FicWad

Chapter Seven: Into the Night:

Ignorant to any outside occurrences, the first years and also, the rest of the school had prepared to begin their exams. As the time ticked down, individuals who did not start studying before Easter when the workload had increased were panicking as they tried to cram as much information into their brains. The smarter individuals who allowed themselves plenty of time to study slowed down their study efforts to a mere crawl.

“It’s good that we started early, gives us time to slow down,” commented Elizabeth a few days before the exams, knowing from experience that attempting to study closer to the test did in fact increase the possibility of forgetting important information.

“True,” agreed Lisa as she watched in amusement across the library. Hermione Granger had started studying for the exams before anyone else and had continued to appear to be mindlessly studying up into the wire. “Should we tell her that it might not be a good idea for her to keep studying?”

“She wouldn’t listen to us anyway,” said Padma calmly, as Hermione had about ten books sprawled in front of her. “She’s going to end up working herself into hysteria.”

“Good, it’s the only way she’ll ever learn,” replied Harry, who had just arrived with Draco. “I don’t think there is anything that they can throw at us that we haven’t really studied.”

“There better not be, as many books as we went through and the hours too,” said Draco, who had been obviously encouraged by his father to get the highest marks, if he hoped for his future to be worth anything. He could stomach being surpassed in marks by Harry and Elizabeth, but he was damned if he was going to let Granger surpass him. She had no proper feeling for magic, mindlessly studying book after book, thinking she knew something.

“We’ll be fine,” said Elizabeth.

“So says you, Miss I Freaked Out About the Possibility of Failing,” replied Draco which Elizabeth responded by sticking out her tongue. “Oh, that was really mature.”

“I’m eleven, almost twelve, I’m not supposed to be mature,” responded Elizabeth with a shrug, as she leaned back. “Let’s get out of the library, somewhere where we can relax and not be reminded by the horrifying fact that we do have exams.”

“Too many people freaking out about not having enough time to study anyway,” replied Draco as the five first years left, as the exams continued to approach.

The exams were just as they expected them to be, long, tedious, full of theory, with some practical applications, first years from all four houses took them simultaneously. The theory was mindlessly boring, had she not studied, Elizabeth would have forgotten most of it, as it did her no good with the way she saw magic. Transfiguration and Charms were among the areas that had the most theory, question after question over proper wand movements for rudimentary spells. Once the hour was up, the amount of information that she had to recall off hand dizzied Elizabeth. Making a pineapple tap dance and turning a mouse into a snuffbox were just easy procedures that the Girl-Who-Lived could do in her sleep.

The Potions exam pretty straight forward, considering all they had to do was remember how to brew a Forgetfulness Potion. Once again, nothing that was too difficult, Snape hovered over them, but Elizabeth could not help to notice that Neville had only flinched slightly when Snape had come up to him. However, this appeared to not affect his performance in any way possible. Corking the sample, they brought them up to Snape’s desk at the end of the period.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was just basically a demonstration on what they had learned. They had to fire off as many spells they could remember in a period of sixty seconds at a practice dummy that Savannah had put in front of the room. Some of them blanked when put on the spot, only managing a few spells. Dudley had managed none, even Crabbe and Goyle had managed a couple.

Herbology and Astronomy was nothing special. Just a review of what they had learned on the year about the various magical plants and the stars. It was just a matter of recalling the information from the textbook and answering the questions properly. The final exam was with History of Magic, how Professor Binns managed to come up with one hundred questions on just goblin rebellions was a mystery. Still at the end of the hour, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, until they received their grades that was.

“Over finally,” said Elizabeth, more to herself than to the others, as they exited the History of Magic final exam.

“Until next year,” amended Draco in a bored voice from behind. “I think I did sufficient enough.”

“If I see another question even mentioning a goblin ever again, it will be too soon, too many goblin rebellions for my liking,” said Lisa.

“Well to be fair, that’s all we learned,” said Padma. “I don’t know why we’ve never gotten another History of Magic teacher, I mean, in the centuries he’s been here, there had to have been complains.”

