A Piece of His Soul

A Piece of His Soul

Chapter Six

How to Kill a Vampire in 10 Easy Steps

Ginny Apparated right next to Remus Lupin. He was inspecting his pack. Ginny looked inside, concerned. "Did you forget something?"

"No, just double checking that I remembered the wooden stake. It's very important."

"It's there, right?" Ginny said, beginning to feel a bit apprehensive. If the stake was missing... Suddenly, another person Apparated right next to her, making her jump.

"Did I scare you?" Harry teased.

"Nothing scares me anymore," she said, tossing her hair, "except maybe your cooking."

Remus chuckled next to them, saying, "Fair enough. Harry's cooking could scare even Voldemort. It could be our secret weapon."

They all shared a laugh and then looked around, closely examining their surroundings. They had landed on a cobblestone path that led to the castle. The stones were worn with age and the traffic of many feet. However, other surroundings severely marred the atmosphere of antiquity. Those awkward Muggle railings and strange posts with lighted orbs dangling from their tops reminded the witch and wizards that the reign of Count Dracula had passed hundreds of years before.

"So do we follow the path?" Ginny asked, taking a step forward. "In all this fog, I can't see the castle."

"Yes, we go straight," Lupin said, pulling out a map from his pocket, "and it'll lead us right our back door into the castle."

"If Dracula's guarding the cup, it can't be anywhere with windows because he can't be in the sun. Maybe in the dungeons?" Harry said.

"That's what Draco thought, too. He got me this map, actually. Found it in his house." Lupin held up the map - it did look a bit weathered with age.

It's rather creepy that Draco had the blueprints of Dracula's castle lying around in his house, Ginny thought. Maybe the Malfoys were descended from Dracula the vampire. It does sound like a very likely hypothesis.

As they neared the end of the path they could begin to see the castle peeking through the conifers. The sun had burned through most of the fog, leaving only a small cloud at their feet. The castle - now visible- was beautiful. It was a stunning contrast between the white stone, which gave way to brick colored tiles on the roof and the pure blue sky it was silhouetted against..

They finally were able to see the back door Lupin had spoken about. This side of the castle, however, was not very well maintained. Several of the stones had fallen from their lofty turrets and managed to break off other pieces of the brick colored roofing on their way to the ground.

The stillness of the area was eerie. There were no sounds of birds in the trees, no rustling of leaves from a wayward squirrel. No Muggle travelers dared to enter the castle by this entrance.

Ginny shivered despite herself. "Are we going in there?" she asked, pointing to the dark recess at the top of the stairs that she took to be a doorway. The door itself lay several feet below, rotted off its hinges.

"That's our back entrance," Lupin confirmed. He almost appeared to have second thoughts himself.

They climbed the damp stairs, daring not to touch the railing where moss thrived. The moss seemed to have a sickening scarlet stain that made Ginny slightly nauseous. What could have caused moss to grow that that?

"So we go inside," Ginny squeaked, stepping aside to let Lupin walk through first. She lit her wand and walked behind him.

"This passageway leads to the courtyard, where another passage will take us to the dungeons," said Lupin's low voice from in front of them, deeply resonant in the confinement of the passage.

"Will there be any Muggle tourists?"

"No, I checked with the Museum. It's closed today. Some sort of 'terrorist bomb threat'."

"Terrorist bomb threat!" Ginny said. "What's that? Some sort of Muggle holiday? I didn't learn about it in Muggle Studies."

"No, silly," Harry said. "It's the Muggle equivalent of a Death Eater attack threat. Remus used that to scare away the tourists and the personnel who work here. They'll cancel admittance today to be safe. When they find out it was a false alarm, they'll let everyone in tomorrow..."

"...and by then we'll be long gone," Ginny finished.

She slipped as she stepped on something wet and wriggling. Harry caught her as her wand fell out of her hand, throwing them all into darkness.

"Can someone light their wand? I need to find mine," Ginny said, feeling around on the ground. "This is decidedly unpleasant," she said, wrinkling her nose. "Everything is all slimy. It almost seems like it's moving."

"Lumos Maxima," Harry said, illuminating the passageway.

"Snakes," Ginny screamed and jumped back. She was now holding her wand in a death grip.

Harry took a step forward, and the snakes disappeared. In their place was a Dementor, looming down at them.

Harry shook his head and said, "Expecto Patronum."

The Dementor was completely bowled over by the stag Patronus and writhed on the ground. Harry chuckled and lazily said, "Riddikulus."

