I AM WOLF

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or the Twilight.

Prologue

"You look very dashing dear."

Harry James Potter, the boy-who-lived and the recently dubbed chosen one of the wizarding world shook his head slightly. That along with a small sigh was his only reaction for the comment made by the persona of the magical mirror located in the sixth year boy's dormitory of the Gryffindor tower.

These types of mirrors, which were rather common in the wizarding world, had stopped freaking him out by the end of his very first stay at the Burrow, during the summer of his first year at the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

He was currently dressed in the bottle green robes that had bought him from the Diagon Alley, for the occasion of Yule Ball during his fourth year at Hogwarts. Apart from feeling a bit snug around his upper arms and shoulders, the robes still fitted him rather well.

Something that did nothing but to remind the sixteen year old of the fact the he was the shortest one among all the boys and most of the girls in his year. Standing only at 5'4'' he was a good bit shorter than lot of the lower years too, ten years of malnutrition would do that to anyone.

"Damn the Dursley's." he mumbled to himself as he attacked his mop of raven black hair which he had inherited from his deceased father, with a comb intent in taming it.

Harry had come to accept his short stature a long while ago and it really didn't bother him much, apart from having to look up at the faces of whomever he had to talk to.

Besides he had far bigger problems to worry about than his height. Chief among them being a monster named Tom Morvolo Riddle or better known by his self styled title Lord Voldemort. The Dark Lord was hell bent on bringing about the premature end of the last living Potter in the magical world.

"Are you ready mate, the party started almost an hour ago." the voice of one of his dorm mates echoed through the almost empty room.

Dean Thomas would be accompanying his girlfriend Ginny Weasley, Harry's best mates little sister and the only Weasley girl to be born in over seven generations, to Professor Slughorn's Christmas party as her date.

Much to his silent relief, Luna Lovegood, a rather good friend of him had graciously agreed to accompany him to the said party as his date when he had asked her a couple of days ago.

The portly potions master had insisted everyone on bringing a date for the party and Harry feared he would be unable to get one. He still had difficulty asking girls out, ever since the one real date he had with Cho ended up being a disaster.

He was the chosen one for Merlin's sake, not the Casanova. And he thought with Voldemort after his head it would be best if he stayed away from romance, he did not want to endanger some poor girl by dating her.

"Relax Dean, I'm all set to go." he said making one last heroic attempt to flatten his hair, which had the mocha skinned sixth year snickering with suppressed laughter.

"Give it up mate, there is nothing in the world that can tame that rat's nest of yours. Everyone thinks it's the Potter family curse and I'm inclined to agree with them."

Presenting the other teen with a mock glare, Harry picked up his wand from his bedside table and stowed it into the pocket of his robes.

The two friends then made their way down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room, where they found the beautiful Miss Weasley along with one of Harry's best friend Hermione Granger who looked equally beautiful, chatting amongst themselves in hushed tones.

"Hello Hermione, Ginny. You both look very beautiful this evening." he said smirking slightly.

Twin blushes blossomed on their cheeks and they rewarded him with two brilliant smiles.

He noticed that his other best friend, Ron Weasley, was nowhere to be seen in the cozy common room. But Harry was wise enough not to question the two females about his whereabouts as they were both very displeased with the tallest Weasley male at the moment.

'Besides, I have a very good guess about what he would be doing and I have absolutely no wish to know the location of the said activity.'

"Stop trying to steal my girlfriend Potter." Dean yelled comically while waving his fist at the shorter boy in what was supposed to be a 'threatening gesture', making the two girls giggle slightly.

Harry acted the part of the sufficiently cowed young man to add humor to the situation. They need all the humor they can get in these troubled times.

"Thank you for the complement Harry. Do you need to wait for your date or can we get going now?" Ginny asked while looping her arms with that of Dean's, while Hermione looked at him in suspicion.

"You do have a date, don't you Harry?" Hermione asked, a hint of warning in her tone.

"Yes I do have a date Mione. She is currently waiting for me in the great hall and I need to get going before she thinks that I stood her up." he answered while looking at the battered watch on his wrist.

"Well who is it then?" Hermione asked sounding pleased while the other two looked at him, apparently interested in his answer.

"Luna Lovegood." he said and started making his way towards the portrait hole.

"Loony Lovegood, you are going to the party with Loony Lovegood. Harry, you didn't hit your head somewhere and got a concussion because of it, did you?" asked Dean surprised, causing his girlfriend to let out a giggle even as she slapped him on his arm.

"I pretty sure Thomas, but you will have one if you continue teasing my date."

Harry stated, only half jokingly as he made his way towards the portrait hole to pick up Luna for the party.