“It’s Dumbledore,” offered Draco as if this explanation solved everything and Elizabeth was just reminded of the fact that she needed to see Dumbledore about her situation at the Dursleys. Harry seemed to have sensed her thoughts and waited for the others to get a bit ahead, before he motioned her over.

“We’ll do this together first thing tomorrow morning, after breakfast, I promise Lizzie,” replied Harry, who hoped that the both of them could convince Dumbledore about the error in his way. Elizabeth nodded in agreement, Harry could see the glimmer of hope in her eye that she might never see the Dursleys in. Even though he was still trying to figure out how to best tell her that they were really twins, Harry wanted to help her in any way necessary. Perhaps in time, he would reveal the secret, but right now, something in Harry was holding back, doubting that Elizabeth would even believe him if he told her.

Albus Dumbledore sat in the office, making sure all of his affairs were in order. The exams were completed, so he suspected the students would be in a restful state, wanting to gain some sleep after the events of the past week or so. As Minerva entered the office, Dumbledore looked up towards her.

“Ah, Minerva, good, I had feared you would already have turned in for the night, Cornelius sent me an urgent letter earlier today, the meeting we intended to have tomorrow morning had been pushed up to tonight, he has other business that would conflict with that meeting time,” remarked Dumbledore with a sigh, a part of him wished that Cornelius would learn to stand on his own two feet and not constantly ask Dumbledore for advice every two minutes. On second thought, there had been members of Cornelius’s office that had checkered pasts. While Dumbledore never judged people too harshly, it would be foolish of him not to be apprehensive of individuals such as Lucius Malfoy and Dolores Umbridge. “So the castle can be left in your capable hands for tonight.”

“Headmaster, do not worry, I am sure I can manage the school for a few hours,” replied Minerva calmly. “Do run off, I would hate the Minister to get lost without your guidance.”

“Of course, I doubt the chances of anything that would threaten the students of the school happening would be miniscule at best,” said Dumbledore, before he left, entering the fireplace, before he flooed straight to the Minister’s office, leaving Minerva to excuse herself from the Headmaster’s office.

The Ravenclaw first year girl’s dormitory was normally a rather quiet and peaceful place. All of the girls got along in relative harmony, having just used it to sleep at night, spending most of their time in the Common Room. At this time, a young, quiet girl named Su Li rose from her sleep to get a glass of water. Stepping forward, she saw a shadow of a creature with wings outside the door. Pulling open the curtain, she became face to face, with a giant vampire bat, with blood shot eyes and fangs. It bared its fangs at her, causing the girl to back off slightly, giving a small scream uncharacteristic to her quiet nature.

The shriek had woken up the other first year girls.

“IT’S A GIANT BAT!” screamed one of the girls, losing her head completely, as she backed off. Elizabeth rubbed her eyes, yawning, before she saw the creature. How it got into the dormitory was interesting, but the fact that all of her dorm mates, being eleven and twelve year old girls, were freaking out, mandated that someone attempted to restore order.

“Everyone stay…” started Elizabeth but a few more screams cut her off as the bat circled around, before morphing into an imposing looking man with broad shoulders and a chalk white face. He also had ice cold blue eyes and fangs. This had done nothing to quell the fears of the girls, they screamed.

“Elizabeth Potter!” rasped the vampire, fangs bared, before it turned around, throwing itself towards the Girl-Who-Lived. Elizabeth reached towards her wand, it was much unfortunate that she could not grab a hole of it, as the vampire roughly grabbed her by the wrist, nearly breaking it with her impressive grip.

“Phoebus Lumos!” shouted Padma, who managed to calm herself long enough to sent out the simulated light spell that Professor Savannah had taught them. The bright orange light had struck the vampire in the face, causing it to shriek slightly, before he raised its hand, back handing the first year Ravenclaw, knocking her unconscious with intense streak. He looked down, hungrily at her neck, but quickly grabbing Elizabeth, forearm wrapped around the throat, before making its way towards the window, before anymore can attack them. A few more Ravenclaw girls from other years had made their way up the stairs, before they looked widened, as they saw, the vampire have a firm grip on the Girl-Who-Lived. Quickly, it threw open the window, climbing to the ledge.

