Lily knew that this was her only option; the mere thought of what Dumbledore would say if he ever found out what she was doing made the red haired woman shiver. Her green eyes narrowing as she contemplated the mausoleum before her, she was feeling confident she had found what she was looking for. The vampire bride of Dracula had been barely mentioned in the history books only one obscure text had even hinted at where she lay and Lily had found her. She just hoped that she would live to tell of it. Even though she knew that she could never breathe a word of her slight defection to anyone. Bolstering herself and drawing on all of her lagging courage she drew her wand and opened the tomb.

Mina had slumbered for over three hundred years, her once beautiful features desiccated and flaking and her hair bleached of its once lustrous colour, it lay in long tangles around her head. Lily observed the rictus like grin on the corpses features and once again pondered if she was doing the right thing. If this desiccated husk could protect her babe from the encroaching darkness. With a defeated sigh the woman took a vial of Harry's blood from her coat pocket and working quickly poured it down the vampires throat, smearing it on her lips. A dry, unnaturally long tongue licked every drop from the decaying, chapped lips. Crimson eyes opened slowly and focused on Lily as the vampire rose from her sleeping position an annoyed expression adorning its face.

"Why do you wake me, mortal?" Her voice was husky and had a hint of an accent that Lily couldn't place. Lily refused to be afraid of the starving creature in front of her, she would either live through tonight and her secret would be safe or she would die here as dinner for a vampire, either way time was running out.

"I did not know where else to turn, my son is in danger and everywhere I turn every avenue I venture down only death awaits him. He is only a baby and a dark lord and his army seek to destroy him. You are my only hope Countess. I beg of you. Protect my son! He is to be used as a weapon against the dark lord with no friends within our ranks and no saviours aside from myself and my husband." She pleaded, sinking to her knees and bowing her head to hide her tears from the creature that stood above her clad in only rags that had decayed as she slept. The vampire knelt before her and tipped her chin up meeting her gaze frankly.

"You must be truly desperate if you would have a monster protecting your son. But it is of little consequence to me, as you can tell. I am a mere husk of my former self; I doubt I would be of much use to you as I am now." The countess replied thoughtfully. Lily brightened and rummaged in her bag producing a large jar of her own blood kept in magical stasis until such times she had need of it.

"Death is coming for me soon, I can feel it but I will be damned if I don't do everything in my power to protect my son. I will not leave him to be thrown to the wolves by Dumbledore and his order of the phoenix. If it means enlisting a vampire to protect him then so be it, I will not think twice about laying down my life to protect my babe." Lily's voice swelled with power as the vampire drank her blood with a surprising amount of decorum for someone who hadn't eaten in almost three centuries. She watched as her blood nourished and rejuvenated the vampire. Her cheeks filled out her flesh became smooth and milky and her hair became a vibrant red that hung to her waist in wild tangles. When she was finished although still weakened she looked stunning, as though she had merely taken a refreshing nap. Licking her plump lips, she gave Lily a delicate smirk and flowed to her feet as smooth and graceful as a wildcat.

"I find myself wishing to taste the air on my skin, come Lily potter walk with me as you tell me more about your son. Yours was the first voice I have heard in over three hundred silent years and I wish to know more of this world that I inhabit now." The countess said quietly. Lily nodded and got to her feet.

"I didn't know if you would need some clothes so I just grabbed one of my cloaks." Lily babbled handing the vampire the garment and moving within the chamber to give her the illusion of privacy. Eventually the two women walked through the graveyard in a comfortable silence only broken by the vampire sniffing the air occasionally.

"I find myself in a bit of a dilemma, Lady Potter. If I agree to your terms I will be bound as a slave to your mortal son, who is but a babe. I will have to comply with his every demand and whim. If he orders me to kill another child he does not like I will be unable to disobey. So instead of doing as you ask of me, in protecting your son I will be little more than a viscous dog attacking when he commands me to." She said quietly, eyeing the arcane tome with outright hatred. Lily sat back as she contemplated the vampire's words.

