PercyPowerful - I had to leave it there, I wanted you readers spending a week pondering the possibilities!

Karina - You wait and get your weekly update like everybody else! I jest, thank you for telling me you are enjoying my story!

YokaiAngel + VampireHarry the 2 - as ever, love the little reviews just as much!

I'm sure you've all formed potential opinions, I hope to at least vaguely surprise you. Though you guys are remarkably smart. If you take issue with the forms, I apologise but I have plans and I must follow through with them!

One thing - WHY didn't anyone tell me how badly my story flowed early on? I'm doing a little work on Chosen Two - Year One (no actual story changes, just fixing the clumped paragraphs and hopefully all the spelling mistakes. But as I read through my own work, compared to now, I am amazed anyone made it this far.

-YDHP-

Despite Vlad's comments about his animagus form probably being avian, or night dwelling, with Samael rewriting his body piece by piece Harry had pretty much convinced himself his animagus form would be something reptilian at least. So the image that solidified in his mind was a surprise.

"Everyone alive?"

"Technically I'm undead. However, not totally dead."

"Ow!"

Hermione was the first back on her feet, shaking her head to clear the strange feelings. Harry took a couple more minutes to find his balance and get up again, then Vlad made it back to standing position himself. Looking at the potion, which was already starting to discolour as it cooled, Harry turned to Hermione.

"So, did it work?"

"Yeah. Well. I think so. You?"

"Yeah. Vlad?"

Still clutching his head, Vlad looked as though he was in some kind of pain.

"Vlad?"

"Not sure. Don't think the potion agreed with the painkiller I had earlier."

His chest scar still hurt periodically, Harry knew that much. It seemed to be lessening in frequency, but Vlad was good at hiding it either way.

"Did it do anything for you?"

"Hard to say."

As the pain left his head, Harry closed his eyes and tried to 'transform'. Unsurprisingly, it didn't actually work. That would have been remarkable. Still, at least he knew what he was aiming for now. When Hermione was gone, and Vlad was ok, he could go talk to Samael about it. The basilisk always knew what to say, or not say.

"Well? What are you?"

"That's a very personal question Vladimir."

"You made me take the potion, so spill."

Hermione managed to glare, looking down at herself as though imagining the changes - Harry did something similar.

"Panther."

"A giant cat against a rabid dog. Interesting."

Harry suddenly felt... rather small. When both Vlad and Hermione turned to him, expectant for an answer about his form, he genuinely considered lying and saying it hadn't worked.

"I'm... I'm a crow."

Both Hermione and Vlad appeared considerably less surprised than Harry had hoped - he wanted them to have been picturing a majestic lion or graceful eagle, for his ego's sake. Instead, they merely shared a contemplative look.

"You'll be able to fly. That's pretty cool."

"Mmm. Not very... impressive though."

"Hey, don't knock small flying creatures. I'm a bat remember?"

Vlad offered him a grin, and Harry couldn't help but feel slightly soothed somehow. He did have a point, and Harry was sure it would grow on him. Plus, he had to get to transforming first. That could take a while.

Feeling slightly sickly, Hermione headed to her room for a nap with two promises - to keep this a secret, and to not try transforming just yet. Vlad could see him bouncing excitedly, and after he made Harry help clean up the potion mess, he waved him off to go spend time with Samael.

"Go. Soon you won't be able to just jump down whenever."

Immensely grateful, Harry hugged Vlad tightly before hurrying off to find his basilisk. Lily hissed to garner his attention, wrapping around his wrist to go along for the journey. Samael was in his 'bathroom', which was essentially just a room full of water for him to soak in. After so long hibernating, he needed to shed soon. At his size, it took days to loosen the thick skin, and soaking helped ease the process.

"Hey you."

"Hello wizard. Hello small kin."

Samael placed his enormous head near the edge, so Harry could rub his hand over the scaly snout. It was still mental to have this enormous creature so docile and laying there like a sleeping kitten, but Harry didn't doubt his pet for a second. Lily was barely the length of his entire head, and she hadn't yet reached the age where she would get thicker - at maturity, she would be a sixth of Samael in length, and perhaps the width of his snout.

"King snake is lazy."

"Mind your tone small one. I have spent much time suspended, readjusting will take time."

"Now now you two, you're going to have to get along."

Both made amused hissing noises, and Lily flicked her tongue against the scar on his inner elbow. Samael couldn't quite do that - his tongue was huge, and his jaw structure didn't quite allow for it as easily as Lily's did. He could still 'taste' the air the same way. Harry found the variations fascinating - it was hard not to become interested in snakes with two for familiars.

"So, did you wish to discuss anything in particular wizard?"