“Are you crazy? You’ll kill us both!” cried Elizabeth in a slightly fearful voice, as the vampire held her, not responding, before it leapt from the window. Elizabeth screwed her eyes shut, expecting a fatal freefall, but the vampire glided in mid air, a firm grip held on Elizabeth. She did not struggle, in case she fell, as the creature moved into the night, to an unknown destination.

“Everyone calm down!” yelled the fifth year Ravenclaw prefect, Penelope Clearwater trying to take command of the situation to calm the girls down, the first prefect on the seen.

“They have Liz,” said Lisa eyes widened, ashamed that she was unable to do anything and now her other friend was unconscious on the floor as well.

“They have the Girl-Who-Lived!” exclaimed another prefect, a seventh year, who had just arrived on the scene.

“Yes, I saw that man dive out the window with her,” said another girl, a second year by the looks of her.

“That was no man, that was a vampire!” shouted a fourth year, rolling her eyes. “Did you see the fangs on him?”

“Keep an eye on them,” stated the seventh year prefect to Penelope who nodded, before she averted her eyes down to Padma. “I’m going to get her straight to the Hospital Wing and tell Professor Flitwick about this.”

Professor Jack Savannah was right in front of the entrance to the Ravenclaw dormitories, growling in irritation. These stupid riddles that they needed to solve to allow entry would be the end of them all. His vampire detectors were going insane earlier and they pointed to the Ravenclaw Common Room.

“Come on, you stupid thing, open up!” shouted Savannah, losing his patience with the guardian.

“Sorry, that is not the correct answer, you have been denied entrance to the Ravenclaw Common Room,” said the guardian calmly as Savannah just gritted his teeth. He would get in the only way he knew how, by blasting the wall open. Before he could properly get into position, the seventh year prefect exited the Common Room, with Padma levitated slightly above her.

“Professor Savannah, thank goodness you’re here, vampire in the Common Room,” stated the prefect but Savannah raised his hands, to check on Padma. Quickly, he examined her, checking for any signs that the vampire had decided to help itself to a free meal.

“No fang marks, so the creature did not feed, take her to the hospital wing, she should be fine in a few hours,” stated Savannah gruffly and the prefect nodded. “It got away, I take it.”

“Yes, and it captured Elizabeth Potter,” reported the prefect, trying to remain calm but horror appeared in the eyes of Savannah, as he pushed his way toward.

“Perfect night to have your little tea party with Fudge, Dumbledore,” muttered Savannah as he moved forward towards the first year Ravenclaw girls dormitory. As a teacher, he had the ability to properly move upstairs. Quickly, he moved forward, as the terrified girls were clouding around. “Clear out, I need to investigate the area!”

The girls quickly bolted out, Savannah hoped that they did not tamper with any evidence. Quickly, he searched around, moving towards the bed of Elizabeth Potter, seeing a lone hair. A keen eye and experience had told Savannah that this hair was not of something that was human and could be used to track the vampire that captured the Girl-Who-Lived. Pocketing it, Savannah moved forward towards his office. Supplies would need to be collected.

He nearly ran into Harry who had stood outside of the dormitory, a worried look on his face. It took Savannah about a half of a minute to register Harry standing there.

“Black, what are you doing up at this ungodly hour?” questioned Savannah through a narrowed eye.

“Something happened to Lizzie,” said Harry urgently and Savannah just stared at him, wondering how he would know. “I heard the screams when I was returning a book to the library, I decided to take a closer look and it was about as I feared, isn’t it?”

“Black, yes, she is missing,” stated Savannah and Harry moved forward, but the vampire hunter shook his head. “No, absolutely not, Dumbledore would have my head if something happened to another student. Hunting vampires is a dangerous business, Black, best left for a professional. I would suggest you go to bed, the longer you stand here, the longer that you jeopardize your friend’s life.”

“If she’s missing, I need to help her, surely there is something that I can do to help,” argued Harry and Savannah just looked at him, before nodding.

