FicWad

Monster Mash

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. Hotel Transylvania is the property of Sony Pictures.

Author Notes: Overjoyed that so many have expressed interest in this story. Writing and posting is slow, the company I work for has been open during the mess going on right now and it also has an insanely high turnover rate so I’ve been doing a lot of overtime so that’s one of the reasons why I’ve been behind. Hope everyone has been staying safe and healthy and that this chapter satisfies everyone

Betaed by Tsuyu-the-Hanyou

Chapter 2

Harry clung to Remus, his arms wrapped around the man’s neck, as he was carried through the busy airport. Mr. Remus had said they were going somewhere far away and when Harry had asked why they were going, Mr. Remus had said it was so that no-one could make Harry go back to his aunt and uncle’s house.

Harry didn’t ask any more questions after that. He never wanted to return to his Aunt Tuney or Uncle Vernon’s care.

Harry really liked Mr. Remus. He said that Harry could call him Moony or Uncle Moony, but Harry wasn’t quite comfortable with calling him that just yet. The man let him sleep in a nice soft bed, made him clothing that actually fit him for once and let Harry eat as much as he wanted! He even let Harry have a bath with hot water! He had been worried when he first woke up yesterday that meeting Mr. Remus and the offer of a new home had just been a wishful dream. He had lots of those, dreams of someone taking him away, usually of his Mummy and Daddy coming back for him. Or at least what he imagined his parents looking like anyway, Mr. Remus had let Harry look into a photo album that he had that had pictures of his parents. His Mummy was so pretty! Much prettier than Aunt Tuney ever was. And even better, the photos moved! Harry loved magic!

Meanwhile, Remus did his best to look calm and collected as he moved through the Liverpool John Lennon Airport towards their gate. He was doing everything he could not to draw unwanted attention to themselves. Both his and Harry’s clothing had been transfigured to look good as new, he had a small carry-on bag with an expansion charm on the inside that carried some things for both him and Harry. He had also dyed his hair black so people would assume he and Harry were related, considering they both had green eyes even if different shades of green. He had even used a little makeup to cover up the scars on his face and arms.

Everything had been arranged by the man who Remus had spoken to on the phone who, it turned out, had been the real live Count Dracula himself. Remus had explained just how he got the card from Wayne and Wanda, the werewolves, then why he was asking to come and stay. Dracula had actually been very sympathetic and understanding when he learned Remus was taking Harry away from abusive human relatives and wanting to keep Harry safe. Remus quickly picked up the vibe that Dracula didn’t like humans at all.

Luckily, witches and wizards weren’t considered humans in the vampire’s book, though most of the wizarding world didn’t know about the hotel for monsters due to their non-acceptance of monster kind. Those who were easily accepting were happily accepted into the hotel. So Harry being a young human wizard wasn’t going to be a problem, thank Merlin. Dracula had arranged for Remus and Harry to take a flight from England to Paris, and from there to Romania where someone would be waiting to pick them up. He didn’t say who, only that Remus would know them when he saw them. The tickets had arrived, via a bat of all things, a few hours later.

After that Remus had rushed to prepare, getting the hair dye and make up for himself, a few things out of his cottage that he didn’t want to leave behind and he had picked up a handful of things for Harry. He also left a letter to Mr. Oaken on the counter of the bookshop, thanking the man for giving him a job but letting him know that he had to leave. He left out many details and hoped if the police ended up questioning the kindly old man that it wouldn’t cause him too much trouble.

Of course, Remus couldn’t rely on Dracula to take care of everything, he used a few spells to get himself and Harry through airport security as quickly as possible and through customs. Remus didn’t like using magic on Muggles like this, but for Harry’s safety he was bending his own personal rules. He wanted out of the U.K. as quickly as possible before someone discovered Harry was missing from his aunt’s house and came looking for him. Remus had no idea if Petunia or her husband had bothered to report Harry as missing, or if Dumbledore had discovered Harry was gone yet, but Remus didn’t want to be around when the headmaster did. Remus might not be suspected right away, but he had no doubt his once mentor would figure it out soon enough.

