Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, his world etc etc.

Authors Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! My thanks also go to Sehriya for beta-ing the first bit of this (yes, I got all over eager again couldn't wait to get it fully beta'd before posting). However, any mistakes are someone else's fault. Doesn't really matter who – just think of someone you don't like and blame them.

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Harry reread the letter for the second time and – still disbelieving – a third.

"This is a joke, right?" Harry asked, "This can't really be true?"

"Oh, it's no joke Harry. The charming Dursley's have relinquished all legal rights as guardians, and agreed to emancipate you. Though, as stated, you may still return to their home during holidays if you wish." Innadrue chuckled.

"And in any matter in which the judgement of one of legal age is required, we place our trust and judgement in the hands of His Royal Highness, the Prince Innadrue Felldane, Librarian of the Night's Wisdom, Gardener of Death's Flower, Lord of Lust and Blood, Keeper of the Hidden Ways -" Harry read aloud

"I do have rather a lot of titles, don't I?" Innadrue said lightly

"So, let me get this straight – you, are my guardian?!"

"No Harry, not guardian – you are emancipated, and therefore free to make all of you're own decisions. However, from a legal standpoint, you are not yet an adult. And so someone must stand in that capacity. I may not command you to do anything, but I can give you permission to do as you wish. In truth, I mostly put it in for Dumbledore's benefit; otherwise I'm sure he would have said that the school held that position. And while I know you are fond of him, I think you'll find that I'm rather more... permissive."

"So legally...?" Harry said

"Legally, you are in my hands, so to speak... would you like that Harry? Being... in my hands?" Innadrue grinned, running his hand over Harry's chest.

Harry grinned back.

"Yes, I think I would like that." Harry answered. "But Innadrue, I know this means I get to come to the party – but it won't really change anything else, will it? I mean, even people of legal age have to obey school rules."

"Follow the rules, yes. But there is more to it than that. Let me give you an example. If one of your friends' parents were to write to the school and say they wished to take their child out for a weekend – they would be allowed to do so, yes? Or leave the castle for a meal one evening? You now enjoy that freedom Harry. A freedom that will allow you and I a great deal more opportunity to see one another - see another away from the watchful eyes of the castle" Innadrue said with surprising seriousness.

"We must be careful, Harry, and discreet. Even with the treaty I am not irreplaceable, another of the Lords could take my place – and will, if our relationship is discovered. Dumbledore does not trust me Harry, and this letter will make him more distrustful still. You must give nothing away to him. For someone so young, he is damnably clever, and he sees a great deal." he warned. "That is, assuming you want what we have started to go forward?"

Harry was shocked for a moment. He had been so caught up in thinking about his feelings, and how his friends would react, that he hadn't really thought about the full implications of having an affair with a teacher. In fairness, that particular worry had been somewhat overshadowed by the fact he was a vampire and a man. The idea that Innadrue would be fired if they were found out had never even entered his head.

"I don't want to stop what we have... Is that... is that why you'd been ignoring me?" Harry asked reluctantly.

"Oh Harry, I wasn't ignoring you. Never that. But I should have explained my caution to you. Do you forgiven me?" Innadrue whispered, pouting.

Harry laughed.

"Well alright – but don't do it again." Harry told him, with mock harshness.

With a laugh of his own, Innadrue began to lead Harry back to the fire.

"Then I am happy again. But for now, we should get back to the class. We can talk more after. Oh, and I wasn't just making an excuse to get you alone – I really would like you to help me observe. Try to note any areas you think people are lacking so we can address them later."

For the next hour or so, Innadrue and Harry walked among the class, offering advice and suggestions and occasionally swapping over partners. Harry was surprised that despite his distraction, he was able to get into the work and enjoy it. It was almost like being back with the DA. He was also freshly surprised by the level of Innadrue's knowledge - it was so easy to forget with all of his strangeness.

Given his lack of magical know how, Harry couldn't really see what purpose Hagrid served being there, but he dutifully walked around observing and complimenting good spell work.

"Right, ladies and gentlemen! I think we will call a stop to things for the night. Very good work, one and all!" Innadrue called loudly. When everyone had gathered around him again, he went on. "Very good, very good. I think I have a better grasp of where you all stand now. I am not sure when I will give the next extra session, but I will try to let you know in Monday's class. Thank you all for your hard work, you may go."