The Great Hall was filled with the students happily chattering with each other on topics ranging from the end of the term exams, the war raging in their world, to their plans for winter holidays that begun the next day.

Harry had a mild suspicion that old Slughorn had arranged the party specifically on the last day of the term so that he would not be able to find any reason to avoid it. It just proved that no matter how cheery the said wizard acted around him, Horace Slughorn was still a Slytherin at his heart.

"There you are Harry, I feared that Voldling Harnappers had gotten hold you."

The dreamy voice of Luna Lovegood, fifth year Ravenclaw, ex-DA member and most importantly his date for the evening brought him back from the world of his thoughts. Looking at the direction the voice had come from, Harry received what would be the first shock of the evening.

"Wow!"

Luna had replaced her butterbeer earrings and necklace she usually wore with ones made from solid gold, simple and elegant in design. Her white blond hair which was usually wore in a single braid now fell to her shoulders in soft curls held in place with the help of several small silver pins shaped like that of birds.

"I-I… L-Luna.."

The sleeveless royal blue gown hugged her upper body rather fetchingly and flared out from her waist down past her knees.

A pair of dark blue heels covering her feet completed her ensemble .

"Merlin's Beard, you look breathtaking Luna." Harry said, after he had finally gotten his stammering under control.

The fifth year smiled radiantly at him, her silvery grey eyes sparkling in delight at his complement.

He had never seen the girl look or act like this before and he realized from the thunderstruck look on their faces, neither had most of the students present in the great hall.

"Thank you Harry. Padma helped me a lot, even lent me her jewels. She thought you would appreciate them more than my regular ones." informed the taller girl dreamily, as she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug before releasing him and looping her arms through his.

"Padma's right. They do look good on you Luna." Harry said recovering from his shock of the sudden hug, only Hermione and hugged him like that.

Offering him another radiant smile, Luna proceeded to lead him towards the ever moving stairs of the magical castle while chattering on about Crumple Horned Snorkacks, Bumbling Humdingers and various other creatures and government scandals that the wizarding world should be made aware of.

"And now that Scrimgeour had become the Minister, Fudge has finally lost his army of Heliopaths to him. They are very much attracted to power after all." Luna stated dreamily.

"Maybe he would use them to fight the Death Eaters and Voldemort." he commented as they climbed yet another set of stairs.

A small smile formed and grew on the chosen one's face as he listened to his date list the supposed abilities of the Minister's Heliopaths, realizing the fact that no matter how she looked or acted, Luna will always be the same girl who stood up for her friends and believed in strange creatures.

Harry was sure that he would treasure her friendship as long as he lived, however long that maybe.

"The party is very loud Harry." said Luna, tightening her grip a little on his arm.

"Indeed it is Luna, indeed it is." Harry replied while smiling reassuringly at the slightly taller girl. He wondered whether it was her first time going to such a large gathering as she had not attended the Yule Ball, being only a third year at that time.

The noise from the party in the potions master's office could be easily heard from the other side of the corridor and Harry had to wonder if the man had somehow managed to stuff all the population of Hogesmedge village inside the said room.

'Or the whole of the Diagon alley from the racket coming from his office.'

He honestly wouldn't be surprised if his potions professor somehow managed to accomplish that, after all, the man horded people like the goblins horded gold.

Reaching the doorway which had been charmed to glow a deep emerald green color like those muggle night clubs he had heard about, Harry stopped in surprise when a room that was half the size of the great hall greeted his eyes.

'Ah, undetectable space expansion charms.' Harry thought recognizing the magic from his stay in the magical tents during the occasions of the Quidditch world cup and the first task of the Triwizard Tournament.

He led Luna in to the crowded, brightly lit room illuminated by a large red lamp hanging from the center of the ceiling that was filled with real fairies. The ceiling and walls were decorated with the use of numerous emerald, crimson, and gold hangings, giving everyone the impression of being inside an actual tent.

"It's rather nice, isn't it Harry?" questioned Luna from his side after taking in the appearance of their surroundings.

"Yes it is Luna." Harry agreed with his date. 'The old snake certainly knows how to throw a party, I have to agree with that.'

Loud singing accompanied by what sounded like mandolins issued from a distant corner. A haze of pipe smoke hung over several elderly warlocks deep in conversation, and a number of house-elves were negotiating their way squeakily through the forest of knees, obscured by the heavy silver platters of food they were bearing, so that they looked like little roving tables.

'Thank Merlin that no one is dancing.' he thought gratefully, remembering the disaster that was his dancing during the Yule Ball.

Their potions master found them within a minute after they had entered the magically enlarged room, he suspected the use of some proximity charms on the doorway.

