Ashes to Ashes

Chapter Twelve

By Mell8

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Harry wandered down the hallway, lost in thought. He had known something odd was going on ever since the vampire ball. Ginny had been at the ball and she had been completely secure with the surrounding vampires and the werewolf prince. Harry had been a nervous wreck the entire night, just waiting for a vampire to get too friendly and take his blood.

Ginny had danced with Malfoy that night, another oddity that Harry remembered. A Weasley would never willingly put herself into the arms of a Malfoy; it was against everything Ginny had ever been taught by her father. Yet she had danced with Malfoy and had seemed to enjoy it. Harry didn't think she had enjoyed dancing in his arms. So why was Malfoy okay?

But the oddest thing about the entire night was Dumbledore's reaction to it. Dumbledore had questioned Harry thoroughly about the night and Harry had answered honestly, and then Dumbledore had never brought up the subject again. The Headmaster no longer asked Harry, Ron, and Hermione to search the school for the Childe. Rather, it seemed as if Dumbledore were avoiding the issue purposefully whenever Harry brought it up again.

Although his grades may not prove it, Harry knew he wasn't a fool. He wasn't as smart as Hermione, but Harry could still tell that this sudden change of heart meant that Dumbledore had figured out the mystery and was hiding the answer from Harry.

Harry thought back on the conversation between him and Dumbledore that night. Harry had outlined every occurrence at the ball, from the Master's entrance to Draco Malfoy being the representative of the Death Eaters. Anything Harry had said could have tipped Dumbledore off. Yet, for some reason, Harry didn't think the answer came from that part of the conversation.

Harry thought that his offhand mention of Ginny being at the ball had been the clue Dumbledore had needed. So, the question remained, what did Ginny have to do with the vampires and why had Harry's mention of her presence at the ball given Dumbledore the answer the old Headmaster was searching for? Harry wanted to find out.

For the next several days, Harry tried to follow Ginny around to figure out what was going on. Only, this proved more difficult than he originally thought it would. By the time Harry got out of his classes and got to where Ginny was getting out of her class, she had vanished and would often stay vanished until well after curfew.

He tried watching her on the Marauders Map, but the castle was so large that by the time he found her on the map she would be leaving wherever she had been, and she was never in the same spot. The only time he could easily find her on the map was when she was with Professor Josh, the vampire, and that was often also in the company of Malfoy. When Harry had asked Hermione about it, she had shrugged it off saying that both Malfoy and Ginny had gotten the Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment on vampires and were probably using Josh as their reference material.

But Harry was getting suspicious. What if…but that was impossible. They would have noticed if Ginny had become a vampire. She went out in the sun all the time, but then, so did Josh, so maybe there were some vampires who were unaffected by the sun.

Harry thought back to all of his conversations with Ginny and he couldn't pinpoint a time when she had changed. All he knew was that she didn't talk with him any longer and he couldn't figure out when or why that distance had formed.

As the weeks passed, Harry became positive that Ginny had something to do with the vampires; that she and Draco Malfoy had something to do with the vampires. There was no reason why they spent so much time with the vampire representative in this school. They would have gotten all the information they needed for their assignments by now.

And Harry couldn't help wondering about Ginny. What if little, innocent Ginny Weasley was the Childe?

Weeks passed and Ginny continued to be scarce. She would show up for classes and vanish. None of her roommates had spoken with her in weeks and Harry hadn't seen her in nearly as long, yet, according to the map, Draco Malfoy seemed to be at her side constantly.

Harry worried. Was Ginny being pulled in the wrong direction, in the direction of the Dark Lord? Was Draco Malfoy, junior Death Eater, drawing Ginny away from her family and friends in order to corrupt her?

And…if Ginny was the Childe, was Malfoy pulling all the vampires to the Dark side of war?

It was late February when Harry finally made a decision. He had unsuccessfully been tracking Ginny for weeks and knew that he had to talk with Dumbledore about his suspicions. Maybe the old man didn't know the truth and was only protecting Harry by refusing to allow Harry to continue to search for the Childe.

Harry walked along the hallways to the Headmaster's office, hoping that Dumbledore would be in and available to assuage Harry's fears. Maybe he was just jumping to conclusions. Ginny was merely working on an extra credit project and Malfoy was being forced to help her out. Maybe the Childe was attending Durmstrang and all those victims of anemia were part of a cruel spell cooked up by the Slytherins.

In fact, as Harry walked along the hallway he began to wonder if all his concerns were baseless. Should he be bothering Dumbledore with such childish musings when the Headmaster had so much more important matters on his mind?

