Potions and Snitches
Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

Ch 6: The Hunt

There was a key there, though nobody saw it. It waited patiently, slightly sparkling under the notice-me-not spell that seemed to be cast upon it after every use. The old man used it frequently, ever since the one night he had conjured the little golden key. There was a door there, too, quite close to the little key, though no one saw it either. The door could not be seen by the old man, but he knew where it was, no matter that it blended perfectly with the wall.

Beyond the door, there was a room. A little room, sparsely furnished and blatantly under-decorated; not that its present occupant would care. It had a bed to one side, a stool and a small candelabra so that the old man could see. The occupant didn’t matter. The occupant was just there.

The key was charmed sentient enough to know that it should only work for the old man and no one else. It did not Question the state of the occupant, it did not question why no food was ever brought in or why he never moved. The little key knew only to fulfill its job when handled by the old man. It did not know what treasure it kept locked away.


He hissed once more, bearing his fangs in a futile hope that he could scare him pursuers. Vampires were hunters; it was a disgrace to his clan that he was forced into such a position. They were circling him as if he were their prey for Merlin’s sake! He was not their prey, he knew, just as he knew which of his actions brought this plague upon him. He cursed the old wizard, he cursed his stupidity for accepting the task. Now he would be ripped apart by wizard teenlings. Him; an immortal over two hundred years upon this earth!

The teenlings continued to stalk him, their steps more fluid than that of vampire assasins. He could barely believe them to be wizard teenlings, or that so small a task had ignited their wrath to such an extent. What’s more, they seemed to not fear him at all… a full fledged vampire warrior! What were they, he wondered, he had made sure to leave no tracks a wizard could follow… even their Aurors. How had they found him?

“Give up, Vampire!” one of the teenlings called out, “return what you stole!”

He hissed at them once more, swiping at one of the teenlings who tried to grab his arm. The claws hit nothing but air, not that he had expected to get as lucky as scratching one at this point.

“What are you!” he finally demanded,

“We’re Asps, Vampire, though you’ll find us your executioners if you don’t fess up to what you did.”

Asps… so these were the rogue Aspidis the old man had been so angry at… these were the little snakes their maker had hoped would one day lead his army. Did they know how much Vampiric blood was used in their creation? Did any of that matter now?”

“What I did,” he acknowledged finally, “Was a debt repaid.”

And with that said, he barely saw the spell that made his world turn black.

 

The Asps circled the now-stilled vampire with a good deal of caution. The spell one of them had fired should have pulled the creature under for several hours, but not everything worked as it should, and vampires were known to be among the best actors and escape artists. Dean kicked the creature sharply in the ribs, pleased when the thing neither grunted nor shifted to shield itself.

“Alright, bag it.” He huffed, knowing Draco would be displeased if they lingered any longer. They had already drawn the chase out significantly, after all.

They apparated right to the edge of the Manor wards, continuing inside at a brisk pace. Dean sent one of the Asps ahead to alert Draco with a meaningful look and a tilt of the head. He was not about to risk this thing coming around anywhere but the deepest dungeons the manor could provide them with. They had begun following this thing just as it fed, so Dean didn’t perceive any problems with starving him a while before blood truly became a problem. It would be aggravating to the thing, true, but it would cause neither death nor bloodlust for several weeks yet… especially with how often the thing had fed as of late.

He watched the creature after they had deposited him into the windowless room, brightened by torchlight (as even small wizard orbs proved unpleasant to vampires, and they had all been taught not to waste torture on those who cannot feel it yet).

The adrenaline from the hunt stil pulsed in Dean’s veins, making him feel far vicious, but also making him feel more alive than he had in a long time. Finally, he was doing something beyond the drills they all engaged in… he was righting the wrong done to his Alpha! Dean followed Draco, they all did, but execution his orders felt warped somehow; left them feeling hallow. He had thought it was a figment of his imagination, but too many others had noted similar sensations for it to be purely a figment of his mind.

“That him, Wolf?”

“Yeah, he’ll be out for quite a bit longer though, Dragon… at least I think so.” Dean replied, pulled out of his reflections by his Beta’s arrival.

“I was surprised you returned so soon… I had hoped this thing might keep everyone satisfied a bit longer.”

