Chapter 2
James was fucking terrified. he'd done a bit of googling to get used to the layout of the place, but nothing would beat reaching the end of the road,with everything wrong that could happen running through his head. The two climbed out of the car with backpacks in hand. James checked the paper again, running through the numbers in order to have something to distract himself.
There were two numbers on the page. with -Marlene Mckinnon- back up/rescue (in case things get out of hand) beside one and the other with -mary macdonald, safe house owner and keeper of spare supplies.the way it was phrased sounded like the spare supplies were the heart of the mountain thing from the Lord of the rings and she was the dragon, like something from a fantasy book "keeper of the sacred jewels" or "keeper of keys" or something like that. 'Damnit James, get back on track!'
while James had been thinking,Remus had been quiet, weirdly quiet.
He was limping on their way to the car, taking his time going down the stairs. He looked tired too, despite going to bed early. This didn't surprise James. He'd barely slept himself because of all the anxiety he was having. Yet, he couldn't help feeling something was weird with him on that day, something that couldn't just be put down to nerves or the fear of death.
But, rather unfortunately for the progression of the plot, despite all the silver, the constant disappearances, and the criss-cross tapestry of scars that was Remus' skin,
James was a generally trusting person, so he didn't mention the fairly obvious signs in front of him. rather foolishly, he believed that Remus would have told him if something was different.
Remus Lupin wasn't an idiot though, no matter how much he trusted James Potter, this was a thing that needed to be kept to oneself.
Again,unfortunately, Remus was also running out of luck in the secret department.
The two spent a while walking over the moors,standing on tufts of grass that were softer than the rest,jumping over puddles and rocks for fun and passing the time with eye spy and talking about various things as if it was a normal walk in the countryside.
This wasn't a normal walk in the countryside though. It was a walk over the moors to find an old castle that almost definitely was the home of some class 3 vampires.
Actually, allow me to explain the class system.
James and Remus had learned about it fairly early on in their first year, from a professor who definitely didn't care enough to be a teacher, but was also too old to be in the field anymore. his hip was worse than Remus' on a bad day, and his back gave James motivation to fix his posture. Remus still sat like a gremlin most of the time.
anyway, there are 4 classes in the system..
The first class is for the relatively harmless, who are turned against their will, and so hand themselves in and are kept in the underground vampire holding cells, where they're fed animal blood and still get to read books and talk to others without being hunted. they don't get much care and barely get to shower. James saw one once. If he ever ended up as a vampire then he would not like to be one of these.
with their overgrown nails,ratty hair and dirt caked feet they looked like something from a disturbing movie. they were told it was "for their own good" James silently disagreed.
The second class are those who mingle with polite society, masquerading as human and surviving on the occasional criminal. apparently it was "horrid of them to pretend to be normal," and that they should be dead. They were then told some ways to spot and deal with one and what to say to any surrounding people. they have often only been vampires for 1-200 years or so
The third class hide away in their mansions and castles. These are those who have been vampires for a while and eat humans who wander into their clutches,tempting them in with the humans' curiosity by appearing as a figure in the mist. They stay away from society and only feast occasionally. These still have a shred of humanity left, occasionally and don't like to take too many lives, often one or two people will go missing a month. they stick to small towns,where people wouldn't be missed
The last class,the fourth, are the worst of the vampires. They are inhumanly beautiful, they are masters of disguise, they feast on anyone who falls victim to their clutches,they have lost any small part of what it was once like to be human. they have the strongest powers and will drain the blood from a person, with no regard to the identity of the consumed. they dwell anywhere and everywhere.
to be shot or staked on site, with permission or not.
This seemed to James like a typical class 3 situation. They keep to a forgotten castle, they only take one or two people a month,and lived near a small town. sounds exactly like there was a class 3 vampire or two in the castle.
Eventually, they'd been walking for two and a half hours, perhaps more. Maybe if they were less tired or if they'd have packed enough to drink and eat, they would've questioned the appearance of a house on the horizon. but they didn't, and they stumbled over.
a girl with fiery red hair stormed out of the house.
"What in hell are you two doing out here!" As she got closer, James took account of her different features: her hair, neatly plaited over her shoulder, her patchwork cardigan, the smattering of freckles across her face and her large black boots.he thought She was quite pretty.
"get in, the rains about to arrive"
Sure enough, when he looked up,grey clouds had begun to form. The house had looked small on the inside,yet upon entry it looked to be more of a two storey modern day house than an old two or three room cottage. It was like the tardis, but a house. The girl took off her boots,revealing fluffy pink socks. "My name is Lily by the way, I live here. why don't you go into the living room and i'll make some tea." She ushered them into a room with two grey sofas,a bookcase and a dying fire.
The two boys took a look around before James sat down on the sofa closest to the window, which had some cushions with sun and moon designs on them and a blanket chucked over the back. Remus inspected the bookcase,running a finger over some of the spines. The books looked quite old. Some of the covers looked a bit frayed, and you could barely read the titles on the very top row of books.
Lily came back in a second later with a tray. "I didn't catch your names by the way" she sat down on the other sofa and poured three cups of tea "james" he said,reaching for one
"Remus" he snapped a book shut and replaced it on the shelf.
"What type of tea is this by the way?" he asked
"Jasmine, I hope that's alright. it's all I had in the cupboards"
James nodded, sipping the tea, and….
It tasted like regular jasmine tea.
"Excuse me, remus was it?" he nodded "can I talk with you in the hallway"
James stayed where he was, sipping his jasmine tea.
"What the hell is going on? you do realise you're bringing a human in the direction of a vampire occupied castle?"
"yes. we're vampire hunters lily. we're here on purpose"
"You're really going to go there aren't you?"
he nodded
"Well, I can't guarantee anything,but I might be able to whip up a quick protection charm for you. you'll have to keep it in your pocket. and make sure no-one sees it. I don't have time to glamour it"
"fine."
"c'mon remus. you don't actually want to get caught and bitten. by another thing"
"no! of course not!"
"then keep the charm on you." his face fell "at this short notice it'll only work for three days. but if I break a couple rules I might be able to stretch it to a week"
"thanks lils. I owe you one"
"Nah, remember Cardiff a few years ago? this means we're even"
"oh yeah"
"What were you talking about?" James asked when they came back in.
"nothing, just books"
he nodded. James wasn't a very big fan of reading. He did it because he needed to, not because he found it fun.
thunder rumbled outside, and a flash of lightning rang out.
she looked over at the fire "that won't do, not in this weather" she flicked her wrist upward and the fire roared back to life, Remus smiled, James stared confused at her. she dusted her hands on her jeans.
"you're not going back out there. you can stay in the spare rooms"
"rooms?" remus said
Unlike the last time, when Remus looked about upstairs there were two spare rooms rather than one.
Remus took the one on the left, and James the one on the right.
Meanwhile, Lily was down in her cellar, working on enchanting something.
"a sweet wrapper?" Remus asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Well,yes. It's perfect because it has such a small surface area that I was able to stretch the charm, so it'll last you a week now. It's also inconspicuous. Who's going to think a sweet wrapper is a protection charm?"
"fair"
"If anything happens, feel free to come here. I've got wards around the house that I'm prepared to put into action if needed"
"Alright lily." he stopped when he got to the door "we'll be fine. i promise"
"Of course you will? Do you doubt my abilities!" she said, voice dripping with sarcasm. Remus only laughed. "goodbye,old friend"
and they were off again, walking over the moors in the search for a castle.