Harry, Draco and Ron: Vampire Hunters

Chapter XIII. Into the flame.

The clash of iron calls to stand where others fall,

Gods of war, feel the power of my sword!

-Manowar, "Power of the sword".

"How does this bloody door open, girls?" Ron asked.

"Don't have the slightest; I was too unconscious to notice!" Lavender replied.

"Okay, so what do we do then, break the door down?" Draco inquired.

"Not quite," Jack said, as he stood up to the door, bending down to look at the lock, "Looks like we're gonna need some very odd-shaped key to open this one..." he concluded.

"And where do you suppose we get one?" Draco asked.

"Umm... steal it?" Ron suggested, "You know, seek a guard?"

"How very Gryffindor of you Weasley, pointing out the obvious!" Draco sneered in response.

"I've got a better idea, muggle-wise," said Harry, "Pull your swords, men!" he commanded.

"Strike!" he added as all four of them hit the door with their swords. It withstood the attack, but seemed to give way as several cracks formed after the second strike. The Muggle way out proved to be effective when the door finally collapsed into a pile of shards.

"Lucky guess, Potter. Very lucky," Draco sneered.

"Malfoy, quit being a prat and help me!" Ron said, as he stumbled, trying to force all the newly formed junk that just a few minutes ago was a door out of his way. Draco grumbled something about weasels, prats and sodding gits and finally helped him. Once all the remains of the former door were out of the way, the girls stumbled out into the corridor; one by one, they eyed O'Reilly uncomfortably.

"Jack O'Reilly at your service, ladies!" he said, bowing honourably. Lavender giggled and nodded in response.

"Lavender Brown, I'm with him," she said, nodding at Draco.

"Cho Chang," Cho stated calmly.

"Hermione Granger, I'm very pleased to meet you," Hermione said as Ron made a face behind her back.

"Okay, what do we do now?" Lavender asked.

"Two things on the list - getting you out of here and getting the Staff out of You-Know-Who's hands. Nothing tough," Ron said.

"What Staff???" Hermione and Cho asked in unison.

"The Staff of Chaos he and his Death eaters took from the fortress of the Order of Raven. Along with some hostages, including, but not limited to, me." Jack explained, "And I suppose we have to be on the lookout for the undead ones as well."

"That Staff you speak of... I've heard of it somewhere, I'm sure..." Hermione said thoughtfully.

"I'm fairly sure you did, Hermione, it's just we don't have time to stand and think, now do we?" Harry said, sounding somewhat annoyed.

"Fine," she said coldly, "What do you suggest?"

"We separate, Weasley leads you lot out, while Potter, Jack and I go kick butt," said Draco, his tone being one that meant no arguing with him.

"What? You're actually letting someone share this ultimately deadly mission with you?" Harry asked, his voice full of irony.

"Yes, it's just because if I have to die trying, I'll at least take you with me!" Draco replied, copying Harry's tone perfectly.

"I'll keep you good company in Hell, sure I would!" Harry replied angrily.

"Alright, we split up and then what?" Cho asked, trying to keep the boys from killing each other right away.

"Do you at least know which way is out?" Hermione asked, adding insult to injury.

"Er... Not quite," Ron said, sounding somewhat guilty.

"Then how did you expect to get us out, you git?" she yelled at him.

"Er... you know... well... um..." he stammered trying to think of an excuse.

"How much like you, Weasley, being pushed around by a girl!" said Draco, "Okay, Granger - shut up, Weasley - the same, Lavender, dear, be still for a moment, okay? Chang - as the most reasonable in the lot, take the lead. Now GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!!" he commanded in his usual Malfoyish voice that meant that anyone who argues would be probably injured. Badly.

"How... What..." Hermione seemed to be beyond words now as she seeked out some insult to use as a comeback. Nothing came to mind, so she just closed her mouth, putting a very annoyed expression on her face.

"Fine," said Cho, "Ron, I hope you know where we can get our stuff at?"

"Not really, but... I have a couple of pointers."

"That's better than nothing anyway," she said with a rather authoritive voice, "Now off with you guys, go save the world and stuff..."

"Okay... but, er... Cho..." Harry stammered.

"Yes, Harry?" she asked turning to him.

"Good luck," he finally said.

"Yeah, good luck to you too."

"How caring..." Draco muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Dry up, Malfoy, you're the only cause you ain't got a girlfriend yet!" said Cho angrily, and then, almost as an afterthought, she stepped up to Harry and kissed him on the lips. Lavender looked at her angrily, then at Draco and then proceeded to kiss her boyfriend. Jack simply rolled his eyes, tapping his feet nervously. Hermione gazed upon all this, gave Ron a quick kiss on the lips, trying not to fall behind on all this, then commanded, "Let's go, girls! Freedom calls!"

About a minute later, Cho parted her lips from Harry's, muttered something like "Good luck!" again and walked off to catch up with Ron, Hermione and Lavender.

