1996

Hermione had always thought that being bitten by a vampire would inflict unbelievable pain onto the victim. She had thought that the penetration of ones skin by the sharp fangs would probably be horrifying. She had suspected that by the time the vampire began to suck blood one would fight it and she had been pretty sure that people would stop struggling when the bloodloss got to them, not a second sooner.

The single most horrifying moment had been the second the dark creature had laid eyes on her.

You didn't fight it, it just happened too fast. By the time the bloodloss got you paralyzed all you were able to do was to damn fate and relive the mistakes that had brought you into this situation.

They were on a rescue mission for Sirius Black, Harry's godfather, and got lost somewhere in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries. Their group of students who had deemed themselves trained enough to fight whatever held Sirius in the Department were split up at the first inconvenience. Ron and Ginny fled in the opposite direction while Luna and Neville had taken to some room for safety. She had been the one who stuck to Harry to protect him and stand beside him when they would eventually face the consequences of their stupidity.

Right now he stared blankly back at her, his eyes covered in some milky shine, sometimes blinking. His body twitched from time to time by itself and when the two vampires changed the spot from where they sucked his blood.

Vampires were incredibly lavish, Hermione thought while the vampire that punctured her own body let out a shout of pure joy. Everywhere was blood. It covered their skin, their clothes and the floor around them. Hermione knew she should be afraid, terrified, but she just wondered if they would store the blood they missed somehow. It seemed like an awful waste to her.

She would die tonight, she was sure of it. There was something in the absolute certainty of death that calmed her. She would die, Harry would die and the others that were with them would probably die as well. Right now, she felt no pain and no sadness at that fact. She wondered if dying was like this for all people. Being pinned down and sucked dry by a vampire was arguably one of the worst deaths to be had, and yet is was in a way – peaceful. Was death peaceful? Hermione certainly hoped so.

Her eyelids became incredibly heavy and keeping them open became a struggle. She still looked at Harry and his unmoving form. His eyes were closed now. He looked so content in his death. She herself didn't want to close her eyes as she felt unready for that threshold. Closing her eyes would mean that she'd have to take her eyes off the boy she had risked her life for. Harry had been her best friend and his still form kept the horrors around her away.

Darkness enclosed her when her lids finally shut close. The fangs and teeth of the vampires still penetrated her body and without her sight to distract her, she felt the painful intrusion, the wildly moving tongues on her body and she heard the sucking noises as more and more of the red life fluid left her body. One of the long fangs hit a bone and a piercing pain shot through her. It made her body twitch and her eyes flutter open for a second before her entire body fell back into numbness. There wasn't enough blood left for her nerves to work properly. Her breathing became shallow, her heart slow in his works. Single loud pumps sounded through her body like goodbyes to Hermione. It felt weird when the heart pumped a last time and one knew that it was over. Hermione died and she was glad is was a peaceful death.

***Countess***

Two throats, two bellies full of blood. Claws ripping them open. Teeth biting deep into strange tissue. The warmth of blood and the squishy texture of raw meat. More of it! A second throat so easily caught, its owner so ridiculously slow. A powerful bite and bones broke, the neck was through. More blood and more meat. A taste of foul ash, but wonderful and exciting to chew. Every swallow so very satisfying and the way it reached the stomach, so very exhilarating. More of it! More!

A room without scent, but the traces of souls all around. Someone else was in here but his presence was soothing and known. A companion. The scent of blood once more, behind an open door. Dozens of throats, the smell of spell-fire and more known presences. Running over the dark floor, towards the blood and meat. Jumping, onto an archway and again. A woman - black hair, a wand pointed, green spell-fire about to erupt. Claws tearing apart the arm with the wand, a bite at the black haired woman. The woman moved too fast, screaming in agony. A melody in the ears, a harmony of the hunt and anthem to the hunter.