"Just came to tell you we used the animagus potion, so I now know my form is a crow."

"Symbol of the dead. And your Patronus charm shield is a phoenix. Death and immortality... Your magical symbolism seems particularly attuned to reflect your vampire."

Having been hatched a millennia ago, and speaking in a language that didn't always have an English equivalent word, Samael spoke strangely sometimes and Harry had to focus to make out what he meant. This time, the message was clear enough. Remus had made a similar remark when his Patronus took shape as a phoenix.

"Well, he's my best friend. Aside from you two, that is."

"Indeed. It is intriguing how it rather matches his other form, as you will both be stealthy, airborne and innocuous in the night."

"I'll bear that in mind if we take up burglary or something."

He got the distinct impression Samael was rolling his eyes, even though they were currently closed as he relaxed. Something about how casually everyone referred to links and similarities between he and Vlad got under his skin, as true as it was that they were probably closer than most best friends - Harry's trips to Vlad's bed, and Vlad's allowance of it were proof of that.

Shaking it off, Harry ran his tongue over one of his newly growing 'fangs', as Lily called them. That didn't actually help, now he thought about it - another similarity to Vlad.

"How far along this changing process am I? I know it's only been just over a year, but I'm curious."

Samael shifted his mammoth body slightly, the entire 'pool' rippling with even a small motion. There was a slight loose appearance to his scales now, though they weren't totally ready to come off judging by Samael staying submerged.

"Less than half way, but not by a large amount. I suspect you'll realise when the venom in your system matures. It is the second time such a person was born."

"You mean there was someone else like me? How so?"

He appreciated that the basilisk had his own rules, and that too much foreknowledge could be dangerous in a way, but sometimes it was a little frustrating to not know everything when Samael clearly did.

"Solace Slytherin had only one child. That child had multiple offspring herself, but she was the only one to be born of the same combination of genetics. A dual Slytherin heir and a Potter."

"I thought they had a son too?"

"Adoptive. Abandoned for being a... what is it you wizards call it? Ah yes, a squib."

Harry's mind was turning over the facts in his mind - his grandmother had clearly been a part of Slytherin's line somehow, as she had the pendant. And he already knew Tom Riddle was a descendent of Salazar. Making Lily Evans a 'dual' heir herself, and then she had married his dad. A Potter. How had that never occured to him? Vlad had mentioned the poetic aspect, but not quite focused on the genetic replication.

"So what, her daughter was part basilisk venom too?"

"No, but had she met Serpic, she would have been able to imbibe the venom as you have."

"Serpic?"

"Herpo the Foul named him. That wizard was intelligent, but also a callous and uncreative man of little morals with a rare talent for pure dark magic. Serpic outlived Herpo by around five hundred years, being the second attempt of breeding that Herpo attempted. I encountered Serpic only once, and once free of his master he was, as you say, harmless. Our predecessor was unfortunately controlled from hatch to death by a madman with a horcrux."

"Predecessor? Oh, you mean the very first basilisk? Did they have a name? Do you even get girl basilisks?"

"His name was Azazil. I am only the third to be bred, and all three of us have been technically male. It matters little when we cannot breed in the conventional manner. Parseltongue lay dormant in the genes for a while, and without parselmouth we cannot be tamed or controlled, making it senseless and even suicidal to attempt to breed one of us."

That made a fair bit of sense - the Parseltongue ability had always been classed as rare, and had it been prevalent in every generation someone surely would have been able to trace Solace Slytherin and her descendants with ease. He already knew it tended to skip generations - as proved by Harry himself.

"Is the Potter part important?"

"Only in the sense of history repeating itself I suppose, although as bloodlines go, they are a rather powerful line. They are also one of the few old families to have never been swayed to dark magic. A uniquely pure bloodline, to balance out the darkness of your other inheritance."

"So I'm a perfect mix of Slytherin and purity, and that's why I can absorb basilisk venom and have it change me rather than kill me?"

"There is perhaps more depth, but now is not the time to explore it. I must rest now wizard, my skin is weighing heavily."

Harry apologised for keeping Samael awake, running an affectionate hand over Samael's enormous head before leaving him to rest. In spite of leaving with perhaps more questions than he went in with, Harry felt infinitely better for spending time with Samael, and having the freedom to talk about anything. Most subjects came easier when he spoke Parseltongue, and he knew that as both snakes were his familiars, they wouldn't want or be able to tell anyone his fears and questions.

Luckily, the shedding process was over before they left for Hogwarts - portkey travel was unpleasant for the basilisk in his trunk, Harry really didn't want to put the basilisk through that when he was halfway through a shed. Sixty seven feet and four inches of skin (Vlad measured) which was a perfect replica of Samael's shape, later, his scales looked brighter and he was much happier.

