Another one? what is going on? i thought because i am awful and sporadic in my updates i'd give you two in one night. i hope you like where i am going with this! Is not mine, feel free to review and enjoy x

Dinner was a tense affair, none of the participants quite knowing what to say. Bertrand was nursing blood; the injuries Vlad had caused him in the younger vampires rage must have been very serious for him still to be trying to recover. Ingrid sat stoically, facing Hermione and Vlad.

"Are you okay Hermione?" the Count asked eventually and Vlad snarled.

"Don't insult me father." He hissed but Hermione placed a hand on his arm, zapping him slightly. He hissed again but reclined in his chair.

"Yes I am fine. My idea worked, I just have to get Vlad used to dark power and this should make him able to control himself more. Not that you're out of control, just that you are not used to thinking rationally in that mind-set- it's pure selfish desire. You have to learn how to rationalise." Though he didn't reply Vlad grumbled and turned to his plate.

"So, are lessons still going well?" Ingrid's painfully obvious change of topic made Hermione smile.

"Yes, the boys came to visit today which was good- I'm glad they came earlier rather than late or we would probably have to put out a few fires. They are almost as bad as Vlad when something happens to me. They got hit on by everyone naturally but hopefully they won't feel the need to check up on me again, it can be a tad annoying." The brunette grinned. "Yourself?"

"It was good, boring. The breathers are all obsessed with love ad dating and gossip and its boring as heaven. But I got to annoy some people and generally stuck to myself. It was fine. The teachers don't bother me anymore." Hermione smiled.

"I was always such a goody two shoes. I was the annoying over excited one with all the answers. In a way the war was good because it made me calm down. I totally understand why I annoyed people. Looking back tis hilarious- considering I think we broke about 50 school rule sin one go once." She smiled. "Yeah we were pretty much trouble magnets."

"And you still are. I mean a war, coming here."

"It wasn't meant to be trouble Ingrid. I'm sure you guys didn't want me here. So it wouldn't have been my fault. Aside from my magic and I didn't know that before. Besides muggle school is interesting. It is boring. We used to have ghosts and a castle and the giant squid. It was home for a long time." She gave a small smile.

"Sounds old." Ingrid muttered.

"Yeah, it was traditional. Actually Bertrand I think as a tutor you would love it, we have a selection of magical creatures in the forbidden forest and our library is huge. It's very old." Bertrand nodded, looking much more like his usual self now he'd had something to drink.

"Yes. I suppose you did help me and I owe you. Besides if you are going to be staying I can't be fighting with you all the time." Hermione beamed.

"Wonderful. I do still love research and Hogwarts is brilliant for it. Shall we go this weekend? I'd have to mail my teacher and then we could apparate in. I'm not sure about foo powder as it does involve fire and portkeys have to be checked by the government and however much Kingsley loves me I can't break anymore rules without a good reason." She smirked. "I'm in his office once a week for something or other. Sometimes its just tea but more often than not I've got myself into some kind of a mishap." Ingrid giggled.

"Really? I can't see it." Hermione shrugged.

"Which part the goody two shoes or the rebel?"

"Both. I mean you are kind of bad ass- we know that form your e class and you must be smart as you are so young and to be doing this but I can't see either extreme." Hermione flushed.

"As wrong as I feel the term 'badass' is, I don't really think it applies to me, thanks. Yeah I as pretty much a walking encyclopaedia in school who never shut up and without Harry and Ron probably would have had no social life. But that's over now and I can be relatively normal." She gave a wry smile.

"The relatively part matter right?" Ingrid quipped and the brunette laughed a little.

"Certainly."

"As nice as this moment is how did you calm my son down?" the Count interrupted.

"I told you. I sat next to him and switched on my shields to acclimatise him. And it worked to an extent. It's going to take more practice- maybe every day, until he can control it."

"You can't just brush it off." The Count exclaimed and Hermione shrugged whilst taking a mouthful.

"It worked. Hats all I need to know to continue." The Count flustered eyes wide.

"But what if it goes wrong or it's too much?"

