconds to react, the vampire stuck out her hand in front of her as if she was going to try and stop the oncoming car.

While the Muggles were screaming at what they thought would be a bloody car crash scene, one figure was just walking out of the local grocery store with a bagful of goods in his arms. He glanced at all of the Muggles, who were dialing emergency numbers on their cell phones, with a puzzled expression. "What's going on?" When one of the Muggles pointed at the road, he spotted a dark figure standing perfectly still in front of a car that was completely totaled.

The driver of the wrecked car kicked his door open and fell out face-first onto the paved road. Luckily, the Muggle driver only had a few cuts and scratches on him. "What the fuck is going on here!" he coughed as he climbed back to his feet to see what he had exactly hit. The Muggle couldn't understand how anyone could survive that wreck at the speed he was going.

His eyes widened with fear when he saw Hunter's glowing blood-soaked eyes staring him down. "How the fuck-? You shouldn't be alive!" the Muggle panicked and began to back away from his ruined car when he realized that something was terribly wrong with this picture. "_What the fuck are you_!"

She could have left the scene without anyone finding out who she really was, but there was something holding her back. Hunter could smell fresh blood on the Muggle driver; it was slowly dripping out of his broken nose. _He's weak_...something flickered in her eyes just before she attacked the human.

Disappearing into the darkness for a split second, Hunter reappeared just inches in front of the Muggle's horrified face. Before he could get away, she snatched him by the neck with inhuman speed. Hunter's blood-covered fangs shined in the moonlight as she watched the blood trickle down the Muggle's forehead. "I promise this will only hurt for a second-" she hissed in a cold voice as her fangs grew several inches.

Pushing past the frightened Muggles, who were now running for safety in the local stores and their cars, the puzzled man cautiously approached the vampire from behind. As he slowly took one step at a time, he pulled an orange out of his grocery bag to hit Hunter with if he was lucky enough to surprise her. _Please let this work_...

"_Please_..." the Muggle could see that a man was desperately trying to rescue him from death.

Hunter narrowed her crimson eyes at her victim for a moment in confusion, _Is he begging for his life_? Shaking her head at the sympathetic thought, she knew that she needed to feed or she would die soon. She placed both of her hands on his throat and just about to snap his neck in half when something hard knocked her in the back of the head. "_What_!" Dropping her meal onto the paved road, Hunter reached for her knife to kill whoever was hitting her. The Muggle driver scurried away while Hunter was occupied with his orange-throwing hero.

Hastily turning around to see who was disturbing her perfectly good meal, another orange smacked her directly in the face. She froze with her knife pressed against the brave man's scared throat; her crimson eyes were locked onto his soft hazel eyes. _I know you_... The vampire stood her ground with an emotionless face as she searched the werewolf's eyes to figure out his intentions.

_I won't harm you Avalon_... Lupin could see blood dripping out of her mouth, but he knew that it was hers and not the driver's. _You are not safe here_, the werewolf kept eye contact with her the entire time. If he broke eye contact, she might return to her decision of slitting his throat. _We need to go_..._Trust me_.

For a moment it seemed like Hunter wasn't going to believe her old friend, she narrowed her eyes at him in hatred. "I would have _killed_ you _Remus_," her eyes quickly changed to an electric blue hue as she pulled her blade away from his throat.

Lupin sighed with relief, "You had me worried there for a second..." he spotted the blood dripping from her hands. "_What happened to you_?" the werewolf was extremely worried about her now.

As if she didn't hear his question, Hunter rubbed her chest and closed her eyes for a moment. The pain was slowly coming back again and so was the strong hunger for blood. "_I'm so tired_ _Remus_..." Hunter suddenly fell forward without any warning, unconscious.

Dropping his bag of groceries, Lupin caught her in his arms before she touched the ground all the way. "I'll get you home," he whispered as he heard the police sirens off in the distance. Not really caring who saw them, Lupin apparated out of the suddenly empty street with the wounded vampire in his arms.

- - - - - -

"She's coming around now," whispered a soft voice which sounded like a million miles away from wherever Hunter was.

Cracking her eyes open, Hunter could see several faces peering down at her with curious expressions. The vampire smiled weakly when she recognized Lupin's worried face and Mrs. Weasley's reddened face.

"We'll leave you two for a while then," Mrs. Weasley signaled for two other blurry figures to follow her back downstairs to the kitchen. Hunter could recognize her because the redheaded mother always wears an overload of makeup and her blush almost matches her brick-colored hair. Mrs. Weasley was a perfect match for her husband; she was cheery, outspoken, outgoing, stubborn, and always right. She had a cute laugh whenever she giggled at her husband's jokes about his raid stories. Besides being a cheery mother, she had a very serious side and she would turn to ice whenever something horrible happened.

Once it was just her and Lupin, Hunter tried to sit up but Lupin lightly pushed her back down. "You need to rest..." he whispered sweetly to her. "Do you feel any better?"

"I feel like I was struck with a-"

"Car?" Lupin interjected with his eyebrows raised at her.

"I was going to say oranges..." she watched Lupin's stiff upper lip slightly curl into a smirk. Rubbing her eyes for a moment, she tried to think back to what had exactly happened. "Did I kill anyone?" Hunter groaned when she could still feel a pain in her chest; at least it wasn't as bad as it had been.

"I stopped you before you could," Lupin handed her a stunned chocolate frog. "This should give you some energy..."

"I can't believe an orange stopped me from killing," she muttered bitterly to herself as she took a bite of the chocolate frog. "I must have been pretty weak..." Though she would never admit it, Hunter was relieved that Lupin was the one who found her and not one of her many enemies.

Lupin smirked, "At least you haven't lost your sense of humor..." he commented as he handed her a golden goblet. "You lost a lot of blood though," the werewolf said in a concerned voice. He could see her electric blue eyes light up with joy when she caught sight of what was in the goblet.

Swallowing all of the blood in the golden goblet in a matter of seconds, Hunter could feel the pain in her chest slowly subside. She handed him the empty goblet back and wiped the blood away from her lips with the back of her hand. _Here they come_... Hunter thought when she knew that Lupin was slowly building up to ask her what had exactly happened.

"I thought you had enough vampire blood in your system to prevent diseases from affecting you..." he set the goblet down by his feet.

_Good old doctor Remus_... Hunter smiled weakly at him, she looked away from his hazel eyes for a few minutes. "It's not a disease Remus..." finally glancing over at him, she could see a tear falling out of the corner of his eye-he had known the truth all along. Biting her lip, Hunter knew that she could trust Lupin with anything; he would take her secrets to the grave with him. "Why do you think Dumbledore hired me to work at Hogwarts?"

"Because you know more curses than Snape, you have a wonderful personality, you needed the work..." Lupin fell silent for a moment when he realized what she was talking about. "You're a spy now, aren't you?"

Nodding, Hunter ate the rest of her chocolate frog to avoid the awkward silent moments. "I'm Potter's hired guardian, I have to protect him at all costs..." she whispered quietly. "I have to protect him from Voldemort."

As Lupin watched Hunter devour her chocolate frog, he broke the silence after he finally understood what was going on now. "I thought you hated wolves," Lupin noticed the puzzled look in her electric blue eyes; changing the subject was the best thing to do. "I found this in one of your pockets," he showed her the black stone carved in the image of a wolf.

"_Brooklyn_..." Hunter hastily snatched the precious stone from his hands, "It's his remains..." she humbly held the stone close to her heart as she thought about her loyal pet gytrash.

She didn't need to say anything else, Lupin fully understood what had happened now. It was obvious that Hunter had angered Voldemort and he had punished her.

"I want you to stay here for the remainder of the day and rest. I have already spoken with Dumbledore, he said he would clear up everything with the Ministry... Thankfully no one got a good look at you." Gathering his courage, Lupin finally asked what he had been meaning to ask her since she fell into his arms last night. "How long do you have?"

At first she avoided his question entirely, but then ended up breaking under the pressure thanks to the tears rolling down his cheeks. Hunter pulled away from his worried hazel-colored eyes; it was too much for her, she didn't want his sympathy. Taking a deep breath, the vampire finally reached out and placed her frozen hand on his, "I don't have that much time left..."

- - - - - -

Gently brushing her blue away from her pallid face, Snape had a broken smile on his thin lips as he watched his beloved sleep. He had come to the Number 12 Grimmauld Place to take Hunter home after Dumbledore had told him where she was. The Potions Master didn't know exactly what had happened, but he knew that Lupin would fill him in on what the headmaster didn't. Caressing her cheek with the back of his hand, Snape leaned forward and kissed her lightly on her frozen lips without waking her up. "Sweet dreams," he was glad that she was alive and safe.

The door creaked behind him, making Snape glance over his shoulder to see Lupin standing in the doorway of the spare bedroom. Lupin had a "we need to talk" expression on his scarred face. Silently exiting the bedroom, the werewolf led Snape back downstairs to the kitchen to speak privately.

Luckily, no one was in the kitchen; Mrs. Weasley had left to buy more groceries for the Order's headquarters. Lupin grabbed two cups from the kitchen cupboard and took the tea kettle off the stove to bring to the dining table. He offered Snape a seat, which the Potions Master took graciously, and then poured them both a cup of tea. "You're a lucky man," the werewolf mumbled under his breath as he handed Snape his drink.

"Excuse me?" Snape gave Lupin a befuddled expression, "Lucky for what?"

Scratching the back of his shaggy head, Lupin sipped on his tea before he answered Snape's question. "Avalon," he gave the Potions Master an emotionless look, "You're lucky to have her. She loves you so dearly..."

"I'm more than lucky," Snape whispered in reply when he knew that he couldn't lie to Lupin about his relationship with Hunter any longer. "You don't realize how much I owe you for finding her-"

"Don't worry about me Severus," Lupin smiled in reply. When Snape started to disagree, the werewolf politely interrupted him with the same smile on his lips. "You can repay me by promising me that you will make sure that Avalon drinks _at least _two phials of dragon's blood every day."

"Of course," Snape had been told by Dumbledore that Hunter's blood lust had finally gotten the best of her. He stared at his tea cup for a moment, "Can you tell me what exactly happened?"

Saving Lupin the chance of making up some farce story for Snape, the kitchen door swung open and the groggy vampire yawned loudly in the doorway. "I heard someone mention dragon's blood," Hunter grinned as she took a seat across the dining table from them. "Are you boys getting along?" she was making sure that Lupin had not let anything slip in front of the Potions Master.

"Don't we always?" Snape smirked just before he finished off his cup of tea. "Why don't I take you back to Hogwarts?" he offered in an uncharacteristically soft voice. When she nodded in reply, the Potions Master thanked Lupin for the hospitality and for the warm cup of tea. "We'll see you at the wedding," he called as he walked out of the kitchen without looking back.

Hunter lingered at the dining table with a solemn look in her electric blue eyes, "Thank you for everything..." she reached out and grabbed his hand. After a moment of silence between them, she let go of his hand and got out of her seat. "Goodbye Remus," the vampire kissed him on the cheek as she left the kitchen, "_You are a good friend_," she whispered in his ear.

"I'll set irises on your grave," the werewolf whispered without looking back at her; he knew that they were her favorite kind of flowers. Sniffling quietly, Lupin wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes. This would be the last time he would see her shining electric blue eyes, and only he knew.

- - - - - - -

"Why am I doing this again?" Draco Malfoy asked in a suspicious tone of voice as he followed his Dark Arts professor up the steps of the Grand Staircase to the seventh floor.

Hunter sighed, "To stop _Potter_ from being able to sneak around the castle and getting away with everything."

The blonde Slytherin stopped on the last step of the ever-changing staircase, "What makes you so sure that Potter is using this _Marauder's Map_ to sneak around the prefects?"

"_Because_," she snapped bitterly at him to show that she was becoming irritated with his questions. "I just know these things," the vampire added in a sly voice when he didn't seemed convinced. Hunter folded her arms across her chest, "Are you coming or not? I can't do this without your corporation."

Feeling a bit more important now, Draco followed Hunter down the darkened corridor of the seventh floor towards the secret location of the Room of Requirement. "So-All I have to do is start pacing back and forth here and wait for Potter to come?" he asked for the third time that night.

"_Yes_," Hunter held her tongue so she wouldn't let her peeved thoughts slip out. "I'll be hiding in the shadows just around the corner in front of you. Potter won't know what hit him..."

Draco frowned again after re-hearing the plan from the vampire, "But won't Potter have his _invisibility cloak _around him the entire time? How-?"

"Just leave that to me Draco," Hunter snarled in a frustrated tone of voice as she brushed by him to go and hide in the shadows. "Try to act suspicious, will ya?" she glanced over her shoulder at him just before she faded into the darkness.

"_Suspicious_..._Riight_," the pureblood Slytherin scratched his head as he began to pace back and forth in front of the supposed location of the Room of Requirement.

Meanwhile, Harry was wide awake in his bed with his Marauder's Map sprawled across his lap. The rest of the seventh year boys were already sound asleep; Harry had to conjure a light spell on his wand so he could read the tattered parchment. His green eyes lighted up with curiosity when he spotted the name "Draco Malfoy" on the seventh floor section of the parchment. "What are you doing out of bed, eh?" Harry asked quietly to himself as he watched the name pace back and forth in an empty corridor.

Tapping the tip of his wand on his knee, the Gryffindor wondered if Draco was up to something. Harry desperately wanted to go check it out; he wanted to use his father's cloak once more.

Double-checking that his dragon egg was warm enough, Harry jumped out of his comfortable bed with the Marauder's Map still in his hands. Putting his red slippers on, the seventh year boy silently opened his trunk to grab his invisibility cloak. He didn't want to wake any of his friends up, especially since he was just about to sneak out. _Let's find out what Malfoy is up to_, he told himself as he swung the cloak over his shoulders and watched as he disappeared from the neck down. Whispering "Nox," Harry placed his holly wand in his back robe pocket; he wouldn't need it tonight. Carefully, he folded the tattered map so he could only see the seventh floor of the castle.

Sneaking out of the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry tip-toed towards the secret location of the Room of Requirement to spy on the blonde Slytherin. He took the precaution of covering his nose and mouth with one hand as he drew closer to the hallway were Malfoy was pacing back and forth. Once he was there, he was surprised to find that the suspicious Slytherin was doing all of the pacing for nothing. Seriously confused about the matter, Harry stood several feet away from Malfoy with a frown on his face.

Before Harry could think more about it, he was frightened to death when he suddenly heard something meow from behind his feet. _Shit_! _Mrs. Norris_! He immediately side-stepped away from the cat to get away from its reach. Whenever the tabby female cat was close by...so would her fearful owner Mr. Filch.

Mrs. Norris stared up at Harry, as if it could see him even though he was hidden behind his father's invisibility cloak. She meowed loudly once more with her yellow eyes focused on Harry. This time, her meowing grabbed Malfoy's attention along with someone else's.

"_Shoo_!" Malfoy hissed between his clenched teeth at the tabby cat, "_Go away_!"

"Is someone there?" Filch, the always-cranky caretaker of Hogwarts, wandered around the corner of the corridor with a lamp in his hands. He narrowed his beady eyes at the panicking blonde seventh year, "Out for a little stroll, Mr. Malfoy?"

Nervously glancing over his shoulder, Malfoy wanted to see if his Dark Arts professor would get him out of this unsuspected trouble. The pureblood sighed loudly when Hunter did not come out of her hiding spot, "_Bloody hell_," he whispered to himself. When Filch asked why Malfoy was out of bed in the middle of the night, he curtly responded that he was aiding a dear friend of his.

"I think Professor Snape will be interested in hearing how you found yourself all the way up on the seventh floor..." the caretaker signaled for Malfoy to follow him back to the Grand Staircase.

Meowing at her master, Mrs. Norris began moving towards Harry again once she had Filch's attention. The cat cunningly backed Harry into the closest stone wall so he could not escape from her this time around. Waving her tail madly in the air as if she was stalking prey, the tabby cat did something the last thing Harry would expect her to do. She began rubbing up against Harry's feet to lift the bottom of his cloak away from his feet.

"What's this?" Filch completely forgot about Malfoy and went over to Mrs. Norris' side to examine the shoe that had just appeared out of nowhere. Slowly reaching out, the caretaker grabbed the edge of the invisibility cloak and hastily pulled it away from the stone wall. He gave Harry a dark crooked smile, "Two students out of bed taking a late stroll, eh?"

Filch spotted that the Gryffindor boy was desperately clinging to a tattered piece of parchment with his sweaty hands. "What do you have there Mr. Potter?" the caretaker snatched the Marauder's Map from Harry before he could answer. "So-" his beady black eyes narrowed even more as he examined the parchment, "_You_ were the one who _stole _this out of my office so many years ago!" Grabbing Harry roughly by the shoulder, Filch led the Gryffindor over to where Malfoy was standing. "Come on," Filch snarled at the two boys to follow him downstairs after his faithful cat began prancing towards the Grand Staircase.

Along the way to Dumbledore's office, Filch quickly turned into the main corridor of second floor with his eyes focused on Harry and Malfoy instead of where he was walking. The caretaker never expected to run right into Professor Hunter, who conveniently had a pile of tattered pieces of parchment in her arms. They both dropped everything they had in their arms to remain standing; pieces of parchment floated around the dark second floor corridor.

Swiftly grabbing the pieces of parchment that were still floating in the air, Hunter handed Filch back his confiscated Marauder's Map, or at least he was led to believe that she had done so. "Excuse me," the vampire apologized in a humble tone of voice as she bent down to gather up the rest of her parchments. After repairing his shattered glass lamp, Hunter tipped her head in respect to the three of them and slipped by to rush down the steps of the Grand Staircase.

Once she was sure that Filch hadn't noticed that she had switched his Marauder's Map with a fake one, she examined her prize with her eyes glowing crimson red. "_My Lord will be pleased_," she laughed quietly to herself as she tapped the Marauder's Map with her right index finger. "_Mischief managed_!"

- - - - - -

Glancing down at the puddle of grimy water before her feet, Hunter could clearly see her slightly-transparent reflection with the crescent-shaped moon in the background. Her pallid face was rigid and cold, completely wiped of all emotions, and she could see the hungry look in her burning crimson eyes. For a moment she examined her reflection, as if she couldn't believe that it was in fact her she was seeing in the dirty puddle. _What have I become_...? Relaxing for a brief second, Hunter's blood-colored eyes turned to an electric blue hue and her expression became a sorrowful one.

_Why are you doing all of this_? She began to question herself in the middle of the abandoned street. _I'm doing exactly what he told me to do, remember?_ the vampire answered bluntly. _He didn't tell you to follow Voldemort's footsteps all over again_... Quickly shaking her head, Hunter returned to her emotionless state. _I'm not following in his footsteps_! She looked back at her shady reflection in the water, _I won't become like him_!

She stared at her own cold red eyes and felt her spine tingle with fear. _You're exactly like him_... _You're going to betray and kill everyone-just like him_, Hunter heard the ominous warning in the back of her mind. _You're going to kill him_...

Lifting her head, the vampire spotted violent red sparks being shot into the dark sky. "Time to _play_," she hissed in a voice she did not recognize as her own, "and time to _die_..." Slipping her silver dagger out from her leather belt, she stepped in the puddle to have the ripples destroy her reflection and headed in the direction of the signal red wand sparks.

After Hunter's figure disappeared into the midnight fog, there were several screams. There was a stench of death in the air now. Blood trickled down the street and flowed into the dirty puddle's reflection of the crescent moon; it was now a blood moon.

* * *

**Notes: **Thanks to everyone who had taken the time to review the last chapter, it really made my day to see that I had a few more readers out there! Sorry for this chapter being a bit late, I'm going to speed through the next chapters-I promise. Four reviewers this time, an all time high! (Does the bunnydance)

**Lady HexaKnight: **Lol, gotta love your reaction there. You must be talking about Voldemort, at least I hope were calling him that! Midterms? Ahhh! Don't mention that word around me, I don't want to start worrying about mine-they are on March 10th! EEK! Thanks for the "verbal" review hun!

**Zimagesto: **Wowie, you're the second person to insult Voldemort here. I don't think he would be very happy with you right now, ;). I live in the USA, a place not too special with a ton of snow every single day. I think it would be nice to livein Romania, well at least from watching the Discovery channel shows I have seen at least. Living next to those great mountains, that would so beautiful to see every single morning and evening. I think they are called the Carpatheian Mountains? I'm not too good withmountain names, sorry. Thanksfor the review, like always!

**Stellaris: **Hehe, I hate leaving cliff hangers in chapters like this...but sometimes I can't help myself. Lol. Thank you for the review! (Sends you some spiderweb cookies and hugs)

**Mystress of the Dark: **Where the hell have you been? It's like you almost fell off the planet or something! I missed you! You better not disappear again, (narrows eyes at you). You lost your disk on Two Peas? That's TERRIBLE! I hope you find it soon so you can update your story. Thanks for the review hun!


	19. The Minister's Gifts

The last thing Snape remembered was running his hands through her soft blue hair. He cracked his black eyes open when he felt a void deep inside of him. Fully opening his eyes, the Potions Master realized that his angel of the night had disappeared once again. Sitting up in his bed and pushing his long black hair away from his face, Snape yawned loudly and glanced around his dark private chambers. She was definitely gone, her side of the bed was neat and tucked in.

Groggily getting out of bed, the Potions Master wandered into his bathroom to brush his teeth and to find his bathrobe in the dark. As he brushed his teeth with his favorite green toothbrush, Snape didn't seem too troubled by the fact that Hunter was already gone.She was in her office having breakfast with her brother, since he wasn't able to sneak out anymore without Dumbledore noticing.

Slipping his black robe on, Snape rubbed his eyes as he dragged his feet back into the main part of his private chambers. He was somewhat surprised to find a note lying on his most comfortable reading chair in front of his fireplace; this was the first time she had done something like that. Curious about what she had written for him, Snape picked the note up from the cushion and then plopped into his reading chair to read her message.

A faint smile curled on his thin lips, it was a love note. _I'll tell you right now, all I want you to know is that I love you_. _All I need is the time to show you_ _I feel_. _I promise to start sleeping in on the weekends like you do_... As he set the note down on his lap, he felt a cold chill travel down his spine like there was some ominous presence surrounding him.

Lifting his head, he was pleased to see Hunter's electric blue eyes curiously peering down at him. "Sleep in long enough?" she smirked at him as she ruffled his black hair with her frozen hands. "I left that note for you nearly three hours ago..."

Snape pocketed the note she had given him before he pushed himself out of his comfortable reading chair. "What's on your agenda today?" he asked in a semi-curious tone of voice. The Potions Master gently wrapped his arms around her tiny waist and lightly kissed her on the lips before she could reply.

Biting her lip as she thought long and hard about what she needed to do this Saturday morning, she couldn't help but notice that there was a different look in Snape's dark eyes. The vampire raised an eyebrow at his suspicious expression, "I think I could _slip_ you into my _busy _schedule..."

His dark eyes scintillated, "I think I could _slip_ you out of those _clothes_," the Potions Master whispered softly.

As they leaned closer to kiss on the lips, there was knock at Snape's office door. Groaning loudly in a peeved voice, he whispered "Give me one second" as he released her from his warm arms to go deal with whoever was interrupting their private time. His sparkling black eyes hardened as he stormed into his office; he made sure to close the entrance to his private chambers before he cracked the door open. Snatching his wand off his office desk, the Potions Master quickly changed his robe into something more suitable for public use. "_What do you want_?" Snape snarled harshly before he saw who was standing in front of the office door.

"_Am I interrupting something_?" snapped a high-pitched voice, which could only belong to one disturbing woman.

Dropping his jaw slightly, Snape couldn't believe that Umbridge was standing in front of his office door at seven o'clock in the morning on a Saturday. "_Yes_, actually," the Potions Master narrowed his hippogriff-like eyes at the toad Ministry worker. "_What do you want_?" he repeated in the same tone of voice.

After clearing her voice, Umbridge unhappily explained why she was standing in front of his office door so early in the morning. "Albus Dumbledore told me that I could find a certain _bloodsucker_ lurking around in the Dungeons area-"

Opening his mouth to literally tell Umbridge to sod off and to never darken his doorway again, he instantly held his tongue still when he suddenly noticed that there were three hooded figures behind her. _She has bodyguards this time around_... The Potions Master frowned, these were the dark ominous beings he had been warned earlier about. "Have you checked her _office_?" Snape spat at her when he realized that Umbridge had not come to Hogwarts to just have a little chat with Hunter.

"No need to check my office Umbridge," Hunter hissed in a dark voice as she stood several feet to the right of the unwelcome Ministry worker. "I'm right here. What do you require?" she asked with an emotionless expression on her pallid face.

The toad-like woman smirked at the vampire, "The Minister of Magic is requesting your presence." Umbridge turned her thick neck as far as she could to see if the Aurors were prepared to strike if Hunter refused to accompany them back to the Ministry.

Amazingly, Hunter lowered her head as if she was accepting the unsuspected invitation. "But of course," she whispered in a soft voice as if she understood why the Minister wanted to see her. Like she had been escorted to the Ministry of Magic several times before today, the vampire gave her wand to Umbridge without any sign of resistance. The Dark Arts professor's black eyes momentarily met with Snape's, _If I'm not back in two hours-I'll be in Azkaban_...

_Be careful Avalon_, the Potions Master tried to keep a stern look on his face. Something was not right this time, Hunter would have defended herself if she knew that Umbridge had no right to bring her to the Ministry. Snape guessed that she had done something she shouldn't have.

Clearing her voice in the most annoying way, the short Ministry worker shot a dirty look in Snape's direction before she waddled in front of Hunter to lead the way. The three Aurors quickly lined up behind the vampire to usher her out of the Dungeons as quickly as possible. Feeling somewhat trapped, Hunter followed Umbridge down the long Dungeons corridor wondering if she would be coming back this time.

The Ministry workers and Hunter headed back upstairs to the second floor where Dumbledore's office was. Strangely enough, the headmaster was gone but he had left his office door open so Umbridge and her fellow Ministry workers could still leave. Using the same means they entered the school with, the five of them traveled by Floo Powder to the Ministry of Magic's headquarters.

Brushing grey ash from her shoulders and blue hair, Hunter curiously stretched her neck out to see the entire eighth level of the Ministry of Magic. The vampire had not been in the Atrium for several years now; due to her good behavior of course. She was pleased to see that the Fountain of Magical Brethren was still intact and still sprouting out sparkling blue water. There was one thing that Hunter could never understand-why would the Ministry of Magic only have one security desk? Since the battle in the Department of Mysteries two years ago, the Ministry had never actually stepped up their security measures. _Maybe Voldemort already has control of the Ministry of Magic_... Hunter thought to herself as she followed Umbridge pass the golden gates. The three Aurors left Umbridge and Hunter at the entrance to the elevators, they were going back to their posts down on the second level.

They took the farthest elevator to the right to get to the Minister's office on the top floor of the building. Walking off the elevator, Hunter's eyes widened with excitement when she spotted the Minister's office door, which was entirely made out of solid gold. "I bet this cost the Ministry an arm and a leg," she tried to reach out and touch the gold but her hand was slapped away by Umbridge.

"_Don't touch anything_!" the toad-like woman snapped bitterly at Hunter.

_What is she so worried about_? _It's not like I can stuff this gold door under my robes and walk right of the Ministry without being noticed_... Hunter's jaw dropped when she saw the interior of the Minister's office, she could have sworn that everything was literally lined with gold or precious jewels. "This must be worth millions," she gasped as she continued to examine the office; she made sure to examine everything with her eyes and not her hands. The vampire was so caught up with the glittering objects, she never noticed that the Minister of Magic was standing at his elaborate desk with his bushy eyebrows raised in her general direction.

"Thank you Miss Umbridge," the Minister waved his hand at the short woman to excuse her from his office. He ignored her stuttering protests of him being left alone with a dangerous creature like Hunter, "_Thank you_," he growled to make her leave.

Once the annoying short woman was gone, the Minister of Magic turned his attention back to the blue-haired vampire, who was staring at ivory grandfather clock off in the corner of his office. "I must say...murdering thirty-three witches and wizards in less than an hour is a brilliant performance," he adjusted his wire-rimmed spectacles over his nose as he said this, "But pinning the blame on your fellow Death Eaters is an extraordinary feat."

Hunter tore her black eyes away from the grandfather clock to smile slyly at the Minister of Magic; she was glad to see a friendly face in the Ministry for once. "Fooling everyone into thinking that you are not a vampire and becoming the new Minister of Magic is an extraordinary feat..." The vampire walked over to the front of his office desk and bowed before him to pay respect to the most influential vampire in Great Britain, "Congratulations on your new position, Rufus."

Rufus Scrimgeour rolled his yellow-tinted eyes at Hunter, "You're beginning to sound more and more like Lyude," he laughed. The former Head of the Auror Office grabbed his wooden cane and then limped out from behind his office desk. He used to be best friends with Quinn's father, when they were much younger of course, acting somewhat as an over-protective uncle for Quinn. "I hope Miss Umbridge was not _too _forceful with bringing you here-"

The golden door swung open, "_Avalon_!" a young redhead beamed brightly as he quickly shut the office door behind him.

