Harry, Draco and Ron: Vampire Hunters

Chapter X. He who laughs last.

Time to face the world, let brothers never fight,
Forever forge ahead and keep the dream in sight,
For those who never try - they are sure to fail,
The heart's a righteous wind that comes to fill the sail...

- Manowar, "King".

Harry's mind raced across all the possibilities of Nightmares that were listed in the book...

"...Nightmares are the servitor steeds of many lower planar creatures. They are intelligent, however, and cannot be treated as casually as a simple horse. They will willingly and gleefully serve as a mount for any mission involving evil. However, for the unwary rider, a nightmare's own ambitions can prove to be insurmountable, for these hateful steeds will often do what they want rather than follow the wishes of their "master." In many ways, nightmares pose the same problems as magical weapons with large egos.

Anyone on the lower planes who is not a native thereof can attract the attention of a nightmare to secure it as a mount. The process involves several spells, as well as an offering for the creature's service..."

"No, not that part," he told himself as he jumped into the air, the hooves setting on fire... He was flying forth through air as if by... well, magic. He focused on remembering the quote again.

"...Nightmares are hateful of material life. They will often attack any non-lower planar creature they encounter (and will sometimes attack the lower planar creatures, too). They have vicious fangs, and their burning hooves each inflict flame damage and will set any combustibles on fire.

Although they have no wings, nightmares are able to magically propel themselves through the air at an impressive rate. They may fly through the Astral and Ethereal planes at will..."

Surely, being a Nightmare was cool, the very essence of evilness radiating from the Ring fueled Harry's enthusiasm just when...

"Mr. Potter, just what do you think you are doing?"

McGonagall's voice wrested him from his evil thoughts and he set his hooves back firmly onto the ground, reverting back. Nobody around them understood anything, except maybe Ron, who saw how Harry simply pointed at the Ring on his finger. McGonagall nodded in response.

"Looks like Mr. Potter has found himself a second form," she said coldly, "That is a very rare gift, indeed."

Harry quickly pocketed the Ring, coming up to Ron.

"What do you think you're doing, wearing that thing?" Ron hissed at him, "I've got enough problems with Hermione's self-respect being down through the floor!"

"Hey, I needed to know it, alright?" Harry replied angrily. Though the Ring was safely resting in his pocket, he still felt anger... Probably it had more to do with teen hormones, but Harry was, of course, unaware of that.

"So, how's that... that... whatever you turned into called?" Ron asked after a while.

"A Nightmare."

"Vivid. Very vivid," was all that Ron could say.

*****

After the lesson was over McGonagall told him that his detention with Malfoy was to happen in two days... Not the best news Harry ever heard, definitely.

Meanwhile, the Keeper tryouts were held and Ron was made the team's Keeper, much to the happiness of his twin brothers, who force-fed him a pack of Canary Creams and were making jokes about the after-effects.

The first quidditch match they faced was with Hufflepuff... Nothing easier, since Cedric was one of the few good players ever to grace their team, and he was dead, so winning the match with a score of two hundred seventy to ten was not a problem.

*****

After Arithmancy the day after the match Harry finally caught up with Hermione, walking side-by-side with her as she was hurrying over to the library again.

"Listen, Hermione, studying like that won't help you..." he started, but she interrupted him.

"Right, and what will?" she asked without stopping.

"Er... I have no idea, but death from overwork surely is not the best way out of it!" Harry objected, feeling somehow that his arguments did not affect her in any way.

"And what if it is the only way?" she asked angrily, stopping suddenly. They were in front of the library entrance now.

Harry came to halt at these words as she walked inside, leaving him behind so he could scoop his lower jaw up from the floor.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Cho asked, she seemed to have been going to the library as well, but stopped at the sight of Harry's state. He suddenly remembered that with all that stuff happening with Hermione left him completely leaving Cho out.

"Er... Nothing. Hermione's still feeling down after Malfoy beat her..." he said.

"Right, and you were..." she started with a hint of accusation in her voice.

"I was just trying to tell her that studying like that won't do her any good!" he started in response, then stopped, "Hey! Are you jealous?" he asked after a short moment of uncomfortable silence.

"Do you want me to be jealous?" she asked meaningfully, crossing her arms on her chest.

"No, of course not. Besides, she's already 'taken'," he explained, "Ron, remember Ron?" he elaborated, seeing that his words had no effect.

"Yes, I remember Ron. I also remember that he was the one you had to rescue from under the water in the Second Task!" she said, her voice rising as if she was releasing the tension that was building up for quite some time now.

"It's no proof! It would've been you if you weren't the person Cedric was supposed to save, remember?" he replied, also raising his voice.