Chewing his third bacon sandwich of the morning as they rushed around in advance of their portkey trip to Platform 9 3/4, Harry realised Vlad had never answered the question of whether the animagus potion had shown him anything. He should probably bring that up again.

Wary of using shrinking charms on the trunk - he did it to his backpack, but that was less expansive and he never did it with Phantom or Lily sleeping in it - it made transporting the trunk itself difficult. They all shrunk and carried their things in pockets now, and the others wouldn't miss Harry having a second trunk. Eventually he had a lightbulb moment, widening the opening of his backpack and having Harry help guide it into the cavernous space. Phantom was currently napping in her usual spot, so he wouldn't be shrinking the backpack anyway.

"She's going to love it when she has to go in her carrier the other end."

"Oh yeah, totally. You packed everything?"

"Mmm. Need more meat."

Since Samael's arrival in Malfoy Manor, Harry had become far more at ease with his body changing. Now his ravenous meat appetite was joked about, and he had completely abandoned his glasses in Malfoy Manor. Vlad was happy the frames weren't obscuring Harry's face, nor were they pushing back the hair that brushed the top of his cheekbones at the sides. Harry's hair didn't grow much, Vlad had noticed - over the time they were at Hogwarts, most of the boys hair grew between holidays, but Harry's had barely grown since first year.

Harry returned, glasses folded and hanging from the front of his shirt while a bulging wrap containing more bacon, sausage and mushrooms than Vlad ate in a week was held in his hand. His other arm was occupied - Lily was wrapped around his forearm, and without Harry's muscle growth she would likely be thicker than his forearm now. With the slow progress of muscle wrapping around his lean frame, the weight of a two and a half foot serpent didn't seem to even register.

"Everyone else is almost ready. I think Ingrid's still packing her make up though."

"That could take days!"

Harry snorted, lifting his hand to cover his mouth in case food came flying out. A mild thrill ran through Vlad, as he didn't look the slightest bit weighed down by Lily. As a vampire, he would have strength well beyond that of a normal human. And by the looks of it? Harry would be able to keep up with him. He owed Samael a couple of cows or something. Stomach doing backflips, Vlad bent down to shoulder his backpack for a distraction.

"Eight fourty eight. Lets go grab Ingrid and be ready for the portkey."

Harry went off ahead - probably for more food - so Vlad went to grab his sister. She was fully packed, staring at the bottle of sunscreen potion like it could answer the questions likely whirling in her mind.

"We need to get going. You done your sun protection?"

"Not yet. Head down, two minutes."

She did have superspeed, Vlad mused. He flicked a hand to float her trunk along behind him out of habit, taking himself down the staircase where everyone was waiting around their usual metal ring port key. And, he noted, Harry was chewing on a solitary strip of bacon. Then again, so was Draco - they couldn't indulge every appetite whim back at Hogwarts, so nobody judged their last-hurrah mealtime.

It was clearly on everybody's mind, but nobody acknowledged the silent truth of the situation - they were leaving without one. Severus Snape was still in the wind, and they didn't yet know who their newest Potions teacher was. Nor their newest Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher.

"Ingrid?"

"Just doing her sunscreen stuff. Then we're ready to go."

Sure enough, a minute before the portkey took them away, Ingrid flitted down into existence next to them. Vlad knew it was for dramatic flair when she snapped her fingers to perform a wandless, wordless shrinking charm on her trunk, dropping it into her pocket and reaching for the portkey.

"Two hours alone. Nobody wander off."

Bertrand scanned the whole train and platform, but aside from the trolley lady and the driver - who knew they would be early - they were completely alone. They commandeered their usual end carriage, sat mostly in silence as they relaxed. Harry's eyes kept drifting to the rucksack, and Vlad was certain if he could, he would climb down into the trunk and spend the train journey with Samael. He had warned the serpent about the gap between Harry being able to see him, with the train journey and Welcoming Feast, but it was clear Harry disliked waiting himself.

"I should leave, people will begin to arrive soon."

Bertrand left little room to argue as he left for his usual compartment, in a now probably pointless attempt to seem like little more than a tutor in relationship to students. Ingrid vanished shortly after, with an affectionate stroke for Lily as she left before she was 'caught' hanging out with the Gryffindor students.

Vlad saw them nearly daily, and even he noticed Draco and Harry had broadened over the summer. Everyone else was bound to notice. Draco and Hermione sat holding hands, leaning into each other instinctively... that was immensely normal now, but Vlad still felt the twinges of jealousy that he didn't have that with Harry. Though Harry was sat close to him, and talking softly to Lily which was a beautiful sight. Harry always looked more relaxed speaking parselmouth, especially since he was reunited with Samael.

