Disclaimers: I do not own any of the characters, Harry Potter or the Twilight Saga. They all belong to their respective author, J. K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer. I make no money from this story.
Summary: HP/Twilight Crossover, SLASH. Post-war. After Harry is turned into a vampire, he must find a way to escape the British Wizarding world. His best chance lies in America. He must lay low and establish residency/citizenship for 4 yrs before he can approach the American Republic of Magic in Seattle, WA.
Pairings: Past Harry/Draco,Edward/Harry, Carlisle/Esme, Emmet/Rosalie and Jasper/Alice.
Warnings: There will be SLASH relationships in this story. This is Post-war, but it'll still be AU as far as Book 7 is concerned (since I still haven't read it). For the Twilight Saga, I've only completed book 2 and I still haven't decided how to handle Bella if/when I get to the actual Crossover, most probably AU for Twilight as well. IMPORTANT: There will be DARK THEMES. Including, but not limited to, mentions of WWII concentration camps. If you or your family have been directly impacted by the Holocaust and harbor strong opinions regarding the camps and what went on there, please read at your own discretion. This fic is not intended to offend but rather to elicit an emotional response.
A/N: This is un-beta'ed. If/when I continue writing the next chapters; the first chapter may be subj to revision. :P
Chapter One
Harry woke slowly. He remembered the pain. He remembered begging them to kill him; remembered being terrified that he'd turn feral. 9 out of 10 cases where a wizard is infected with vampire venom, the victim goes feral with no control over the bloodlust and only minimal, animalistic intelligence. Harry breathed in and out steadily, knowing it was not necessary. He no longer needed air. That he was remembering facts about vampires was a good sign that he wasn't feral. He remembered his life clearly but in a disconnected way; as if he had just surfaced after reading a series of adventure/fantasy books about a boy-hero.
Shortly, he opened his eyes. He was in an almost military-style bunker. He was lying on a cot which protruded from a steel wall; the corners not attached directly to the wall being suspended by thick steel chains. The floor, the ceiling, and the walls immediately to the left and right of the bed were also steel. There was a small stand to the left with an empty potion vial. It would have been the one administered during the last phase of transformation in order to curb the bloodlust upon the final awakening. Harry's attention was drawn inexorably to the wall directly across from the bed. It appeared to be made of glass or plastic with holes for air, or more likely, for communication.
He didn't consciously remember moving except to turn his head in his observation of his surroundings, but as he saw the person on the other side of the glass, Harry was suddenly standing before it with his hands pressed against it.
Harry's disconnection with his past suddenly shattered as he watched his lover sitting on an uncomfortable-looking folding chair, his back straight, dressed in the pale blue silk robes he preferred when not in the Auror uniform. His blonde hair immaculate as ever, Draco Malfoy looked oddly cold and closed-off in a way that Harry had not seen since their Sixth year, some 5 years back.
Wanting to put his lover at ease in some way, knowing that it would be almost impossible, knowing that they needed to speak to try and breach this new obstacle that sat heavy and despairing as his now undead heart.
"Draco…"
The blonde didn't respond except a nearly-invisible tightening around the eyes.
Harry tried again. "I begged them to kill me, I can't believe they didn't. It was a terrible risk; I could have been feral, could have killed someone, could have killed you… I'm so sorry you had to go through this. I can't imagine what I would have done if it had been you…"
Still, the blonde was silent, his eyes empty and glossy, his face pale and drawn; his hands, usually prone to fidgeting, were still as the vampire's. Draco stared at the glass wall as if not seeing the vampire behind it.
"Draco, say something." Harry whispered, desperately.
"Dumbledore kept them from killing you. He likely intends to use you in order to improve rights for restricted magical creatures such as vampires and werewolves. Now that you've awakened, it is illegal to kill you as you are not feral and are therefore protected under the Endangered Species Act unless and until you become hostile."
Harry was struck speechless as he listened to his love, his best friend since Ron betrayed him at fourteen. Despite having forgiven his friends, he had never been close to Ron or Hermione after fourth year. He had never been close to anyone again until Draco. And now Harry could not see anything of the young man he had come to love and trust. Surely this situation was painful and abrupt. Both had known the risk of losing each other during the war; both had been prepared, but neither had contemplated that one of them would become a vampire during the last battles. Harry had succeeded in destroying Voldemort. The final battle had been months ago. Only now, long after being inducted into the Auror Corps, they had been on a clean-up raid to oust some of the remnants of the Dark Lord's so-called army. Only now, after they had thought the real threat over, Harry had been bitten in an otherwise text-book sting operation. Surely, it was an utterly impossible situation… But still, Harry was alive – or rather, he was not feral. He was still himself. Why was Draco so cold?
"You'll stay here in the underground facility beneath St. Mungo's for about a year as per standard protocol for a newly turned vampire, or possibly longer depending on when you're cleared to be assigned to one of the concentration camps." The blonde's voice was empty, unreadable.