“Owl Dumbledore, tell him what he feared may be happening, that’s all you need to know,” grunted Savannah as he walked off towards his office to collect a few necessary precautions, before another loud beep had echoed from one of his vampire hunters, causing Savannah to stop in his tracks. “Damn it, not another one, this time in the Slytherin first year boy’s dormitory.”

Harry already was walking, he would owl Dumbledore alright, but he would also do what he could to help. He was not going to let anything harm his twin. Savannah, he sort of trusted to be capable, but if this was left in the hands of Dumbledore, Harry was suspect at how safe Elizabeth would be. After all, Dumbledore had already proven himself to be a dismal failure regarding Elizabeth’s well being in Harry’s eyes because of the Dursleys and he did not trust Dumbledore at all.

Another vampire dropped down, before he ripped open the curtains to the first year boys dormitory.

“The one called Draco Malfoy, the Mistress requires him,” declared the vampire blandly.

“Malfoy, he’s right there!” yelled Dudley fearfully at the creature, as he pointed to Draco with both of his pudgy hands. Draco winced as Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other stupidly, the other boys in numb shock. Quickly, the vampire reached forward, grabbing Draco by the throat.

“Let go of me you stupid creature!” yelled Draco, but the vampire moved forward. Another group of boys had made their way up the stairs, curiously. None of them had the intention to save Draco, it was not the way of the Slytherin house. Rather it was just a means to see what they were up against. They quickly made a path for the vampire as it made its way towards the portrait hole. As it swung open the portrait hole, it was met by a man holding a wand.

“What is the meaning of this?” demanded Snape, who had just shown up before he stared the vampire down. “Put the boy back, now or suffer the consequences.”

“The Mistress requires him,” stated the vampire, as Snape shot thick ropes from his wand, wrapping around the vampire. The vampire quickly used its strength to break free, but this left it susceptible to a series of attacks from Snape. Snape was no expert on vampires but he knew enough to keep the beast at bay until Savannah arrived to do his job.

“Leave, Mr. Malfoy!” demanded Snape and Draco moved forward, but the vampire had enough of Snape, reaching forward, pulling the wand from Snape’s hand, before bringing the Head of the Slytherin House to the ground. The vampire bared its fangs, preparing to sink them into the neck of Snape, to feed off of his blood.

“Back from him, now!” shouted Savannah, as he moved forward, throw a pair of garlic bombs to the ground. They exploded, causing the vampire to suffocate on their fumes. Quickly, Savannah moved in for the kill, raising the wooden stake. With expert precision, he jammed it right into the chest of the vampire. Impacting the heart, the vampire crumbled to dust, right before his eyes. Snape pulled himself up, reclaiming his wand.

“It took you long enough, Savannah,” said Snape sourly.

“You’re welcome, Snape,” replied Savannah with a grunt. “You tend to your students, I need to track down some vampires and quickly, who were they after?”

“Draco Malfoy,” stated Snape quickly before he looked around, realizing that Draco was nowhere to be seen. “Where did they boy get off to?”

A terrified cry of help could be heard at the end of the hallway. Both Snape and Savannah moved towards the hallway, but another vampire had apparently breached the security of Hogwarts. She grabbed Draco, holding him firmly, throwing his wand off to the side as he tried to use it on him, before moving towards an open window. Snape tried to use his wand to close it but it was too late. The vampire exited Hogwarts, before she gained altitude, with the captured Draco Malfoy dangling dangerously below the ground, as it moved off high above through the night.

“You’re supposed to be the vampire hunter, yet you let a student get captured by one,” said Snape in an accusing tone of voice. “One of my Slytherins as well, no excuse for this, Dumbledore will be informed for you not doing your job properly.”

“Second student tonight, actually, Potter was taken from her dormitory as well,” said Savannah and Snape looked away for a brief second, before his eyes snapped back to Savannah, with an emotionless look in them, as he faced the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

“Find her or Dumbledore will have both of our heads,” said Snape without blinking. “I will write a letter to Lucius Malfoy, to inform him that you allowed his son to be kidnapped from Hogwarts.”