"Wow..." was all that the awestruck Harry could produce out of himself.

*****

Ron was walking slowly in the lead, his sword drawn, his eyes trying to see through the darkness of the hallway. They separated at a crossroad of sorts and agreed to holler if anything happens to either team and it needs back-up.

After yet another turn, Ron saw some kind of light in the distance.

"Hey, girls..." he whispered, "Is it my imagination or there's the light at the end of the tunnel?"

"There indeed is a light at the end of the tunnel," Lavender replied, "Need me to check?"

"Why you?" Hermione asked.

"I'm the hawk Animagus here, remember?"

"Let's stop fighting who's going to go and risk his or her life, alright?" Cho suggested, "We go together and if it's necessary only then we shift, agreed?"

Everyone nodded in reply and they were off.

*****

"Why exactly is this Staff called "of Chaos"?" Draco asked as he checked yet another door to an empty, as it turned out, cell.

"Well, it was used by the forces of Chaos in the eternal struggle of Chaos and Order. The Staff of Order being Runnestaff, of course," Jack replied as if he supposed that his two companions were full of knowledge in those spheres of existence, "This Staff rests within one plane of existence longer than the Runnestaff, but that's temporary," he kicked open another door, bashing the skeleton that was standing behind it into dust, "Oops."

"Good job, you've just ruined someone's efforts on reviving this bloke," Harry remarked, "So, where do you think he keeps it?" he asked matter-of-factly.

"Someplace safe and well-guarded, I suppose."

*****

"Have you prepared the Ceremonial Room, Wormtail?" Voldemort asked coldly.

"Y-y-yes, master, it is ready..." the man in front of the Dark Lord whimpered.

"Very well," said Voldemort, "Inform our vampire ally, would you? It would be an awful thing if he missed his own execution, wouldn't it?"

*****

"My master wa-wanted you to v-v-visit the Ceremony Room, sir," Wormtail said to the vampire lord.

"Wonderful. Tell him I'll be right over," Reilak replied, "We should not let him miss the day we drink his blood, right boys?" he asked of his servants when the Death Eater left.

The vampires responded with a cold and nerve-wracking (to any mortal at least) laughter.

*****

Hermione checked the pockets of the unconscious Death Eater. The paws of her Animagus form left pretty deep wounds on his face, but he was alive... Though for an unknown amount of time.

The search gave her a strange-shaped key and his wand.

"Better than nothing," she muttered as she turned to the others, "You alright?"

Cho nodded affirmatively, pulling a rapier out of the weapon rack in the guardroom nearby. Lavender mumbled something incomprehensible, but was also looking very smug about finding their wands in the desk in the same room. Ron was just checking the hallway up ahead and returned with bad news.

"Vampires. And a lot of them. Going this way," he whispered quickly.

*****

Harry stopped at the sight of Draco's gesture that meant trouble up ahead.

"Death Eaters, it seems," he whispered, "Stand back. This will get dirty. Fast."

Having said this, he drew his sword and Jack and Harry followed suit.

*****

Ron drew his sword as the girls shape-shifted. The first of the bloodsuckers showed up from behind the corner, and, upon noticing them, drew their swords - the horrible-looking long black slightly bent and jagged swords that looked as if they were the creation of Hell, not this world.

The young Gryffindor took a deep breath in and charged forth, his sword swinging in wide arcs, he saw the first two vampires collapse onto the ground beheaded as their swords swung at him...

*****

Harry was vaguely aware of the fact that he had just driven his sword into the foremost Death Eater, the black-robed wizard collapsing onto the ground, he was oblivious to Draco's battle cry as the werewolf plunged forth into the crowd, as he now saw the eyes. Those red snake-like eyes of the man that wanted him dead more than anybody else - even Draco. Voldemort. Those eyes were the last thing Harry saw before he felt a spell hitting him and he blacked out.

*****

Draco heard Jack's cry and turned around swiftly, his blade severing a Death Eater's arm. The bloodlust seemed to subside at once as Draco saw Harry being hit by a Stupefy spell and Jack... Jack got a full-force Killing Curse. The green flash almost blinded the werewolf Slytherin as he turned around once again just to come face-to-face with him. The Dark Lord. Draco's head spawned a plan right away.

"I see you're stronger than your parents, boy," Voldemort hissed.

"I see you're still as ugly as you always were," Draco sneered in reply, raising his sword, "Let's make a deal - I leave and none of you interfere. Or you eat steel," he added, nodding at his sword.

"Don't make the mistake of your father, join me! I can give you the power you never dreamt of!"

"Right, like them," Draco replied, his sword pointing at the four Death Eaters that have, ironically enough, been eaten by Death.

"Very well. But my offer stays strong!" Voldemort said to the now-empty hallway. After Draco was out of sight, he turned to face Wormtail. "Send someone after him. Make sure he joins us... Or dies."