Harry went still, not breathing. If he'd still been human, he'd have paled. The vampire concentration camps. They were not unlike the Jewish camps in WWII. It was still debated whether Hitler's people got the idea from squibs who detailed the plans for the Vampire Habitation program. But where the Jews had been freed after the war, the vampires still resided under those conditions even today. Of course vampires didn't suffer disease or pain in the extreme conditions, the way the humans had. But still, they were humiliated; forced to wash in communal showers and herded and sorted like sheep in a slaughter house. And there were still purges. When the population got above a certain level or if there were budget cuts, a selection would be made…
Of course, there were still some vampires on the outside, just as there had been Jews who held some power and/or immunity during the war. The ones who made it to America retained some shred of their humanity. They were considered the lucky ones. Harry had, perhaps foolishly, thought that he would continue to work with the Ministry. After all, as Aurors, he and his partner (life-partner, Harry thought with an anguished look at Draco) had both worked with vampire consultants on ICW (1) missions…
Harry took a shuddering breath. "What about us? Draco, if I'm not feral… and with the scent ward and potion-laced blood, surely there is less risk of my succumbing to bloodlust. Am I really going to be sent to a camp? What possible good would I be able to do there? It makes no sense for Dumbledore to allow such a thing. If he refused to kill me before the change, he must have some kind of plan…"
"Once the potions mixed in with the blood are fully absorbed into your system, you'll no longer be at risk of falling prey to the bloodlust. But that's not the point, Harry. As a vampire, you are now an animal. My partner is dead. This isn't America or Italy or Brazil. By British Wizarding law, all new-born vampires are secured in seclusion for the first year or two before being assigned to a concentration camp. When I said Dumbledore wants to use you, I don't think he intends to use you directly. You're not even a weapon anymore. Now, you're just an example, a concept. As far as most people are concerned, you are an animal. Dumbledore is essentially looking to improve animal rights. My partner is dead and I will not even have the closure of a funeral. Because of those animal rights, I will not even have a body to bury or a gravestone to tend."
Harry closed his eyes, unable to look at his lover any longer. He could see it now. How he wished he couldn't, that his mind hadn't made the realization. Draco had never been the most tolerant person, but he also hadn't objected to working with vampires on missions as most of the other Auror teams would. But then, those vampires had been mostly trackers. Draco had once compared them with the Muggle police-dogs. Harry could not help but see it, with his new vampire-quick mind. How he wished he could still be in shock, still be in denial. He didn't want to see it. Didn't want to believe it. Didn't want to know it.
But, he could see it. Draco's pain and grief weren't that of a lover who is watching his companion suffer; Draco's pain and grief were that of a lover who is in mourning. To Draco, the fact that Harry was still himself meant nothing, that he was not feral only made him more dangerous than the average beast. The pain was almost debilitating, Harry thought. Surely the change had already been completed, so where was this pain coming from? How could he feel such consuming agony so physically from a broken heart that no longer beat?
When Harry and Draco had first been inducted into the Auror Corps, they had each chosen different fields of study for leadership coursework. Draco had focused on the Greco-Roman tactics and Napoleonic war, citing that they were the basis from which all forms of modern strategy derived. He wondered briefly what Draco had thought of those who were conquered by the Romans; wondered also if the Romans, too, had dehumanized their conquered foes. Harry had never remembered much about the Romans, save for the most famous tales of the Caesars.
Harry had taken Dumbledore's over-used advice of Know Thy Enemy and had focused on Subjugation in Warfare. Genocide was, after all, the purpose behind Voldemort and his predecessor, Grindelwald. Harry had studied closely the politics and positions of the Colonies and Britain during the American Revolution, and of the North and South in the American Civil War, and of course, the dehumanization of the Jews during the Second World War.
He couldn't help but wonder if what he felt now was anything like those Jews had felt in Nazi Germany as they were stripped of their humanity in the eyes of their German friends and family. Had a Jewish maid in those long ago years once felt this way when her love came home a Nazi and severed their courtship on the claim that she was naught but a Jewish rat? Perhaps. He couldn't help but feel sympathy for that may-have-been girl. If he had tears, Harry thought he might shed them for her.
He didn't know how long he stood there with his hands pressed against the unbreakable glass. He didn't speak when finally Draco stood and left without saying goodbye. Harry wanted to scream, wanted to call his partner back and tell him he loved him, but he could not seem to do more than bow his head and press his forehead against the barrier. There were no tears on his cheeks. Vampires cannot cry.
Notes:
1) ICW – Intl Confederation of Wizards
Huh, after reading this through a third time… I kind of noticed this could go Jasper/Harry pretty easily instead of Edward/Harry. Thing is, where I left off in the Twilight Saga, Jasper still didn't have a personality. I think I might need to read Eclipse (to see if I can actually work with Jasper) before I make any attempt to cough up a chapter two. Or maybe I just need to re-read T & NM without constantly screaming "Oh, Come ON!!! What kind of protagonist is actually this Pathetic??? Stop whining, Damn you!!!" … *cough* But enough about Bella.
Y'all review and let me know if I should attempt Jasper, 'kay? Cuz, I can work with Broody/Bipolar/Anti-social Edward fairly easily on acct of I'm all of those things myself… but I dunno much 'bout Jazz… except that I really want to call him Jazz. Lol.