Chapter Three: In Which Harry Learns a Little More of Himself and Severus
Remembers
After Harry had cried himself into exhaustion, Severus placed him on the bed and tucked him in. He smiled sadly as he brushed Harry's bangs out of his eyes. Then he stood up and left the room, leaving the door ajar so that he could hear if Harry woke up.
Some hours later, just around dinner time, Harry did wake up. At first he was confused, but then he remembered that he was in his very own bedroom at Hogwarts. He looked around, and when he didn't see anyone, he climbed down out of the bed. Touching down lightly on the floor, he slowly walked out of the room.
Severus looked up from his book when he heard the soft footsteps of the seven-year old who had come to live with him. He smiled at the boy as he came into view. "Hullo, Harry," he said gently, "Sleep well?"
Harry nodded silently as he watched his new guardian pensively. He wasn't exactly sure about this man yet, but somehow he instinctively trusted Severus. He began to approach the potions master.
Severus waited as Harry walked over to him. He wasn't exactly sure as to what to do next, but he decided to simply let things happen and see how they got along. Severus still hadn't quite gotten over the fact that the son of his worst enemy at school was now in his care, and as a vampire no less! Still, he realized that Harry was nothing like James was. His childhood so far had ensured that. When Harry got closer, Severus patted the spot on the couch next to him and said softly, "Would you like to join me?"
Harry hesitated for a moment, and then he nodded and sat down next to Severus. He looked up at his guardian with eyes filled with an odd mixture of trust, apprehension, and wonder. Severus wasn't quite sure what to do with that, so he simply asked, "Are you hungry?"
Harry thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, sir," he said softly, as if he were afraid of what the response would be. After another moment, he added, "It feels differently than it used to."
"What does?" Severus asked curiously.
"The hunger. I don't know how to say it, but it's different," explained Harry in the same soft voice.
"Ah," replied Severus as understanding came to him, "that's because you're a vampire now. It's more like a... need than, well, whatever hunger used to feel like." Severus frowned at his explanation, but the truth was that he couldn't even remember what it was like to feel regular hunger. Not that he was ever good at describing these things anyway. But Harry nodded anyway, he seemed to see what Severus was getting at.
Severus frowned again as he considered what to feed Harry. At this point, his own blood would probably be best. The sire of a vampire usually fed a newly turned vampire his own blood as the main staple of the new one's diet until the new vampire was stronger. Similar, in an odd sort of way, to the way a newborn babe drank his mother's milk. Harry was still at the point where he needed Severus' blood.
Severus nodded as he decided, and he glanced over to see Harry watching him. "This will be very odd for you, as this is the first time that you will be conscious while we do this. However, you do need to get used to this, so..." Severus' voice trailed off as he saw Harry's puzzled look. "You need to feed," he explained, "At this point, you still need to drink my own blood. Why that is, is a rather complicated matter, but I shall try to explain it to you after we are through, is that all right?"
Harry nodded silently again, and Severus had to wonder if Harry was truly alright with the situation, or if he was simply agreeing because he was afraid of what might happen if he said no. Severus sighed inwardly, but he decided to go ahead.
"I'll help you through this, Harry," Severus promised as he took out the knife he had used on himself when Harry had been turned. He showed the knife to Harry. "Look, I will cut myself with this, and then I will give you my wrist to suck on. You needn't be frightened. You won't hurt me, and I won't hurt you," Severus hoped that that would be enough to reassure the boy, but what had to be done, had to be done.
Again, Severus took the knife and made a small cut in the vein above his wrist. It wasn't enough to allow him to bleed away completely, but it was enough that Harry would be able to feed. He looked over at Harry and brought him closer. He held his wrist up for Harry and, after a hesitant look at Severus, Harry brought his mouth down and began to suck.
