Sadly I still don't own the characters - I can promise I'd be a vampire at Hogwarts myself if I did.

Thank you guys for bearing with my erratic update schedule!

-YDHP-

As he and his room mates headed along to double Charms, Vlad had to fight a spark of disappointment that it was with the Slytherins. As much as he loved his sister, Vlad could already see why his and her houses were known for rivalry - barely one day of classes in and there had already been incidents, granted mostly down to the obvious favouritism of Professor Snape. Vlad had been almost exempt from it as he'd worked with Draco, and he wondered how much was a front, and how much was the man himself. It would be interesting to see how things developed.

The tables in here were set up slightly differently, so they sat in rows of three and Vlad made the effort to sit by Neville, who still looked a little shaken by Potions. Harry settled the other side of Neville and flashed the nervous boy a smile. Draco looked a little perturbed, but Seamus stood to let him pass and sit next to he and Dean, and Vlad nodded at the irish boy approvingly. They had seven years together, it was best they got along.

A very tiny man with short, fluffy white hair and a thick white beard climbed on to a pile of books in the middle of the classroom, beaming and practically vibrating with excitable happiness.

"Hello students, my name is Professor Flitwick and I am the Charms professor!"

The man had a somewhat squeaky voice Vlad did not look forward to hearing as his senses grew sharper with age and vampirism, but he also had an air of energy and excitement that Vlad found amusing. The tiny man was practically bouncing as he waved his wand, silently, and a feather appeared in front of every student.

"Today we will be learning about levitation" sounded very similar to his father right now but was followed with "the spell to make objects fly. The wand movement is a swish and flick, like so" the small man demonstrated said swish and flick movement. "The incantation is 'Wingardium Leviosa. Give it a go!"

Vlad remembered Ingrid saying her wand was good at Charms, and wondered if his would be worse because it seemed good at Transfiguration. Practicing the wrist motion a few times, Vlad concentrated on seeing the feather lift and not on the intense look the small teacher was giving Vlad's wand. Speaking the incantation this time, Vlad smiled as his feather rose from the desk. Looking around, he blushed at the realisation he was the first to do it right.

"Well done Mr Dracula! First time! Five points to Gryffindor!"

The Slytherins scowled across the room, and Vlad could see Ron looking down sadly at his feather. As the boy tried again, Vlad focused on seeing that feather lift, flicking his fingers below the desk in the motion the feather should take as though that would help.

Ron's face lit up as the feather lifted, earning Slytherin five points himself and his housemates looking on with a mild sense of approval. Not wanting to upset the boy but needing to know if the feather was following him or Ron, Vlad turned and lowered his hand beneath the desk. The feather dropped like a stone, and Vlad was too surprised to notice the saddened look on Ron's face as he tried again.

He may be new to this, but he was pretty sure wizards used wands for a reason, and that he shouldn't be able to do that with just his fingers. The rest of the class kept trying, and Vlad tried on different people who already had floating feathers, focusing on them and lifting or lowering his hands. Each one he tried had the same result, the feather following the motion he made rather than it's caster.

"Well done class, some excellent work. Please read the chapter on levitation in your Charms books before the next class. Mr Dracula, please stay behind for a moment. Class dismissed, off to dinner students!"

Vlad felt a knot in his stomach at the intense eyes of the teacher, telling his bunkmates to head down to dinner and he'd catch up. Stepping down anxiously from his seat and clutching his bag, Vlad stood in front of the teacher. Even raised on his books, he barely met Vlad's eyes in height.

"You aren't in trouble Mr Dracula, I merely wanted to pass on secret congratulations at your level of control. I saw what you did with those feathers, wandless magic at 11 years old! Now, I happen to know your sister Ingrid, who is also excellent at Charms. I presume you are both what I think you are?"

Vlad shrugged, running his tongue over his still flat teeth nervously.

"Worry not young Dracula, I won't tell anyone how special you are, you don't seem the type to enjoy extra attention. I would bring it up with that interesting tutor of yours, perhaps during your lessons he can help you master this extra talent. Now, your fellow Gryffindors are lurking outside, but they haven't heard a word we said. Off to dinner with you!"

Nodding dumbly, Vlad turned and did indeed find his five room mates and Hermione waiting for him.

"What did you do this time Vlad?"

Forcing himself to smile, Vlad said the man wanted to ask if he'd practiced before or if he had his sisters natural aptitude for Charms.

"First Transfiguration and Potions you do perfectly, now Charms. Something about you is very interesting Vladimir Dracula. If I couldn't tell a mile off your tutor is no wizard, I'd wonder if that was your secret."