"Please as if I'd let him kill me." She scoffed, though the confidence was faked.

"He did do some damage earlier." Bertrand reminded, Hermione well aware that without her powers she would have been seriously harmed.

"Yes but I wasn't prepared, my reactions were lulled into a false sense of security. This time I can be ready. It will be fine." She tried to placate the Count who began spurting out questions.

"Quiet." Vlad's voice echoed through the room and they all turned to the dark haired boy, whose hands were clenched on the ancient table edge, threatening to leave long lasting marks from where he had crushed the material. He wasn't looking at them, instead focused on the table. "Just shut up and stop talking as though I am not in the room. Oh 'he did some damage' and 'what if it goes wrong. For hells sake have some trust in her and maybe me. I'm trying here okay. You always wanted me to be the big bad vampire so stop fretting every time I actually do that. She wants to help let her. The witch knows what she's getting into." His words were met with silence and slight worry from his family. "For Satan's sake I'm not going over to the dark side. I'm fine. Just a little pissed off that you can't actually take this seriously." his words were coated with venom and even without his darker aura all three of the other vampires were virtually compelled to obey him.

"Thanks for the trust." Hermione whispered, running a finger along his arm once and watching as his fists unclench.

"Don't be foolish witch. If I kill you it's not on me. Just be lucky I have some semblance of control." He stood, the scraping of his chair causing them to wince as he stood. "I'll need another session tonight after I feed. This lot of pathetic garlic munchers are causing my balance to be slightly skewed and we don't want the scale to tip do we?" with a wicked smile he used his enhanced speed to leave the room.

"Hmm…" Hermione pondered. "Is he like this anyway?"

"Yeah, he's got a pretty big burden and with everything that's happened he quite often flies off the handle."

"I suppose he just wants you to believe in him. I'm sure he had trouble accepting his destiny at the start and how he's having trouble he needs you guys- not that he will admit it because obviously he can't be seen to be weak." Hermione sighed. "I really hope he is okay though. Too much anger could cause him to revert back to his more primal instincts and that's not good."

"He'll be fine. Don't worry too much." Ingrid placated. "It's Vlad. He used to be a vegetarian vampire. This has been a bit of a change. Hopefully he doesn't actually kill anyone tonight. Fortunately there are far fewer slayers left but that doesn't mean he won't run into any."

"He said he killed half of them?" Ingrid nodded, toying with her goblet of blood.

"Yes, the ones in Britain. He took London first and the Edinburgh- off the map completely. Let a few survivors run to other groups before tracking them. The resistance group learned to lay low but their forces were completely decimated and torn apart. All the generals were gone. I'm pretty certain in the week he flew the nest so to speak, he just left, and he took out some of Germany and France. Fortunately in Europe the vampires are generally older- but even then in a rage he killed some of those who disagreed with him. It was a bad summer to say the least. Especially for the slayers."

"Like exterminations? Merlin, I've lived through one race war and I really hope this isn't another one. What about coexistence? Blood banks, donors?"

"That would require us becoming public knowledge, and we tried, Vladdie was the number one fan and then he turned darker. It doesn't work- we know that."

"What about witches. You said the blood was better right? What if we set up donation banks? We know about each other. You wouldn't get many from pureblood families but the muggleborns might, and then their families know so they could ask. If we ran it too we could give instant blood replenishing potions and then the contributors would be fine without any side effects and…" Hermione trailed off, not aware of their eyes on here. "I'd have to talk to Minerva and the others, we could do that while we visit Hogwarts and Luna in the department of magical creatures, I'm sure she would back my idea and Kingsley would…hmm…" she looked up and flushed, well aware her musings had been out loud but having forgotten the others in the room. "Sorry, can I got and get my ideas down on paper- it's just I may have solved something, I'd run it by Vlad and you once it's finalised but…" she continued to blush and looked down.

"It sounds good." Bertrand stated his praise rare. "It would solve a lot of problems- distribution and blood going off would be a problem.

