The sun had set over an hour ago and Hermione was pacing nervously while absentmindedly fiddling with the TV remote to give her hand something to do. Usually she would use her wand for this but, as she didn't currently know where in the world it was or even if it was in this world, the remote control would have to do.
Ginny's eyes followed the other girl's form. She was sure was going to wear a hole in the carpet at any minute now. Huffing, she jumped off of the bed startling the brunette. "That's it! I can't take it anymore! Calm down, everything is fine."
"But-" Hermione started but the other girl cut her off, holding up her hand in a 'stopping' motion.
"No, you checked everything and everyone one out. Nothing will go wrong. Just relax and soon we'll be back home."
Hermione didn't stop her fidgeting, though her feet were now rooted to the ground. "You can't know that. Something might've happened since today and I should be out there making sure-"
"No, nothing is going wrong. Now sit down you're making me nervous." She walked over to her friend and grabbed her back, her arms pulling her unresisting form to the bed where she made them both sit.
Hermione sighed, "It just tonight's the final night of the movie. I want to make sure things go right."
Ginny rubbed the other girls' arms with her palms in a comforting gesture. "And they will. Nothing is going wrong."
The redhead's words were more confident sounding than Hermione was sure either one of them felt.
"We haven't seen them since the night before last," she told the younger witch.
"That's a good thing," Ginny voices nonchalantly as she let herself fall backwards onto the bed while closing her eyes.
Hermione didn't disagree, though she didn't agree either. Instead, she asked a question that had been bugging her since Ginny convinced her to stay in and wait out their supposed last few hours in this world. "What about Paul...?" Hermione needed to know where Ginny was standing on this issue. It was something that needed to be talked about before the night ended.
Ginny opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. It was such a boring color. Even the pattern was dull. Honestly, she didn't want to think about the monster masquerading around as a hot guy but she couldn't not answer if she was going to keep the other witch at the hotel riding this out with her.
"If for some reason the spell doesn't end tonight then, and only then, will I do it. I'll sleep with that... with him," she paused and threw her arm over her eyes to block out the plain dreary ceiling. It was really a depressing ceiling. She missed colors. The Burrow was colorful.
Ginny continued since, knowing Hermione, her explanation wasn't enough for the other movie-traveler, "Hopefully we got the whole intent thing wrong. I didn't actually give voice to the intent either. At least not aloud so... yeah. It might just be voiced intent is what I'm trying to say."
Hermione didn't want to point out what could go wrong if Ginny waited to fulfill her possible solo portion of the spell until after the film ended but given how against the idea she was Hermione wasn't going to push it.
Even with her own strange compulsion to see David, she wouldn't know how she'd react to having to get that close to him. So Ginny's hesitance was understandable.
Hermione just hoped that her drunken mental intent hadn't been taken into account. If everything went well they should know the answer to that soon enough.
Sitting back up, Ginny broke the tension, "You know after this is all over I think I've decided to date someone boring and completely unremarkable." The redhead looked thoughtful before continuing, "You probably know a fair few guys like that huh? You could introduce me." She grinned unrepentantly.
Hermione's confusion fell away at the last bit and she glared, "What's that supposed to mean!?"
"Kidding, kidding, kind of..." The younger girl rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.
"Anyhow, let's watch telly to pass the time." Ginny snatched up the remote that was lying limply in Hermione's grasp. "There's gotta be something that'll make time fly by."
Not long after, Ginny found MTV and was fascinated having never seen such wacky videos with a strangeness that her brother George would surely find captivating and would no doubt get inspired by. Not only that though. She found the 80's muggle music to be quite catchy. That is why she had no plans of removing herself from in front of the TV tonight. Except an hour into her newest hobby she did just that.
Sitting up she yawned and stretched, "I'm gonna go grab a snack at the corner store. Want one?"
Hermione had only just been able to relax and immerse herself into the music videos a few minutes ago and now her redheaded friend was crawling out of bed making her lose the new-found comfy position. The brunette wondered if she was doing it on purpose.
Looking at the bedside table clock, she stated, "It's only been a couple of hours since we had the pizza."
Still, she wasn't about to let the other girl, who was quickly throwing on something presentable, go out on her own.
As Hermione made to follow her by climbing off of the bed the redhead waved her off, "No. You stay put I'll only be a few minutes. No sense in both of us having to get dressed again. Besides, it's my snacks I'll get them."
"I don't mind and if I come with you. You'll be able to buy more since I can help you carry the bags." In Hermione's opinion, it was a sensible argument. Plus she didn't want the younger girl out of her sight, at least not tonight of all nights.
Knowing the reasoning behind this Ginny rolled her eyes. "You worry too much. I'll be right back."
