A Different Kind of Hero- By Ceilidh Clemens, Characters © JKR

Chapter 5- All the base are belong to Adyn

"Hello, Draco!"

"NO."

The orange-eyed vampire bit her lip and frowned. Draco watched her with disdain. She was dressed as oddly as ever. Her shirt was a skimpy little bodice that appeared to be weaved from the rubber of a discarded tire. She sported a white ten gallon hat with a fake phoenix feather poking out of one side and a fishing hook lodged in the other. Her tattered blue jeans were massive and held up by a red ribbon instead of a belt. Her left shoe was far too small, her right far too large. She had a ragged gray backpack, reinforcing Draco's notion that she intended to move into the Malfoy manor. Every time Draco saw her, it became increasingly obvious that she didn't have a single bit of clothing to call her own, and she stole a new outfit every day.

"But Adyn-"

"NO."

Looking cute wouldn't do her any good. Draco was quite capable of ignoring the pout on her lips, the red tears that began to form in her massive orange eyes, and the rain that was soaking her to the bone.

"We agreed to work together. Nobody said anything about living together."

"But-"

"I already have three freeloaders living with me. You hear that? Three. I don't need another."

"It'd only be for a week!" Adonis gasped, her bloody tears meshing with the rain on her cheeks. Draco watched with mild fascination as the red trickled down her face, dancing with the rainwater, forming swirls and shapes like the Nile River. "Just until school starts. Adyn will pay you back!"

"No."

"You have my letter!" Adonis pointed out. "Know why? Adyn had to give headmistress an address to find her at. It's only a week. Just one mongoosin' week!"

"But-"

"One. Week." Adonis' eyes seemed to swell and sparkle unnaturally.

"But-"

"Pleeeeeeeease!"

"You know what? Fine! Come in!" Draco snarled, sarcasm heavy on his pale lips. "Make yourself at home! Eat everything in my fridge and larder! Trash the place! Stay forever! I don't care!" He found his voice rising to volumes that might have damaged human eardrums; he also found that he didn't have a damn. Adyn was staring at him with wide eyes, flinching and moving backwards at his every syllable. "Set up camp under my bed! Terrorize the guests that were actually invited! Molest my boyfriend, while you're at it! I-DON'T-CARE!"

With that, he slammed the door in her face as politely as possible.

"Thank you!" chimed a bright voice behind him.

Draco whirled on the spot and was horrified to see Adonis standing two feet behind him, taking off her shoes and hanging up her hat on Draco's coat rack. "No!" Draco began to shout, but Adyn had already ran up the stairs and vanished behind the corner. Cursing wildly, Draco decided to call upon his boyfriend for reinforcements.

Draco stomped his way into the kitchen, not the least bit surprised to see that everyone was staring at him.

"Problem," Draco said simply.

"You invited her in," Granger stated. Damn, she heard me?

"I was being sarcastic!"

"You still invited her in. Now she's free to come and go as she likes. If you kick her out, she'll come right back in." Disgusted, Draco flung himself into the seat next to Harry. Since becoming vampires, neither he nor Harry had ever tried to enter a house uninvited. He'd completely forgotten that a vampire couldn't cross anyone's threshold without being invited first.

"That's it," Draco whispered. "I'm gonna go to the head of the Department for Control of Magical creatures and-"

"-Get me caught?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow. Muttering obscene words under his breath, Draco lurched to his feet and stomped out of the room.

"Adonis?" Draco called, listening to his own voice echoing off the ceiling. Cursing once more, Draco marched up the staircase, making sure to stomp extra loudly. "Where are you hiding?"

"In the other guest room. Come and find me!" Adonis called back, poking her out of the room at the far end of the hall.

"No," Draco growled, jogging to the door. There were only a billion guest rooms, but the proud vampire couldn't stand the idea of Adonis being in one of them. Especially since this was the room Granger had temporarily adopted. "We need to talk."

"About what?" Adonis called from under the bed. Draco groaned. What is this kid thinking? He sauntered to the side of the bed and peeked underneath, only to be greeted by the seat of Adyn's pants. "Wrong side of the bed, Dragon." The black vampire rolled over and gave the frustrated blond a lazy wink. "It's cozy under here…"

"This is Granger's room." Adonis's bright eyes lit up.

"Breakfast in bed?"

"No. No, you may not eat any of my guests…" Draco tried without success to bite back his rage, but his voice was brought back down to a reasonable tone. "And by the way, you are NOT a guest. You're not welcome here."

"Too bad," Adonis purred, rolling around on the carpet like a kitten on catnip. "You invited Adonis in. Now she can come and go as she pleases. Besides," she began to speak quickly, since Draco had pulled out his wand, "Adonis can help you."

"We already agreed on this!" Draco snarled, grabbing her by the wrist and attempting to drag her out from under the bed. She held tight onto the support; Draco was alarmed to find that he couldn't move her an inch, but he didn't let it show on his face. He just dropped her hand and acted as if he hadn't really been trying. "You help Harry and I find Niles-"

"Adyn meant the bodies." Draco couldn't hide his dread this time. It seemed that all his muscles seized up. Adyn didn't seem to notice. "Dragon doesn't know much about disposing of bodies yet, does he? Any old mongoose would be able to find those ladies. And the boy the other day."