Feeling his chest constrict in panic at Draco's words, Vlad wondered if he had been found out already. They were saved further conversation by Seamus and his growling stomach, and thanks to the empty corridors Vlad shouted "race you!" and darted off, Draco and Hermione hanging back and watching the other boys zoom towards the Great Hall.

The ragged looking caretaker and his aggressive looking cat shouted "NO RUNNING!" as they got to the entrance hall, and the boys slowed down and attempted to look innocent as the last of their group caught up. Heading into dinner, Vlad remembered he needed to head up to the Headmaster after dinner to set up his lessons with Bertrand. The headmaster was engaged in conversation at that moment with a female professor Vlad didn't recognise, so he settled in to eat his spinach, potato and leek pie and a pile of vegetables.

The other boys looked on in confusion at Vlad's more balanced meal, Harry grinning around piles of buttery mash and Seamus wolfing down chicken legs like they were the last on Earth. But then, they weren't used to having so much choice that wasn't blood and Vlad didn't want to end up gorging himself every night.

Looking up at the head table again, Vlad caught Professor Flitwick handing a note to the headmaster. Somehow he thought it may be about him, as the headmaster then caught his eye. Vlad nodded and returned to his meal, appetite suddenly vanishing but not wanting to alert his friends to that fact. As dinner melted into pudding, Vlad sipped at more pumpkin juice, feeling his throat dry with anxiety. Seeing the headmaster get up and leave, Vlad quickly told his room mates he was off to set up his tutoring sessions and dashed off before they could comment.

Taking a slow walk up to the third floor, Vlad could feel anxiety prickling along his skin. He hadn't meant to draw attention to himself, and now here he was already starting to stand out. Muttering "sherbet lemons" at the guardian, Vlad stood on the rising staircase and let it carry him along. The door opened before he got there, and Vlad found the Headmaster, Bertrand and surprisingly Ingrid.

"This had better be important, I was painting my nails."

Ingrid was still painting her nails, so Vlad didn't really see what the issue was there.

"I don't know why you're here Ingrid, I came to sort out my tutoring days."

Ingrid raised an eyebrow at Vlad's anxious face, but resumed her nail painting anyway.

"I requested Mr du Fortunesa bring your sister to me, I wished to see if your unique talent was actually unique to you, or a Dracula magic trait."

Vlad sat in the chair indicated by the headmaster,

"Firstly, which days did you wish to request for your sessions with me si... Vladimir?"

"Well, I have free periods on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which would allow me to keep up with homework. Are those nights ok with you?"

Bertrand nodded, his bright eyes fixed on Vlad's hands. "I will come and get you tomorrow night at five minutes to eight from your common room, so I can show you to my quarters. After that, you'll be trusted to find your own way."

"Now Vladimir, Professor Flitwick said you showed exceptional ability in Charms today. You got the charm right first time, and then silently and wandlessly managed to work magic on your fellow students feathers whilst your own levitated for the entirety of your lesson. Did you feel drained at any point?"

Thinking back, and not remembering any kind of drained feeling, Vlad shook his head. Ingrid was looking at him with interest now, curious about him showing such power early. Then her usual irritation with her younger brother sparked, which was almost comforting in it's normality.

"That's a normal vampire power, but not until we transform. Even then, he should have felt a little tired by doing it multiple times and using the magic we are here to train!"

Sinking lower into his chair, Vlad felt very small and strange right now.

"Mr du Fortunesa, would you please lift this feather for me?"

Vlad looked up, and he saw Bertrand focus on the feather, lifting it to hover in the middle of the room.

"Now, Vlad would you mind seeing if you can bring it down against him?" Realising he wouldn't get anywhere if he didn't try, Vlad focused on the feather and pushed his hand down like he had in class. The feather dropped immediately, shocked faces on the two vampires in the room.

"Miss Ingrid, would you mind trying the same?"

Ingrid straightened up, naturally preening a little and focusing on the re-lifted feather. Her hand copied Vlad's motion, and the feather seemed to flutter in the air, rising and dropping slightly.

"Intriguing. Neither of you should be able to do anything to that. Mr Ollivander was right, you are both quite special."

Next Vlad was asked to try it on multiple feathers, and he imagined each one as being guided by individual fingers and moved them in sync. He managed it, but he started feeling a little dizzy when he tried to get them all to move seperately. The feathers dropped, the headmaster waving his wand to vanish them away.

"Fascinating."

A goblet was pressed into Vlad's hand and he drunk mechanically, feeling the dizziness lift at the acrid taste.

"That was a Replenisher, imagine it as an energy drink for magic."

Vlad nodded, hoping he'd be let go soon so he could go back and pretend he was normal and catching up on homework like his classmates. Ingrid tried too, but could only manage one for each hand and they weren't as fluid as Vlad's movements.

