Love For Blood

Chapter Fifteen

Hogwarts continued like that for a few months. Pansy and Hermione were dating in secret and sneaking around. Harry and Draco continued to pretend that they were enemies while accidentally moaning each other's names behind closed doors. Blaise comforted Ron about the Harry situation while doing some investigating of his own.

Before they knew it, Hogwarts was blanketed in snow. December had begun, yanking everyone from their daydream and into a winter wonderland of gifts and joy. That is, for everyone but Draco Malfoy who could think of nothing but a certain Gryffindor who had poisoned his tongue and mind.

He had concluded that he might just like Harry a little more than he should. It wasn't just because of his blood or that he could be convenient. No, he liked everything about Harry. Everything from his dorky giggles to his ignorance of potions. Every bit of it made him Harry. The Gryffindor that plagued his mind.

After a lot of internal panics, indecisive thoughts, and procrastination, Draco decided that he was going to tell Harry about his feelings. He knew what was at stake if Harry said no. Losing all of the progress they made or maybe even death if Harry reacted too badly.

He was destined to start liking Harry eventually. Drinking blood directly is pretty intimate. Once or twice is fine, but eventually, it gets hard to resist wanting them.

So this Friday was the dreaded day. When they would meet like they always did, Draco would tell him no matter the consequence.

At the moment, however, it was a cold Wednesday at Hogwarts, and a free period for a redheaded Gryffindor and certain Slytherin he had grown fond of.

Ron frowned down at his hands, quickly catching the attention of Blaise. Blaise set down the book he was reading before reaching over the table to hold Ron's hands. They were in a secluded spot in the library that no one ever visited. Blaise had found it in their third year.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Blaise frowned with concern. Ron's lip quivered.

"I-I wanna help Harry. Yet, I keep lying to you. I'm sorry," Ron's light blue eyes met Blaise's deep hazel ones.

"What do you mean?" Blaise raised an eyebrow. He and Ron had spent months trying to find who they were dealing with. Ron couldn't tell Blaise that he already knew who the culprit was when he had been so determined to help. Not when it was Blaise's best friend...

"I'm so so sorry," Ron's face was painted with guilt. It hurt the Gryffindor to lie like this. It went against everything he believed in. Blaise gave his hand an affirmative squeeze, asking Ronald to continue. "I-I know who the vampire is."

"Wait, you do? Ron, that's amazing! If we know, we can better assess the situation!" Blaise smiled brightly, gripping Ron's hands excitedly.

"...Please don't hate me," Ron whispered under his breath. Blaise's smile fell.

"What's wrong? This is good, isn't it?" Blaise searched the cerulean eyes that had once again darted away from Blaise.

"It's Draco. Draco Malfoy is the one feeding on Harry," Ron looked back to Blaise's eyes with determination. At first, Blaise thought it was a joke. Then, the look on Ron's face made him realize that Ron was very much serious.

Blaise thought it over in his head before coming to a disturbing conclusion. He knew what Draco's parents were. Most people in the close family circle did. He had almost immediately cleared Draco of all suspicion, knowing the chances were insane. Then, he remembered the day he had brought Ron back to Gryffindor. A full moon...

"Are you sure?" Blaise asked, hoping that this wasn't as complicated as he figured it was about to get. Ron nodded with confidence. Blaise pulled the bag to his lap. It was a book he had checked out to help with the search. He had read cover to cover. The large grimoire was faded and the edges of the leather cover were frayed.

'Beasts of the Night'

"What is that?" Ron asked with curiosity, slipping around the side of the wooden table to sit beside Blaise.

Instead of answering directly, Blaise simply flipped through the yellowed pages. The ink was faded and smeared in some places.

"Do you know what Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy are?" Blaise questioned, his eyes trained on the aged pages.

"No...?" Ron frowned in confusion. He knew they were wizards that were assholes to poor people, but other than that he didn't know much.

"Lucius is a vampire. No one knows the true story of when it became that way," Blaise cut off Ron before he could speak, "Narcissa, however, is a pure-blooded veela."

"Wait...is that possible?" Ron's eyes widened in realization. Blaise stopped on a page over midway through the book.

"Yeah, it is," Blaise met Ron's blue eyes. On the page were paragraphs of ink and sketches of wings and fangs. The page was titled 'Halfbreed: Veela/Vampire'

"Here, read this," Blaise pointed out two paragraphs at the top of the page. Ron's blue eyes darted warily to Blaise's before reading the yellowed page.

'Veelas and Vampires aren't likely mates. However, they aren't uncommon. Being two of the most common creatures, it's only logical they would be destined due to some prejudices against their species. Of course, fated pairs mate and reproduce. Most children have the creature blood clash, canceling out the inheritance.

However, some of these children's bodies combine the blood, causing 10% to go through inheritance at 16. Thus, the Veela-Vampire hybrid. A rare creature indeed. It has mates just as Vampires and Veelas do. They feed off of blood as vampires do. Yet, although they do not require much, it has led their species to be even rarer. Their primary food is werewolf blood. A certain chemical fuses with their blood, giving the halfbreed what it needs to survive. With werewolves being so rare, halfbreeds starve to death more often than not."

Ron looked up to Blaise with wide eyes. Blaise simply frowned. This was so much more to this than they thought.

"If we're correct, Draco isn't the only one who isn't exactly human..."

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A/N

Yay, a chapter! This was hard to write for some reason? It just felt awkward, I dunno. Thanks again for over 30k reads and 1k votes! And to all of the people who leave nice or funny comments. I really appreciate it! 

Anyway, hope your holidays are going well and you're safe.

Love Y'all,

 ~Cam