Hermione groaned, "Why'd you have to say that? Now I have to go with you."
Ginny frowned, "What are you talking about?"
"You never say I'll be right back in a horror movie. People who say that never come back. It's a rule."
The redhead flipped her hair behind her shoulder with a small scoff, "Don't be silly. Besides this isn't a horror-" Ginny cut herself off while Hermione looked at her knowingly.
"Horror movie rule or not I'm going and you're staying right here, got it?" She commanded but Hermione protested anyway. Only for Ginny to grin wickedly, "Don't make me curse you into staying put."
"As formidable as your curses are, you'd have to catch me first and you just gave me a heads up." The older girl countered.
"I'd catch you off guard eventually," Ginny teased before her mirth faded. "Just wait here will you? And if I'm not back in fifteen, no ten minutes, you apparate yourself down to the store and raise all kinds of hell on them 'kay?" Hermione didn't look happy, "But that won't be necessary, I promise."
"You're so stubborn... but this is getting us nowhere. Fine. I don't get why you are so against me going, just hurry back," Hermione relented and Ginny clapped happily.
"I knew you'd see it my way."
"You remember that we had a safety talk before? Well, that doesn't just apply to me you know..."
Ginny barely refrained from rolling her eyes, "If someone tries to jump me they'll be the one regretting it."
"Just be careful and I'm putting a tracking charm on you whether you like it or not."
Ginny nodded with a, "Yes mother."
Hermione snorted, "If Mrs. Weasley were here you'd not have won this round."
"True but I'd put up one hell of a fight going down," Ginny added with a chuckle at her overprotective Mom. She missed her... and it had only been a few days.
After the spell was cast, Hermione watched her leave before deciding to see if she could watch her from their window. The brunette hadn't looked out of it before to see what was visible, so it wasn't impossible that she could watch her friend leave.
Hermione made it to the window across the room and peered out, only she doesn't see Ginny. No, staring up at her second story window is none other than David. He's calmly standing there staring at her all, but his face and hair are consumed by the shadows of the night. The tip of his glowing cigarette does nothing to help with the lack of lighting.
How did he know where they were? Why was he here? Those and several other questions flew through her mind as she backed away from the window but not enough to miss him move before he was suddenly right outside of her window.
Right he can fly.
The floating vampire simply pushed the window open with ease and stepped inside. Why hadn't she noticed that it was unlocked? Second story or no she should have checked it. Not that a lock would have made any difference had he truly wanted inside.
"What are you doing here David?"
He casually glanced around the room. "Thought I'd drop in. It'd be rude not to after you went out of your way to come by earlier today." David's tone was conversational, friendly even, but she was no fool. He was not here to simply return her visit. Was he angry at her intrusion? Most likely.
Was that all though or was there more? Still, that was more than enough to get her on his bad side and, frankly, after that event at the bowling alley she wanted to remain far away from that side of him. Hermione should've known her poor decision would come back to bite her. Hopefully, not literally though.
Playing it cool, the witch kept her attention focused on the vampire before her. "Guess I was curious. I could apologize if that's what you want."
Of course, she didn't say that sincerely as he wasn't here for an apology.
He chuckled and walked closer and it took all of her considerable Gryffindor courage not to back up. Showing a predator fear was never a good move.
"You know why I think you were there?"
Hermione met his gaze unflinchingly, "Pray tell."
"You were admiring your handy work."
That caught her off guard.
"My what?" She asked not bothering to hide her confusion.
"Michael."
She was barely able to contain her reaction. How did he know she had anything to do with his becoming a vampire?
"Who?" Hermione asked. She was doing a pretty good job of playing dumb, but he wasn't buying it.
"Maybe I should let you deal with Star. I'd save myself the headache," David joked.
She didn't know how to reply so she kept her mouth sealed as he kept on talking, "I can't seem to get and stay in your mind," he tapped his gloved index and middle finger to his temple as he spoke the word, 'mind', "but Michael is one of us now, so I can see into his."
Hermione was still at a loss of words when he spoke up again, "You and your little friend dropped him off on that beach last night during his frenzy knowing what would happen. You knew he'd feed and you helped that happen. Why?"
How did she even begin to answer that?
"I took a vow... so I decided to remove the possible threat. He seemed like the type to fight the change and not wanting to possibly be seen as remiss by magic, I stepped in. Half-vampires could be dangerous because they have something to gain with you dead or well deader, don't they?"
Hopefully, he bought it. It was the closest thing to the truth that she was comfortable revealing. He took a step closer and she leaned back but kept her feet firmly planted. His hand reached up to play with an unruly lock of hair at her shoulder. She pretended that didn't affect her.
