"You are..." Remus Lupin paused, taken aback.
This boy before him felt vaguely familiar—as if he had been a student Lupin taught during his year at Hogwarts... Yet the name eluded him for the moment.
"Hello, Professor Lupin," Jon replied. "I'm Jon Hart."
"Oh, yes... Jon Hart..." Lupin instantly recognized him and spoke rapidly. "Mr. Hart, what are you doing here... You must leave with your friend immediately. This place is dangerous... Wait... And why is there a Order of the Phoenix mark on your arm?"
As he spoke, Lupin instinctively grabbed Jon's right arm.
"The Order of the Phoenix mark?" Jon was genuinely taken aback.
He had merely traced the faint imprint Fawkes had left on his shoulder onto his arm... never imagining Dumbledore would adopt it as the Order's symbol.
"Yes... it's our secret signal. Only a few of us know it—Dumbledore, me, Alastor, Kingsley, and a handful of others." Lupin stared at Jon's arm, his expression grave.
"Because I've always been Professor Dumbledore's man," Jon replied calmly. " Professor Lupin, is there anything I can assist with?"
Professor Lupin couldn't help but scrutinize Jon from head to toe, his expression a mix of suspicion and hesitation...
"Those individuals accompanying you—they're all Werewolves, correct? The leader is Fenrir Greyback, a trusted subordinate of the Dark Lord." Jon continued his explanation, "Professor Dumbledore sent you to infiltrate this pack of Werewolves serving the Dark Lord... Rest assured, Professor Lupin, you can trust me!"
Lupin's last shred of doubt seemed to vanish, though his expression remained stern as he said, "Hart, you must leave this place immediately... In a few hours, it will become extremely dangerous!"
...
"Leave... danger?" Now it was Jon who froze, murmuring, "Today isn't a full moon night... The next full moon should be over twenty days from now..."
Without a full moon, the threat from the werewolves would be significantly reduced... Though they were all wizards, most had received little formal magical training.
Their skill levels varied wildly, making them unlikely to inflict significant casualties. Of course, once the full moon night arrived and they transformed into beasts, they would become truly terrifying.
"It has nothing to do with those werewolves. It's about the Transylvanian Vampires. " Lupin continued at breakneck speed. "Fifty years ago, Voldemort cursed those monsters, preventing them from drinking human blood. That's why they've been hidden away all these years... But yesterday, Fenrir Greyback arrived here. He came on Voldemort's orders to lift that curse for the vampires..."
"Lift the curse?" Jon didn't doubt the truth of Lupin's words: "Then what was the price?"
"The price... the price was that these Transylvanian Vampires swore to become Voldemort's servants, to serve him!" Lupin frowned deeply as he said, "The curse has been lifted by Fenrir Greyback... Once night falls tonight, the Vampires will emerge once more. The muggles active here will be the perfect sustenance to restore their strength. At the same time, they will undoubtedly turn some muggles into their own kind to propagate..."
"How many Vampires are there in total?" Jon's expression also grew grave.
"I don't know, at least a hundred..." Lupin sighed. "They've been trapped underground all these years. Tonight, there will be far more... Damn Greyback—he kept his lips sealed until mere minutes ago, when he finally relayed Voldemort's full orders to us. Only then did I learn this... And I must return immediately, lest he grow suspicious!"
"Get out of here, Hart... Dozens of werewolves and over a hundred vampires? This isn't something you can handle." Lupin warned. If possible, warn the Romanian Ministry of Magic—though I'm not sure they'd believe a Werewolf like me... And warn Professor Dumbledore. Tell him at least a hundred Vampires will land in Britain today, sworn to serve Voldemort!"
"These Vampires are going to Britain?" Jon's expression darkened further.
"Yes... They'll feast and breed at Dracula's castle tonight..." Lupin shook his head helplessly. "After causing a huge commotion, they'll inevitably leave this place. Flying in the night, nothing can catch them. I hope the Ministry can devise a good plan to deal with them. Over a hundred uncontrolled Vampires—that would be a disaster..."
...
Jon lowered his head and glanced at his watch.
There was no time left.
In a few more hours, night would fall; and once darkness descended, the Vampire's blood feast would likely begin.
Jon thought of the faint phoenix mark on his shoulder and sighed... The distance between Transylvania and Scotland was thousands of kilometers.
Even the most powerful Apparition couldn't cover such a journey. Even if he summoned Fawkes now, Fawkes probably wouldn't arrive in time.
Albus Dumbledore was no different. He wasn't a god; traversing thousands of kilometers in such a short time was impossible... Not to mention, Jon had no way to warn him in time.
As for the Romanian Ministry of Magic, Jon shared Lupin's skepticism. As a foreign traveler, he doubted he could persuade them—especially given that Vampires had vanished from Romania fifty years prior.
If they got bogged down in bureaucratic wrangling, wasting precious time, the situation here might become irreversible. Not to mention, he had no idea how to even contact the Romanian Ministry.
The situation seemed more urgent than he'd imagined.
So what should he do?
Follow Lupin's advice and turn back? But if the Vampires left Transylvania, hunting them down and obtaining their fangs would become incredibly difficult.
Without Vampire fangs as proof, the Albanian wizards in Krujë wouldn't give him a branch from the Soul Tree... And Astoria couldn't hold out much longer.
Stay and fight them tonight?
Though vampires were notoriously weak against wizards, he wasn't as powerful as Voldemort had been fifty years ago... Over a hundred vampires, reinforced by dozens of Werewolves; such overwhelming numbers meant a direct confrontation would likely cost him his life.
He had to find a way... He absolutely had to find a way!