Harry Potter The Vampire Lord

Chapter 22

Hermione nodded her head dumbly; her mind had effectively shut-off trying to process the various occurrences of this night. She walked mechanically towards where she had seen Harry last, absently noting that her parents and Daphne were coming down the stairs, confused and nervous expressions on their faces.

She saw as Daphne scampered towards Harry, who had walked into the living room, her expression full of nervousness and worry.

"Potter, did you find out what made the noise?" she asked hurriedly.

"Oh, it was just a cat. It appeared as if it fell down while jumping between walls." Harry replied, smiling reassuredly at her. Hermione would not have doubted this statement were it not for the significant look that he had shot her. She saw as his eyes widened marginally, before he schooled his features as he caught sight of the other people in the living room.

(Break)

Harry had a hard time not staring at the people gathered in the house. He recognized Perenelle immediately, his Vampire instincts picking her out easily, but it was neither her presence nor her attire that caught his attention. It was a friend that he hadn't expected to encounter so soon.

"Tonks?"

Tonks who was staring in wide-eyed astonishment at Perenelle, the Order member, as Kingsley informed her in vague terms of the significance of the person that she had attempted to attack. It was overwhelming to say the least. As she heard a familiar voice call out her name, she turned towards him . . . and stared.

The first thing she noticed was his eyes. Deep emerald green eyes that shone with absolute power. Just looking into his eyes, she felt her knees growing weak, her heart skipped a beat, her breath hitched and a shiver wracked through her body. Her mind immediately cautioned her not to cross this man. He radiated a presence that screamed power, and yet as she continued staring at him, she caught sight of the amusement flickering in his eyes. That gave her mind a pause, and she forced herself to look over his face properly. Messy black hair, a lithe body not grotesquely muscled, and the faint traces of a scar. . . a very familiar lightning bolt scar.

Her mind screeched to a halt. It was Harry. Her mind processed it, but she still stared.

She stared as he walked closer to her, a confused expression blooming on his face, he raised his hands and waved it in front of her face, and on not getting any reaction snapped his fingers, effectively snapping her out of her daze.

"Harry? Is that you?" Tonks asked in a whispery voice.

Harry just nodded his affirmatively.

"H-How? I-I mean, what happened to you? You look so different now." Tonks said, shakily at first but regaining her normal exuberance as she was able to shake her previous thoughts from her head.

"It has been an year Tonks. I took some potions for supplementing my growth." Harry lied coolly.

"Oh. I guess you finally got around to doing that huh?" Tonks said, a bright smile adorning her face.

"Yeah."

"Now Harry, mind explaining what is going on over here? Do you know this person?" Tonks asked, inclining her head towards Perenelle.

"What is going on over here?" asked the voice of Hermione's dad. The trio of people upstairs had joined the party downstairs.