Remus gave the girl at the gate a slightly nervous smile as he handed over their tickets then took Harry onto the plane, finding their seats in 3rd class with ease. Soon they were up in the air heading toward Paris, France, with Harry looking out the window with awe.

******

Petunia glanced toward the kitchen window for what felt like the 100th time nervously as she heard a sound outside of it; a sound that she wasn’t sure was real or imagined. She forced herself to turn away from the window and focused on the lukewarm cup of tea on the table. She had been like this since yesterday when the boy disappeared.

It had admittedly taken her a few hours yesterday to even discover that the boy was missing. When Petunia had gotten up to make breakfast for her son and husband, she had neglected to let her nephew out of the cupboard. Usually that was one of the first things she did coming downstairs in the morning, letting the unwanted child use the toilet, then have him assist her making breakfast. He was still learning how to properly cook and since Petunia had a slight headache at the time, and didn’t want to deal with the child, she left him inside his ‘room’.

It wasn’t until hours later, after Vernon had left for work and Dudley was outside playing with his little friends, that Petunia had gone to let Harry out of his cupboard. After all, the brat had chores he needed to do, such as dusting the house and pulling the weeds from her garden. So Petunia had been alone in the house when she discovered the cupboard bare of anyone inside and had gone searching the house in a rage that slowly turned into fear when she could not find hide nor hair of her sister’s son. Petunia had called Vernon at work in hysterics over the boy missing.

Vernon had promptly left work, citing a ‘family emergency’, and had done his own search of the house and surrounding property as soon as he returned home. Meanwhile Petunia had called Mrs. Polkiss, the mother of Dudley’s friend Piers, to ask if her Dudders could stay the night. Luckily the woman hadn’t questioned why, delighted to keep Dudley for the night as he was ‘such a sweet boy’. She had even stopped over briefly to get an overnight bag Petunia had quickly packed, giving Petunia a worried glance at the harried look on the other woman’s face, but asked no questions.

After searching together for a third time, they had given up on finding the boy as it was clear that Harry just wasn’t there.

“Where could he have gone, Vernon?” Petunia remembered asking in the wee hours in the morning. The cupboard door had still been locked, she clearly remembered sliding the bolt open, so it’s not like the boy had just opened the door and walked out.

“Clearly the little freak magicked himself out,” Vernon had responded, knocking back a glass of brandy. “He must have run off, good riddance I say. We’ve wanted the boy gone since that crackpot left the brat on our doorstep. Ungrateful boy, after all we’ve done for him. I say we don’t worry any more about it, Pet.”

That had been hours ago, Vernon had slept like a baby and even now Petunia could hear him snoring away upstairs having called out from work for a second day. Petunia, on the other hand, hadn’t slept at all, she just couldn’t figure out where Harry had gone, or how.

Sure, yes, Vernon could be correct and the boy had somehow gotten out with… ugh… magic and had ran off. And if he had, Petunia would not allow the brat to come back, not to her normal home. But there was another possibility, that one of those people had come into her house and had taken the boy. She shivered at the very idea, frightened by it. That some stranger could have been in their house… could have caused them serious harm or even killed them… Petunia shivered again, hugging herself.

‘No, can’t think like that,’ she thought to herself. /‘If someone had broken in, they would have done something to us on how we treated the boy.’ /Petunia knew that to an outsider, how they treated Harry would look very bad but they just didn’t understand… well, nothing to be done about it now. Petunia just had to believe that the boy had finally had enough and had run off. If he was caught by the police, he better not tell them where he lived, she didn’t want him back.

Petunia had almost convinced herself that everything was fine, picking up her tea cup, only to drop it as the sound of a car backfiring startled her. It shattered into pieces, as tea spread out over the table and Petunia’s lap as she groaned and covered her face with her hands.

