Harry woke up only a day later, but in that time much had changed. For one the ward scheme on the school was to be torn down and rebuilt, a process that would take a few weeks, in the meantime the school would have to be locked and no student was to leave the castle under any circumstances. Another thing that had changed was the atmosphere at Hogwarts, it was the most muted Harry had ever experienced. He wasn't alone in the Hospital Wing; he could see Professor Sprout lying unconscious in the bed across from him, and Blaise and Theo also lying in beds.

Harry tried to get up, but found he couldn't move a muscle, he felt his mind slipping and heard a voice whispering about power and destiny, before he lost to the exhaustion in his body.

/*** **-** ***/

When Harry woke up again a week had passed and his friends were around him, arguing about something.

"Would you guys stop shouting?" Harry demanded, making the Vipers jump and Hermione rush over to give him a hug and thank Merlin that he was okay. "What happened with the vampires?"

"Theo, Blaise, and I fought them off, nearly losing our lives in the process, Theo broke his wand in the fight. Professor Sprout was in a bad condition when we arrived, but Theo saved her. Blaise also revealed a little secret…." Dudley informed his cousin, who looked at Blaise, patiently waiting for him to talk.

"I'm an Earth Elemental. I've explained to everyone else that they can learn to become an Elemental, however the element you can use is linked to you at birth, if you can control fire then you can only control fire. I've been trained since birth and even I can't manage to perform my most impressive feats without help."

"I want to learn, I can drop Legilimency lessons with Snape, and even attend lessons during the summer," Harry immediately informed him.

"Urm… I have to think about it. Please don't try to force a decision," Blaise responded quietly to which Harry agreed. They talked for a while before the group left.

/*** **-** ***/

A few days later Harry was free from the Hospital Wing and was walking with Theo, who had just returned from Diagon Alley to obtain his new wand. He had used the tail feather from Dudley in his Thunderbird form, after asking his permission, and his wand felt more powerful than his previous one. The two lads walked towards the Slytherin common room and they talked alone, which they rarely got to do.

"How was it, watching the revival of You-Know-Who? It was hard enough to hear about it, I can't imagine how awful it would have been to witness it."

"To be honest, I didn't watch it happen, I was too busy screaming and writhing in agony…. So, how do you like your new wand, I have to admit I'm surprised that you're using a feather from Dudley as your core, but like… what the hell… I'm still shocked that Dudley is a Thunderbird and Blaise is an Elemental. Let me guess soon I'll find out that you're… I don't know, a warlock from the pre-Merlinian line of wizards." Harry laughed, but when Theo's face remained serious, he stopped. "You're not, are you? I was only joking about that."

"Well I mean, in my family library there are books on Pre-Merlinian warlocks and the rituals they used… Not that I would ever use them, not my style. I mean for one you have to use a staff and rituals to cast magic. Not as portable or useful as Merlinian magic, but it's more potent."

"I would like to read those books, as would Hermione I imagine. Maybe I can come around Nott Manor one day," Harry suggested to Theo as they walked down the final set of steps to the Dungeons.

"Ah… right. There is a small issue with that, with the passing of my father, Nott Manor is locked to me until I am of age or sworn in as Lord Nott. Neville's Grandmother has been helping me with all of the paperwork and oaths and whatnot to prepare me to take my family seat in the future."

"Perhaps we can look at those books when it comes to it."

/*** **-** ***/

Dudley was wandering around wondering about how to answer this latest letter from Nora, she had asked him to be her boyfriend, and he was nervous. He wanted to just say yes straight away, however fears of appearing too eager and not following the traditions of pureblood culture had stayed his hand.

Sure, she had technically kidnapped him, but it was more romantic than creepy, he chalked it up to her not really having any friends besides him.

Just as he found somewhere to sit and began to write, his cousin Harry walked into the room he was occupying and stood in front of him.

"Dudley mate, can I talk to you about something I learned when I was taken by Voldemort?"

"Yeah, sure." Dudley answered, putting his quill, ink, and parchment to the side.

"So at the end of first year I went down to confront Quirrell, only to find out he held a piece of Voldemort inside him, and it resulted in his death. Well, after Voldemort left his body he flew over to me and upon touching me I passed out. You may have noticed how angry I was last year, well that is because Voldemort's soul shard settled within my scar. That shard caused a tumour to form in my brain and for a whole year I had him inside my mind. You see, I had noticed that upon arriving at the school that I was noticeably angry all the time, but that was exaggerated after fighting Quirrell." Harry paused to take a breath.

"Why are you telling me this?"

At this question Harry sighed and looked away, before he looked back at Dudley and resumed talking.

"After he had been inside me for a while he was able to begin controlling me, sometimes for a few seconds and, as I found out later; sometimes he would be able to control me for minutes and even up to half an hour." Harry paused yet again, not wanting to even say this.

"When we were at Privet Drive for Christmas last year he managed to control me again. It was just after Uncle Vernon tried to grab you, and ended up hurting you, I was so angry…. I walked back to my room and once I was in there he took over. When I witnessed the resurrection of Voldemort he told me that when he possessed me that day that he killed Vernon. I killed Vernon." At that Harry stopped, tears visibly flowing down his face, staring at his cousin with a desperate and hopeless look.

"Y-you killed D-dad?" Dudley was horrified and close to crying himself. "You let Voldemort take over you and you killed him? Is that what you're telling me?"

"I don't remember any of it, but that's what he said. I'm sorry Dudley, I understand if you hate me and never want to talk to me again."

"As long as we understand each other," was all Dudley said before he got up and left, not listening to Harry's cries of Dudley and to stop.

When Dudley rounded the corner he let his tears flow.

/*** **-** ***/