"Harry my boy, so good that you can make it to my party, I am thrilled. Now who might this lovely young lady be?" asked Horace Slughorn while shaking his hand rather enthusiastically, a large smile adorning his beefy face.

"This is Luna Lovegood sir, fifth year Ravenclaw and my date for this evening." Harry introduced and the portly man proceeded to shake the blonde girl's had much more politely, he was rather thankful for that as his hand still ached a little from the man's rather strong grip.

"I have lot of people that I would like you to meet Harry, almost all of them old students of mine and they are all very excited at the prospect of meeting you." the potions professor boomed once he let go of Luna's hands.

Grasping his most famous student ever by his free arm, the portly man literally dragged Harry towards one of the groups of witches and wizards happily conversing with each other. Luna was dragged along with him due to her hand looped with his, though she didn't seem to be bothered by it.

"Harry, this is Gwenog Jones, captain of the Holyhead Harpies. Gwen, meet Harry Potter." Slughorn said grandly, introducing the attractive brunette in her late twenties. She had a good natured face and an open smile that would have made Harry feel at home, if he had been paying attention that is.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Jones." Harry muttered mechanically while shaking the offered hand.

His mind was too busy trying to make sense of the strange scent which had assaulted his senses as soon as they had crossed halfway across the large room.

"This is Luna Lovegood, a good friend of mine." he introduced, trying to shake the scent away.

The scent was sweeter than any perfume he had ever smelt before and it was strangely familiar even though he was pretty sure that he had never smelt it before. A scent that would probably have made almost everyone loses their mind in its magic, if they even got a whiff of it.

But it did something entirely different to him.

"I will leave you to get acquainted." he heard the voice of his potions professor as if it came from the end of a very long tunnel.

Harry nodded his head absent mindedly.

He didn't see the said man move away from them towards another group.

"I have a friend who is a very good fan of yours Miss Jones." Luna said, smiling dreamily at the famous quidditch player after a few seconds.

Harry didn't hear a single word of it as he was lost in his mind, trying to control his emotions.

The scent made the hairs at the back of his neck stand up in warning and brought forth a murderous rage the likes of which he had never ever felt before in his short life time, not even at Bellatrix Lestrange when she had murdered his godfather right in front of his eyes.

That naturally both confused and surprised the hell out of him, almost to the point of distracting the teen from the said rage which somehow felt almost genetic in its nature, as it filled every cell of his small, scrawny, underfed body.

'What in the name of Merlin's baggy pants is this smell?' Harry screamed mentally.

Luna's elbow to his ribs brought him back to the land of the living and he had to use every bit of his self control to keep his mouth shut so that he wouldn't snap at the dreamy eyed Ravenclaw.

She wasn't the one responsible for the scent and she didn't even know what is happening to him. Still the boy-who-lived could not prevent the frown from his face as he looked at the taller girl who tilted her head towards the woman standing by her side.

"I beg your pardon Miss Jones, but I'm afraid that my mind wandered off for a moment." he apologized trying to ignore the scent which was getting stronger with time.

"It's quite alright Harry and please call me Gwen, Miss Jones makes me feel old. I was just saying that my cousin Megan from Ravenclaw said that you were the best seeker in the school and a natural flyer." Gwenog Jones stated smiling rather pleasantly, not at all looking upset that he had just ignored her.

Had he not been filled with enough rage to murder someone, Harry would have surely blushed at the complement from the captain of the Holyhead Harpies.

"I am sure she's exaggerating Gwen. I saw Krum at the world cup and he's loads better than me."

Harry wasn't aware of what he had just said as he was too busy trying to contain the fury roaring through his veins, enough fury to murder someone in cold blood, like the owner of the damned scent for instance.

He did not want to embarrass himself in front of the crowded room by performing accidental magic since his emotions felt eerily similar to the time he had blown up his aunt, only a lot stronger.

"Victor had been flying ever since he had started walking properly Harry, he is the best seeker in the world for a reason. Moving on, have you considered the possibility of playing professionally after your graduation at Hogwarts?" she asked, looking a bit more serious now.

Despite all the distractions, Harry couldn't help but stare at the brunette with a look of incredulousness gracing his features.

"Are you inviting me Gwen, I thought that the Holyhead Harpies were an all witch team." he asked after wiping the look on his face. Gwen smirked slightly.

"You are absolutely right Harry but the Puddlemore United isn't, and they are both owned by the same group of families." she explained.

"Puddlemore United, really. This isn't due to me being the boy-who-lived is it?" Harry asked a bit suspiciously.

The scent was getting stronger to his senses and he had to use every ounce of his concentration to listen to her answer.