“Want me to dump him somewhere and call a second hunt once he’s gotten a bit of a head start?” Dean jested, dangling the keys slightly. Draco needed to relax a bit, no matter how hard the situation; his demeanor agitated all the others it seemed, and they were restless enough as it was.

A playful swat answered him, accompanied by an indignant huff at the prospect of releasing such a catch. Dean would have never actually let the vampire go, of course, the capture not having been easy by any standards… and the creature would know to not take them so lightly, now, too.

“Think we should wake sleepyhead and get this over with?” he offered,

“After you.” Draco answered, nodding as Dean shuffled to find the right key.  There were spells keeping the beast in as well, but a good iron door with an unbreakable charm never hurt matters. Most of the spells wouldn’t need to be taken down, either, as they were vampire-specific and placed back when these cells were used for vampires centuries ago (such as the ever-helpful invisible sun charm on the hallway, if the thing ever got into its head to try and leave).

Several other Asps had come to see the thing, mostly comprised of the few unable to join the hunt , all wisely remaining just close enough to see, giving Draco and himself space to work the creature at will. The vampire jerked awake at Draco’s touch, and though being pulled from such a state could bring about the reaction, Dean hoped Draco had added a bit of pain venom to add an extra kick.

The vampire hised, pulling at his shackles to get away from Draco’s palm. Confirmation that Draco had added some pain venom, then. Good. The filth deserved it.

“Awake?” Draco questioned snidely, then in a far more regal tone added “get up.”

The chain rattled as the vampire shifted, sloppily rising without the use of his arms.

“Where’s Horris?”

Dean had the distinct urge to back off as he heard his Beta ask in such a voice. The others, he saw, had also tensed at the words.

“I don’t know.”

“You stole him, Blood-sucker.” Draco growled in frustration, digging his nails into the pale skin and injecting his venom. The vampire didn’t scream, it took more than a little pain to make such a creature scream, but it did seem to relieve Draco’s anger a bit.

“I only delivered it.”

“Delivered him to who, Vampire?”

“The Old Man, Asp.”

“You know who we are…good. You hopefully also know what we’re capable of, then. You took our Alpha, Vampire, and we will get him back; even if we have to break your cobweb-filled mind to get him. Now who did you deliver Horris to… before I lose my patience?”

“The Old Man. I was paying off my debt to him… but we immortals care little for the names of human filth.”

“Yet you readily become indebted to one.” Dean huffed, unable to keep the comment to himself. One look from Draco, however, told him exactly who’s interrogation it was.

“You are trying my patience, Vampire. If you rather die of starvation in a bloodlust frenzy with nothing to chew on but yourself…” Draco waved his hand uncaringly as he let the threat hang, smirking evilly as he seemingly reconsidered the advantages of letting the thing feel a pang of hunger before trying again.

“Come, Wolf, we need to prepare.”

Dean locked the cell dutifully, resetting the few spells they had had to take down before entering. He wondered what they would do if this idiot wouldn’t tell them what they needed, but he supposed Draco was right in his Actions. Draco had the most knowledge on vampires, after all.

“So the corpse was your Alpha…”

Dran didn’t respond, continuing to add spells to the cell.

“I had wondered why the Old Man was so keen on acquiring a stiff.”

“Don’t call him that!” Dean huffed,

“Oh, so you are listening! The blond was your… Beta, I presume?” the vampire waited for Dean’s answer in vain before continuing; “Was the Alpha that pushy?”

Another silence,

“Not allowed to converse with prisoners?”

“I will not have a chat with Horris’ kidnapper, Vampire.” Dean shot back pointedly, quickly checking his spellwork before leaving as quickly as possible.


Draco walked up and out of the dungeons as quickly as he could without appearing to be in a hurry. Dean could handle the vampire for now, as if it became an unrehearsed version of the ‘good Auror, bad Auror’ interrogation technique, all the better. Hermione had still not contacted anyone from Slytherin,  and Draco was genuinely starting to worry about her. The vampire’s capture gave him an excuse to check up on her, so check on her he would. He could come no-closer to finding Horris now, and perhaps Hermione might know something useful.