"_Speaking of the devil_," Rufus grumbled under his breath as the vampire ambassador warmly embraced Hunter for a few minutes.

"How did you do it?" Lyude was of course talking about Hunter's successful mass murders. Slipping out her silver dagger from her robe sleeve, Hunter handed it over to Lyude with a transparent smile on her pallid lips. "This thing is bloody dull! What did you do with it?" he pressed the edge of the blade into the palm of his hand but it would not break the skin even. Lyude was not pleased to know that all of his handy-work on her weapons had already been worn away. "Don't even tell me what you have done to your revolvers," he moaned as he pocketed the knife so he could mend it again for her later on.

"Decapitating traitors isn't very easy for me to do these days, Lyude," she muttered sourly. Killing half-vampires was certainly a hard job, especially when Hunter was ordered to destroy thirty-three of them. Luckily, their deaths would not be troubling Hunter's mind one single bit-they were all traitors. These half-vampires were wanting to join Voldemort's cause and to reveal the truth of Rufus Scrimgeour's identity. Hunter was not to about to let that happen since they would endanger Voldemort's need for her special abilities and ruin the only chance for the Ministry's Half-Breed laws to vanquished. "I just hope our efforts will finally pay off..." Hunter subconsciously rubbed her shoulder as she waited for the Minister to reassure her that the Half-Breed laws will finally disappear.

He did not comment on the unjust laws, but instead signaled for his vampire ambassador to go and grab him something from his private chambers in the next room. "I have your payment and two gifts for you," Rufus' upper lip curled enough to show his sharp canine teeth. "One gift, I think, you will find _particularly interesting_..."

"Stop begging for you pathetic life you bloody thief!" Lyude snarled as he easily carried a dirt-covered man into the Minister's office with just one hand. "We found _this _trying to break into one of the shops in Hogsmeade last night," he dropped the groveling man onto the polished wooden floor before Hunter's boots.

The grimy thief's hands were tied behind his back and his legs were also bound together. "A-a-avlon! Thank the-the stars you are here-"

Narrowing her glowing crimson eyes at Fletcher, Hunter snatched the thief from the ground and slammed his back into the Minister's office desk as hard as she could without breaking the desk. "_You bloody traitor_! _You were in on it the entire time, weren't you_!" she tightened her grip around his shirt collar, "You _faked _your own _death_ so you could start selling information to Pettigrew!" Her eyes were now just tiny red slits, "I should turn you into a _snail _and pour _salt _all over your _slimy_ body so I can watch you _shrivel up _and _die_!" the vampire threatened in a cold emotionless voice.

"Um," Lyude interrupted in a small voice, "Before you do...might I make a-a suggestion?" When he had Hunter's attention, he told her that he could use Fletcher in the Ministry for a while. "Besides, I have a much _better_ plan for a _traitor_ like this..." the vampire ambassador winked to her to show that he was telling her the truth.

Grumbling under her breath, Hunter handed Fletcher back to Lyude; she wanted to add thirty-four deaths to her list of killings for the new year. Her eyes remained red as she watched Lyude take the pathetic thief back into the other room, _Now I'll have the actual chance of slitting his throat and letting him choke on his own blood_. "He was the one who told Pettigrew about the boy still having the Marauder's Map in his possession," she finally explained to the Minister once Fletcher was out of the room.

Rufus knew it was for the best if he quickly moved along to the second gift, "I was wondering if you had any particular interest with minotaurs...?"

"You have one here?" Hunter's eyes returned normal to their jet black hue, "I've never seen one before. Father was going to take Quinn and I to Greece to study them but..." she trailed off for a moment to think about the dark creatures. "How did you find one out of Greece? As rare as they are...isn't it still illegal for minotaurs to be transported out of Greece?"

"We caught an Irishman trying to smuggle a minotaur into his home, the thing ended up devouring half of his leg..." The Minister watched Hunter carefully with his yellowish eyes as he finally offered her a chance of borrowing the dark creature for two school days. "The authorities from Greece will not be able to take the beast back home until Wednesday. I thought you might want to give your Defense Against the Dark Arts class a real treat," his tinted yellow eyes glowed from behind his spectacles. "As long as you assure me that no one will lose any limbs..."

- - - - - - - -

Charging at her with the remaining strength he had, Harry's attack was easily parried by his Dark Arts professor. The boy had attacked her at such an odd angle that he didn't quite have enough time to react or to remain balanced; he toppled over face-first into the frozen ground. Spitting out pieces of dirt, Harry muttered swear words under his breath for his stupidity. Once he was back up on his feet, he noticed that beads of sweat were rolling down Hunter's pallid forehead. This was the first time he had ever seen her strain herself enough to be exhausted, or at least appear to be somewhat tired.

"Why don't we take a break for a minute, Mr. Potter," Hunter dropped her silver sword on the ground and pulled out a small phial of blood to replenish her energy. Tugging the cork out of the lid with her sharp teeth, she spat it out in front of her boots and began drinking the phial's contents.

Carefully lowering his sword on the frozen ground, Harry wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his sleeve. His green eyes focused on the wonderful view of the lake that laid before him. "I like how the sunlight dances across the lake's ripples," the Gryffindor walked over to his professor's side, "It's so peaceful..." Harry let a long depressed sigh out, "I'm going to really miss it here."

Hunter snapped her fingers to make the blood phial disappear from her hands in a cloud of black smoke. "You're speaking as if you already know that you won't survive the rest of this year, Potter," she noticed that Harry twitched at the mention of death.

"Were you afraid of dying Professor Hunter?" Harry glanced away from the beautiful landscape to see Hunter smiling weakly at him.

"I have never feared my death," the vampire could feel a slight pain in her chest again as she said this. She could tell that he wanted to know the reason why, but he was too afraid to ask out loud. "My father told me about the meaning of life when I was too young to understand..." Hunter untied the string that was holding her blue hair into a ponytail. "How did it go..." she muttered to herself as she racked her mind to remember her father's words.

"Sometimes you question yourself on how things will end-how you did everything in your life perfectly or not. But in truth, when the end finally comes, you just want to go on pretending that you will have eternal glory and be forever cherished by your friends. You forget all of your blunders and accomplishments on the hour of your death to replace them with the hope of being remembered. Life does not hand you butterflies and flowers every single day. You have to make life that way-and that's the whole fun of living." Hunter folded her arms smugly across her chest to hide the terrible pain she was in, "Besides-I'm actually more afraid of the dark..." she winked to Harry.

- - - - - - -

"You're going to love this Quinn," Hunter beamed as she led her younger brother, Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall towards Hagrid's hut early Monday morning before breakfast. The Dark Arts professor would have to get the headmaster's and headmistress' permission to show the dark creature to her classes since this was first time there was a minotaur in England. Of course, Hunter would have Hagrid and her brother close by if the dark creature would try to make an escape or try to attack any of the students.

She stood next to a large metal cage, which was covered with a black drape to help keep the beast that was inside as calm as possible, with an energetic expression on her pallid face. "Now-keep in mind that Hagrid will be with me," Hunter whispered in a soft voice so she wouldn't disturb the minotaur too much, "and the creature is going to remain in the cage at all times."

The moment she pulled the drape away from the cage, everyone gasped at the sight of an actually minotaur standing before them. There was a loud thud, "I think your brother has just fainted Avalon," Snape glanced over his shoulder to see Quinn lying on the frozen ground as white as he could be. The Potions Master lightly kicked Quinn's limp leg to see if the blonde vampire had indeed fainted from the sight of the minotaur.

"He'll wake up in a minute," Hunter didn't sound too worried about her brother.

Frowning, the headmistress took a step closer to the dark creature, "Aren't they native to Greece?" McGonagall immediately stepped back when the minotaur rammed the metal cage with the top of its horned head. "Are you _positive_ that cage will keep him in there?" she had a weary expression on her face.

"It kept the dragons in durin' the Triwizard Tournament," Hagrid walked down the front steps of his thatched hut to join the other professors, "It should 'old 'im in." The half-giant glanced down to see the fainted vampire by his massive feet, "'e was excited about it too?" he chuckled to himself.

Dumbledore tapped his right index finger on the side of his face as he tried to make a final decision about Hunter's suggestion of teaching the students about minotaurs. "It's an once in a life time opportunity, sir," Hunter did not like the uncertain look on the headmaster's face right then.

"The Ministry just _loaned_ this beast to you?" Snape raised a curious eyebrow in Hunter's direction; he ignored her dark glares for not supporting her plan this time. "You did mention that this minotaur devoured its owner's leg, right?" the Potions Master had read about the entire incident in yesterday's Daily Prophet.

Cracking open his eyes, Quinn quickly got to his feet once he realized that he was not dreaming about having an actual minotaur before his eyes. "I don't care where you got it from," the blonde vampire moved closer to the dark creature, "It's bloody magnificent." Quinn was absolutely in awe with it; his jaw was dropped and his blue eyes were wide with excitement.

"The _new _Minister of Magic _loaned _him to me," Hunter shot a dirty look at the Potions Master. "He said that the authorities from Greece would not be able to take him home until Wednesday..." she was secretly hoping that Dumbledore would get the hints she was sending him.

"He will remain in the cage," the headmaster folded his arms across his chest as he thought more about it, "and the students are not permitted to stand any closer than ten feet from the cage."

McGonagall went beet red, "Surly you are not actually considering any of this!"

"What if the minotaur finds a way to break out of the cage?" Snape interjected in a smooth voice. He knew that Hunter would chew him out later on, but Snape was trying to be reasonable about this-unlike her.

Luckily, Dumbledore had clearly received Hunter's coded message about the new Minister of Magic. The minotaur was a gift to show that Rufus Scrimgeour and his vampires were behind Dumbledore's cause to destroy Voldemort and all of his Death Eaters. He gave Hunter a reassuring smile, "Hagrid and Mr. Sweethart will be there if anything goes wrong," there was a twinkle in his eyes.

"This is bloody insane," Snape frowned as he watched the minotaur ram the front of the metal cage, trying to escape its prison. He was noticing a change in his beloved Hunter, she was starting to surround herself with even more mysteries, and he was worried that she might not ever change back.

* * *

**Notes: **Muwhaha, managed to fnish this chapter without any cliff hangers, aren't you proud? Lol. Anyways, I'm in a great mood today, spent all day writing this chapter. Surprisingly, it went along just smoothly-took me no time to write it up. This is the last chapter for the month of January. (I'm finally catching up!)  
I thought about the comment Luna Lovegood had mentioned to Harry during the 6th book about Rufus, the new Minister of Magic, about being a vampire and I thought it would be a pretty good twist! Plus I had to bring Fletcher back into the picture, he's such a lovable character-even though he keeps betraying everyone. (Will he EVER learn?) My favorite part though was when Umbridge slapped Hunter's hand away from touching the gold doors, I can totally picture that scene in my mind.

**Zimagesto: **Thanks hun for such a quick review! How many Harry Potter stories are you writing anyways? I'm starting to lose track here, slow down! LOL. I read part of the first chapter of your new story, I'll have to finish the rest tomorrow along with my review for it, but I like it! I don't know how I could hate what you write actually, besides you're so nice to me too. ;)


	20. The Things I'll Never Say

"Summoning potions-" Snape said in a sharp, clear voice, "can anyone tell me what their major purpose is?" The hooked-nose character stood rigid in front of the class as he waited for someone besides Hermione to raise their hand. "Mr. Malfoy," he called on his favorite student, "Care to enlighten the class?" Snape was still peeved with the blonde because of the detention he had received for being caught out of bed so late at night by Filch; but at least Potter was caught also.

Freezing up for a moment, Draco Malfoy wondered where he had seen the potions used before. "Er-summoning potions work when you throw the p-powder into the f-fire and c-all out the person you want to...summon?" It was glaringly obvious that the pureblood Slytherin was guessing about the entire thing.

"Correct Mr. Malfoy," the Potions Master rewarded the Slytherin House several points. "What is the main ingredient of a summoning potion?" Once again, he tried to ignore Hermione's frantically waving hand. He was somewhat shocked to find that Neville had raised his hand to answer the tough question, _This will be good to watch_... "Do you know the answer Mr. Longbottom?" his thin lips curled into a vicious smile as he waited for the plump Gryffindor to stutter out an answer.

Neville, who was nervous as it was just sitting in Snape's dreary dungeons, swallowed loudly before he tried to speak. "C-c-cobra lily venom..." he said in a minute voice.

Just as he prepared himself to blame and accuse Neville of receiving help from Hermione or someone else in his house, Snape remembered what Hunter had advised him to do in his classes from now on. Taking in a deep breath, Snape muttered "good" under his breath and quickly moved on to lecture on how to collect the venom from the cobra lilies. "Cobra lily venom reacts with the other ingredients in such a way that the white liquid is transformed into a grainy texture, almost like a fine powder," the Potions Master continued to lecture on until he heard a loud cracking noise from behind him.

Turning around to see what was causing the racket, Snape narrowed his black eyes at the sight of Harry's dragon egg jumping around on the surface of his desk. "_Potter_!" he hissed in a dark and threatening voice, "Stop _fooling_ around in my class!"

"I'm not doing it, sir," Harry seemed to be very confused at the sight of his egg dancing around. His eyes went wide with fear as he watched his delicate egg slam itself repeatedly against his wooden desk, _My poor egg_! The Gryffindor jumped back when there was one final cracking sound; which was the loudest of them all. Settling down, the dragon egg quietly laid still on the surface of Harry's desk.

Leaning closer to examine the cracks on his precious dragon egg, Harry jumped again when something stuck its claws through the bottom of the egg. Now everyone was carefully watching as the dragon hatchling broke out of its shell-legs first. The egg rolled to its side and the egg began walking around the desk without knowing where it was going. A long arrow-shaped tail shot out of one end of the egg and then two leathery wings broke through the shell at the very top. Then the dragon's magnificent head finally popped out, it opened its emerald-hued eyes and immediately set them upon Harry's flabbergasted face. Sounding somewhat like a sheep with a swore throat, Harry's dragon greeted everybody; "Bar," it squeaked. The dragon moved the rest of his body around to face who he thought was his parent, smoked spilled out of its miniature nostrils. Crumbling into a thousand pieces, the egg shell was finally destroyed.

While the N.E.W.T. Potions class was at awe with the newborn dragon, Snape stood at the front of the classroom with an irked expression on his face. _Just wonderful_, he bitterly thought to himself, _They're hatching now_. The Potions Master had never really approved of the project for the seventh years. He thought his students would become too occupied with raising their dragon eggs and completely ignore his class. It appeared that his assumption was right; his students were too preoccupied with Harry's dragon now. Clearing his voice, Snape snapped at his students to get back to their seats before he gave them all detention.

Once he believed that his class had finally settled down from all of the excitement, Snape started where he had left off on summoning potions. He twitched in anger when he heard the same cracking sound coming from his students again, _Will this ever end_! Folding his arms across his chest stubbornly, the Potions Master watched as his students rushed over to watch Malfoy's egg hatch.

By the time class was over with, Potter, Malfoy, and Hermione's dragons eggs had hatched. Too peeved to speak to his class, Snape waved the students out of his classroom with a deep scowl. Once they were gone, the Potions Master kicked the edge of his desk and began swearing about everything that had been going wrong. He had finally had enough-with everything.

Ten minutes went by as Snape tried to cool himself down by pacing around in front of his classroom. "Severus?" he clenched his fists when he heard the vampire's soft voice; she was the cause of everything that was going wrong today.

Hunter had brought him a little snack to help cheer him up; she knew that he had been grumpy lately. "Are you alright Severus?" she tilted her head to the side and gave him a worried look when she spotted the pulsating vein on his temple. "Is there something wrong?"

"Wrong doesn't even _begin _to describe it!" the Potions Master slammed his copy of the N.E.W.T. Potions book down on his desk. Fuming for a few minutes, he narrowed his cold black eyes on Hunter with a look of pure hatred on his face. "Why do you cause me so much anxiety Avalon!" Snape finally yelled at her for first time in months. He tried to ignore the calculating expression she was giving him, "_You _just have to ruin everything don't you! All of your bloody dragon eggs hatched today in _my _class! Now my classes will be a week _behind _thanks to _your wonderful suggestion _to Hagrid!" Venting his anger on her felt like he was suddenly lifting a heavy load off his chest; he still had several more loads to get rid of. "Do you _purposely _enjoy going against _everything _I stand for these past few weeks! Because that's the vibe I've been getting off you lately..." Snape thought long and hard about what else was bothering him, "Why do you _always_ wander off so late in the night and _never _tell me where you are going! Then when you show up, somewhere _else_ of course, Dumbledore tells me that you were _struck _by a _Muggle car_!" There was one final thing for him to say, "I don't even know who you are anymore Avalon!" the Potions Master threw his hands into the air to show his frustration with her if it wasn't obvious enough.

Remaining silent until he was done venting all of his anguish upon her, Hunter snapped the glass handle of Snape's pumpkin cider drink to keep her surging anger in check. "_I _am not the only one who _sneaks _out of the castle in the middle of the _night_ or at the crack of _dawn_, if I remember _correctly_," she was talking about finding him after one of his meetings with the Dark Lord. "At least I am not _sloppy _enough to show up several hours later with a _broken limb_ after getting into a _scrap_ with a _traitorous rat_."

Now it was Snape's turn to give Hunter the calculating look, "I never told you what happened that day..."

"You are not the only Death Eater who Dumbledore has acting as a double-spy," Hunter couldn't believe that she was finally telling him the truth. She watched his eyes widen when he realized that she was speaking the truth, "I am the vampire envoy the Dard Lord has been claiming to have on his side for years and years... I've been working for the Dark Lord since I was sixteen years old. _He's _the reason why I'm a half-vampire!" She could tell that the gears in the back of Snape's mind were already hard at work, "Even though I know the truth about your _other life_-it does not mean that I can't have the right to my own!" The vampire wanted to say more but she stopped herself. She had said plenty-this would cost her dearly down the road.

A blood tear rolled down her cheek, "Maybe this was a mistake," it almost seemed like she was trying to convince herself that it was. Lifting her head higher, she stared the Potions Master straight in the eyes, "Maybe _you _were a mistake." Hunter removed the golden snake bracelet from her slender wrist and threw it down by his feet to show that their relationship was finished.

With that being said, Hunter dropped the already-broken glass on the stone floor of his dungeons so it would shatter into a million pieces. Blood was dripping from her hand but she could care less about it, she flipped Snape off before she stormed out of his classroom.

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out!" the Potions Master snarled at her as he watched her slam the door so hard behind her that she nearly took it off its hinges.

- - - - - -

Holding her tiny wax doll in her frozen hands, the vampire moved it closer towards the flames of the salamander. "Now, if you approach a salamander without the proper fire protection spells, this will be you..." she made the class watch as the wax began to drip off the doll's perfectly carved face.

"Is it just me, or does that doll resemble Professor Snape?" Ron raised a questionable eyebrow to Hermione and Harry.

Covering his hand with his mouth, Harry pretended to be coughing as he told Ron and Hermione what he had heard. "A Slytherin heard them yelling at each other the other day in Snape's classroom as they were walking to their common room. Apparently, Hunter shattered some glass because she stormed out of his classroom with her hand bleeding-" He pretended to wipe his nose with the edge of his robe sleeve when Hunter's black eyes shot in their direction.

"Mr. Weasley!" Hunter snapped bitterly at him, "Why don't you come show the class the advantages of a fire protection spell?" She was pleased to see that she had managed to wipe the smirk off his beet-red freckled face, "I'm sure you and your fellow Gryffindors back there can finishing gossiping about teacher relationships _after _class." There was no point in pretending that her and Snape weren't fighting, a student had heard the entire incident and they had told everyone else at Hogwarts.

Hermione stood close to Harry as they watched Ron walk to the front of the class so Hunter could have a real test subject besides the Snape-like wax doll. "Poor Professor Hunter," the bright witch secretly whispered to Harry, "She must have really liked Professor Snape."

Now that he and Hermione were finally alone, Harry could ask her to be his date at Lupin and Tonk's wedding on Valentines Day. Awkwardly clearing his voice, he leaned closer to her so their shoulders would brush to help grab her attention. "Hermione-will you go with me to Lupin's wedding as my date?" Harry whispered in her ear so no one else would hear.

Looking away from Ron, who was gingerly placing his hand into the salamander fire after Hunter had placed a protective charm on his skin, Hermione had a disappointed look in her hazel-colored eyes. "I would really like to Harry-but-" she watched her friend's eyes grow dull, "Ron has already asked me..."

Harry stared blankly at the clever witch, "When did he ask you?" he paused for a moment, "What happened to Kelsay?" He could feel his rage growing deep inside of him, Ron had his Quidditch-loving Kelsay.

"They broke up two weeks ago-" Hermione looked away from Harry, "Kelsay found out that Ron still-still has feelings for me..." She finally brought herself to look at Harry, "I'm so sorry Harry-I didn't think that you would-" the witch fell silent when Ron walked over to them in the very back of the classroom.

"Did you guys see that?" Ron lifted his hand to show them that there were no burns on it, "Amazing, huh?" The redhead noticed Harry's sudden surly look in his general direction, "What's the matter mate?"

Opening his mouth to begin arguing with his best friend, the bell rang, signaling the end of class; he closed his mouth and went to grab his books. Harry heard the vampire call out his name and tell him to remain in class; this was his excuse not to walk with his friends to their next class. Forcing a fake smile on his lips, Harry shrugged his shoulders at Ron and Hermione, "I'll catch up with you guys."

"See you later mate," Ron patted Harry on the back and followed Hermione out of the Dark Arts classroom.

Standing silent until everyone was gone except for Harry, Hunter tossed her wax doll of Snape into the salamander fire with a scowl on her face. "Fighting with your friends over things like that isn't worth it, Mr. Potter," the vampire could tell that Harry was a bit depressed.

"How do you know that?" Harry thought he should be as every bit bitter to Hermione and Ron for going behind his back.

Hunter smiled at her star student, "Because...I was once in the same position you are in-still am actually." Pushing her blue hair behind her ears, she tried to think of a way to explain to the boy what she was speaking about. "Are you excited for Lupin and Tonk's wedding next week?"

The Gryffindor finally understood what she had meant, Hunter still liked Lupin but he was marrying Tonks now. That was why Hunter and Lupin fought constantly-because Tonks and Snape had gotten in the way.

When he nodded in reply, Hunter replaced the scowl on her face with a toothy grin. "It's best to keep your friends close, Mr. Potter... You might need them here pretty soon," the vampire glanced down at her right bare wrist where her golden snake bracelet had been; she instantly thought of her Potions Master. "Don't throw your friendship away just because of some petty date-life is too short to worry about those sort of things!" She was pleased to see Harry's green eyes light up, "Besides, there are plenty of girls in this school who want to date _The Boy Who Lived_," Hunter smirked at his blushing face. "Run along to class, before your friends worry about where you have gone to," she waved him goodbye.

Seconds after the classroom door clicked shut, Quinn swooped down from his hiding spot in the dragon skeleton's skull that was suspended from the ceiling. He transformed back into his human form before he gracefully touched the stone floor, "You've really taken a liking this boy, haven't you?" The blonde vampire cracked his knuckles loudly, "I thought you despised his parents-"

"I do. Harry is different from them though... The boy has wonderful and caring friends," Hunter gave her younger brother a coy smile. "James only had two _loyal_ friends in the end and Lily always _traded_ hers in for_ better models _every month."

Quinn raised a curious eyebrow at her, "Sharp tongue today, dear sister. Are we still bitter about the feud with Severus?"

"I hope to never speak to him again," Hunter spat as she reached for something in her black robe pocket.

Her brother chuckled quietly to himself, "What about the little speech you just told the boy?" As long as he remained positive, so would his older sister.

"I don't like to practice what I preach," she finally found what she was desperately searching for. Popping the cap off the headache potion bottle, her pallid face turned a light shade of green as she watched the yellow frothy liquid bubble and hiss. "Last one too," she mumbled to herself like it was a bad thing.

"You told him everything though?"

She swallowed the potion in one loud gulp before she replied, "Almost-everything," she squinted her eyes at the sour taste that was now in her mouth. "There are some things he should never know..." The vampire tossed her brother the empty phial and then pulled out another from her robe pocket; this was her aging potion. Hoping that the aging potion would take the nasty taste out of her mouth, Hunter pulled the cork off the glass bottle and took a swig of the blue liquid.

"What-that he is one of Voldemort's favorite hand puppets?" Quinn knew everything about the Dark Lord and his faithful Death Eaters. That was one of the perks of befriending Mundungus Fletcher-the dirty thief could sneak and steal information about anything you would possibly need to know.

For a moment, Hunter didn't feel like answering another one of her younger brother's pestering questions. "No," the blue-haired vampire gave her brother a broken smile, which matched the state of her cold heart. "That I still love him and miss him..."

- - - - - - -

Scratching the back of his head, the Potions Master pushed himself out of his comfortable seat at the smooth, black leather couch in the Slytherin Common Room. He had been helping Malfoy with a Transfiguration paper most of the night; his favorite student needed a higher passing grade in McGonagall's class. Malfoy's black dragon hatchling was growing on Snape; it had fallen asleep in his lap while he was telling what Malfoy needed to write down.

Yawning and stretching his arms far behind his back, the hooked-nose character wandered out of the freezing common room and headed back towards his gloomy office. He paused when he was just about to unlock his office, _Why don't you go take a break_. Letting go of the door handle, Snape climbed the stone steps to the main floor of the castle and headed outside.

Snape quickly slipped his hands into his pants pockets when a cold breeze suddenly sent a shiver down his spine as he crossed the damp grass and headed towards the Whomping Willow. It was an especially cold February evening, _A few shots of fire whiskey will warm you right up_, he told himself in a semi-positive voice.

He aimed his black wand at the frantically-moving Whomping Willow and was about to temporarily stun the tree when he heard someone sneezing off to the right side of him. Grumbling under his breath, Snape turned his head to see a bat sneezing several feet above his head. "You're not very good at stalking, are you?" Snape lowered his wand to watched the bat transform into a young blonde vampire.

Coughing for a minute, Quinn appeared like he was very disgusted with something. "I-I think I just swall-owed a dragonfly..." Pulling a scaled wing out of his mouth, he shivered at the thought of eating a bug. "Absolutely repulsive," Quinn spat as he tried to get the taste out of his mouth.

"Why are you following me Quinn?" Snape raised his eyebrows at Hunter's equally-strange brother.

"I wanted to talk to you," he ignored the Potions Master's unenthusiastic expression, "But you were in the Slytherin Common Room for ages...and Dumbledore doesn't want me going to places where I shouldn't be." Quinn glanced over at the Whomping Willow, "Where are you going anyways?"

Snape sighed loudly, there was no way of getting rid of Quinn now, "To see if there is a pub in Hogesmeade that is still open this late at night." He couldn't believe what he was about to say next, "Would you like to tag along?" Watching Quinn's disgusted face transform into an excited expression made Snape realize that he had made a major mistake in inviting Quinn to join him at the pub.

- - - - - - -

Hunter lifted her head from her piles of parchments at her office desk when she heard a small tapping sound at her window. Glancing at the clock on her desk, she wondered who in the world would be sending her an owl this late in the evening. The vampire opened the window and took the envelope from the owl's beak; it flew away before she could offer the bird a reward. Turning away from the window with a befuddled expression on her pallid face, Hunter curiously examined the envelope in her hands.

It had been hastily sealed and the inked words on the front of the envelope had been smeared by the sender's hand. Ripping the envelope open, Hunter read the barely-readable, scribbled words on a torn piece of spare parchment.

_Avalon,_

_Umbridge is conducting a surprise raid at Hogsmeade right now. They just received a tip off from someone that there were Death Eaters in the Boarshead Pub last night. I think it's Bellatrix and a few of the new Death Eaters. Hope you get this in time-Bellatrix is defiantly up to something!_

_L. M._

"Quinn-" Hunter went into her private chambers to wake up her sleeping brother, "I need to go-" her black eyes quickly changed to a white hue. "Quinn?" she sounded frightened now when she could not see her brother anywhere, "Where are you?" Spending a few minutes throwing his dirty robes everywhere on the floor, she realized that he had taken his wand with him. "Son of a bitch," Hunter crumpled part of the letter as she rushed out of her office and went to find Dumbledore.

Kicking his office door open and scaring the poor old wizard to death, Hunter stood in the doorway panting. "We have a major problem Albus-" the blue-haired vampire quickly explained that her brother was missing and what she had just learned from Lucius Malfoy back at the Ministry of Magic.

"Use the Floo Powder," Dumbledore pointed to the tiny glass pot resting on the top of his fireplace, "I have a direct connection to Miss Miggin's pie shop-" he explained as she hastily grabbed a handful of fine powder from the pot. The headmaster called Hunter's name before she stepped into the fireplace, "Take this!" he tossed her his wand. "Hopefully you won't need it..." Dumbledore watched Hunter disappear in a burst of flames. "Not good...not good indeed," he whispered to himself as he re-read the note Hunter had handed over in such a hurry.