"Of course not Harry, the offer is due to your extraordinary skills as a seeker. The spot of the reserve seeker is yours after graduation if you want the job." she said.

He was flattered, he really was but he couldn't accept the offer for several reasons, Voldemort being the main one.

"Thank you for the offer Gwen but I already have plans on joining the Aurors after my graduation." Harry said with genuine regret in his voice.

The woman looked really crestfallen but Harry paid only half a mind as the other half was too busy trying to hold his anger at bay.

The scent had become almost maddening by now and he realized that he had to put some distance between it and himself if he want to avoid an explosion. Performing a bubblehead charm in the middle of a party was not a good idea.

Harry suddenly spotted the artificial window on the far end of the room which was charmed to blow a fresh, gentle breeze and a very familiar person standing next to it.

"I think I just spotted a friend over there, thank you for the offer once again Gwen. Enjoy the party Ladies."

Harry said abruptly with a forced smile to the puzzled brunette before dragging Luna towards the said part of the room where he had seen his best female friend, trying to blend in with the shadows prevalent there.

His best friend let out a startled squeak when he placed his hand on her shoulders to get her attention.

"Harry! Don't sneak up on me like that, you almost gave me a heart attack." Hermione whispered hoarsely while placing a hand over her chest to calm racing heart.

"I did not, you were just too busy trying to become a portrait on the wall that you didn't notice my approach. Who are you hiding from anyway?" he asked while trying to pinpoint the source of the strange scent now that he was able to control the murderous rage.

The task was easier said than done, considering the sheer number of people present inside the room and the scent from the numerous platters of food carried by the elves didn't help in the least bit.

'When did I become so attuned to the smells anyway.'

"Cormac, he's my date to the party and apparently he loves talking about himself." the bushy haired female said in a resigned tone of voice while looking around quite nervously, as if the said person would materialize next to them.

That managed to get his attention from his quest to locate the source of the mysterious scent and Harry James Potter just shook his head in resignation. For being someone who was known as the smartest witch in their whole year, Hermione can be pretty stupid sometimes.

"What in the name of Merlin made you to invite that prat to the party then?" he asked while tilting his head to a side. Hermione had the decency to blush while Luna continued gazing at them with the dreamy look in her eyes.

"Cormac irritated Ronald a lot." she muttered in embarrassment. Harry let out a snort and rolled his eyes at the folly of his best friend before starting to smile slightly as the humor of the situation she had managed land herself into caught up to him.

"Ronald can be a bit immature at times, he has the largest Wracksprut infection I have ever seen on anyone before." said Luna in her usual dreamy voice making the two sixth years let out a snort simultaneously.

That had to be the understatement of this century.

"A bit, Luna some of the first years acts with more maturity than that prat." Hermione fumed at the shorter girl.

Harry had to agree with her statement. Best friend or not, Ronald Weasley had the maturity of a twelve year old and he had experienced it personally numerous times.

The blonde just hummed in reply, the dreamy smile never leaving her face but Harry thought that he saw the same sparkle in her eyes that he had seen when he first met her in the great hall. He grabbed a mug of hot butterbeer from an elf passing by him and by doing so spotted someone walking towards their little corner of the room.

"Mione, a dashing young man by the name of Cormac Maclaggen is making his way towards our little group even as I speak." he stated rather innocently, making the brunette take off towards the other side of the room with surprising speed while managing to remain hidden from her date.

"Must be all the trips to the Library with books weighing at least twenty pounds." he mumbled to himself.

Luna seemed to have heard as she nodded her head while humming a little louder, starring at the fairy filled lamp on the ceiling.

A few seconds later, the tall form of Cormac Maclaggen came to stop in front of the couple with a hopeful look plastered on his face.

"Hey Potter, have you seen Hermione around? She disappeared after asking me to fetch some drinks for both of us."

"She left a few minutes earlier Maclaggen, something about getting more books from the Library and packing all her stuff for the train tomorrow." Harry lied smoothly after sipping taking a sip from his mug.

"Oh, thank you very much then." Maclaggen mumbled not at all looking dejected on the prospect of getting ditched by his date.

The fifth year placed the drinks carelessly on the platter carried by an elf before moving towards a group of witches from Hufflepuff house.

"He really is a prat." he muttered slightly surprised.

Seconds trickled by in silence between the couple, with Harry sipping his mug of warm butterbeer while trying to identify the source of the scent and his date looking at a group of Ravenclaws standing not far away from them.

It was she who broke the comfortable silence a few minutes later.

"Do you mind if I go speak to some of my house mates Harry?" asked Luna, gazing at a group that had primarily the members of DA from last year.

"Not at all." he replied, waving his free hand in the direction of the said group and watched in some amusement as she almost skipped through the room.