It was ten thirty when others began to arrive, the deluge of students and parents alike. Vlad was itching to go and scan every student for a dark mark, but he maintained an outward facade of calmness. Several students chattered about the Quidditch World Cup, sound floating through the train windows.

"No surprises, you guys are always in here."

"We like this spot. How was your summer?"

Neville was quiet, but that was pretty normal. Seamus and Dean were nowhere to be seen - normally they at least checked in. With only Neville in their compartment, Harry was free to continue sitting with Lily out on show. There was a hasty scramble to hide her when the lunch trolley appeared, and both Vlad and Hermione chuckled to themselves as Draco and Harry devoured sweets and cakes for half an hour.

It reminded him of when Harry had said his animagus feeling solidified - to a crow. A bird associated with death. That could fly. It could only have been more perfect a match to his future if Harry had a bat animagus form really. His own 'feelings' had taken solid form, but he was against talking about it right now.

"Better put her in her pouch, I have to convince Phantom into her carrier."

His familiar was not impressed about being moved, but Lily made an irritated hissing noise that made Harry laugh when he placed her in the special pouch Vlad had made for her. The necklace portkey still hung around Harry's neck, his glasses back on his face again and sadly breaking up the long shape of cheekbone to jawline Harry was developing. He was so beautiful it hurt.

"Right. Back to Hogwarts it is."

The trip to the carriages cheered him slightly - he had missed the thestral herd, with their quiet grace and whole saving-their-lives deal. A few made quiet rattles as he passed, but Vlad knew they weren't supposed to make any noise, as many students couldn't see what pulled the carriages and it would be massively disconcerting to hear the death rattle they made with no source.

Eyes turned to the table when they entered the Great Hall, immediately spotting the two new professors. There were already whispers as students noticed there were no empty seats except Hagrid's mammoth seat, as he was bringing the first years, and no Severus Snape as they expected.

If he had to guess, the new female was their Potions teacher, and the man missing a few chunks of skin from his face their new DADA teacher. Draco put paid to that notion as they sat down, recognising the disfigured man.

"No way! That's Regulus Moonshine. I thought he was out of the field for good."

"And to those of us who don't stalk Potion Masters?"

"One of the most amazing inventors ever to grace a cauldron. Notably, he crafted the potion that stops hags needing to consume human flesh, which is why he looks like that. A lot of accidents, but he's a genius. As far as replacements go? Not bad."

The fervor in Draco's eyes said plenty about how excited he was - he was down about his godfather leaving and still excited beyond usual at his replacement. That left the female as their new DADA teacher it seemed. Dumbledore stepped up to his lectern, raising a hand and saying no words, but the Hall fell silent anyway.

"I would like to introduce two new members of staff. Professor Regulus Moonshine has kindly agreed to replace Professor Snape as Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House, and we have Professor Dora Tonks filling the post of Defence Against The Dark Arts. Among other announcements, there will be no Quidditch this year-"

The outrage cut the headmaster off mid-speech, even Harry hissing "no quidditch?" next to him as the hall erupted in sound. Given the enormous golden box next to the man, Vlad assumed this 'event' that required new security measures was the cause for cancelled Quidditch, though he obviously didn't know how or what the thing was.

A few firecrackers from the end of the headmasters wand eventually killed the angry chattering, and as the Hall fell silent again, Vlad kept his attention on Dumbledore, waiting for information.

"As I was saying, there is no Quidditch tournament this year. However, there will still be exciting events taking place at Hogwarts. After many, many years of not being held, Hogwarts has been selected to host a great honour and competition. The Triwizard Cup!"

The reaction of the hall at large was rather lacklustre, as it was obvious the great majority of students - Vlad included - had absolutely no idea what the Triwizard Cup was. Out of the corner of his eye, Vlad caught someone skulking in the corner of a doorway behind the head table. He was quite near to where Bertrand was sitting, but the vampire seemed to be aware of that fact judging by his tense posture.

It was hard to make out amongst so many students, but something seemed a little off about the man. Vlad didn't think it was Polyjuice, but when he caught Ingrid's eye across the hall, she flicked her eyes over to the man briefly and gave him a questioning look. Vlad nodded to agree, glad his sister shared some of his magical quirks so he didn't seem totally mad, and had someone to understand.

"To explain this event, we have the head of International Magical Co-Operation, Mr Bartemius Crouch."

