May 13th, 2008

They sat around the table as Draco ate breakfast. For his part, Draco had gotten used to being the only one eating when he had stayed at Harry's house in the north of Britain. Both Harry and Narcissa were relieved that they didn't have to eat food that was now so bland to them, there was no value in pretending. Harry was starting to feel the need to hunt again, but he had already resolved to wait until they reached Romania. As far as he was aware, it was unclaimed territory and the muggles from the towns nearby never suspected anything when he was in the area.

"So Harry," Narcissa spoke, bringing him out of his mental salivation. "I'm curious. How did your transformation come about? The creation of a new vampire is intentional, and since you're not a part of the group created to disgrace you, I must assume that whoever made you either perished while you were still unconscious, or has gone rogue themselves."

"He no longer exists. He was so starved, that the energy of walking to the door of the attic in Grimmauld Place was too much. Halfway there, he started falling apart and he was barely able to bite me long enough to turn me before he was gone completely."

Since the incident, Harry had done as much research into vampires, especially how they were created, as he could. It took a prolonged bite of near a minute, with the intention to turn someone, for them to become a vampire. He had put Hermione to shame with the amount of information he was able to learn and discover on his own, not that she knew that. He had shared some of the important things with her, but many secrets he kept to himself. As much as he trusted her, she still worked for the Ministry and he didn't think that they needed to know how vampires really hunted or interacted with each other.

At the mention of the attic in Grimmauld Place, Narcissa started laughing, a bell like peal that echoed through the house. It was a while before she was able to control herself again.

"Then we share a greater bond than that of mentor and pupil." Harry noticed that she avoided mentioning the bond they shared through Draco. He guessed that she was leaving that to them to discuss among themselves. Great. "Leon was his name, and he was responsible for my creation and tutelage many centuries ago. He was difficult to get along with at the best of times, and about 250 years ago, we got into a greater argument than usual. This was around the time that vampires were being persecuted mercilessly by both wizards and muggles. He believed that we should save ourselves and go into hiding, while hunting those that wished to eradicate us. I thought that by hiding among the wizards, and pretending to be one of them, we would have a better chance at survival. I never hunted those in power if I could avoid it.

"As our disagreement grew, I knew that our time together had reached its end. Eventually, I over powered him and stripped him of his abilities. I left him trapped in the attic of the house we used as our primary haunt with a powerful memory charm, so that whoever encountered him would forget he was there and leave him to starve. I then sold the house to a young magical couple by the name of Black. Irony, or fate, later brought me in as part of that same family 50 years ago."

The entire time she had been speaking, Harry was listening with rapt attention while Draco stared open mouthed in disbelief, milk dripping off the spoon he had forgotten he had been eating from minutes before.

"Before I heard the prophecy about me in fifth year, I would have said it was only irony, but given everything that has happened since then, I am inclined to believe it was more the latter."

"You certainly have had an interesting run of it. Impressive really, considering you've only gotten more famous." Draco rolled his eyes as he joined in the conversation, giving up on finishing his breakfast. "Which reminds me. How have you, and everyone else involved, managed to keep your adoring public from finding out?"

"Being friends with the Minister and head of the Department for Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures definitely helps. I am technically listed on the registry, but not the portion that is available to the public. And I'm not the only one either. Throughout our history, there have been several prominent people who's creature status needed to be kept quiet from the public for one reason or another. And before you ask," Harry said just as Draco opened his mouth to ask a question. He quickly snapped it shut. "Hermione hasn't told me who else is on there. Only her and the acting Minister for Magic know. When they step down from their posts, they agree to have it wiped from their memory."

"Was there ever anything like that when you were head of the Aurors? It would be worrying if that kind of deception occurred in our law enforcement as well."

"I dunno, do I? It's been five years since I left the DMLE, anything I could have known would have been wiped ages ago."

Draco looked pensive as he took in everything Harry just told him. Finally, he got back to what he orginally wanted to know.

"What about your relationship with Granger and the Weasel?"

