Warning: This is a slash fanfic. It means boy X boy relationship. If you are offended or not comfortable with it, please choose another story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. This story is written purely for fun and not for money.

Drowning a sinking ship

Chapter four – Dudley the super… pig?

A surprise in the form of Hedwig disturbed the peaceful afternoon.

Harry, who was facing the window, was the first to notice the arrival of the owl. Without any hesitation, he went to open the window so that it could enter.

The moment Hedwig perched onto his arm, it hooted happily at him. "I'm happy to see you too girl!" laughed Harry happily. After giving him another joyful hoot, Hedwig stuck out her leg to get him to unload her burden.

Marvolo was watching the owl with narrow eyes, as though trying to dissect it. Of course he did not mean to do that literally, it was just that he could not solve the puzzle of why this particular bird was able to bypass the anti-owl ward which surrounded the manor. He had personally casted that ward himself! Where did he do wrong? While he was busy going through theories after theories in his head, Hedwig suddenly flew to his shoulder catching him unaware. As he eyed the owl warily, he could swear there was amusement in its eyes. The bloody bird was laughing at him!

Harry had to muffle his laughter when he saw the hilarious scene of the most feared dark lord in a staring contest with his owl. Covering his mouth using his left hand, he opened the letter with the other.

Dear Harry,

How are you? I hope your relatives are treating you right. I'm staying with Padfoot at you know where. Do not worry about us, we're fine.

Dumbledore has instructed me to fetch you the day after your birthday. I know that you would like to leave that house earlier but the headmaster has reasons not to do so. I'm sorry that I can't give you any information here because this letter may get intercept. I promise we will talk when you arrive here.

I look forward in seeing you soon. Oh before I forget, I'll be coming in the morning at 9.

Love,

Moony.

p.s. Hedwig came here when I was just about to send this letter. She is too clever.

"Well, seems like we will be facing some problem when you go to Gringott to claim your inheritance," commented Marvolo when he finished reading the letter which Harry passed to him.

Oh yes, he had nearly forgotten that. Even though he had not yet reached 17, an age when a wizard became an adult, he was legally able to claim the vault after his sixteenth birthday because of his vampire status. "You're right! They will definitely be searching Diagon Alley when Remus found that I'm gone. It will be hard for me to be undetected."

Marvolo gave him a reassuring smile, "I suppose we can go there under glamour. None will recognize you, as long as you don't give yourself away."

"And we can go in early morning, before the time Remus goes to pick me up," added Harry with a lopsided grin.

"Yes, that will work nicely. But we still need to be careful when we leave the bank, even though we have glamour to hide our identity." Marvolo looked thoughtful for a moment, "I'll think of something else."

"Okay," agreed Harry and was left wondering what additional plan Marvolo would come up with.

/ - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - /

After Marvolo left to attend to his dark lord's business, Harry decided to read the book given to him on vampire. Unconsciously, his feet brought him to his favorite room in the suite; the library.

The library in Marvolo's private suite was an amazing place. All sides of the walls of the room, excluding the part where the fireplace was, were lined with bookshelves that ran from the floor all the way up to the ceiling. Tall ladders, which could be easily slid along the length of the shelves, were there to assist anyone to reach each and every book.

As far as Harry could see, the well organized library was filled with all sort of books ranging from topics like Potion, Charm, and Transfiguration to Dark art, magical creatures, journals and so much more. From his brief inspection, he came across a few books which did not have a title and some of them were so old that he suspected they might be well over two hundred years.

The place might be packed with books but it did not give a forbidden feeling which made you lowered your voice automatically and lightened your footsteps like normal library usually did. Instead it was cozy and welcoming. Most likely due to the couch that looked so inviting that it made you wanted to snuggle in it and laze around or the fact that there was no librarian that would follow every move of yours like a hawk.

Harry lounged in the couch with the book opened in his hands. Periodically, the sound of turning pages accompanied the cracking of burning logs in the fire. The interesting facts and information in the book held Harry's total concentration. If a herd of hippogriff was to storm by, most probably he would not hear them at all. Occasionally, the expression on his face would change from serious to fascinating to awe and from embarrass to longing.

