Blood Bound: A Vampire Tale by Dementor149

Blood Bound: A Vampire Tale

Disclaimer: Everything concerning Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling. I own nothing, nor is this done for any purpose except my own enjoyment and the enjoyment of anyone reading this. There is no attempt to make any profit.

I wish to extend a grateful thank you to my beta readers, Amanda and Prof Roz. Any mistakes left in this story are due to last minute revisions.

Chapter One

Harry Potter shook his head as he carried the pizza up the stairs of Number Four Privet Drive. It sounded like Ron and Hermione were going at it again. The three of them had been cooped up in his bedroom for the better part of the nearly three weeks they had been home from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and their nerves were wearing thin. The trio had tried to spend as much time away from the Dursleys as possible, but the summer was unusually cold and damp. The heavy fogs had persisted for more than a year. They were forced by the bad weather to stay indoors much of the time.

He smiled at the memories of his first day back at Privet Drive. He still felt Dumbledore's death most keenly and he was glad that Ron and Hermione were coming to stay with him. It was when he told the Dursleys that some of his friends were coming that the sparks started to fly.

Aunt Petunia was most adamant that Harry would not be allowed to co-habitate with a girl under her roof. It wasn't until Harry told her that the "girl" was an adult witch and quite capable of making sure the Dursleys spent the summer masquerading as slugs in the garden that she began to relent.

Hermione arrived at the front door just as Harry's threat was sinking in. Although Hermione tried to be polite, her efforts were met by stony silence.

"Besides," Harry continued to his now terrified foster parents, "she is going to be here with her boyfriend. I'm going to be the one chaperoning them. Ron is an adult wizard and he can turn the garden into a miniature salt flat, if you get my meaning. So you better be nice to them when he arrives."

He and Hermione left his aunt and uncle muttering to each other as Harry carried her suitcase and overnight bag upstairs to his room. As they left the kitchen, Hermione stopped to take a long look at the door under the staircase, and then she followed Harry up the stairs. "Harry," she whispered, "should you be telling them things like that?"

"What they don't know won't hurt them, and might help us," Harry replied.

"I don't mean about turning them into slugs, as far as I'm concerned, they deserve it. I mean telling them Ron is my boyfriend. He still hasn't asked me to be together with him."

Harry experienced a momentary pang at the thought of Ron and Hermione being together and him being excluded from their relationship. That thought occasionally haunted him since that day in the greenhouse. Due to Ron's jealousy he didn't think that the three of them could keep their relationship close. Ron still got angry when he thought about Hermione snogging Victor Krum and he still was suspicious of Harry when he found him with Hermione. Hermione was still hurt by his fling with "Lav - Lav."

Neither of them had time to deal with uncomfortable memories because Ron arrived at that moment. Harry and Hermione heard the Knight bus arrive with a bang. Ron couldn't Apparate yet, and he and Harry were planning to take the test together after Harry's birthday. Harry went downstairs and introduced his red-haired best friend to his aunt and uncle. Ron didn't seem put off by the Dursleys lack of welcome as he had had dealings with them before. Harry helped Ron carry his burdens upstairs to his room.

Ron had brought two camp cots as well as his clothes and toiletries. After he laid them on the floor he placed a bag of money on Harry's desk. "Bill got the money you requested from Gringotts." Harry looked at the pile of Muggle money that he had exchanged his Galleons for. It seemed that two hundred Galleons equaled something over two thousand pounds. He didn't think that the Dursleys would share willingly with his friends, so he had taken it upon himself to look after their needs. The rebuke that Dumbledore had given the Dursleys the summer before had not changed them at all.

"What now?" Ron asked.

Their first order of business was a shopping trip to Little Whinging. Harry led them to a hardware store, and a store to buy some inexpensive sheets so that they could build a privacy screen for Hermione. After a bit of supper, they returned home.