Savannah just balled up his fists, before he turned his back, moving off towards the exit of Hogwarts. With the hair he found in the first year Ravenclaw girl’s dormitory, he would be able to track the creature. They could not have gotten all that far, Savannah was ready to blast the creatures first and never ask questions.

Harry had just sent the owl off to Dumbledore and was outside of Savannah’s office, looking for something he could use to help Elizabeth. Much to his frustration, it appeared Savannah did not leave even the slightest bit of garlic that could be used against these powerful enemies. Putting a hand to his forehead, Harry was in deep thought, to determine the best way to tackle the vampires. They did have weaknesses, the extreme vulnerability to light and heat as well.

Harry moved back to his dormitories, careful not to meet Filch or any of the prefects. He had a few items that could be of use. He was planning on using them on Dudley if he had stepped one toe out of line, but with a bit of planning, he could use them to help. A side trip to the kitchen would not be out of the question. Every second he remained inside the school, was a second that his sister was left in danger from vampires.

Quickly after he had gotten what he needed from the dormitories, Harry stopped cold, another problem came to mind, something that could pose a problem. He had no idea where those creatures had taken Elizabeth in the first place, so his plans to save her appeared to be lost. Still, despite that, he refused to give up.

“Think, Harry, if you were a blood sucking vampire, where would you hide?” muttered Harry to himself, as he entered the dormitories, racking his brain for the answer, but he stopped. “Dora said there were mountains on the side of Hogsmeade, caves, they would be dark and cold, of course, perfect for vampires to go, but getting up there will be a problem, not to mention sneaking into the village.”

It hit Harry. Once he made one final quick trip to the kitchens, he knew exactly how to get up there. He would be leaving so much to chance, but he would not lose her, not after he found her again.

Inside the cave, Eskara looked as the two eleven year olds were secured by chains. The vampire queen looked forward, looking at her minions, before she examined Elizabeth’s neck closely. The girl was still passed out and the boy was not much better off. Eskara stepped back, before nodding.

“She passes inspection, if you had used her to get a free meal, you would not be fit to suck the blood from a flobberworm by the time I was through with you,” said Eskara coldly to the vampire after finding no fang marks, who bowed before the queen. “Up to your feet now, and return to your station. Savannah is bound to track us here. Obsession knows no limits and his is greater than any other mortal I have previously encounter.”

“Yes Mistress,” said the vampires in a monotone, as Eskara moved off into the cave for a moment, she did not trust that everything was in order. At that second, Draco’s eyes flickered open, as he felt dazed and confused, it took in a few seconds to realize what had happened.

“Potter,” hissed Draco underneath his breath, careful not to incur the wrath of these dark creatures“Elizabeth! Wake up!”

“Not now Aunt Petunia,” muttered Elizabeth shaking her head, before her eyes flickered open. “Wait, Draco, they’ve got you too.”

“Very good, no wonder they put you in Ravenclaw,” said Draco with a roll of his eyes, before straightening up. “Vampires, that nutcase Savannah was supposed to protect us all and now both of us are here, captured, who knows how many people at Hogwarts they’ve fed on. I don’t know what they could want with me, you I can see, but why would they capture me?”

“It’s not your natural charm, I can tell you that much,” replied Elizabeth as she looked around. “Here’s a problem, I don’t have my wand, so there’s no way for us to get out of here.”

“Well, I don’t either, so we’re stuck, until someone comes to rescue us, if someone comes to rescue us,” stated Draco, as he tried to struggle against his restraints. “No good, there’s no give, I doubt even that oafish gamekeeper could break these.”

“Stuck, how humiliating, a damsel in distress,” said Elizabeth in despair as she tried to pull herself free from the restraints, but footsteps had allowed her pause.

“Excellent, you’re awake,” said Eskara as she stepped forward, peering at Elizabeth with a calm, collected expression, looking at her, intently studying her. “Elizabeth Potter, the Girl-Who-Lived, such potential, I have been looking forward to meeting you for sometime, more than you could ever realize.”

“Listen here, vampire, you have her, what could you want with me?” demanded Draco as Eskara turned slightly. “I want some answers and I want them now, do you hear me! What do you want with me.”