"Mr du Fortunesa, would it be possible for you to continue testing these abilities during your lessons with the Draculas? As you can levitate things yourself, it means we can keep this knowledge limited to the people here and our Charms professor."

Bertrand nodded, and Vlad and Ingrid were soon released so the 'adults' could talk. Ingrid had given Vlad a calculated look for a moment as they stood outside, before leaning down to give Vlad the quickest hug known to man or vampire and walking off. Vlad sighed to himself and headed back to the common room.


Harry was curious. Vlad was clearly not used to all the things in the magical world, much like himself. Hermione wasn't from a magical family either, but it was painfully obvious the girl was an avid learner. She was the second in their Charms class to lift her feather, but everyone had been watching Ron's feather lift and drop and she had continued to work silently. Vlad had been staring most intently at the Slytherin side, and Harry wondered why.

Quickly Vlad became self conscious, immediately distracting them when he escaped being kept behind after class and running off to dinner. After that, he'd disappeared from the table to see the headmaster, and now Harry and the others were sat in the common room doing homework with Hermione. Their homework was at this point mostly reading, and Seamus and Dean were rather obviously paying more attention to their poorly hidden game of 'exploding snap'. The quiet atmosphere was punctuated by bangs and minor explosions as their cards basically caught fire.

Looking up as the portrait swung open, a pale and tired looking Vlad all but crawled into the common room. He offered his friends a tired smile and headed straight for the dormitory, and even Hermione followed them up as they went after him.

"She's a girl, why is she in here?"

Phantom chose that moment to leap upon Hermione's shoulders and purr, effectively ending any further arguments from Seamus. Vlad was lying on his bed, a book they had homework set for open but it was clear he wasn't really looking at it. Hermione sat on the end of Vlad's bed and deposited Phantom on his chest. The pale boy stirred, hand automatically reaching to pet his familiar.

"Vlad, are you ok?"

Harry felt sad at the look on Vlad's face, though he wasn't sure why. The pale boy nodded, mumbling about being tired and sitting back up.

"I'm fine, I just got a run down of all the things I'll be learning in my private lessons and it was a little overwhelming. What homework have we got due for tomorrow?"

The boys obvious change of subject negated further discussion of his meeting with the headmaster, and they settled back down on the floor to finish reading. Neville pulled a flask of pumpkin juice from his pocket and handed it to Vlad, who accepted with a tired smile. Draco and Seamus both clapped Neville on the back for finally lifting something from the Great Hall, and Harry and Dean laughed at the surprised look on the boys face.

Phantom quickly resumed her perch on Hermione's shoulders, and it wasn't until Vlad pointed out it was dark out that they realised it was late. Hermione pried the familiar off her shoulders and disappeared off with her books, leaving Harry feeling strangely satisfied by their cordial study session. Vlad got up to feed Phantom, disappearing into the bathroom to change into his pyjamas and climbing straight into bed. Harry scrambled into his own nightwear, pulling off his glasses and exchanging 'good nights' with the other boys before drifting off.

The next day of classes passed fairly quickly, with Vlad using his free period to go back to the library again. Harry, Hermione and Draco followed him, Neville saying he had to go hunting for Trevor the toad again. Dean and Seamus, unwilling to waste their first free period, were settled in the Great Hall playing chess and cracking jokes at the first year girls. Eventually, the day found them relaxed and sat down in the common room together after dinner to work on their first essay for Transfiguration - "Explain why certain metals cannot be changed to others".

Harry thought it sounded horribly complicated, but Vlad and Hermione both laughed and pointed out the answer was essentially written out for them in their textbook, and he just had to read it and explain it himself. Vlad had easily turned his glass to steel and back again, Hermione managing to change it one way but not the other. Harry had only nicked himself on a sharp bit of halfway transformed sharp object, and the way Vlad looked away quickly made Harry wonder if Vlad was scared of blood - he'd had a teacher heal a tiny nick on his finger when it would have healed by itself in a few days.

Seamus had somehow melted both his and Draco's glass by accident, and Neville had broken two sheets and been instructed to re-read the passage of text before he tried again. Dean managed to turn his glass grey, but it was definitely still glass. Seamus and Dean both jokingly called Vlad a swot, but Vlad took it in stride - and pointed out his was still room temperature and the right colour.

As afternoon melted into evening, a knock at the portrait sounded. Most of the room looked up in confusion, and Percy Weasley (prefect, as he reminded them hourly) jumped up to answer it. The curly haired man Harry had seen before stepped through gracefully, and Vlad squeaked in surprise next to him before hastily packing up his things and following the man out of the portrait hole.

