Harry Potter and the Black Secret

Chapter Fifteen

Capture

Outside of the safety of the castle the war raged on, for that is what it was now. A war. The second coming of darkness had begun. The Order of the Phoenix (a group of powerful wizards who opposed Voldemort and matched his Death Eaters in skill) worked in secret. Sirius and Lupin were on another mission, leaving Harry and Kristine without contact of their only parent.

Inside Hogwarts, life carried on. There was no immediate danger. Things seemed to be going well. Better than they had been for a long time at least. For three months things had been quiet for the student body, with the exception of masses of homework and preparation for end of year exams that is.

The fact that all was calm at Hogwarts didn't help certain students relax though. All the calm meant was that the storm was coming. There was nothing to do but wait.

Kristine and Draco saw each other when they could, in the dead of night, at weekends making excuses for their absences. Harry had briefly dated a pretty Ravenclaw brunette called Jayne Turner, but the romance was short lived, and it was obvious why. Ginny Weasley.

Life obviously likes to be ironic, because as soon as Harry had started to notice Ginny, Ginny had become involved with a fifth year French exchange student from Beauxbatons called Roux de Lac who was staying in Gryffindor House.

Ron and Hermione were the same as ever. Bickering, sniping, lecturing and hopelessly besotted with each other. Ron had kept his word and not told anyone about Kristine and Draco, although when he and Kristine were alone he wasted no time in displaying his dislike of Malfoy.

'You can do so much better' was his current argument. Previous techniques included, 'It's disloyal, he's a Slytherin!' 'Are you sure you're not under a spell?' and Kristine's personal favourite, 'I'm pretty sure he's gay'.

Nonetheless, life was relatively calm.

Spring was evident around the castle in mid May and the Quidditch Final was on the horizon. Gryffindor vs. Slytherin for the third Quidditch season in a row. Training was hard, but enjoyable.

Friday afternoon had come around again, and that meant Potions. For the last two weeks they had been working in pairs attempting to brew a highly complex potion. Unfortunately, every pair had been given their own individual potion, so help from Hermione was out of the question as she was concocting a weak truth serum, whereas Kristine and Harry were attempting to brew an oculus enhancement potion.

Draco, had been paired with his ex girlfriend Blaise Zabini much to his disgust, and his mood wasn't helped by the fact that Kristine and Harry's plan over the partner situation had worked. On the day that Snape set up the partners (a date he had pre-warned the class about), Harry and Kristine were coincidently the only two students absent, and consequently were left with each other to work with. They didn't get off lightly though; they were assigned an especially difficult potion and had one lesson less than the rest of the class to prepare it.

Today was the day they had to test the potion.

If the potion was successful then their eyesight should be greatly improved for a short time, meaning that Harry wouldn't need his glasses and their nocturnal vision should be exceptional. Kristine had her doubts whether the potion would work on her though. She already had perfect sight and heightened night vision thanks to her vampire background.

Nevertheless, the potion needed to be tested. When their turn came Snape extinguished all the light in the dungeon to be certain that they were not faking the results.

Kristine and Harry swallowed the foaming purple liquid in one gulp. It tasted like a mixture of blackcurrant and beef, not unpleasant as such, but rather unusual.

A string of heat developed in Kristine's throat and ended in the pit of her stomach. It felt like she was being burnt from the inside out, she had never felt so hot in her life. Suddenly all the heat shot into her heart, and she collapsed with pain hitting the cold stone dungeon floor. She just heard Harry shout to turn the lights back on when the world went black.

*

Draco lost his breath as he was hit by a sudden surge of pain in his chest, which faded into nothing as quickly as it had appeared. Something was wrong.

Potter's voice echoed in the dungeon, panic stricken and urgent.

The lights re-ignited immediately revealing the source of Potter's distress. Kristine was on the floor, and Draco was close enough to see that she wasn't breathing.

Without thinking he knelt down at her side, checking for a pulse, any sign of life on her body while the rest of the class stood immobilised in shock. He put his head to her chest and felt a very weak heartbeat. She was alive, barely.

He let his body take over his actions and started CPR. After a few seconds Potter snapped back into reality.

"What are you doing!" he demanded.

"Trying to save her life," Draco snapped, "Would you rather I stopped?"

Like a shot, predicting Harry's reaction, Ron grabbed him and stopped him from lunging at Draco.

"What happened?" Hermione said commandingly at Snape.

"I don't know," Snape said, not hiding his panic well, "All I can think of is that she has had an allergic reaction to one of the ingredients."

"Which one?" Hermione said, clearly not worried about ordering around a teacher, Snape at that.

"The only specialised ingredient in that potion would be the Rocambole, but that should only have an effect on Vampires."

With this information Draco abruptly looked up from what he was doing, although not stopping, and caught Ron's eye, urgently willing him to understand what needed to be done. The amazed look on the red heads face showed that he understood.

"What's the counter to Rocambole?" he said turning to Snape.