Ginny who had pressed herself as close to the wall as humanly possible - or even inhumanly possible - let out a breath and said, "A boggart. Of course. I didn't really need your help, Harry. I had it exactly were I wanted it. It was nothing I couldn't have handled."

CCC

Draco was sitting at the Head Table in the Great Hall finishing his breakfast and looking out at his students. He had a double period of Gryffindor and Slytherin third years first thing in the morning. Somehow these two houses always seemed to have potions together - even when he was at Hogwarts. It was probably a little joke the headmasters like to play. After all, Remus - and Dumbledore before him - was infamous for his strange sense of humor.

Draco checked his watch for the time. It was about 8:30. Remus, Harry and Ginny would just be arriving at Dracula's castle. Draco was very relieved to have found the map in Malfoy Manor when he was purging it of Dark Artifacts. But it is rather strange that his father would keep a blueprint of Dracula's castle.

Draco shrugged. Remus said that he would be back in time for lunch. He asked Draco to come looking for the three Horcrux hunters if they had not returned by noon.

Hopefully he wouldn't have to.

CCC

"So this is the courtyard," Harry said, stepping out into said area and looking around. "Not bad for a vampire. Though I'm sure he can't enjoy it during the day with his unfortunate allergy to the sun. I wonder if they have some sort of potion for that."

"Dunno," Ginny said. "Malfoy would probably know, the git. Though they do make those blood flavored lollipops for vampires at Zonko's. I think Fred and George said that they were buying the shop and starting another line of vampire products. Not all vampires are evil, after all."

The three scrutinized the map and looked around the courtyard trying to decide which doorway to use. Finally Harry declared, "It looks like it's the one between that tower and the well."

"I wonder why there's a well here," Ginny said, puzzled. "Doesn't Dracula drink blood, not water?"

"Maybe he likes to thin the blood of innocent maidens with water from his evil well," Harry said, sinisterly.

"Do you think so?" asked Ginny, alarmed. At Harry's smirk, she slapped him playfully. "Oh, shut up, Harry."

They entered the passage next to the 'evil' well. They were pleased that it quickly turned into a pair of sinister stairs - not pleased that the stairs were sinister, but that the stairs would probably lead to a dungeon. Ginny was the first down the stairs with her wand at the ready. Lupin followed her; Harry went last.

The Muggles had turned off the electricity in the passageways because that they weren't using the castle today. Ginny stared at the strange pattern of dark crimson on the wall and wondered what could have caused it. Could it have been a flaw in the stones that the builders used to make the castle? Could it have been rust from the nails hammered into the stone to make way for the electric cords? Could it have been bloody hands clawing desperately at the wall in an attempt to escape the clutches of Dracula?

On second thought, she didn't want to know what caused those marks.

Ginny finally reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around. She stepped farther away from the stairs so that the others could step off the stairs and onto the ground. Lupin followed her and asked, "Should we split up to see where the cup is located?"

"No," Ginny said quickly. So quickly that her two companions stared at her. "I just think it would be easier to... obtain the cup if we were all together and there would be a less chance of one of us getting lost or bitten by Dracula."

"Good idea, Ginny." Lupin nodded approvingly.

"So left or right?" Harry said, now stepping down behind them, holding his wand higher in the air so that the beam of light would spread out and show more of the dungeon. They didn't notice a figure move deeper into the shadow of an alcove, away from the light.

CCC

Draco summoned the textbook that one of his absentminded Gryffindor students had left out on a lab table. Draco shook his head. Not only did this boy forget his book, but he also forgot to put away the book he borrowed. Draco placed the book in the middle shelf of the cupboard. At least this boy was decent at potions - not like that Neville Longbottom of the next generation he had after lunch.

"Professor Malfoy?"

Draco turned to look at the boy who had addressed him. It was Julius Flint, the son of his old Quidditch captain at Hogwarts.

"Yes, Julius?" Draco said, levitating the cauldrons and placing them on one side of the table in the back of the room. He Banished the potions inside the cauldrons and turned to his student raising an eyebrow.

"I was wondering if there is any antidote for Veritaserum. Can someone can take the antidote before ingesting the potion so that they can lie?" Julius asked his favorite teacher. "I'm working on a project for DADA and I couldn't find anything in the library about it."

"There is an antidote, but it is not well known. It resembles Veritaserum in many ways, including taste and appearance," Draco answered, feeling a bit of deja vu. "However, the antidote is not common knowledge because it is completely effective against Veritaserum. You should know that Veritaserum is a commonplace method of questioning used by the Ministry. Your father is a high-ranking member of the Ministry after all!"