As everyone began to drift away, Ron and Hermione lingered, chatting away with Hagrid. Seeing Harry watching, Hagrid beckoned him over.

"Alright Harry? Ron and Hermione were gonna come hav' a cup 'a tea with me. You commin' Harry?" Hagrid asked cheerfully.

"Sorry Hagrid, Innadrue wants to talk with me about the lesson – I'll come and see you over the weekend though." Harry answered, feeling a little guilty at turning him down.

"Again? How many times is he going to talk to you about these classes Harry?" Hermione demanded, making it sound like an accusation.

"I don't know Hermione. As many as he thinks we need. I thought you'd be glad we have a teacher who actually cares about teaching us, and that he wants me to help." Harry said reproachfully.

"I am, it's just a bit odd, that's all." Hermione protested, looking a little flustered.

"Well he's an odd man - just look at what he's wearing." Harry said more gently and smiling. "I'll see guys back at the common room. See you Hagrid."

Watching Harry walk off, Hermione scowled.

"But that's just it Harry – he's not a man at all." she muttered

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Innadrue and Harry walked towards the lake, discussing the class. Innadrue listened intently to Harry's opinions and seemed to ponder his suggestions carefully. By the time they reached the shore, they had more or less covered everything.

"Well Harry, I think it's time you knew more about me. After all, your own story is a matter of public record, but you know very little of me. But first, let me ask you something. What do you think of my outfit?" Innadrue said, tone serious.

"Er, well it's... well, honestly? It's kind of freaky, and a bit... well... silly." Harry said apologetically.

Innadrue smiled, looking pleased.

"A very good answer Harry. But I think if you were not trying to be tactful you might have said more, yes? My outfit is absurd, and vastly over the top. Now, in part I enjoy that – and I know I look sexy in a fetish kind of a way – but it also serves a function. It is a distraction. When people view me as a silly, self-indulgent lush – they very often underestimate me. They dismiss carefully laid plans as the idle whims of an eccentric. They forget that I am both ancient and deadly, and think me merely a mildly dangerous fopp..." Innadrue told him, his tone far away and eyes distant.

Harry was not sure what to say, so just waited.

"I do not want any misunderstanding between us Harry. I want you to know who, and what, I am. I am not simply trying to get you into bed, if I were I would not be saying any of this... I would not have us continue any further, only for you to feel I had deceived you further down the road. You know I desire you, I have not hidden that. But I want you to know, you need only say the word and I shall pursue it no further." Innadrue said intensely, gazing into Harry's eyes and taking his hands in his own gloved one.

"I don't want things to stop Innadrue." Harry said forcefully, squeezing Innadrue's hand.

"Let us wait until you have heard my story before you decide that... So, what do you want to know?" Innadrue asked gently, and starting to walk around the the lake, still holding Harry's hand in his own.

"Well - everything I suppose. How old are you? How did you become a vampire? Where are you from?"

Innadrue was silent for a moment.

"None are short stories, but all are interconnected... I shall answer as best I can. To the first, I do not know precisely. Many thousands of years – after a point, one stops bothering to keep track. My best guess, is that I am around seven thousand years old, and the eldest of my kind yet in existence."

At this Harry gasped, but Innadrue merely continued, voice once more far away.

"My tribe were hunter-gatherers - farming had not yet arrived from the East. We were primitives really, even our magic was crude. My own wand is nothing more than a branch from the sacred tree we would hang our sacrifices to the gods upon. It was much later that those with magic separated themselves from the non-magical, and we often served as priests, shamans, and healers to the entire tribe. So it was with my people."

"I know I was born somewhere in Northern Europe, though I do not know exactly where. Even if I did, it would be meaningless – there were no true nations in that part of the world then. As for who ever my people were, well, people are forever interbreeding – racial lines mixing and changing – whoever they were, they are gone now. Though, I imagine their racial line has continued in dozens of peoples through the world. It pleases me to believe that it is so in any case."

Innadrue stopped again for awhile, but Harry sensed that he should keep silent and let him continue in his own time.

