A/N: Wow! I got such a wonderful response for this! And because of your kind reviews, some thanks is in order.

Aku Maru: Don't worry, the big questions will be covered in this chapter. Thank you for leaving such a nice review!

Sylvanus Snape: Jeepers that's a lot of praise! I hope this chapter answers your questions and lives up to your kindly review : )

Fatalonie – The Grinning God: Glad it caught your interest! Thanks!

Baroness Jumping Rain: Glad you're so interested, that means I didn't completely screw up the first chapter, which is good! I'll be happy to e-mail you when I update. Thanks for the review!

Lillie Chan: Update soon or else?! I wouldn't dare face your 'or else' so here is the update! Thanks for the encouraging threat, lol

A Happy Reader: Thanks for the review, and I'm glad you're happy.

Escagirl: Your wonderful impatience is the ultimate flattery. I appreciate your encouragement!

Ruby-Castle: I hate to break it to you, but if the first chapter left you on the edge of your seat, this one is going to be down right cruel. I don't even want to wait long to write it!

Cry: Yep, this is a slash story (or will be) and poor little sevvie is going to find out what it's like to be at the command of Harry Potter. I bet he'll regret all those detentions he gave before this story is over!

Hermionegranger: That's cool you have challenges, I'll have to go check it out. Thanks for reviewing!

Sime Fireblaze: Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for reviewing!

Inhibitions

Chapter 2

Even the stars seemed lonely and lost as Harry looked up at them. His insides were twisting and knotting with rage, confusion, disgust… there were so many emotions battling to take over.

'I have a Grandfather? Why haven't I met him before now? This must be one of Voldemort's schemes! None of this can be true…it just can't! That wasn't me eating those people…this is just a bad nightmare. I have to get to Dumbledore. He'll…fix…all this. That's it, Harry. Just get to Dumbledore.' He thought to himself, trying to calm down and focus.

"Harry, child, calm yourself. You will not see Albus Dumbledore for quite a while yet. You have much to learn about being a vampire, and you have new responsibilities that will only draw you farther and father away from Hogwarts. I'm sorry, Harry, but you can never go back to that world. It is your destiny to defeat Voldemort. You will not do that as a scrawny, sixteen-year-old wizard. Voldemort has achieved immortality, so to defeat him, you must have immortality as well. There is a small castle not far from here that belongs to a good friend of mine. We will go there and have a nice long chat. Take my hand, please." His grandfather said, extending an elegant hand. Harry looked around, seeing only the warehouse in the distance. There was no where he could run. Summoning all his courage and brutally repressing all his questions, he took the older man's hand.

It was like air was entering every pore in his skin with the power of a rushing waterfall. He felt his body bursting into a cloud of energy, and could see brilliant streaks of color racing past him. He no longer felt flesh against his hand, but instead felt a solid energy amazingly more powerful than his own. All he could do was latch on tighter to the energy, letting it guide him wherever they were going.

No sooner had the blurs of colors stopped, he realized he was back in his flesh and bones, his hand latched firmly in his grandfather's. The old man smiled at him, gave his hand a squeeze before he let go…and walked up to the castle door?!

Where had the castle come from?

"Well, Harry, aren't you going to come in?" His grandfather was asking, holding the door open with a rusty key in his hand. Harry blinked a few times to regain his bearings, then nodded and entered.

The castle was anything but 'small' as his Grandfather had put it. It was smaller than Hogwarts, but in Harry's eyes it was huge. It looked like it hadn't been lived in for a long time. Dusty tapestries hung on moldy stone walls, and a sheen of grime lined the rugs. Harry was sickened to find that there were occasionally dark red footprints in the twisting hallways, or dried bloody handprints smudged on the walls. His grandfather took no notice and let him through the labyrinth of corridors in silence.

Finally, they reached a towering door at the top of a black marble staircase. His grandfather produced another key and opened the door, revealing a room that looked more habitable. It was done in red and black. The walls were covered in bookshelves, and there were various pieces of furniture indicating it was a study of some sort. The room was connected to a balcony that overlooked a bit of the castle and a dark lake.