Severus sighed softly as Harry began to drink. He could barely feel Harry's fangs, which was odd. He assumed that it was a side effect of Harry's young age. Severus knew that he and Poppy would have to soon perform a thorough examination of Harry to determine just how human he still was, since it appeared that his unchanged eyesight was not the only part to remain unchanged after the transformation.
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Harry was rather nervous as Severus explained to Harry what he would be having for dinner that night. The fact that he would be drinking someone else's blood was still a very foreign idea for him. Harry watched as Severus pulled out the knife and showed it to him. He put on a brave face as Severus cut himself with it and held up the wrist with the blood beginning to flow out of it to Harry. Soon enough though, Harry's vampiric instincts took over and he latched on to Severus' wrist and began to suck.
It felt odd to drink another's blood, but Harry had to admit that it wasn't entirely unpleasant, either. He decided that he could get used to doing this. Harry wasn't sure how to describe the taste of Severus' blood but he knew it was different from human blood. There had been many a time after one of Vernon's beatings where Harry could taste the blood in his mouth. His blood had been unpleasant to taste, but he found that he rather enjoyed the taste of Severus' blood.
Too soon in Harry's opinion, Severus withdrew his wrist from Harry. "All right, child," he said, "That's enough for now. How do you feel?"
"Better," replied Harry softly.
"Good," Severus nodded curtly. He looked Harry over again; the boy truly did look better. There was some more color to his cheeks now. "Harry," he began, "there are some things you need to know now that you are a vampire..."
Harry looked expectantly up at his guardian. "Like what?" he asked, now sounding a little more confident.
"Such as what kind of blood you need to drink; what you know of vampires and what is real, that sort of thing," Severus explained, "Harry, what do you know about vampires?"
Harry shrugged. "Not much. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't like to mention such freakish things in their home," he said softly, and Severus could feel a shudder run through Harry's small body. He put his arm around the boy and gave him a small squeeze and a reassuring smile.
"It's all right, Harry, you're safe here," he said gently. Then he said, "Well, let's get this straight. You *can* go out in the sun. There are several types of vampires, but what you need to know about our type is that we can walk outside during the day. We are more sensitive to the Sun than humans are, but it doesn't pose any special problems for us. Second thing is that, as I told you earlier, a newly turned vampire drinks his sire's blood until he gets stronger. That's because at that time there are special nutrients in the sire's blood that the new vampire needs. You'll be drinking my blood until I say you can stop. That will probably be a week or two, maybe more because you, Harry, are the youngest vampire in the history of the world."
Harry's eyes grew wide. "Really?" he said in an awed tone.
"Really," Severus confirmed. "You need to know that because of that, things are going to be different with you. No one has never been turned who hasn't been fully grown, yet. That's because vampires age differently from humans. Much, much more slowly. We'll have to see how you turn out, because we simply do not know. That's the other thing I need to tell you. I noticed while you were feeding that your fangs aren't fully grown. I'll need to help you hunt when the time comes because of that. Hopefully they will grow out soon, but we'll work something out if they don't. Do you have any questions about anything, Harry?" Severus asked trying to get a feel for how Harry was dealing with what was happening to him.
Harry began to shake his head, but then he nodded. "Yes, sir. What kind of blood will I normally have to drink?"
"Animal blood, of the sort of animals you would normally eat as a human-- chicken, cow, pig, sometimes rabbits, that sort of thing," Severus replied.
Harry nodded and then he asked a question that Severus had forgotten to address, "What am I supposed to call you, sir?"
"Severus is fine," he answered, "I am your guardian, don't forget."
"I know," said Harry with a small smile.
"Now then," Severus said as he lifted Harry up and put him on the floor, "you need to go to bed, young man. You need to rest in order to regain your strength. Tomorrow, you and I shall see Poppy, and she and I will look you over to see what differences there are between yourself and a full-grown vampire. Judging by what I can already see, I think I have a fairly good idea as to what those differences are, but we do need to know for sure. Tomorrow, you and I shall also have a little talk."
