Title: The Beast Within
Genre: Angst/Romance
Pairings: Harry/Snape, Draco/Hermione, brief mentions of Ginny/Neville
Rating: M, for future chapters
Status: Complete, one side story finished
Warnings: AU, Slash sex, mentions of past abuse, self abuse, vampirism, Dead Voldemort, Evil Dumbledore, Evil Ron, Good Bella and Narcissa, Good Draco, OOCness on Harry and Severus' parts
Disclaimer: I don't own any recognizable characters, locations, or spells. That right belongs with JK Rowling and the others involved in the Harry Potter Universe. I'm simply borrowing them for my pleasure, and yours.
Summary: Harry has a secret. Snape wants to know. When he does, is it victory, or a whole new secret? Slash, M/M. Rated for later chapters.
Alternate Summary: We've all read the stories where Snape's a vampire, and Harry's his mate. What would happen if Harry were the vampire and he discovered that Snape was his mate?
~*~
Chapter 1: Coming to Terms
~*~
"That was too close."
Harry found himself in the Forbidden Forest for the third time this week, his blood lust taking over. He had almost bitten Ron and Hermione, before hastily excusing himself. He searched furiously for an animal. He needed whatever he could get his hands on to dull the roaring fire in the back of this throat. He found a badger after a short search.
Three days earlier, much the same thing happened in Potions, where he was being bullied by none other than Severus Snape.
~*~
"Today, you will be brewing the Draught of the Living Dead," Snape drawled, his expression bored and his tone expressionless. "Get on with it, now."
The students all jumped to get their ingredients from the stores. Well, all of them except Harry. He was still in his seat, his eyes glued to the board. Inside his head, something was shouting nonsense over and over.
"Potter, are you too important to brew such a potion?" Snape asked, his voice sharp. Harry was gripping the table so hard his knuckles were turning white. He did all he could to prevent himself from lunging at the older man.
As Snape made his way to Harry's table, Harry leapt out of this seat and sprinted out of the school, not stopping until he was deep in the forest and started in on a badger.
~*~
"God, why does it have to be him?" Harry asked himself, after draining another badger. He found himself sitting against a tree trunk about halfway into the forest.
After he realized exactly what he was, Harry spent every waking moment trying to find out anything he could about being a Vampire. After the essay in Defense two years ago, things started to click for Harry. His intense mood swings, his need for solitude, and the way Snape started to...affect him. Something about the man began to stir Harry's emotions in a way they hadn't been stirred before.
"I need to talk to Dumbledore," Harry said, casting a quick Scourgify on himself as he made his way to the castle.
~*~
"Harry, m'boy, what seems to be bothering you?" Dumbledore asked, oblivious to the tense actions Harry made.
"Professor, did you know that I'm a full-blood Vampire?" Harry asked, looking at the older man intensely.
"You're a what?" Dumbledore asked, shock written on his face.
"I'm a Vampire, sir," Harry said, staring at the headmaster.
"How did you come across this information?" Dumbledore asked, racking his brain for the instance he might have let it slip.
"When Umbridge gave us the Vampire essay in the fifth year. After I realized how much of that fit me, I started researching in my free time," Harry said, his voice changing from his usual aloof tenor to a deep, gruff baritone.
"I see," Dumbledore said, cursing himself for ever letting that blasted woman in the school. "How have you been dealing with the tendencies?"
"I usually just run into the forest and find an animal, regardless of what it is that I'm doing," Harry said, leaning back in the chair. "A few days ago, I ran out of Potions when Snape was bullying me to keep myself from snapping."
"Why is it that Severus affects you so much, Harry?" Dumbledore asked, unsure of the answer himself.
"I believe that he is, most likely, my mate, Sir," Harry answered, his eyes darkening from their usual brilliant emerald to a green so dark, it was almost black.
"I see you found that information," Dumbledore said, cursing himself for leaving those books in the library.
"Yes, Sir," Harry said, his voice and eyes changing back slowly as he reigned in his inner beast. "Whenever I am in the presence of the Potions master, I can smell something indescribable. Something I read said that the mate of a Vampire would give off the scent of the one thing most desired by the Vampire."
"Yes, that's generally how it works," Dumbledore said, looking to the door after someone had knocked. "Come in."
"Headmaster, if this is a bad time, I can come.... Potter, what are you doing here?" Severus asked, noticing the intense gaze the young man was giving him.
"Hello, Snape," Harry answered, his body tensing again. His eyes were rapidly turning black, and his voice was lowering again.
"I must make my leave, Sir," Harry said, in his gruff baritone. He was completely unaware of the whimper Snape had given off.
"Alright, m'boy," Dumbledore said, watching Harry carefully.
"I'll return if I need to ask you anything else," Harry said quickly, before sprinting out the door.
"What was that all about, Albus?" Snape asked, taking the seat previously occupied by Harry. To his surprise, the seat was rather cold, instead of the warm he had expected.
"He had to talk to me about something rather personal, Severus," Dumbledore replied, quickly schooling his features.
"Did it have anything to do with the reason he ran out of my class three days ago?" Snape asked, leaning back in the chair.
"It had everything to do with it," Dumbledore said, offering a bowl of lemon drops to the other man.
"And what was the reasoning?" Snape demanded, his face livid.
"It is a matter than I cannot discuss without causing Harry to become overly angry with me," Dumbledore replied.
"Sure," Snape said, rolling his eyes.
"Now, the evening meal is starting soon, we should head to the Great Hall," Dumbledore said, getting up.
~*~
"Why did he have to show up?" Harry thought, as he made his way to the Great Hall for supper. "Just when I was going to get some answers, fucking SNAPE needs to show up."
Harry went past the kitchens, and went in to order a raw steak for himself. He made sure to speak to Dobby, because the over eager elf would ask no questions. He then made his way up to the Hall, and seated himself at the end of the table furthest from the Head table. He didn't need Snape's scent overpowering him in front of the entire school.
After a few minutes, Snape and Dumbledore entered the hall and walked right behind Harry, causing the young man to tense involuntarily as he fought his inner beast.
"What is that all about?" Snape thought, looking at the tense boy. "Surely he isn't..."
~*~
A/N: Here's the first chapter of my new project. It's going to be quite a bit different from my other fics. The relationship will actually progress at a slower pace, and Harry, as well as Severus, will have some issues dealing with the new set of challenges.
I really hope that this is of a better caliber than my other stuff. I'm trying to think this one through as much as possible before writing, unlike the other fics where I just started writing randomly one day.
Reveiws make me update faster.
-KD