- - - - - -

Following the Potions Master inside the Boarshead Pub, the blonde vampire's light blue eyes watered when he walked straight into a cloud of cigar smoke. Desperately trying to not act out of place, Quinn covered his mouth so no one would hear him coughing. He suddenly stopped following his sister's boyfriend and veered off to the left side of the grimy pub.

"Salutations my fair lady," Quinn bowed to the blushing witch. "I must say," he whispered in a smooth voice as he pulled up a chair to her table, "Someone with such beauty should not be sitting at a table by herself..."

_Now I know what Avalon means when she says her brother is easily pleased and distracted_, Snape chuckled to himself as he watched Quinn flirt with a blonde witch who was conveniently eating some strawberries. Shaking his head at the entire thing, the Potions Master continued on with his mission for the night-to get pissed drunk. After paying for three pints of fire whiskey, Snape finally found the cleanest table in the pub to sit down at.

Twenty minutes later, Quinn wandered back over to Snape's table with a bright grin on his young pallid face. Slicking his spiked blonde hair back with one hand, the vampire quickly pulled one of the three pints away from Snape's reach. "You have to teach classes tomorrow, remember?" Quinn ignored the dark scowl on Snape's forehead.

"So...what is her name?" Snape smirked at Quinn. The Potions Master was hoping to steer clear of the subject of him and Hunter-for the night at least.

Grinning from ear to ear, with his pearly white fangs showing, Quinn seemed to be ecstatic about getting the witch's name and address in less than twenty minutes of wooing. "The fair lady's name is Sasha H-" the young vampire suddenly narrowed his blue eyes at Snape when he realized something. "Oy," he growled, "I'm not here to talk about me...I'm here to set things straight between _you_ and my dear _sister_!"

_Damn_, Snape took a sip of his fire whiskey, _So close too_...

"Now...I hate to say this but-my sister is too headstrong and she will never listen to me," Quinn ran the tips of his fingers around the ring of his glass; just like Hunter would do whenever there was something troubling her mind. "How are you going to apologize to her?"

Snape began laughing as if Quinn had just told him the funniest joke in the world, "_I'm_ not going to _apologize_ to _her_!"

"_Yes-you are_!" Quinn slammed his glass down on the table, spilling a few drops of fire whiskey. Luckily, the Boarshead Pub was always loud; no one noticed the two men arguing in the back of the pub.

The Potions Master snorted in disbelief, "_She_ should be the one _apologizing_ to _me_! _She's_ the one who has been _lying_ to _me_ this entire time!"

"Did you ever think that she was _lying to you _to keep you _safe_!"

"Me safe? Safe from what-" Snape felt a shiver run down his spine. _Something is not right here_... Looking out of the corners of his black eyes, Snape caught sight of four hooded figures sitting at a table on the other side of the pub.

"Severus? Are you even listening to me?" The second Quinn blurted out Snape's name, one of the hooded figures picked up their head and glanced over in Snape's direction.

_Death Eaters_...the Potions Master was sure of it. Reaching across the table, Snape grabbed Quinn by the collar and pulled him almost across the table to make him shut up. "_Keep your mouth shut_," he hissed in a cold voice at the utterly confused vampire. "We are no longer safe here..."

Finally getting Snape's message, Hunter's brother was released from Snape's death grip and he calmly sat back down in his chair like nothing was wrong. Quinn's slightly-pointed ears twitched, "Bellatrix is here-I can't decipher the other voices though..." the blonde vampire didn't move his lips. He lifted his nose higher in the air when he caught sent of something familiar, "No-it can't be..."

"What is it?" Snape raised an eyebrow.

"I smell Umbridge-" Quinn hissed.

As if that was her cue to enter the scene, the stout Ministry of Magic worker kicked the pub's door wide open. Stepping into the grimy pub, Umbridge was followed by her faithful Aurors. Clearing her voice in the same annoying way she has always done, the toad-like woman announced that the Ministry of Magic was conducting a raid. "There have been multiple reports of _suspicious characters _lurking about this filthy excuse for a pub!"

Quinn's blue eyes suddenly lighted up as if he just had a brilliant idea, "I've got a plan to get us out of here," the vampire hissed between his sharp canines.

"No-Qui-" Snape started to say something but it was already too late.

Standing up from his wooden seat, the blonde vampire turned around to stare Umbridge down with his eyes glowing blood red. "The only thing that is _suspicious _is _your rancid stench_!" Quinn folded his arms smugly across his chest to show that he was unafraid of Umbridge and her Aurors.

"_Quinn_!" the Potions Master leapt out of his seat and pulled the vampire down to the floor as Umbridge shot a hex in their direction.

Using this distraction to their advantage, the Death Eaters flipped their table over and began shooting hexes and curses at the Ministry of Magic workers. Panic in the Boarshead Pub quickly ensued, as the innocent wizards and witches tried to dodge the aim of the battling Death Eaters and Aurors.

Using their table as cover, Snape shot a dirty look at Quinn, "_I should have known not to invite you to tag along_!" Taking his wand out, the Potions Master poked his head over the top of the table to see if they could make a break for the exit. Snape quickly ducked back down to grab Quinn by the robe collar once more, "_Keep up_!" he barked as he dragged the blonde vampire out from behind their cover.

After ducking behind several more tables, slowly but surely, the two safely snuck out of the Boarshead Pub without a scratch on them. Their troubles weren't over once they were outside though, several more Aurors were guarding both ends of the street to make sure no one would escape the Ministry's clutches this time.

"Head to the Shreiking Shack! I'll catch up with you there!" Snape ordered once he had managed to disarm the two inexperienced Aurors who were blocking one of the escape routes. The Potions Master glanced over his shoulder to see Quinn turning an Auror into a wizard-icicle and then bolting down the cobbled street with inhuman speed.

Hiding in the shadows and sticking close to the walls of the shops, Snape managed to sneak by five more Aurors on the main street before he stepped into a darkened alleyway to catch his breath. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end when he felt something poke sharply into his back; someone had been waiting for him.

"Hello, Severus," Bellatrix's voice sounded like acid to Snape's ears, "I haven't seen you in weeks..." The sadistic witch jabbed the end of her wand deeper into Snape's back, "Do you want me to keep you up with the latest gossip?" she hissed in his ear. "I hear that the Dark Lord says _you_ are _expendable_ now... Do you think that's true?" Bellatrix laughed shrilly when she noticed Snape's right shoulder was twitching, "I thought so..."

Snape felt Bellatrix place her boney hand on his shoulder and dig in her sharp nails, "I _also_ hear that _your little vampire_ is aspiring to become the Dark Lord's apprentice...but that will never happen. The Dark Lord will _never allow _a _traitor_ like her to be back in his good graces so quickly!"

The crazy Death Eater only had one weakness, she would become extremely jealous whenever another Death Eater would receive more attention from Voldemort than her. "If I remember correctly _Bellatrix_," Snape gripped the end of his wand tighter, "_Pettigrew_ is the only Death Eater who is _benefitting_ from the Dark Lord's good graces-"

Cursing Snape before he could say more about Pettigrew receiving all of the benefits for remaining so loyal to Voldemort for so many years, Bellatrix had enough with toying around with her prey. The Death Eater swiftly disarmed Snape and then petrified him at the dead-end wall of the alleyway, "_Poor Severus_," she laughed shrilly. Something hanging around Snape's neck caught her eye; it was the medallion Hunter had given him to keep him safe; Bellatrix ripped it off his neck to examine it closer. "The Dark Lord would be pleased if I give this to him as a gift," her voice trailed off when she could see the burning anger in his dark eyes. "_Especially_ since _I _took this from _you_ right before _I killed_ _you_!" Bellatrix flicked her wand at him with a dark gleam in her eyes.

The back of Snape's throat began to itch, but it soon began to burn. His black eyes went wide when his throat started to swell; he was going to slowly and painfully choke to death. There was nothing Snape could do either, he would have to remain petrified the entire time he was dying. The Potions Master felt terrible for what he had done now. If he had never yelled at Hunter-he would still be alive and still be with her. Everything began to blur as his oxygen supply was cut off, centimeter by centimeter. Bellatrix high-pitched, shrill laughter rang in Snape's ears as everything started to fade to black, _This is it_...

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Suddenly the witch's laughter was cut short and the last thing Snape saw was a bright neon flash of green striking Bellatrix squarely in the back. Free from the sadistic witch's spells, Snape's muscles didn't have the strength to hold his body up any longer; he collapsed to the ground, barely conscious. The Potions Master felt something cold and soft touch his cheek, his vision was still impaired; "_Severus_..." _My angel_, his eyes closed.

- - - - - -

Immediately sitting up in his bed fully awake, Snape was panting heavily from the terrible nightmare he just had. Wiping the sweat from his brow, the Potions Master suddenly realized that was wasn't dreaming about being attacked by Bellatrix. His dark black eyes focused on the wise headmaster, who was sitting at the end of Snape's hospital bed. _None of it was dream_?

"Glad to have you back Severus," there was a warm twinkled in Dumbeldore's soft eyes, "We were all worried about you..." The headmaster got up from his seat and handed the Potions Master his copy of the Daily Prophet, "I think you'll enjoy the headlines from today's paper," his eyes were still sparkling.

Glancing down at the giant bold letters on the top of the newspaper, Snape's thin lips curled into a smirk. "Bellatrix Lestrange found dead after the Ministry of Magic raided the Boarshead Pub," his voice was a bit hoarse and his throat was still sore from last night. "_All_ of the damn credit goes to _Umbridge_..._how convenient for her_," the Potions Master spat in a bitter tone as he handed the newspaper back.

Nodding his head in agreement, Dumbledore placed his tired hands into his multi-colored robe pockets after making the newspaper disappear out of thin air. His eyes went wide when he felt his right hand brush up against something cold and smooth, "Ah-I nearly forgot..." Pulling the gold medallion from his pocket, the headmaster gingerly passed it over to Snape's open hands. "You must have more pureblood in you than you think," Dumbledore commented softly, "A Merlin heirloom like this is very rare indeed..." he smiled as he watched Snape place the protective medallion back over his neck. Clapping his hands together, the elder wizard suddenly realized what time it was. "I must be going, I have a meeting with the Minister of Magic in a few minutes," the soft smile was still on his cracked lips, "Madame Pomfrey says you can _retreat_ to your room if it _pleases_ you."

"Who was teaching my classes today?" Snape rubbed his neck as he waited for Dumbledore to reply; he perfectly knew well what the answer would be.

- - - - - -

Hunter's white quill scratched across the Dark Arts parchment she was grading when her office door was kicked open without any warning. Biting her lip, the vampire lifted her head to see who was rudely interrupting her private time and her concentration. Her black eyes changed to an electric blue hue when she saw the Potions Master standing in the doorway with a furious look on his face. _Back to normal I see_... Hunter thought to herself as her eyes quickly dimmed back to a lifeless black color.

Slamming the Dark Arts professor's door behind him, Snape continued to give Hunter dirty and nasty scowls as he stormed to the front of her office desk. "Dumbledore tells me that _you _were teaching _my _classes today," the hooked-nose character spat in a cold voice.

"You were sick in the hospital wing!" Hunter threw her quill across her desk and jumped out of her seat to defend herself. "Who else is going to teach your classes?" she walked out from behind her desk and stood inches away from Snape's face to prove that she was not going to back down this time. "I'm sure Hagrid would _never_ volunteer to teach your classes-not that _you_ would _even_ _permit Hagrid_ to take _one step_ into the dungeons area...It's not-" She closed her mouth when she noticed a different look in Snape's cold eyes now, it was a look of lust.

Leaning forward, Snape kissed Hunter passionately on the lips and wrapped his arms around her waist so she would not be able to get away this time. Then the Potions Master did something Hunter had never expected him to do in a thousand years-he got down on one knee.

* * *

**Notes: **Muwhaha, I absolutely love this chapter. I tied a lot of drama, suspense, humor, and action into this chapter, turned out pretty well, didn't it? Hopefully everybody enjoyed how the chapter ended...nice and sweet. Lol, yes I can mushy every once in a while. Sorry for such a long wait. THANK YOU ZIMAGESTO AND LADY HEXAKNIGHT FOR REVIEWING!

**Zimagesto: **I guess it's one of the major requirements to be a Dark Arts teacher, you have to love everything dark and dangerous, or be partly evil at least. I love Minotaurs, especially since I had to write a 80 page paper on Greek, Roman, and Egyptian Mythology two weeks ago, and I wrote at least 4 pages on the Minotaur in King Minos' Labyrinth. I can't believe that scholars actually found King Minos' palace and the actual Labyrinth! Oh hey, I was wondering...out of all of the characters you have created for your Harry Potter fanfictions, which one is your favorite?

**Lady Hexaknight**: Hopefully you sawwhat I was talking about earlier whenwe were chatting onmessenger last weekend. LOL. Thanks for the wonderful ideaof Umbridge leading the raid, ;) She's so much fun to add into my story now...even though she is an evil toad-of-a-woman. Putting Fletcher back into the story means a lot, you'll find this out in later chapters...I've already completed all of the chapters for the month of March, April, andMay, and the last two chapters of June, so this is how I know. LOL. Don't question me, I know these things! Hope to talk to you soon onmessenger.


	21. My Bloody Valentine

Quinn bolted across his sister's private chambers throwing shirts around trying to find one clean enough to wear to the wedding. He hummed the traditional tune of a wedding to himself as he continued to sear for some clean articles of clothing. "Sister?" the blonde vampire stuck his head out from behind the bookcase to see if his older sister was still hanging around.

"Here's your shirt," Hunter tossed him a brand new formal blouse, "and don't spill blood on it like you did the last shirt I gave you!"

Ignoring his sister's ideal threats, Quinn slipped his shirt on and quickly did the buttons. "I'm certainly pleased to hear that you worked out your problems with old _grapefruit-nose_," he smirked when he heard Hunter snort in reply.

"Are you informing me that you _want _Severus and I to get married?" Hunter asked in a sly voice; she had not yet told him the good news.

Stepping into her office, Quinn was attempting to tie his own black tie. After tangling his hands together in the tie, the young vampire asked for his sister's help. While she was untangling the knots he had made, Quinn spotted something on her neck-something he had never seen before. "What is _that_?" his voice cracked slightly.

Hunter did not reply until she was finished with fixing the silk black tie over her brother's neck, "Severus gave it to me..." she whispered.

"Rubies are a bit much for an apology gift," Quinn narrowed his eyes at her as he carefully tried to fit all of the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together. He dropped his jaw when he had finally solved the mystery, "Blood and flames-you're engaged already, aren't you!"

Before the Dark Arts professor could reply, Quinn grabbed her by the hands and began dancing around with her in her office. "MY SISTER IS GETTING MARRIED!"

Their celebrating was interrupted by a loud tapping noise coming from the only window in Hunter's office. "Who owns that owl," Quinn asked quietly as he followed his sister over to the window, "I've never seen it before..."

Opening the window, the black owl swopped into Hunter's office and dropped a tattered envelope into her open hands. The bird landed on her wooden desk to rest for a few minutes; it was obvious that the owl was out of breath. "It's Walden's owl..." the blue-haired vampire began to rip the envelope open, "I believe its name is Crucio."

Giving Macnair's owl a curious look, Quinn slowly approached the bird with his hand as if he was going to attempt to touch it. "Now why would you name a bird after a pain-inflicting curse?"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you..." Hunter already knew what was going to happen.

For a moment, Macnair's owl cooed softly to Quinn as if it was trying to lure him into coming closer. Once Quinn's fingers were within reach, Crucio chomped down on them with his black beak. The black owl fluffed its feathers with a joyous look in its yellow eyes as it watched Quinn scream in pain about his fingers being nearly bitten off.

The blonde vampire sucked on his thumb as he watched the smile on Hunter's pallid face slowly fade away. "What is it dear sister? Bad news...?"

She handed him the note from Macnair, "_The Dark Lord is requesting my presence immediately_..." Hunter pushed her curled blue hair behind her slightly-pointed ears as she thought about what to do. "Tell Severus that I'll be a bit late to the wedding, will you?" She kissed her brother on the cheek. "Can you give Crucio a treat also?" Her brother knew that this was an order, not a question.

"Be careful, my dear baby sister." Quinn scratched the back of his spiked head as he watched his sister silently slip out of her office. He jumped when the owl cooed softly at him again, "Oh-no...I'm not falling for that one again!" the young vampire narrowed his eyes at Macnair's bird, "You don't bite the hand that feeds you!"

- - - - - -

Harry paced back and forth as he waited for his date to Lupin and Tonk's wedding to meet him in front of the entrance to the second floor. His date was pretty last minute and he couldn't believe that she had actually said yes to accompanying him to a werewolf's wedding. Glancing around the empty Grand Staircase, the Gryffindor impatiently tapped his extra-shiny shoe on the stone floor. _Did she forget_? _Was she just joking when she said yes_...? As he was starting to second-guess his guesses, he heard someone giggling off to the right of him.

Turning his head, Harry's green eyes lighted up when he saw his date, a fifth-year Ravenclaw named Svetlana Kiroff. This silver-haired beauty was from Romania; she had the softest voice Harry had ever heard. Harry had always thought she was very beautiful; he even thought she was of Vela ancestry. Her silver eyes were always cold and emotionless-reminding Harry of Hunter's lifeless eyes. Thanks to spending nearly everyday speaking with his Dark Arts professor, Harry could somehow read the signs in Svetlana's emotionless, silver eyes of whenever she was displeased or pleased.

"Did you think I would forget about you, Harry?" Svetlana's red lips curled slightly into a smile as she took his hand.

"I did for a minute there." He could tell that Svetlana had gone to a lot of trouble looking presentable for Lupin and Tonk's wedding. Harry smiled at her as she followed him down the corridor on the second floor towards Dumbledore's office, "You look absolutely stunning, Svetlana..." He never knew that it would be possible to find a dress that would match both her eye and hair color.

"Thank you," Svetlana squeezed his hand gently, "It's not everyday a girl like me is asked to a _werewolf's wedding _by the _famous_ _Harry Potter_..." The Ravenclaw was a first-year when Remus Lupin was teaching the Dark Arts class, she thought he was a wonderful professor.

He laughed at her little joke. Harry was relieved to find that Svetlana acted just as charming as she looked. _I finally asked a girl on a date who will not cry in front of me for hours on end or tell me that I am a horrible dancer_!

They entered Dumbledore's office and were warmly greeted by Professor McGonagall, "Ah-there you are Mr. Potter," she sounded a bit worried. "You better get a move on..._best man_..." The Scottish headmistress grinned as she watched her students disappear into the flames of Dumbledore's fireplace.

Once they were gone, McGonagall glanced up at the ceiling, "You can come down now Quinn..."

Landing perfectly on his polished black shoes, the blonde vampire straightened his white blouse collar before moving another inch. "That was a bit close, wasn't it?" Quinn winked to McGonagall, who just simply nodded in reply. "My dear sister is going to be a tad late, Professor McGonagall..."

"I will leave a note for her and at least a handful of Floo Powder before I go," McGonagall reassured Hunter's somewhat-nervous brother. "Severus is already at the wedding. I told him to keep an eye on you..." the elder witch narrowed her eyes at Quinn to help prove to him that she was serious about having Snape keep an eye on the young vampire. "I want no trouble from you or Fletcher, alright?"

Quinn gave the Transfiguration professor a regal bow, "I swear to keep my hands tied behind my back the entire time..." McGonagall never noticed that the blonde vampire had his pallid fingers crossed as he stepped into the fireplace.

- - - - - - -

"I don't know Avalon..." Antonin Dolohov scratched the back of his head, "You do like to _tweak _the nose of danger..."

Lucius leaned forward in his chair, "Antonin does have a point there..."

"The Dark Lord was furious when he was informed of Bellatrix's death. He knows that _you _had something to do with it, lass..." Macnair rubbed his scratchy chin with his right thumb and index finger.

Narrowing her black eyes at her old friends, Hunter pretended to ignore all of their subtle hints that if Voldemort finds her-there will be hell to pay. "I did not kill her!" the blue-haired vampire snarled at them as she stubbornly folded her arms across her chest. She then mouthed the words "_With my wand_," and pointed to the closed door to tell the Death Eaters that someone was eavesdropping on their conversation.

"If _you_ didn't kill her...then _who_ did?" Dolohov winked to Hunter.

"I heard that the Dark Lord was going to offer Pettigrew's position to Bellatrix if that bumbling fool made one more mistake... Maybe the rat killed her to secure his position?" Macnair grinned darkly when he heard someone yelp from behind the door.

"Then-" Lucius leaned far back so the first pair of wooden legs on his chair were raised off the ground, "We have our _prime_ suspect."

Hunter's ears twitched, "Better make yourself scarce gentlemen," the vampire stood up from her seat just seconds before the door slammed open with a tall, dark ominous figure standing in the doorway. "My lord," she bowed as low as she could as the Dark Lord stepped into the dusty room with his crimson eyes glowing with pure hatred. The other three Death Eaters followed her lead and bowed regally to their unhappy master.

"_Don't play games with me Avalon_!" Voldemort snarled at her bitterly, "_Get out_!" he ordered Lucius, Macnair, and Dolohov. Once they were gone, he made the door slam shut with just a simple wave of his hand. "_You killed Bella_!"

Avoiding his crimson eyes, Hunter kept her head lowered as she answered him. "_I do not kill my allies_..." she replied in a smooth and calm voice. If she made one tiny slip-the cost would be death. _Please let this work_...

"_We shall see about that-_" Voldemort flicked his wand at her and forced her to straighten up to stare him right in the eyes. He was going to find out the truth the hard way; Hunter's word was no longer valuable to him.

It felt as if Voldemort was slowly inserting daggers deeper and deeper into the back of Hunter's mind as he searched for the truth. After it felt like the Dark Lord had been reading every second of her life, he lowered his wand from her throat and pulled his red eyes away from hers. Hunter sighed with relief, he had not found any proof to convict her for Bellatrix's death.

"I know that you killed Bella," Voldemort snarled in a cold voice as he pocketed his wand with a look of disappointment on his face. "But...it's obvious that you have been erasing your memory..." he noticed the vampire stiffen slightly. "I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself," the Dark Lord finally hissed after a moment of silence. "I want you to bring me Barty Crouch Jr...from Azkaban..."

Hunter gave her old master a strange look, "Barty Crouch Jr was given the Dementor's kiss three years ago, my lord. He is of no use to anyone!"

"_HE IS OF USE TO ME_!" Voldemort snarled in a vicious tone of voice as he reached for his wand to curse Hunter for her lack of confidence in him. "_Bring him to me_-_tonight_!" he smirked as he watched the vampire cry out in pain.

- - - - - - -

"Wonderful wedding Remus," Dumbledore shook the werewolf's hand and warmly congratulated him on marrying such a lovely woman. The headmaster glanced over his shoulder to see that the Potions Master's attention was elsewhere; he nudged Snape with his elbow.

Clearing his voice, Snape followed Dumbledore's example and shook Remus' hand as he congratulated him. "Thank you for inviting us to your wedding," the Potions Master hoped that this would be satisfactory for the elder wizard. He was relieved to watch Dumbledore wish Remus the best of luck and then mosey on over to pass more of his best wishes to the bride.

The two stood awkwardly in front of each other not knowing really what else to say. Remus noticed that Snape was fidgeting with his bow tie, "Annoying, aren't they?" the werewolf scratched the back of his shaggy hair and smiled weakly. He could see the Potions Master's black eyes wandering over to left, where Hunter was giving Tonks a hug. "So...when are you going to propose to Avalon?"

Staggering over to his future brother-in-law, Quinn patted Snape on the back, completely ignoring the agitated expression on Snape's face. He had heard Remus ask the question as he was on his way back over to the refreshment table to have another drink. "Old grapefruit-nose here has already proposed to my dear sister!" the drunken blonde vampire gave Snape and Remus a toothy grin.

"Quinn..." Snape growled under his breath, "You have five seconds before I try to stab you in the heart with a dull wooden spoon..."

Thinking that the Potions Master just joking around, Quinn stood next to him taking another sip of his fire whiskey. His electric blue eyes went wide with fear when Snape asked Remus to hold his drink for him so he could "brutally murder" his future brother-in-law.

Quickly coming to his senses, Quinn bolted across the frozen grass with Snape chasing after him yelling threats. "I was just _joking_ about the grapefruit-nose part!" Quinn cried as he jumped over an empty lawn chair to get away from his attacker.

"_Come back here Quinn_!" Snape snarled as he chased the drunken vampire around the wedding reception area hoping to silence Quinn for good.

"What on _earth_ are they doing?" Hunter walked over to Remus and raised her eyebrows at the sight of Snape chasing her brother around the refreshments table.

Remus chuckled, "Your brother has just told me the wonderful news..." his yellow-tinted eyes shined when he saw the reaction on Hunter's face. "I'm pleased that you are _finally_ settling down with someone," the werewolf winked at her.

The smile was wiped off her pallid face when he said this, "I'll be settling into my own grave here pretty soon if I'm not careful..." If it had not been for Dumbeldore's help, Hunter would not have made it to the wedding alive. "...at least that is what Voldemort told me if I was suspected of killing anymore of his favorite Death Eaters."

The werewolf gave her a calculating look, "Are you pleased with the way everything has turned out so far though?"

Biting her lip, she thought more about being engaged with Snape, "Yes... It was worth everything..._he _was worth all of this agony..."

"How is everything _else_?" he was of course talking about the nasty curse the Dark Lord had placed on Hunter.

Lifting her right hand up his shoulder, he could clearly see that her hand was shaking under the stress she was putting it through. "I'm starting to lose all feeling in this arm..." Hunter sighed as she lowered her arm back to her side, "I might have to resort to new forms of _medical treatment_ if this continues on like this..." She gave him a sweet fake smile, "I'm happy though...especially for you. The bookworm _finally _found the _perfect heroine _of his life story," her eyes changed to blue for a moment. "I'm truly happy for you Remus."

Dragging the drunken vampire by the shirt collar, Snape stormed over to Hunter's side. "I believe that your brother needs to go back to the castle, he seems to be a bit _mute_ right now..." Snape smirked when he watched Quinn try to open his mouth to deny everything but the blonde vampire was unable to. Shoving Quinn towards the Weasley's home, the Potions Master shook Remus' hand once again and told him that he had a lovely time.

Snape secretly wrapped his arm around Hunter's waist without drawing any attention to them as they went back inside the Weasley house. "_My Angel of the Night_," he whispered in her ear as they walked into the living room. He kissed her on the cheek and told her that he loved her before he snapped at Quinn to get into the fireplace before he stabbed him with a wooden spoon. Ever since he had proposed to her, the Potions Master had changed considerably. He would hold her hand, kiss her on the cheek, and declare his love for her right in public. The near-death experience had changed his life; he never wanted to waste another minute being alone.

Their cold black eyes met for a moment before they were engulfed by the flames of the Weasley's fireplace. _Our wedding will be much more elegant_, Snape was pleased to hear her laugh.

- - - - -

"_What the hell is wrong with you_? Naming an owl after a bloody pain-inflicting curse..." Quinn spat at Macnair just before the blonde vampire placed a white mask over his pallid face. "You should have seen what your damn fowl did to my finger!"

Rolling his eyes, Walden Macnair slipped his Death Eater's mask on and pulled his robe's hood over his head to hide the rest of his facial features in the shadows.

"_Quinn_! Keep your mouth _shut_!" Hunter snarled at her younger brother with her eyes glowing blood red in his general direction.

"Yes, keep quiet!" Lucius Malfoy backhanded Quinn on the side of the face to try and knock some sense into the vampire.

Tapping his foot on the stone floor, Antonin Dolohov impatiently waited for Quinn, Malfoy, and Macnair to cease arguing. "Might I remind you three that we are on a _time limit _here..."

"Come on," Hunter placed a black mask over her face and raised the hood over her head so her brother and her old friends could only see her glowing red eyes. "Do I look like the Dark Lord?" the vampire hissed in an emotionless tone of voice.

"Spitting image, lass," Macnair patted her on the back before they headed towards the one place they never wanted to see again-Azkaban. He shivered as he glanced up at the ominous Azkaban fortress, "At least the dementors are gone..."

Hunter understood exactly how Macnair felt, those sightless soul-sucking fiends were the source of most of her reoccurring nightmares. Looking over her shoulder, she could see the icy waters of the North Sea slam against the jagged rocks which the stone fortress stood upon. Somehow, hearing the crashing waves and the cries of seagulls calmed Hunter's jumpy mind and the others too. "Keep your eyes peeled for anything suspicious. Kill anything that moves before it kills you," the vampire hissed as she led them to the darkest side of the fortress.

