Chapter 2
5 June, 1985, late evening
"You are mad!"
Amon turned around and looked coldly at the only person who dared to speak to him in such a disrespectful manner.
Mort Lacoste, his cousin and the second eldest vampire of the Auctorius Clan was widely known for his contempt towards any sort of formalities, rules and traditions. His habit of saying openly whatever was on his mind had quite often caused problems, but Mort had enough skills to win any fight and enough money to get himself out of any trouble fighting couldn't solve.
And right now, he was furious.
"You are totally insane! Out of your mind! What the hell have you been thinking?"
Amon waited for Mort to finish ranting. There was no point in interrupting – his cousin needed to let his anger out before he could think clearly.
"A stinking human child? Here? This is the most ridiculous! Stupid! Imbecilic idea I've ever heard of! I can bet my house in Vavlova, that the boy won't survive a month in here! And even if you find a way to keep him safe, I just cannot fathom: what the hell you need him for?"
Amon had been asking himself the same question ever since he returned from Aluvitara. No, he had no idea why he wanted Harry so much. He didn't know what caused the strange, almost human emotions, that he felt when he saw Harry smiling and calling him 'angel'. However, he had no intention of showing any of his inner doubts to Mort.
"Are you finished?" he asked in a voice that could freeze hell.
"I am… Yes, I am."
"So now listen very carefully and make sure you understand me well, because I don't want to make you understand the hard way." Amon paused for the effect, even though he knew that Mort would not be affected by the threat.
"I do what I please and you are in no position to question me. I chose the boy to be my son and so my son he will be. I want to raise him here and so here he will be raised. No one in this house will dare to harm him against my orders."
"Just like Mikhel didn't?"
Amon grimaced. Just after Harry had fallen asleep, Mikhel, who was guarding the room from the outside, burst in and tried to attack the boy, mad desire for the blood clearly visible in his eyes. Amon had reacted instinctively and killed him. It was a pity, because Mikhel was fiercely loyal and very talented.
Mort noticed his expression and continued pressing on the subject.
"You've lost a very good soldier because of this mortal. And, if you keep him you will loose much more. Vampires in the City will be talking, you know that. There are already some that think you are showing a weakness with this "leave humans alone" shit. When they hear that you have actually decided to adopt the boy – you might even loose your position as the Lord."
"I doubt it." Amon replied coldly. "There is no other strong enough to take my place and they know it."
"Perhaps. Still, even if you manage to get your way with them, as you usually do, there is still the little matter of his safety. The boy will be our weakest link, easiest to attack. Our enemies won't hesitate and will use him against you!"
Amon walked to the window and gazed outside pensively. In the night, City looked like a sea of moving lights spreading beyond the horizon – colorful, lively and yet… deadly. Was there any way of shielding Harry from all the dangers lurking there and not making him weak at the same time?
He heard Mort talking behind him.
"I just don't understand you. There is so much to loose and so little to gain. Maybe this boy is special; maybe he has some unusual powers. But I just don't see the point in keeping him alive. Just drain him or give him back to Aileena and have her in your debt!"
"No!" Amon said, turning back abruptly and looking sharply at his brother. "I have my reasons." Even if I am not sure what they are.
"Right… Why don't you turn him then? It would make things a lot easier."
"And have him spend rest of the eternity in the body of five-year-old? My dear cousin, that's cruel even for you…"
Mort snorted.
"Well, you want to have a child. You would have one that would stay this way for ever…"
Amon raised his eyebrows. His cousin's poor sense of humor managed to disgust him even after so many centuries.
"Don't be stupid! This boy… Harry… I've chosen him for my heir." As the words escaped his mouth, Amon felt strange calm and sense of assurance inside him. He knew the moment he spoke, that this was the right decision, even if, considering its importance it seemed a bit hasty.
Mort froze.
Being the second-eldest in their clan, he was the one who would inherit Amon's position in case of his death. Of course, vampire leaders had the right to choose their own heirs, but since Amon never bothered, Mort felt safe in his situation. And now, after more than two thousands years, he was not going to give it up without the fight.
"This is preposterous! I will not let you ruin our clan for some crazy idea. I don't care how magical the boy is – he is young, mortal and weak and nobody, nobody will ever treat him as an equal, even if you turn him. I'm leaving now, there's no point in talking to you any more. You've lost your mind! You will regret this, I'm sure!"
He turned around and walked to the doors in quick, angry strides.
"Stop." Amon's voice was like steal and Mort had no choice – he had to obey the direct order.
"Mort Lacoste, I've had enough from you. I have let you get away with plenty of things. I have given you freedom. I didn't react when you openly spoke against the clan policy. I never cared about all the trouble you caused. But perhaps, it was a mistake. It seems to me that I was to lenient. It's time that I reminded you of your rightful place! You will now go to your quarters and stay there until you are summoned. You will not contact anyone while in there. Tomorrow, during the adoption and inheritance ritual, you will be chosen as the heir's guard. Your life will be bound to his in such a way, that should he die you will die too. Should he suffer, you will suffer exactly the same way. This is my decision and my order. You should learn to hold your tongue."