Vampires are feared by many because of their notorious reputation of drinking blood from their victims and them dying from blood lost. However, not all types of vampire require blood from human, a fact which is generally unknown to many…

Blood of a vampire carries vampire virus, a case similar to the werewolf lycanthropy. It is the virus that gives a vampire its inhuman abilities. The power level and what kind of abilities a vampire acquire depends on how well the vampire blood is in tune with its turned body…

There are two ways to create a vampire. The first method, which is the commonly known method, is by biting. The vampire has to first drain the blood of the human and then feed him with its vampire blood. The vampire virus in the blood causes the body to undergo changes and be turned. Draining of blood is a must as human blood slows the process of turning which causes additional amount of pain. The second method is a natural turning process which occurs on the sixteenth birthday of a wizard who is born with vampire genes…

There are three classes of Vampire: Vampry, Vampress and Vamperor (in ascending order of ability and power)…

As mentioned before, the power of a vampire depends on how well the vampire blood, or more accurately the virus, works hand in hand with its turned body. A muggle or a wizard, who does not have the vampire genes, never has the criteria which enable the body to change in such a way to complement the vampire blood during the turning process. The result is a vampire with weaknesses, little abilities and less powerful…

Vampry is created when a muggle is turned. Because its turned body is not fully adapted to the vampire blood, it is incapable of carrying the vampire blood without harm. A Vampry needs human blood to sustain its turned body in order to overcome this weakness. In some rare cases when a Vampry goes without feeding blood for a long period of time, the vampire virus will trigger the vampry to go into a berserk state which is known as a bloodthirst attack. It is a mechanical respond by the virus for survival. Vampry abilities are limited and least powerful among all other classes of vampire. Due to its poorly turned body, it is unable to survive under direct sunlight. The moment it comes into contact with sunlight, its body will begin to disintegrate. For the same reason, its turned body is unable to process food other than blood…

'No chocolate, no cheese, no chicken pie and none of your favorite food? No way, that was a disaster. And what was worse, not able to walk under the sun?' A mental image of a vampire literally turning to ash and crumbled sent a shiver through Harry. Quickly waving off the gruesome image, his mind's path switched to another track. 'Hmm… I didn't know that vampire is similar to werewolf in that way. I should be grateful that I won't be suffering from transforming every full moon.' The memory of Remus's transformation was still as vivid as that day.

In the case when the turning involves a wizard, then a Vampress is the result. During the turning process, the magical core in the wizard harness the body to be more harmonized with the vampire blood. Since the turned body is more suited for the vampire blood, it needs less human blood. Usually Vampress feeds once every 4 to 5 days. For the same reason, Vampress has more abilities and is more powerful than Vampry. Besides having abilities like enhance strength, agility, sight, touch and hearing which Vampry has, Vampress is able to shadow walk and has fast healing ability. They are able to eat normal food and walk under the sun, though they prefer the night…

Vamperor is the most powerful and is considered the nobility among the vampires. They are from wizards who are born with vampire genes. Usually they are born as a human and the turning occurs when they reach their sixteenth birthday. Once the time has come, the vampire genes guide the changing process to make sure the body is turned correctly. In addition, the body is fundamentally prepared for the turning so the process is less painful and takes a shorter time. It is interesting to note that not all wizard that carry vampire genes turned. The reason to that reminded unknown though some researchers believed that it has to do with blood line. As their turned body is fully in tune with the vampire blood, the vampire virus is at its full potential which results to a very powerful vampire. The magical core of Vamperor grows during the turning until it is large enough to support its acquired powerful abilities…

'Oh, so this was what Marvolo was talking about.' Harry nibbled on his lower lip thoughtfully. 'I wonder how Marvolo is going to train me. They didn't say anything about that here…'

An interesting fact about the Vamperor is that they have normal body temperature and heart rate. A trait that is different from Vampry and Vampress which have lower body temperature and heart rate. As it is, it is quite difficult to distinguish it from a human. As long as the Vamperor hides it fangs, it is hard to tell the difference…

'Hey, no wonder Marvolo looks so… human. If he never told me, I would never guess he is a vampire,' mused Harry before he realized that he too could easily hide the fact that he was a vampire from everyone back in school. Hiding certain truth had many great advantages especially when you could surprise your enemy.

Vamperor does not need human blood to survive. They seldom take blood from other living beings except their mate. The exchange of blood usually takes place between mates during bonding or mating. It is a form of showing affection and letting the dominant to lay claim to its submissive…

Vamperor is the only class of vampire which has a destined mate. Usually the mate of a vamperor can only be another vamperor, but there are a handful of known cases where the mate is a wizard. A mate bond exists between the destined pair. A dominant Vamperor will search out its mate through the bond after its turning. If the submissive has not yet turned, there will be no tugging of the bond…

A mental mind link forms when a pair of vamperor mates completed their bonding. In the case where the mate is a wizard, there will be no such link…

Because of the existence of the mate bond, even before the finalization of the bond, when one of the mates dies, the other will gradually wasted away…

So… this was the real reason why the old coot tricked Marvolo to attack his family. It did not matter who died in that confrontation, ultimately it would result to the death of the other mate; whichever outcome would be beneficiary to the old man. The more Harry learnt about the evil doing of Dumbledore, the more he wished to just storm to Hogwarts and kill the man and be done with. 'Shit!' Harry raged silently before he could gradually calm down and return to his reading.

