Vampires were not magical. Wherever their powers came from, it wasn’t magic. So while the Morthahg hated them for being so unnatural, raged and strained to destroy them, there was nothing alive or magical in them to burn. They passed through it like ghosts while it pawed like muzzled hellhounds to destroy them. It had to make do with coating them, ringing their grave-thin bodies with fire and they carried it like plague rats deep under Hogwarts.

It had eaten up a lot of the magics in Ravenclaw’s labyrinth, so the Vampires could wander through without disorienting spells. They still had the physical snares to deal with, though. A rigged suit of armor brought its sword slicing down and took the ear and arm off a female before she realized the threat. She whined about her ruined coat and lost earrings until a companion offered to tear off her other arm and ear for the sake of symmetry.

Another was incinerated by very non-magical burst of fire. His scream carried all the way up into Hogwarts, making Crookshanks’ tail frizz up and Ron drop a mug of cider on his own foot. The shattering sound went almost unnoticed in the aftermath of the dying shriek.

Below, a young vampire tried to turn to mist to flow up a cliff face and found he could not. His consternation drew the attention of one of the elders.

“Magic,” he explained. “The Morthahg hasn’t come this far on its own.”

“It doesn’t matter if our powers aren’t eaten if they don’t work!” one snarled.

“Calm yourselves,” the elder said. “It has no interest in us, but it won’t be helpful until we get it into the castle. It will destroy the magic users for us.”

“Didn’t come all this way to have killing done for me,” snarled another, this one tall and gaunt that seemed to be all arms. “Didn’t come for a bellyful of meat already cold. Not a crow to scavenge.”

There was a murmur of assent and the elder spat.

“Don’t flatter yourself that you came here for a reason,” he hissed. “You came because the Lord commanded it. We serve a master now. He was destroyed and returned and none of us have the strength to stand against his will.”

“Yet,” grumbled the one who had tried to be mist. “If he’s so powerful, why are we going in first?”

“The powerful need no diplomacy,” said the elder. “We have no right to ask that our welfare be considered against the greater glory. If our bones be nothing but stepping stones, so be it.”

“Speak for yourself, lapdog,” trilled the one-armed female. “This isn’t fair.”

“Pah,” the elder was already walking again. “Only the weak snivel that the strong should make allowances for them. Go stamp your foot with the human whelps demanding fairness if you aren’t strong enough to stand with us. “

There was more grumbling but they all followed. A very young vampire hurried to the elder’s side, having to move quickly to match his stride.

“Truly, there will be no blood?” she asked. “Just a monster’s leftovers? He has forbidden us to feed?”

“No, dear,” the elder said. Her deference to Brohm made him speak more kindly. “There will be plenty. Listen. Smell.”

She obeyed, tilting a bird-like head and flaring her nostrils. Then, Fluffy attacked. He appeared from the corridor like he was part of it, all three heads snarling and snapping. The elder’s eyes flared green and he roared like a demonic bear. Fluffy hesitated, and in that second, the elder’s mind closed around all three of his and dropped into sleep.

“See?” the elder said. “Not all lost.” The young one grinned and ran around the next corner, straight into a magical ward, spread across the gate like a spider web. Bright, burning lights came on and alarms went off. Professor Dormire was first to arrive and he attacked on sight. The first shockwave of his Curse blasted the young vampire to dust and burned through the first handful of vampires, except for the elder who leaped to the ceiling to dodge.

Dormire followed that with devastating blasts of crackling energy. He shielded himself from a clawed attack by summoning a wall of acid that burned the vampire’s hands away and then sent the wall crashing down the stairs like a tidal wave that hissed and burned away black clothing and gray skin. The vampires took to the walls like spiders to avoid it. Dormire brought both his arms down fiercely and the river of acid divided like the Red Sea to chase them up each wall. Another flew at him, stealing Fluffy’s form to become a three-headed wolf.

Light blazed from Dormire’s wand, looking more like a sword. He slashed it and another sizzling shockwave burst out of it, flinging the attacker away. By then, the elder vampire was over his head and dropped on him like a spider onto a beetle. Dormire’s curse tore the elder in half, but not before the clawed hands ripped his throat out. The elder’s top half still clung to Dormire’s body and buried its face in his spurting throat. As it fed, long bloody tendrils crept out of its severed torso like tentacles to reach its legs and pull them back into one piece.

By the time Dormire was completely dead, the elder was whole and leaping up the stairs with the others. Hogwarts was invaded.