******

“You have got to be joking,” Remus said, almost laughing when he saw their ride. The flight from England to Paris wasn’t so bad. A little cramped and loud, but Harry had enjoyed the flight. Then they had a bit to eat in Paris before boarding their next plane to Romania, landing in the Transylvania region. Both Harry and Remus had napped on that flight and even now Harry was yawning and rubbing his eyes tiredly as Remus carried him.

After getting them through immigration with a little magic to ease the process, Remus had searched through the airport looking for their ride, wondering just what he was looking for when he saw it in a shadowy out-of-the-way area. A hunched over man wearing an old-fashion red bellhop outfit was holding up a sign with “Lupen” in sloppy letters, Remus could only assume it was suppose to be “Lupin”, but what really tipped him off was when the man lifted his face, revealing it was a mask all along, showing that it was a Zombie waiting on them.

“Why he green?” Harry whispered staring at the man. “Is he sick?”

“I’ll explain in the car, Cub,” Remus said as he approached the Zombie. “Err… I’m Remus Lupin. Are you waiting for me?”

“Errrhhhh,” the Zombie groaned, making a waving motion as he shuffled out of the nearby door. Outside, waiting on them, was a gothic looking black car that reminded Remus a little of a hearse. The Zombie opened the back door and stood to the side. “Nnhhhggg….”

“… Alright,” Remus climbed into the backseat of the car, setting the bag he brought on the floor, then settling Harry on the seat beside him. Meanwhile, the Zombie slammed the door closed and shuffled over to the driver’s side door, climbing into the driver’s seat. “So, how long is it going to take us to get to the- whoa!”

The Zombie, while a slow walker, was a devil of a driver as he slammed his foot on the gas and drove through the small town outside of the airport. People screamed and dove out of the way of the car as it zoomed past. Remus yelped as he bounced in the seat, looking for anything to hold onto. And he thought the Knight Bus was bad!

Harry laughed and screeched in delight, having a blast as they burst out of the city limits and made hair-raising turns going up the mountain.

“Oh Merlin!” Remus yelped as the car leaned to the side as the Zombie drove around a curve, only two wheels still on the road, then yelped again as the car came crashing back down on all four wheels. Harry at least seem to be having a good time, Remus just hoped that the car wouldn’t go flying off the road and down the mountain.

The sky started to darken as the sun set in the western sky, casting shadows along the road as the Zombie drove past a forest, finally off the mountain side.

“Say, how much further to the hotel- Merlin!” Remus yelped as the Zombie took a sharp turn and went off road, making Remus slam into the side of the car with a painful grunt. Harry slid along the seat into Remus’s side, making Remus grunt again. The car drove through the forest at breakneck speeds, bouncing on rocks and tree limbs as it drove along an unmarked path. Remus was really starting to doubt that the Zombie knew where it was going, only to be surprised as part of the ground ahead of the car dropped down revealing a well-lit, hidden tunnel that the Zombie drove into. The werewolf turned and watched as the hidden ramp lifted back up hiding the tunnel from the world.

A simple but effective method to hide the way to the hotel Remus mused to himself, as he turned to face forward again, thanking his lucky stars that the tunnel seem pretty straight forward with no twists or turns as he really didn’t want to find out if their zombie driver could make those turns with his wild driving in such an enclosed space.

The ride through the tunnel didn’t last long, the hearse like car shooting out of the tunnel like a bullet from a gun, taking into the air for just a few seconds then hitting the ground with enough force to make Remus’s teeth rattle and Harry bounce high in his seat. That was followed by another rough ride through a forest, this one much darker and spookier looking, until at last the hotel came into view.

“Wow!” Harry said as he looked up at the tall castle with awe. Remus had to agree it was pretty impressive, almost as impressive as Hogwarts, though if Remus had to pick he would say the castle that had been his home for 7 years of his life was the more stunning of the two. The hotel was taller than Hogwarts, and a lot simpler in design. It was also a lot newer than the Wizarding School, if Remus remembered correctly, from what he read in the pamphlet that came with the tickets, that the hotel was less than 200 years old.