Cold terror had sank into Draco's being, like a ghost too lazy to move out of the way. Thoughts went spinning and spilling through his mind, almost too quickly to sort them through. She knows what we did. If I tell the Ministry, she'll tell them what Harry and I have done. She knows a better way to dispose of bodies? No, there won't be any more bodies, because Harry and I need to exercise our self control! I can't kick her out! But I can't let her stay, she'll just be another mouth to feed and we're low enough on blood already!

"Adyn won't be too much trouble," the little vampire whispered. Her orange eyes, though sparkling innocently, seemed to drill into Draco's mind and drain away his will. "She can hunt for herself. Adonis just needs a place to stay waiting for school to start, and she told Headmistress McGonagall she would be here."

"You can't stay," Draco said firmly. "I don't know you at all. I can't have you here, endangering us and leaching off us." Adonis's orange eyes narrowed, and in a whirl of blond hair the child was suddenly standing behind Draco. The wizard hopped to his feet, turning his wand on the creature, suddenly afraid that she might be faster than any spell he could cast.

Her hair, still dripping rain, ran tangled down her bodice and shadowed her eyes as she stared coldly at the taller vampire. "What do you want to know?"

"I- what?" Draco quipped suspiciously, still keeping his wand trained on her.

"Adyn will tell you all she knows about herself if you ask the right questions. You can know me." She casually turned her back on him and set her backpack by the doorway, blatantly ignoring his wand. "Adyn will…" Her voice suddenly softened. "Adyn will not harm anyone in the house. Adyn will tell all her secrets and teach how to dispose of corpses. Adyn will not make a mess of the house nor try to learn Dragon and Vorgulmortis's mongoosin' secrets." Her eyes briefly roamed through the room. Her expression was so vacant, Draco suddenly wondered if she was under the Imperius Curse. But then the light returned to her eyes and she gave him a mischievous grin. "Adyn will sleep under Granger's bed."

"No, you won't!" Draco tried to insist, but Adonis was suddenly gone from where she'd been standing. Keeping his wand drawn, Draco hurried after her. Unless his eyes were lying, the orange blur that was Adonis was headed towards the kitchen.

His head began to ache as his thoughts still rushed wildly though his mind. What can I do? She's stronger and faster than me! If she tries to attack anybody, I won't be able to stop her! She's only going into first year at Hogwarts, so she can't know much magic yet. But how do I know she isn't lying about her age? How do I know she hasn't already been through school under another name?

As he approached the kitchen, he was relieved to hear calm talking rather than screams. "It's hard, isn't it?" Adonis was asking somebody. "Trying to be a mongoosin' Dark Lord." Draco crossed into the kitchen, still keeping his wand out. Weasley was using one magic eye to work on his crossword puzzle and another to watch the newcomer. Hermione had set down her tea and wasn't even bothering to pretend she wasn't eavesdropping. Harry was leaned against the jade counter with Adonis a foot away, chatting as if the two were the best of friends.

"Yeah," Harry said slowly. "It's quite a task."

"Indubitably. So much to do, and…" Adonis paused, purposefully dragging her eyes slowly from person to person. Weasley, Draco, Granger… "So few people to do it for you. Are these all the minions Vorgulmortis has?"

"Even I can't build an army overnight," Harry muttered. He turned his lovely green eyes back to Draco. "What's the plan, Dragon?" All eyes turned to Draco, even the eye Weasley had been using for his crossword.

Draco was caught in the spotlight, and he didn't like it a bit. "Er," he started helplessly.

"What's this about being a Dark Lord?" Granger interrupted, her voice disturbingly neutral. "Is that why you two have been sneaking off so often?"

"Er…" Harry did a perfect imitation of Draco. "Can we discuss this later?" Without Adonis, Harry mouthed. Granger pursed her lips and bobbed her fluffy brown head before turning back to Draco.

"Is she going to stay?" Weasley asked quietly.

"It's," Draco mumbled, racking his brain for options. Out of habit, he stared at his shoelaces and avoided the gaze of his companions. "It's not like I can kick her out, and she knows too much to just set her loose." Suddenly at peace with his decision, he looked up at Adonis with a toothy grin. "Sorry, Ms. Chiku, but I'm afraid we're going to have to kidnap you."

"Wheeeeeeeee!" The little vampire clapped gleefully and did an odd little skipping dance, comically tripping on her own shoes. Weasley looked ready to complain, but stern looks from Harry and Granger made him stay silent. "All your base are belong to Adonis! I get to sleep under Granger's bed!"

"What?" Granger gasped.

"Don't worry," Adonis giggled, apparently brimming with delight. "Adonis doesn't bite… hard… Unless you like it that way." Weasley's ears and freckled cheeks were beginning to turn pink. Sensing danger, Draco quickly escorted Adonis into a seat and poured everyone a fresh cup of tea.

"So!" Granger said loudly, forcing the attention over to her. "Adonis! If you're going to be staying…" Pause. "… Under my bed… Then maybe we'd better get to know each other a bit better. Where are you from?"

Adonis blinked slowly and took a large gulp of tea before answering. "Australia," she said slowly.

"That's specific," Weasley scoffed.

"Melbourne," Adonis elaborated, her tone a bit more firm.

"How old are you?" Harry cut in. The black vampire seemed confused about the question, biting her lip and looking to the side as if trying to recall what an age was. "When were you born?"

"October 23rd, 2043."