Running along the trail of blood. Dodging spell-fire and ignoring the numerous healthy people with blood racing through their veins filled with exciting smells of adrenaline, fear and hatred. The trail becomes thicker and the hunt faster. The woman runs to an elevator and goes upwards. Jumping into the elevator shaft and climbing up the crude wall behind. A shout of anger by the companion – ignorable and feeble. The elevator stops. Breaking through the thin metal of its floor, biting through the copper and steel. Strong teeth cut through it like butter, the fangs rip it apart like a shredder. The trail continues. The woman lays on the floor, crawling towards the chimneys. How good she looks, how appetizing her blood smells. A jump onto her and a fluid move to bite the protective hand held up. Fresh, warm blood, filled with fear, exhaustion, adrenaline and rage. Gulping down the liquid while swatting at the woman under. She screams and shouts – struggles wildly with her last strength. More pressure onto the teeth, the hand is through. Bone crushes, splinters tears wounds in the mouth. The flesh of it tastes so incredible. Chewy and tasting like extraordinarily well bred cattle. No fat disturbs the perfect texture of trained muscle, no sugar the warm liquid that flows through it and adds spice to the perfection. Shouts and screams of agony tip off the meal and there came a shout of glee and joy, so familiar.

An elevator coming. The companion back. He shouts. Dragged off the woman that still screams in pain. She gets stunned and bound. A wand pointed. White spell-fire erupting. Darkness all over.

***Countess***

1996

"What to do with her now? We can't...! I mean... we can't, can we?... You know?"

"Bringing her... both of them back to Hogwarts... I don't know. It could work. It could go horribly wrong."

Hermione's mind was as numb as she had last felt it when she had been petrified by the basilisk in her second yea. She heard the voices around her and just vaguely realized who was standing around her. She recognized Nymphadora Tonk's voice as the first, Remus Lupin's as the second.

Her head hurt like crazy, she had a coppery taste in her mouth and if she guessed correctly, the entirety of her body was wrapped in bandages and linen. To boot it all off, she couldn't open her eyes, even if she tried. The best she could do was to open them a slit after which they immediately shut again. Around her was a disturbing amount of white and without the voices around her, she would've guessed that she'd be dead.

"Could work? Are you completely out of your mind? I won't let my children go back there when that... beast... is there. Have you seen what she did with Lestrange?"

Hermione recognized Molly Weasley's voice, even though it was disturbingly skewed by her venomous words.

"I've seen it and for Merlin's sake, Molly, don't call her a beast! It's still Hermione we're talking about here!" Lupin answered angrily.

"Don't fool yourself Remus. That isn't Hermione, anymore. I don't even know why we're waiting for her to wake up. Those restraints won't holds her off for long after what she did to that metal-made elevator." Molly retorted.

Hermione checked and there truly were restraint around her body. By the sound of them, chains ended off with leather to be easy on her ankles. She was confused. Why did they feel the need to bind her like that and now that she thought of it, did Molly Weasley just call her a beast? What was that woman's problem?

"She's waking up, the chains rustled. Make sure they're properly attached to the floor and wall. And no matter what you do, don't cut yourself anywhere. We really don't need to have her smell blood uncontrolled."

Around Hermione busy people started murmuring spells, wands swished through the air and her restraints became straightened out until her arms and legs spread out far over the bed she was lying on. She didn't understand which spells were used, some of them she had never even heard of, those she recognized got lost in the throbbing pain of her head.

The rustling and shuffling went on and people gave each other hurried orders over her head. It was loud and busy and it made the pain in her head grow heavier and more pronounced. She moaned a bit and tried to open her eyes, but had no luck other than to be blinded mercilessly by the light in the room. She tried to ask them to be silent, but all that came out was a low growl. The chains were taut strictly and even the leather made her ankles and wrists hurt. She wanted to ask them to loosen her restraint a bit. The growl that escaped her this time sounded angry.

Someone held a cup of something to her nose. It smelled absolutely amazing, as if chocolate partnered up with mown grass to create a breathtaking motive. When it left her nostrils she followed it it eagerly to get just one more smell of it before it left her in the cold. But to her delight, whoever held the cup moved it to her lips. She happily opened her mouth and let the liquid flow around her tongue. Its taste wasn't what she had expected. It was coppery and tasted awfully bland. It had a bit of stale water combined with an old, leathery orange and an overly ripe apple. Hermione frowned at the taste and was about to spit it out before she remembered her manners and swallowed the obnoxious liquid. She wanted to push the cup out of her mouth with her tongue, but it was just eagerly pressed back and somehow made Hermione swallow even more of the liquid.

With a wave of rage her eyes shot open and in the same move she opened her mouth wide and slammed her jaw shut, crushing the porcelain of the cup in her mouth.