As Harry walked into the study, he noticed a red armchair, its covering slashed and one leg busted. The wood on the desk had vicious claw marks on its surface. A painting on the far wall portrayed someone that looked ghostly familiar, but the painting was slashed down the center, and the rip obscured the aristocratic face.

Harry had a million questions, but the one that came out first was "Where are we?"

His grandfather smiled and dragged two chairs out on the balcony. He sat down in one and offered the other to Harry. He sat automatically, waiting for answers.

"The answer to that question will only give you more questions, so let me explain other things first. Why don't you ask, and I'll answer. Then I'll cover what we may miss." He suggested, crossing his legs comfortably and cocking his head to show he was ready. Harry sighed heavily and raked a shaking hand through his mess of hair.

"If you're my grandfather, where have you been all this time?" Harry asked. Was this man yet another relative that didn't want him? His grandfather frowned sadly, his eyes lighting with something that looked like regret.

"I am a vampire, Harry. Wizards hunt my kind. When your parents died, I would have never been given custody of you. Unlike werewolves, vampires receive no tolerance what so ever. We are killed on sight. But please believe me Harry, if that had been the only obstacle, I would have taken the risk to see you. However, it could not be like that. There was so much more standing in my path. Getting caught and killed would not have been a threat to me if I were just any ordinary vampire. But I can't take foolish risks like that. Too many vampires depend on me to ensure their survival. I am a high prince of a vampire sect. It is my job to constantly deal with mortals that discover the existence of vampires. The vampires have many enemies that constantly threaten our existence. I am responsible for every vampire under my rule, and all of their actions. It is an enormous duty. Especially since we are one of the few vampire sects that are fighting against Voldemort.

I could not take any risks that might have gotten me eliminated, or compromised the vampire's plans. That meant no interaction with the wizarding world on my part. That does not mean you have been alone all these years. I have various spies that reported to me about your wellbeing. I know all about your adventures at Hogwarts, and your troubles with the Dursleys. However, Dumbledore was right when he said you were safest there. Although they treated you horribly, Voldemort could have never gotten to you." He explained. He was silent a few moments, indicating Harry could ask another question. Harry let that soak in a bit, and opened his mouth.

"What…what exactly happened tonight?" He asked. His grandfather smiled.

"Your awakening. You see, in the potter line, the vampire blood runs in all of us but skips a generation. My father was a vampire hunter; my grandfather was a vampire high prince. Your father was an auror, which means he hunted vampires, werewolves, and kept tabs on Voldemort. You, however, are a vampire prince. So you see, you have always had royal vampire blood in your veins, but I had no idea if it would surface or not. Normally, it doesn't until you reach adulthood. However, with the situation being what it is regarding Voldemort, I had to give you a bit of a…boost. As the high prince, I alone have the authority to decide who becomes a vampire and who does not. The vampire sect I rule is a large one, and we have not taken in new blood for years. You are the first new vampire to be changed in a decade. You see, when you became a full adult, you may or may not have begun experiencing vampire changes taking over your body. Your father was a half vampire, and your mother was mortal. You have the blood in you, but it might have remained dormant like it did in your father. You had a fifty-fifty chance of becoming a vampire without my help. Tonight, I bit you and made you a full vampire. I simply drained you of the mortal blood that might have overpowered your vampire power. When a mortal is changed, it is called his awakening." Harry felt anger boil up inside him.

"But why?! Why curse me like this? I was happy! I finally had a chance to enjoy life! What kind of grandfather ruins their grandson's life? Why me?! Why did you make me a…a…monster?" He knew he sounded like a whining child, and that he was being irrational, but he just couldn't take it all in silence. He had lost everything because of this man. A grandfather he didn't even know.

