“Wait, slow down. The cure is in Transylvania?” Severus asked incredulously.
“Yes! Well, not really a cure, more like a solution. It will be dangerous and difficult. Very difficult. I mean, I never saw… That makes it much harder, of course.”
“Hermione!”
Severus’ tone broke into her rambling.
“Would you kindly explain your findings in a clear and concise manner?” he snapped irritably.
Hermione drew in a deep breath, calming her excitement to a decent level. She then turned her gaze to Severus and gave him the most radiant smile he had ever seen. It seemed she had truly found a cure for her affliction.
Hermione sat on the couch, beckoning him to join her. Severus placed himself next to the young witch, giving her his full attention.
“Here. It is all in here. This book is very old. Its author decided to actually research creatures the Wizarding World deemed evil and dangerous.” She indicated the book with a flick of her fingers. “Unfortunately, there was huge public outcry. The author was banned from England, and most of his books were burned. That is why it is so hard to find a copy.”
She lifted shining eyes to his, and Severus knew she was silently thanking him. Secretly pleased, Severus nodded his head irritably and motioned for her to continue.
“There is a whole section on Vampires. It explains why they… we hunt, everything!”
Severus’ brow was knitted in confusion. “Does it say in that book you must go to Transylvania?”
“Well, not exactly, no. I mean, there is a colony of Vampires there. Everyone knows that. I still need to figure out who it was before I am able to…”
Severus’ exasperated sigh broke into her rambling again.
“Please, Hermione. No more leapfrogging from thought to thought. Start at the beginning and end with us in Transylvania!”
Hermione swallowed a laugh, but refrained from mentioning that it was him who brought it up this time.
“OK, as I explained before, this book covers everything about Vampires. We hunt to receive nutrition. Any animal blood will suffice, but human blood is required for a Vampire to survive in the long run.”
Severus stared down at her down-turned head with dawning horror. How long would it take that formidable mind to work it out that she had been drinking human blood? His blood. He decided to play ignorant until he found out more.
“Of course,” Hermione continued, “some Vampires do enjoy the hunt for human blood much more than others.” Hermione broke off as a tremor of remembrance shuddered through her.
“Swallow, Mudblood whore. Eternal life, eternal darkness, eternal damnation!”
She jumped slightly as Severus’ arm curled comfortingly around her waist, pulling her a bit closer.
Straightening her shoulders, Hermione resumed, “So, Vampires hunt for nutritional purposes, but we also need to hunt to sustain eternal life. It seems that when a Vampire drinks its victim’s blood, it is also draining away its life essence. It is this essence that gives us our… immortality, for want of a better word. The more life essence one receives, the more prolonged that Vampire’s life expectancy will be. To become a Vampire, the victim must drink the blood of their assailant soon after the attack has taken place.”
Hermione raised her tear-filled eyes to her companion’s fathomless black ones. “Severus, what this means is that the Vampire that attacked me basically stole my soul. The only way for me to be free again is to track it down and kill it to release my soul.”
“So, that is why you need to go to Transylvania,” Severus mused. “That is where you were attacked.”
He frowned at her sad, little nod.
“What is making you so distressed? This is a major breakthrough.”
“That’s the problem, Severus. I have found this major breakthrough on the cure for me, but with two huge problems to overcome.”
Severus gave her waist a squeeze of encouragement when she fell silent.
Hermione sighed. “I did not see who attacked me. It was so dark, and I was so busy fantasising about castles and Dracula that I didn’t hear the monster behind me until it grabbed me. I have no way of knowing which Vampire it was. I can’t go to Transylvania and kill all the Vampires there until I get the right one. It is impossible, and ridiculous to try, and … and stupid!”
Hermione’s voice had been becoming higher and higher with her anxiety until she ended with a squeak on the last word.
Severus wrapped his right arm tighter around the young witch’s waist, bringing his left hand round to gently cup her face and guide her head onto his shoulder, holding her tightly.
