Song Of The Guardians

Awaken

Hermione and Severus arrived at St. Mungos and made their way to the secure ward set aside for the vampire victims. Before they even reached the doorway, they were assaulted by the strong odor of garlic. Hermione coughed and swiped at her watery eyes. "What is that terrible smell?" she asked.

"Garlic," Severus growled irritably. He approached the desk and sneered at the wizard behind the desk. "What is the meaning of this?" Severus demanded.

"We have patients here that are the victims of a vampire attack," the wizard said quietly. He looked around Hermione's age. "We're wearing these as a precaution." He reached under the neckline of his robes and lifted out a necklace made from cloves of garlic. "The garlic keeps vampires at bay. Would you like some?"

"They are not vampires yet you imbecile," Severus snarled viciously. "And that smell would keep anything away."

"And I can imagine that a vampire could overcome his aversion to the odor in favor of feeding if he were hungry enough," Hermione noted, smirking when the wizard at the desk suddenly looked rather panicked. "Get rid of those ridiculous necklaces."

The wizard bristled at her demanding tone, and stood up. "Now see here, you have no right to come in here and question our security methods," he snapped. "Who are you anyway?"

"We are the people that had planned on stopping your patients from turning," Hermione retorted, crossing her arms impatiently. "If you intend to be uncooperative, we'll just go. You can take your chances with hungry new vampires." She nodded to Severus and they turned to walk back down the hall.

"Wait a moment," the wizard said hastily.

The pair turned to face the wizard, wearing nearly identical smirks. "I thought you'd see it that way," Hermione said. "Now get rid of your necklace and instruct everyone else do the same. We can't work with that horrible smell hanging in the air." The wizard nodded obediently and then gestured to the doors across the hall from his desk. Severus and Hermione turned and walked through the doors, cautiously drawing their wands.

The garlic smell was even stronger here. It was a large white room containing many hospital beds. There were twenty people of various ages lying on the beds, unconscious and blood-stained. A crucifix was hung on the wall above each occupied bed. Severus looked around at the walls with a frown. "Where did a wizarding hospital get so many crucifixes?" he asked sounding a bit bewildered.

"I don't know," Hermione said shaking her head. "I suppose they could have transfigured them. Some of these are quite ominous looking." She waved her wand and the crosses disappeared from the room along with the garlic. "Superstitious twits," she grumbled.

They set about creating a brewing station and Severus pulled the ingredients they would need from the pockets of his robes. Hermione had brought along a vial of her own blood. Since she had been healed, her blood contained antibodies against the vampire venom, so it could aid in the completion of the potion.

The potion was nearly finished when the door swung open and the rest of the Guardians walked in along with the Sirens and Kingsley. "The hospital staff is complaining about you two," Kingsley said, though he looked amused.

"I don't know how they didn't suffocate in that garlic odor," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. She watched as Severus added her blood to the potion and stirred carefully. After a moment, he nodded to her and they began putting the potion in vials. The deep red color seemed to be unsettling the other Guardians. "Each patient gets one vial," Hermione said gesturing for everyone to take a vial to one of the victims.

The Guardians went to each bed, pouring a vial of potion into each victim's mouth. Once the potion had been administered, they made a circle in the center of the room, facing outward toward the beds. The Sirens nodded in approval and the Guardians began singing.