“You, child, are merely collateral,” said Eskara cryptically in a chilling tone of voice. “Bringing Elizabeth to my makeshift lair was the true objective for tonight, but you are going to secure that I get something else that I have been having my eyes on for quite some time.”

“What do you mean?” demanded Draco. “I think the plasma must be going to your head if you think you’ll get away with this, when Father finds out…”

Eskara angrily smacked Draco right across the face. Had she hit him any harder, it would have dislocated the boy’s jaw. Draco massaged his jaw, unable to say anything for the moment.

“Arrogant little boys should rarely be seen and never heard,” said Eskara, with a feral grin, before she put a hand to her forehead, feeling rather flushed for a moment. She staggered, but firmly grabbed the wall for leverage, before reaching into the pocket of her robes. A vial of blood later was drunk and Eskara looked at them, more fit then ever.

“Look, what do you want, I’ve never met you in my life, did you work for Voldemort?” asked Elizabeth and Eskara looked rather offended at the thought of placing herself in servitude to Voldemort.

“Please, do not insult me, Elizabeth, working for that foolish wizard, as if,” said Eskara with a calm expression on her face. “As for the reasons of our meeting, well, sit back and be patient, everything will be told to you in short order. Right now, I’ll leave you two together, I have an important message I need to communicate.

Eskara stepped off, as Draco looked towards Elizabeth.

“Obvious what she’s doing, she’s going to ransom us both off,” said Draco. “Father will have her head on a platter when he finds out what she’s done.”

“I don’t know, something tells me this is a bit more than gold,” said Elizabeth skeptically, truthfully, something about this vampire seemed to be strange, yet a bit familiar. It was odd in that sense.

Eskara stepped forward, before she activated the method of contact that she had connected directly to Lucius Malfoy.

“Eskara, are you calling me to arrange the payment of my gold?” asked Lucius from the other end of the communication link but Eskara just laughed in amusement.

“Please, Lucius, I have something a bit more valuable to you than gold right here,” said Eskara smoothly. “The legacy of the Malfoy family hangs in the balance, unless you cooperate with me.”

“What are you talking about, vampire?” demanded Lucius.

“I’ll stand by for a couple of moments, because if my theory is correct and mostly it usual is, you should be receiving a letter right about now that will state that your son has been kidnapped from Hogwarts, by vampires,” said Eskara calmly and Lucius gave an anguished yell on the other end of the communication link. “Yes, it does hurt to get someone taken away from you, just like when your half blooded Master took someone away from me.”

“What are you talking about?” demanded Lucius. “Return my son, now.”

“Oh, are you missing him Lucius?” asked Eskara with a cold laugh. “Maybe I should give him back, eleven years of your life wasted, training up an heir to carry up your hypocritical legacy. Such a shame if something were to happen to him.”

“Draco never did anything to you, in fact, I jeopardized my position with the Minister of Magic just to make this deal with you, a deal that would eliminate the greatest threat to blood purity,” said Lucius.

“I don’t find myself interested in your blood, except when it is time for me to feed,” replied Eskara. “Pureblood, half-blood, Mudblood, makes no difference to me, all tastes the same. Give me a good reason why I should not make your son suffer for your sins.”

“Name your price, Eskara,” said Lucius in a tired voice.

“Finally, we understand each other,” stated Eskara. “I want the Malfoy family fortune, the properties, the gold, the artifacts, everything but the robes off your back and the wand in your hand.”

“You want my entire fortune?” demanded Lucius, his calm voice laced with horror, as the ramifications hit him. “I’ll be ruined!”

“That was the point, Malfoy,” replied Eskara coldly. “You talked your way out of Azkaban. You are not talking your way out of this punishment. But, if you refuse, I may still send your son back. However, it will be in several pieces.”

“Fine,” said Lucius in a defeated tone of voice. “I will make the proper arrangements to have all of my gold placed into your account within the next twenty four hours.”

“You have eight,” replied Eskara in a chilling tone of voice. “I will be in touch.”

In the other end of the cave, Elizabeth and Draco remained shackled to the walk, ignorant with what the vampire was saying, all they knew that they needed to find a way out.