"Y-yes, master."

*****

Ron woke up to the sound of feet shuffling. He opened his eyes with great effort only to see someone standing in front of him. Reilak.

"You would've made a perfect Paladin, Mr. Weasley, should you have had the chance. However, it seems that you won't," the vampire drawled coldly.

"Yeah, and why so?" Ron asked, his voice unusually hoarse.

"Because after Voldemort gets his just desserts, so shall you."

Having said that, the vampire turned on his heels and left. Ron looked around, to his surprise finding out that he was chained to the wall next to Harry, who was still unconscious.

"Harry! Oy, Harry! Wake up!" he yelled until Harry did wake up, even though it did not take much time.

"What? Who?" Harry asked groggily.

"Harry, it's me, Ron! We're going to be fed to rabid vampires!"

"That's bad isn't it?" Harry asked, still not quite grasping reality.

"Worse than you can imagine!"

*****

The three Death Eaters that were sent after Draco were soon found having their throats been cut and Voldemort sent Wormtail off to guard the two prisoners.

"Make sure that they don't escape, understood?" he asked of his whimpering servant.

The whimpering servant simply nervously nodded in response.

*****

"You!" Ron and Harry exclaimed unanimously as Wormtail entered.

"A-and who d-did you expect?" he asked, "That M-m-malfoy boy?"

"I'd rather see him!" Ron replied as he suddenly saw the door burst open and Wormtail collapsing with a crossbow bolt protruding out of his side.

"I've given a thought to your offer," said Draco calmly, raising the crossbow, "And I've decided that I'd rather kill you instead and be off."

"Damn. And I thought he was going to kill us!" Harry exclaimed, "Now free us, will you?"

"Why should I?" Draco asked as he loaded one more bolt into the crossbow.

"Hmm... the same reason as why you freed us the first time?" Ron suggested.

"Crap. You know, being good is very hard," Draco remarked, putting the crossbow onto a nearby barrel and giving Wormtail a kick in the ribs to stop him from moving.

"We know. That is why we want to unburden ourselves via putting that burden onto you. NOW FREE US!" Harry yelled frantically.

*****

Lavender winced. The fight left her exhausted and besides she had several wounds on her hands - the vampires seemed to be very eager to use their swords. Cho was not that far away from her - nursing a hand with a missing finger, and Hermione was busy putting spells onto the door so that nobody could enter. They of course saw Ron being captured, but were not going to give up in the immediate future.

"What do we do now?" Lavender asked finally.

"I'd suggest waiting, but we don't know if Harry, Malfoy and that wereraven are alive and well," said Cho calmly as she considered how hard it will be to work a broom without a ring finger on her right hand.

"I say we stop the bleeds and move out," said Hermione decisively as she used her wand to stop the bleed in the cut that ran across her left cheek, "Find the boys and get the hell out of here," she added as she moved onto her right side where one of the vampires' black swords left a deep cut.

"I was afraid you'd say something like that," Lavender muttered grimly as she too turned to tend to her wounds.

*****

"I suppose we have to find the girls first..." Ron started, but was cut off by Harry.

"Right, and what then? Witness the end of the world?" he hissed, "Apparently, Reilak wants to do no good to Voldemort, and will do it soon," he explained, gesticulating wildly, "We have no time to find the girls, however we all want it!" he added under Draco's glare.

"Right. Your plan is..." said Draco, his tone being of the "Got bright ideas? No? Then we follow my plan!" kind.

"We seek the place where the Staff is, then grab it, find the girls and scram!" said Harry, a mad sparkle in his eyes.

"Great, another would-be kamikaze!" Draco exclaimed, "How about my plan: we find the girls thus getting the back-up necessary to survive through getting the Staff in the first place, and then scram?"

"Well, now that you bring this up..." Ron started, obviously seeing more logic in a Malfoy's words than in Harry's, for the first time in his life.

"All right, consider me convinced," Harry stated, drawing his sword, "Where to?"

*****

The three girls stepped back out into the hallway. It was empty, save for the ash that the several vampires Ron killed turned into after death.

"Where do we go now?" Cho asked suddenly.

"The vampires were walking that way," said Hermione, pointing, "So that's where we're going."

"And how about finding the guys first?" Lavender asked pointedly.

"Why should we? They can handle any trouble on their own!" Hermione replied and determinedly walked off in the direction she marked, "They'll get out of it, I'm sure."

"Can we?" Lavender muttered under her breath so that no one could hear her.

*****

"Where the hell are we going, may I ask?" Ron asked of Draco.

"Towards the smell, you stupid git. I'm a werewolf, remember?" the Slytherin sneered in response.

"Oh, right. What does it smell like?" Harry asked, checking if anybody was following them.

"Lavender's perfume. I'd feel it anywhere..." Draco replied.

"Oh, hell, he's in love!" Ron mouthed to Harry. Harry nodded nervously in response.

**********