"Bloody hell!" shouted the voice of Sirius Black, but Hermione wasn't able to see him at first. Her vision was somewhat clouded, but at the same time clearer as it ever was. The sound of crying and tears came at her ears and she immediately turned her head towards the source. Somewhere in her head she reached a wall. She knew that hearing and seeing her mother cry should make her sad, or in this case, exceedingly worried. However, all it did was to make her unbelievably... hungry.

"Alright. Old blood didn't do it, it seems. Who volunteers?" asked Remus Lupin in his typical voice that was always so heavy and somewhat resigned.

"I'll do it." came the strong voice of Hermione's father, directly from behind her mother.

"Then hold out your arm over her mouth and make sure to let it drop into her mouth after I made the cut. Not more than half a liter. Enough so that she'll clear up on us. Understood?"

"Yes, I got it."

Like a faint blur she saw her father stretch out his arms over her head and a small spell hitting his lower arm. The smell made her fight against her chains as she wanted – needed to get closer to her fathers arm. She wanted to lick it, bite it, rip it off and eat the remains. She growled angrily at her father and looked longingly at the small stream of red that went down the blurred outlines as the only sharp things she could see. The smell of grass and chocolate was back and when that first drop hit her tongue, she felt like heaven itself had descended upon her. The aromas increased in intensity, with more nuances and a fascinating play of spices. Fear, sadness, confusion and the familiar scent of home played in crescendo until it exploded in her throat in a sensation of sweet terror.

Her father let drop after drop pour into her until it became a small stream of blood. She eagerly drank everything with gusto, never daring to close her mouth, so afraid was she that one drop could be left on her face instead of wandering into her stomach. He did so for ten minutes. During that time her vision became more clear and outlines formed together to sharp silhouettes of people standing around her bed. Wait... was she just drinking her father's...?

Disgusted by the sheer thought she spit out the red liquid in her mouth and tried to cough out the rest of it. "By Merlin, why would you make me drink that! What the hell? What is wrong with you?!" she shouted in between spitting out the blood in her mouth. When she was sure that all that was left was the taste she tried to sit up, but the chains held her back. She looked at her father, demanding an answer. "What... What is going on?"

Her father took a knee next to her and looked into her eyes as if he tried to analyze something. His eyes had deep, black rings under them and his face looked years older than last time. "How much do you remember?"

"We... we were at the Ministry and... and then... then..." It dawned just slowly on her. Being held down in bed, the tastes and smells all around her had made her forget. But image by image the night in the Ministry came back to her. She saw the empty hallways and remembered the bad feeling she got when entering. A feeling she had ignored. The contact with the Death Eater, the splitting up and then him, lying there, dying.

"Where is Harry? Where... Where is he? Is he alive? Harry!" She stammered at her father who laid a flat hand at her chest and cooed in her ears to calm her down. "He is as... alive as you are. What else do you remember?"

"He was lying there, dying and I was right next to him. I died too. I died because..." She stopped as the words she was about to speak broke down a wall of realization. The blood, the taste of it so wonderful. Harry lying there because of the vampires that had caught them. "Oh, no!"

Hermione started to cry but she couldn't feel any tears falling from her face. She breathed, but every time she sucked in air it felt unnatural to her and her throat shut tight. She couldn't breathe and it made her panic. She rapidly sucked in one little breath, again and again but never did the air come into her lungs. She felt like she had a cork in her throat and she needed to get it out. A loud Bang rang through the room as she broke the chains around her left arm. Another when she broke those around her right arm. She held her throat and tried to breathe, she felt like she was drowning when arms went around her lovingly and the voice of her mother calmed her down with silent words she couldn't understand.

"Mrs. Granger! Go away!" Remus Lupin shouted.

Her mothers lips left the proximity of her ears and she spoke with shaking voice but determined. "I will do no such thing. She is my daughter! She won't hurt me!"

"She. Is. A. Vampire!" he shouted at her "And she will hurt you."

"A vampire?" Hermione asked and her voice was thick with a confused tone that just covered the desperation in her. She had suspected it, but found the mere thought too terrifying to ever let close to her and prevented it to be real in her head. Now brutal honesty was delivered in the form of Remus Lupin. She lifted her hands and moved them towards her mouth. One finger went in and stopped immediately when it went over the long and sharp fang on the right side of her mouth. She felt for all four of them, the two big ones in the top row and the two smaller ones in the lower row.

"Harry?" she asked nobody in particular.