"There is no counter, but there is an antidote, Allium Antidotum."

"You might want to hurry up you know," Draco said almost shouting, "This won't work for long."

"Do you have any?" Ron said bluntly.

"Well, yes, in the store cupboard, but we don't know that..." Snape said shouting after Ron as he disappeared into the storeroom at the back of the class, emerging a few seconds later with a small vial of orange liquid.

He crouched down next to Draco handing him the tube.

"Are you sure about this?" he muttered so only Draco could hear.

"Positive. Don't worry, trust me," he said as he gently lifted Kristine's head onto his knees and took the cork out of the vial.

Tilting her head back and gently opening her mouth he poured the liquid down her throat before Snape could protest.

Instantly she started coughing violently and gasping for breath. She was alive.

"Get her to the Infirmary, quickly," Draco said unequivocally to Ron, as he noticed the blood on his fingers from where he had picked up her head. Ron wasted no time and picking the unconscious girl up like she weighed nothing at all, carefully resting her head on his chest, and hurrying out of the room leaving Harry and the rest of the class staring helplessly after them.

"You owe me one Hail," Draco muttered half-heartedly making sure Potter could hear, not able to take his eyes of her blood.

*

Draco had wanted so much to run straight down to the infirmary after class, but knowing full well that that was what Potter and Granger would do, he hung back taking much longer than necessary to clear up his things.

"That was some performance you put on today Draco," Snape said coolly from behind him.

"Always nice to be owed favours Sir," he replied not wanting to face the potions master, knowing full well that his expression would give him way.

"Are you sure that's all it was?" Snape said.

Now Draco turned.

"What do you mean?" he asked cautiously, wary of the Potions Master on who he was meant to be keeping eye.

"Come into my office, we can't talk out here," Snape said, gesturing for Draco to go first out of the classroom, down the corridor and into Snape's distinctive office.

Curious at Snape's enigmatic behaviour, Draco humoured the Slytherin Head and headed out the door.

Snape shut the door behind them and turned to Draco.

"Mister Malfoy, I am well aware of your relationship with Miss Hail, or should I call her Miss Black?" Snape said, clearly not keen on the situation.

Draco was a little taken aback.

"How do you...who told...........Dumbledore," Draco said, slowly realising what was going on, "He said he wouldn't tell anyone."

"Yes," Snape said, "Well, I'm afraid Miss Hails identity was a piece of information I needed to know if I was to deter your father away from Hogwarts, and your relationship with her complicates my job even more."

"Sorry about that Sir. Professor," Draco said, suddenly thinking of something, "You're a spy aren't you. A spy for Dumbledore."

Snape was obviously uncomfortable.

"That is not something I can discuss with you Draco," he answered.

"What if I told you that I was meant to be keeping an eye on you for my father, could you discuss it with me then?"

Snape actually smiled.

"I wondered when Lucius would put you to use," he said, "Don't worry Draco, I am well aware that your father distrusts me and am well prepared for any eventuality. Still, I appreciate you telling me. I must admit I was unsure of where your loyalties really lay, and I just want you to tell me the truth. Why did you save her life?"

Draco allowed a smile to creep onto his face. Snape wanted to make sure that he wasn't under orders to keep her alive for delivery, wanted to make sure that Lucius didn't know where she was.

"Because," he said, "I love her."

*

That evening Draco went down to the Infirmary. He had a plan. If Potter was still there then he would say that he had a headache and needed some pain-killing potion. A weak plan as far as plans go, but it should do the trick.

He needn't have worried though because as he neared the Hospital Wing he bumped into Weasley who was hovering outside of the sanatoriums double doors. He actually looked relieved to see Draco for a moment before putting on his usual mask of distrust.

"Is she alright?" Draco asked.

Ron nodded, glancing through the window into the hospital where Kristine lay unconscious.

"She should be fine. Madam Pomfrey says that she's gone into some sort of recovery coma while her body recuperates from the shock its had," he explained, then asked the question he had been waiting to ask since the incident, "Malfoy, what the hell happened!"

"Its like Snape said, she reacted to the potion," Draco said.

"But that doesn't make sense, I mean, Kriss, she's not..." Ron said, then noticing Draco's unwillingness to meet eye contact realised the truth, "She can't be," he said, "Its not possible."

"Why not? Do you know every little detail about her life now?" Draco said.

"She's a vampire? No way, that can't be true, you're making it up. You're deluded. Oh crap, she is isn't she? The eyes, the skin, she's always so bloody cold. The telekinesis. She's a vampire."

"Don't you dare say a bloody word to her or anyone else about this Weasley, she doesn't want anyone to know, understand?" Draco said.

"If she didn't want anyone to know then why'd she tell you," Ron snapped.

"That's different," Draco growled.

"Right, because the two of you are in a really serious, honest relationship," Ron said sarcastically.