A submissive Vamperor is able to conceive, regardless of the submissive's gender. However the chances of conceiving are highly unlikely. Little is known on the pregnancy of a Vamperor. It is believe that there are less than fifty Vamperor…

Conceive? Pregnant? The thought of making a child inadvertently caused Harry to blush instantly. He buried his redden face in the book and groaned, 'What am I thinking? This is too… urggg…' Even as he struggled to fight off the embarrassment, the idea of him carrying a child did not freak him out and his hand involuntarily moved to place onto his stomach. In fact, the idea of carrying Marvolo's and his child let him had a sense of fulfillment and a feeling of completeness.

He could have had a family.

/ - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - /

By the time Marvolo joined him for dinner, Harry had almost finished reading the book.

While they were enjoying their meals, Marvolo's line of sight fell onto the book placed next to Harry's hand. "Have you finished reading the book?"

"Almost, I still left a couple of chapters to go." The doubt Harry had while reading the book was brought to his fore mind by that question. "Marvolo, the reason Dumbledore wanted you to attack me and my family was because we are mate, wasn't it?" It was a statement more than a question. "No matter which one of us dies, the other will eventually too."

"Yes, he is as sly as a snake. Sometimes I wonder did the sorting hat put him in the wrong house. It should have put him in Sytherin instead of Gryffindor."

"And smear the good name of Sytherin?" Harry gave a cheeky lopsided grin. "Imagine that, the leader of the Light was a Sytherin."

Marvolo chuckled lightly in respond.

"Umm… I was thinking, since Dumbledore is from Gryffindor line, then it means he already has the vampire genes in him. He has the potential to become a powerful vampire. He can just get a vampire to turn him and he will live forever." Harry tilted his head to the side with an I-do-not-understand expression. "Isn't immortality what he wants?"

"Immortality of a vampire is of no guarantee. There are many ways to kill a vampire. Can a vampire live without its head? Can a vampire survive without its heart?"

"Okay…" He nodded his head slowly.

"There are other undesirable effects too if he choose that method of immortality. Dumbledore may have the genes, but it is dormant. It will not be awakened and therefore his body will never be fully compatible for the vampire blood. Most likely he will be more powerful than a Vampress but never than a Vamperor," explained Marvolo patiently. "Do you think for someone as ambitious as Dumbledore will want to be a less powerful vampire than us? Moreover, do you think he is willing to be dependent on blood? Having a weakness?"

"I see," Harry hummed thoughtfully before he remember something else, "Do you think I can hide the fact that I'm a vampire when I go back to school? Madam Pomfrey is sure to give me a medical checkup by the order of Dumbledore."

"That can be easily done. I can get Severus to brew the conceal potion that hides your vampire trait from any medical scan." Marvolo solved the problem easily. "Enough about that crack pot, let's finished our dinner and we will be going out."

"Going out? Where?" Marvolo had certainly sparked his curiosity.

"Your relatives' house, I'm sure by now they should all be at home."

"Huh? Why are we going there?" Harry was confused by the man's words. "I don't want to have anything to do with them." The sinister smirk that suddenly shot his way startled him a bit, "Are you going to kill them?" He looked suspiciously at Marvolo. Not that he cared about the Dursley; it was just that it might be better not to do anything that could catch the attention of one certain headmaster.

"No, I plan to persuade them to move house before the Order notices that you are missing. I want to confuse them into thinking that the Dursley has moved when they go to collect you. They will be spending time looking for the new home in order to locate you. In that way, we get to have more freedom when we go to Gringott for your inheritance." Marvolo's smile was way too innocent to mean just 'persuade' and his voice was full of smugness when he continued, "Won't it be fun when we can be creative in our persuasion?"

Harry rolled his eyes but could not deny the fact that what the man said was a smart move. The day when he was legally able to claim his inheritance was also the day the Order would go collect him. So if they were to search in the muggle world instead of the wizarding world on that day, it would give them an extra safety precaution. It was a good diversion tactic to aid their original plan of using glamour to hide his identity. It might even take them a few days before they came to the correct conclusion because it was never easy for wizard to search for a person in the muggle world.