Harry's eyes widened briefly at that, but he quickly realized that Severus meant him no harm, so he nodded then. "All right," he said softly. "Good night, Severus," he said shyly.
Severus smiled again at Harry and replied, "Good night, Harry."
As Harry scampered off to bed, Severus sat down on the couch again and stared into the fire. The fire was always lit, even in summer, as Severus didn't truly enjoy the coldness of the dungeons. But, traditionally, Slytherin territory had always been in the dungeons, so he was stuck here.
As Severus contemplated the flames, his mind went over the events of the past few days. When Albus had originally called him, back at Arabella's home, Severus wasn't sure of exactly Albus wanted. He knew that Albus was very desperate, but that was all. When he saw the still form of the Boy-Who- Lived on Arabella's sofa, he had instantly realized Albus' intent.
Turning Harry had been a scary thing for Severus. He had known what that meant, not only for Harry, but also for himself. The Vampire Council's laws on the matter were quite clear on the subject: a newly turned vampire is always placed into the care of the one who turned him. Bringing a young boy into his life was not what Severus had in mind at this point. That that young boy would also be James Potter's son was an added complication to the matter.
It was no secret that the Marauders and the group of boys that Severus had hung out with did not get along. Severus, a loner by nature, had only stuck around those boys in fear of what the Marauders would do to him should they every catch him alone. For whatever reason, one that Severus had never discovered, Sirius Black and James Potter seemed to have made it their mission in life to single the young Severus Snape out and torment him.
However, that had begun to change in later years after Harry's father had begun to date the woman, girl at the time, who was to become Harry's mother- -Lily Evans. Lily and Severus had always gotten along fairly well for a Slytherin Pureblood and a Gryffindor Muggle-born. Oh, they had their moments, yes, but they also had moments that Severus still treasured to this day. Once Lily and James started dating, Lily had begun to keep tighter control over James' activities--she didn't allow James to torment him any longer. Severus had always been grateful to Lily for saving him in their last year and a half of school. Once Severus graduated though, things began to change.
Severus' father, Salazar Snape, and Lucius Malfoy's father, Augustus Malfoy, had brought their sons before Lord Voldemort. The two patriarchs had known each other in school, and while the Snape family had come down quite a ways in terms of their socioeconomic status, their magic was powerful enough that they still maintained close ties with the Malfoys. It was Augustus who had introduced Salazar to Voldemort. They had become enamored with Voldemort's goals, and not much time had passed before they had pledged themselves, and their sons, to Voldemort's service. Now that the younger two had graduated, it was time for them to enter Voldemort's service.
It was during Severus' time with Voldemort that he had been turned. The first raid that Severus had gone on had gone awry. Severus found himself in a similar position to Harry's--only Severus' wounds had been inflicted by some rather overzealous Aurors. Voldemort--not being one to keep a healer around--had simply called for a vampire to come and take care of Severus. Severus' turning and subsequent care had been taken care of in a rather unpleasant way, and it was now Severus' goal to make Harry's transition as easy as possible.
After Severus' turning, Severus had gone straight to Dumbledore, Lucius supporting him all the way. Together, the two became spies for the Order of the Phoenix--the secret resistance against Voldemort that was out of Ministry control. Some years later, Voldemort feel by the combined efforts of Lily Potter and her son, Harry.
Severus never understood why it was that Harry received all of the credit for felling the Dark Lord when in reality, he had done nothing but get hit by the killing curse! Severus and Albus seemed to be the only two who remembered Lily's part in the Light side's victory. She had given her life for her son; it was her love that allowed little Harry to live that night.
Severus sighed as the memories of the past washed over him. He stood up and walked to the cooling box in his kitchen to get a drink. The water was cool and refreshing and it brought him all the way back to the present. Severus sighed again as he placed the empty glass in the sink to wash later (he preferred to do many of his own chores himself, though the house elves did tend to most of the cleaning of his quarters). Now he had young Harry in his care. How in the world was he going to survive the next several years?
