Dracoula: The Vampire Within

Dracoula

By Matt Coggins

I ran out of Dumbledore's office and into the hall. To the broom closet I went, grabbing my Firebolt. I remembered all the times I would grab it in a hurry, usually for Quidditch practice with Ron. I miss him.

Voldemort killed him, of course. Standing on top of the North Tower, he had both in his clawed hands. Ron on one side, Hermione on the other. He made me choose, and I couldn't. He dropped them both. Without thinking, I jumped, and, grabbing Hermione, I cast the Grapple spell on a nearby ledge.

From there, I swung over to where Ron fell. Voldemort saw my strategy, and he cast three Avada Kadavras on him. Ron was dead.

But as I looked up at the sky, I saw that this was not Voldemort. It was some kind of bat thing. Large wings were protruding from its shoulders, and its feet were like claws. I mounted my broom and flew towards it, rather speedily.

I pictured the beast as a large snitch, and I was ready to capture it. That was my plan. Everything was in order. Except the part where Hermione woke up and yelled, "HARRY!"

The beast turned its head and looked at me. Its face looked just like...no! It couldn't be!

The beast was Draco Malfoy, only he had changed (well, duh). He resembled... Bram Stoker's Dracula. So that's what I'll call him. Dracoula.

Dracoula hit me with his huge wing, and I flew into the air. I grabbed the Firebolt and cast the Grapple spell on Hermione. Dracoula didn't like that. He charged at me, but with the Flipendo spell, I sent him away.

He looked at me for a few seconds, then flew away.

***

The day following was Saturday, so Hermione got to have a break. I sat next to her on the squashy chairs next to the fire.

"Harry," she said to me. "That thing... I think it was Malfoy."

"I know," I replied.

"We've got to stop him!"

"How, Hermione?" I asked, short-tempered. "How are we going to fight something that powerful?

She thought for a minute, then said vaguely, "Van Helsing..."

"What about him?"

"Well I just thought," she said. "That Abraham Van Helsing, the monster hunter, could stop Malfoy."

Hermione actually had a good idea, but in my time of grief, I couldn't tell her that.

"That," I retorted. "Is the stupidest idea I ever heard!"

Nonetheless, Hermione was persistent, pulling out one book after another, each one about Van Helsing's defeat of monsters. She told me about Frankenstein's monster, the Wolf Man, and, of course, Count Dracula.

"But how in the world are we going to get all the way to London?"

Hermione cracked one of those smiles, the smiles she has when she has a clever idea.

***

"Come on, Harry!" Hermione said. It was about three in the morning, and we were walking up to the entrance to a small shed Hagrid owned that was located on the other side of the lake. Inside the shed was Buckbeak.

Buckbeak had been given back to Hagrid the week after Sirius was killed. Hagrid knew that Buckbeak was being searched for by the Ministry, so he put the shed miles from the school.

Hermione and I had gotten to the spot by means of my Firebolt. The area was so dirty, and I had no idea where to put the beautiful, sleek, and clean broom. Hermione didn't understand brooms, and told me to set it on the ground.

"Why can't we just take my Fireboat?" I asked. "It's gotta be just as fast as Buckbeak."

"Well, actually, Buckbeak is faster than the Firebolt," she said. "and long rides on a broom make it ride up my... well, I just don't want to use the broom!"

I looked at my broom, sitting there, all alone on the ground, and reluctantly went up to the shed with Hermione.

She cast the unlocking spell, and the deadbolt fell of the handles.

Screeching was heard in the shed. We slowly opened the doors, and Buckbeak calmly walked out.

I walked up to him, as quiet as I could be, and bowed. I saw Buckbeak's feet turn around, and then I saw his yellow eyes meet mine. I went up to pet him, but the hippogriff went up and put his beak on my outstretched arm.

"Harry!" Hermione whispered rather loudly. "That means he recognizes you!"

"And?"

"That means no more bowing!" she replied. "He knows you're not an enemy!"

"Oh..." I wasn't sure what to do. "Um... Beaky? We're going to take you for a little ride!"

Buckbeak kneeled over, inviting me to get on. When Hermione walked over, he hissed.

"No, Beaky!" I commanded. "Hermione is a friend!"

Buckbeak then let Hermione on, and she kissed me, saying, "Thanks for that. Now, off to London! We have a monster hunter to talk to."