There were seven Aurors guarding the entrance to the Azkaban fortress; all alert and anxious to defend their prison. Tonight the Death Eaters had lady luck on their side though, the entrance was shadowed by the moon's position, making it easy for Hunter to ambush the unsuspecting Aurors. Once they were easily disposed of, the five Death Eaters entered the fortress as if they owned the prison.

"Barty should be on the fourth floor..." Dolohov muttered to the others as he checked the staircase for any signs of more Aurors. Dolohov had been captured during the summer of 1996 and was placed in a cell directly across from the faithful Death Eater. "It will be simple to break him out of that cell-" he smiled at Hunter, "-but you already know that."

"Alright, let's go then," Malfoy double-checked to see if the area was still secure, "I don't want those damn Aurors to have enough time to prepare us a warm cup of tea with a side of crumpets..."

Following his sister and the other Death Eaters up the stone steps, Quinn's nostrils suddenly flared when he caught a familiar scent. "Strawberries..." the blonde vampire yelped when the odor of his favorite food grew stronger and stronger as they approached the fourth floor. His blue eyes lighted up the second he spotted a bowl of strawberries just lying in the corner of one of the empty cells near the entrance to the stairs.

"_There he goes_," Macnair grumbled under his breath as he watched the younger vampire scramble towards the open prison cell to retrieve the fresh strawberries.

"_QUINN_!" Hunter snarled as she ran after him, "_Get back here before I skin you alive_!" The second she pulled her brother's body out of the prison cell, someone dropped down from the prison ceiling with a large scythe in their hands. _Fuck, trap trap TRAP_! With only seconds to react, Hunter slammed the prison cell door shut, locked it, and shoved her brother towards Malfoy. "_Break him out of his cell_!" she hissed to the flabbergasted Death Eaters, _This will only take a second_.

Standing frozen in front of Malfoy, Quinn couldn't believe who was holding the scythe-the blonde-haired beauty he had wooed in the Boarshead Pub. "Sasha...?" he was heartbroken to see that the girl he had been dreaming about for the past week had just tried to kill him with a scythe. "_She's a bounty hunter_..." he whispered to himself as Malfoy forced him to follow them to where Barty Crouch was imprisoned.

Hunter pulled her hands away from the metal door when the bounty hunter attempted to slice her hands off with a swift flick of her scythe. _Make it thirty seconds_, she sighed as she pulled her wand out to finish Sasha. "_Goodbye_," she hissed in a dark voice. As she raised her wand to use the killing curse on the bounty hunter, Hunter could see a smirk on Sasha's face-something wasn't right.

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

She couldn't do one thing as her wand flew out of her pallid hands and skidded across the stone floor to be stopped by a pair of boots.The blue-haired vampire lifted her masked face to see the last person she wanted to see right then-Umbridge.

"This is such a pity," Umbridge kept her wand aimed at Hunter's chest, "Capturing a Death Eater who is trying to break _into _Azkaban..." The trap had been her plan all along...she was the one who had hired the bounty hunter. The Ministry worker flicked her wand at the locked metal gate to free the bounty hunter, "_Looks like you were useful after all_.." she commented in a sharp voice as Sasha went to stand behind her.

Umbridge turned her attention back to the vampire, "I always knew that it was _you _behind these mass breakouts...Ever since _your spineless father _was sent to Azkaban-" Umbridge lips curled into a vicious smile when she watched Hunter's eyes glow blood red. "_The apple never falls far from the tree_..."

Ripping the mask from her face, Hunter threw it down on the floor and stomped it flat with her black boot, "_My father was wrongly accused_!" This was the it for her, this would be her final confrontation with Umbridge.

"_Your father was a fool_-" Umbridge's wand twitched in her hands when Hunter flashed her fangs at her and took a step closer to her. "He never tried to cover up the incident... He never said a word in his defense during his trial..." she was pleased to see a flicker of hatred in Hunter's eyes. "Your father was a failure!" she snapped in a bitter voice, "What was it the newspapers nicknamed him...? _Magus the Sociopath_, wasn't it?"

"_I'll feed your tongue to the dogs once I'm finished with you_!" Hunter snarled as she secretly watched the bounty hunter raise her scythe into the air behind Umbridge's back.

Meanwhile, Quinn was busily kicking the metal door of Barty Crouch's prison cell down while the other Death Eaters took care of the Aurors guarding the surrounding cells. "Bloody hell," the blonde vampire scratched the back of his head as he quizzically stared at Barty Crouch, or what was left of him at least. "It looks like his brain is a vegetable now," Quinn muttered as his blue eyes gazed into Crouch's dull black eyes.

"Just grab him and let's get the hell out of here!" Macnair ordered the young vampire as he sent an Auror flying into an empty prison cell and slammed the metal door on their face. "We don't have much time!"

Knocking out the final Auror who was blocking their escape path, Malfoy yelled at his friends to get a move on and then bolted down the hall. He didn't really care if the other three were following him or not, he needed to get out. "This is fucking suicide!" Lucius Malfoy grumbled to himself as he turned the corner to get to the staircase, "Why did I _ever_ agree to this!"

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the blood spatter across the cold walls of the Azkaban fortress. Following the trail of blood, Malfoy held his breath as he poked his head into the prison cell where the bowl of strawberries had been placed. Seconds later, the pureblood Death Eater was dry heaving at the sight of Umbridge's decapitated body chained to the prison wall. "_Fucking hell_!" It had been a long time since Malfoy had seen anyone decapitated or brutally murdered with sharp weapon.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Hunter wiped the Ministry of Magic worker's blood from her shaking hands, "No one will hear her lies anymore..."

Malfoy gave Hunter a frightened look with his grey eyes. He didn't know who he should fear more-Hunter when she was on a revenge streak or Voldemort. Now he knew why Voldemort wanted to keep Hunter on his side, she was dangerous. "Where's the bounty hunter?" Malfoy finally muttered as he tore his eyes away from her bloodied face.

"Over there," Hunter quickly glanced over her shoulder to where Sasha was leaning against the bloodied wall of the prison hallway cleaning her precious scythe.

Running down the hallway, Macnair had his wand at the ready the second he spotted the bounty hunter standing behind Hunter's turned back. "Stand back Avalon!" Macnair growled as he started to mutter a curse under his breath at Sasha. He lowered his wand and fell silent when Hunter began laughing at him, "She's another one of your friends, isn't she?"

Quinn finally caught up with the others; he had Barty Crouch's limp body in his frozen hands. "He started to drool on me," he explained when Malfoy gave him a strange look because of his suddenly wet shirt.

"Sasha is a _human_ bounty hunter," Hunter sighed loudly as she caught everyone up. "She is Rufus' niece," the blue-haired vampire smirked when she watched Quinn's dull eyes suddenly grew brighter. "The Dark Lord wanted Umbridge's head...so I asked her for a little bit of help..."

"_Time schedule_!" Dolohov yelled from at the other end of the hallway.

"Why are we on a short time schedule again?" Quinn whispered to his sister as Dolohov sprinted down the hallway to catch up with the rest of the group of Death Eaters.

Hunter smiled to her younger brother; all of the rage had finally left her. "Antonin has to make it home before ten-thirty so he can tuck his daughter into bed," she laughed when Dolohov scowled at her in response.

* * *

**Notes: **Thanks to my three favorite reviewers! I love you guys! Anyways, hopefully you like this chapter. It jumps a bit here and there, I'm sorry. So, Tonks and Lupin are finally married, hells ya! Something I've been meaning to place in the last two chapters will defintely appear in the beginning of the next chapter, I promise! There is some immportance to breaking the vegetable-brained Barty Crouch out of Azkaban...but you'll understand soon enough.

**Svetlana Kiroff **belongs to the brilliant writer Zimagesto. I wrote her into the story as a thank-you present to Zimagesto for leaving me such wonderful reviews (especially the last one). If you want her taken out, please let me know hun.

**Mystress of the Dark: **Thanks hun for the review. Is your fencing instructor THAT gorgeous? Maybe you should send me a picture of him so you can get a second opinion about it. ;) Did you find your missing story files yet?

**Lady HexaKnight:** I despise Bellatrix and Umbridge also, but no one can tell that.(whistles) Now both of them are gone-yay! Just have to get rid of Pettigrew now! I can't believe I made Snape propose...I really wasn't expecting that to happen either...Glad you liked the last chapter though! I'm still coloring your Kingdom Hearts drawing btw.

**Zimagesto: **OMG, that was the best review I have ever gotten in my entire life, thank you so much. You don't know how much you made my day when you wrote what you were thinking when you were reading the last chapter and when you skimmed ahead to see what would happen. LOL. I can't believe I almost made you cry-I would never hurt Snape-well...at least not until the very end of the story if it really came down to it. Yes, Snape slipped and made a fool of himself, lol.


	22. Blood Sharing

Chopping up two plump grasshopper thoraxes into thin gooey slices, the Potions Master gently pushed the finely chopped greenish-yellow slices into the tiny cauldron bubbling at the end of his working table. He sighed with relief when he watched the cool blue liquid quickly change into a bright yellow frothy mixture. _Making these bloody headache-curing potions are enough to cause a damn headache_, he muttered to himself as he left his working table to grab the final ingredient.

"Clover...clover," Snape snatched a green-tinted bottle from one of his ingredient shelves and tugged the cork lid off with his teeth. Spitting the cork lid into his empty hand, he dumped the bottles contents into his other hand. After he found five prime specimens of clover, Snape pushed the lid back down on the bottle and carefully placed it back on the shelf.

Walking back over to his working table, Snape frowned when he noticed that the hue of headache-curing potion had changed back to a light blue. _Not enough bitterroot apparently_, he grumbled to himself as he went back over to his shelves of ingredients.

The Potions Master ceased chopping the bitterroot when he heard the door to his classroom creak open. Momentarily glancing up from what he was doing, his frown grew deeper when he saw who was standing in the doorway. "What is it Quinn?"

"H-have you seen my sister?" the blonde vampire scratched the back of his head as he glanced around the empty Potions classroom. When Snape shook his head in reply, Quinn quickly apologized for bothering him and silently closed the classroom door behind him.

Returning to chopping up the bitterroot, the Potions Master hummed to himself as the knife easily sliced through the purplish plant. His heart leaped when he suddenly felt Hunter's frozen lips on the back of his neck. The knife slipped from his hands and it ended up slicing into the back of his left hand. "_Shit_," Snape dropped the knife on the table when the liquid of the plant started to cause his wound to burn madly.

As he reached for his wand across the table to heal his stinging wound, the Potions Master was stopped by Hunter's cold hands. Holding his bleeding hand gingerly in hers, she took the knife he had dropped with her free hand. Snape kept silent as he watched Hunter turn the knife on its back so the sharp end of the blade was raised into the air. In one swift movement, the vampire swiped her hand across the blade to cut the palm of her hand.

Snape did not say a word or make a move as she placed her bleeding palm over his wound on the back of his hand. At first he felt nothing, just the stinging pain from the bitterroot juice. Then he felt the blood in his hand run cold; his whole body began to shiver. He watched her dark-colored blood slowly drip off his suddenly frozen hand and splatter on his working table.

Looking away from his bleeding hand, Snape glanced up to see the expression on Hunter's face. Her eyes were a brilliant shade of electric blue as she concentrated on the matter at hand. Suddenly, her eyes changed back to their normal lifeless hue and the vampire lifted her bleeding hand away from his. Conjuring a wet cloth with a simple snap of her fingers, Hunter carefully wiped the excess blood away from Snape's hand. "I didn't mean to frighten you," she whispered softly as she pulled the cloth away from his hand. "I was just trying to get away from Quinn..."

Opening his mouth to reassure her that no real harm was done, the Potions Master lost his words when he realized that his hand looked as good as new. "How-?" Snape lifted his hand closer to his eyes so he could inspect it more. His black eyes widened when the scars from previous injuries on his hand had been wiped away. "My hand looks five years younger..." he was flabbergasted with the magical healing properties of vampire blood.

"I better leave you be," Hunter ignored the amazed expression on his face as she kissed him on the cheek to say goodbye. As she started to walk away, she was suddenly held back by Snape's powerful hand holding her by the wrist. Turning around, Hunter could see that there was something bothering him in the back of his mind-something he had never really thought about before.

Glancing down at his healed hand and then looking back at Hunter's frozen hands, Snape wondered if his idea would actually work. The Potions Master thought long and hard about it; thinking of the pros and cons if he went through with his plan. Finally, he lifted his head and made direct eye contact with Hunter. _I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Avalon_. _I want to know what you feel, the pain you go through_..._I want to know everything_. _I don't want to die still wondering_...

Hunter was frightened by what he was begging for her to do. She didn't want to be the one turning him; it was too dangerous. Then she felt him squeeze her hand and call her his "Angel of the Night." _There is no turning back Severus_...

- - - - - -

Lying on his back, Snape watched a lonely black spider crawl along the stone ceiling searching for something to devour. If the Potions Master had done this the night before, he would have never seen the spider. Now, even though his private chambers were pitch black, he could see the tiniest cracks on the stone ceiling.

What was amazing to him that not only did his five senses grow stronger with the vampire blood that was now running through his veins, but he could senses things he could never possibly feel as a human. His ears twitched every time he heard his own heartbeat, when he could hear his own blood flowing through his veins. He sighed with relief; there was the thing he could never sense that he had always wanted to feel. Snape was finally content-with himself and with everything else in his life.

By sharing her blood with him, Snape now understood all of the pain and torment Hunter had gone through. Having her blood in him somehow allowed him to see parts of her past she could never try to explain in words. Hunter's original father was named Magus, a distant relative of the greatest wizard of all time-Merlin. As for her mother, Katherine, she was brutally murdered by a blood-thirsty wizard when Hunter was only ten years old. Magus was blamed for the death of his wife and was convicted by the Ministry of Magic after being found holding Katherine's dead body. Hunter's father was sent to Azkaban for the rest of his life, but he only lived long enough to see that his daughter entered her third year at Hogwarts. Luckily, Hunter had become friends with her Care of Magical Creatures professor, Sweetheart, and he adopted her into his family. She peacefully lived with her foster father and brother in a small cottage out by a lake for three years. Her foster father was murdered by Peter Pettigrew after refusing to join Voldemort's side and Hunter and Quinn were forced into becoming Death Eaters. Soon, Hunter had earned a respectable reputation with the Death Eaters and became Voldemort's apprentice. Before the Potters were murdered, Hunter and her brother refused to kill anymore innocent people in Voldemort's name. Voldemort, of course, responded by cursing them until they could barely breathe. The Dark Lord personally slit Hunter's throat and left Macnair to finish off her brother will he went to the Potter's home. Macnair was unable to finish the job and he ran for his life. At the odds of a million-to-one a red-haired vampire stumbled across their path and ended up saving both Hunter and her brother's life. Hunter was later on found by the Ministry of Magic and was sent to Azkaban for two years.

Her life was almost a mirror of his own. Snape couldn't believe that there was someone else who knew how it felt to never have any parents around, to know what it was like spending time in Azkaban... But there was one set of her memories that he could never get out of the back of his mind-when she was attending Hogwarts. She had been telling the truth, about knowing him since her childhood at Hogwarts; when she still had her natural raven-colored hair. The vampire had memories of watching him from afar while he and his friends argued about the different types of curses and hexes in the Library.

Snape felt a lump at the back of his throat when he finally remembered who she was. He had been cruel to her because Potter and his cronies would make fun of his new "shadow." The Potions Master had caught her once following him and he decided to hex her-in front of the entire school. _No wonder she despised me_...

"Don't worry yourself sick over that," Hunter whispered to him with her eyes still closed. "You have classes to teach in the morning," she opened one eye to see if he was taking her advice and trying to fall back asleep.

Reaching out, Snape brushed his fingertips along the outline of her cheek, "I love you..."

- - - - - -

"_Bring him to me_!" The Dark Lord hissed between his crooked teeth.

Peter Pettigrew could barely carry Barty Crouch's limp, soulless body with his short, stubby arms. Finally, Greyback grew tired of hearing Pettigrew's pitiful grunts of carrying so much weight and the werewolf snatched Crouch from the rat Animagus' weak hands. While Greyback was placing Crouch into Voldemort's favorite chair, Pettigrew scrambled around the room gathering the ingredients for the Dark Lord.

Watching from a safe distance, Hunter stared at the dull, lifeless expression on Barty Crouch's rugged face. His eyes were pitch black, she could no longer see the insanity that once ran through his cold blood. "This won't work, my lord," the blue-haired vampire snapped in a dark voice when she knew what her master was trying to do. "You'll end up killing him..."

If it had been someone else doubting his judgement, Voldemort would have cursed or killed them for their insolence. But Hunter had been around for his first attempt to revive one of his favorite Death Eaters from the dementor's kiss; she knew very well that his plan had not worked. "We have _three new ingredients _that we _did not have _with us _the last time_," the Dark Lord snapped in a bitter tone. Sometimes he wondered why he even considered to keep her alive the night he murdered her foster father.

Snorting with disbelief, Hunter stubbornly folded her arms across her chest and muttered something about the "sixth time being the charm." Right when she thought that Barty Crouch would end up like the other failed attempts, dead, the vampire froze when she spotted a dark green bubbling liquid in Pettigrew's hands. _Dementor's blood_? _How did he get a hold of that_! Hunter swallowed loudly as she watched Pettigrew slowly pour the dementor's blood into the boiling cauldron in front of Barty Crouch's feet. _Well_..._that's the first new ingredient_...

"_Now_..." Voldemort hissed in a very pleased voice, "For the final two ingredients-the blood of the two servants of _death_..."

Hunter did not enjoy the way the Dark Lord was smiling in her direction, it was as if he had just caught her with her hand in the cookie jar. Slowly taking a step back towards the exit, the vampire suddenly felt her feet freeze to the floor. _Not good_, _not good at all_...

While she was calculating her escape plan, the first servant of death, Greyback, took the knife from his powerful master and allowed his contaminated blood to drip into the hissing cauldron. Once he believed that he had given enough of his blood, the werewolf handed the knife back to the Dark Lord and moved away from the cauldron.

The rest of the Death Eaters turned their attention to Hunter, who was obviously the other servant of death. Still glued to the floor, the vampire stiffened up when the Dark Lord cautiously approached her with the knife in his boney hands. Her eyes widened with fear when her old master placed the blade on the throat scar he had given such a long time ago.

"I won't kill you..._tonight_..." Voldemort snarled under his breath as he unfroze her feet with a simple wave of his right hand. "_As long as this potion works_..._that is_," he hissed in a smooth voice before he roughly grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her towards the cauldron.

After it was over with, Hunter slipped towards the back of the room and stood next to her old friend, the Scottish Death Eater. Rubbing her wrist, the vampire wearily watched as Pettigrew scooped up a cupful of the disgusting brownish-black liquid. As the rat Animagus poured the hissing liquid into Barty's drooling mouth, Hunter desperately wished that the potion would never work. If it worked...it would mean that Voldemort was stronger than anyone had ever expected.

Nothing happened at first, the soulless Death Eater continued to drool and lay limp in his chair. Then his eyes opened wider, as if he had just swallowed a burning piece of coal. A faint gleam appeared in his lifeless black eyes seconds before Barty began to move around.

Macnair grabbed Hunter's hand when he watched Barty Crouch push himself out of his seat and stumble a few feet forward towards his master. "_How the hell_-?" he was flabbergasted with this amazing feet the Dark Lord had just pulled off, "_No one gets their soul back_..."

Slowly lowering his head, Barty Crouch bowed before his beloved master with his body slightly shaking. "M-m-my lo-ord-d," he stuttered as he tried to remember how to speak, "T-thank y-you-u..." Barty was on the verge of tears-he was so pleased to be alive again.

"It was not all of my doing Crouch," Voldemort glanced around at his faithful Death Eaters; including Hunter. "I am glad to have you back," the Dark Lord reached out and gave Barty a brand new wand.

Dumbledore pulled his head out of the pensive and subconsciously rubbed his bearded chin as he thought deeply about what he had just seen. The elder wizard gave Hunter an apprehensive expression as he paced in front of her. "Will he try to bring Bellatrix back to life also?" he sounded very troubled by this possibility.

"No, sir," the blue-haired vampire bowed her head, "I made sure that there would be no possible way to revive her..."

He nodded in reply, "Very good," the headmaster patted her on the shoulder. "Thank you for all of your sacrifices, Avalon," there was a warm twinkle in his eyes. "We still have a chance my dear...don't worry," Dumbledore whispered softly. "As long as the prophecy is still true..." he added.

The vampire lifted her head, "What about the prophecy, sir?"

"There is a _second_ prophecy my dear...one I have not yet told anyone about..." the headmaster solemnly whispered.

Hunter couldn't bring herself to smile at him; she knew that there would be very little hope that the second prophecy was a positive one. _If one dies_..._so does the other_...

- - - - - -

"What are you doing out here in the cold Harry?" Svetlana rubbed her arms as she joined the seventh-year Gryffindor by the lone tree in front of the lake. She laughed when she spotted Harry's dragon sticking its head out from underneath Harry's sweater to see who was there. "_Poor_ Charley," Svetlana grinned at Harry as she sat down next to him, "Are you cold?"

Upon hearing his name, the green-scaled dragon hatchling released a puff of smoke in the Ravenclaw's general direction. It growled softly to his master as he crawled across Harry's lap to climb into Svetlana's. "It looks like you've made a new friend," Harry smirked at the silver-haired beauty.

While Charley was warming up to the Romanian witch, Harry was flipping through the pages of his Potions books looking for a cure for burns. "He still can't control his fire-I'd be careful if I were you..." he showed her the scarred tissue on his wrists and hands.

"_Aren't you the cutest_?" Svetlana scratched Charley under his scaled chin and spoke to him as if he actually belonged to her. She laughed when she noticed the strange look on Harry's face, "I love dragons," she explained in a sweet voice. "Charley is the same breed my grandparents raise back in my homeland... I've been around them for most of my life," the Ravenclaw trailed off as she watched the dragon wag its spiked tail affectionately at her. "_Beautiful creatures_, aren't they?"

Harry twitched when he felt something hit his shoulder. Poking his head over his book, he spotted a pebble on the frozen ground. "What the hell?" Harry glanced around to find someone whistling innocently as they were walking by the lone tree. Shaking his head, the Gryffindor chuckled as he watched Ron nearly trip and fall into the muddy lake. "Good ol' Ron," he glanced back at Svetlana and noticed that she was batting her eyelashes in his direction. "What? Are my glasses fogging up again?" Harry started to take his glasses off to clean them but stiffened when he felt her cold hands on his.

As his cheeks quickly turned red, Harry awkwardly placed his glasses over his burning ears; he had never expected her to kiss him. Trying to keep his cool, Harry swallowed loudly and slammed his book shut to hide his shaking hands.

She reached out and placed her hand on his, trying to see what his reaction was if she left her hand there. The silver-haired Romanian smiled sweetly at Harry, showing him her slightly-pointed canines. Svetlana noticed his perplexed expression, "_Well_-are you going to _kiss me _or not?" she laughed when he turned a deeper shade of red.

- - - - - -

Kicking up the dead leaves from the frozen ground, Hunter dragged her feet as she thought long and hard about the prophecy. Dumbledore had told her of a second prophecy-one which deeply troubled him for months now. He had told Hunter parts of it, but he wanted her to hear it for herself. Thumbing the dark orb in her robe pocket, she didn't know if she wanted to listen to the rest of the prophecy.

She ceased kicking the cold dirt when she noticed that she had unearthed something-a beautiful cream-colored flower. Her black eyes softened when she realized that she had found an iris; her favorite flower. Snatching it from the ground, Hunter gingerly held the sword-shaped petals close to her face as she smelled its sweet scent.

Hunter lifted her head up high to look at the greying sky, _Should I listen to the prophecy_? _What if it reveals something I don't want to know_? Walking past the fountain on the south side of the Hogwarts castle, she wondered more about the second prophecy. _Might as well listen to it_... _It's not like I have much time left_.

As the dragonflies zoomed around her, the Dark Arts professor unpocketed the prophecy orb with her hands trembling with fear of what it might reveal. Sitting down on the edge of the marble fountain, Hunter wondered if Dumbledore had not told her everything-that he had purposely left some things out for her to find out for herself.

The blue-haired vampire stared deeply into the royal blue prophecy orb for a moment but then glanced away to watch the iris' sword-shaped petals sway back and forth in the cold breeze. Tightening her grip around the stem of the flower, she did not want her precious flower to float away just yet. She could have sworn that the iris was dancing, but that was impossible-flowers do not dance on their own. With a long sigh, Hunter released the flower into the air and watched it twirl and spin away on the cold currents of the wind.

* * *

**Notes: **Thanks for all of the reviews...been very busy, sorry for the long wait.


	23. Mastering Wandless Magic

Harry scratched the top of his head, "We'll be sparring on the rooftop?" He didn't understand the purpose of sword fighting on a rooftop, "Is the Whomping Willow not dangerous enough anymore?"

"We need to work on your balance, Mr. Potter," the blue-haired vampire tossed him his transfigured sword, "and the best place for that...is the rooftop." Wrapping her left arm and wrist in a long, breathable strip of white cloth, Hunter then took her sword from its sheath. "Do you want a lift?" she gave him a warm smile as she stretched her hand out towards him.

Staring awkwardly at her pallid hand, Harry couldn't help but wonder if he could _really _trust her.

As if she was reading his mind again, Hunter's cold black eyes softened for a moment. "I solemnly swear that I will not let you fall," she bowed her head to reassure his doubting mind. "Besides-who will I spend my Sunday afternoons with if you break your precious little neck?" the vampire laughed.

Once they were on the rooftop of the great hall, Harry was trying to get a better footing before he even thought about swinging his sword around. "I feel like a tightrope walker," he mumbled as he clumsily tried to move his left foot forward. Taking a deep breath, the Gryffindor tipped his head towards the vampire to show that he was as ready as he ever would be. _Here goes nothing_...

Giving the boy a few minutes to become confident in his movements, Hunter took easy swipes at him with her silver sword. Then, when she thought that he was finally ready for the challenge, she went at him with what he thought was all of her strength. "No holding back!" she gave him a toothy grin just before she lunged forward.

Jumping backwards, the seventh-year student barely managed to keep his feet on the thin, flat top of the rooftop. As he parried her attacks, Harry could tell that she was growing weaker and weaker with each passing second. Just as he thought he was going to win this challenge on his first try, he was taken aback by the sudden force and energy she exerted after he thought she was done for.

Harry's sword slipped out of his hands as he lost his balance; the last thing he wanted to do was fall on top of his sword and gutting himself in the process. Luckily, he fell on his back; still on the flat part of the rooftop. Regaining his footing, Harry scrambled away from Hunter's sharp blade just in the nick of time. He dodged her slashing, never lost his footing, and managed to kick her sword out of her hands.

"You're improving," Hunter panted loudly as she wiped the sweat from her white forehead; she seemed paler than usual. "But what about physical contact?"

Before Harry could understand what she was talking about, she took a swing at him with her clenched fists which he barely avoided. Thinking that she was weakening again, Harry decided to use his remaining strength on her.

Ducking each of his quick punches, the vampire was actually not on the verge of weakening-at least not yet. She took one final swing at him to make him lose his balance; which he had worked so hard on in the last five minutes of their sparring. What Hunter didn't plan on was that Harry fell on his side, instead of his back like the last time, and he was suddenly slipping down the shingles of the roof.

Yelling at the top of his lungs, Harry slide down the bumpy shingles closer and closer to the edge of the roof-where a thirty-foot drop was waiting for him. _Shit I'm gunna die_! Just as his shoes went over the stone edge of the roof, he wondered if he was going to be saved or not. The last thing he saw was Hunter standing still on the rooftop looking down at him with an emotionless look in her eyes as he fell to his impending death. _Shit I should have never trusted her_! "HELP!" the seventh-year boy screamed as he felt his back slip off the edge of the rooftop next.

"HEL-" he felt something rough and cold around his wrist. His green eyes widened with fear when he could see the long drop to the green grass below his dangling feet. Finally bringing himself to look up, Harry couldn't believe what he was seeing, "Professor?"

The Dark Arts professor's eyes were glowing blood red as she clung to the shingles of the roof with one hand. "I promised you that I wouldn't let you fall," she flashed her fangs at him; they were several inches long.

Slowly but surely, she lifted him back up to the edge of the roof next to a stone gargoyle so he could have a few minutes to catch his breath and calm down. Harry could still feel his heart pounding madly in his chest and throat; he actually thought that he was going to have his skull cracked open. "I thought you were going to let me fall for a minute there," he coughed as he tightened his grip around the stone gargoyle's head.

Once he was breathing easily, the Boy Who Lived glanced over at the blue-haired vampire and noticed that she was in a lot of pain. She was tenderly rubbing her left hand; the bandage was no longer white-it was scarlet. Leaning back on the slightly-slanted roof, Hunter closed her blood-soaked eyes for a moment to regain her senses.