"Is a vampire as well. Although he..." Remus almost faltered under the gaze of Hermione who just tried to encourage the werewolf to continue.

"Although, he what?" she pressed on.

Instead of Lupin, Sirius answered. "Although, he doesn't eat his prey as well. You're... Hermione, see... uhm... You turned incredibly fast, as did Harry. But other than him, you went on a rampage immediately after that. Do you remember anything about that?"

"No. No...I just remember being... hun...hun... hun..." she wasn't able to say it out loud. She remembered being hungry like never before, but saying it would make it too real. She had killed in the Ministry and she had eaten what she had killed.

"Hungry?" offered Lupin. She just nodded and sunk her head in her mothers hair. It felt so soft and her embrace was so calming. It made her feel safe from whatever would hurt her, like a true mothers hug should. Hermione could smell the old sweat in her clothes and she felt the tremble in her body. She was afraid and her blood smelled like...

With a panicked toss she sent her mother flying through the room until she hit another bed. She had smelt her blood, felt it running through her veins and the thought of taking a bite went through her head. It took a while until she realized that she instead had flung her like a football. "I'm, so sorry" she immediately said. "I... I could smell it and... and I didn't want to bite you. Mum! Please! I'm sorry."

"Its alright, shes not hurt." said Tonks who had hurried to the muggle woman. "But lets not do that again, ok Hermione?"

Hermione just nodded as an answer, too shocked of her own power to do anything else.

"Calm down, Hermione. Your mother is fine. Calm down! Think!" her father ordered her. 'Think' she repeated in her head and suddenly the fog in her head, the panic, cleared out. 'Think' she repeated once more. She dismissed the horrible pictures in her head and pressed them in the back to wait for their evaluation. She had to do this like her research. She had to do the math. She needed facts. Fact was that she was obviously a vampire. Now there's something for an essay title. Fact number two was that she just got fed and felt no hunger. Fact three was that she still imagined ripping out some throats whenever she smelled the blood running through the veins of the people around her. 'What else?' she asked herself and imagined that she didn't just scrape past another panic attack because of her thoughts. The teeth were one physical reaction of her body. Were there more?

"Could I have a mirror?" she asked quietly.

There was no reaction at first as nobody seemed to have expected her to ask something like this. But then a giant mirror was conjured before her by the wand of one Albus Dumbledore who just walked into the room, the twinkle in his eyes dangerously absent. "I'd like to be left alone with Miss Granger. Mr. and Mrs. Granger, I ask you to leave too, just for the moment."

The look on Hermiones father made it obvious that he had met Dumbledore before and knew exactly that this wasn't a request. No, Dumbledore had just stated an order to the room, and the people obliged instantly.

Hermione didn't watch the crowd leave the room and just focused on the... creature that was before her in the mirror. At first it looked like her, alright. The first glance revealed a slightly paler, slightly more beautiful Hermione Granger to the world. But then she saw her eyes and Hermione knew that she was no longer human. She stared at herself with black eyes that had an red iris in them. It made her look like a predator - a wild beast. She opened her mouth and it revealed the sharp fangs, completing the predator look.

She shook her head at the thought that she did look much better, if one would ignore the eyes. Her features were sharper, her lips fuller and as far as she could see her body had made significant improvements. Gone was the little belly and the slightly misshaped hips. She was now easily on par with Cho Chang, Daphne Greengrass and all the other amazing looking girl in Hogwarts. However, the prize she paid for this beauty stared back at her whenever she looked straight at the mirror. Black eyes with red iris, promising a quick death to all that met them. They were even more menacing than the pair of eyes she had seen at the Ministry. Those had been golden, with white around the iris. Compared to her own, those seemed nearly inviting now. Now she understood why Remus faltered under her gaze. Nobody with the slightest remain of survival instinct would even come near her now.

"A sight to behold, isn't it, Mrs. Granger."

"I look like a monster... I am a monster." she spat back.

"You are indeed. A dark creature, a creature of the night, hunting for blood and in your case also the flesh of innocents." Dumbledore answered. His bland tone revealed no ill-mannered joke, or sarcasm. He meant what he said, she thought. "I have heard what Mr. Lupin said before but I have to be perfectly clear here. There is no place for you at Hogwarts."

The only thing that shocked her was the absence of shock. Of course she would be expelled. She had known since realization had dawned on her. However, the small spark of hope left in her hurt quite a bit when it flashed out of existence. "So, Harry and me are going... where?"

