The Savior and the Scourge

Chapter 2

Harry sat quietly at the Gryffindor table during the Sorting. Ron and Hermione sat across from him, quietly snipping at each other. He was a bit surprised that he wasn't annoyed by it yet, they'd been at it since leaving King's Cross this morning.

He shrugged mentally. He felt empty inside, but slightly anxious...like he was on hold, waiting for something. He wasn't depressed really; he'd accepted Sirius' death and his own partial role in it. It wasn't completely the teens fault but some nights that was a cold comfort. Some nights it felt like the loneliness would suffocate him...But that wasn't now, now he was waiting for...something.

He cheered when appropriate, smiled when he thought it was expected, ate as much as his post-Dursley appetite allowed, and waited.

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Spike waved to all the kiddies when Dumbles introduced him as William Aurelius, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. On the one hand he couldn't believe he'd been roped into this, but on the other hand – the demony clawed one – he could. It seemed to be his lot in life. Every good deed he tried to do came with some ridiculous price tag – so now he was a teacher in a school of mini-Merlins.

Ah well.

But there was something here. Something was making his demon sit up and take notice, but damned if he knew what it was.

He let the conversations rise and fall around him while he watched Draco out of the corner of his eye. His Great-Great-Whatever-Nephew truly was a Malfoy, through and through; from his white blonde hair and silvery eyes, to his paler than pale complexion.

He had yet to meet the boy but it should definitely prove interesting.

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Harry glanced at the head table when Professor Dumbledore introduced the new Defense instructor with mild interest. He had little hope the new teacher would be any better than the last ones – minus Mooney of course – though he looked a bit more...non-homicidal? Granted looks could be, and often were, deceiving. Actually the bloke looked a lot like Malfoy...

"Hey!" Ron said between mouthfuls, "Doesn't that guy remind you of somebody?"

"He does look a bit like Malfoy," Hermione agreed.

Harry just made a noncommittal noise.

"A bit? Are you mental 'Mione? Look at him!"

Harry just tuned out the rest of Ron's ranting and waited for the feast to end.

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Later that night Spike found himself wandering the halls, he had decided to wait to introduce himself to Draco. The vampire wanted to observe his nephew; see what he was up against. He was fairly good at the silent stalker bit after all.

And what in the world was that?

Spike scented the air, lifting his noise in the air.

That aroma...it was like nothing he had ever experienced. He felt his demon surface and was thankful it was so late. If staff or student came across him in 'game face' he'd be the shortest lived Defense teacher yet – which would be saying something from what he'd heard.

He followed the scent up, high into the castle until he found his way blocked by a portrait of a rather well endowed woman. Luckily the portrait was asleep; there was nothing worse than a hysterical painting.

If he remembered correctly he was close to the entrance of the Gryffindor dorms.

Hmmmmm.

Well he had nine months to find the source of that tantalizing scent. And find it he would. His demon wanted to wallow in that smell more than anything – even blood. That shocked him so badly that he found himself back at the door to his own dungeon chambers before he knew it.

Oh yes this would be an interesting year.