While she was taking deep breaths, Harry saw what had made it possible for Hunter to cling to the rooftop with just one hand. She had used her sword to stop herself from sliding off the roof when she was saving his life. Half of the sword's silver blade was smeared with blood, _She must have held onto the blade instead of the handle_...

"Professor?" Harry finally whispered to her as he sat on the stone gargoyle's spiked back., "Professor Hunter-are you alright?"

Opening her eyes, they were now the color of snow, "_I'm just fine boy_," she bitterly snapped at him for no reason in particular. She bit down on her tongue for a moment when she felt the sudden burning pain in her chest again; _I'll need to drink three bottles of dragon's blood tonight now_... As rapidly as the pain came, it subsided along with Hunter's surly temper. "I'm apologize Mr. Potter," she shook her head at herself for what she had yelled at him, "I did not mean it."

Hunter glanced down at her bleeding arm, the wound was not healing as quickly as she would have liked. "Are you alright Mr. Potter?" she never looked him in the eyes as she asked him this, she was too busy trying to mend her arm.

Curiously watching her unwrap the stained red bandage cloth, Harry spotted something black on her forearm-it was the Dark Mark. _When did she get the Dark Mark_? _She didn't have it the first time I met her_..._or did she_? "I'm a little shaken, but just fine Professor Hunter, thank you," he kept one weary eye on the tattoo of a skull with a snake slithering through the skull's eyes and mouth.

Whispering a few words as she held her wounded forearm with her right hand, the vampire released her left arm to find that the deep cut made by the blade was now healed. She narrowed her eyes as she examined her just-healed arm. There would be a scar on her forearm since her vampire blood is allergic to her silver blade, but this did not bother her one bit. "Let's get you back on solid ground, eh?" she weakly smiled at Harry once she was sure that she had enough strength to get him back down.

The second Harry's feet touched the frozen dirt and grass, he had a sudden urge to hug and kiss the ground after being so high in the air without his wand or broom. "Why did you wait to save me?" the words slipped out of his mouth before he even realized it.

"I thought you would have tried to save yourself," she stated simply. "After teaching you all of that wandless magic for the last few months, I thought you were ready to use it in a situation where you only had seconds to think. You could have conjured a broom you know...if you had focused just long enough." Hunter sighed loudly, "But it is probably my fault, I thought you were ready for that sort of test. I guess I was wrong..."

Turning away from Harry, Hunter snapped her fingers to have two beautiful red apples appeared in her frozen hands. "You'll need your strength for the match on Wednesday, Mr. Potter," she tossed him the apple. "Especially since it is against Slytherin," the vampire winked to him before she walked down towards the lake humming a sad tune.

Harry felt disappointed in himself, he had completely forgotten about being able to use his wandless magic to save himself. That was the whole point of this challenge today-it wasn't about working on his balance-it was about preparing his mind for the spilt-second decisions he would have to make in a real battle for his life. Kicking the dirt with the edge of his shoe, Harry stuffed his sweaty hands into his pants pockets and headed back to the entrance to the castle. _Maybe Svetlana can cheer me up_...

- - - - - -

"Avalon," Snape whispered sweetly in her slightly-pointed ear. He frowned when she did not stir in her sleep, "The Quidditch match is in thirty minutes-" The Potions Master moved his head back just in the nick of time when Hunter's eyes jerked open and she jumped out of bed. "Good morning starshine," he chuckled to himself as he watched his vampire mistress frantically try to find something to wear to the match.

"Why didn't you wake me up sooner!" she narrowed her black eyes at him sourly as she rushed into the bathroom to fix her hair and brush her teeth.

Snape sat down on the edge of his bed and glanced over his shoulder at the spot where she had been sleeping. There were no wrinkles in her pillow or in the bed sheets, it was as if she had never been there-like it had all been a dream. "I enjoy watching you sleep," he tore his saddened eyes away from her sleeping spot to see her standing in front of him ready to leave.

"What's wrong Severus?" Hunter reached out and gently brushed her cold hand against his cheek, "Do you not want to go to the match?"

His thin lips curled into a loving smile, "I want to go...I was just thinking, that's all." The hooked-nose character kissed her on the lips, "I really want Slytherin to win the House Cup this year..." he lied. When she went to search for his scarf that he had given her, he studied her every movements like he was seeing her for the first time again. He didn't know how long she would be around-she never left any signs of her presence except for leaving Snape with a smile. Snape was taking Dumbledore's advice very seriously, _Treasure every moment you have with her_..._You never know when it will be your last_. _Does he know something that I don't_?

"Are you coming Severus?" her eyes quickly changed to a blue hue when she said his name, "Or are you going to stand there and gawk at me all day?" Hunter beamed when her sly comment made her Potions Master grin.

They made it to the Quidditch Stadium with seven minutes to spare before the match between Slytherin and Gryffindor commenced. The headmaster had saved them two seats next to him and Professor Mcgonagall; there was a bright look in his ancient eyes. "You almost missed the very beginning," the headmisstress whispered to Hunter as the vampire sat down next to her.

"Someone decided to let me sleep in a little late," she stubbornly folded her arms across her chest and stuck her tongue out at Snape for a second.

"It was the first time you slept peacefully in months," the Potions Master growled in a semi-peeved voice as he tried to defend himself. When she continued to glare at him, he stuck his tongue out at her when Professor McGonagall was not looking which caused the couple to burst out laughing at each other's ugly-making faces.

"Go-go-Gryffindor!" The red-robed students cheered at the top of their lungs from the other side of the stadium as they watched their favorite team fly high above their heads. Hagrid, who was madly jumping up and down with the younger Gryffindors, yelled at the top of his lungs for Harry to catch the snitch.

Blowing the whistle, Madame Hooch threw the Quaffle high into the air; the Quidditch match had begun. The teachers and students stood up to see which team would catch the Quaffle first; everyone screamed when the starting chasers from both teams snatched the leathery ball at the exact same time.

While the chasers were struggling to pry the Quaffle out of each other's gloved hands, Harry flew above his teammates eyeballing the gruesome match below. His brand new broom was the quickest thing he had ever seen-it only took him seconds to make one loop around the Quidditch Stadium at its slowest speed. The Gryffindor spotted Draco Malfoy out of the corner of his eye; the blonde Slytherin would follow Harry until one of them actually spotted the snitch.

Pretending that he had just seen the twittering snitch, Harry blasted through his team's goal hoops, appearing to be just a red blur to onlookers. He zoomed down to the grass as he waited for Malfoy to take the bait, but his plan failed. Just as the Gryffindor gracefully moved out of the way of an incoming bludger, he caught sight of the glittering snitch.

As Harry zipped around his teammates at top speed, Malfoy flew right in front of Harry to throw him off track of the snitch. "Thanks for the tip Potter!" the blonde Slytherin winked at his arch rival before he sped off into the distance, hot on the snitch's trail.

_Damnit_! Harry kicked his broom into its fastest speed and masterfully dodged the oncoming bludgers the Slytherin Beaters were using to try and stop him from catching up with Malfoy. When he was five feet away from the end of Malfoy's broom, Harry could see that Malfoy was already stretching his arm out to grab the snitch. _Come on do something_! _He can't win this match_!

Malfoy was just inches away from snatching the Golden Snitch when Harry did something unbelievable. He sped up, almost running straight into the back end of Malfoy's broom, and nimbly rose to his feet on his broomstick. Seconds before he was about to crash into Malfoy, Harry pushed his broom down towards the ground and used that momentum to force him right over Malfoy's head. With only milliseconds to react, Harry grabbed the snitch before Malfoy could and began to fall down towards the ground.

"He's going to break his neck!" McGonagall screeched at the top of her lungs when the Quidditch spectators finally realized what was happening. "Do something Albus!"

"No-wait, what is he doing?" Hunter stood up from her seat with her black eyes wide open with excitement. _He's going to try it_...

Acting as if he was diving, Harry pictured his broomstick soaring back into his hands just moments before falling to his death. _Please let this work, Accio-accio-accio-ACCIO_!

"He's going to die, do something Albus!" McGonagall shot nasty looks at Hunter.

"_No_! He knows exactly what to do-let him do it!" the Dark Arts professor snarled with her fangs showing.

When he was about twenty feet above the ground, something miraculous happened. Harry's broom appeared almost out of nowhere and flew right into his open hands. Clinging to his broom with only one hand and desperately holding the snitch in the other, Harry slowly pulled himself back up onto his broom with a wide grin on his face.

The second he landed on the ground, the Gryffindor Quidditch Team swarmed around Harry cheering and screaming at the top of their lungs at the brilliant stunt he had just managed to pull off. As people patted him on the back and congratulated him on the wonderful catch, Harry looked up towards the teacher's stand and saw Hunter bowing her head at him. Harry lifted the snitch high into the air to hear everyone in the stadium cheering their hearts out for him.

* * *

**Notes: **Sorry for the wait, I've been very busy...I only have two weeks of school left and my teachers are cramming in as many assignments as they can. (grumbles under breath) I have the next chapter done already pretty much, it has to be one of my most favorites though-at least for the month of March that is. Thanks for reading and reviewing! 


	24. The Adventure In the Lake

Wiping a tear from the corner of his eye, Ron said goodbye to his baby Chinese Fireball dragon. "Be good little guy," he scratched the red dragon underneath its chin before he handed the fire-breathing creature to Hagrid. Lowering his head, the redhead dragged his feet as he walked back over to Hermione and Harry; they had just handed their hatchlings over to Hagrid.

Ron wasn't the only one who was unhappy about returning their dragon hatchlings back to Hagrid. Neville's upper lip was trembling when his Welsh dragon hatching fell asleep in his hands as he waited in line. "I won't see him again, will I?" the plump Gryffindor was on the verge of crying.

"Sorry Neville," Hagrid took the sleeping dragon from Neville's clammy hands, "It's too dangerous ta keep them after six months...They might try ta eat ya..." There were a few tears rolling down his red cheeks; he was remembering his dragon-Norbert.

As the students started to head back to the castle, the half-giant called out to them. "Don't forget, we'll be visitin' the mermaids fer our next lesson!"

- - - - -

"This does not make any sense whatsoever," Ron grumbled as he stomped across a marshy area near the lake. "Why do we have to walk all the way over to the lake in the middle of the mud season, to see something that only lives underwater?" Furious with this thought, Ron threw his hands into the air, "How are we suppose to see mermaids, eh?" Mud splashed up onto the ends of his robes as he flipped around to face his two friends, who were still trying to ignore him. "We can't breathe underwater, doesn't Hagrid know that!"

Hermione gave him a disgusted look, "Sometimes I really wonder if you ever pay attention to what happens around you…" her brown eyes narrowed at him when Ron did not understand her comment. "Remember the Tri-Wizard Tournament, Ron?" she finally blurted out.

Slowly, Ron nodded his head at her as he began to walk backward in the marsh, "Yeah…there were those dragons, the singing eggs, and I remember being stolen and gagged underwater by those fishy bastards…" Without looking behind him, Ron continued to tread backwards in the wet mud.

"You know you're going to fall…" Harry sneered to Ron with half of a grin on his lips, "You'll get filthy…" he warned slyly. Even though Hermione could not see what Harry could see, she knew that he was right about Ron eventually tripping and falling in the mud. Harry had seen a large dead piece of a stump, halfway sticking out of the mud, and Ron was backing right towards it.

Forgetting about his hate for mermaids and water, Ron puffed out his chest and placed his hands on his hips. "I'll have you know Harry, that I have an acute sense of _direction-_" Just as he turned to see where he was heading, Ron had managed to find the dead stump and tripped over it. A small moan could be heard from under a mountain of mud; Ron had face-planted right into the ground. "_Don't you say a word_…" the use-to-be redhead snarled to his friends as he tried to flick the mud off his robes; of course, once he had enough dignity to pull himself out of the mud.

They finally reached the spot where Hagrid had told his Care of Magical Creatures class to be that morning. "You mean, I just wasted five minutes of my time trudging through a muddy hell to find out that we're ten minutes _early_ to class!" Ron kicked the closest piece of plant life with his muddy boot, "I hate the water, I hate the mud, I hate those fishy people…" on and on Ron went as Hermione and Harry tried to block his ranting out of their minds.

"Come on, it's not that bad, Ron," Harry patted Ron on the back but quickly pulled his hand away when he touched mud. "Won't we use gillyweeds this time Hermione?" Scratching the back of his head with his clean hand, Harry strained his eyes to see the horizon of the lake across the morning sky. Harry could have sworn he had seen something jump out and back into the lake.

Hermione was deep in thought about something else; pulling out of her thoughts, she nodded to Harry silently. "I was wondering Harry…Can Hagrid even swim?" there was a look in her eyes as if she had a vague idea that the answer would be a negative one. "I've never heard him mention anything about that…" she whispered in a small voice as she began to think again.

"Oh-that's even more brilliant then…Being led underwater by someone who can't swim…We're going to die…" Ron started his whining again, not wanting to die before lunch. Sloshing around in the mud, Ron suddenly lost his balance and tumbled into the mud again, this time landing on his rear end instead of his face. "_Just lovely_…" he spat as he tried to push himself out of the sticky mud.

Harry smiled, "Third time is the charm, Ron…" he heard his best friend mutter swear words in reply. With some curiosity, Harry ventured to the lake's shore to take a closer look at the murky water. Peering down, he saw his own reflection in the water. Mud was caked on the sides of Harry's cheeks, ears, and on parts of his glasses. "Great…he got me all muddy too," Harry took off his glasses and cleaned them with the edge of his robe sleeve.

Glancing up ahead just by luck, Harry spotted something blurry off in the horizon, "Hey-guys…" Harry quickly turned his head over his shoulder and signaled for the two to come closer to the shore. Putting his glasses back on, Harry could see quite clearly what the object was now. "Am I just seeing things…or is that a dragon off in the distance…?" he gave his friends a nervous glance.

"Merlin's beard! What is a dragon doing out all the way over here!" Ron completely forgot about his muddy robe and squinted his eyes to see the dragon better. "Is that the same dragon that Hagrid showed to us a few months back, during one of his classes?"

Hermione nudged Harry's shoulder, "Do you think Hagrid would secretly kept a dragon here? I thought he sent all of the hatchlings away to Romania with Ron's older brother…"

Brushing wet mud off of his hands, Ron pointed off in the distance towards the dragon, "This is an older one Hermione. Even if Hagrid decided to keep one of the hatchlings, it wouldn't be that full grown in only one month's time. That's the dragon Hagrid showed us out on the Quiditch field if you ask me…"

"But how could a dragon hide near the school! That thing is huge…someone would have spotted it before now…Right, Harry?" Hermione turned her head when Harry did not reply.

Following the dragon's swift movements across the lake's surface, Harry's eyes began to sparkle. The dragon was gliding across the rippling water singing, "It could hide in the Forbidden Forest…" Harry was entranced by the dragon's graceful movements. With a flick of the dragon's tail, water shot out of the air like a geyser; the dragon twirled around in circles above the water. "I think it's singing…" he whispered.

"Well…It is sort of cute…" Ron admitted shyly as he rubbed the back of his neck, making pieces of dried mud crumble down the back of his robe. The two boys peered over to see what Hermione would say, she frowned at them and folded her arms across her chest. "You don't like dragons, Hermione?" Ron sounded a bit hurt.

Hermione sighed, "No-it's not that, Ron…I just think it is odd that a dragon would sudden appear flying above the lake and _no one _is around to _see_ it but _three_ students." She shook her head, "It isn't logical I tell you…"

"It's not like the dragon is going to sudden fly over here and try to eat us Hermione…" Ron grumbled as he turned his back on her to watch the dragon. "I hope," he added silently to himself.

The sound of squishing mud started behind the trio, making them turn around to see who was approaching them. "Hey guys," Neville Longbottom waved to his friends as he almost lost his balance in the mud like Ron had earlier. "What are you guys looking at over there?" Waddling over, Neville went to Ron's right side and placed his arms on his chubby hips. "I don't see a thing except for water…"

Harry quickly turned back to the lake to see nothing but gold and blue reflecting off the water and into the horizon. "Where did it go?" he turned to the other two to see if they had seen where it had gone, but they shrugged in reply.

"I told you-it's not _logical_…" Hermione stated loudly as she began to walk carefully away from the lake's muddy shore. Lifting the ends of her robes up slightly, Hermione tip-toed across the black mud without falling and made it to the nearest grassy area.

Ron rolled his eyes at Hermione, "_It's not logical…nyah…_" He bent down to free a pebble from the muddy surface and tried to make the pebble skip across the surface of the lake. "Well…we _are_ in a school that practices _witchcraf_t…how more _logical_ could we get?"

The boys began to laugh at Ron's side comment, making Hermione grow red in the face. "_What did you say, Ronald Weasley_!" she snapped a few feet away from him.

"_Nothing_…" Ron tried to sound as innocent as possible; except the bright grin on his face did not help the effect of his innocence. "I hate it when she says that," he muttered to Neville and Harry. "Makes her sound like my _mother_..."

"So what _were_ you guys looking at?" Neville was still curious about the subject, since he had not made it in time to the shore of the lake. His brown eyes desperately searched the water's surface but he could not see what Ron and Harry were so excited over. "Did you see a mermaid?" he asked, hoping that he was correct.

Harry and Ron shook their heads in reply, Hermione cut them off when they tried to explain to Neville what they had seen. "They thought they saw a dead pixie floating across the water…" she gave Ron and Harry a stern look. The two boys did not know what Hermione was thinking, but they nodded in agreement with her lie.

"Ohhh," Neville sighed unhappily, "Was that all?" Depressed, Neville waddled back across the muddy shore to reach the safe haven of grass where Hermione was standing. "That's not very exciting then…" Neville whispered to Hermione.

Just as Harry and Ron picked their way through to mud to get to the grassy haven, a booming voice could be heard from far ahead of them. "'ello yer four!" Hagrid was grinning from ear to ear as he stomped towards them, sending mud into the air with every step he took. "Are yer 'eady ta do some mermaid searchin'?" His eyes were twinkling in the morning light, signaling that he had some sort of surprise up his sleeve for his students.

Ron went very pale, "So-Hagrid…Are we really going to go _in_ the lake?" he swallowed loudly when Hagrid nodding brightly. Nervously, he glanced around at his Gryffindor companions, "I _hate _mermaids…they are pure evil…" he whispered as he buried his muddy hands into his robe pockets.

Wanting revenge on the redhead, Hermione smiled at Ron, "It could be worse, Ron. We could be back in the Forbidden Forest looking for _spiders_…"

The remaining color on Ron's face disappeared as he bit his thumb in fear, "I _hate_ spiders…they're evil too..." he shook his head to stop thinking about them. "Why can't we learn about butterflies…?" he mumbled unhappily.

"It wouldn't be very entertaining, Mr. Weasley…now would it?" hissed a voice close by. Almost appearing out of nowhere, Professor Hunter carried two small, tin buckets over to Hagrid. "Here is the last batch of gillyweed that I could recover from the lake, Hagrid…" Hunter handed him the buckets and wiped the palms of her pallid hands on a corner of her spotless robe. "Anything else that I can do for you, Hagrid?" she seemed pleased this morning, which was unusual for Hunter lately.

Hagrid shook his head, "No need ta be 'elpin' me more, Professor 'unter," he placed the buckets down by his gigantic feet. "Thank yer fer gettin' the last of the gillyweed fer me…"

Hunter turned her attention to the students, who were giving her odd looks because not a single drop of mud was on her boots or robe. "Play it safe down there…" Hunter whispered to them as Hagrid headed towards the shore with the buckets. "Hagrid can't keep track of all of you at once, so stay together…Mere people do not enjoy being spied upon," the vampire pocketed her hands. "Don't try to speak under the water whatever you do…You'll attract unwanted creatures," she straightened up after she was done staring them down.

Hermione couldn't understand what the Dark Arts professor was talking about, "Unwanted creatures? I thought all the creatures in the lake were safe…It says so in _Hogwarts: A History_."

The blue-haired vampire laughed, "As long as the students _stay out _of the lake, they _are safe_…yes. That's why there is the squid in the lake…to _keep_ the students _out_. But there are other creatures that are lurk down there that are more dangerous than a squid," she cut her laughter off short. "Just don't get separated," she warned in a dark voice, "I don't want to go down there again to find a lost student…" After she had left a dark impression in their minds, Hunter bowed her head towards the students and headed back towards the shore to speak with Hagrid. "Do you want me to make sure that they all make it back safely to the shore, Hagrid?" she asked in a slow whisper.

He coughed, "They will be fine, professor," Hagrid started to whisper back as he poured the gillyweed into one bucket. Glancing over his shoulder, he gave her a quick smile to reassure her, "I promise Professor 'unter…"

She snorted unhappily in reply, "If you run into any problems…you let _me_ know _first_…" Hunter hissed before she stomped away from him back towards the castle.

"What was that all about?" Harry asked Hagrid as the four Gryffindors joined him by the lake's shore. "She was all cheerful and now she isn't very happy..."

The half-giant gave his students a perplexed expression and an unhappy sigh, "Professor 'unter thinks that somethin' is gonna try and kill ya while yer down there…" he rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Plus 'er and Professor Dumbledore had an argument over a meetin' that is gonna to be 'eld 'ere in two weeks…She seems to think that there is somethin' dangerous lurkin' around the school grounds," Hagrid shook his head.

"A meeting?" Neville innocently asked as he looked up to Hagrid with big eyes. "An Order of the Phoenix meeting?"

Hagrid nodded, "Everyone is comin' ta Hogwarts," he brushed his grimy hands against his brown trench coat. "Dumbledore is worried about those Muggle killin's that happened a while back..."

As Hagrid was about to say more, a crowd of red Gryffindors and green Slytherins started to show up. "I'll tell ya more later," Hagrid whispered. He clapped his hands together and smiled brightly to his students once they were all there. "Al'ight! Now, before I get the gillyweed passed out ta ya…I want ta warn ya about mermaids…"

Far in the back of the crowd of students, a snort of displeasure could be heard coming from Draco Malfoy. "Are we ever going to study a creature that's not dangerous?" he jeered at Hagrid as his Slytherin cronies laughed.

Fighting the urge to knock Malfoy's front teeth out, Hagrid tried to prove the snotty pure-blood wrong. "Mermaids are only dangerous if ya try ta touch them or get near them wit'out their permission…" he corrected the Slytherin with a fake smile on his lips. "They prefer ta be left alone," the half-giant stated very loudly. "I want ya all ter stay close ta me once we're down there-it is _very easy _ta get _lost_…"

"Or eaten…" Malfoy added with a sneer, "Don't forget that important fact, _professor_." The entire Slytherin crew chuckled at their leader's side comments while the Gryffindors just rolled their eyes at the entire thing.

Ignoring Malfoy, Hagrid passed the slimy tin bucket around the group of students, "Each of ya take a piece and eat it-then get inta the water as fast as ya can…"

Everyone mimicked Hagrid's movements as he took his piece of gillyweed and swallowed it down in one gulp. The effects of the plant started immediately, Harry could feel gill slits appearing on the sides of his neck near his ears. Quickly, as the students gasped for air, Hagrid led them into the lake; leaving one student alone on the shore.

"_But I don't want to go_…" Ron whined as he held his slimy piece of gillyweed in his clammy hands. He glanced around the still lake, "_Guys_?" he whimpered when he realized that they were now leaving without him. Swallowing his fear, Ron gulped down the plant and ran towards the lake as the plant's magical properties took affect on him.

Hagrid and his class had not gone very far, they were trying to get use to the feeling of swimming underwater with their new artificial fins. The only person who had noticed that Ron was not in the group was Harry; he patiently waited for the redhead while the class slowly moved onward. Ron gave Harry a thumbs-up signal as they struggled to keep up with the class. Thankfully, Hagrid stopped frequently to remember where he was suppose to be going, allowing the two boys to catch up with their class.

When Hagrid had his back turned on his students, one of them dove to the sandy floor of the lake, scooped up a handful of the silky sand and then rejoined the group. Snickering to himself, Malfoy nudged his cronies to watch what he was about to do with the sand. Pulling away from the group, Malfoy was almost a foot away from Harry and Ron when he swiftly flipped around and released the sand from his hands.

A cloud of black sand blocked Harry's and Ron's view of their group, Harry stopped Ron from swimming through the sand until it had drifted down and settled back into the sandy floor. Bubbles exploded from Ron's mouth as he pointed out into the murky distance, the group was gone. In a panic, Ron startled to swim up towards the surface but Harry grabbed his foot and pulled him back down.

Shaking his head, Harry pointed to the gills on the side of Ron's neck, showing that he wouldn't be able to breathe on the surface; at least for a little while. A few bubbles escaped from Harry's mouth as he strained his eyes to see if he could catch a glimpse of their class, but it was no use…they had left them far behind.

Harry glanced over at Ron, who was shaking nervously and was a bit paler than usual. Lowering his head, Harry knew it was up to him to get them back with their class safely. Swiftly, Harry grabbed Ron's wrist, leading him towards the murky distance blindly.

After spending several minutes swimming around in circles almost, Ron refused to swim any more. He folded his arms across his chest and shook his head with a scowl on his brow. Ron pointed behind him, snorting at Harry's terrible leadership; he wanted to go back to the shore instead of becoming more lost in the lake's murky depths.

With a peeved expression on his face, Harry signaled for Ron to follow him instead of being stupid and trying to turn back.

Again, Ron shook his head stubbornly, with bubbles coming out of his mouth as he pointed to the ground below him. Ron insisted on staying in this spot or returning back to the shore-as long as they _did not _press on forward.

Getting redder in the face, Harry pointed forward and mouthed his words at Ron; he thought it was better to keep moving instead of staying in one place, and going forward was their _best_ option.

Ron stuck his nose high in the water, and flipped Harry off without thinking twice about doing so.

A few minutes later, the two boys were wrestling each other underwater, trying to make the other agree with their decision. As Harry pulled on Ron's ear and in turn, Ron tried to bite Harry's hand as hard as he could. Their movements were sluggish, and their swings at each other died halfway, but they did cause a large amount of noise under the water.

Without any warning, a strong current swept between the two boys, sending them backwards and sideways into one another. As Harry was shaking his head to try and recover from a dizzy spell, Ron grabbed his shoulder tightly. Harry suddenly noticed that Ron was pointing at something off ahead of them.

Slowly, Harry turned his head to find the murky waters even darker than before. A scaly, dark green fin disappeared into the underwater sand cloud. Turning back to Ron, Harry mouthed "Swim" to Ron without thinking twice.

Just as the boys furiously began to swim in the opposite direction of where they had spotted the fin, sharp jagged teeth that belonged to a giant creature snapped at the spot where they had just been arguing. Ron made the terrible mistake of looking back to see what was chasing them, rendering him stiff with fear under the water. Harry grabbed Ron's robe collar and began dragging him under the water as the creature continued to chase after them.

Finally coming out of his frigid daze, Ron started to kick his feet as rapidly as he could until the two were pulling away from the creature's reach. After a few minutes, the boys could no longer hear or see the creature chasing after them. Harry's heart was thumping in his throat as he and Ron decided to slow it down; they had spotted reeds close by.

The two hid in the dense sticks and leaves of the reeds near the edge of the lake taking deep breaths under the water with their artificial gills. Carefully, the two listened to see if the creature was still hunting the both of them for its dinner.

A low, vibrating growl slowly faded away which relieved both of the boys tremendously. The creature had given up on hunting the two students, or so they thought. For a while, Harry and Ron remained in the reeds to catch their breath and to make sure that the creature really was in fact gone.

While they were waiting, Harry was wondering how long it had been since they had eaten the gillyweed plant. The gills on their necks would not last for very much longer if they had spent as long as Harry thought they had in the lake. Harry suddenly felt something touch his shoulder. Jumping back in fright, Harry was relieved to find that it was only Ron.

Ron's freckled cheeks were puffed out to their maximum size as he rapidly pointed to his neck. The slits behind Ron's awkwardly large ears were beginning to fade away; the gillyweed had stopped working.

Desperately, Harry searched for the closest edge of the lake, just in case the creature would suddenly decide to come back to find them. Grabbing Ron's wrist, they both swam away from their sanctuary in the reeds as quickly as they could. Harry strained his eyes to see if the edge of the lake was any closer as they kicked their feet furiously under the water.

Bubbles escaped from Ron's mouth as he signaled to Harry that he need to get to the surface to breathe. Pushing up on his friend, Harry helped Ron make it to the surface of the lake just in time. Coughing and gasping for air, Ron was glad to be back above the water. As Ron took a few more deep breaths, Harry came up to the surface gasping for air-the effects finally wore off on him too.

"Nev-er…ag-ai-n…" Ron coughed up more water as he glared at his best friend, "No more-swimming…" he whispered once he had gotten use to breathing air again.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry spotted something off in the distance. "What-is-tha-t?" he asked as something floating above the water surface started to move towards them. "That look-s-lik-e-a f-f-in…doesn't it?"

"SWIM!" Ron screamed at the top of his lungs as the boys started to swim through the water as quickly as they could.