"Then why not Star too?" He asked, and she can't tell if it's because he bought what she was selling or if he was playing along. It wouldn't surprise her if it were the latter.
"As much as she wants to be human she's not looking to save herself. She's waiting to be saved so I didn't think it was necessary."
"You read her right. She's no threat. But I wonder what you could have read that made Michael appear to be one. Care to share?"
Hermione didn't answer instead her eyes flickered to the clock wondering how long it'd been since Ginny left. She was unsure if she wanted her friend to be late or come back to help her distance herself from the vampire in front of her.
David smirked when he saw where her eyes darted too. It was time to let her in on a little secret he decided gleefully.
"Waiting for your friend? It could take her a while. She's very busy debating which chips to buy. Currently it's ranch Doritos versus cheese Doritos. Personally, I think she should choose ranch but if you asked Paul he'd choose cheese every time," he laughed at her dumbfounded expression.
Hermione was well and truly taken off guard. David was talking about chips? Then the rest of the words processed and her barrier slammed back up.
"How do you know what Ginny's doing right now?" Her question was suspicious, and the jerk had the audacity to find this amusing making her want to punch his perfect face. It quite reminded her of Malfoy at that moment, and not the semi-decent version of him after the war either.
Instead of answering he continued to infuriate her by talking about something else, "You know, I couldn't figure it out from your friend either and her mind is much easier to penetrate than yours."
Hermione's eyes narrowed, "You've read her mind?"
Sure, Ginny wasn't as good at mind magic but to think that he got past her barriers... That could be a problem. Just how much did this vampire really know? He backed away, letting go of the strand of hair in the process with a shrug, before seating himself on the fake leather armchair near the window he'd climbed through. However long ago that was.
"Just bits and pieces here and there. Nothing of much interest, however," He paused and Hermione's watching him watch her. He's probably just doing this for dramatic effect and damn him, but it was working, "putting the idea to get a snack wasn't too hard."
"Wait... you mean you compelled her to leave?" The was a scary thought. It was kind of like he was using the imperius curse on her and if he could use it on Ginny...
David was barely able to contain how mesmerizing watching her reactions was to him and not only that, "The two of you are giving my powers a workout unlike anything they've ever had. Tonight, you wanted to leave the hotel. I thought it'd be easy enough to prey on that want but I couldn't. My suggestions didn't stick but she wanted to stay in and a brief nudge was all it took on her. It worked even though I can barely read her mind..."
"Is there a reason you're telling me this?" Hermione asked warily.
"I'm only telling you what I want you to know and nothing more. You're doing the same." He knew she wasn't telling him everything. That wasn't surprising. For a minute the room was silent making Hermione shift and realize that she was in her night clothes, an oversized tee-shirt.
Not the time to think about this she scolded herself. Think about something else. So, she asked the first thing that came to her mind, "Where are the rest of your friends at tonight?" Once Hermione asked she realized that she was genuinely curious. "And why aren't you with them. I didn't know that you ever did anything solo."
He raised an eyebrow, "Because you know so much about us."
He was right she didn't. An hour and a half movie couldn't tell her everything there was to know, just the basics.
"They're teaching Michael the ropes, I'll be joining them later."
"That makes sense..." This was awkward. She was running out of things to talk about and staring at him was weird, but if she took her eyes away he might try something.
"Want to join?" He stood up swiftly only making her watch him closer. Was he about to leave?
"Um, no thanks. See I'm not really into death and dismemberment," she deadpanned making him laugh and this time it felt more real than any of his others tonight.
"That so? Too bad. We could've had a killer time."
She shook her head, "Your vampire humor is lacking."
"Marko's is worse," he told her in complete seriousness.
"That's hard to believe." As the words left her mouth she noticed something frightening. Was she actually having a real conversation with him?
Slightly amazed, she nearly asked him if that's what they were doing when something happened. It was strange and she couldn't explain it, but she knew that...
"Something's wrong." Her thoughts came out without her consciously deciding to voice them and David looked at her with a more serious expression.
"What are you talking about?"
He eyed her and his surroundings as if trying to see or feel what she was talking about. Suddenly it came to her what this feeling meant, "It's one of the other vampires. Something's happened."
David's expression while, serious before, turned downright scary. "What do- How do you know that?"
Hermione was trying to pinpoint which one it was and how they were hurt but was aware enough to notice the vampire growing rapidly more irritated in front of her, "I cast a spell to let me know if one of you got hurt but I wasn't sure if it would work what with you being what you are. But it does and-"
That's when David's eyes widened. He felt it too then. Hermione rubbed her chest over her heart and felt as if something had just gone horribly wrong and the vampire's next words and their sorrowful tone only served to strengthen her belief.
"...Marko."