After Harry had cried himself into exhaustion, Severus placed him on the bed and tucked him in. He smiled sadly as he brushed Harry's bangs out of his eyes. Then he stood up and left the room, leaving the door ajar so that he could hear if Harry woke up.
Some hours later, just around dinner time, Harry did wake up. At first he was confused, but then he remembered that he was in his very own bedroom at Hogwarts. He looked around, and when he didn't see anyone, he climbed down out of the bed. Touching down lightly on the floor, he slowly walked out of the room.
Severus looked up from his book when he heard the soft footsteps of the seven-year old who had come to live with him. He smiled at the boy as he came into view. "Hullo, Harry," he said gently, "Sleep well?"
Harry nodded silently as he watched his new guardian pensively. He wasn't exactly sure about this man yet, but somehow he instinctively trusted Severus. He began to approach the potions master.
Severus waited as Harry walked over to him. He wasn't exactly sure as to what to do next, but he decided to simply let things happen and see how they got along. Severus still hadn't quite gotten over the fact that the son of his worst enemy at school was now in his care, and as a vampire no less! Still, he realized that Harry was nothing like James was. His childhood so far had ensured that. When Harry got closer, Severus patted the spot on the couch next to him and said softly, "Would you like to join me?"
Harry hesitated for a moment, and then he nodded and sat down next to Severus. He looked up at his guardian with eyes filled with an odd mixture of trust, apprehension, and wonder. Severus wasn't quite sure what to do with that, so he simply asked, "Are you hungry?"
Harry thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, sir," he said softly, as if he were afraid of what the response would be. After another moment, he added, "It feels differently than it used to."
"What does?" Severus asked curiously.
"The hunger. I don't know how to say it, but it's different," explained Harry in the same soft voice.
"Ah," replied Severus as understanding came to him, "that's because you're a vampire now. It's more like a... need than, well, whatever hunger used to feel like." Severus frowned at his explanation, but the truth was that he couldn't even remember what it was like to feel regular hunger. Not that he was ever good at describing these things anyway. But Harry nodded anyway, he seemed to see what Severus was getting at.
Severus frowned again as he considered what to feed Harry. At this point, his own blood would probably be best. The sire of a vampire usually fed a newly turned vampire his own blood as the main staple of the new one's diet until the new vampire was stronger. Similar, in an odd sort of way, to the way a newborn babe drank his mother's milk. Harry was still at the point where he needed Severus' blood.
Severus nodded as he decided, and he glanced over to see Harry watching him. "This will be very odd for you, as this is the first time that you will be conscious while we do this. However, you do need to get used to this, so..." Severus' voice trailed off as he saw Harry's puzzled look. "You need to feed," he explained, "At this point, you still need to drink my own blood. Why that is, is a rather complicated matter, but I shall try to explain it to you after we are through, is that all right?"
Harry nodded silently again, and Severus had to wonder if Harry was truly alright with the situation, or if he was simply agreeing because he was afraid of what might happen if he said no. Severus sighed inwardly, but he decided to go ahead.
"I'll help you through this, Harry," Severus promised as he took out the knife he had used on himself when Harry had been turned. He showed the knife to Harry. "Look, I will cut myself with this, and then I will give you my wrist to suck on. You needn't be frightened. You won't hurt me, and I won't hurt you," Severus hoped that that would be enough to reassure the boy, but what had to be done, had to be done.
Again, Severus took the knife and made a small cut in the vein above his wrist. It wasn't enough to allow him to bleed away completely, but it was enough that Harry would be able to feed. He looked over at Harry and brought him closer. He held his wrist up for Harry and, after a hesitant look at Severus, Harry brought his mouth down and began to suck.
Severus sighed softly as Harry began to drink. He could barely feel Harry's fangs, which was odd. He assumed that it was a side effect of Harry's young age. Severus knew that he and Poppy would have to soon perform a thorough examination of Harry to determine just how human he still was, since it appeared that his unchanged eyesight was not the only part to remain unchanged after the transformation.