Harry sighed to himself and turned to take the long way to the Headmasters office. He needed the time to think before he bothered Dumbledore and hopefully the longer walk would give him that.

Harry turned another corner and froze when he heard a long female moan echo out of a side passage. He would have kept going, ignoring the couple having their bit of fun, but he thought he recognized that voice. Could he have accidentally stumbled upon Malfoy and Ginny? Would he now have the answer he needed before heading off to speak with Dumbledore?

Harry quietly and carefully poked his head around the corner and waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkened hallway. What he saw forced him to bite his tongue to keep from making any noise as he quickly backed out of the passage, down the hallway, and back to the main corridors of the castle.

Draco Malfoy had been pressing Ginny Weasley against a wall in an intimate embrace that would have shocked Harry regardless. But the truly horrific thing he had seen was Malfoy's mouth latched around Ginny's bleeding wrist, sucking up every drop.

Ginny wasn't the Childe, Malfoy was. Harry hurried towards Dumbledore's office, secure in the fact that he definitely had something of import to tell the Headmaster. He had to rescue Ginny from Malfoy and the Headmaster was the best way to get that goal accomplished.

III

Draco:

Ginny and I were approaching Dumbledore's office and I really wished I knew what the Headmaster wanted with us. Josh had told us to go there right after our last fighting lesson with him. There had been a pit stop on the way to enjoy a little blood, but we were still on time.

The gargoyle that hid the entrance to the Headmaster's office was waiting open for us so we didn't stop. Ginny's hand was in mine as the moving staircase took us up to the main office.

Josh was waiting for us at the top, a scowl on his face that hadn't been there fifteen minutes ago when we had parted ways at his office.

"You are idiots," Josh snapped. "Try to find a place to bite each other where others can't find you, next time."

"Who saw us?" Ginny asked, worried that our secret might be out.

Josh grimaced. "Go on up to the office and see."

Just inside the main door was Harry Potter, who promptly shut his mouth with a snap when Ginny and I stepped in. I couldn't keep myself from swearing and I could feel Ginny stiffening in fear beside me.

"Welcome, welcome," Dumbledore said with a smile. I could sense some strain in the Headmaster's face and knew that Potter was not supposed to have been involved with the vampires. Still, I knew Potter from our many battles throughout the years and I knew that if Potter had found Ginny and I around that corner in a little used part of the castle, then it was only because the idiot boy had been looking. Potter had uncanny luck with finding out things he wasn't supposed to know by sheer happenstance.

"As you can see," Dumbledore continued, "we have a new member our your little conspiracy."

"I would hardly call it a conspiracy, Dumbledore," Josh said cuttingly. "More like a staging ground."

"For the vampires?" Potter gasped. "Why are vampires allowed in Hogwarts, Headmaster?"

Dumbledore sighed and gestured for everyone to take a seat. He waited until everyone was settled before speaking.

"As you know, Harry, the goal of the Order in regards to the vampires was to bring their power to our side of the war. An agreement was made upon speaking with Josh, the representative the leader of the vampires, Dante. Hogwarts would be a safe haven for the Childe. She needed a place of safety to grow into her powers, a place Dante could not offer her."

"That's why he went to France," Ginny breathed.

"Yeah," Josh sighed. "The vampires know that his health is failing and Dante is scrambling to stay in power long enough for you to take the throne. He's also trying to keep you safe so that you are alive to take over."

"Wait," Potter interjected. "Ginny is the vampire? But I saw Malfoy drinking blood!"

They ignored Harry. He didn't need to know about Blood Children as well as current vampire politics.

"But I'm trained," Ginny said sharply. "I can take care of myself now."

Josh nodded. "You can, and that's why I brought you both here today. Headmaster," Josh said as he turned to look at Dumbledore. "It is time."

"Very well," Dumbledore said, suddenly looking tired and old. "Then it is a good coincidence that Harry is here right now. Pass on the message, Harry. The war is starting in earnest now. We are finally prepared to answer Voldemort's violence."

III

A.N. I'm flying by the seat of my pants with this story. Honest truth. I have no idea where I'm going with this. I ran out of my planned plot last chapter and have been desperately trying to discover which direction this story is heading in while writing this chapter. This is the big transition from Hogwarts to the rest of the world and I have no definite plans as to where I want my story to go. For anyone who writes, you will know that this can be very dangerous. I feel right in going slowly and taking my time, particularly since my muse is apparently unable to help me formulate the next section of this story. I anyone has a good idea feel free to send it in a review.

I hope that you will all forgive my long breaks between updates. I am busy and have no free time for writing. I'm doing my best, honest.

Mell