"Not if we bottled it, we could put a stasis charm on it and then we can transport it via owl delivery of broomstick or even apparate with shrunken cases of it, or floo. I mean it is so much quicker than muggle transport. And blood replenishing potions mean a donator could donate maybe 4 times a month. Our community isn't huge but if it gives you better sustenance…"

"Then you'd need less. May I join you in your planning?" Bertrand asked, aware he and the girl weren't on the best of terms. Hermione took this as an opportunity to get to know the tutor more and sile.

"Yes, I'm sorry Count we have to leave the table. This could be revolutionary and sole so much please." He waved her off.

"Of course my dear. Happy planning. I must speak to Miss Macaulay about something." He mentioned vaguely to his daughter who got up also and left, without bothering to say goodbye- there was no need. Ingrid was sure the two were on to something though, it did sound interesting. She had never tried a witch's blood but had heard it was far more potent than normal humans.

Hermione and Bertrand had been planning for a fair few hours, a downstairs room filled with mind maps, spider diagrams, flow charts and notes. They were throwing ideas off each other, writing in different inks, colour coding. The organisation scheme worked well for both, which was surprising. Finally they sat on chairs, looking at what had been stuck around them, the sheets on the floor.

"Merlin's beard that was intense." Hermione chuckled and Bertrand couldn't help but join in. Hermione shook her hand out. "I am glad I am used to writing fast in a short space of time." She murmured, massaging her right hand slightly.

"I think it might work." Bertrand stated and Hermione shared a grin with him.

"Yes. If it did that would be wonderful. When we go to Hogwarts we should talk to my former professor and then I need to take a trip to the ministry to see what they think and we could have a new bl. Even if it doesn't go through we could still start it- the bill would just be a formality saying within certain rules and regulations vampires would be allowed to drink a witches blood if not from their body and you know what I mean. To place some rules on how much we take and other things. "She collapsed into the chair, smiling.

"You're not so bad you know. For a witch." She smirked at him.

"Just don't get on my bad side vampire and it'll stay that way. I don't hold your anger towards me against you. I expected it." She shrugged. "I've met my fair share of magical creatures who hate us so it doesn't bother me." Bertrand made to reply but Hermione suddenly tensed next to him and sat up alert. He didn't know why until he saw Vlad rush into the room and come to an abrupt stop in front of them. He wasn't usually a messy feeder but he had some blood on his lower lip and collar.

"More fucking slayers." He cursed, angry. "Think they can come in and try to take me out. They were so scared they fired wide- not that it would have hit me. Pathetic breathers trying to play soldiers. I mean seriously. I smelt her on them. She had been with them- in their group. I told her to stay out of it and she's found new friends. Well she'll just miss them because they're not going back to base alive. He licked pointed teeth and grinned maliciously. "The humans I had taken some from, some might I add not all- they are fine and compelled not to remember, weren't enough but slayers blood was so refreshing." He turned to Hermione.

"If you don't mind before I go on a rampage I need your help. Bertrand out."

"Not in here, we've done some important work I'll talk to you about later, now come on. Let's go to my room. Then at least when you leave I can get some sleep." He picked her up and sped off without asking, something she was utterly unprepared for. She could feel the beginnings of control slip as he placed her on the bed and she moved up to she was sitting on her pillow, back against the wall. He immediately took the place next to her- using his fingers to gain the last bits of liquid he had spilled. He didn't touch her.

"You make the rules right now. Just in case." He murmured and Hermione knew how much the admission of weakness cost him- as well as the lack of control.

"What do you need?" she asked. "Take it in small bits if necessary." he nodded and positioned them so he was leaning on her shoulder again, arms wrapped around her fragile frame. "How bad?"