The man making Vlad's senses go funny stepped out from the shadows, a thin man with hair that have the appearance of greying from stress rather than age, his hands constantly twitching as he skittered over to Dumbledore with a visibly forced smile. His voice, however, was surprisingly loud and brash.

"A competition! Three schools, each with a champion selected by an impartial judge. At the end, we have a Triwizard champion! Eternal glory, fame and of course, a thousand galleons prize money!"

At this, he clearly had multiplied the attention and attraction. Having never really wanted for money, nor become intensely materialistic even amongst the grandeur of Malfoy Manor, Vlad couldn't understand it properly, though he sympathized as best he could that obviously, that wouldn't apply to everyone.

"However, as the reasons for the Triwizard Tournament were danger and death tolls, the Department of Games has decided, for safety reasons, no student under the age of seventeen will be able to enter!"

More than the cancelled Quidditch, Vlad half expected the... disappointed students to assault the man. Even the Weasley twins were in on the anger, as they wouldn't be seventeen until the following April.

"Silence!"

Albus Dumbledore cut through the hubbub, ending every word dead and Mr Crouch nodded in what he supposed was the diplomatic gratitude expected of a man who worked in something like International Co-operation.

From that tension to the Sorting, it was quite a come down. The hat made many references to unity, but Vlad wasn't really listening. Harry was still upset by the lack of Quidditch, but at least his mate was safe from temptation to enter a contest that, as it transpired, had fallen out of favour because of an astronomical death toll. Probably not as high as the Impaler of Wallachia better known as his father, but still far too dangerous to Harry for Vlad's liking.

Gryffindor gained seven new students, Ravenclaw got six, Slytherin only four and Hufflepuff a massive ten. The baby boom post-defeat of Voldemort had begun to taper off by now. As everyone started eating, greeting new students and discussing the upcoming tournament, Vlad was curious about something else - where were the other two schools? Hogwarts was the only magical school in the UK as far as he knew, so if there were more, they must be travelling a great distance. He knew there were a couple in America, then he also knew of Durmstrang, and from Harry's dreams he knew of Beauxbatons. He really hoped it wasn't Durmstrang.

McGonogall appeared by the table before they had chance to move to leave, informing Vlad and Draco they needed to go with her. Across the hall, he caught their new Potions professor doing the same to Ingrid, though even from a distance he could see the man didn't know why. Given the fact they were the only ones of different species, Vlad had an inkling. As did Ingrid, he could tell by her mild frown of annoyance.

"Is he going to be long?"

"I doubt it Mr Potter. Off with you now!"

Harry was shooed off, and Vlad understood his upset - Samael was in the backpack Vlad had in his trunk, and all the residents of Malfoy Manor were in the habit of magically locking their trunks, so Harry couldn't get it. Vlad tried to apologise with an expression as he was carted off with McGonogall and Draco, Ingrid and Bertrand joining them before long. Personally, he thought it drew attention, but Ingrid did that anyway and nobody dared argue with McGonogall.

Sure enough, they were then joined by the two new professors.

"These are the students you were pre-warned of. Ingrid Dracula is in your house Regulus, and this is her brother Vladimir. Then this is Draco Malfoy."

"Is it imperative I be present Minerva? I find myself thirsty and wish to tend to such a need."

"Mr du Fortunesa, these are your colleagues Regulus Moonshine and Nymphadora Tonks. Off you go."

If Bertrand could flit away, Vlad suspected that he would have. Neither new professor looked surprised to know they were vampires and a werewolf, and it was necessary to their safety that these two know what they were.

"Ah, so ensure these two not be paired up for my class. Between your allergies and such, you would probably fail a third of the curriculum!"

Professor Moonshine was... rather exuberant. After Severus Snape and his reserved, acerbic personality and razor wit, Vlad wasn't sure what to do with him. Professor Tonks seemed relatively unshaken, and Vlad was struggling to place the strangeness of her scent.

"Is it crude if I ask what you are? I don't think I've ever encountered... whatever you are."

Whatever response he was expecting, the womans features shifting and changing until she was an exact duplicate of Ingrid was not it.

"I'm a metamorphagus. Entirely human, but I can change my physical features at will. It's genetic."

Vlad thanked her for satisfying his curiosity, and was probably almost as relieved as Ingrid when her features returned to... her violet eyes and dark purple hair wasn't quite normal, but at least there weren't two Ingrids.

That was a scary thought.

-YDHP-

In all honesty, I cannot remember if book!canon had the other schools appearing on the first night. If so, I apologise but I don't think it makes a massive difference.

Regulus Moonshine was a name from Harry Potter wikia, as I needed a Potions teacher since I shamelessly disappeared Severus.