Author: Lyta Padfoot
Category: General, Romance
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling. Characters and situations are used without permission, no infringement is intended.
Summary: Padma Patil and Justin Finch-Fletchley encounter a vampire in the Ravenclaw common room.
Author's Notes: From the HP Random Ship/Scenario Generator at http://www.crumbtrails.net/hp/miaka/random01.html
* * *
There was a vampire in the common room. Padma Patil was certain of it. She had been coming down the stairs to breakfast when she glimpsed the pale and gaunt form draped over one of the couches casually sucking on a lollypop.
Padma had been deathly afraid of vampires ever since her cousin Pradeep was killed after starting a row with one in an inn in Liechtenstein. And now there was one sitting in her common room as thought it had every right to be there.
Padma wished she had thought to carry garlic in her pocket like her Aunt Rashmi advised. It might smell, but she would be safe.
"Pradeep would be with us still if he'd had garlic with him," she said. Aunt Rashmi gave garlic bouquets to the family every Christmas. Padma was regretting letting her mother use hers in cookery.
She had to warn people. She had to find a teacher. She had to get out of the common room before the vampire saw her and attacked. Padma scrabbled out of Ravenclaw Tower and into the school corridors. It was not until she ran into Justin Finch-Fletchley, knocking him over, that she stopped to even consider where she was going. Her only thought was the marrow-deep need to get away.
"Watch where you are going Patil," Justin said irritably. He stood and after a moment's hesitation offered her a hand. "You're shaking," he observed, worried.
"There's a vampire in my common room!" Padma blurted out.
Justin was sceptical. "Do you think they'd let a vampire in Hogwarts?"
"Lupin. Werewolf."
"But werewolves are only dangerous over the full moon…" Justin protested. He crossed his arms over his chest, determined to approach this situation logically. "And who would give a vampire the password to your common room?"
Padma scowled. "Passwords can be overheard, you git!"
"I suppose," Justin conceded.
"Lives may be at risk," Padma snapped. She glanced behind her where the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower lay concealed by shadows. It had always looked so welcoming until then. She thought of all the younger students who were her responsibility as prefect. "Wait here. If I'm not back in two minutes run for a teacher."
Justin nodded. His face still bore an expression of disbelief, but Padma noted that he had his wand out.
Padma took a deep breath. She mustered her courage before she pushed the revolving bookcase that concealed the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower.
"Vrykolakas." She moved past the bookcase into the tower proper. Padma stepped into the common room. She peered around a corner and saw the vampire just where she had left it: stretched out across one of the sofas sucking on a bright red lollypop. Wand held tightly in her sweaty hand she tried to think of an appropriate spell as she began to approach the vampire.
Suddenly the vampire looked up - directly at her.
Padma choked back a scream and took an involuntary step in reverse. The vampire was Stewart Ackerley. He had been ill recently. Padma had been told he was recovering at St. Mungo's from a bad case of pneumonia. Now she knew the truth. Stewart was every bit as pale and gaunt as the pictures she had seen in textbooks. There could be no doubt.
Padma shook her wand at him, but could not think of any spell. Her mind was disturbingly blank. The room was spinning; surely this was the fault of the room. Padma felt herself falling, there was pain, and then everything went black.
* * *
She opened her eyes to find herself in the hospital wing. Through the window she noticed the sun was higher in the sky; it must be noon now or close to it.
Padma heard a rustling noise beside her head and she turned over to find Professor Flitwick seated nearby, his expression a mixture of concern and amusement.
Suddenly she remembered something important. "Professor there is a vampire in the common room!"
"There was no vampire," Flitwick said gently. "What you saw was Mr. Ackerley just back from St. Mungo's. He's been ill for quite a while - pneumonia can throw even a wizard for quite a loop. It will be some time before he recovers completely. Its no wonder you thought Mr. Ackerley a vampire."
She fell back against the pillows. "Pneumonia?" It must have been an ordinary red lollypop she had seen him with. She felt like a complete fool.
"Pneumonia," he confirmed.
Padma buries her face in her hands. "I'll never live this down."
"Somehow, I doubt that," Flitwick said dryly. "You may have it rough for a few days, but something else will snag popular attention quickly enough. Something always does. For the meantime your classmates have sent get well gifts for you."
He waved his hand over a small pile including garlic bulbs, blood lollypops, and a handful of wooden steaks on a small bedside table. Padma groaned.
After Flitwick left, Justin Finch-Fletchley arrived bearing a loaf of bread. "I heard someone sent you garlic," he said with a grin.
"Blood lollypops too," Padma said indicating the pile. "Know anyone who I can pass them off to?"
"Give them to Edgecombe, I hear she has a few in her family." Justin had not forgiven Edgecombe for her betrayal of the D.A. Truth be told, neither had Padma. She could have gotten them all expelled.
"I'll consider it," Padma said. Edgecombe was a Ravenclaw and house loyalty still protected her to a degree. "What's the bread for?"
"I thought you might like to roast the garlic. And roasted garlic is best served on toast," Justin said matter-of-factly.
"It'll ruin my breath," Padma protested. Then she realised that her stomach was telling her something quite different. How long had it been since she had last eaten?
"Then you'll have to share it with me so my breath will smell just as bad," Justin made puppy dog eyes at her and she relented. She was hungry. Or at least that was what she told herself.
They left the hospital wing. Justin led her to the room they used for D.A. meetings, but it was not as she last remembered it. Instead of Defense Against the Dark Arts manuals there was an enormous fireplace with a blazing fire and a pair of comfy armchairs perfect to sit in while toasting things. Padma found a pair of toasting forks by the chairs and Justin showed her how to roast the garlic over the fire. They put slices of bread on toasting forks.
"I think I like roasted garlic," Padma decided as she bit into the garlic smothered bread. She would have to introduce this to Aunt Rashmi.
"It is good," Justin agreed. "My Uncle Melvin makes it all the time. He grows garlic in his garden that is so strong it makes your eyes water just to walk by it."
Padma noticed Justin was staring at her in an odd way. She was trying to decide what to say when he leaned forward and words became unnecessary.
Later that night, as she stared dreamily at the canopy over her bed, Padma decided she did not mind vampires quite so much.