The Muggleborn Vampire: A Dramione Story

Chapter 6: The Power of Blood

"You're my father?!?"

Would the surprises ever cease? It seemed like every passing hour, Hermione's life as she knew it was dripping more and more down the drain. She had just started accepting the reality that she was no longer mortal, but now she was related to Snape? The bat of the dungeon? The teacher that pushed her so hard in classes that it was borderline bullying?

Hermione could feel her patience waning and could feel her hands shake as she raked her fingers through her hair. Then a bolt of anger surge through her as a thought crossed her mind. "Did you know about this?!?" She interrogated her professor. "Because, I swear, if you knew I was your daughter all along and you still treated me like scum...."

"Miss Granger! Do frame from raising your voice at me!" Fire flashed across coal black eyes as his posture bolted upright. "I am still your proffessor and evidently your father and I will require respect!"

"Oh, I am so sorry, Daddy Dearest." Her sneer alone proved the hereditary test was right. "How dare I accuse you of having a personality that isn't full of sunshine and rainbows!"

"Why you little..." Snape stopped his response when he saw Hermione's posture become alert and her nose raised to sniff the air like a hunting dog. That's when he realized that the goblin had left sometime during their argument, leaving the sheet of parchment sitting on the summoned table. But now that the goblin stink was no longer present in the air, Snape could now catch the much sharper, matallicy smell underneath.

Severus had learned to ignore this particular smell over the years until it was absolutely necessary. This allowed him to focus at the task at hand, especially during classes or meals in the Great Hall. But this skill was developed over almost twenty years. The newborn vampire beside him, he realized, would still be entirely enslaved to the odor.

In a quick, very vampire-inhanced movement, Snape shot out of his chair and pinned the now lunging teen to her bed by the shoulders with an elbow locking pressure.

"Hermione! Hermione, it's ok!" He spoke to her in a soothing voice, fighting to meet her panicy-driven gaze. "Focus on my voice!"

Hermione felt like her senses were on overdrive. Her throat was on fire and felt inflamed and her breathing was labored and gaspy. She could feel her mouth become fuller as her canines elongated and her lips pulled back in a growl. 'Must get blood, must get blood!' Her brain chanted and her entirety agreed with it.

"Need it, want it now!" She growled.

"I know, Hermione." She heard the familiar voice of Professor Snape trying to penetrate her one track mind. "But you can't right now. You must learn to control your instincts."

"Can't." Hermione tried and failed to shove her shoulders off the bed, but even with her newly enhanced strength, Snape's was stronger. "Must get blood, please!"

"Hermione, look at me." He watched the young vampire struggle with her inner demons until she was finally able to train her once-brown-but-now-bloodshot-eyes away from the space in the curtain to his face. "Good. Now hold your breath and close your eyes. Try to picture yourself somewhere that makes you happy. Put all your focus on being in that place rather then here."

After several grunts and clashing of teeth, her eyes began to close and her lips pulled over to cover her fangs. Her chest stopped moving and her face began to relax.

"Good girl." He whispered. He waited a few minutes until he was sure she was deep in her meditation before speaking in an authoritative voice over his shoulder. "Poppy."

"Is everything ok, Severus? I came in when I heard shouting and was almost ran over by an escaping goblin."

'Figures.' He sighed to himself, 'she's not even aware how much danger her life was just in.'

"Poppy? Listen to me." He commanded, just now able to see the feet of the mediwitch from the opening of the curtain. "I need you to leave now and to not come back until I have sent word to Dumbledore saying otherwise. If any students are in need of your care before that, house them in the Great Hall."

"But Severus, this is the hospital wing...!" He heard the matron begin protesting.

"Yes, and if you want to avoid it becoming the morgue, you need to leave now until I can safely remove the raging vampire from its premises."

----

Severus sighed in exhaustion as he entered his living quarters and placed the limp body of Hermione Granger on his living room couch. After Madam Pomffery finally finished apologising and left the hospital wing, the young vampire's body finally relaxed enough where he was able to leave her laying on her bed and cross the room to the potion closet without a fight. She was still deep into her meditation when he pried her mouth open and forced the sleeping drought down her throat. There was no way he was going to be able to transport the new vampire through the castle without her being unconscious, even when he waited for the dinner feast to start so that the halls were empty. The castle was built to be essentially centralized around the Great Hall, with the halls surrounding it's perimeter. With such a heavy mass of human blood populating the biggest room of the castle, it would be like releasing a mountain lion into a field of sheep if he tried to lead Hermione anywhere near the Hall.

And if she were to start a massacre, with as much blood that was available to her disposal, he was unsure how successful he would be able to hold back his own vampiric instincts, even with twenty years of self control under his belt. It wouldn't matter how hard he tried, if there was enough spilled blood, he wouldn't be able to stop himself.

Severus shivered and shook that particular thought from his mind. That was the last thing he wanted to happen.

He sat down in an armchair across from his sleeping daughter, pulling out the creased sheet of parchment from the pocket of his robes. 'So this is it. She really is my daughter.' He squeezed his eyes shut in concentration. He needed to figure out the easiest way to explain Hermione's new heritage to her without totally tarnishing any respect she had left for her snarky potions professor.

Coming to the conclusion that honesty was the best policy in this situation, he rose to his feet and headed to the altar in his bathroom.

He deeply regretted telling the girl how to destroy vampires.