“Think about it, Hermione. Did the Vampire say anything to you, anything to give you a clue to their identity?
“No, no, nothing at all. Although… I do have the feeling the Vampire was female, and that she knew me somehow.”
“That’s a clue there. Why do you think so?”
“Well, she called me a ‘whore.’ Generally, only a female would call another woman that. Then she mentioned something about me being Harry’s friend.”
“There you have it. You only need to search the whole of Transylvania to find a Vampire that is female and possibly knows you.”
Hermione’s head snapped up, and Severus had to smother a laugh at her horrified expression.
“I am only teasing you. It follows logic that this Vampire came upon you by chance, yes?”
At her hesitant nod, Severus continued. “It therefore also stands to reason that the Vampire was hunting close to her den. She must also have a slightly more intimate knowledge of who you are and what you look like for her to be able to distinguish your identity in the dark.”
Severus could see the moment Hermione realised where he was going with his reasoning. Hope sparked in her eyes as she finished his line of thought.
“So, if Vampire was in the mountains hunting, she probably has a den nearby. So, now I go back to the mountains and search for a Vampire I will recognise!”
The light in her eyes died as quickly as it had arrived.
“I suppose it doesn’t really matter anyway. There is still the other problem to deal with. And I don’t think I will be able to find a solution for this one.”
Severus turned to face her fully, lifting her chin so that she had no choice but to meet his eyes.
“Tell me what the problem is,” he gently demanded. “Have I not just helped you with your previous insurmountable difficulty?”
“Yes, but this one is much more difficult.” Hermione heaved a heavy sigh. “To release my soul, I must completely destroy the Vampire that attacked me. This must be done by driving a stake made from young oak and soaked in my blood through the heart of the Vampire. That’s probably the easy part. The problem is that if I want to return my soul to my body, I must have someone who cares enough about me with me in order to anchor my soul to my body. Their blood must soak the stake with mine.”
“I don’t see that as being a problem. You have plenty of people who care for you.”
“Yes. I did. Harry and Ron were like brothers to me. They would have sufficed, but I have not contacted them in months. I let them believe I was dead. How much do you think they will care about me when they find out I was in hiding the whole time? Besides, I will not risk their lives trying to rescue me from a stupid mistake. There is Minerva, but she is too old and busy to go traipsing around the mountainside with me. I will just carry on living this half life I have existed in ’til now.”
At this last, defeated little speech, Severus snapped. Standing up to his full height, he towered over her.
“Where is the fiery, little know-it-all who loved to defy me?” he raged. “Where is that excited, young witch who practically knocked me off my chair with the excitement of her discovery? That is the witch I have come to care for, not this down-trodden, defeated and pitiful creature sitting before me.”
Severus knelt down in front of the couch. What he was about to say was painful, but he could not bear to see her beaten like this.
“Hermione, can you not see what is in front of you?” Severus took her by the shoulders and shook her gently. “Me. I am here before you. I am not a nice or easy man, but I am yours, if you will have me. I will not let anything happen to you. I am coming with you to Transylvania, and we will save your soul.”
Hermione gaped at the man she had come to care so deeply about. She could not believe he would ever feel the same for her.
Squaring her shoulders and setting her jaw, she could feel the excitement building up in her again.
“Thank you, Severus,” she said, quite calmly and sedately, before she leapt at him, causing him to lose his balance and topple backwards onto the rug.
Severus chuckled as she sprawled over him, peppering his face with little kisses for a second time. He allowed her to carry on for a minute before he grabbed her head in his hands, stilling her excited movements.
Then he got down to serious business and kissed her properly.
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A/N: Hugs and big sloppy kisses to Lumiere and Charmed3. As always, G, you rock!
So, does any one have an idea who the Vampire is yet?
Walking in Darkness by shadow_ks
Chapter Notes: Hermione explains her findings to Severus.