Draining the last of his drink from the mug, he leaned against the cold castle wall and closed his eyes while trying to clear his mind using the techniques he had learned from the Occlumency book he had purchased with the help of Hermione the previous summer.

Harry had spent at least thirty minutes every day practicing the said techniques before he went to sleep, ever since he had received the book. Although he had yet to find any success in even the most basic of them, he never stopped doing it.

'Maybe Snape was right for once and I have no proficiency in the field of mind magic.'

Ten minutes later he opened his eyes with a fierce scowl adorning his face. It was very apparent that the exercises were more futile than usual, thanks to that wretched scent that stubbornly lingered on the warm air inside the crowded room. He understood the fact that he needed to get out of the said room to get some peace of mind.

It took him a few moments to get his emotions under some semblance of control and Harry started looking around the room for his date, after failing to locate her among the group of Ravenclaws near him.

The blond was nowhere to be seen.

'She didn't ditch me did she?' he thought worriedly before discarding the notions as a ridiculous one. Luna was not that kind of person, she had to be somewhere in this room. Making a quick decision to find her, he started making his way across the room while searching for his beautiful blonde date.

Harry had just reached half way across the room without much success of finding Luna Lovegood when a meaty hand grabbed his shoulders with an iron grip.

Before he could even open his mouth to make a noise of protest, for the third time that evening he was dragged in the direction of a group of wizards talking amongst themselves with tall glasses of firewhiskey in their hand. Murphy 's Law decided to kick in the precise moment that Harry and his yet to be identified captor came to a stop in front the boisterous group.

"Oomph!"

A passing by fifth year boy had managed to elbow the boy-who-lived quite painfully in his sides, in his rush to get to his friends who were getting ready to leave. The last Potter's breath exploded in a ragged gasp and Harry was forced to take in a huge gulp of air to keep himself form chocking.

An action which he had immediately regretted doing so.

'Bloody buggering shite.'

He cursed mentally while gritting his teeth hard enough to make his jaws throb in pain.

The sweet smelling scent that had been tantalizing him ever since he had stepped into the room suddenly became strong enough to suffocate him.

That had the anger and fury which he had managed to dampen in the previous minutes return with a vengeance, even as every single muscle in his body stiffened and locked itself like he had been hit with a full body bind curse.

"Harry, I'd like you to meet Eldred Worple, an old student of mine, author of Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires — and, of course, his friend Sanguini."

He was aware that his potions professor had started making the introductions the moment they stopped in front of the group, but he couldn't hear the words that were being said. Neither from his potions professor nor by the short, stout, bespectacledman who had his hands extended in his direction, with a large smile on his flushed face.

Harry shook the offered hand automatically, his eyes never leaving the source of the sickeningly sweet scent that he had identified even before they had came to a stop in front of them.

'Why is he affecting me like this?' he mentally screamed in frustration.

With skin the color of fresh snow, hair that greatly resembled greatly of tongues of flames and eyes darker than darkest night, he was without any doubt the most beautiful creature inside the magically altered room, and even the strange purple colored bruises under its eyes did nothing but to enhance the said beauty of his.

'And the most dangerous.'

The man stood a couple of inches over six feet in height with compact muscles that were visible even through the stylish robes he wore and he gave off an impression of confidence and utmost strength.

Yet, the boy-who-lived wanted to rip out the man's throat with his bare hands, not caring that he had only ever killed in self defense before or that there would be a room full of people witness him do it.

'I have to leave this place right now!'

There was a bored look gracing the man's inhumanly beautiful face as he nodded to him for some strange reason.

Harry had to restrain himself from snarling in reply.

But when the creature in a man's guise started gliding towards a nearby group of giggling girls with a hungry gleam in his eyes, he was unable to prevent the reaction that came quite naturally to him, originating deep within his chest.

'GROWL.'

The creature came to a startled stop a few feet from the group of girls at the unexpected sound while the wizards standing nearby viewed him with the looks of confusion on their faces.

'I NEED TO LEAVE THIS PLACE RIGHT NOW!'

Harry's was quite aware that his body now resembled a leaf caught in the middle of a raging thunderstorm and he freely admitted the fact that he was moments away from actually murdering what he knew to be a deadly creature.

"Forgive me Professor Slughorn, but I am afraid that I have to take my leave now."

With that muttered apology Harry took off from the crowded room before anyone could even think about stopping him.

His feet pounded the hard granite floor of the castle relentlessly as Harry ran faster than he had ever run in his life. He was determined to get as far away as he could from the creature, whose mere presence had provoked emotions that he had never felt before, and the sickeningly sweet scent that effectively clouded his mind and removed his inhibitions.