"When I was young – much younger than you are now - a stranger came to us one night. He was a strange man to our eyes, dark of skin and dressed in strange attire. He spoke our tongue haltingly, and with a strange accent, but even so it quickly became obvious to us that he was wise man – and a man of great power. He possessed strange magics we had never seen, it seemed he could hear our thoughts, and he could... change... into a great cloud of mist. Some of us even thought he might have been a god."

As they continued to stroll, Harry listen with rapt attention.

"For three nights he came to us, but never before the sun went down. He would trade trinkets, and talk for long hours with our elders. On that third night, he and our head-man came to speak with me. They explained he had agreed to teach our people some of his magic; on the condition that I left with him. It seemed he was looking for an apprentice, and I had apparently caught his eye. Over the next month or so, he came each evening and taught charms and spells, and after a while, it was time for me to leave."

"It seems strange to say it now, but I do not remember how I felt that night. I imagine I was scared, probably excited too. I remember that it didn't seem terribly important to him either way. When we left, he explained to me what he was. I knew so little of the world at that time, that it didn't occur to me to find it odd – for all had known everyone outside of our valley was a vampire."

"We travelled endless in those first years, always stopping just before daybreak to make sure Mahaka, for that was his name – though he did not tell it to me until many years later - was hidden from the light of the sun. He rarely spoke to to me, except to teach, and I very quickly realised that what he had taught to my tribe had been but the barest fraction of what he knew. I learnt many things, and I think I learnt quickly... He was a harsh and demanding teacher – but never unduly cruel. And if I was not happy, I was at least content."

Innadrue stopped walking and looked out across the lake. He released Harry's hand, and wrapped his arms around himself, as though against the cold.

"It was not until I was about your age, that he first took me to his bed. And there... there he was cruel. When I was much older, I understood; he had not hurt me before only to make it that much worst when he finally did... I will not go into the details with you, Harry, but I will say that in my long un-life, I have met only a handful of men or women as skilled in the arts of pain."

Harry reached out to him, but Innadrue raised a hand, stopping him.

"It is an ancient hurt Harry, and I am long since passed it. And besides, it was not all bad – he was as skilled in pleasure as in pain. After a time I even came to welcome it... People will become accustomed to almost anything, after a time. In the end it changed little, he still taught, I still learnt, and we still travelled endlessly. It was not until we reached the lands of the Nile, that everything changed. This was long before Egypt as you would know it, thousands of years before the Pyramids would rise from the sands. But even then, it was a hub of civilisation, such as civilisation was."

"There was others there, others like Mahaka - or so I thought at first. But before too long, it became clear to me that they were less great than he – lacking magic, lacking command. When I asked Mahaka about it, he explained to me that he was a Lord among his kind. He told me that none knew exactly why the Blood made some into Lords, and others mere shadows of that greatness. But he had his theories, he believed it was strength of character, strength of will. A strength of character and will, he believed I possessed. The pain he had inflicted, had – apparently - been a test to see if my mind would break. He always seemed to enjoy it far to much for me to believe that entirely... I would learn later, that he had tested his theory on many others before me – destroying them when they arose from the Earth as common vampires, or else killing them before that, if they failed to endure his tortures."

"So is that what makes a Vampire Lord? Strength of will?" Harry interrupted.

Innadrue considered Harry thoughtfully.

"It... is part of it." Innadrue said hesitantly. "It is, in truth, still something of a mystery to us. Though there are still many theories. Whatever the reason – it turned out he was right with me, and I arose from my own death as a Vampire Lord. And, no - I will not tell you the process by which I was turned. I am happy to tell you my secrets, but that secret belongs to my people as a whole."

Innadrue sighed.

"After that, he taught me what it was to be Vampire. He taught me everything he knew, taught me to hunt, to kill, to call storms... and so much more. We were together for centuries, he and I."

"Eventually, I surpassed him. And when I did... I destroyed him. Utterly and without mercy. In my defence, he brought it on himself, both by thoroughly deserving death, and for failing to control his own Blood Aura."

"Blood Aura?" said Harry, not really sure how to take what he was being told.

"All Vampire Lords affect the emotions of those around them, without meaning to, in some way. It is not mind control, just that certain emotions will come easier when we around – it does not create what is not there, only brings it to the surface. With me, it is sexual desire."

"So the other night...?" Harry asked.