At mention of Cedric's name Cho's eyes started to gather tears.

"Don't you... ever... get Cedric into it!" she hissed angrily, "He was more of a hero than you'll ever be!"

"Oh great, now I have yet another girl that hates me," Harry thought sourly.

"What got into you?" he asked.

"Hmm, let me think..." she said in a mockful tone, "Maybe the fact that I last saw you two weeks ago?" she added angrily. People were already stopping to stare at this drama that unfurled right in front of them.

"Listen, I..." he started, trying to think of a good excuse, but words seemed to have failed him.

"You what? Too busy with her?" she nodded in the general direction of the library, "Or that Ginny Weasley?"

Harry was out of words to say. She did have a point, but he did not quite expect such a reaction... This was going nowhere, fast.

"Ginny has nothing to do with me!" he replied. A sudden sobbing behind told him that Ginny too had forgotten something in the area of the library and was now regretting it greatly.

"Way to go, you've earned more trouble than you ever asked for," Harry thought grimly, going over a quite long list of various swearing words, most of which were supplied by his friendship with Ron.

Speaking of Ron... He won't be very friendly from now on, not since Ginny's an enemy of Harry's... Again.

This was definitely the worst day of his life...

Cho stormed off, and, as Harry found out when he turned around, so did Ginny. He did, however, see two completely hostile faces in the crowd.

One, a certain Ron Weasley, who was mouthing something like "You're dead!" and making gestures that reminded Harry of a throat being cut open.

The other, not far from the first, was a certain Draco Malfoy, who was laughing. He was saying nothing, he was doing nothing, he was just standing there and laughing, laughing at Harry in front of what practically was the entire school.

This was the worst day in a life of any mortal student of Hogwarts, Harry thought, ever.

*****

He did not quite understand himself how, in the name of Merlin, did he make it through that day alive, since everybody was either laughing at him, telling him off for being bad to Cho and Ginny, or offering oneself as his new girlfriend, though there was this one queer third-year Hufflepuff... But Harry got that one off his tail pretty quickly.

Anyway, he was present at the doors of the Charms classroom for his detention. Malfoy and McGonagall were already there, Malfoy wearing a smirk and McGonagall - her usual strict look.

"Your detention, Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy, shall be comprised of cleaning this classroom."

"That's all?" Malfoy asked, grinning.

"Yes. And no magic. Clean it the Muggle way," she replied sternly. Malfoy's face became very dark at once, while Harry grinned. Whatever he had to do, it couldn't be scarier than whatever the Dursleys made him do, could it?

*****

Ron was definitely not at the height of his spirits. First Hermione acting all uppity, then Harry and his own quirks...

"Made Ginny cry... I'll make you pay!" he thought angrily.

One thing was comforting him though - Harry was doing detention with Malfoy tonight, and that meant one of a hell to go through...

*****

And he was quite right as Harry found out that cleaning a classroom that was previously used by the seventh-years for experimental charms studies the Muggle way was far more horrible than anything he had ever imagined. Starting with scraping brains of little furry animals off the walls (a Reintegration Charm gone wrong) and ending with cleaning the stains on the ceiling (a Disintegration Charm overuse result). All in all, the only thing that comforted him was that Malfoy was near, forced to scrape the same bloody mess off of everything around them.

"Potter, tell me one thing," Malfoy started, "Ready to die tomorrow?"

"What?" Harry looked genuinely baffled. Then he slowly remembered that the Tournament thing was still on, and he and Malfoy were the two that made it to the final of the fifth-years' part of the Tourney, "Oh, the duel... Nah, I can beat you. Even though we're not allowed to transform."

"What made you so sure?"

"Knowing that you're a werewolf, maybe?" Harry asked pointedly, swearing inwardly at whoever thought that reintegrating a small defenseless animal halfway into the wall was a good idea.

"How... How'd you..." Malfoy looked shocked beyond words.

"How'd I know?" Harry asked, and, when Malfoy nodded, went on, "I put two and two together. Extra strong now, regenerating like mad, a different test result, your 'Animagus' shape... Lots of clues to work out, really. May I ask you one thing?"

"Quid pro quo, Potter, word for a word. You ask, but then so shall I," Malfoy said triumphantly, obviously hoping to find out something.

Harry nodded in acknowledgement, since he had the Ring with him, not on his finger though, but on his neck, hanging on a string. Having it with him that way gave him a bit of extra self-confidence, but did not affect him as much as it did when he wore it on his finger... And it did not affect his Animagus state that way.

"Alright. Does Lavender know you're a werewolf?" Harry asked inquisitively.

"What? Why should she?" Draco replied, looking somewhat taken aback.