“Where is that bloody vampire hunter?” asked Draco in an agitated voice as he attempted to find a way to break the chains, but Elizabeth was wildly shaking her head from side to side. “Mind I ask what you hope to accomplish doing that?”

“I’m escaping,” replied Elizabeth and Draco looked skeptical, but she dislodged a hair pin. Using her quick reflexes that were created due to years of avoiding Dudley and his gang, she caught the hair pin, before beginning to pick the locks on the shackles. With precision, she managed to get both her arms and legs free. Draco looked at her, widened eyes, almost shocked that this plan actually worked. “Muggle trick, you should learn it.”

“I’ll stick with wands,” said Draco stubbornly, as Elizabeth quickly freed Draco. Any minute, she would come back, they needed to work quickly. “Hurry it up. We need to escape before she comes back.”

“I know,” hissed Elizabeth through clenched teeth as she managed to get Draco free, at the cost of damaging her hair pin. Quickly a loud explosion echoed from outside and they two first years exchanged looks, they both had no question who was outside.

“Now, he’s here,” said Draco in disgust, as Elizabeth looked around, ignoring the attacks from outside. “What took him so long?”

“Help me move this, I think we might have a way out,” said Elizabeth, pointing forward and Draco looked at the boulder, it looked filthy, but with no wands they had no choice. As quickly as they managed, they shifted the rock, to try and reveal their way to freedom.

Outside, Savannah moved himself up the rocks. It was obvious that the vampire would have taken her prisoners towards that cave at the top. If he remembered correctly, it was large and spacious. It was a perfect hide out for vampires, he had warned Dumbledore that it might be a problem area, but Dumbledore declined allowing Savannah to set up monitoring spells. Dumbledore thought it might be a temptation for Savannah to constantly have excuses to sneak out of the castle, at a pretext of movement from the village.

At that moment, two of Eskara’s minions dove right towards Savannah. Quickly, he pulled out a small staff, before pulling on it. It released a net, coated with garlic, wrapping up one of the vampires. Quickly, the vampire dove at Savannah but Savannah grabbed the vampire. A garlic bomb broke open, connecting with the vampire’s skin. The vampire staggered, allowing Savannah to reach into his bag, before he removed a disc shaped object. Tapping his wand towards it, he placed it on the forehead of the vampire. The dark creature grabbed at the object, but it exploded, releasing a large blast of light. The vampire shrieked, the light burning its skin, as it fell to its knees. The face was completely burned but oddly enough, its body was unaffected.

Moving inside the cave, Savannah moved over, throwing more garlic bombs into the air, backing the vampires off. Quickly, Savannah moved forward, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but Eskara moved forward.

“You, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time!” shouted Savannah, raising his wand, but a quartet of bats dropped down, morphing into vampires, but they grabbed Savannah by the shoulders, holding him, his wand slipping from his grip as well. Savannah tried to ram them into the rocks, fighting, attempting to reach for something to use, just barely pulling out the first thing he could reach before the vampire queen moved over. Eskara held up a collar, before she snapped it around the neck of Savannah.

“You could do magic, but I wouldn’t recommend it, the pain would be inhumane” said Eskara viciously, as Savannah growled, before she removed an object from Savannah’s hand, while kicking his bag off to the side, out of reach, as Savannah continued to fight his captures with all he was worth. “Really, a wooden dagger? Did you honestly expect that I would not have prepared for that simple attack?”

“You blood thirsty bitch, I’ll rip you limb from limb with my bare hands,” stated Savannah, as he attempted to rip himself away from the vampires, but without his weapons or wand, he was useless.

“There that’s the way out,” muttered Elizabeth under her breath, as she looked towards the opening. “Might be a bit tight, but if we crawl out that way, we should be able to get out easily.”

“Wait crawl out, through there over all that dirt and insects, these robes cost more than your cousin eats in a year,” protected Draco and Elizabeth just rolled her eyes, sighing.