"I'm not going to argue with you Weasley, I just want to see my girlfriend who nearly died this afternoon, so if you don't mind," Draco said moving to step round Ron and into the infirmary.

"I do mind," Ron said, stepping to block Draco's evasion, "What are you playing at Malfoy? For some reason unbeknown to me, Kristine thinks you can be trusted, why would that be do you think."

"Because she's a darn sight smarter than you are, and a better person than the rest of the world. She isn't a prejudice, ignorant piece of shit like the rest of you. She is kind, honest and has suffered more than you'll ever know and she deserves happiness more than anyone I know, but life keeps taking another shot at her. The fate of the world rests on her shoulders and she hasn't had years to get used to that fact like Potter has, she was thrown into this stupid battle against her will and has lost the one person she could always rely on because of it. I might not be able to stop her pain, but I will stand by her no matter what, through thick and thin. I would die for her is that's what it took because I love her more than anything on this earth or any other. She is my soulmate, my one and only, and she is lying behind those doors in a coma, so GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY!!"

Ron's fist collided with Draco's jaw drawing blood.

Draco put his hand to his face to feel the warm, sticky substance and stared at Ron in shock.

"Just making sure you really were a good guy," Ron said easily, "You'd better go in, that lip looks like it needs medical attention," he noted winking and smiling lopsidedly at Draco before walking off.

When he was halfway down the corridor Draco found his voice.

"Ron," he called causing the other boy to turn, "Thanks," and with that he did his best not to grin and walked into the infirmary.

*

Two days she had been asleep.

Madam Pomfrey was beginning to get worried; she should have woken up by now. Yet still she slept.

She looked peaceful really, like a sleeping angel. Her hair fell around her face like a glowing halo, her pastel skin un-etched with emotion and her eyes closed, unmoving. She didn't look like she was dreaming. Peaceful. She would have looked beautiful if it were not for the apparent fact that she had the facade of a corpse. Barely moving.

It was Sunday evening. Harry sat by her side holding her hand. It felt cold, but then, Kristine always felt cold, untouched by the heat of emotion or the burn of the sun.

No one else was there, so Harry spoke to Kristine. Madam Pomfrey suggested it, saying that the sound of his voice might help her wake up. He had felt silly at first, talking to an unresponsive body, but once he got started, he found it effortless to keep going.

"You gave us quite a fright you know. One moment you were fine and the next you were on the floor, and I only I could see you fall. On the bright side, our potion worked so Snape gave us both A's.

I couldn't move. I wanted to help you, but I didn't know how, didn't know what to do. It seemed like forever I was standing there watching you with everyone else. Even Snape looked scared. Then all of a sudden, you'll never believe this Kriss, Malfoy of all people went to help you.

I have no idea how he knew what he was doing, but he stated CPR. It's a good thing someone knew what to do I suppose. As much as I hate to admit it, he probably kept you alive while Ron and Hermione figured out what to do. I feel so guilty Kriss, I didn't do anything to help you, I just watched. You're my sister and it took Malfoy, Hermione and Ron to save your life.

I try not to, I know you'd hate me to feel responsible, but I can't help it. I couldn't bear the thought of loosing you.

Listen to me, rambling on. I'm probably encouraging you to stay asleep if this is all you've got to wake up to!

Ummm...Oh, guess what? No come on guess. No? Oh well, it was worth a try. There's going to be a ball at the end of the year. Fifth year and above allowed only. It's to be held on June 21^st, the last day of term. Its also Summer Solstice apparently, but I don't know much about that. It's not going to be formal either so that's a relief. Just a big party to celebrate the end of the year. Pretty cool huh?

It's not formal, but most people are going as couples anyway. What are the odds that you and me end up going together eh? I refuse to believe that you are not interested in any of the guys in our year; then again, you haven't been out with anyone all year to my knowledge. It can't be because no ones asked, that's impossible. Dean fancies you, I know that for sure. What do you think? Give the guy a chance?

I can just imagine your reaction to that. I also know that your next question would be. Whom am I going to go with? Honestly, I don't know. I'm not really into anyone at the...

Oh all right. There is someone I'd like to ask, but I don't know if it's a good idea. I mean, it's too complicated. She just broke up with someone, and not because they wanted to either. She's probably still hung up on him and I don't want to be the rebound guy.

Sod it. Its Ginny, but I bet you knew that already. I really like her Kriss and I'm kicking myself for not noticing her earlier. She's pretty, funny, intelligent and I can't stop think about her. I guess it was because she was so shy around me when we first met that I didn't get to know her, but now I have, and I think I've done the unthinkable and become her friend.

I'm doomed aren't I. She's moved on, and even if she hasn't, you know what Ron's like with her boyfriends.

I wish you were awake Kriss. I feel lost without you, I need your advice." Harry sighed and closed his eyes, still holding onto her hand.

He felt a squeeze, light as it was and looked up like a shot. Her eyes were still closed.

"Just ask her out already Potter," Kristine whispered.