So much as touching the handle to the heir room made him shudder, but as the professor had refused to move the mirror, Draco had little other choice. He passed through it quickly, stepping out of the memory-filled room at the other end just as urgently. The Slytherins acknowledged him as he passed, all smart enough not to engage in small talk with the obviously-agitated Asp. He forced himself to calm down as he stared into the common room fire before heading out t meet Her, thankful that Horris had discovered how to apparate within Hogwarts.

He popped into a dark corner of the Gryffindor common room, having cast an invisibility spell on himself right before, his popping sound going unnoticed in the noisy room. Why Gryffindors were so loud, he would never understand. The trek to the girl’s dorms proved easy enough, the anti-boy wards only keyed to students in case of visiting fathers (or other non-students… such as teachers or Aurors) requiring access. He knocked lightly, hearing an immediate ‘go away’ from within. He knocked again, dropping the invisibility spell as the entrance was alcove enough for him to not be seen by anyone downstairs.

“I said-” the door opened, “-Draco?”

“Can we talk?”

“Here?”

“If you prefer this to the Slytherin commons.” Draco nodded, “In or down, Hermione… I’d rather not have your cats clawing at me.”

“Okay.”

“You know,” he commented off-hand, “were your little kittens to enter, they might get an awfully wrong idea as to my presence.”

“Funny, Draco. Funny.”

He leaned purposefully back on the bed, telling her that yes, he did believe it was.

“Seriously though, Why’re you here, Draco?”

“We are worried about your self-imposed seclusion… and I wanted to give you an update on things back at the Manor.”

“You find any leads?” she asked enthusiastically, obviously wanting Horris’ body returned to its rightful place as much as any of them,

“Better, we caught the bloodsucking idiot who stole him.”

“You got his body back?”

“No,” he sighed, slumping against the pillows as his earlier bout of smugness left him, “we just started drilling him today.”

“A vampire though? What do vampires want with Horris’ body?”

“Nothing. Some ‘Old Man’ called in a debt or some such shit… a flat-out recon mission with a drop and go. That’s all I could get out of him so far.”

“He couldn’t give a name?”

“You probably know what vampires consider ‘names’… ours mean as much to them as the composition of Norwegian mud.” he sighed, “You earn a name and no vampire will ever forget it, but beforehand you’re just ‘witch’, ‘wizard’ or ‘human’ … and the name you earn is rarely the name others know you as; I’m starting to think ‘Old Man’ is what the wizard is known as to them.”

“And you’ve no idea who it could be?” she pressed, obviously tired.

“I couldn’t imagine anyone but Voldemort or Dumbledore wanting the body so badly… and I don’t doubt both have the means to indebt a vampire.”

“Can’t you show him a picture? Dumbledore’s easy enough to come by, at any rate.”

“Vampires only recognize faces when they want to, and this one’s being as difficult as possible. Besides, he could say it’s him just to be left alone.”

“Deal with a lot of vampires, Dray?” she teased,

“Lucius used to be Voldemort’s liaison to the bloody things… made me come a few times as to warm them up to my presence. He always said they were damn good creatures to keep on your side.”

“Sound advice,” Hermione agreed.

“So, you ready to stop worrying us?”

“Draco…”

“I’m serious, this isn’t something either of us should deal with alone. Please Hermione… we can cope better together. You, me, the other Asps, we’re all going through this and we’ll only hurt more if we try to deal with it ourselves; especially with this new complication tossed in.”

“I know Draco, it’s just-”

“Hard.” he finished, nodding.

“Why don’t you stop by this weekend?” he suggested after a short silence, “you could see the Asps, the Manor… might even help with some research.”

“Okay,” she nodded, “I’ll help in any way I can.”

Draco nodded and smiled in thanks, knowing he could ask no more of her right now.

“We will get him back.” he promised, having already acknowledged no other possible outcome himself.

“I hope so, Draco… he deserves some peace.”

“He’ll have it,” Draco vowed solemnly, “no matter what it takes.”

“Don’t say such things!” she huffed, “the last thing your Asps or I need is for something irreversible to happen to you, too… and I won’t even mention what that could do to the Professor!”

Draco, properly cowed, just nodded.

“You give them stability, too.” Draco made sure she realized, “ and they do miss you.”

“I said I’d come.” She reaffirmed,

“Friday night?”

“As soon as I can get away.”


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