“Fine, if you want to act like such a girl, you can stay here and face the vampires by yourself!” snapped Elizabeth, as she knelt down, beginning to crawl through the opening. Draco looked down, closing his eyes, before he made his way right behind Elizabeth, prodded by the second of approaching footsteps, following his fellow first year through the exit, not knowing where it would lead them, but they hoped it would be better than this place.

“Exactly how much further do we have to go,” hissed Draco under his breath, as he looked down at his dirty hands.

“I think just a bit further,” replied Elizabeth calmly, as she reached the end. It looked to be a long drop, but there was a ledge that they could maneuver themselves onto.

“Good, who knows what filth is in this tunnel,” commented Draco, as he watched Elizabeth move out of the tunnel.

“First step can be tricky, watch it,” advised Elizabeth. “Maneuver yourself onto the ledge quickly, but be careful.”

“Right, maneuver myself, be careful, got you,” replied Draco but at that moment, they turned, where a trio of vampires had stood in front of them, baring their fangs at them.

“The Mistress will not be pleased,” said one of the vampires in a blank, toneless voice. “Grab them.”

Quickly, the three vampires dove right towards Elizabeth and Draco. Elizabeth attempted to kick her would be kidnapper in the shin, but this did not work out to her liking. They also had little room to escape, due to the uneven rocks. The vampires had recaptured the two first years, who could not properly fight them off without his wand. Concentrating hard, Elizabeth remembered reading about wandless magic, but disregarded the possibility. She was only a first year, and the elementary spells that she might be able to perform without a wand would barely be able to even make a vampire blink.

The vampires launched themselves off of the ledge, before they maneuvered around, moving back into the entrance of the cave. The two first years were grabbed, they were pushed forward and they spotted Savannah bound and gagged, unable to get free. Right next to him, Elizabeth spotted a duffel bag with the initials J.S. etched on the side. It belonged to Savannah and had to have been filled with something that could help them fight off these things, if only she could get break free, but the grip on her shoulders was too strong to even think of breaking.

“Mistress, these two attempted to leave you,” stated one of the vampires, as Eskara walked forward.

“Impressive, Elizabeth, you very nearly got away,” said Eskara calmly, but it was almost like she was proud at the girl’s attempts. “Futile, but the effort was in fact there. I cannot fault you for trying.”

Elizabeth eyed Savannah, who appeared to be trying to get loose himself, but appeared to be getting no close to escaping than they were.

“Okay, just who do you think you are to get away with this?” demanded Draco, as the vampire holding him at tightened his grip on his arms, but Eskara just looked at him, through cold eyes, as if debating whether she should entertaining the Malfoy heir’s demands.

“I am many things, but you can call me Eskara,” responded Eskara finally and Draco’s eyes widened at this bit of news.

“The vampire queen!” yelped Draco, obviously having recognized the story, before attempting to twist out of the vampire’s grip, but the vampire thumped Draco on the shoulder. It bared its fangs and lowered it towards the neck, but Eskara shook her head. “You can’t be real.”

“Yet, I am, the Ministry refuses to acknowledge my presence, it would show how inept they are, how little control they truly have if they informed the public of my presence,” said Eskara. “The official word is that I am a myth, but soon, all of humanity will learn exactly how real I am.”

“So what are you going to do to us?” asked Elizabeth in a fearful voice, it took a lot to terrify her, but being a dark cold cave with vampires did in fact do the trick.

“Do not fear me, Elizabeth, I will not hurt you,” replied Eskara in a soothing manner, as opposed to her usual cold tone but this did not do anything to sooth Elizabeth’s nerves. The atmosphere was not helping. The only time she had been more scared in her life when she was five and was locked in her cupboard during a thunderstorm.

“You’re not going to hurt me, how am I supposed to believe that?” asked Elizabeth in a panicked voice, as she looked around, thinking hard. Nothing could help her escape. “Why would you go to all of this trouble to kidnap me from my own bed, if you aren’t planning to hurt me?”

“As much hatred as I hold for humanity for what they’ve done to me, I would never take it out on my own granddaughter,” revealed Eskara.

All will be explained in the next chapter, where Dumbledore, Harry, and Lucius Malfoy all crash the party.