"Harry. I will not lie to you. You are a sacrifice. It has been your fate since you were born. The defeat of Voldemort rests on one person's shoulders, and that person is you. But there's a difference between a sacrifice and a martyr. You have given up a lot to fight Voldemort, your friends, your family, and your home. But you do not need to give up your future. I have taken your life, but at the price of hope for a new one. If you faced Voldemort next year as a mere wizard, you would have defeated him, but you would have been killed as well. You would have had to perform a powerful Avada Kedavra curse, and with your limited wizard abilities, you would have died with the effort. Dumbledore knew this. He was willing to exchange your life for the downfall of Voldemort. But do not judge him too harshly, Harry. If you do not stop Voldemort like you are destined to, no one else will and thousands will be killed. I'm sorry you had to hear this from me. I don't want you to die, Harry. I know you will no longer live in the wizarding world, but at least now you can have a chance to have some kind of life after Voldemort. And you never know. Your friends might not turn on you as quickly as you think they will. You might still have their friendship. But the real reason I changed you was because Voldemort himself has been awakened. He has achieved his immortality through vampire blood, and only another vampire can truly strip him of it."

Harry looked over the jeweled lake in silence. So much had changed tonight; so much had been lost and so little gained. Would he ever see Hogwarts again? Would his friends ever welcome him among them like they once had? He felt a single tear slide down his cheek. Everything he was became a sacrifice to Voldemort.

"What now?" He said quietly, still staring out over the lake. "I have promised to kill Voldemort, and if this is the way I must do it than it cannot be helped. I'm sorry I blamed you." He said in a lifeless monologue. His grandfather sighed and stood up.

"Harry, I have something to give you. I know you do not view your awakening as a happy occasion right now, but as it is your re-birth, most vampires celebrate it. I have a gift for you, something that is truly worthy of the vampire prince you are."


Harry looked up sharply and stood abruptly.

"Vampire prince? I may be a vampire, but I'm no prince." He said worriedly. His grandfather smiled as if to say 'yes-you-are'.

"I beg to differ with you, Prince Harry, but as the soul heir and child to the current high prince of the Camrille vampire sect, you are indeed a prince and heir. And this gift is worthy of you. Please accept it." He held out a small ring box. Harry shook his head wearily but accepted the box, gently opening it to reveal a simple silver band, and the deepest green emerald he'd ever seen. In amazement, he took the ring out of the box and admired it in the moonlight. In curling script, 'Camrille' was engraved on the band.

"I don't deserve this. It's…it's…far too much." He said, snapping out of his wonder and putting the ring back in the box. His grandfather laughed and pushed the box back into his hands.

"Harry, that ring is yours. It belonged to your great great Grandfather and has been passed down through the generations to each Potter that ascends as the High Prince of the Camrille. My grandfather gave it to me on my awakening, and now I give it to you. Green is the color of our bloodline, and silver is the color of the Camrille. Perhaps one day you will wear it with pride." He said quietly, one hand on Harry's shoulder in a touching moment between the long lost grandfather and grandson.

"I'm sure I will…Grandfather." Harry replied with a small smile, his hand clutching the ring box tightly. Suddenly, Harry's laughter ruined the moment. His grandfather gave him a questioning look. Harry merely smiled. "I like it even if it is Slytherin colors." His grandfather chuckled and led him back inside the castle.

"I'm sure you still have many questions, but how about we call it a night?" He suggested. Once again, the ripped picture caught Harry's eye.

"I just have one more question." He said.

"What's that?" His grandfather asked.


"Who lives here?" His grandfather's eyes twinkled mischievously.

"Why, I think he's an old friend of yours. A mister…Severus Snape? Perhaps you know him."

Harry froze. His grandfather's laughter floated after him as he left the room.

"I suppose you'll want to poke around his castle a bit, but don't stay up too late. And you have to swear you won't tell him I let you have the run of the place. That ring will protect you from whatever hexes he's set up around here."

And with that, his Grandfather tossed a ring of keys at Harry's feet.

~ Hogwarts Dropout

Next Chapter: Uh oh! Harry is loose to discover all kinds of things in Snape's castle! What on earth will he find?