"Please don't call him that, Draco. We should be past all of that by this point." Harry glared at Draco, who just shrugged and waited for him to continue. Harry sighed before moving on, that was probably all he was going to get out of him. "Fine, just not to his face at least.

"Ron and Hermione had just gotten back from their honeymoon when I realized what had happened to me. It was not a fun conversation, having to tell my best friend that I had killed his sister."

Harry was staring at his hands, and in his peripherals, he could see both Narcissa and Draco flinch. If he was going to finish telling the story, he couldn't look at either of them. He hated reliving the first few months of his new life, when he had been so wracked with guilt Hermione had to spend three days talking him out of his self-imposed exile to an open field with no shade. The burns he had sustained were well deserved in his mind, he had refused to let them heal. It wasn't until Hermione had started leaving him goblets of her blood when he wasn't looking and was so weak that he couldn't control his basic instinct to drink, that he finally started to accept what he was.

It was this time that Hermione spent with him in that first month that had given Ron the idea for them to pretend that Hermione would leave him for Harry. So the two of them spent more time in public on their own, only joining Ron on the weekends or in the evenings. Hermione had even taken a months leave from work at the end of that first year for an 'extended vacation' with Harry after the very public and very staged falling out between Harry and Ron. Harry couldn't help but laugh as he remembered the looks of pure disbelief on those watching and Ron's inability to keep a straight face throughout their performance.

"I thought for sure he was going to blow the whole thing. But when the papers came out the next day saying that he seemed relieved he no longer had to live a double life, choosing between his wife and his mistress, we just ran with it." Harry finally looked up at the others. He saw Narcissa smile in approval. Draco was in disbelief and even, Harry was sure, a little impressed.

"While Hermione and I were gone, we spent most of the time learning all of the history of vampires we could, me more than her since I had more time. She still doesn't know half of what I do."

"As it should be," Narcissa cut in before letting him continue.

"We also found Chloe. She had been turned several years before by someone who quickly decided that he no longer wanted her. She followed him at a distance, learning what she could for a year before he was killed. I offered to take her in and teach her what I knew, and vice versa. Hermione wasn't thrilled with the idea, but went with it as long as she wouldn't interfere with our public story.

"That led to my finding of my current house, which has been expanded as the number of vampires I adopted grew, and the unexpected career of photojournalism. Chloe made herself my assistant, and when we found Ralph a year and a half ago and learned the first of what we were dealing with, my second in command. Since then, my photography and hunting trips have also turned into scouting trips where I follow up on reports of uncontrolled new vampires hunting throughout Europe. You already know the rest."

Silence followed as his audience reflected on his tale before they would offer up their thoughts on it. It was an interesting experience, Harry thought. Many of his friends would blurt out the first thing that came to mind, regardless of how it sounded. Narcissa seemed more inclined to sit back and let her son take control of the conversation. Undoubtedly, she would have more to say to Harry when they were on their own. Draco was deciding what he wanted to address first.

"Well, Weasley seems to be the brains behind this little charade of yours." Harry's heart lurched, and he scolded himself for getting excited. Draco's use of Ron's surname in place of one of his unflattering nicknames probably meant nothing. "And here I thought Granger was supposed to be the clever one."

"Hermione's really only good for books and rules. Ron has a talent for getting the media to believe his version of events. He knows what kind of things the public likes to hear and how to play off that. When we were auror partners, he was always the one to deal with reporters on our cases. Most people thought it was because I was still mad with them from school and the war, but truth is, he's just better at it."

Draco snorted.

"Saint Potter. Giving up the limelight just because his best mate is better at it." Harry thought he should have been offended until he saw Draco smirk. "Next thing I know, you'll be telling me the sky is blue. Face it Harry, you're horrid at being famous. One of these days, you're going to have to learn how to talk to a reporter."

Draco roared with laughter at Harry's indignant expression. Harry resisted as long as he could before joining in. He didn't know if he was quite as bad as that, but it was a near thing. He got tongue tied whenever he spoke to reporters and interviews would usually end with them getting everything Harry told them exactly backwards.

Neither of them noticed Narcissa as she glided out of the room with a small smile playing across her face.