Innadrue closed his eyes and nodded.

"It is one of the things you needed to know... when you are with me, you will be more inclined to act on any feelings of lust. I limit the affect as much as it can be limited, but it can not be completely blocked. But as I said Harry, it does not create feeling – only lowers inhibitions to act on feelings you already had. It is part of the reason I stopped us going any further the other night – I did not want us to make love until you knew this. It wouldn't have been fair to you." Innadrue told him apologetically.

Harry nodded, taking a moment to answer.

"OK then... I don't know how I feel about that Innadrue, but I know now. I'm going to have to think about this – it's kind of a lot to take in. Just go on with the story for now, OK? You were telling me about Mahaka."

"Of course... Well, just as I am Lord of Lust and Blood, Mahaka was Lord of Pride and Blood. Our Auras can affects even other Lords. So it was with us. He never learnt to suppress his Aura – in fact I believe he deliberately enhanced it. The result, was that ever petty sting to my pride at being subordinate to him, every small feeling that I should be the one in charge, every memory of how he had treated ME, was constantly on my mind... it played a part in what happened, but I will not say it was why I killed him. It probably only hastened the inevitable. As I said, Harry, he deserved death. I do not regret giving it to him."

"If nothing else, you must understand the world was a far more brutal place. And it has been such for most of history. I've have killed more people than I can remember, in wars, private battles, feuds – and at times simply to take what they had. I will make no claim to virtue, but I am not evil, Harry. I have always lived by the standards of the times I live in. I will not lie, I have often lived on the at the violent edges of those standards, but none-the-less, within them."

Innadrue sighed again, heavier than before, and turned to face Harry.

"I have changed Harry. I am not the man I once was – as societies have changed, so have I. All I can ask, is that you give me a chance to prove it to you... If it means anything, I was the one you convinced my King to enter into the alliance against Voldemort. It would have been far more in his nature to side with, rather than oppose him..." Innadrue trailed off.

For the first time since Harry had met him, he seemed at a loss for what to say. He actually looked vulnerable. But Harry was too shocked, and too angry to care. Innadrue was a killer, he was everything Harry had been fighting against since he first heard what happened to his parents.

"So, you've killed? You've murdered people?" Harry demanded harshly.

With a sad, resigned smile, Innadrue answered.

"Yes, Harry. By the standards of today, I have committed murder."

"When? When was the last time?" Harry said relentlessly.

"What?"

"It's a simple question. When was the last time, that by today's standards, you murdered someone? When did this great change of heart take place? Last week? A month? Earlier today?! WHEN?!" Harry shouted.

Innadrue flinched as though Harry had struck him. A brief look of pain flickered across his face, and then drew himself up to his full height, features becoming distant.

"1635 A.D. - Marrakesh. So no. Not this morning. It was three hundred and sixty two ago." Innadrue said in a cool, level voice. "I'm sorry Harry, I won't trouble you again... try not to think too badly of me. After all, I didn't have to tell you any of this."

With that, Innadrue turned and began to walk away.

Harry stood there and watched him go. He was so torn, on one hand it was murder, but on the other – it was centuries ago. If Innadrue really had changed, didn't he deserve a chance? By the time Harry made up his mind, Innadrue was almost out of sight.

"Innadrue! Wait!" Harry called, running to catch him up.

Innadrue slowed, then stopped and turned. He still wore the same remote mask, but there was a faint look of hope in his eyes.

"Look, you can't tell someone something like that and just expect them to be OK with it(!). I'm upset, Innadrue – really upset. I don't know what I had thought it meant, you being a vampire, I guess I hadn't thought about it. But I wasn't expecting this... but... It was a long time ago, a really long time ago, and everyone deserves a second chance." Harry took a deep breath. "I'm not promising you I can get passed this... but I'm willing to try."

A smile finally breaking out on his face, Innadrue reached for Harry's hand.

"That's all I could ask Harry." he said warmly, laughing with relief. "Come on, you must be freezing out here. Lets get back to the castle... If you're willing, we could have a drink in my chambers before saying goodnight?"

Harry smiled back. He was still disturbed by what he had been told, but the cold knot in his stomach had gone.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

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Post Story Note: Hope you guys liked it! And remember, reviewing is good for the soul!