The car slowed at last as they approached the front of the hotel and came to a stop, the door nearest to the front of the hotel opening.

“Welcome to Hotel Transylvania,” a tall scarecrow with a pumpkin for a head and wearing a doorman outfit said as held the door open.

“Thanks,” Remus said, letting Harry exit the car first then following after his cub. Harry was looking up at the doorman with wide green eyes.

“You’re tall!” Harry said. “Why do you wear a pumpkin on your head?”

“It is my head, gov’ner,” doorman said as he removed the pumpkin off his shoulders to show Harry, winking at the boy as the head was held out, making Harry giggle.

“Harry, that was rude,” Remus said though he was just a surprised.

“It’s alright sir,” the doorman assured Remus as he plopped his head back on his shoulders and straightened his hat. “Tyke is just a bit curious, that’s all. Kinda refreshing, to be honest.”

“Bbbaaggsss?” a zombie bellhop asked as it came up, pointing at the bag Remus had over his shoulder. He wasn’t completely sure if it was the same one that had picked them up from the airport or a completely different one all together.

“No, it’s alright, I’ve got it,” Remus said then watched as the zombie slumped its shoulders with a groan.

“Aww, let ‘im help out, gov’ner,” the doorman said as he closed the door to the car. “We’re in a bit of a slow season right now, so there isn’t much for the zombies to do.” Remus still look hesitant, but finally held out the bag to the zombie who gave a happy sounding groan as he took the bag then started a slow walk toward the hotel.

“Come on, Harry,” Remus said holding his hand out to his pup. “Time to go inside.”

“Okay,” Harry said taking Remus’s hand with one of his own, then waving to the doorman with the other. “Bye!”

“Enjoy your stay,” the doorman said as he tipped his hat. Remus felt another wave of amusement as they pushed through the revolving doors, it was very muggle-like, not something the Wizarding world used. At least not the British Wizarding world, Remus was not so sure about others. The inside was just as impressive as the outside, even more so.

The lobby was huge with high vaulted ceilings from which several chandeliers filled to the brim with candles were hung and rich blood red curtains draped in graceful arches. The stone floor was covered with a runner carpet, which ran from the door to the lobby desk, in the same blood red color and with golden embroidery on either side in looping elegant patterns. On either side of the runner were 4 large area rugs, two on each side, also in the same red with gold embroidery, with gothic style furniture arranged to give guests a place to sit.

Large stone arches led to other parts of the hotel on either side of the lobby, and at the end stood the before mentioned lobby desk. It was at the top of a small set of stairs and set back into a tall alcove. Said alcove was framed by yet another curtain, in that same blood red color, with golden fringe and tassels. At the very top a crest had been embroidered into the red cloth in the same golden thread and covering the back of the alcove was a wooden key holder, where dozens upon dozens of keys all shapes and sizes rested. On either side of the desk stood two sets of L-shaped staircases that led to the upper regions of the hotel.

“Wow…” Harry whispered as he craned his neck back to look toward the ceiling.

“It’s impressive, isn’t it cub,” Remus agreed as he picked up Harry, setting the small boy on his hip.

“Un-huh,” Harry nodded, green eyes wide as he looked around more while Remus carried him. Both Remus and Harry spotted a scattering of monsters around the room. Even knowing everyone here would more or less be friendly and were nothing (completely) like how the wizarding or muggle world saw them, Remus was still amazed to see the other dark creatures. He saw a family of Tanuki gathered around one of the sitting areas, a couple of El Chupacabra wearing what looked like swimming suits with towels draped over their shoulders, walking out of lobby through one of the arches, a fishy looked swamp monster looking over a pamphlet while nearby a Gorgon was feeding her hair-snakes little pieces of food from a plate. Harry tilted his head a bit as they passed her, hearing, to him, a jumbled mix of glee and grumbling from the hair snakes.

A blob of purple slime wiggled its way across their path leaving behind a trail of purple goo in its wake.