"Poor Vlad, only the second day of lessons and he has to do private classes too!"

Harry nodded in agreement with Dean, handing his completed essay over to Draco who had offered to proof read it. Hermione was reading over both Vlad and Neville's work, Dean and Seamus insisting they didn't need it as they were both clearly excellent already. Draco scribbled out a few words, noting things in the corners and sides and handing it back with a "try again Potter" scribbled at the bottom. Very teacher-like.

Harry caught a smirk from the other boy, glaring mockingly before he went back to reading over the corrections and notes before quickly rewriting his essay with hopefully less mistakes. Vlad returned about an hour later, looking something along the lines of bored but happy. He appeared at the table and recieved a smile and a "no mistakes" from Hermione with his essay, and Dean and Seamus re-iterated their swot comment, making Vlad's face flame with colour. Vlad sat back down and sped through his Potions reading, bidding Hermione a thank you and goodnight before disappearing up to the dormitory.

Harry followed soon after, hands covered in ink where he'd rewritten his essay and passed Vlad exiting the bathroom in his nightwear with damp hair. Stepping past him to wash his hands, Harry was greeted by Phantom climbing up the wall of the shower cubicle there in pursuit of water droplets. He washed his hands and went to the toilet before four more boys appeared wanting the same. As he left the bathroom, he found Draco was helpfully teaching Vlad a drying charm for his hair, and Harry listened intently as Vlad aimed his wand at himself and cast. The hair stopped dripping, and Vlad rubbed a hand through his now-dry hair with a surprised face.

"I love magic! I thought I'd be stuck with a damp pillow."

Neville exited the bathroom next, and Vlad jumped up to aim his wand at a suddenly slightly nervous boy. His face relaxed when he felt his hair dry at Vlad's incantation, smiling in thanks. Scratching sounds at the door had Neville turning back to release the familiar he'd accidentally trapped in there, and they all laughed at Vlad's unimpressed face when Phantom leapt on him, damp paws touching his face.

"Thanks Phantom, I suppose you want feeding, you enormous pest?"

A strange mewling sound was all the answer he got, but Vlad seemed to take that as a yes and dumped Phantom in Harry's - the nearest - lap while he rummaged in his trunk for the cat-creatures food. Harry stroked the familiar, her black fur luxuriously soft. Phantom purred at the touch, clear eyes aimed at Harry.

He sometimes wondered why Phantom always had red eyes near Vlad. Vlad had said it was because Phantom was on alert, but the familiar had them even when she was padding down for sleep, and in no way alert. Shrugging as the kitten-like creature leapt off his lap to stick her face in the food bowl, Harry looked at the affectionate smile on Vlad's face, clearly attached to his strange familiar already.

The boys each lit their bedside candles, which were tuned to light with a tap of a wand (normally a hand but they'd asked it to be changed when Phantom kept trying to imitate them) and sat up in bed discussing their second day. Vlad had his face buried in the book he'd taken out about familiars, Phantom deciding Neville was an adequate sleep-mate for the night and curling up on the boys pillow with little room for negotiaton.

Neville awkwardly petted the creature, receiving a lick on his hand for his troubles and Harry loved the relaxed set of the boys shoulders as he laughed. Neville was immensely anxious and seemed constantly worried he wasn't up to standard at Hogwarts, and it was only their second day. Vlad and Hermione seemed to have taken it upon themselves to help, encouraging Neville to the right answers and steps without spoon-feeding him and Harry hoped it would improve the boys confidence slightly.

Seamus pointed out they had flying with the Slytherins on Friday, and Vlad and Neville both looked very unhappy about flying.

"What's wrong with staying on the ground?"

Draco laughed, talking about how he'd been flying since childhood and how it was a total 'rush'. Harry couldn't imagine it, he'd never even been on a muggle aeroplane. They slowly quieted down for the night, Vlad the last to blow out his candle and put away his book.

The boy was like a pale, male version of Hermione sometimes, except he seemed a little happier to bend the rules for amusement, especially when it came to running in the halls or challenging Draco to jelly-legs jinxes. Harry was still amused at the way Draco had fallen out of bed that morning, Vlad barely even whispering the words to make him collapse to the floor to the giggles of his room mates.

Initially, Draco had looked a little upset, but Vlad turned and cursed himself, joining Draco on the floor and swearing his legs looked jigglier. They'd almost been late for breakfast, each laughing too hard to reverse the jinx for a while. Wondering if tomorrow would start with some kind of mini-duel, Harry took off his glasses and closed his eyes to sleep.

-YDHP-

I won't be writing the whole fic in day-by-day, but I also don't want to just rush through like the films do.