The closest edge of the lake was still a good half mile away from where the boys were, and the fin was closing in on the boys slowly but surely. "Swim faster Ron!" Harry cried as he began to pass Ron.

Reaching the edge of the lake first, Harry clawed his way through the mud and finally managed to pull himself out of the water onto the muddy shore. Harry spun around to see where Ron was in the lake, "RON! IT'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU-SWIM FASTER!" _Do something, do something Harry_. _QUICK DAMNIT_! Harry's mind was racing in so many directions, he couldn't focus long enough to use his wandless magic to save his best friend.

All Harry could do was watch as the fin rapidly closed in on Ron; who was struggling to keep his head above the water as he doggy-paddled towards the edge of the lake. "HARRY!" Ron suddenly disappeared under the water with the fin.

Panicking, Harry started to dive back into the lake when a huge black blur fell from the sky into the murky waters of the lake. "RON!" Harry tried to move through the muddy shallow end of the lake as he watched large waves and splashing come from the center of the lake.

In a matter of minutes, a figure floated to the surface of the water coughing, choking, and gasping for air. Swimming at full speed, Harry grabbed hold of Ron's frozen body and helped drag him back to the shore. They were several feet away from the edge of the lake when the violent splashing in the lake ceased.

"Wh-at was-it Har-ry?" Ron shivered as they laid there on the muddy shore waiting to see what had saved them from the lake creature.

The boy let out terrible screams when a gigantic black object rose above the surface of the water. "LAKE MONSTER!" Both scrambled away from the black creature, who was watching them with glowing red eyes. Harry frantically searched for his wand, but suddenly remembered that he had left it in his room after listening to Hagrid. Crying, Ron shrank behind Harry as the black creature slowly came out of the water and moved towards them.

Harry lifted his head up to see the black creature looming over the both of them; the creature must have been at least seventeen feet high. "It's the dragon, Ron!" Harry cried when he had finally recognized the dark figure with glowing eyes.

The Hungarian black dragon lowered its head to be at the boys' eye level; smoke poured out of the dragon's nostrils as it stared them down. A vibrating growl came from the dragon as it folded its torn leathery wings closer to its body. Slashes and deep gashes could be seen all over the dragon's tough scaly body. Harry climbed to his feet to reach out and touch the wounded dragon.

Just when the boys thought they were safe, the dragon opened its mouth to take a snap at them. Flailing backwards, Harry clumsily fell into the mud next to Ron as he tried to move away from the dragon's snapping range. They screamed in fear as the dragon got back to its feet, "_We're going to die_!" Ron cried.

As Ron closed his eyes, Harry noticed that the dragon was shrinking in size and changing in color. Nudging Ron, both of their jaws dropped when they saw who was standing in front of them with a peeved expression. "_Do you know how much trouble the both of you are in_!" hissed a cold voice.

Both of the boys lowered their heads in shame, "Yes, Professor Hunter," they muttered in reply.

Hunter shook her head, trying to dry her soaking wet blue hair, "You boys have been missing for _over three hours_! What were you _thinking_ when you left the group down there!" Glaring at them, she pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail, making water drip down from the tips of her hair onto her tattered robe. "_You could have been killed_!"

"But it wasn't _our_ fault!" Ron said in their defense, "_Malfoy_ pulled one of his _stupid_ tricks on us and we-" Ron's face suddenly turned as white as snow.

"Ron...?" Harry could see that the redhead was having trouble breathing. "_Ron_," he felt his heart stop when Ron's face was turning purple. "_He's choking_!"

Rushing over to Ron, Hunter unpocketed a small green bottle from her back robe pocket. She tugged the cap off the bottle with her sharp teeth and forced the lid of the bottle into the redhead's mouth, "_Drink this Weasley_!" she eyed him as he drank the potion down stubbornly.

In a matter of seconds, the color was returning to Ron's face; he could breathe. again. "_Blood-y hell_," he coughed out after he spent a minute taking long deep breaths. "I could feel...my th-roat closin-g up..."

"Poison," Hunter muttered as she examined Ron's broken right leg. There were two puncture wounds from the monster's fangs; it had tried to drown him by dragging him underneath the water. Ron began to whimper when Hunter tried to feel how badly his leg was broken.

Harry spotted blood slowly dripping down the vampire's frozen hands. "Professor…?" he asked her weakly as she gingerly continued to examine the state Ron's leg was in.

She gave her star pupil a fleeting look, "We're stuck here for a little while, Potter…" Quickly, she ordered Ron to place one of his arms over her shoulders, "I don't want to make his leg any worse-traveling back through the woods is too dangerous for the both of you right now." Hunter motioned for Harry to grab Ron's other arm, "You wouldn't stand a chance if you ran into those damn Centaurs..."

Carrying Ron to the nearest tree, Harry and Hunter carefully helped him lean against the tree to rest. Tears streamed down Ron's face as he sniffled loudly from the pain of sitting back down on the muddy ground. "Thank-you professor," he rubbed his wet nose with the edge of his dirty robe; giving him a more grungy appearance.

A faint smile appeared on Hunter's pallid lips, "Anytime, Mr. Weasley," she whispered as she turned to face Harry. Sighing silently, Hunter tenderly rubbed her left shoulder as the two stood next to each other in silence.

Harry and Ron had managed to travel at least five miles away from the Hogwarts castle underneath the water. They were stuck on the most secluded spot near the lake, far east of the castle, surrounded by the dense Forbidden Forest. Harry glanced around the small clearing that they were staying in; the only way back to the castle would be swimming through the lake or trudging through the dark woods. He didn't know which route would be better to take; both had creatures that Harry did not want to meet ever again.

"I could carry him, professor," Harry offered in a low voice as he watched her think silently to herself. He knew that apparation would be out of the question for a while, they had to be deep inside the forest due to Dumbledore's powerful anti-apparation spell around the school and grounds. "The Forbidden Forest is not that dangerous…" he added with a weak smile.

Hunter gave him a dark expression, "_Not that dangerous_?" she snapped at him bitterly. She sharply turned and pointed to Ron; who was now sound asleep against the tree; "If we run into Centaurs with Ron like that, we would last about three minutes. We can not move him, Potter. He _has _to rest... Fuck-_you _have to rest!"

When Harry was just about to apologize to Hunter, she leaned forward rubbing her temple as if she was in terrible pain. "I'm too weak to get the both of you out of here," she muttered as if she was speaking to herself. "We'll have to wait for a few hours… Until help arrives..." Hunter lifted her head to look at Harry, "I doubt that you have my broken wand with you either."

A cold chill swept down his spine when Hunter's eyes met his, "I'm sorry professor," Harry coughed as he pulled his eyes away from hers.

She unlatched her torn cape, twisted it into a tight knot until a large puddle of bloody water appeared by her blacks boots. With a flick of her wrists, she snapped the cape in the air to get the remaining water out and then handed it to Potter. "You're going to freeze if you don't wear it," Hunter whispered when Harry refused to take it from her.

Holding back for a moment, Harry finally took the cape when the wind began to pick up. Harry shivered as he draped the dry cape over his shoulders, "Thank you…" his teeth clanked together as he tried to stay warm.

There was no reply from Hunter; she turned away from him silently to watch the golden ripples move across the surface of the lake. Rubbing her left shoulder again in pain, Harry could see a terrible gash across Hunter's back that her cape had been hiding. "Take a rest, Potter…" Hunter glanced over her shoulder to see him staring at her painful wound. "I'll wake you both up when it's safe enough to leave," she turned her attention back to the lake.

Something in the back of Harry's mind troubled him as he took a seat next to Ron in the sticky mud. Hunter was watching the lake as if the creature might decide to return; as if it could come onto the land to attack them for revenge. Ron shivered in his sleep, bringing Harry back into reality. Harry shared part of Hunter's cape with Ron and soon drifted to sleep from exhaustion.

Hours later, Ron stirred in his sleep, waking up a grumpy Harry. "Just five more minutes mom," Ron whimpered in his sleep as he tugged on Hunter's torn cape like he was in his bed back home. Shifting from side to side, Ron opened up his eyes to find a pair of glittering eyes staring at him. "HARRY!" screamed Ron when he realized that the eyes did not belong to Hunter.

Opening his eyes, Harry was face to face with a giant sea serpent; it was the creature that had attacked them in the lake. This slimy, pea green serpent twisted its head as it examined its fresh dinner. Harry could see that the serpent's teeth were longer than his head. The creature's golden eyes put the boys into a trance; just like Sirens luring sailors to their death with their beautiful voices; they couldn't move their bodies or look away from the golden eyes. Rearing its head back, the sea serpent licked its teeth with its forked red tongue.

In a blurry flash, the serpent was dragged away from the two boys, releasing them from its deadly trance. Helping Ron to his feet, Harry could see that Hunter was back in her dragon form as she tried to keep the serpent away from the boys. The serpent wiggled its snake-like body to free itself from Hunter's claws and teeth.

The creature must have been at least thirty feet long, two times bigger than what Hunter was in her dragon form. Twisting its head around, the serpent took a deadly strike at Hunter's throat. Just as the serpent's fangs were lodged into Hunter's neck, she raised her speared tail and jabbed at the serpent's unprotected belly. Once the screeching serpent had pulled away from Hunter, she roared at the two boys who were standing there just screaming in fear.

Hunter's black eyes met with Harry's, he could see an image of him and Ron running deep into the forest and the serpent chasing after them. Slithering through the dense forest, the serpent finally gives up on hunting the two boys and returns to the lake. Harry knew that Hunter was telling them to sprint through the woods while she dealt with the lake creature.

Just when they thought that things couldn't get any worse, a second sea serpent rose up out of the water to help its fallen brethren. The second monster was a bit smaller than the first, but still posed a major threat.

"Let's go Harry!" Ron tugged on Harry's sleeve. "C'mon HARRY!" he yelled so loudly that he had accidentally grabbed the second serpent's attention. "_Oh shit_…"

Hissing loudly, the smaller serpent glided across the muddy shore as if it was still swimming in the water. When it was within striking range, the serpent raised its head high above the ground to take at least one of the boys down. The boys had no where to go, Harry put himself in front of Ron to protect his best friend as the serpent's fangs came within inches of his face.

The serpent face-planted its horse-like head into the mud; only centimeters away from Harry's feet; thanks to Hunter who had dragged the second serpent halfway back into the lake. Harry and Ron took this advantage and they hobbled into the dense forest for some protection from the sea serpents. As they continued to run, Harry glanced over his shoulder to see Hunter now blocking the creatures' path by swinging her powerful spiked tail at them.

Minutes passed as the two moved as quickly as possible through the Forbidden Forest. Both were panting loudly as they climbed over dead stumps and rocks that were in their way. Harry suddenly tripped over a hidden tree stump and took Ron down with him. He frantically scrambled back to his, trying to carry Ron once again. "RON GET UP NOW! WE HAVE TO KEEP MOVING!" he yelled so loudly that his ears began to ring when Ron refused to move.

Ron folded his arms across his chest, which was rising and falling rapidly as he took short breaths. "You-have to he-lp-her…" Ron coughed out to his friend.

"She-told us to keep running, Ron-"

"You can come back for me!" the redhead yelled back. "I'll be fine here!"

"I can't just leave you here! What if a C-"

A deadly cry echoed across the forest, silencing both of the boys with horror. Looking down at Ron for a moment, Harry sprinted back towards the lake to see which creature had fallen. "I'll come back for you Ron!" he called back. When he had made it back to the shore, Harry's reddened cheeks turned pallid at the sight that was before him.

Floating on the golden waves of the lake was one of the serpent's head; the rest of its body twisted and writhed in pain like a chicken with its head cut off. The final thump of the sea serpent's tail ended the creature's life. The larger serpent had been gutted by Hunter's spiked tail and eventually bled to death. Blood had dyed the brown soil a dark black, making the scene even more dreadful for Harry to watch. No longer the color of pea green, the sea serpents' beautiful slick scales were dimming to a dark green in the fading sunlight. Off in the distance, the smaller serpent's head began to sink below the waves of the lake. The last thing Harry saw was the serpent's entrancing golden eyes just before it disappeared in the clashing waves of the lake.

"Harry..." cried a weak voice to the left of him.

"Professor…" Harry went over to the vampire's side; she had propped herself against a tree. Opening her eyes halfway, the Gryffindor could see his own reflection in her black emotionless eyes. "I'm sorry I didn't stay to help you…" he sniffled slightly trying to hold back his oncoming tears.

"The Boy Who Lived can't die just yet," she whispered softly with a weak smile on her cut lips.

Sitting down next to her, Harry watched her solemnly lower her head in pain, "Roll up my-sleeve, Potter," she whispered to him. Crimson tears streaked her pale cheeks as she tried to stand the terrible pain that she was in. "Please…" she added as Harry gave her a puzzled look.

Harry obeyed Hunter's orders as he leaned over to push her torn sleeve higher above her wrist; he froze when he saw the sight on her wrist. "The-the Dark Mark…it's glowing…" he raised his eyes to see Hunter nodding weakly in reply.

"Been glowing all day too…" Hunter bit her lip in pain as she moved her right arm to her side, "I knew some-thing was go-ing to hap-pen. Sea serpents never-att-ack…" Closing her eyes, crimson tears fell from the corners of her eyes, "He was-control-ing i-t…" she stopped herself from crying out in pain by tightening her already clenched fists. Hunter took a deep breath just before she spoke more, "I'll be-fine in a few hours…half-half vampires can-t regenerate as quick-ly as I would like…" She shut her eyes to rest for a moment.

Harry stood up and searched the fading horizon for anymore creatures or any signs of help. A snapping twig behind him made the boy flip around with his fists raised to fight off the unwanted guest. Harry stood in front of Hunter with a determined look in his eyes as he faced the mysterious figure.

Suddenly, a familiar face could be seen in the fading light, relieving Harry as he lowered his raised fists. "Thank Merlin you are here Firenze..." he sighed with relief when he had recognized the blue centaur.

--------

In the Hospital Wing, Hunter felt someone touch her cheek softly to wake her from her deep sleep. "Severus…" she knew who it was before she opened her eyes. The vampire's eyes gleamed when she saw his pallid complexion brighten.

Sitting in a chair that was moved as close to Hunter's side as humanly possible, Snape held her hand and smiled weakly at her. "You should really stop playing hero…" Snape grumbled as he reached over to hold her other hand, "I get so worried-"

A creaking sound came from the entrance of the Hospital Wing making Snape freeze in mid-sentence when two timid students stepped into the room. The seventh-year students had flowers, chocolate frogs, and a book in their hands. "P-Professor Hunter," Ron stammered as he and Harry dared to take a few steps closer to the two professors.

Releasing Hunter's hands, the Potions Master stood up from his chair to chase the annoying students away. "Can't you see that she needs to rest?"he hissed in a cold voice as he stared his least favorite students down. "_Just come back later_," he mumbled when Hunter touched his hand to tell him to soften up on them.

Ron made the mistake of trying to sneak his thank-you gifts to Hunter on the opposite side of the bed where Snape was standing. "Get well soon professor," he whispered as he gingerly placed the flowers and chocolates on her lap.

"OUT-NOW WEASLEY!" Snape's booming voice frightened Ron so much that he tripped on the way out of the Hospital Wing. On the verge of strangling something, the Potions Master turned his head to see what Harry would decide to do.

Swiftly taking two steps towards the foot of Hunter's bed, Harry placed a heavy book on the edge of her covers. By the time Snape was screaming at Harry to get out, the Gryffindor was already halfway out of the room.

Giggling to herself, Hunter smiled to Snape, "You must admit Severus…they _are_ humorous students…" Just as he rolled his eyes at the thought of Gryffindors having any redeeming qualities, his vampire mistress reached out to hold his hand. "Thank them for the book, will you?" she grinned when she saw him frown in reply.

Jogging down the Grand Staircase, Harry and Ron bumped into the last person they wanted to meet right then. "Did you have fun being chased around the lake by the Loch Ness Monster, Potter?" Draco Malfoy sneered from the bottom of the staircase. His golden blonde hair shined in the light as he turned back to see if his two cronies were howling in laughter. "You and Weasley must have smelled like _rotting dung _to it, since that's the only thing I hear it eats…"

There was a debate going on in Harry's mind. He was trying to figure out whether he should take out Malfoy first and _then_ his two cronies or to take the stupid blokes out first and _then_ strangle Malfoy. Calculating his strategy to destroy the Slytherins, Harry continued to pretend that he was paying attention to Malfoy's insults.

"Everyone could hear you two screeching like banshees all the way back at Hagrid's hut…Was it tickling you to death, Potter?" The sneer on Malfoy's lips disappeared when he took notice of a hooked-nose figure standing behind Harry and Ron. "H-Hello Professor Snape," the blonde Slytherin made his face appear as innocent as possible.

Glaring at his Slytherin students, Snape pointed towards the dungeons with his index finger. "I suggest that you three return to your common room… Unless you _want _detention for the next week?" his voice perfectly matched his cold eyes as he stared Malfoy and his cronies down.

Knowing that he was on Snape's B-list that day, Malfoy signaled for Crabbe and Goyle to follow him downstairs to the Slytherin Common Room. Harry could hear Malfoy muttering swear words as he stomped away from the Grand Staircase.

Harry waited for his punishment from Snape, standing as stiff as possible in front of the Potions Master. There was an awkward silence between them, making Harry wonder what Snape was going to do to him. He took the chance of looking over his shoulder to see Snape's cold hippogriff-like eyes staring right at him. While this was happening, Ron secretly walked away from Harry and Snape without drawing any attention to himself.

"Mr. Potter," Snape hissed between his crooked teeth, "Tomorrow we will have an Occlumency lesson." Of course, neither Snape nor Harry were excited about spending two hours together in the same room trading memories back and forth. "Dumbledore also wants to speak with you," Harry caught Snape rolling his eyes about everything. Folding his arms across his chest, Snape started to brush by Potter as he headed back to his musty dungeons.

Trying to make things easier on himself for tomorrow, Harry brought up a subject that Snape somewhat enjoyed talking about. "Is she doing better, Professor Snape?" Harry crossed his fingers behind his back, hoping this would melt some of the ice between them.

Glancing back, Snape nodded curtly, "She wanted me to thank you for the book," he grumbled as he continued to walk to the dungeons. The Potions Master suddenly disappeared into the darkness without saying another word.

Harry sighed with relief, Snape really was softening up on Harry. Snape had thanked Harry by sending Malfoy and his cronies back to the dungeons with their tails between their legs. _Maybe Occulmency won't be so bad tomorrow_… he wished.

Managing to sprint up the last flight of stairs, Harry made it to the third floor where Dumbledore's office was located. He was surprised to see that the grey-haired wizard was waiting for him next to the giant griffin statue that guarded the entrance to his office. "So, you survived your visit with Professor Snape," Dumbledore's voice was smooth and calm as he greeted Harry with a soft smile. "I know it's very late, but I need to ask you a few questions Harry…"

Harry could tell that something was troubling Dumbledore as he followed the wizard to his office. Nervously standing in his office, Harry glanced around the office as he waited for Dumbledore to speak. The first thing that Harry spotted was Fawkes above his head sound asleep on its wooden perch. Next he saw a blank piece of folded up parchment lying on top of Dumbledore's stacks of papers. The parchment was burned along the edges but Harry recognized that it was his Marauder's Map.

"The Marauder's Map needs to be kept hidden this time, Harry," Dumbledore whispered as Harry graciously took his prized possession and pocketed it in his back robe pocket. "I want you to watch out for any suspicious signs that appear around you…" his soft voice suddenly became deadly serious. "Avalon told me about the sea serpent being controlled," Dumbledore leaned against the edge of his magnificent wooden desk. "Keep your wits about you-You might not be as lucky next time, Harry. Avalon can't keep watching your back like a hawk…"

Taking a seat in one of Dumbledore's office chairs, Harry raised a questionable eyebrow towards the Headmaster of the school. "Watching my back?" Harry did not understand what Dumbledore was trying to tell him.

A melancholy sigh came from the stately wizard, "Avalon has been watching your moves for a while-that's how she found you by the lake before anyone else could…" He glanced away from Harry for a brief second, looking behind his shoulder as if someone else was listening in on them. "I just want you to be careful Harry…" Dumbledore's blue eyes softened, "The mermaids found the gaint squid at the bottom of the lake-chopped up into tiny pieces." He sighed out loud, "Someone has found a way into the castle Harry. You need to stay close now..."

Harry gave in on the wizard's demands and nodded his head in reply. "I'll stay close," he grumbled unhappily as he turned to walk out of Dumbledore's office. Slamming the office door loudly behind him, Harry stormed down the stone steps and kicked the griffin statue on the way out of the third floor. _I'm not a child_! _I don't need someone to babysit me_!

Walking up the flight of stairs, Harry checked his surroundings to find that not even a ghost was around. Silently, he unpocketed the Marauder's Map along with his wand, "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good," Harry tapped the end of his wand on the blank parchment. Words spilled across the battered parchment, Harry recognized the creators' names on the front of the map. Delicately, Harry opened the parchment to see if the map still worked. He frowned, something was not right with the map. Harry could not see his name, or in fact anyone's name, on it. _What in the hell_?

The map floated down to Harry's feet when he knew that something was wrong. With his wand still in his hands, the Gryffindor student flipped around to see if anyone was behind him. He could hear whispering off in the distance...

Carefully walking down the corridor, Harry could not see a thing; he did not dare to use a Lumos spell if someone _was_ near. He froze with fear when the whispers grew louder, "Who's there?" he hissed.

Harry jumped backwards when Hermione came from out of nowhere. "_Fuck_," he could feel his heart thumping in his throat again. "_Don't _scare me like that Hermione!"

"_Sorry_! Ron told me that you went to Dumbledore's office and-" she just happened to look down at his feet. "Is that your dad's map? I thought you said Filch had stolen it back..."

"It doesn't work anymore," Harry bent down and picked it up.

Hermione gave him a weird look, "Doesn't work anymore? What do you mean?" She gasped when see saw that their names were missing from the map. "Can we fix it?"

"I'll have to have Lupin try and fix it for me I guess," Harry tapped the map with his wand, "Mischief managed." He smiled at the clever witch, "Let's go back to the common room before someone else tries to scare me..."


	25. Avias

Snape was sitting up straight on the black leather couch down in the Slytherin Common Room with a disappointed look in his eyes. There was someone else on the couch with him; Hunter was stretched out across it with her head on Snape's lap. Like it was a natural reflex to him, Snape was stroking Hunter's blue hair sweetly as she drifted off to sleep next to him. One of the vampire's pallid hands was delicately wrapped around Snape's; Hunter never wanted to let his hand go.

The vampire would not explain to him what happened by the lake in very great detail. She had refused to give him all of the facts. Just before she fell asleep, she told him that she loved him dearly-no matter what. Not wanting to cause even more stress between their relationship, Snape accepted her decision of not discussing what went on at the lake with him. Feeling somewhat rejected by Hunter's cold silence, the Potions Professor wanted to know more and more about the incident as he sat there in the dark common room.

A sinister plan formed in the back of his crude mind, he would find out tomorrow night…during the Occulmency lesson with Potter that Dumbledore had insisted on. This was perfect for Snape. Harry had not practiced protecting his thoughts or memories for almost a year now and he would be able to find out what had happened easily. If he succeeded at this, Snape would satisfy his thirst of knowing what troubled Hunter so much without breaking her trust.

The grip on Snape's hand tightened slightly, signaling that Hunter had woken. "Severus…?" she whispered as she opened her eyes and turned her head to the side to see him.

Snape definitely didn't want to shatter Hunter's trust, "Go back to sleep, Avalon…" his voice no longer sounded like it had frozen over. Smiling to her weakly, Snape continued to stoke her blue hair affectionately, "Rest…"

"But-" Hunter was about to insist that Snape needed to get some rest of his own. She stopped speaking when he touched her lips lovingly.

"I'm perfectly fine here…" he whispered soothingly to her. Snape's voice was actually capable of luring someone to sleep-but no one else knew about this little secret of his. When Hunter settled back down, Snape resumed stroking her hair to help her relax and fall asleep. "I miss this…"

In truth, there were a lot of things that Snape missed that he never did with Hunter anymore. But no one could blame Hunter for her surliness, since the Muggle killings were being reported in the _Evening Post_ for nearly a month straight now; everyone became suspicious of her-including Dumbledore. Snape could tell that Hunter was hiding something from the others; he was too frightened to ask her what it was though. Of course he trusted her more than anyone else-but there were certain things that always made Snape stop to consider.

Closing his eyes, Snape moved slightly in his seat to become comfortable where he was at; he knew that he was going to spend all night like this. The Potions Master leaned his head back against the cold leathery couch, wondering what would happen next. Voldemort would try to murder Harry again sometime soon…that dark wizard had more tricks up his sleeves-Snape was sure of it. Pausing in his numerous thoughts, Snape felt Hunter stir in her sleep. He returned back to his thoughts when she continued to sleep on his lap.

_What about the meeting though_? Snape had nearly forgotten about the meeting between Dumbledore and the members of the Order. No one knew what the meeting was all about, but that Dumbledore wanted everyone to show up to Hogwarts out in the open. The meeting was onlyone week away and Snape had a dark feeling that the Order meeting would not be a very pleasant one.

---------

Hunter sat high above the students, professors, and the lush green grass that was spread throughout an abandoned part of a courtyard. Dragonflies floated around Hunter as she watched a student walk below her without glancing up. Sitting on a hand-carved gargoyle, Hunter whispered to the dragonflies as they zoomed about her.

Gloomily, she rested her chin on the top of the gargoyle's head, sighing sadly only at herself. As if in a dream, Hunter's eyes began to daze off into the bright sky. She took notice of the black birds that fluttered by her in a hurry as they tried to devour the dragonflies. Shifting her weight on the gargoyle, the vampire leaned back against the newly tiled roof and tried her best to enjoy the light being emitted by the sun. This hidden area in the castle was her new seclusion spot, she was becoming tired of her murky room and dungeons.

Closing her eyes, Hunter tried to relax her mind as she dreamed of something peaceful and charming. "Just let this end…" Hunter whispered as her dark blue hair covered the right side of her face as she dully watched her surroundings. Releasing a long sigh, Hunter covered her face with her pale hands and then pushed her hair away from her eyes. A noise off in the distance made her ears twitch, "What do we have here…a spy do we?" she forced a weak smile upon her lips.

Swooping down from the sky, Quinn dived bombed towards the roof and landed gracefully as vampire. "Merlin's beard, dear sister…" he squinted in the sunlight, "Do you know that you've been out here for nearly two hours?" Quinn stuck his nose in the air and characteristically scratched the back of his blonde head, "How can you stand this _lovely _weather! I think I need to puke…" A green color swept across his pallid face, "Too much sun isn't good for you, dear sister…"

Hunter ignored his little side comments, "Where have you been for the past few hours?" she nudged him with her shoulder to have him sit down and join her.

A bright grin appeared on Quinn's pallid lips, "I went out on a date with Sasha again in London..."

"Where did you get the money to take her around London?"

Quinn quickly glanced down at his feet, "I managed to get my hands on some loose change-"

"You've been picking pockets again-haven't you?" she snarled bitterly at him when he tried to cover up his act. It was so typical for Quinn to resort to something so low.

Narrowing his eyes at her, Quinn muttered something that grabbed Hunter's immediate attention. "It's not like you've done something like that before…"

"When did I start resorting to pick pocketing?" she snapped back at him.

Quinn laughed, "I remember exactly when," he started. "You stole all of that money from the Gringott's Bank…plus that emerald that was the size of my head with Walden and Lucius." Hunter's brother paused as he tried to think of the Death Eater's name.

She cocked an eyebrow at her younger brother, "You didn't get caught pick pocketing? Because I remember that you were _absolutely terrible _at that a few months ago with Fletcher..." she wrinkled her nose at her brother.

Quinn stuck his tongue out at his sister, "I'm a _great_ pick pocket!" his voice went an octave higher. Quinn used his nimbleness to jump on the tip of the gargoyle statue without tipping over; he turned to glare at his sister with a defiant look in his eyes. "Well...alright, I'm not the greatest pick pocket...but at least I'm the greatest brother! Who saved you from that git from the Ministry, eh?" he demanded loudly with his chest puffed out.

"Ay, it was you," Hunter mimicked her to voice to sound like someone Quinn knew very well. "But-" Raising her index finger high in the air, she gave him a quizzical expression. "I clearly recall that the only reason he found us was because a _certain someone_ broke a lamp that belonged to the _git _from the Ministry."

Quinn snorted at her, "Damn your perfect memory…I wish you could at least forget _one thing_ that I did wrong," he folded his arms across his chest in a moping manner.

Toying with her brother some more, Hunter went on with mimicking someone with a bright grin on her lips. "Hmmm…" she rubbed her chin for a brief moment, "Nope…I can remember every foolish move you have ever made, dear brother." Hunter started to laugh out loudly when Quinn flipped her off and turned his back on her.