'Am I losing my sanity?'

The few students who were unfortunate enough to encounter him quickly moved out of his way, unable to miss the look of absolute fury mingled with a healthy amount of fear written all over his face, something that they had never seen in the of boy-who-lived before.

'Why is this happening to me? Merlin! WHAT is happening to me?'

Harry's memories of the next few hours were very hazy at the best, he didn't remember getting to the seventh floor, neither did he remember summoning the door to the Room of Requirements nor the said door sealing itself shut for the rest of the world as soon as he had stepped into the highly magical room.

The first thing he noticed when he came to his senses was the fact that he was laying on the cold floor curled into the fetal position with both his arms tucked in between his legs, and tears mixed with something thinker and a great deal darker streaming down his face.

"What"

Harry's whole body was drenched in cold sweat making his naturally messy hair and robes stick to his scrawny frame. He didn't feel cold as he could physically feel the heat that he was radiating, and it was enough to survive even the coldest night of the Antarctic's without a stitch of clothing on his body.

"Is"

Random shivers wracked through his malnourished frame, shivers that had nothing to do with the coldness prevalent in the floor he was laying on or the sweat that drenched his body. Every single muscle in his body felt like they had been torn apart and sewn together with a blunt needle by a novice over and over again, very slowly.

"Happening"

Almost all of his joints felt painfully stiff, similar to the time he had experienced the Cruciatus curse at the hands of Lord Voldemort after his resurrection at the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament in his fourth year. From the deep ache that existed in all of his bones, he was certain that each one of them were used as a beater's bat for hitting bludgers in the game of quidditch for years.

"To"

The pain in his head was the worst he had ever felt in his life and that included the time when that the Dark Lord had attempted to possess him at the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic. The pounding felt like someone had used his head as an anvil for flattening a bar of red hot iron with the help of a one hundred pound sledgehammer for a very long time.

"ME"

Harry was greatly distracted by the pounding in his head as well as the numerous other pains running throughout his body, while simultaneously trying to get a hold on his emotions which were running all over the place. Thus he realized it too late that he shouldn't have yelled out loud, not when his throat felt like it had been ripped out and scrubbed for hours with a the help of an industrial grade sandpaper.

'Fan-Bloody-tastic.'

Painfully dry coughs wracked his scrawny frame and he involuntarily drew his knees to his chest with both his arms wrapped around them tightly curling into the fetal position once again, in a desperate attempt to control them.

And that certainly didn't help with the pain that had already been coursing through his body.

'Just stop it already.' he thought desperately.

But it didn't stop.

The coughing continued on and on for what seemed to be an eternity but actually a quarter of an hour. When it finally stopped, Harry let himself fall onto his back on the hard castle floor. He was thoroughly exhausted and very much out of his breath due to continuous coughing.

Harry remained still on the cold floor, taking large gulps of breath to satiate his oxygen starved lungs while gazing up at the unadorned ceiling absently.

As the minutes continued to pass, the red hot pain throbbing through his body started receding slowly along with that cursed ache which had been pounding his head ever since he came back to his consciousness.

Not long after that his mind was clear enough to contemplate the situation he had found himself in, and he did so without pause.

Hermione was not there to help him after all.

'Better not let her hear that Potter, not if you want to keep your hearing intact.' he thought with a small twitch of his lips.

Harry would bet his entire Gringotts vault that the man with the unnatural beauty as well as the sickeningly sweet scent that had clung to him like a cloak was the primary reason for his latest predicament. He didn't even know if he was human considering the bruises under the eyes that looked strangely permanent, his beauty and the scent that no one should be able to produce naturally.

'How do I even know that the scent was naturally produced. It could be the result of some kind of spell or perfume that the man had used.'

He pushed the troubling thought out of his mind as he realized that there were questions of much greater importance that needed to be answered first for him to understand his current predicament.

Thinking hard upon the introductions that his potions professor had made almost brought the headache back, but he was able to remember one particular word that had been used during the conversation.

Vampire.

'Well that at least explains the gaggle of giggling girls.'

Harry's defense lessons had covered the subject of Vampires the previous month and Snape, as much as he loathed admitting it, had given them an excellent lecture about the race of blood drinkers including how to destroy one if they were ever attacked by said creatures.

The blood drinkers usually avoided any confrontation magical folks unless they had them outnumbered by at the very least five to one or if they had been recruited by one of those never ending Dark Lords.

Vampires were extremely flammable after all and conjuring normal fire was a year charm taught to every first year.

Hence the vampires mostly preyed upon the defenseless muggle's or in some extremely rare cases, animals, for their supply of blood.