“Clean up!” A voice cackled from over head and Remus had to quickly jump back as a witch, though oddly green skinned, like how muggles sometimes saw Witches, wearing a maid uniform swooped in on her broom and used magic to clean up the goo. Harry gasped and tugged at Remus’s shoulder.

“She used magic like you do!” He whispered excitedly. The witch heard him, winked at Harry, and then flew off once her job was done.

“Yes, she’s a witch,” Remus said. Harry grinned then as he watched the witch fly around cleaning, joined by a couple of others who also were green skinned.

“Am I gonna have green skin like them one day?” he asked.

“I doubt it cub, witches don’t normally have skin that color unless they are under a curse,” Remus explained. “I honestly don’t know why their skin tone is like that, but it would be very rude to ask.” Remus was pretty curious himself, thinking that perhaps these ladies had Hag blood in their family or some other non-human race.

“Kay, I won’t ask,” Harry promised with a little serious nod of his head. He had been bullied for his looks (mostly Dudley and his gang), how small and scrawny he was and his hand-me-down clothing that was much too big and ratty looking. How his hair forever looked like a bird’s nest. His weird scar on his forehead. The list went on.

Remus smiled, proud of Lily and James’s boy, and continued down the runner toward the lobby desk, passing several other monsters. One nearly caused Remus to pause, was that a mountain troll?!, then he shook his head telling himself not to judge. The troll looked calm and collected, like any other tourist on vacation.

They finally made it to the other end of the lobby and up the small set of stairs to the desk, in front of it stood a cat woman, wearing Egyptian clothing, who appeared to be checking out as she spoke pleasantly to the figure behind the desk. This was Remus’ first real look at the famous Count Dracula. Remus honestly didn’t know what to think.

Dracula was tall and lanky, with slicked back black hair and surprisingly blue eyes. He wore a smart looking black tux and a long cape with a high collar and purple lining. Remus was reminded of the classic movie Dracula as played by the actor Bela Lugosi, but at the same time he had a hard time truly comparing this very animated man, that was all smiles as he spoke to his guest, to any fictional version of Dracula or what the Wizarding world thought about Dracula.

At last the cat lady wrapped up her business with Dracula and headed toward the door with zombies lugging a huge cart of luggage after her.

“Thank you for staying at Hotel Transylvania, see you next year Lady Bast!” Dracula called after her with a wave of his fingers, then turned to Remus. “Welcome to Hotel Transylvania, do you have a reservation? Under what name?”

“Oh,” Remus stepped up to the counter, moving to set Harry on the edge. “Be careful not to fall pup. I’m Remus Lupin, we talked on the phone yesterday.”

“Ah yes! Wayne and Wanda’s friend, so glad you could make it,” Dracula said with delight. “I hope going through those horrible human airports wasn’t too bad.”

“No, it was fine,” Remus quickly assured him.

“And this must be little Harold,” Dracula continued as he gave Harry’s hair a friendly ruffle. Harry blinked up at Dracula confused.

“My name is Harry,” He corrected. Remus couldn’t help the soft laugh that escaped.

“It’s actually Harrison,” He told both Harry and Dracula. Lily had taken James to see a muggle film once, the summer after their 7th year, and they had seen Star Wars. James had not understood the film at all, not understanding the concept of space travel and such, but had been fascinated by the character Han Solo and his actor Harrison Ford. When it came time to name their son, James had picked the name Harrison James for the babe. The traitor, Sirius, insisted that Harry’s name actually came from former Beatles band member George Harrison (Sirius claimed he was a huge fan of the Beatles, Remus wondered how much of that was a lie). “But everyone just calls him Harry.”

Remus wasn’t even sure if the Wizard World in general was aware that Harry’s name was actually Harrison. He had mostly heard other witches and wizards refer to his pup just as ‘Harry Potter, the Boy-who-lived’. The few he had met who asked assumed it was short for Harold or Henry, the more common names for Harry to be short for.

“Harrison then,” Dracula agreed then loudly called, “Matilda, take over at the front desk!”

“Yes Master Dracula!” A younger witch called back as she flew down on her broom and hopped off, taking over desk duties.