Hunter sighed loudly when she thought about all of the wonderful times she had with her brother. "I wish life was as simple as it was back then…"

Quinn gave Hunter a tight hug, "Dad use to say that all the time," he tried to smile at her but he couldn't bring himself to do so. "I miss him," sighing again Quinn leaned against his sister as he stretched his legs out on the roof. "We had so much fun when we were Death Eaters, Avalon…Why did everything have to get so damn complicated?"

Rolling up her sleeve, Hunter took a peek at her terrible snake and skull tattoo embedded in her wrist. "It was fun until we had to start killing everyone, Quinn…"

Puzzled by her remark, remembering that she had enjoyed everything about being a Death Eater, Quinn nearly choked at what she had said. "I specifically remember that you said _deaths come with the price of power-_"

Ready to pull at her hair, Hunter lowered her eyes to stare at the dirt-colored tiles, "That was so long ago-I'm not that same person anymore, Quinn…" A dragonfly landed on the tip of Hunter's left shoe, buzzing and hummed loudly as if it was trying to cheer Hunter up. "We paid the price for killing so many innocent people already," she hissed when she knew what her brother was about to say. "We've turned into bloodsuckers-how more appropriate was that for us?"

Touching her shoulder gingerly, as if he was afraid of what she might do to him if he spoke out of turn, Quinn knew exactly how she felt. "Everyone deserves a second chance, baby sister…" he gave her a sympathetic look, "Even you…"

Barely looking at him, Hunter nodded curtly when he tried to give her another hug. "I'm trying to make up for it-I really am Quinn…" she whispered as several more dragonflies floated above them to keep them company.

- - - - - - -

Harry was slowly drifting off to sleep during his Transfiguration class; he had stayed up late telling Hermione all about the incident at the lake with Ron. Class had just started only three minutes ago and Harry and Ron were already nodding off in front of their professor. The two had conveniently raised their books on their desks, so the professor would think that they were actually reading and not sleeping away in her class. With their faces concealed, Harry and Ron were sure that they could at least catch a few minutes of sleep before the professor would catch them.

Professor McGonagall remained in the front of the classroom, writing down spells and meanings of the spells on the chalkboard. Today she was wearing an emerald hued robe with a matching witch's hat, which had a long feather sticking out of the side of her hat. Her brilliant red hair was beginning to fade away after so many years, the signs of old age were finally showing. Fixing her tiny spectacles, which were almost identical to Dumbledore's, McGonagall wrinkled her nose at the back row of students.

"_Mr. Potter_, _Mr. Weasley_," McGonagall sounded slightly irked by her students' disrespect. "_Wake up_," the Transfiguration professor stormed to the back of the classroom and pulled their books away from their drooling faces.

Ron snorted as he drowsily opened his eyes to find a cross-eyed professor staring him down, "Professor-we were um…er…" he glanced over to his best friend who was rubbing his eyes and yawning loudly.

"I will not tolerate having my students fall asleep during class," the Scottish professor narrowed her eyes at her two students, "Twenty points from the Gryffindor House." Even though the professor was head of the Gryffindor House, it never stopped her from subtracting points from her own house unlike the three other professors who were head of the remaining houses.

All of the Gryffindors let a long sigh out; they were now behind the Slyhterin House by fifty points. Longbottom lost thirty points after his cauldron exploded down in the dungeons; Snape was furious with the Gryffindor and gave him a week of detention along with subtracting points from his house. Of course, there was always one professor who tried their best to award every house with points during class-especially when Professor Snape was in a terrible mood.

Harry continued to rub his eyes, hoping that he would eventually wake up and pay attention to McGonagall. It was no use to apologize to the professor, the only way they would be able to show their regret would be by staying awake for the rest of the class. But it was harder for Harry and Ron to do than they thought it would be. When Harry was about to nod off, Ron would nudge him to keep Harry awake and Harry would do the same for Ron. This routine went on for the entire period, but McGonagall seemed to be pleased that they were trying to stay awake this time.

"I want you all to take out your wands and repeat after me," McGonagall pulled her wand out and pointed at a stone statue that was carved into a shape of an egret. "Avias!" a flash a blue hit the stone statue but nothing else happened to the statue. McGonagall took a few steps closer to the statue, which was set on the edge of her desk.

Neville Longbottom tilted his head to the side in confusion; "I don't think the spell worked, professor…" he seemed to become nervous about speaking out in front of the entire class.

Reaching out to touch the statue, the marble egret opened its eyes and released a loud cry at McGonagall. Arching its long powerful neck back, the egret tried to peck at McGonagall hands. "No, Mr. Longbottom…it worked," she took a step back from the egret as it flapped its wings and sent graphite feathers everywhere in the room. McGonagall turned back to the class, "This spell only works on statues, of course. Miss Granger, would you mind coming up here to show the class how to perform the spell one more time?" The headmistress pointed to several tiny, ebony-carved pigeons on her desk.

There was a bright grin on Hermione's face, as if she had just received a great award for her outstanding brilliance. "Show off," Ron muttered to Harry as they watched her say the word "Avias" like she was the teacher of the class. Tiny, stone-white, twittering birds zoomed all about the classroom. Squawking at the birds, the marble egret snapped at the twittering creatures as they fluttered all about it.

"Well done, Miss Granger," McGonagall motioned for Hermione to go back to her seat, "Five points for Gryffindor," the professor added loudly.

A grave expression replaced Hermione's bright grin, she wanted to show off some more to the class. Hermione pouted as she dragged her feat back to her desk; it was very apparent to everyone that she enjoyed being in the spotlight and being considered the brightest witch of her age.

McGonagall pointed her towards the marble egret and the twittering white birds that were annoying it, "Finite Incantatum!" With a popping sound, the tiny birds popped out of existence while the marble egret froze with its head raised and wings spread out. "Now who would like to have a go at turning this marble egret back to life?" McGonagall searched the classroom for the perfect person to try out the new spell, "Mr. Weasley, how about you?"

Stiffening up in his seat, Ron glanced around the room hoping that the professor had just not called his name. "Me, professor?" he swallowed hard when she nodded in reply. With an unconfident expression on his face, Ron got up from his seat and walked to the front of the classroom with his wand trembling in his hands. Facing the egret with some uncertainty, the Gryffindor tried to repeat what McGonagall had said early but he slurred the Latin name of the egret so much that the class started to laugh at him.

Frustrated with mispronouncing the spell, he finally narrowed his eyes at the stone egret. "Alright," Ron's voice went an octave higher, suggesting that he was still very nervous about saying the spell. Clearing his voice to make sure that he wouldn't slur his words this time; Ron aimed his wand at the marble statue. "Avias!" Lucky for him, a flash of blue struck the marble statue bringing life to the egret once more. As the class clapped for Ron, he bolted back to his chair to hide his blushing red cheeks from everyone.

McGonagall quickly ended the spell on the stone bird, "Now for the real spell that I am about to teach you all," the Scottish professor grabbed a miniature pebble from her desk next to the egret statue. "For today and for the next few days…we will be turning our pebble into an egret, bringing the egret to life, and then turning the egret back into a pebble. This spell will take you all a while to learn, but since it is on the N.E.W.T. finals, you all must complete this assignment. Each of you will receive a pebble from me and you must be able to use the spell by the end of Thursday. I _will_ have you demonstrate the spell in front of the _entire class_. There is one thing you also must be able to do with your pebble, I will take points off your assignment if you can not give your egret white feathers. Of course, all of these pebbles are black so your egret will become black-but you must focus hard enough to change them to white. With that all being said, come up to my desk and I will give you your pebble and the spell."

A perfect, single-filed queue started right in front of McGonagall's desk, Hermione was at the front of the line and Ron was biting his nails in the back. "Why does it have to be so hard in this class, Harry?" Ron cried to his best friend from behind him, "I shouldn't have taken this class…" he was already sweating with fear.

Neville glanced over his shoulder, "It isn't that bad, Ron…" he grabbed his pebble and spell parchment from McGonagall.

"Not that bad!" Ron snorted as he hotly folded his arms across his chest, "Did you hear that Harry? The kid who vanished _half _of his arm last week by accident-is telling me that this class _isn't that bad_!" He fell silent when it was his turn to take a pebble and a spell parchment from the Transfiguration professor.

Back at their desks, the students read the incantation to themselves as McGonagall watched with a smile on her lips. Harry scratched the side of his head as he reread the spell, "Egretta morphus…" He glanced over to Ron, "So, this spell will turn the pebble into a stone egret or will it turn the pebble into a real animate egret?"

Hermione heard Harry's question from her seat, which was a row ahead of Ron and Harry, "It will just turn the pebble into a stone egret, Harry. You then have to use the second spell to bring the egret to life…That's why we're spending a few days on this assignment; you need two spells to make it work until you get very experienced at it. Eventually, you should be able to use just the first spell..."

"Hermione, is there bloody _anything_ that you _don't_ know?" the red-haired Gryffindor asked as he examined his shiny black pebble with both of his hands.

Some of the students were feverishly trying out the new spells on their pebbles, hoping that they could get it right during class so they wouldn't have any homework for the rest of the week. Neville Longbottom had managed to turn his black pebble into a smoky grey color; no one really knew if it was on purpose or by accident. A Hufflepuff's pebble sprouted pink feathers and three pairs of wings; it flopped about the castor's desk making everyone laugh in the classroom. Everyone messing up their spells made Harry and Ron feel a little more comfortable about themselves trying the spells out on their own pebbles. What shocked the class the most though, was Hermione's attempt to turn her pebble into an egret.

Squinting her eyes at her black pebble, Hermione flicked her wrist with her wand in her hands reciting the spell as best as she could. The pebble suddenly tripled in size on top of Hermione's desk, it frightened her so much that she backed up into Harry's desk as she watched it continue to grow. It wasn't the exact size of an egret but Hermione was closer to the real size than anyone else was in the room. Then the pebble began to grow two pairs of scaly necks and long pointed snouts that were a dark green color. Hermione stared at her creation oddly; this did not resemble an egret at all-it was almost a reptile in some characteristics.

"What is it?" Neville asked as he and several other students gathered around Hermione's desk to see her attempt at the spell.

Ron grinned brightly to Neville and Hermione, "It's a two-headed, pig-snouted, pincushion that is covered with green and black scales. Good one, Hermione," he patted Hermione on the back as he returned back to his desk. This would please Ron for the remaining day. The "great know-it-all" had finally failed at a spell; this event only happens once a year, so Ron always tries to enjoy the moment. Finally, Ron had enough courage to try his hand at the spell; after rolling up his robe sleeves to show Harry that he wasn't going to pull just _any_ magical trick.

Clearing his voice loudly, Ron tapped his pebble with his wand as if he figured that the spell would not hit the pebble unless he directed it first. "Egretta morphus!" he flicked his wrist like he was an expert at the spell.

To Harry's and Ron's amazement, the pebble grew a single pair of wings, tall slender legs and was almost perfect in size. A matching slender neck appeared out on one side of the pebble; beady black eyes magically popped onto a round head at the end of the neck. The pebble managed to sprout some feathers on its wings, but not enough to pass for a real bird. There were two things wrong with Ron's stone egret-its neck was placed on the wrong end of the bird and the bird's beak had transformed into a duck's bill.

"Very good Mr. Weasley!" McGonagall came over to Ron's desk to examine his stone bird, "Very good indeed…especially for your first try…Fifteen points for Gryffindor…" The headmistress smiled brightly to Ron, "You seem to do better Mr. Weasley when you're sleeping through your classes…How ironic is that?"

Ron's bright grin spread from ear to ear now, he had finally beaten Hermione at something that involved school. He jeered at Hermione when the professor went back to the front of the classroom to help some of the other students, "Did you hear that Hermione? _Fifteen points_ for Gryffindor!" The red-head leaned back in his chair as he admired his nearly perfect stone egret, "I actually did something better than you," he couldn't help but smile at her.

In a very positive voice, Hermione congratulated Ron on his first great feat in Transfiguration class. "That's great Ron! Maybe you could earn five more points so you can make up for the twenty points that you lost for our house a few minutes back, eh?" It was obvious that Hermione was peeved about Ron beating her at something. She turned away from the two boys to examine her freaky creation in frustration.

"She always has to ruin the fun of me making fun of her, doesn't she?" Ron grumbled to Harry as he waved his wand around in the air lazily. "Should I try to bring it to life?" he asked his best friend with a sneaky look in his eyes.

Harry eyed Ron, "You can't send the bird pecking Hermione's head if you do…" he knew what Ron was thinking in his dusty mind. "Let me try mine first though," he reread the incantation once more before he set his mind on performing the task. Remembering what Professor Flitwik had taught him in his first year at Hogwarts, Harry flicked his wrist as he recited the spell.

White feathers shot out from every angle on the pebble, covering the entire pebble as it doubled in size and grew rounder. But these white feathers weren't made of marble-they were real white feathers, soft as silk and as whiter than snow. The feathery ball sprouted wings and began to flap them widely around, trying to gain enough altitude to fly away. Harry grabbed the feathery ball before it took off higher in the air; he could feel it tickling him as it squirmed around in his cupped hands.

"How did you do that Harry!" Ron cried with astonishment, "You made it come alive without even using the other spell!"

McGonagall had heard Ron's excited voice and decided to come see what he was so enthralled about. "Mr. Potter?" the professor gave him an odd look as he struggled to keep his hands cupped over something, "Where is your pebble?"

As Harry carefully released the feathery ball, it hovered in the air, producing a low humming sound. "I don't know how I made it become animate but-" he started to say in his defense.

"No need to be so apologetic, Mr. Potter," McGonagall smiled to her student, "The spell is actually suppose to bring the pebble to life without using the second spell…but since I've just taught you the spell, you would have to use the second spell until you became better at the first one. Of course, I expected this from your wand, Mr. Potter…"

Harry raised an eyebrow at McGonagall, "You did, Professor McGonagall?"

"Your wand is made out of holly-is it not, Mr. Potter?"

"Yes," Harry couldn't understand what it had to do with him transfiguring his pebble into a living flying ball, "But what does it have to do-"

"Holly is known for its resurrection properties-thus this would help you bring your…um creation to life before everyone else will be able to. Five points for Gryffindor," McGonagall raised her voice as she went back to the front of class.

The feathery ball zoomed around Harry's head, humming softly to him like it had recognized him as its creator. "It sorta looks like a Golden Snitch…doesn't it? Except it's covered with white feathers instead…" Harry wondered if he still had Quidditch on his brain.

"Now-to bring mine to life," Ron spit in his hands and clapped them together as he aimed his wand at his backwards stone egret. "Watching this Hermione?" the Gryffindor winked to Harry just before he recited the second spell. "Avias!" a green flash hit his stone bird instead of a blue flash. "Oh no…" Ron whispered just before his stone bird shattered into thousand pieces of rocks.

Dust filled the room, making everyone cough loudly and their eyes water, they all glared at Ron who was shrinking in his chair. "Nice one, Ron," Hermione smirked at him as she turned back to her stone creation.

Ron pounded his head against his desk, "Stupid-stupid…should have stopped while I was ahead…"

Just before class was over with, Harry repaired Ron's pebble for him and tried to cheer him up. "Don't worry Ron, we have all week to do this…you'll get better at it-no worries…"

"My creation is ruined!" Ron was on the verge of tears as he kept his head buried in his arms until it was time to leave class.


	26. The Meeting

The vampire was dreading the early meeting in Dumbledore's office. "Just act smooth like you always do, Avalon…You've met these people before…" Hunter kept telling herself this over and over. Step by step, she continued to talk to herself; hoping that it would convince her to stay for the meeting. "Stay calm…only two of them want to kill you…" Hunter whispered when she spotted the griffin statue guarding Dumbledore's office door.

"And what about the rest of them?" a cold hand brushed up against Hunter's blue hair.

The action frightened Hunter so much that she accidentally ran right into the stone griffin to get away from whoever was behind her. "Don't scare me like that!" she could hear Snape snickering. Rubbing her nose with one hand and punching Snape's shoulder with the other, Hunter scowled at him for frightening her.

Snape gave her an odd look, "_You_-? _Scared_?" he snorted out a short laugh, "You must really despise these people then…" Uncharacteristically, Snape stuck his tongue out at her and wrinkled his nose, "You look good in red, by the way…" he jeered. "Raspberry jam," the Potions Master said to make the statue reveal a secret stairway.

Walking up the stone steps, the two ex-Death Eaters insulted one another back and forth and tried to trip the other. Snape had managed to trip Hunter twice as he followed her; which pissed Hunter off so much that she flipped him off. "Oh-finally resorting to using vulgar manners are we?" Snape cooed as he reached to open the door for her. "Try to restrain yourself from banging into it again," Snape added as she stepped on his foot as hard as she could before entering Dumbledore's office.

"Just wait until the meeting is over," Hunter sternly pointed at him to show that she meant business this time. She smirked when she saw him raise his eyebrows in a sly way at her.

They both entered the office to find to their surprise that only four of the members had showed up so far. "I really hope this is everyone," Hunter whispered to Snape; the people who despised her were not here yet. Snape suddenly stiffened when someone made their way towards them; Hunter touched his hand to ease his troubled thoughts.

"Hunter!" a small dusty figure ran across the office and gave her a tight hug, nearly knocking the air out of her. "Haven't seen you for ages!" the shady figure shook her hands several times in a rapid jerky motion. Like always, a silver flask shined in the light as the short dust-covered thief took a swig from it. "You should have come with us on Saturday," he let an unpleasant hiccup come out of his dirty mouth, "There were _twelve_ silkies around…each one dumber than a ghoul…"

For a split second, Hunter gave Fletcher a peculiar look, _Doesn't he remember that I tried to kill him a few weeks back_? The vampire suddenly remembered that Lyude had owled her two weeks ago telling her that he had erased Fletcher's memory after retrieving all of the information that they needed.

Staring blankly, Snape nudged Hunter with his elbow, "What did he just say?" he hissed in her ear without having Fletcher hear him.

It was obvious that Hunter understood his thief code because she began rambling on about how many "silkies" were around King's Cross. "Did you get enough hits to seal the deal?" Hunter asked him, forgetting that Snape was oblivious to the entire thing because he was still trying to figure out what "silkies" meant.

"Barely," Fletcher muttered as he took another swig from his silver flask, "Where is your br-"

Hunter cut him off with a dark glare, "Bat?" she said in an icy tone to signal to Fletcher to drop the subject. "Quinn is flying around the castle somewhere…"

Getting the hint from Hunter's surliness, Fletcher nodded silently at her in response. "Well," he sighed unhappily knowing that he wouldn't be able to see Quinn that day, "It was nice to see that you're still around…" Fletcher gave her a wink as he shook her hand in a special way.

It had been a while since she had done a thief guild handshake, but she managed to pull it off perfectly to please Fletcher. "I'll try to send Quinn your way, sometime soon, Dung," Hunter gave him a soft smile, _Maybe the meeting won't be so bad this time…_

With another swig from his silver flask, Mundungus Fletcher wandered off from the two ex-Death Eaters to find something shiny and precious to admire in Dumbledore's office. The first thing he spotted was Fawkes, who was sound asleep on its wooden perch, "This guy has everything!" Fletcher exclaimed as he ran up the stairs to examine the mysterious bird.

"Ah-Dung…_Dung_," called a voice from the far corner of Dumbledore's office. Lowering the newspaper and folding it in half, Arthur Weasley followed Fletcher up the stairs with a worried expression on his face. Fletcher had a slight problem keeping his hands to himself when he was in other people's homes. It was Mr. Weasley's job to watch Fletcher today. "Be careful Dung," Mr. Weasley warned as Fletcher reached out to touch Fawkes' golden tail feathers.

"They just feel like gold," he beamed to Mr. Weasley, who was rolling his eyes at Fletcher's simile.

Squawking mildly towards Fletcher, Fawkes stretched its wings out wide trying to wake up. Fawkes eyed Fletcher as he continued to stoke its beautiful golden tail feathers; it took off from its perch and floated down towards Hunter. Landing gracefully on her extended right arm, Fawkes cooed pleasingly to Hunter as it rubbed its head gently against her cheek.

"Oy! I was looking at that!" Fletcher glared at Hunter as she scratched the back of Fawkes' crimson-hued neck.

Hunter grinned at his disappointed look, "I know-that's why it's over here with me. You were giving Arthur a heart attack, keep it easy…" Fawkes ruffled its feathers as it got more comfortable on its new perch.

Kicking the floor while muttering, "She never lets me have any fun," Fletcher went back downstairs to sit in one of the wooden chairs off in the corner of the office. He stubbornly took two more swigs from his silver flask and folded his arms across his chest like he was a four-year old being punished.

"Avalon!" Mr. Weasley had just realized that she was in the same room as he was. Wrinkling up his newspaper, Arthur Weasley jogged down the stairs with a bright smile across his face.

Snape bumped Hunter with his elbow again, "How many of these people do you know?" he hissed. The Potions Professor was about to say more but Mr. Weasley started to blurt out his greetings to the both of them.

Arthur Weasley gave Hunter a quick hug, "Molly and I were just thinking about you," he was now grinning from ear to ear. Snape cleared his voice, grabbing Mr. Weasley's attention, "Oh, hello Severus!" The two shook hands once; they didn't get along too well but they didn't hate each other entirely either.

"Why don't you go and keep Dung company, Severus…" Hunter suggested with a gleam in her eyes. She knew that Snape didn't want to be left out of an entire conversation again like before and he did not want to listen to Mr. Weasley ramble on about nothing in particular.

Taking his chance, Snape excused himself from the conversation and whispered to Hunter that he owed her one. Snape took a seat three chairs away from Dung, who was hiccupping badly now. Rolling his eyes, Snape smugly folded his arms across his chest and glared at Mr. Wealsey as he chatted away with Hunter.

Glancing around the office, Hunter could not see another red-head, "Where is your wife? I thought she was a member of the Order also."

Mr. Weasley nodded with his curly red hair bobbing slightly, "Molly is back home…she wasn't feeling very well today-so I let her stay home." He reached out and stroked Fawkes' forehead, "We both wanted to thank you for saving our son from that sea serpent…"

"Your son and Potter always manage to sniff out trouble in this school…" Hunter sighed silently, "How is work at the Ministry? I haven't been there for a while."

"It's just fine…" he mumbled as he pulled his hand away from the crimson colored phoenix, "The Ministry is running all about like a chicken with its head cut off if you ask me. Those Muggle killings frightened most of the workers there-even Rufus is beginning to sweat a little about it…" Mr. Weasley shook his head, "Raids have gone up since you left the Ministry."

She snorted, "That's a lovely way of putting it, Arthur…I'll have to remember that one next time," Hunter grumbled sourly. "What about your children?" she was talking about the twins, Bill, and Charlie; Hunter knew all about Percy turning on the family and Dumbledore.

"Fred and George still have their shop…apparently they are doing quite well-they sent us one hundred galleons just last week. Bill is working at Gringotts' London branch right now. He's trying to help us figure out which side the goblins are on…As for Charlie…he's still in Romania working with the dragons."

"That's wonderful to hear, Arthur," Hunter could hear someone opening the office door behind them. Whistling to Fawkes, the phoenix swooped down from her tired arm and soared back to its wooden perch in the back part of Dumbledore's office.

Two more members of the Order of the Phoenix entered the office, Hagrid kept his head lowered as he stepped through the doorway while a young pink-haired girl followed him inside.

Today, Nymphadora Tonks had long, curly, strobe-light pink hair which bounced from side to side as she ran over to greet everyone.

"How are you doing though?" Mr. Weasley asked in a different tone of voice; it wasn't as cheerful as usual.

Hunter quickly answered him before Tonks spotted the both of them, "Not too well, Arthur…" she sighed unhappily.

"Arthur!" Tonks left Hagrid, Sturgis Podmore, and Emmeline Vance in mid-sentence to greet Mr. Weasley. Tightly hugging him, Tonks took notice of Hunter giving her odd looks, "Miss Hunter!"

"Hello Ton-" Hunter lost her breath when Tonks dropped Mr. Weasley and hugged Hunter instead. "Tonks-I can't-breathe-" she coughed out to the Metamorphmagus.

Tonks released Hunter from her tight hug, "Where have you been Miss Hunter?" she tilted her head slightly to the side.

As Hunter was replying to Tonks she could see the Auror's eye color change from a dark emerald green to a glowing royal blue. "You don't have to say _Miss_ in front of my name, Tonks…" Hunter added just before Tonks turned her attention to Mr. Weasley.

Sneakily, Hunter backed away from the two Ministry workers to bump right into someone who was standing behind her. Raising her head up high she could see a tall man looming over her, "Hello, Hagrid…" she sighed with relief. Hunter did not want to meet anymore of the members of the Order, since the rest were the ones that wanted to send her back to Azkaban.

"Ya don't look too well, professor," Hagrid lowered his eyes so he could see the rest of Hunter, "Are ya alright?" he questioned a little too loudly.

Sidestepping to her right, the vampire tried to smile brightly at the half-giant, "Yes, yes, Hagrid. I just get nervous meeting new people-that's all." Before Hagrid could ask her another annoyingly loud question she slipped away and went back to Snape's side. "Miss me?" she whispered to him with a fake smile.

Snape grumbled under his breath, obviously not having a wonderful time at the meeting either. He was stuck in a conversation between Podmore Sturgis and Emmeline Vance, who were both older than Snape and Hunter were. They were talking about Dementors, Azkaban, and the Wizengamot; subjects completely over Hunter's head.

"I got out of Azkaban two years ago in March," Podmore had a square-jaw with thick straw colored hair. "I haven't been able to get within a mile of the Ministry since then," he seemed irked about being not able to go there anymore.

Vance pretended to be very interested in the subject, "Who found you in the Ministry? A watchwizard?" Her voice nearly put Hunter to sleep; it was so boring to listen to.

"Eric Munch found me at one o'clock in the morning," he rolled his eyes when he said the watchwizard's name. "I still need to thank him for that…six months in Azkaban was pure torture…" Podmore shook his head when he could picture the prison in his mind.

Bored out her mind with the conversation along with the wizard's and witch's dead voice, Hunter walked away from the group; leaving Snape on his own with them. Hunter passed the office door just as it swung open and the remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix entered Dumbledore's office. Those members were late because they were already discussing half of the meeting with Dumbledore outside his office on the third floor. Albus Dumbledore, Dedalus Diggle, Arabella Figg, Minerva McGonagall, Alastor Moody, Kingsley Shaklebolt, and Remus Lupin walked through the doorway talking loudly to one another.

"Here we go…" Hunter whispered to herself as Dumbledore enchanted his wooden chairs to form a large circle around his desk. Taking the nearest chair with a long pathetic sigh, she watched all of the members assemble around Dumbledore, who was standing in the middle of the circle of chairs. Snape took a seat next to Hunter, lightly touching her shoulder to pull her away from her thoughts, and the seat on the other side of her remained empty. It seemed that the two ex-Death Eaters were clearly not wanted in the meeting; most stayed clear of them and took seats as far away as they could. Hunter was surprised to find McGonagall taking a seat next to Hunter when no one else would.

McGonagall leaned to whisper something to Hunter just before Dumbledore began his speech to the members of the Order. "They'll warm up to you soon enough, Professor Hunter," her Scottish accent reminded Hunter of her home. The Transfiguration teacher's words eased Hunter slightly; at least the professor was trying to make friends with the vampire finally.

"As you may all know," Dumbledore started in his characteristically soft voice, "We are missing a few members today…Some of you may also know what has happened to them, but I just wanted to take the time to recognize their importance to this Order. Elphias Doge and Hestia Jones will always be remembered for their bravery and the risks they took to protect others from the Death Eaters…"

The names sounded fairly familiar to Hunter, she thought that she had read their names in the newspaper a few months back. Apparently, the two Order members had stumbled upon a Death Eater's home without even knowing it. All the Ministry found of the two were pieces of their clothes and Doge's stupid-looking hat, which were spread throughout the streets of London. Whoever the Death Eater was, they managed to vanish from their house without leaving any clues to who they were. Muggles reported that they heard loud cries that belonged to a woman and flashes of green smoke, but that was all the Ministry knew about the deaths. Some suspected that the members were burned to death and that their ashes scattered across London before the Ministry could get to the scene.

After a moment of silence, Dumbledore continued on with his eyes watering in sadness, "The reason I have called you all here for this meeting is the rising deaths of Muggles in London and Voldemort's continual growing power. We must find the Death Eaters before they expose our world to the Muggles any further. I have spoken with Rufus Scrimgeour about this situation already and he is giving us permission-"

"I already know who the murder of those Muggles is," Shacklebolt growled to Dumbledore from a few seats away from the headmaster. "Matter of fact, they're in this office right now…" the experienced Auror stood up from his wooden chair and pointed directly at Hunter.

In a flash Hunter was out of her seat with her black eyes glowing a crimson hue towards Kingsley Shacklebolt, "You still haven't changed, have you Kingsley?" she snarled at him in a low voice.