They can be easily differentiated by their eyes as the source of their food primarily affected the color of their iris itself the irises were pure black in color the vampire had not fed for a long time and was very hungry.

The blood drained from Harry's face as the realization hit him like a bludger.

'Like the one at the party! What was Slughorn thinking, allowing a hungry vampire into a school full of children.'

The realization about that man being a vampire brought forth only more questions and Harry was ready to tear his hair out, he would certainly have done so if his arms didn't feel like they had been transfigured into lead.

The most important of those being why among a room full of witches and wizards he alone had reacted so adversely to the presence of the vampire, when most of them hadn't even realized that there was a vampire among them.

'It is more likely that they just ignored his presence, bloody bigots.'

Harry James Potter certainly was not one of them and he definitely did not feel or act like he was superior to the other sentient races that existed in the magical world, being friends with a half-giant, a house-elf and a werewolf were enough to prove that.

Yet he hated the vampire with a burning passion long before he had even laid eyes upon said creature due to the overwhelming scent of the immortal being and that truly frightened him to his very being.

He had never experienced such a hate, such a raw fury. Not even for Voldemort, Bellatrix or Wormtail who were directly responsible for the deaths of his family.

And the best explanation that Harry could come up with for all the anger was that he was programmed at the genetic level to hate the whole race of vampires.

'And that's simply ridiculous, isn't it?'

He let out a loud, heartfelt groan of defeat.

After the way that the fate had played with his life from the time before he had even born, he wouldn't bet a single Knut on the thought.

Harry just prayed to whatever god listening to him up there that there wouldn't be another prophecy that would force him to annihilate the entire race of vampires, he didn't need that kind of legacy to his name. And the prospect of being the chosen one destined to bring about the death of the worst Dark Lord in over a century was enough prophecy for his lifetime.

"Enough for several lifetimes." he mumbled to the empty room.

Harry absently noted that his voice didn't sound like it had been coming from a badly scratched record anymore nor was there any pain in his throat due to the said action. Frowning slightly, he rolled onto his back cautiously before sitting up, discovering that there was no trace of the pain that had his indisposed not five minutes earlier. He ran his hand over his hair in confusion and a little bit of anger.

'Another thing that makes me more of a freak.' he thought in resignation.

He dragged himself to the nearby wall and leaned himself on it to ponder on this development as certain oddities from his childhood with the Dursley's popped into his mind, oddities that made his growing up with the relatives that hated them a little more comfortable.

One, Harry didn't get sick with cold or fever or any other disease that he had seen Dudley get or a number of his classmates in the primary school.

Two, the wounds that he picked up from his never ending lists of chores or the game of 'Harry Hunting' played by his cousin and his little group friends, usually healed after a good night's sleep or a few days of rest if the injury was particularly severe, like the one time he had broken the bones in his right hand after Dudley had tripped him down the stairs in No.4.

It may be the only thing that the Dursley's had tolerated about his abnormality because of the amount of money it saved them from not having to visit a doctor to fix him up in addition to masking the abuse he had endured at their hands.

'That didn't stop them from throwing a tantrum when the school nurse insisted on getting me glasses for my eyes, greedy bastards.'

When Harry had discovered his wizarding heritage from Hagrid, he had thought that accelerated healing was something of an ability possessed by every witches and wizards. He was only partially correct. Madam Pomfery had been very surprised and a little excited when he had questioned her about it, but she still answered him all the same.

According to the experienced healer, witches and wizards magic helped them by preventing most of the non-magical maladies but it didn't help much against those of magical nature. Injuries on the other hand could be healed almost instantaneously with the help of potions and/or the healing charms, one's inherent magic only prevented any infection from affecting the said injury itself.

'One more thing to prevent Harry Potter from ever being normal.' he thought sarcastically.

Harry had wisely kept the information about his accelerated healing to himself as he had no wish to become the new object of study for the school healer, no matter how much he liked her.

And now his body had recovered from one of the most painful experience he had ever experienced in his life within a matter of minutes, without any external help. It had taken almost three days for him to recover from the cruciatus curse cast by Voldemort even with the help of Madam Pomfery.

"Where in the name of Merlin am I anyway?" he whispered to the empty room, wrenching himself away from the painful memories of Cedric's death, the subsequent resurrection of his arch nemesis at the grave yard and the boiling anger that they provoked in him.

He took a good look around the room he had found himself in, a room that he had no memory of getting himself into. The room looked more like a small cell than anything else with an absolute lack of any furniture, windows or doors, making him wonder just how he had managed to enter it.

Rising to his feet, Harry linked the fingers of both his hands together and extended them high above his head while stretching his body, electing a series of pops from most of his joints. He then started to look around for any signs of a concealed doorway so that he can make his way out of the room and to his dorms.

