From a Cradle to a Grave

Chapter 31

Harry's Pov

"She pulled us under!"

"Eet was foul play! Zis cannot be-"

"Vot happened there was not-"

"Zis is ridiculous! You cannot reward her first place!"

"What's going on?" Harry asked Ron and a shivering Hermione when he returned to the docks.

"They're saying Hope shouldn't be awarded the most points because she was dragging the others down to get to the top, instead of lifting herself up," Hermione frowned. "I don't understand how Hope managed to manipulate the water like that, but technically, there weren't any rules about not being able to hurt the other competitors' chances of winning."

"Hermione, what's Naiad's blood?" Harry asked.

Hermione stared. "It's a Class-B Nontradeable substance. It'll give you the power to manipulate the currents and the tides, but having it in your system for too long will result in a catastrophic reaction with your blood cells. Why?" She then stared down at the lake. "You don't think-"

"It's nothing," Harry hastily said. "Nothing at all."

Yet he didn't believe that. For the following month, Harry observed Hope closely. There was a definite drain in the color of her skin. She claimed to be getting enough sleep, which was a statement that didn't match with the hollow bags under her eyes. Despite this, her pupils were alight with a fire unlike anything Harry had ever seen before, a fire that burned especially brighter after they went on yet another trip to Hogsmeade in February.

One night, Harry found Hope asleep next to a stack of books in the library. Well, technically, it wasn't he who found her. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had been after him again, so he had escaped here for safety. Whilst trying to lose the three idiot Slytherins amidst the bookshelves, he had stumbled straight into Malfoy. But Malfoy hadn't even bothered to acknowledge Harry's presence. He had been too busy staring at the books scattered over Hope's desk.

Harry frowned, then leaned over to see what Hope had been reading up on before she had dozed off. 'Vampyres and Vampires: An Origin Story.'

Vampires? Harry knew they existed, of course. He had always thought of them as pale skinned creatures who prowled around the streets at night. Before the discovery of the Wizarding World, he had been frightened to consider their mere existence. But after having faced Voldemort a number of times, vampires were nothing more than comical animation characters to him.

As it turned out, he was incredibly wrong. Because when he shoved Malfoy aside and flipped through a few of the books Hope had on her desk, he found out they were nasty killers, with an instinct to suck their victims dry. There were different species of vampires, too, and classifications among them. The strange thing was, when he flipped to the section that was named 'Origins', there was only a paragraph or two about the topic. 'The first vampires were created by a witch,' it read. 'A witch whose name is unknown.' The same for the other books. The names of the first vampires are unknown. Their family history is unknown. Their whereabouts today are unknown.

One mystery after another. Why was Hope obsessing over-

Harry jumped back in alarm when he saw that Hope had opened her eyes. How long had she been staring at him?

"What are you doing, Harry? Draco?" Hope asked.

"I..." Harry felt as though he'd been caught doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing, which was stupid. He hadn't done anything wrong. He'd merely picked up a book or two.

"Why are you..." he swallowed. "Why..."

"Why are you researching the origins of vampires?" Malfoy cut in.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Harry saw Hope clench her hands into fists. "What... What time is it?" Hope muttered.

"Nearly midnight, I think. The full moon's almost at its peak," Harry glanced out the window.

"Hope!" Malfoy shouted when Hope crumpled to the ground.

Her face was beaded with sweat, and she was shivering.

"Hope-"

"I knew you weren't sleeping properly!" Harry said, kneeling down next to her. "All this stressing isn't good for you!"

He and Malfoy tried their best to shake her awake.

And shake her awake, they did. Her eyes burst open, but in the place of where his usual blue eyes should be...

Gold. Golden pupils were glaring back at him. Hope stretched open her jaws, wider than any person should be capable of widening. Harry scrambled back, horrified and terrified as her teeth elongated into fangs. Her red hair turned into a shade of silvery grey. She jerked her head to the left, as if trying to fight something away. But she failed. She began trembling on the floor violently. When a sickening crunching sound came from her leg, Harry snapped out of his shock and moved to hold her still.

"Her arm!" Harry shouted at Malfoy, who attempted to pin down Hope's flailing arms.

He failed miserably, as did Harry. They were flung off of Hope by great force. Harry felt the wind getting knocked out of him when his back hit the wall.

"P-Potter," Malfoy stuttered, his face somehow whiter than the shade of his bleached hair. "H-How..."

In the place of where Hope had been was now a magnificent grey wolf. It gave a low growl and stared at the full moon through the window. Slowly, it turned its gaze to Harry and Malfoy.

"Run," Harry breathed. He shoved Malfoy towards the left, while he bolted towards the right. As he kicked his way into the Restricted Section of the library, he could hear the wolf howling behind him.