Of course, Dumbledore might see through their plan but it was always never enough to be extra careful right?

/ - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - /

Marvolo apparated both of them to the same dark alley when he came for Harry a few days back.

"Urgg… I hate apparition," murmured Harry while he tried to fight the queasy feeling in his stomach. His hand leeched onto Marvolo's to steady himself from dropping to the floor.

Noticing the distress look on his mate, Marvolo began to rub soothing circles on his back. "It's my first time seeing someone who has such a huge reaction to apparition," commented Marvolo in a light teasing manner. The inaudible grumbles that followed his statement made him chuckled. Taking advantage of Harry's momentary inattentiveness, he cupped his mate's face in between his hands and kissed him.

Harry only hesitated for a second before he responded to the kiss. Before he knew it, his discomfort and his nerves for the oncoming meeting got thrown out of his mind.

Marvolo's mouth curled into a satisfied smile when he saw the dazed look and rosy cheeks on Harry's face. Turning his attention towards their target tonight, he studied the ward surrounding the house thoroughly. Nothing had changed. All the wards remained gone except the alarm ward which he left untouched. Satisfied with the situation, he handed Harry a piece of parchment, "The written rune will deactivate the alarm ward. It is better for you to enter first. I'll be right behind."

Harry hummed his agreement and put the parchment into his pocket before heading towards house #4. By the time he reached the door, he finally managed to will his blush away.

'What are you doing here again?' was the loud and rude greeting his uncle gave him the moment he opened the door.

Before Harry could snap back a retort, Marvolo appeared behind him and pointed his wand at his uncle and gestured him to step back into the house.

Vernon's red angry face rapidly turned pale. He gulped and walked backward to the living room, his eyes never left the wand which was pointing at his chest. Even though the three of them remained silent, the tension coming from Vernon alerted his wife and son. Both leapt from the sofa and cowed behind him when they recognized the dangerous man who had attacked them previously in their home. The cowering group flinched and shook in fear when the dark lord sneered at them.

Vernon's anger returned when the dark lord put his wand away. He puffed his chest out in a pathetic attempt to look intimidating and barked out his demand, "Boy! What is this? Get this man out of here."

Harry pointedly ignored his uncle and turned to Marvolo, "I'm going to get some of my stuffs." With that said, he then walked up the stairs to his room.

The way Harry dismissed his uncle made him even madder. He shouted after him, "Boy! Get this man…"

Before he could finish his sentence, Voldemort's wand instantly reappeared in his hand and before the next second was up, soundproof ward was casted around the room followed by a crucio aimed at the fat man.

Ah… music to his ears. The fat ass fell onto the ground immediately followed by strings of screaming. Both the fat boy and the woman tried to hold down the man while he twitched and twisted as spasms racked through his whole body. After 15 seconds, the dark lord lifted the spell. "You have no place to make any demand, you worthless piece of shit." stated the dark lord coldly. "Perhaps this will teach you to know your position." With a lazy flick of his wand, he sent another crucio at the fat ass. Umm… nice melody…

Several long minutes after her husband had stopped screaming, Petunia gathered her courage and tried a softer approach, "What do you want? The old man with long beard said that… said you lot cannot harm us. Your… your police will arrest you."

"Listen well you filthy muggles," he glared at them without mercy, "I'm Lord Voldemort, the wizarding laws do not apply on me and I do not care about your pathetic life." Malicious glint flashed in his red eyes.

Petunia flinched backwards and whimpers escaped from her while Vernon lay helplessly against his wife catching his breath and unable to move. The three Dursleys bundled together as close as possible with ashen face.

This was the pitiful sight of his relatives that Harry witnessed when he returned with his trunk. His mouth formed a satisfied lopsided grin before walking over to stand beside Marvolo.

"I want you to move house within one week." The dark lord glared at the Dursleys until they nodded their head terrifyingly. "I will know if you do as I said or not. Do not test my patience." Suddenly he looked at Dudley and then turned to Harry with a devilish smirk, "What's your favorite animal?"

Harry smirked back when he realized what Marvolo was trying to do. "Pink piggy pig, complete with a pink bow." answered Harry with mirth.

Without hesitation, a quick flick of the dark lord's wand turned Dudley into a pinkish pig with a cute pouty snout.

Petunia immediately shrieked while her husband was so shocked that he could only stare dumbly at the pig… his son.