"Do not misunderstand. Mr. Potter is welcome at Hogwarts with a few conditions. It is you I cannot allow within these walls."

"But...why? Isn't he also a vampire? Isn't he like me? Whatever his conditions are I..."

"No, you can't." he interrupted her with his dangerous, quiet voice. "You are not like him. You, Mrs. Granger are what the vampires call an Eater. You are dangerous and uncontrollable. Not even you can control yourself once hunger strikes." Dumbledore sat down on a bed next to hers and sighed in exhaustion.

"Whats happening to me?" Hermione begged. It was all so confusing and terrifying. She didn't want to drink blood, let alone eat people.

"I have contacted the Aurors. See, Mrs Granger, just as Hogwarts has no place for you, there is no place for you in this world. You must understand..."

"You'll kill me?!" she shouted. At the words of the headmaster, something in her snapped. She growled angrily, a sound she didn't make consciously, and her face twisted into a murderous grimace. She felt the muscles around her jaw tense up, as if she was about to bite something with all her power. When she spoke, her voice was deeper, menacing and with a growl in the background. "You'll kill me? Just like that? Do my parents even know?!"

"Your parents probably already forgot your existence." he said as if he'd discuss the weather.

"WHAT?!" she screamed. It took herself by surprise how feral it sounded. But then again, the only wish that was prominent in her head was to rip the old man before her to pieces and devour him. It was more than rage that fueled her fury. A hatred so deep she didn't even know it was possible streamed through her mind, consuming her weaker emotions like a tsunami devoured coasts. The silhouettes around her blurred again and left was a target, a throat.

With one movement she jumped at the old man that sat there as if he was invincible. The chains around her legs downright exploded when she ripped them off and the deformed metal flew through the room. She felt several layers of magic shatter when she jumped at him. His surprised gaze at the ineffectiveness of the wards around her bed made him all the more delicious to look at.

Her hands formed claws, long and sharp and she lashed out for his chest. Deep cuts rand through his abdomen and thick, dark blood streamed through the white beard of the old wizard.

A blast of his wand sent her flying through the room and when she landed she saw several more wands directed at her. Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Severus Snape, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Alastor Moody pointed their wands at her and waited for orders – or that she would make a move.

Hermione realized her stance, but left it like it was since she got there by instinct. She was on all four, like a lioness ready to jump. She felt her ankles, knees and shoulders tense up and produce energy to explode in one deadly movement. But there was no one she could jump onto without risking being taken by the others.

The steady stream of blood from Dumbledore's chest made her senses go haywire and Hermione repeated constantly that she had to think. It would be so very satisfying to sink her fangs into the old wizards throat and drink the magically rich blood – eat the chewy, old flesh. 'No, think!' she commanded herself. 'I need to get out of here!'

Hermione slowly moved behind cover. An old desk with a few pieces of parchment on it gave her shelter from at least the first two or three spells that would come her way. It was the first time she even bothered to look at the large room she was in. It wasn't the Hogwarts infirmary, so much was clear. The walls weren't as ancient as those of Hogwarts and it certainly didn't smell like children around here. No, it smelled like death and dried up blood. Where the hell was she?

Next to her she found a small window. It was too small for her to climb through, but at least it revealed to her that it was night outside. She could escape the building. Now she only needed a way out of the room. A quick look at the wall opposite to the window gave away that the structure wasn't all that sturdy. It was a thin wall, judging from the frame of the door leading through it. She really hoped that she remembered that part from her studies about vampires correctly and charged at the white wall.

Spell-fire hit the area around her but by some miracle not a single spell hit. A last, powerful step and she bulldowzed through the wall. Wooden splinters flew through the air with nails and screws alongside them. With a muffled thud she landed on white tiles in a white hallway. She lost no time, got up and charged in some direction, looking for a window or door to jump through, out of the building. She took a left turn, took three steps at once up a flight of stairs and charged through a group of nurses before she finally came through a swing gate into the reception hall she knew from last year. She was at St. Mungos. Voices came from behind her, shouting and commanding. Throwing some people out of her way she charged through the entry gates, effectively tearing one out of its hinges, into the night of London.

She didn't think long and just followed her instincts up the first roof she found and followed it further until it told her that it was safe to slow down.

***Countess***

Another start to another story. Have fun.