“Come,” Dracula said to Remus and Harry as he stepped out from behind the desk and led the way up one of the staircases. “I will show you to your rooms.” Remus picked up Harry and followed Dracula up the stairs and to the hallways behind.

“Thank you again, Count Dracula, for letting us stay,” Remus said gratefully.

“Oh please, call me Drac. Everyone else does,” Dracula said with a wave of his hand. They came to a set of old fashion looking elevators. Dracula pulled open one birdcage type doors and indicated for Remus and Harry to enter before him. “It is no problem, I built this hotel for monsters to have a safe place and be themselves. Go take a break, Mike.” He stepped in after them, speaking to the Zombie that worked as one of the Elevator controllers. The Zombie groaned and shuffled out, letting Dracula close the door and move over to the lever that would control the elevator.

“Reminds me of Hogwarts,” Remus mused, stumbling a bit as the elevator jerked into motion and started to rise as Dracula pulled the lever. “That’s the school of magic for wizarding children to go to back home.”

“I’ve heard of Hogwarts, I heard they turn out excellent witches and warlocks,” Dracula said then a look of sadness crossed his face. “I understand your plight; you want to keep your godson safe the same way I wish to keep my Mavis safe.”

“Mavis?” Remus asked, glancing up at the dial at the top of the elevator car, watching the arrow slowly make its way to the right as they climbed higher and higher. They seemed to be heading to the top. Harry was watching the pair of adults fascinated.

“My daughter,” Dracula said with a sad smile. “The light of my life. Her mother and I originally thought of this hotel together, to keep both Mavis and all monster kind safe. Bah, enough of that now. We are here.” The elevator jolted to a stop and the door slid open soundlessly. “All the employees live on site, we have both family rooms for those who have family living here and converted hotel rooms for singles.”

“Do not disturb!”
“Do not disturb!”
“Keep out!”
“Do not disturb!”

Remus jumped as voices filled the hallway, clutching Harry to him tight. He could see a bunch of shrunken heads hanging form doorknobs, calling out “Do not disturb!” or some other phrase, as they passed.

“Quiet!” Dracula yelled, shutting all the heads up.

“… We’re just doing our job,” One of the heads griped. Dracula sighed and rubbed his forehead.

“He’s not housekeeping, there is no need to shout ‘Do not disturb!’ at him,” he told the shrunken head. “You will get used to that, the shrunken heads are very diligent in their job. Ah here, these are your rooms.” Dracula opened one of the doors with a key.

“Hey! Introduce me!” a voice called as the door was opened. Dracula sighed again and closed the door, so the other two could see the head hanging from the knob.

“This is JoAnna, she’ll watch over your rooms and inform anyone passing that you do not want to be disturbed if you want it,” Dracula said in a bored monotone voice, one hand held out at the shrunken head.

“Hi…” Harry said shyly with a little wave. Magic was awesome, but a little creepy too… still mostly awesome.

“Awww, aren’t you a cutie,” JoAnna cooed then seemed to give Remus a look over, it was hard to tell with her eyes sewed shut. “Hmm hmm hmm, your daddy isn’t bad looking either.”

“Oh Merlin,” Remus said blushing, one hand covering his face as the shrunken head hit on him.

“All right, enough of that,” Dracula said, pushing the door open again. “Moving on!”

“See you good looking!” Remus could hear the head say as she swung out of sight. Harry giggled softly, that head was funny!

“So this is your standard family quarters,” Dracula said as he led them into the rooms. It was pretty simple with a living room area with a small kitchenette to the side and a few doors leading to other rooms. There were a few pieces of furniture in the room, but otherwise it was pretty empty. “Two bedrooms, an extra room you could use for whatever and a bathroom for both of you to use. I had extra furniture brought up from storage but you can redecorate anyway you like.”

“This is very nice,” Remus said gratefully. “Much better than some of the places I lived before.”

