Harry Potter: Reunion with the Enemy

"Most of what I know about vampires comes from Gilderoy Lockhart's Sailing with Vampires and Blood Brothers: My Life Among Vampires by Elder Worple - except for school textbooks, of course." Ed followed Lancelot into the forest. The cold night temperature made people sober, and the rustling sound of stepping on broken leaves was particularly clear.

From time to time, a few pairs of fluorescent eyes appeared in the black woods, and no one knew which magical creatures were staring at them in secret.

"Then you will be disappointed. I think Lockhart is a big liar." Lancelot raised his wand and looked around vigilantly. "He said in the book that vampires started eating carrots after meeting him. It is impossible for vampires to change to carrots, but eating Honeydukes' bloody lollipops as a substitute is okay - my sister likes them very much."

"It turns out that the real target audience of the bloody lollipop is vampires." Ed followed Lancelot's steps closely. "I bought a lot of them out of curiosity, and the taste was a bit strange."

"If you become a vampire, I'll probably have to invent a lot of new bloody desserts to satisfy your taste, such as plasma pudding, bloody velvet cake, bloody fudge..." Lancelot turned a corner at the fork in the woods and pointed to a small house not far away. "This is where they live when they forage for food at night. They stay in the old house during the day. After being bitten by a vampire, they were exiled for a few years, and finally settled down in this forest and an abandoned old house nearby."

"What do your parents think about the goblins? Do they want you to change your name and continue living?" Ed asked.

"They left home immediately after being attacked by vampires because they were afraid of affecting me. But in fact, vampires will not harm others when they are conscious. It was a long time before I met them again." Lancelot pointed with his wand and sent a signal spell to the cabin. "If it weren't for my sister, I think they probably wouldn't want to continue living... So I didn't tell them about these subsequent troubles."

"Why could the goblins convince the vampires to kill your family? Was your family suddenly attacked by vampires?" Ed looked at the wooden house in the distance, and the door opened a crack. "Vampires don't seem to like socializing, and they are always listless. They don't seem to be as calculative as goblins."

"During that time, the only ones who had grudges against us were the goblins, but the truth is unknown. After all, my family would not have much communication with other vampires, but—"

Lancelot continued, "After my family was transformed by vampires, I once read all the books and materials about vampires. Count Vlad Draco in 1390 was so notorious that a Muggle writer wrote a book based on him, and the son of this vampire also inherited his notoriety. Sir Herbert Varney was a vampire in the 19s and was eventually arrested and killed by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. I dare say that even if they are of the same race, their habits are very different."

Ed sighed softly, "After being transformed by a vampire, normal people are just like werewolves and can never return to their previous normal wizard state."

"My parents and sister have never attacked humans. As victims, they are still kind. So I think there should be good werewolves in the world. Werewolves are only affected on full moon nights, and can live like normal people at other times. But vampires cannot be exposed to sunlight, and their appearance can be identified as abnormal at a glance, so they are more serious in comparison." Lancelot added in a low voice, "Not to mention that werewolves have special potions."

"Brother!" Footsteps sounded, and a little girl ran out of the wooden house and threw herself happily into Lancelot's arms. She had the same eyes as Lancelot, but the heavy dark circles under her eyes and the abruptly pale skin made her look completely different from a normal person. "What delicious food did you bring?"

Pointed teeth can be seen in the little girl's open mouth, and they look extremely sharp under the moonlight.

Lancelot opened the box and showed it to her, "Where are mom and dad?"

"They went deep into the woods. I thought you would be late today." The little girl raised her head and noticed Ed standing aside. "Who is that brother? His clothes are so beautiful."

"He..." Lancelot turned his head and noticed that the color of Ed's clothes changed with his mood. Now it was golden and orange like the lines of oil painting. "It's my clothes now. If you like it, I will wear it next time I come to see you. His name is Ed. Next time I will bring you blood plasma tarts. He can make desserts."

"Really?" The little girl's eyes lit up.

"Why don't you stay in the cabin with your sister first. I'll go call our parents back - we usually have a meal together, just the plasma, and then chat." Lancelot said to Ed.