Shacklebolt cocked an eyebrow at her, "Neither have you…Once a Death Eater-always a sniveling coward…"

"I'd rather be a sniveling coward than an _overfed, egotistical, git_!"

"CRUCIO!"

Every member of the Order jumped out of their seats to stop Shacklebolt from using one of the unforgivable curses on the vampire. The only one who had gotten to the Auror quickly enough was Mr. Weasley, who was just sitting next to Shacklebolt. Mr. Weasley rolled up his _Evening Post _newpaper and smacked the Auror right across the face with all of his might. This broke Shacklebolt's eye contact with Hunter, freeing her from the intolerable pain he was putting her in. Mr. Weasley hit the back of the Auror's head when he had grabbed Shacklebolt's attention, "Put your wand away Kingsley!"

Snape bent down to help Hunter back up to her feet but she eagerly pushed his helping hand. "I'm fine," she mumbled in a bitter tone. Brushing dust off her black robe, Hunter glared at everyone in the office with her crimson eyes until she turned her back on them and walked out.

The room fell silent, Dumbledore finally dared to break the terrible silence. "For those of you who think that Avalon Hunter is not trustworthy let me inform you that she has done more things for our cause than some of you will ever do in your lifetime," Dumbledore shot a glance towards Shacklebolt. "I want those of you who work in the Ministry to try and find out what you can about the Muggle killings…maybe we can figure out if we're dealing with new Death Eaters or not. The Aurors in here can do what you can, gather more information about the magical beings who are joining Voldemort's side. We must know what we're dealing with…"

"There's one slight problem, Albus," Podmore coughed as he interrupted the headmaster, "One particular type of magical being we have not been really able to find…"

Dumbledore smiled is if it was the least of their problems, "The vampires have been on our side for quite some time, Sturgis." Clearing his voice, he continued on with the assignments for everyone else in the office, "For the rest of you, you still have your assignments from the last meeting to complete."

A few of the members asked Dumbledore more questions about odd things, while the rest started to speak to their neighbors. Just before the meeting ended, Snape went over to the headmaster to ask him what he needed to do. "Headmaster," Snape whispered lightly, "What should I do about-"

Dumbledore pulled Snape away from the rest of the members to speak with him in private, "It's getting too dangerous now for you to continue spying, Severus…"

"E-excuse me headmaster?" Snape stammered in shock, "But-I've been spying for you for nearly sixteen years…"

"Yes, Severus…that's why you must stop…It's getting too risky now…"

Snape tried to understand the headmaster, but none of it made any sense to him. "Too risky? There is nothing for me to lose, headmaster…"

"You have one thing to lose, Severus…" Dumbledore's eyes grew grave as he watched Snape finally realize what he was trying to tell him.

The one thing that brought a smile to Snape's lips was his love for Hunter; he wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to her. "The Dark Lord still thinks that he killed Avalon, doesn't he?" Snape hoped that his assumption was true.

Sighing softly, Dumbledore shook his head, "Who do you think that sea serpent was for? The both of you were the first to realize that his presence was near…Voldemort was just waiting for one of you to foolishly make the first move." The headmaster glanced around his office to see if everyone was still out of hearing distance, "She's the first great thing that's happened in your life, Severus…I don't want to ruin that for you by endangering her life even more-please just stay hidden for a while. I fear that I'll need your services here more… The sea serpent attacking the students is a sign of what is to come…"

Shortly after the meeting had ended and everyone had departed, Hunter came out of the shadows on the upper floor of the office. Clapping her hands together, Dumbledore stood up from his seat behind his desk to see Hunter above him. "Bravo, Sir," Hunter faked her laughter, "That performance nearly brought a tear to my eyes!"

"It wasn't a performance, Avalon…" Dumbledore fixed his spectacles so he could finish reading his newspaper, "It was the truth…" More fake laughter came from above his head, "Why don't you believe me this time?" he sat back down in his hand carved chair.

"Hmm," Hunter jumped over the railing to land softly next to Dumbledore's desk, "Because you didn't ask me to stay..." Quickly changing the subject, she folded her arms across her chest, "How did he manage to slip into the castle ground with a sea serpent anyways?"

"Pettigrew was one of the creators of the map, he would know every possible way of getting into the castle. The only reason that Voldemort can't get inside the Hogwarts grounds is because he can't get through the small holes around the castle like Pettigrew can…"

The vampire took a seat in front of Dumbledore's desk and rubbed her left shoulder tenderly, "But the Dark Lord has managed to get into the school grounds before, am I correct on that, Sir?"

"Yes, during Harry's first, fourth, and sixth year." Dumbledore turned the page and cleared his voice, "Did Kingsley do any damage to you?"

Hunter snorted, "Just enough to bring the terrible pain back into my left shoulder…but otherwise-I've had much worse. Apparently he doesn't hate me enough yet," she leaned her head back against the chair and closed her eyes. "Why have you changed your mind about me…?" Hunter asked without opening her eyes to see if he was even paying attention to her.

"Well," the headmaster crumpled his newspaper slightly as he glanced at her, "You didn't try to curse Kingsley back today…when you were a Death Eater you nearly killed him-didn't you?"

"That's _all_ that changed your opinion of me being trustworthy?" Hunter opened one eye to see his eyes shining brightly. "There must be more than that…"

"The main reason was when you told me to have Severus stop spying," Dumbledore saw her open her other eye and sit up straight in the wooden chair. "There is still some good left in you, Avalon…" he winked at her.

Standing up, Hunter whistled to Fawkes to hide her sudden embarrassment; Fawkes came to her like she was its original master. Softly stroking the phoenix's crimson chest feathers, Hunter gave Dumbledore a broken smile, "Two who have faith in me now…"

"I think you don't realize how much Severus loves you Avalon…He almost felt like him being a Death Eater was the worst thing he could have ever done to hurt you. I hope your plan really works…"

She sent Fawkes back to its master, "As long Pettigrew doesn't try to get back into the castle to murder Harry-everything will go as we hoped…Everyone believes that I was the one who murdered those Muggles-even the Dark Lord himself. The Death Eaters still listen to me, like I had never left the Dark Lord's side. It's beyond perfect, Sir…"

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at her, "Just be careful-you're having a meeting with him-aren't you?" When she nodded in reply, Dumbledore picked his newspaper back up to finish reading.

"Why does this torture always have to continue?" Ron sighed unhappily as he followed his two friends across the corridors towards the Charms classroom. "If Professor Flitwick charms another book into biting _random_ students, I will drop this class…I will…"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "You're so primitive Ron…you really are…" she hustled ahead of the boys to get inside the Charms classroom before they could.

"What's her problem?" Ron asked Harry with a befuddled look, "I wasn't saying that it was her fault or anything…" Scratching his head in a confused manner, Ron followed his best friend inside the classroom. "She's not still mad at me because I finally out did her in Transfiguration-is she?"

A very short, white-haired wizard climbed on top of several piles of books so he would be able to see everyone in the class and vice versa. This little wizard was the Charms Professor, he had been teaching the magical subject for many years now. He had frizzy white hair with a matching beard, and a pair of long pointed ears which awkwardly stuck out on the sides of his head. Professor Flitwick was small enough to be a house elf, but house elves were not allowed to have wands. It was obvious that Flitwick was a half-breed of some type of elf, but no one really knew of what kind.

"Good afternoon class," Professor Flitwick's tiny voice could be heard above the students' noises of opening their books to the appropriate pages and pulling out small wooden boxes from their packs. "We will continue with our lesson on the Imperturbable Charm…but first-who would like to summarize what we learned the day before yesterday?"

The class turned their heads in Hermione's direction, expecting to see her hand raised high in the air but the know-it-all Gryffindor restrained herself from doing so. "She's mentally lost it Harry!" Ron hissed to him as they both dropped their jaws at the sight of Hermione not wanting to prove her intelligence to the class.

Even Professor Flitwick seemed to be surprised by this, but he decided to call on a blonde Ravenclaw girl instead of asking Hermione. The Ravenclaw barely managed to recall everything that Professor Flitwick had taught them about the Charm; Hermione could have done better but no one said anything about it.

"Now for today, we are going to try our hand at the Imperturbable Charm with our little music boxes. Could all of you please open your music boxes and see if they play a little tune like they are suppose to do." Flitwick paused as the students checked their music boxes, "Sounds like they are all in working order," he called over the annoying jingling sounds that were coming from the music boxes. "If you create the Imperturbable Charm correctly on your music box, you will not be able to hear the music from inside the box and you will not be able to throw anything at the box." The Charms Professor continued on with the effects of the Imperturbable Charm as the music boxes continued to play their annoying songs. He taught the students how to pronounce the charm, and he made them repeat it over and over until he thought that they were ready to try the charm out on their music boxes. "Remember to flick and swish…" he advised his class from the top of the book pile in front of his desk, "Now let's all try it together now…"

Counting down from five, Flitwick watched his students with a bright smile on his face as they all said the Charm in unison. The classroom suddenly became deadly silent, signaling to everyone that they had successfully used the Imperturbable Charm on their music boxes. "Wonderful! Wonderful!" Flitwick cried loudly as he clapped his hands together to congratulate his seventh years. "Twenty points for the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor Houses!" He stopped clapping, "Now, to really make sure that you all have created an Imperturbable Charm on your music boxes-find something to throw at your boxes. The Imperturbable Charm should have created a magical barrier around your music boxes, preventing from anything touching the box…"

Ron and Harry unpocketed their Transfiguration assignments and then proceed to throw their shiny black pebble at the box. Instantly, the black pebbles bounced off the magical barrier and flew back towards Harry and Ron. Harry caught his pebble easily due to his lightening fast reflexes while Ron's pebble hit him right in the middle of his forehead. "Son of a-" Ron grumbled as he rubbed his red forehead.

Professor Flitwick made the class recast the Imperturbable Charm on their music boxes a few more times until class was over with. "Don't forget that Friday we'll be having a writing assignment due!" Flitwick called as the students gathered their things and left the classroom.

"Just what we need, another writing assignment being due…" Ron complained loudly as Hermione brushed by the two Gryffindors. "Is she alright?"

Shrugging, Harry gripped his book bag a little tighter when he noticed someone staring out of a window in the Charms corridor. "Lupin?" Harry yelled from across the corridor to see if he was actually right.

The werewolf turned his head and smiled as Harry and Ron hustled over to him, "Hello Harry-Ron…How was Charms?"

This time both of the Gryffindors shrugged in reply, "Learned the Imperturbable Charm today…" Ron said as he rolled his eyes about the entire experience.

"Harry-I was wondering if I could talk to you for a while about some things…if it's not too much to ask," Lupin's voice was soft and warm. Lupin had just gotten out of the meeting in Dumbledore's office, managing to avoid Shaklebolt's argument with Mr. Weasley outside the office on the Grand Staircase.

Harry glanced over to Ron; the redhead understood that they wanted to speak in private, so Ron made something up about being needed somewhere else. "I never get to hear anything anymore," Ron mumbled as he walked away from them.

It was nearly time for dinner when he and Lupin found a safe place to talk without being interrupted by anyone. They walked upstairs to the seventh floor, where the now abandoned Astronomy tower was. Lupin conjured two wooden chairs for them to sit on while they watch the sunset and rising moon. The two talked about many things, but mostly stayed on the cheerier subject of school, Harry's two friends, and Hedwig. Harry skipped dinner to stay and chat with Lupin for a little bit longer, they ended up talking until nearly one o'clock in the morning.

"Harry…" Remus Lupin lowered his head as they watched the rising moon together, "Dumbledore told me about a sea serpent attacking you and Ron…" Lupin had been holding the subject back for a while, but it was getting so late that Lupin forced himself to ask Harry about the last few weeks.

Harry quickly pulled his eyes away from the silver moon, "Professor Hunter is a powerful Animagus," he lowered his voice, "We were lucky to be found by her."

Nodding slightly, Lupin kept his stare fixed on the moon which was only a silver sliver in the dark sky. "You were, were you?" Lupin muttered as if he was talking to himself, "Twice she has saved your life now…Doesn't that seem a little _odd_ to you, Harry?" His yellow-tinted eyes shined in the moonlight as he glanced over.

"You think that she's working for Voldemort, don't you?" Harry narrowed his eyes at his parent's old friend. "Professor Hunter is not trying to murder me, Lupin," the Gryffindor growled, "I trust her…"

"That makes two of us then," Lupin smiled to Harry, "I was just hoping that you felt the same way…" The tension between the two faded away, they watched the glowing moon in silence. "Avalon is a very loyal person, Harry," the werewolf finally spoke to break the silence, "You won't find a more trustworthy witch than her…"

"Lupin-" Harry pulled out the Marauder's Map to show the werewolf that something was wrong with the magical piece of parchment. "It won't show anyone's name anymore... Can you fix it?"

Examining the Marauder's Map for several minutes with his nose wrinkled, Lupin used numerous spells on it. He frowned in disappointment when he could not make the names reappear on the map, "Someone has been messing around with this map, Harry. I suggest that you get rid of it..." Lupin handed the ruined map to the boy, "I knew one day it would just cease."

Standing up and stretching out his arms, Lupin watched the silver moon fade behind the whispy white clouds as he thought. "You should get back to bed, Harry…I don't want to get you into anymore trouble…"

For a moment Harry stood next to Lupin watching the disappearing moon with him. "Goodnight, Lupin," Harry whispered as he left the top of the abandoned tower and jumped down the stone steps to get to his common room before anyone could catch him out of bed.

Harry couldn't believe that the Marauder's Map was no longer usable, _Did Dumbledore know that the map was ruined_? Glaring at the tattered parchment in his hands for a moment, he suddenly spotted a name on the map. _Peter Pettigrew_. He turned around to see if the map was just playing tricks on his mind but he saw a bright light behind him just before everything went dark.


	27. The Regret

Hermione Granger reached out to touch Harry's bandaged shoulder, "Harry?" she whispered in a soft voice. "Can you hear me, Harry?" Hermione sounded very distant from Harry as he laid in a deep sleep. The seventh year Gryffindor lowered her head, "I thought Madame Pomfrey said that he would wake up in a few hours…"

There was a sigh coming from the opposite side of Harry and Hermione, "Hermione-Madame Pomfrey just only said that two hours ago…_A few_ is more than four-I'm sure of that much. He almost died Hermione; you have to let him rest a little…" Ron leaned back in his chair and suddenly noticed that Hermione was on the verge of tears, "Now c'mon Hermione…Harry's just fine," he tried to smile but her teary eyes made his smile fade away.

As he laid there on his bed, Harry could have sworn that he heard other voices in the room with his best friends. The voices were farther away than Hermione's and Ron's were, they were arguing with one another over something important enough to discuss for over two hours.

"Hey," Harry opened his green eyes weakly to see Hermione and Ron sitting right next to his bed.

"Oh Harry! You're alright!!" Hermione latched her arms around Harry's neck and gave him a long hug. "I was so worried about you Harry…" she whispered in his ear while crying happily about him being recovered.

"What-what happened?" all Harry could remember was that he was heading back to his common room when suddenly everything went black.

"Pettigrew snuck into the castle..." Hermione pulled her arms away from his neck as all of her color drained from her face.

Harry tried to move his arms to comfort her but a terrible pain shot up his right arm and then went right across his chest. "How-long have I been in here?" he asked as Hermione sat back down in her seat. To him it had felt like it had been nearly a week since Pettigrew had driven that dagger into his chest.

"Two nights," Ron answered as he cheered up considerably, "We've been watching you for at least five hours…everyone else got too tired."

"Everyone else?"

Interrupting Ron, Hermione told Harry about Dumbledore, Lupin, Svetlana, and Madame Pomfrey coming in and taking care of him. "Everyone was so worried about you Harry…we thought you were going to die…" she sniffled slightly.

The voices in the next room grew louder; Harry could almost recognize the voices but Ron told him who they belonged to. "Professor Hunter and Lupin have been fighting for at least two days now. Non-stop bickering like an old married couple. Right after Madame Pomfrey told them that you were going to make it; they just started to yell at one another in the entrance hall. Don't ask us what they've been fighting about; they've just gone off about random things that we don't even know about." Ron shook his head, "You can hear every word that they're saying though..."

The golden trio fell silent to see if they could finally understand why the two half-breeds were arguing so much. "How could you leave the boy alone like that when he was nearly swallowed up by a sea serpent a week ago?!" Hunter snarled as she turned her back on him outside the doorway to the Hospital Wing.

Lupin scowled at her, "I thought you told me that you would always keep one eye on Harry! How the hell would I know that Pettigrew was inside the castle?!"

Laughter came from the corridor, "It was only a matter of time before Pettigrew would remember one of the secret passages into the castle, since he helped you create that damn map!" Rolling her eyes at him, Hunter kept her back turned on him with her arms folded smugly across her chest. "You should have had enough sense to accompany the boy until he reached his common room! Then we wouldn't be in this mess, now would we?"

"You're blaming this on me?!" Lupin threw his hands into the air in frustration, "You are so complicated sometimes-do you know that?"

Arching an eyebrow at him, Hunter snorted in laughter, "Why did you create that fucking map anyways!? All it does is cause trouble for Harry!" Hunter shook her head, "_You should have known better Remus Lupin_!"

"How the hell was I suppose to know that the Marauder's Map would end up in the wrong person's hands nearly thirty years ago?!" Lupin was about ready to pull out his hair in frustration.

Hunter rolled her eyes again, but made sure that Lupin could see her do it in front of him. "You are so fucking stubborn," Hunter's voice had suddenly chilled over. "You knew that this would eventually happen-"

"I can't read tea leaves and figure out what will happen in the future Avalon!! But, you already knew this would happen, eh? You somehow knew that Pettigrew would come after Harry through the map, didn't you! Well? Why don't you say something in your defense Avalon, or does Voldemort still speak through your lips?" Lupin paused for a moment to control his anger; he knew that he had crossed the line when he saw Hunter's black eyes begin to water.

Turning away from him, Hunter started to walk down the darkened corridor and disappeared in the shadows of the long stone hallway; she wiped all her tears away from the corners of her eyes and her cheeks. The vampire went downstairs to the dungeons to where her lonely dark room awaited her.

Banging his head against the closest stone wall, Lupin regretted ever wanting to open his mouth to argue with her. He wouldn't be able to apologize to Hunter for something he actually meant, it would be no use. Lupin raised his head and stared at the closed door next to him; it had been five hours since he had checked on Harry. Sighing loudly, Lupin opened the door to see all three of their pallid faces staring right back at him-they had heard the entire fight. "Morning Harry…" Lupin gave the trio a pitiful smile as he entered the Hospital Wing and closed the door silently behind him.

"Did anyone find Pettigrew?" Harry asked in a small voice, hoping that he could steer Lupin's mind away from the terrible fact that he had yelled at Hunter.

Shaking his head, Lupin had a grim expression upon his brow, "The Ministry just _happened_ to hear about the little incident with Pettigrew and now they are sending their Aurors here along with one of Minister's closest workers." Lupin tugged a seat from the other side of the room and sat next to Hermione.

Lupin shifted his weight in his seat and scratched the back of his neck nervously, "I want you three to watch out for these Dementors, do you understand? The only safe places will be your common room and your classes-stick near a professor at all times and don't try to go outside alone. It's too dangerous now, especially when Pettigrew has gotten into the castle more than once now…" Shifting his eyes from Hermione's face to the two boys' faces, Lupin appeared to be exhausted. "It's time for you two to head back to your common room…Be careful-alright?" Lupin made the two Gryffindors promise him that they would go straight to their common room, where it was safe.

"See you tomorrow, Harry," Ron waved goodbye as he dragged Hermione out of the Hospital room, "Get some rest!" The two made it safely back to their common room, Ron yawned loudly as they entered the common room with Hermione following him inside. Stretching his arms high in the air, Ron said his goodnights to Hermione and went upstairs to his bedroom. Hermione finally went to bed an hour later, after writing her Charms essay that she had forgotten to finish yesterday. Crooshanks, her fat orange cat, curled next to Hermione in her bed and purred all night long to her.

Lupin lifted his legs and placed them on Hermione's chair; he was planning on sleeping in the Hospital Wing for the night. Snuggling in his chair, the werewolf tried to make himself comfortable enough to stand sleeping in the same spot for six more hours. "I'm glad that you're safe, Harry…" Lupin used his tattered brown jacket as a pillow for his head and neck.

Harry glanced over to see that Lupin had already fallen asleep in his semi-comfortable chair. A few moments later, Harry went back to sleep with the pain in his shoulder and chest still throbbing.

Around five in the morning, Harry started to have nightmares with his lightening bolt scar burning madly. But this wasn't an ordinary nightmare; this was one of Voldemort's peeved moods getting through to Harry.

First, all Harry could hear was Voldemort's cold dark voice, "Don't lie to me Pettigrew…I know what you tried to pull-I wanted you to just stay hidden…CAN'T YOU PERFORM THAT VERY SIMPLE TASK?!"

"M-m-my l-lord…I p-promiss-e you-u tha-t I w-w-ould never t-try to k-kil-l P-P-Potter before-you," Pettigrew was once again sucking up to his Dark Lord, hoping that he could weasel himself out of another tight spot he had gotten himself into.

Cold crimson-hued eyes began to glow brighter and brighter in his dreams until Harry felt that he was facing Voldemort himself. But that wasn't right, whenever Harry would have these visions, he would be looking through Voldemort's eyes-not as a side viewer of the entire event. "_Liar_…" hissed a cold voice near Pettigrew, "You tried to murder Potter right in front of Dumbledore's office…" Harry realized that Voldemort was looking through a mirror; he was staring right at himself in the darkness of his chambers.

Pettigrew made the mistake of speaking out of turn, "N-Noo my Lord! I would never do such a thing!! I was merely trying to wound him so-so-you would be able to defeat him-"

Standing up, Voldemort turned away from his mirror, "_So I could defeat him?!_" he bellowed so loudly that Harry's ears were ringing. "I do not need your help in _defeating _Harry Potter, Pettigrew…DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!" Quickly, Voldemort muttered a curse at Pettigrew until the sniveling coward cried out loud for mercy and pity. "_Never_ mess up the plan, or I'll allow my apprentice to kill you as slowly and painfully as possible like they have wanted to do for some time now… We are so near the end of our perfect plan, I do not want a sniveling fool like you RUINING IT FOR ME!!"

Harry opened his eyes when he heard something stir near him; he was relieved to see that it was just Hunter. The professor was draping a long, heavy blanket over Lupin as he snored quietly in his sleep. She turned her head back to see that Harry was awake and staring at her oddly; Hunter continued to fix Lupin's blanket for him. When she could no longer pretend to be fixing the blanket, Hunter took a seat on the opposite side of Harry's bed. "Madame Pomfrey told me that you can join Ron and Hermione for some breakfast this morning…then if you feel up to it-you can return to your classes," the vampire glanced down at her lap as if she was embarrassed of something. "I didn't mean to wake you, Harry…go back to sleep-I'll wake you up when it's seven," she whispered in a soft voice.

"Why are you in here so early?" Harry asked a little too loudly, making Lupin tug on his new blanket until he thought that is was safe enough to fall back asleep. Rubbing his eyes, Harry put his glasses on to see that the sun was just rising over the grassy hills. It was just barely dawn in England, but the beautiful sunrise told everyone that it was going to be a beautiful April day.

Biting her lip, Hunter couldn't bring herself to look at Harry, "Just checking on you…" He noticed her trembling hands, suggesting the reason why Hunter was trying to fidget with Lupin's blanket for so long.

With his glasses on, Harry could see the Hospital Wing clearly now unlike last night. There were bunches of flowers, stacks of get-well cards, and piles of half-eaten candies; with Ron being the main suspect on Harry's mind; on a stand next to Harry's bed. Everything was peaceful and calm in the Hospital Wing, there was a warm spring breeze blowing through an opened window near Harry's bed.

"Are you alright, professor?" Harry was worried by her frightened appearance, as if some murderer was standing right behind him with a huge dagger in their hands. Just as Harry said his last word, he could see a faint cloud coming from his lips-the air was getting cold.

All of Harry's flowers began to freeze and then wilt beside him, alerting Harry that a Dementor was nearby. Turning around to see what was happening outside; Harry spotted a Dementor floating by the windows of the Hospital Wing. Icicles formed on the edges of the windows that the Dementor had passed; it was freezing everything that was around it.

"The Ministry still have a few Dementors left in Azkaban," Hunter whispered in a tiny voice as she moved her chair farther away from the windows. "They've been here for an hour now, Dumbledore will be letting them inside the castle anytime soon now…" the vampire was still trembling in fear of the dark creatures.

Lupin fell out of his chair fully awake, "Why is it so damn cold in here?!" he growled under his breath as he pulled himself to his feet. Groggily opening his eyes, Lupin jumped a few feet back when his eyes were focused enough to recognize a Dementor floating by Harry's windows. "How in the hell did they get here?" Lupin glanced over to Harry and then suddenly noticed that Hunter was trembling in a seat next to him.

Shrugging her shoulders at Lupin's questionable look, Hunter tired to hide her fear, "Only safe haven for the time being…" The Dark Arts professor stood up and pocketed her shaky hands in her robe; she kept her eyes fixed on the floor. "I just need them to check the sixth floor and I should be safe enough to get back down to the third floor…I'll just lock myself inside of my classroom until it's eight…" it seemed like Hunter was telling herself that more than she was telling Harry and Lupin.

Like the great gentlemen he was, the werewolf offered to accompany her back down to her classroom but Hunter quickly refused his escorting services. "I have to deal with them someday…" she muttered sourly at herself as another Dementor floated by Harry's windows. "I won't forgive him for this," Hunter told herself silently when she remembered who had caused the appearance of the Dementors.

Lupin was hurt by Hunter not wanting his help anymore. He made the terrible mistake of muttering something cold under his breath; which Hunter heard of course. "I bet you always ask Severus for help…"

Swiftly turning away from the Dementors lurking outside of Harry's windows to the reddened Lupin, the vampire pointed at him bitterly. "Don't you even _dare_ start with me," Hunter snapped as she folded her pale arms across her chest.

Lowering his head in frustration, the Gryffindor patiently waited for the argument to begin right in the middle of the Hospital Wing. "Here we go again," he sighed unhappily; knowing that the two were back to their usual ways again.

It was one of the those days when Lupin wished that he had just kept his mouth shut-in fact he wanted to keep his mouth bolted shut for the past two days now. There was no possible way to avoid the argument; which Lupin regretted badly; the only way to finish the argument quickly would be if Lupin backed down to Hunter. The only draw back to letting Hunter win the argument would be that she would know that he had let her win just to end the arguing. Which, in the end, would extended the argument even further. In other words, there was nothing Lupin could do to make the argument any shorter or any less painful-it was inevitable.

Amazingly, Hunter was the one to back down this time; she was tired of the fighting and the arguing. "No more of this childish play…" she growled at him, "Potter here is sick of it, you're sick of it, and guess what? So am I…I submit, Remus-you win…Happy?" Standing up from her seat, the Dark Arts professor exited out of the Hospital Wing and then bolted down the long corridor to get to her classroom without being noticed by the Dementors. Muttering under her breath, the vampire slammed her classroom door shut to find that someone was in her classroom already. "Oh good lord Severus," she sighed with relief, "What are you doing in here so damn early?"

"I just wanted to see if you were alright…" Snape sounded a little worried about her, "I noticed that the Dementors showed up this morning." He raised an eyebrow in her direction, "Are you going to be-"

Hunter interrupted him; knowing what he was about to say; "I'll be able to handle my classes, Severus…" Not wanting to sound or act too cold, she approached him gingerly and wrapped her arms around his chest. Resting her head on his shoulder, Hunter never wanted to let him go-he was so precious in her life. "Thank you for worrying about me," she whispered in his ear sweetly. Everything had been so rushed in the past month for her; she just wanted a moment of peace-just to stand in one place without worrying about anyone or anything. "I love you so dearly," Hunter tightened her arms around him, "I don't want anything to happen to you, Severus…"

Staring at her awkwardly, Snape wondered what had come over the vampire so suddenly. "Nothing is going to happen to me-what are you talking about, Avalon? Everything is fine…" He caressed the back of her head as she wished that everything was just fine; she just wanted him to stay safe.

"Promise me that you'll stop spying, Severus," Hunter lifted her head up and looked deeply into his eyes, "I don't want you to get hurt…" Hunter did not want him finding out the truth, just not until the very end-he had to be totally clueless about the entire charade. Before Snape could find out what she was hiding from him, she lowered her eyes and finally released him from her arms.

Snape nodded, "I promise," he noticed that a smile had spread across her lips; she was pleased that he had agreed to her demand. "I have to be getting back downstairs…I'll see you at lunch," he kissed her on the cheek lightly, "Take it easy today…" he added as he left the classroom. She watched him leave her in the Dark Arts classroom, shutting the door silently behind his menacing black robes.

At least one thing was going accordingly to plan for Hunter, but she had not really planned this one out-Dumbledore had.


End file.
