Not my characters.

Two things - still on my phone and so still probably contains daft spelling errors so apologies. Other thing is I have awful writers block, so I apologise about this taking a while to update, and if its terrible.

On we go!

-YDHP-

Lunch was a blur, Draco occasionally smiling knowingly but otherwise the three of them were quiet. Neville looked a little confused, but was more focused on Lily trying to stealthily eye up Trevor the toad. Harry couldn't admonish her, not without publicising his new talent so he just kept tapping her on the head until she slithered back up his sleeve. By the end of the day, preparing to get back to actual school tomorrow, Seamus was still avoiding the three of them and Dean was quiet. Neville was the poor middle ground, anxious not to take sides. Hissing quietly to Lily as he put her in her tank and tucked it into the corner of his bed, Harry pulled off his glasses and settled down to sleep.

Vlad was awake, dressed and stroking Phantom when Harry blearily stumbled out of bed. When he came out of the bathroom to dress, Phantom was perched on his bed mewling at Lily in the tank. "The furry one says her wizard is upset about something, and implores that you fix it." Looking at the noisy familiars in confusion, Harry thought Vlad looked normal mood as he tied his tie. "You ok Vlad?" "Yeah, why?" Shrugging, Harry hissed to Lily that she was to behave herself if she wanted to come to classes with him. "I can't let Parseltongue get out, you have to stay in my pocket or I will have to leave you in the dorms all day." "I do not wish to be imprisoned, I shall behave as you say. But first, please deliver that mouse."

Harry had not even turned around before Phantom was dashing off and returning with the mouse. Lily swallowed it whole, hissing happily before coiling around Harry's wrist and being transferred to his pocket. "I'll check on you at lunch, just stay there until then." Lily hissed in agreement, so Harry followed Vlad down to breakfast early. "I could never take Phantom to class, she's too naughty!" Vlad grinned as they ate, stroking Lilys head where it poked out at all the smells until Harry poked her. "Sorry." was mumbled sarcastically but covered by the general hubbub of the great hall. "Remember to select your times to see your tutor Mr Dracula." Professor McGonogall handed over their timetables, seeing they had Potions first and Vlad was already calculating which evenings he could feasibly give up and stay on top of his homework as flawlessly as ever.

"Its a good job I know you aren't as boring as you first appear, or we couldn't be friends." Vlads smile looked a little forced, but Harry put that down to Seamus glaring at him down the table. "You know me, full of secrets!" Walking down to Potions was a bit strange, knowing they couldn't give away the odd meeting with Snape in their behaviour. They split off so Vlad could work with Neville while he paired with Draco. "You may think because you passed your exams that you are perfectly capable of coasting this year. You could not be more wrong. If I weren't required to force basic knowledge into your heads for five years of your seven here at Hogwarts, a fair few of you would not be here. Now, instructions are on the board and you should at least be able to stretch to finding the right page in your books. Begin!"

Well his attitude certainly hadn't changed in the classroom. Flipping their books open and the usual crowd to obtain ingredients clamouring, Harry got on with his work. Lily was very happy to stretch her coils at lunch, grumbling at being put back in his pocket. Their free period before dinner was spent outside, so Lily could stretch out and chatter away at all the strange smells of the castle. Vlad had disappeared off to find his tutor, Bertrand to arrange his lessons. Draco was happily letting Lily coil around his arm, admiring her shiny scales. "I might hang around you til she starts laying eggs, maybe one of her kids will choose me." "You can't speak parselmouth, would be an odd choice of familiar for you." Draco poured jokingly, stroking Lilys smooth head. "Maybe the choosing bite will magically give me the ability." Shaking his head at his friend, Harry peered around to check nobody was in hearing range before hissing at Lily it was time to hide for dinner.

Coiled safely in his pocket for dinner, they headed back in and were joined by Vlad. "Mondays and Thursdays, back at it tonight." Knowing Vlad had to learn history and train his powers, Harry nodded and resumed eating his steak and kidney pie. Vlad followed them up to the tower, changing into trousers and jumper and starting on the extra potions reading until he had to leave. Phantom curled up on his lap and Vlad stroked her absent mindedly. Harry sat on his bed, depositing Lily into her tank to enjoy the heat mat and picking up his own book. Draco chuckled as he scowled at his book, knowing Harry liked homework less than them but with friends like Hermione and Vlad it was hard to put off working.

They went down at about seven pm, joining Hermione at her table and chatting quietly about the work. Vlad was still quiet, even with Phantom licking his ear to try and win a smile. Remembering what Lily had relayed to him, Harry resolved to try and find out what his friend was secretly worrying about. There was no time now, between the people around them and only a few minutes until he left. Sure enough, Vlad looked at his watch and closed his book, depositing Phantom on Dracos shoulder with a grin and waving off as he left for his private session. Returning to his book, Harry laughed as Draco cringed when Phantom licked his face.