"That may be so, but I have devoted all of my attention to this subject and I believe that if the bond is performed when the subject is but a babe he will not have to know all of its intricacies until he is old enough to be responsible with the creature he is bound to." She said at last, watching the vampire's reaction to her words. Her face became closed off, almost distant. At length she rested a pale hand on the tome her movements wary and hesitant.

"Very well, I shall allow you to bind me to your boy, but I have a question. Why not bind me to yourself? In my experience mortals will sell their young to buy favour with their tyrants or gods. Why are you so different?" She asked, Lily felt a surge of maternal fury, then calmed herself aware that the vampire was reading her like a book. Eventually she shrugged,

"He is more important than I am, as his mother it's my job to step in front of anyone who dares harm him." She said eventually. The countess watched her silently for a long moment through her eerie crimson eyes.

"Very well Mortal, let us get this over with. I find myself missing the hunt." She said eventually, standing up as Lily set out what she needed for the binding spell. A black candle, a white candle, a small wooden bowl, a silver knife and a vial of Harry's blood. Using her wand she lit the candles and let them burn for a few moments before she stood and began walking around the vampire, chanting and weaving the complicated patterns that the spell required. The blood red tendrils wrapped around every inch of exposed skin the vampire had. It settled on her skin writhing and twisting like a living creature. Mina bore the discomfort silently, seeming endlessly patient with the obvious irritant.

"Do you countess Mina Tepes, swear to protect Harry James potter to the end of his natural lifespan?" Lily intoned solemnly. The vampire nodded briskly, "I do" Lily moved on to the second part of the ritual. Pouring the white candle wax onto the black candle she watched the white intermix with the black.

"Hold out your right hand protector." Lily chanted The vampire did as she was bid and with the silver knife lily slashed her palm open, the vampire hissed quietly but otherwise did not react lily mixed her blood with Harrys and continued to the final part of the ritual.

"I am the creator of this bond and it is my will that you watch over my son, slaying his enemies and all those who mean him harm. With the goddess Hecatate guiding my hand so mote it be. Drink the blood vampire, finish the binding." Lily was in a trance, the power she was expending was a lot more than the witch had expected, Mina smirked gently and lifted the bowl to her lips allowing the mixed blood to flow into her mouth and down her throat, bracing herself for what was to come.

The vampire screeched in agony as the tendrils burrowed into her flesh, falling to her knees as they tore through her, bucking and thrashing as agony coursed through her. Burning her to ash, then restoring her, healing her, making her power swell. When it was over the vampire lay face down on the ground, shaking and drained. Lily was unconscious beside her, struggling to her feet Mina flexed her hands and shook out her limbs, feeling a fraction of her strength return. Not enough to fight anything, but enough that she could feed and she had a feeling she would need a lot of dark souls to replenish her. Moving Lily to her crypt she then left in order to hunt her prey.

Three rapists, two murderers and a child molester later Mina decided to head back to her mausoleum, feeling the souls she had taken settle within her. She took to the skies, glorying in her power as she shot through the night, remembering when she was a newly made and thought she would never be anything more than weak, oh how little she knew, back then. She could feel the sunrise approaching as it tingled across her skin, she wondered if even that could kill her. Maybe to be explored in the future, for now she would rest, she had a favour to call in. Landing silently in front of the stone monolith she walked through the opening and descended the stairs only to find Lily stirring.

"What time is it?" She asked groggily, Mina shrugged, "I don't know, time is of little consequence to myself as I am unbound from its grasp. Time is a mortal concept." She sniped, looking annoyed. The witch sighed and cast a spell that revealed glowing numbers, which she clearly didn't like as she swore and tumbled from the stone that Mina had set her on. Mina merely watched the frantic witch as she gathered up her things and approached her.

"I will probably never see you again, since you only need to serve Harry in the event of my death, but let us hope that it never comes to that, thank you countess, for everything." She murmured, nodding to the vampire who merely gazed back at her before extending an elegant hand and brushing a wayward lock of hair from the witch's face.

"Goodbye Lily Potter." She replied solemnly. For some reason the vampire's words made Lily feel cold inside, shaking herself she left to return to her family, blissfully unaware of how little time she had left alive.