A/N: Again, thanks to everyone that reviewed and added me to their c2's. I hope that everyone enjoys this chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything HP, wish I did though. So does Erasmus for that matter.
The following morning, Severus made sure that Harry fed from the bloodstone. Draco had stormed out of his chambers before he could remotely offer. Severus supposed that Draco would come to him when he was hungry. Harry, however, was a different story. The boy drank savagely, and at moments, Severus wondered if the Boy-Who-Lived had more surprises up his sleeve. Before Harry left for breakfast, Severus slipped Harry several vials of potion that would allow him to walk in the sun unharmed.
Severus couldn't believe the mess he was currently faced with. If only Erasmus hadn't decided to butt in. He probably thought that he was doing Severus a service…as usual, he was gravely mistaken. By all rights, Severus knew that he should storm out of Hogwarts and apparate to Erasmus' lair to give him a piece of his mind. But he couldn't leave Harry. And Draco, well, he had to make sure that Draco didn't kill anyone.
Severus rubbed at his eyes, trying to erase the evening's excesses. Somehow, he found it difficult to put on the mask that he always wore. Today may well be the death of him.
Hermione practically squealed with joy when she saw Harry enter the Great Hall.
"Harry! I'm so glad that you are feeling better!"
Harry laughed. "Mione, I told you I would be. Can I copy your notes?"
Hermione smiled and reached into her satchel. "I already copied them for you, Harry. I figured that was the least I could do."
Harry took note of the mischievous twinkle in her eye. "Let me guess, you will alert me of the payment later."
Hermione grinned devilishly. "No, not later. I simply want to ask you a few questions later on this evening. Shall we meet in the Room of Requirement after dinner?"
Harry rubbed his hands through his still messy hair. "Why do I have the feeling that I am going to live to regret telling you any of this?"
"Oh, Harry. It won't be that bad! I promise not to keep you for very many hours."
"Hours!" Harry yelled as Hermione quickly made her exit from the Great Hall. "Great," Harry thought. "I guess I can assume that by the end of the night, she will either have drained me dry of any will to live, or I will have completely frustrated her with my lack of knowledge."
Draco scowled as he prowled the dungeons. To him, his life was officially over. What was the point in even bothering with Hogwarts? It wasn't like wizarding society had any great love for vampires. Otherwise, the students would have known about Snape from the beginning. But no, he might as well believe that he was going to end up living like a pauper, just like Remus Lupin. Death was better than that, but Erasmus took care of that. There was no way that he could die. He was doomed to walk the earth by himself, so spend it with the sodding Boy-Who-Lived and his dear old dad, who incidentally, never wanted him in the first place.
Suddenly, Draco felt a sharp pain stab through his abdomen. Quickly, he looked around to see if Peeves was somehow attacking him, but nothing was there. He took a few short breaths, and just as soon as he thought whatever it was that was causing this pain had left, the pain stabbed once more and brought the young Slytherin to his knees.
Draco curled into a fetal position on the hard cold stone floor. The pain radiated though his body, pulsing with every beat of his heart. Before he lost consciousness, his only thought was that he would probably die there on the stone floor, and no one would find him. At least not any time soon.
Severus froze. Something was terribly wrong. He could feel it. Quickly, he stood up from the head table and ran out of the Great Hall, following the pulse he could hear beating in his mind. As soon as he hit the dungeons, the beat seemed to echo inside of his mind. He knew he was close.
He made his way quickly through the maze of the dungeons, finally finding the source of the pain. There, was Draco, sprawled on the floor in front of the door to his chambers. Severus quickly crouched down beside the boy and opened his wrist with a jagged fingernail. With his other hand, he gently cradled Draco's head, allowing his mouth to fall open. The boy's eyes flew open as soon as the first drop of blood hit his tongue.
Before Severus knew what was happening, Draco pushed him away and allowed his head to hit to hard stone floor.
"Draco, don't be ridiculous. If you don't feed, the pain is not going to stop. It will consume you until you become an animal. You won't even focus on what you are feeding from, and most likely, whatever you do feed from will not survive." Severus said softly.
Draco stiffened. He wasn't a killer. "How do I know that you are not lying to me? You've been lying to me for my entire life. What makes now so much different?"
"Draco, nothing I say will convince you. But you have to admit, the pain was already making you think of anything just to make it stop. It really is not much of a step to leap from pain to the ravages of chaos."
Draco sighed in defeat. "If that is the case, why do you even care? What is it to you how I turn out anyway? You are the one who made sure that I was a Malfoy. How is me loosing control and killing so much different than allowing me to be trained to be the next Dark Lord, Severus. I really want to know."
"Draco…I admit that I've made mistakes, but I never made them because I did not care. You are too much like your mother, Draco. Since her death, I find it hard to look at you. You are so much your mother's son…I was planning to get you out of there. Not that you will believe me. I was not going to allow you to receive the Dark Mark."
Draco glared at Severus. "Really? You were going to save me from the Dark Mark were you?" Draco pulled up the sleeve of his robe bearing a faded, but distinct skull tattoo." You were too late. They did it to me, and you didn't even know. So don't talk to me about how much to care for me. I really don't want to hear it. All I want to do is die, but from the looks of things, I've been cheated out of that release."
Draco pulled himself to his feet. "So go take care of the Potter brat. He's the one who is good right? Not that it makes any difference that I was never given the chance."
Severus couldn't believe it. One moment, Draco was yelling, the next, he was simply gone. He did not apparate, there was no disturbance in the air, and it was as if he simply ceased to exist in the present world.
Severus pulled himself up and shuddered. Draco was much more powerful than he had anticipated. He could only hope that Erasmus found Draco before he did something foolish.