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Harry was rather nervous as Severus explained to Harry what he would be having for dinner that night. The fact that he would be drinking someone else's blood was still a very foreign idea for him. Harry watched as Severus pulled out the knife and showed it to him. He put on a brave face as Severus cut himself with it and held up the wrist with the blood beginning to flow out of it to Harry. Soon enough though, Harry's vampiric instincts took over and he latched on to Severus' wrist and began to suck.
It felt odd to drink another's blood, but Harry had to admit that it wasn't entirely unpleasant, either. He decided that he could get used to doing this. Harry wasn't sure how to describe the taste of Severus' blood but he knew it was different from human blood. There had been many a time after one of Vernon's beatings where Harry could taste the blood in his mouth. His blood had been unpleasant to taste, but he found that he rather enjoyed the taste of Severus' blood.
Too soon in Harry's opinion, Severus withdrew his wrist from Harry. "All right, child," he said, "That's enough for now. How do you feel?"
"Better," replied Harry softly.
"Good," Severus nodded curtly. He looked Harry over again; the boy truly did look better. There was some more color to his cheeks now. "Harry," he began, "there are some things you need to know now that you are a vampire..."
Harry looked expectantly up at his guardian. "Like what?" he asked, now sounding a little more confident.
"Such as what kind of blood you need to drink; what you know of vampires and what is real, that sort of thing," Severus explained, "Harry, what do you know about vampires?"
Harry shrugged. "Not much. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't like to mention such freakish things in their home," he said softly, and Severus could feel a shudder run through Harry's small body. He put his arm around the boy and gave him a small squeeze and a reassuring smile.
"It's all right, Harry, you're safe here," he said gently. Then he said, "Well, let's get this straight. You *can* go out in the sun. There are several types of vampires, but what you need to know about our type is that we can walk outside during the day. We are more sensitive to the Sun than humans are, but it doesn't pose any special problems for us. Second thing is that, as I told you earlier, a newly turned vampire drinks his sire's blood until he gets stronger. That's because at that time there are special nutrients in the sire's blood that the new vampire needs. You'll be drinking my blood until I say you can stop. That will probably be a week or two, maybe more because you, Harry, are the youngest vampire in the history of the world."
Harry's eyes grew wide. "Really?" he said in an awed tone.
"Really," Severus confirmed. "You need to know that because of that, things are going to be different with you. No one has never been turned who hasn't been fully grown, yet. That's because vampires age differently from humans. Much, much more slowly. We'll have to see how you turn out, because we simply do not know. That's the other thing I need to tell you. I noticed while you were feeding that your fangs aren't fully grown. I'll need to help you hunt when the time comes because of that. Hopefully they will grow out soon, but we'll work something out if they don't. Do you have any questions about anything, Harry?" Severus asked trying to get a feel for how Harry was dealing with what was happening to him.
Harry began to shake his head, but then he nodded. "Yes, sir. What kind of blood will I normally have to drink?"
"Animal blood, of the sort of animals you would normally eat as a human-- chicken, cow, pig, sometimes rabbits, that sort of thing," Severus replied.
Harry nodded and then he asked a question that Severus had forgotten to address, "What am I supposed to call you, sir?"
"Severus is fine," he answered, "I am your guardian, don't forget."
"I know," said Harry with a small smile.
"Now then," Severus said as he lifted Harry up and put him on the floor, "you need to go to bed, young man. You need to rest in order to regain your strength. Tomorrow, you and I shall see Poppy, and she and I will look you over to see what differences there are between yourself and a full-grown vampire. Judging by what I can already see, I think I have a fairly good idea as to what those differences are, but we do need to know for sure. Tomorrow, you and I shall also have a little talk."