Before he could even take a couple of steps towards the nearest wall, a thick oaken door magically appeared on it.

It wasn't hard to figure out the exact location of just where he was in the large castle after that, there weren't a lot of highly magical rooms in Hogwarts after all.

Not knowing the amount time that had passed ever since he had left the party, he looked down at the battered mechanical watch on his wrist and almost gasped out loud upon realizing that the time was well past two in the morning.

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."

He muttered activating the Marauder's map with his wand and taking a moment to pull on his invisibility cloak, Harry yanked open the heavy door and rushed through the corridors of the magical castle in the hopes of making it to his dorms before someone reported him as missing to the staff members of Hogwarts.

However he was forced to change his destination when he reached the third floor and his stomach let out the loud growl of hunger. Scowling slightly, Harry started walking towards the portrait guarding the huge kitchens of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in order to fill his starving stomach.

'I hope the house-elves are awake.'

For the first time that night the fate smiled upon him as there were a few elves still buzzing around the kitchens, including the only paid house-elf in the history of the wizarding world. Said elf's tennis ball green eyes bulged at the sight of the chosen one and he rushed towards Harry with a look of worry on his face.

"Master Harry Potter sir, you is having blood on yous!" Dobby screamed in his high pitched voice as soon as he had came to a stop in front of the taller wizard.

Harry looked down at the strangely dressed house-elf with confusion dominating the features of his face.

"I have blood on myself?" he asked in surprise after making sense of the elf's statement and looked down at the robes covering his body. Dobby was correct in his observation, the upper halves of his bottle green robe were stained with large patches of black and there was dried blood on the palm of his right hand.

Though there weren't any visible wound or even scars to indicate the origin of the blood, he was pretty sure that the blood covering him was his own. He suspected his new found ability in healing for the absence of any wound from which the blood must have spilled from and the dizziness that he should be feeling due the amount of blood he appeared to have lost.

"It's alright Dobby, I am fine now."

He reassured his friend as he fetched his wand from the pocket of his robes to clean himself.

With the intent of removing the dried blood from his skin and robes firm in his surprisingly clear mind, Harry raised his wand to perform the cleaning charm when he felt a tingling sensation was over his body.

The blood had vanished from his clothes, hand and unknown to him, most of his face by the charm he had just performed without the necessary wand movements or the incantation.

Harry James Potter had just performed a spell non-verbally, a branch of magic that had been giving him trouble ever since the beginning of his new year at school. Too tired and too hungry to be surprised anymore, Harry just pocketed the wand and looked at his shorter friend who was staring at him with wide eyes.

"Can I get something to eat Dobby, I am starving."

Dobby, seeing that his savior was indeed telling the truth about his well being, nodded his head in excitement and ushered the chosen one to one of the smaller tables littered around the room while three other elves zoomed in with large platters of food for him.

With a muttered thanks to the four elves, he dug into the meal unable to resist his hunger that had increased at delicious aroma much to their delight. Their smiles only grew larger when he asked for two more servings to satisfy his starving stomach.

"These are simply delicious guys." he had exclaimed while eating his sixth slice of shepherd's pie.

Harry would have been astonished if he knew that he had consumed thrice the amount of food that his best friend Ron Weasley would eat in a single sitting. But he didn't know that, so he just sat back in the cozy little chair, enjoying a mug of hot chocolate that Dobby had brought to him soon after he had finished his dessert which consisted of a plate of mouth watering treacle tart.

"Where are the other elves Dobby?" he asked the small elf sitting on a chair facing him while swinging his legs like a child on a sugar high. Dobby had looked ecstatic when he had suggested the elf to join him at the table while the other house-elves who heard him had looked scandalized.

"They is cleaning the castle Master Harry Potter sir, we is doing it every night sir." Dobby chirped, his ears quivering in excitement. Harry hummed slightly sipping his drink when another thought popped into his mind.

"Is Kreacher behaving himself?"

A small scowl graced the free elf's face.

"Kreacher says nasty things about Master Harry Potter, Dobby hits him if Dobby hears them." his friend said proudly making Harry smile softly.

"Thanks Dobby." Harry muttered as he drained the last of his drink, feeling extremely tried after events of the very long night. "I should get going now if I want to catch the train tomorrow. Good night Dobby and thank your friends for the great meal."

Dobby jumped to his feet along with him and smiled toothily.

"Dobby is very happy to help Master Harry Potter sir anyway he can. Good night Master Harry Potter sir."

With one last smile at his very small friend, Harry pulled his father's cloak over himself and walked out of the kitchen almost yearning for his four posters.