"Come on, everybody in this school knows about you and her... And Halloween. Remember now?" said Harry, secretly wondering how one can be so daft.

"So what if I woke up in Brown's bed, this alone does not prove anything!" Draco protested. He sure did look funny when cornered.

"Right, and kids are made through snogging like mad. What do you think I am, daft?"

"Sure you are, it's an undoubtable axiom. We both were too drunk to remember anything anyway," Malfoy replied angrily.

"Yeah, right."

"My question now. How'd you survive?" Malfoy asked, his usual sneer back.

"What?"

"The Killing Curse, how'd you survive it while getting only a stupid scar as the result?" Draco repeated, his own cloth rag forgotten on a desk, he was now just sitting in the teacher's chair.

"Oh, that... I have no idea," Harry replied earnestly, removing the last of a big bloodstain on the floor.

"Come on, there must've been something special about you so that you survived," said Malfoy, rocking back and forth in the chair.

"Yeah, my parents died to save me. This made some kind of protective magic around me and... And I survived, that's all I know," Harry replied, getting up, "My turn. Got the Dark Mark yet?"

"What are you talking about?" Draco asked after he got up - when Harry asked this question, he fell from the chair after rocking too actively.

"The Dark Mark, Voldemort's symbol, you know? Everyone knows that your family supports him, so it was a matter of time until you joined his service," Harry stated bluntly.

"My family does not support Voldemort!" Malfoy replied angrily, his usual sneer back again.

"Right. And your dad does not attend Death Eater meetings on a regular basis..." said Harry, his voice laden with disapproval.

"What made you think so?"

"Hey, I was at one, as a victim. Bad for them I escaped, now isn't it?" said Harry triumphantly. His half of the classroom was shining clean already, while Malfoy's was far from it, "You'd better return to cleaning, mate, or McGonagall will make you sorry," he added.

"How'd you clean your half so fast anyway?" Malfoy asked angrily, scooping up his cleaning cloth from the floor.

"That's a second question in a row... Well, since I'm out of things to ask of you, I'll tell - living with Muggle relatives teaches you to do a lot of things without magic."

"You live with Muggle relatives? As in you're not pureblood?" Draco was shocked once again as he realised that he offered a half-blood his friendship back in first year... The shame, the shame!

"And you expected otherwise? I'm as half-blood as your Lord... Speaking of him, how can you support such a half-blood as the Dark Lord?"

"What?" Malfoy was definitely shocked at these words.

"Didn't you know? Good old Tom is a half-blood, though a descendant of Slytherin himself," said Harry triumphantly.

"Tom who?" Draco looked baffled now.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle, don't you know your Lord's real name?" asked Harry pointedly.

"How'd you know this?"

"Well, he told me himself, back in my second year... In the Chamber of Secrets, you know. Right before that sicko sent his basilisk on me, I had to clean myself from all the blood a week after that..." said Harry, exaggerating a bit, but raising Draco's interest to a peak level. The Ring sure knew its job well.

"You fought a basilisk? At the age of twelve? And... lived?" Draco was close to collapsing. Harry wondered how long is left till a heart attack completely kills Malfoy off.

"Well, they ain't calling me The Boy Who Lived for nothing, y'know," he replied before leaving. At least he got enough satisfaction to compensate for the problems of the last few days.

*****

The ecstasy of battle takes me where the falcons fly,
Immortal youth was granted me,
I will never die...

- Manowar, "Black Wind, Fire and Steel".

The duel was today. To add insult to injury, most of the students were rooting for Draco, not to support him, but to be against Harry. The only select few that were supporting Harry himself were some of the professors - Hagrid, Lupin, O'Brien and, as surprising as it seemed, McGonagall, who usually pretended she does not care who wins. It was a small compensation for having relationship problems with his friends, but it still was one.

Both of them were wearing Quidditch gear - minus the robes and brooms of course, Harry's wand in his left hand and his saber in his right, Malfoy had his wand in his right hand and his longsword in his left one. They slightly bowed as a formal greeting to each other, and started the fight.

Draco was fast, furious and hateful - his sword was dancing, not swinging, his wand was flying, not being waved, his attacks graceful and effective, his hexes quick and unforgiving.

Harry was having a hard time blocking the sword attacks and dodging the hexes, with virtually no time to retaliate... Finally he once again noticed Draco's weakness - strong attacks left his defense opened for a moment or two, leaving just enough space for Harry to squeeze his sword through. Once such an opportunity presented itself, Harry thrusted his saber into the opening, but was quite surprised when Draco's sword slashed across his arm. It was a trap, and Harry fell right into it!