Harry's eyes widened briefly at that, but he quickly realized that Severus meant him no harm, so he nodded then. "All right," he said softly. "Good night, Severus," he said shyly.
Severus smiled again at Harry and replied, "Good night, Harry."
As Harry scampered off to bed, Severus sat down on the couch again and stared into the fire. The fire was always lit, even in summer, as Severus didn't truly enjoy the coldness of the dungeons. But, traditionally, Slytherin territory had always been in the dungeons, so he was stuck here.
As Severus contemplated the flames, his mind went over the events of the past few days. When Albus had originally called him, back at Arabella's home, Severus wasn't sure of exactly Albus wanted. He knew that Albus was very desperate, but that was all. When he saw the still form of the Boy-Who- Lived on Arabella's sofa, he had instantly realized Albus' intent.
Turning Harry had been a scary thing for Severus. He had known what that meant, not only for Harry, but also for himself. The Vampire Council's laws on the matter were quite clear on the subject: a newly turned vampire is always placed into the care of the one who turned him. Bringing a young boy into his life was not what Severus had in mind at this point. That that young boy would also be James Potter's son was an added complication to the matter.
It was no secret that the Marauders and the group of boys that Severus had hung out with did not get along. Severus, a loner by nature, had only stuck around those boys in fear of what the Marauders would do to him should they every catch him alone. For whatever reason, one that Severus had never discovered, Sirius Black and James Potter seemed to have made it their mission in life to single the young Severus Snape out and torment him.
However, that had begun to change in later years after Harry's father had begun to date the woman, girl at the time, who was to become Harry's mother- -Lily Evans. Lily and Severus had always gotten along fairly well for a Slytherin Pureblood and a Gryffindor Muggle-born. Oh, they had their moments, yes, but they also had moments that Severus still treasured to this day. Once Lily and James started dating, Lily had begun to keep tighter control over James' activities--she didn't allow James to torment him any longer. Severus had always been grateful to Lily for saving him in their last year and a half of school. Once Severus graduated though, things began to change.
Severus' father, Salazar Snape, and Lucius Malfoy's father, Augustus Malfoy, had brought their sons before Lord Voldemort. The two patriarchs had known each other in school, and while the Snape family had come down quite a ways in terms of their socioeconomic status, their magic was powerful enough that they still maintained close ties with the Malfoys. It was Augustus who had introduced Salazar to Voldemort. They had become enamored with Voldemort's goals, and not much time had passed before they had pledged themselves, and their sons, to Voldemort's service. Now that the younger two had graduated, it was time for them to enter Voldemort's service.
It was during Severus' time with Voldemort that he had been turned. The first raid that Severus had gone on had gone awry. Severus found himself in a similar position to Harry's--only Severus' wounds had been inflicted by some rather overzealous Aurors. Voldemort--not being one to keep a healer around--had simply called for a vampire to come and take care of Severus. Severus' turning and subsequent care had been taken care of in a rather unpleasant way, and it was now Severus' goal to make Harry's transition as easy as possible.
After Severus' turning, Severus had gone straight to Dumbledore, Lucius supporting him all the way. Together, the two became spies for the Order of the Phoenix--the secret resistance against Voldemort that was out of Ministry control. Some years later, Voldemort feel by the combined efforts of Lily Potter and her son, Harry.
Severus never understood why it was that Harry received all of the credit for felling the Dark Lord when in reality, he had done nothing but get hit by the killing curse! Severus and Albus seemed to be the only two who remembered Lily's part in the Light side's victory. She had given her life for her son; it was her love that allowed little Harry to live that night.
Severus sighed as the memories of the past washed over him. He stood up and walked to the cooling box in his kitchen to get a drink. The water was cool and refreshing and it brought him all the way back to the present. Severus sighed again as he placed the empty glass in the sink to wash later (he preferred to do many of his own chores himself, though the house elves did tend to most of the cleaning of his quarters). Now he had young Harry in his care. How in the world was he going to survive the next several years?