Vlad worried his attitude gave away he was stressing over something, but other than a clingy familiar and Harry asking if he was ok that morning, he thought he was acting normal enough. Until he entered his lesson to find both Ingrid and Professor Snape waiting with Bertrand. "Close your mouth Vlad, I can smell your coffin breath from here." Smiling at his sister's usual attitude, Vlad sat down. "I will start by saying I am fully aware I'm the only human in the room. And as such, that yourself and Ingrid have unique talents." Realising that his teacher would likely have been the one who brewed the replenisher he had needed last year when learning he had special powers, Vlad nodded. "Tonight, we will see if your curse detection skills also apply to Potions."

As ever, his sisters head of house was blunt and straight to the jugular. "Will we be able to take Potions after we transform? I mean, do you use garlic in potions later on or anything like that?" "If you show sufficient skills in Potions to go to NEWT level, we will work out a way to keep you from exploding - We don't use vampire dust in any potions here." Ingrid laughed next to him, as at ease as ever. Bertrand kept his distance, possibly due to the overwhelming smells to his senses. That would be another consideration if he wanted to continue Potions. "One of these is a poison, one is a healing potion and one is a base for wolfsbane potion. Write down which you think is which on this parchment, separately for now though I am aware you work together often. Begin."

Vlad wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he put the same tactics they used to look for spells and changes. They had been able to detect polyjuice overlaying the actual wizard, but this was different. The three cauldrons didn't smell very strong to him, though one smelled like forest and wild. Writing that as the base for wolfsbane, Vlad looked at the other two. Focusing harder, his deep seated vampire instincts seemed appeased by one that felt darker. He noted that as a poison, and while that left him little options for the third, he still tried to look for something distinctive. Passing his hand through the air over it, his skin felt tingly, light. Ingrid was already finished, watching him. "Done." He and Ingrid had both guessed exactly the same, sharing a smile as they were told it was right.

"I will join you both once a month, and separately once a month. Kindly keep this knowledge to yourself Vladimir, I don't need more of you irritating little lions thinking I don't want to burn you into potions ingredients. Because I do." Vlad raised an eyebrow as the professor left, confused by the whole event. Shrugging, he hugged his sister goodbye before they left separately and promised to see Bertrand soon. Realising he had no chance to discuss Harry that evening, he tried to stay calm as he re-entered the tower. It was almost empty, just Harry, the three Weasleys and Hermione people he knew and a few older students dotted around. "Rough night already Dracula?" Greeting the Weasley twins and smiling at a still shy Ginny, Vlad dropped down into his chair.

"Just a lot of work, but Bertrand isn't a slave driver. It could be worse, I could hate school work like Harry." "Hey! I don't hate it, I just wouldn't marry a Herbology essay like you or Hermione." The twins were laughing by now, but Ginny was quiet. There was something in the edge of his mind that she seemed more than shy, but he put it down to overtired senses and took himself off to bed soon after. Phantom was curled up on Draco's bed, clearly having decided he was her victim of the night as Vlad went to change and sleep. He almost leapt out of his skin when something touched his neck, recognising Lilys scales in the moonlight. Having no way to talk to the snake, Vlad hoped she wasn't about to bite him as he stroked her coiled body.

He was dozing with Lily coiled on his chest when Harry came in, hissing quietly as he realised his familiar wasn't in her tank. "Its ok, she's here Harry. Apparently I'm comfortable to sleep on." Harry clearly relaxed seeing her there, smiling fondly at the sleeping snake. "You alright with her?" Vlad nodded, knowing his dorm mates tolerated Phantom irritating them all the time. "Yeah she's fine, so long as you definitely didn't tell her I was edible." Harry chuckled as he got into bed himself. "Nope, you should be fang free with her." Stroking a hand over his jaw, Vlad knew that wouldn't always be the case. When he woke Lily was still there, though awake and focusing her beady eyes on him. Could she tell what he was? He hoped not. He wasn't ready for that.

Holding his wrist to her in invitation, Vlad waited until she wrapped around it before carefully transferring her to her tank. Lily hissed at him, and Vlad assumed she wanted her breakfast. Cringing a little internally, Vlad dropped the waiting dead mouse into her tank. He washed his hands immediately after, dressing for the day and sitting in the common room to wait for the others - he liked getting up early while his vampire desires were quiet, not pushing him to sleep in the day and stay awake at night. Ginny was already there, the red haired girl smiling tightly at him in greeting. The same edging niggle was back, but he didn't want to scare the girl by staring intently at her when it may just be the case she was painfully shy.

-YDHP-

Here's hoping this wasn't terrible! Enjoy!