He drew his hand back, the blood oozing from the wound on his forearm, the pain unbearable, yet he was not going to give up. He sent the Leg-Locker Curse in Draco's direction, catching him by surprise, and quickly did a simple wound-closing charm on his arm. It would at least slow down the blood loss, if not stop it completely, and give Harry time to fight.

In the meantime, Draco got out of the pause caused by Harry's spell and launched off into another attack. It seemed as if his sword just turned into a flash of blinding light, so fast were his attacks. Harry felt his strength disappearing, as if he was suddenly hit by the Stupefy spell.

Finally, Draco broke through Harry's defense and sent his blade at him, cutting Harry's left shoulder and chest. Harry fell over onto his back as Draco picked up his opponent's wand.

There were several loud boos from the crowd, though the cheering was much louder. Draco raised the two wands above himself, like that time when he defeated Hermione.

"And Draco Malfoy, of Slytherin House, wins the Tournament among the fifth-year students!" Lee announced, though mournfully.

Harry was still lying there, trying to catch his breath and not faint from all the blood loss, but finally he gave in to the pain and the darkness swept over him...

*****

...He was once again in that place. The altar was here still, yet there was no Ron or the sword there. Harry checked himself. Glasses... Scar... Hair... He was himself now at least.

He saw a strange cloaked figure enter this hall, making no sound whatsoever.

"Who are you?" Harry asked, glad to hear his voice in this blighted place.

"I am the keeper of the Ring," the figure replied, its voice being emotionless and... and... genderless, for the lack of a better word, "And you are the Ring-bearer."

"But... Why am I here?" Harry asked again.

"To be shown your path..." the figure responded. Harry though it was a man after all.

The keeper of the Ring turned around, heading towards the exit.

"Follow me," he said. Harry obeyed.

"Where are we going?" he asked as they went outside.

"To a place nearby... It won't take long, trust me."

*****

McGonagall was desperate.

"It's murder, I tell you!" she repeated, "Mr. Malfoy as good as killed him!"

"There, there," Dumbledore replied, "Mr. Potter is alive and well, safe under Madam Pomfrey's care."

"But did he awake?" she asked, her voice wavering.

"Not yet..."

*****

Harry followed the figure across the fields covered with the black snow, but now he saw that it was not a plain field - here and there bones and entire skeleton fragments were protruding from the ground. Some were wearing metal armor, some - whatever was left of their clothes...

"Who are they?" he asked of the keeper.

"Warriors. Those who tried to oppose the Dark Legions."

"You mean Death Eaters?" Harry asked, not quite getting the point.

"No, the Dark Legions. The Army of Immortals, the Legions of Darkness, the Plague of this plane of existence - Reilak's army."

"What? And Voldemort has Reilak serve him..."

"Serve?" the keeper gave a hollow laugh that made Harry's hair stand on end, "Reilak serves no-one, his only goal - control of your world."

"And how is he going to do that?" Harry asked.

"Simple - once he has control of enough land he can convert its population into vampires... I suppose it has already started..."

*****

"How is he?" Ron asked. He might have a bad opinion of Harry, but he still was his friend, good or not.

"Sleeping. Strange, his wounds healed up the next day after the duel, yet he is like that for the eight day straight," said Hermione. Such a problem like the one they were facing was grave enough to make them be friends again.

"I hope he wakes up soon..." said Ginny as she pointed to the stack of Daily Prophet issues of the last few days - the headlines were all the same - "New attacks of vampires", "Vampire activity flare-up: coincidence or work of a mastermind?", "You-Know-Who is back!" and finally "Minister Fudge found dead in own office"...

*****

"And this place we're going to... Do they have nice cocktail drinks with little straw umbrellas?" Harry asked casually.

"No. No drinks, no umbrellas... Only death," was the response.

"Great. Then why are we going there?"

"So you could understand what shall become of your world after Reilak's plan is fulfilled... For this is what happened to this one."

"And my previous er... visits here... Why did I see those dead people?"

"The side-effect of inter-planar travel is foresight. Maybe you saw who was going to die?"

"Great. Are we there yet?"

"Yes, we are."

Harry stopped. This looked like a battlefield... A vast one at that, with dead bodies all over the place, skeletons of humans and skeletons of creatures Harry had never seen...

*****

He woke up, feeling strangely empty. The figures in the darkness around him moved sharply and he was about to yell for help, or reach for something heavy, but one of them lit up the bed-side lamp and the light revealed that the figures were Ron, Ginny and Hermione.

"Harry! Oh, we were so worried!" Ginny yelled, hanging onto his neck instantly.

"What happened?" he asked sheepishly...

*********