'Damn! I don't have a camera with me,' thought Harry wistfully, 'I could have taken a photo and have a good laugh whenever I look at it.'

"This is to remind you of my orders, in case you think I'm joking. Your… son will turn back to human once you move within a week. Longer than that, he will remain forever as a pig. Try asking for help, he will remain forever as a pig. Talk to anyone about this, he will remain forever as a pig." His warning and threats clearly expressed in his statement. After the two adults nodded with fearful expression on their face, the dark lord conjured a long pink ribbon and handed it to Harry.

Harry grinned happily at Marvolo before approaching the pig.

With the transformation, the once formidable Dudley the bully was reduced to a dim witted pig. But no matter how stupid one had become, when someone tried to tie you up, you would automatically struggle and so that was what Dudley the pig was doing. It tried to scram behind his mother when it saw the approaching ribbon.

"Please hold him… it still." Harry requested sweetly and politely with a bright smile.

Feeling the warning glare shooting at her from the dangerous man, Petunia bit her tongue to prevent herself from snapping at her nephew and held the pig… her son steady.

Harry whistled a song happily and took his time tying a big bow round the pig's neck. "There, nice pretty piggy." He giggled with childlike delight. His aunt's lips were pressed so thin that he wondered they might forever stay that way and his uncle was in such a nice shade of purple and red that it looked like he was having a stroke.

Marvolo chuckled as he watched Harry and when he walked back to his side, he took down the ward and wiped off any trace of magic residue from his spells. He then took hold of his mate and apparated both of them back to the manor.

/ - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - /

The excitement gotten from their adventure had made Harry unable to sit still. He was smiling ear to ear whenever he thought about Dudley while pacing around the room in circles. Occasionally, words like 'pink', 'ribbon' and 'pig' could be heard from him followed by giggles. Now he was on his fourth or was it fifth round…

Chuckling at his mate's exuberant antic, Marvolo stuck out his hands and pulled him onto his laps when Harry strolled pass him. "Enough of your pacing, you're making my head spin by watching you." commanded Marvolo in a voice full of amusement.

"But it was sooooo funny," laughed Harry. "But too bad I didn't bring a camera to capture that moment." He said with mock regrets and then followed by a few chuckles.

The whole affair of threatening the Dursley might look like a clever plan to aid them later, but Harry knew deep inside his heart that the main purpose for the visit was to extract revenge on his behalf. Even without this, they still could have easily carried out their business without any mishap because the glamour trick was more than enough. This man really cared about him. He leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on his cheeks, "Thank you." He whispered and looked at Marvolo gratefully.

"You're welcome, my mate." An unusual warm appeared in his eyes.

Harry's cheeks reddened when Marvolo called him his mate and the color deepened when he recognized the possessiveness and love in those eyes. Embarrassed, he ducked his head to escape the intensity of those red orbs and at the same time a pleasant warm feeling spread through him.

Marvolo leaned forward and kissed his mate on his forehead before gathering him into his arms. After long minutes of comfortable silence, he decided to tell Harry what he had planned for his training, "Tomorrow we shall start your training with meditation lesson. Meditation helps you to master wandless magic and the process of learning wandless magic is also the training of controlling your magic."

A soft 'okay' was heard before Harry suddenly sat up straighter. "I need to learn Occlumency too or Dumbledore will be able to extract our secrets right from my head." His eye widened and then added, "Sirius and Remus too, when they join us."

"There's no need for you to learn Occlumency because vampire is a natural occlument, so is werewolf. As for Black, he must have learnt it because he was an auror. All aurors are required to be proficient in the art."

"Oh." Marvolo statement released the tension which Harry didn't know he had. He gave a small relief smile and snuggled back into Marvolo's arms.

Well, he had one less worry now.

/ - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - /

A/N (1): How I come up with the name of different class of vampire: Vampire + ordinary = Vampry; Vampire + Empress = Vampress; Vampire + Emperor = Vamperor

A/N (2): I have so much fun writing Dudley turn pig part, the idea was last minutes added in 'cos plot bunny hop by suddenly and refuse to let go of my script :3

harryfan160889: I hope this chapter answered your question. Mpreg will most probably happen at… the epilogue? I didn't like the idea of Harry being a father (or mother? lol) when he is still so young. After all they have a very very very long life.

HerebTheLostRaven: Emm… glad you are not put off by my lousy English *blush* I taught myself the language, so… *too embarrass and hide herself under the bed* and I don't have someone to check for me… *cough cough* :3