Forever Knight [Harmione]

Chapter 8: Calling

Ron and Tonks didn't exactly appreciate the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes joke.

This served to irritate him. "Voldemort was furious about something."

Ron winced at the name and Tonks looked like she was going to be sick.

Harry wished Hermione were there to say, "Oh, honestly! Saying his name won't have the sky raining fire on us!"

"Furious about what?" asked Ron, breaking through his thoughts.

"I don't know, exactly, but there was a vampire there, and Voldemort punished him with a spell. Lumos solem."

Tonks nodded grimly. "That'll work if your magic's powerful enough, but a patronus works best for vampire-type creatures. You-Know-Who probably can't conjure one. Being dark and evil probably puts a damper on the positive-thoughts thing."

"Naturally." Harry never really thought of it that way until now, but he supposed the bad guys didn't have much to worry about on the matter of Dementors, anyway, not when they were working under the same boss.

"So these visions of yours," said Tonks. "They're... true?"

"They tend to be that, yeah."

"What do you remember of it, then? Where you somewhere? A dungeon? A tower? Was there anybody else in the room?"

Harry shook his head. "I didn't see anything like that. There was just Voldemort and the vampire. I can't even see Voldemort because I was looking through his eyes. I saw his hand, and his wand, but other than that, it was just the vampire."

"Can you describe this vampire, then?"

Harry tried to focus on remembering. "He's tall. Really skinny. Like a rockstar." It was the only way he could explain it. There had been something terribly androgynous about the vampire, trendy clothes and all. He was, however, certain that the vampire was male.

He wasn't sure if Tonks would understand the rockstar reference, but she was half-muggle and she had that look about her that screamed rocker.

Tonks's eyes widened. "Rockstar? Like one of those drugged up, alcohol guzzling, muggle men in oh-so-tight tight leather pants who call themselves Iggy and have groupies?"

Apparently, she knew more than he gave her credit for. "Er-"

She reddened at the cheeks. "Sorry. David Bowie and Mick Jagger flashback there for a second... go on, then. What else do you remember of this vampire?"

Harry exchanged brief looks of uncertainty with Ron. Ron just shrugged.

"His hair's black," continued Harry. "Probably even blacker at a glance, but I think he's got... whatchamacallit? Like brushes of red in his hair? You know-when light hits it, you see it-"

"Highlights."

"Yeah, that's it. And his eyes are weird. Like gold."

"Interesting. Distinguishing marks?"

Harry didn't hesitate. "He had tattoos going down his-er-stomach..."

"Like on his tummy?"

"Mmmaybe a little lower than that."

"Oh." She paused to give it a brief thought before her eyes widened, twinkling. "Oh! Well, that's a rather fanciable vampire, isn't it? Ha! Me and my creatures of the night."

That was very disturbing; then again, Harry had his own creature of the night to fancy, now.

Tonks stood, pointing to some vials on the nightstand. "You can have some Pepper-up Potion if you want, but I recommend you pass up the potion and sleep off the after-effects of your... ordeal. I'm going downstairs to tell Remus about this vision of yours and check on the installation crew, so you don't have to worry about anything for the meantime. Alright?"