"No problem." Ed took the box and said, "Go ahead."

The little girl helped Ed open the door of the cabin. The interior of the cabin looked much more gorgeous than the exterior, and even retained some Egyptian-style furniture. The air was filled with a strong fishy smell, which smelled like the smell left when animals were slaughtered. There were a lot of seasonings on the place that looked like a dining table, probably the ingredients for drinking blood.

Lancelot's sister was looking for blood plasma in the box with excitement. "Brother has never brought friends here before. This is the first time I see people other than my parents and brother. How did you two know each other?"

Ed recalled the time when the Giuliano family was in trouble in the archives, and Lancelot's sister was probably transformed by a vampire when she was a baby.

"We met while I was helping a friend take wedding photos." Ed felt like it was a long story, even though they had only known each other for a short time. However, the news tracking mission, broken ribs, and Brick Lane seemed inappropriate to explain to the child, so Ed simply picked out the most understandable parts. "Your brother makes great jewelry, and it looks great in photos."

"Wow! Are they witches and wizards? Mom and Dad said that I can only like vampires in the future, not wizards like my brother."

"It's wizards and witches." Ed didn't know how to continue answering her question.

"That's great. If it didn't hurt when exposed to the sun, I would also like to go outside and play."

The door of the wooden house was opened again, and Lancelot came back with his parents. Behind him were two extremely thin figures, except for the thick dark circles and pale skin like his sister, they looked even more sick, with deep eye sockets and dry hair, so that the whole body looked like skin and bones.

"It's the same today. I won't leave until you finish drinking this." Lancelot smiled widely at his sister. "Mom and Dad killed a deer for you."

"it is good!"

"I'm so sorry to have you see this. I also thought that we shouldn't treat guests like this..." Lancelot's mother smiled at Eddard apologetically, and suddenly covered her face and cried.

"Why are you crying?" Lancelot sat at the dining table, as if he was used to it. "Come and sit down too." He patted the chair next to him, motioning Ed to come along.

The whole family sat around the table. Only the younger sister was eating happily. The mother forced herself to drink the liquid in the bag in small sips while crying. The father stared at the table, as if chewing invisible pain.

"Eat slowly, there's no rush." ​​Lancelot avoided Ed's gaze and just stared at his hands in a daze, "I'll wait for you to finish eating."

Return journey.

"I didn't force you to follow me." Lancelot strode into the forest with the empty box. Sunrise was approaching and a thin layer of mist had begun to form in the forest. "I've been waiting for you to run away. Why haven't you run away yet?"

The corner of Ed's mouth twitched. "I don't think—I don't want to escape."

Lancelot stopped abruptly and grabbed Ed by the collar, "Do you want to see how dark this funny coat of yours is? You're lying."

"I just feel sad." Ed lowered his head, "Your parents look sad."

"Yes, so I will come back to watch them eat." Lancelot said softly, "Don't die."

"Do they really not want to live?"

"They can't let go of their sister, nor can they let go of me. But after becoming vampires, they can't get over it. They hate themselves now." Lancelot bit his lip, "They can't bear to live, but they can't bear to die. That's why they live like this now."

"You asked me about interviews, making money, revenge. I don't really care. When I was a kid, I didn't go home for dinner every day just to play. Now I want to eat with my family, but we can't go back."

Lancelot stopped rambling and said to Ed, "Go back. If I get unhappy one day, I'll become a ghost and trick my sister into biting me. You're a new designer, stop kidding. Don't follow me anymore."

There was no answer. The footsteps behind him did not stop.

"Go back," Lancelot repeated.

"There will be twelve plasma tarts in a pan," Ed said without thinking.

"what?"

"If you really want to be a ghost, a plate of blood plasma egg tarts has twelve pieces, and each person in the family can eat about three." Ed calculated seriously, "Desserts are very delicate. They are not delicious when they are cold, and they are not fresh overnight. You will get sick of them if you eat too much. But I have already promised your sister, and I can't break my promise."

"If you don't become a ghost, I'll eat your portion myself. The bloody lollipop is not bad anyway." Ed looked up at Lancelot's eyes, "It's decided, don't cry."