"I'm not there but I'm close. I lost it for a moment with the slayers. It was pretty gruesome to say the least." he let out a low laugh. "And I enjoyed it way too much. I wanted more, better opponents." She turned her shield on and he gave a hiss before the feel of grey magic settled within him. Slowly, as they sat in silence, she turned added more of her layers until it was so borderline dark magic his could feel it rushing through the petite witch. "It's comforting." He murmured. "But I need to get used to it." It wasn't a plea, he wouldn't ask, but she knew he needed to get used to more power. This wasn't much at all- it was just background power that was easily sustained. Hermione sat, thinking of ways she could use dark power before settling on one idea. Her and the boys had played with the idea of magic flowing through the body instead of coming to form one core. They had debated if you could change the nature of your magic, of course it could be used for good or bad as a weapon but if it was wandless and instinctive you could change its nature. Placing a palm face down on her thigh Hermione summoned a small ball of energy. This was primal magic rather than the refined form she had been taught in school, that most couldn't dream of controlling nor having the power to create. It was more the elemental magic of the Americas that had been lost with the introduction of wands in Europe. There was no direct spell; it was not used for a specific purpose other than being pure power. The magic had trickled out and as it did so she thought of what she wanted it to be used for- to destroy, maim harm. They had found, through vigorous testing, that this almost changed the composition of the magic. For one it was more powerful but it felt different. Light magic felt easy, free whereas dark magic felt powerful, dangerous. She knew Vlad could feel it; his eyes were black- focused on the deep blue ball of swirling energy. Looking at him she could see his teeth were out, she could feel his body tense.

"Is this okay?" she asked curios and he nodded, swallowing.

"This is good. It's fantastic." He breathed. He could feel it, it was forbidden and dank and everything that called to his true nature. It felt heady and made his senses go wild- his bloodlust felt slightly sated- not just because of his earlier meal, and his whole body was primed to do something. Be it kill, hunt or devour. Vlad knew he needed to exercise control so, closing his eyes, he just felt the power- getting used to its energy. That was hard, it appealed to him so much- all the sins were calling out to be used, with wrath and lust at the forefront. Slowly he opened his eyes. "I still want to kill but its better. I can think straight. Can you just talk to me about this idea while so I focus on our words and get used to it." Hermione nodded. She was aware of the effects on her younger companion. She'd seen other vampires go wild over less- it did appeal to their baser instincts after all.

"Of course. Well we thought about coexistence but not with humans. As witches we could replenish our blood after donating it…" Pretty soon she was just talking on autopilot- watching the dark haired vampire. His eyes were closed but he was alert. He didn't move, aside from ease out of the high strung tension he was putting his body under. As she finished he opened his eyes and sat up. Without warning he swung his legs over hers, till he was straddling her and pulled her into a hug- his still prominent canines teasing her neck, trying not to be a threat to her health.

"Sorry. I just needed to…" he trailed off and breathed in. He didn't know if she understood but he needed to breathe her scent in- it was a part of her and contained wisps of her magic. Something within him was forcing him too- but not to hurt her. Not this time. He was just content to be surrounded by her aura, though not blind to the feel of her body pressing into his. However he tried to drown out that part of himself with searching for her magic.

"Vlad?"

"I'm sorry." He untangled himself. "Your aura was just calling I guess. I was a little out of control but not in a bad sense. I just had to be closer." It sounded pathetic to his own ears. "As I got used to your magic I got used to your aura. I can all but feel it. It got darker and as I focused on your words that sort of washed over me and then my darkness needed to be closer to yours I guess. It was stupid sorry- it's just as it appealed to that side of me it also soothed it and I don't really know….." His words were rushed, he was no longer the overconfident chosen one but fully Vlad again and she smiled.

"It's fine Vlad. I knew it was a possibility but some warning next time. I assume I can expect more random touching?" he looked down, embarrassed, not only had she seen him in a fragile state but now like this.

"It's comforting. I sound like some breather for saying so but it just is." He struggled to put it into words and she gave another gentle smile- fortunately it wasn't mocking.

"Of course. Do you mind if I get to bed. Its late and we do have school tomorrow." He nodded before standing up.

"Sleep well." And then he was gone. Hermione quickly changed before writing up her letters and settling down. It had been a show of trust on both parts- as well as actually working. She wasn't sure how lad would react to others touching her now he seemed in tune with her touches but that was a bridge they would come to. She knew he had to be wary of his volatile nature and hope it had calmed a little. Sighing she adjusted her position before closing her eyes. Hopefully he would be fine tomorrow.

hope it was good enough :) enjoy your week x