Marcus Flint was the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. After he graduated from Hogwarts he played professional Quidditch and retired after a serious injury. Flint was promoted after the strange death of Ludo Bagman, the previous head. Draco knew for a fact that Flint was high in the ranks of the Death Eaters. However, Draco had no proof to give to Harry to arrest Flint, only his own word, which would compromise his work as a spy.

"Do you know if there is a book in the Restricted Section about the antidote? Maybe a book that includes a recipe? If so, could you write me a pass to take it out?" he pleaded.

"I know of no such book detailing the antidote for Veritaserum in our library. Though I'm not surprised. It is very dark magic because it completely combats Veritaserum, which the Ministry uses frequently. I think I'll speak to Professor Tonks about this assignment. Third year students should not be researching antidotes for Veritaserum. It's rarely brewed. I think Aurors are the only people who have permission to do so."

"You don't need to say anything about it to Professor Tonks. Why don't we just say it's a secret between friends," he said, his ruthless smile not reaching his calculating eyes. "After all, I know that you've brewed it before."

CCC

"This is kinda spooky," Ginny said, lighting a torch on the wall next to her to create more light. "I wonder where Dracula and the cup would be hiding."

The three Horcrux hunters were staring at the fork in the dungeons. Well, more of a labyrinth than a dungeon.

"Let's try the passage on the left," Harry said, shrugging, "and at worst we could just be wrong."

"I'm not sure that's the worst thing that could happen," Ginny said. She looked over at Harry, "That spell to destroy the Horcrux is Obliterare, right?"

"Yes. It will destroy the Horcrux and Voldemort's soul within the Horcrux. It works the best."

"What curses can be use against a vampire?" Ginny said, now addressing Lupin.

"Insolare," Lupin said, "You can aim at the vampire and your wand will shot out a light like that of the sun. Just swish and flick and you'll stun the vampire. You can actually also use Insolare to sunbathe. "

"Good to know," Harry quipped.

"If you want to summon a wreath of garlic for around your neck, Corona Alliis," Lupin said, showing them the wand movement.

"Corona Alliis," Ginny said waving the wand on either side of her neck and a wreath of garlic appeared.

"Circumdam Aquā Sanctā," Lupin said, "is another spell you can use. It makes a circle of holy water around you, so the vampire can't enter the circle. He can still use curses and hexes against you, though not an Accio charm to summon you. You are somewhat protected. For the spell all you need to do is swish and flick."

"That one's really long. I'll probably forget half of it," Ginny sighed.

"These won't kill the vampire. They will only stun him or protect you. We need to stun him and put a stake through his heart. But be careful, because although Dracula is a vampire, he is also a wizard, so he can use spells against you as well."

"Expelliarmus," sneered a voice from behind them. "Indeed he can. Don't forget, werewolf, that he can also bite you. And your werewolf blood won't protect you."

A dark-haired man, pale and gaunt, picked up the three wands from where they had fallen. He was wearing a long black clock with a collar that reached his chin and emphasized the fang-like canines in his mouth. The vampire lifted Lupin's wand and pointed it at each one of them in turn. In the confines of the passageway, it was impossible to miss.

"What a surprise! It's always a pleasure to encounter groups of vampire hunters. Their blood almost seems to taste better. But I believe you three are Horcrux hunters. I wonder how your blood will taste."

His black eyes scrutinized Harry's scar. His dark brows rose and he nodded approvingly. "You must be Harry Potter. I have heard that you have been giving my grandnephew a lot of trouble. But I doubt he will mind if I sample some of your blood," he said, summoning a wine glass, "after all, he wants you dead anyway."

Harry gaped at the wineglass for a minute. "Don't you find it insulting to take orders from someone so much younger than yourself?" Harry asked. "After all, you are regarded by many as the Prince of Darkness."

"The Dark Lord is the Prince of Darkness. I, on the other hand, only consider myself as a Minor Duke of Darkness," the vampire said seriously.

Ginny sputtered and the vampire directed his gaze at her instead. He licked his lips. "You look delightful. I might bite you and make you my next wife. We can be together for the rest of eternity. It's a shame my last wife was killed by a vampire hunter."

Harry pushed Ginny behind him. "You'll have to kill me first."

"My dear boy," the vampire laughed, "that was my intention. But a werewolf," the vampire purred, aiming Lupin's own wand on the headmaster, "has tainted blood. You are no good to me. Goodbye. Avada Kedavra!"