“I don’t have to sleep in a cupboard, right?” Harry whispered to Remus, looking around wide eyed. These rooms were much, much different from his old home with his Aunt and Uncle, he already loved it. Dracula heard Harry and gave Remus a downright scary, pointed look. Remus gulped a bit, glad that he would never do anything like that to any child, then answered Harry.

“Of course not, cub,” he said smiling.

“Yes yes, what a silly idea, a cupboard,” Dracula said with semi-false cheer and a wave of his hands. He plucked Harry out of Remus’s arms with a bit of magic, waving his fingers. Harry gasped as he was plopped down on his feet gently, Dracula taking one of his hands. “You have a room all of your own, Harrison!” the vampire continued gently guiding Harry over to one of the doors. Dracula opened the door with a small push, it swung open on silent hinges, and led Harry in.

“Wow…” Harry whispered as he looked around. The room, to be perfectly honest, was just as plain-jane as the rest of the apartment-like rooms; it had a child’s size bed against one wall, a wardrobe waiting to be filled with clothing, bookshelves bare of toys or books and a gothic looking toy chest at the end of the bed. A smaller table and a chair took up space next to another empty bookshelf, just under a large window, that looked out over the dark forest and lake that surrounded the hotel, with the Carpathian Mountains in the far distance.

But to Harry, it was most wonderful place he’d ever seen. It wasn’t as fancy or crowded looking as Dudley’s room, but Harry thought that was a good thing.

“This is my room?” He asked looking up at Dracula.

“Of course, Harrison,” Dracula said patting his head.

“It’s a very nice room,” Remus said as he came in after them, watching as Harry started walking around, exploring the room. “I bet we can decorate it anyway you want.”

“Really?” Harry asked, he never been allowed to decorate anything before.

“Of course!” Dracula quickly assured Harry. “This is your home now, Harrison.”

“Oh thank you, Mr. Dracula!” Harry said tears of happiness filling his green eyes.

“It is my pleasure,” Dracula said, glad to see another young warlock feeling safe.

“Dad! I found the toys!” A young female’s voice called from the living room. Dracula’s face instantly melted into fatherly love, lifting a hand to his mouth as he called back.

“In here, Mavy-Wavy!” A few seconds later a girl who looked like she was in her late teens, somewhere around 17 or 18, came into the room. She was a few inches shorter than Remus and had shoulder length pitch black hair and blue eyes just like Dracula. She wore a black dress with a fish-net long sleeve shirt that covered her hands to the fingers under it, red and black striped tights and red shoes. “This is my daughter Mavis.” Dracula introduced as he wrapped a fatherly arm around the young woman’s shoulders, clearly proud of his daughter. “Mavy, this is the new employee I told you of. Remus Lupin and his godson Harrison.”

“Hi!” Mavis waved a hand from under the pile of toys in her arms. “It’s nice to meet you Mr. Lupin.”

“You can just call me Remus, or Moony,” Remus said laughing. “And technically Harry isn’t my godson, but I was close friends with his parents so I suppose I’m close to one.”

‘Especially considering his no-good bastard of a godfather isn’t here,’ Remus added to himself in his mind.

Mavis knelt down in front of Harry, giving him a smile.

“Hey there cutie, it’s nice to meet you,” She said.

“Hi…” Harry said softly, he though Mavis was pretty. “… You got a lot of toys to play with.”

“Oh! These aren’t for me, they’re for you,” Mavis explained.

“Me?” Harry asked surprised, pointing to himself.

“My little blood orange, I need to speak to Remus. You know, boring boss/employee stuff,” Dracula said. “Do you mind watching Harrison until we come back?”

“Of course! It’s no problem,” Mavis agreed as she laid the armful of toys in front of Harry and sat on the floor. “A lot of these used to be mine when I was a really young vampire, and some are others I found in the attic, but they’re yours now.”

Dracula motioned for Remus to follow him out, Remus looked over his shoulder but Harry seemed to be enraptured with the toys in front of him. A smile ghosted over Remus’s lips as he left Harry to be watched by the daughter of Dracula.