For a while Mort just stood motionlessly. He was one of the most ruthless and cruel vampires and he absolutely despised humans. Before Amon managed to get all the heads of the clans to accept his relatively tolerant policy towards other species, Mort had taken part in countless mass murders and wars. He took pleasure from killing and torture and mortals were his favorite victim.
There was no worse punishment in his eyes, than the one he was just subjected to. Anger shone in his eyes as he turned around and stormed out of the room.
6 June 1985
Harry was woken up by the gentle touch of sunlight on his cheeks. He blinked and looked around the room, but his father was not there. Instead, strangest creature Harry has ever seen was standing next to his bed and watching him with pair of large, round eyes.
"Who are you?" Harry asked, yawning and stretching at the same time.
"Pido, young master. Master sent Pido to take care of young master and give young master breakfast, when young master wakes up, sir."
Harry blinked and rubbed his eyes, trying to process all that he had just heard and make any sense of it.
"Where is Dad?" he asked, trying to hide the anxiousness. What if his Dad decided to leave Harry alone? What if he didn't like him any more?
"Master is asleep, young master. It's the middle of the day." The strange creature answered. "Master asked to tell young master, that he will see young master in the evening and that young master shouldn't be worried."
Harry looked the creature in surprise.
"Why is Daddy sleeping in the middle of the day?"
"Every vampire sleeps during the day, young master."
Harry eyes widened and he moved back abruptly.
"That's not true!" he shouted. "Daddy is not a vampire! Daddy is a good person, very good. He is not a vampire… is he?" Harry finished much less certainly. He suddenly remembered his Dad's paleness and cold touch and wasn't really sure anymore.
"Master is vampire, of course he is. But young master is right too. Master is a good person and a vampire."
Harry didn't seem really convinced, but he dropped the matter and decided to ask about another thing that troubled him at this moment.
"You are not a fairy," he said.
"No, young master, sir. Of course not. Pido is a house-elf."
"You have funny ears, Pido."
Pido seemed rather taken aback by this statement. Uncertain what to make of it, he spoke rather hesitantly:
"Pido is sorry, young master. Pido will try to hide them…"
"No, I like them." Harry interrupted him and smiled nicely.
"Pido is glad." The house elf replied with cautious half-smile.
Pido helped Harry with getting dressed and washing himself. It wasn't that Harry couldn't do those things by himself, but both the clothes he was given and the bathroom were very different from anything he was accustomed to.
After that they ate breakfast Harry asked what they were going to do.
Pido was really surprised by the question and had the hard time answering. Seeing that, Harry suggested playing some games together, which turned out rather dull, because Pido was letting Harry win all the time. After that Harry started to ask various questions about his Dad, which Pido was happy to answer in his own way. Harry learned that his father was very important Lord and that he lived in the City.
Comprehending what exactly the City was took some more time. Harry insisted that every place needed a name, and 'City' was not a proper one. Finally though, he understood the concept behind it and surprisingly it was the memory of his Aunt and Uncle that helped him.
City was a place, were all magical beings could live peacefully and without interference, ruled by their own laws and customs. When Harry remembered how intolerant his relatives had been, he easily understood the need of such a place. Also, since there was only one City, it didn't need to be called any other way to be distinguished.
Discussions with little Harry were rather stressful to poor Pido. Maybe it was because of the fact that they were almost exactly the same size, but Harry treated Pido rather like a friend, or a playfellow than a servant. It made the house-elf very uncomfortable – all the time he feared that someone would enter and see him in such an inappropriate situation.
Although he didn't dare showing his feelings, he welcomed the evening and darkness with relief.
Harry, on the other hand, was more and more apprehensive. Was his father going to bite him? Harry tried to believe that it was not possible, but small distrustful part inside kept telling him that there was no reason for anyone to actually keep him and if Dad actually wanted to eat him, it would explain a lot…
So, when Amon arrived (and his son's room was the first place he went, after he woke up), he was greeted with a sight of one very scared boy hiding behind the equally afraid house-elf. Amon knew that he was treading on a thin ice with the abused child, so despite the fact that the situation displeased him, he welcomed Harry gently and asked what was wrong.
"Daddy?" Harry asked uncertainly, looking up at him with those wide, piercing eyes. "Are you going to bite me?"
Amon lowered himself so that he could look his son in the eyes. He spoke gently although inside he felt rather angry.
"No, Harry. Remember what I told you yesterday? I will never, ever hurt you. Do you understand this?"
Harry nodded.
"Because… because Pido said you're a vampire."
"Did he now?" Amon looked up and glared at the house-elf, which cowered in the back of the room.
"But he said that you are a good vampire and you are, aren't you, Daddy?"
Amon smiled and pulled his son into a hug.
"Of course, I am a good vampire, son."
"Good." Harry said, comforted and reassured.
After a longer while Amon pushed Harry away and stood up.
"Listen now, Harry. Very important things are going to happen tonight. You will undergo a ritual, very complicated ritual which will confirm to everybody that you truly are my son. We have no time to explain every detail of it, so you will have to trust me that nothing wrong will happen to you."
"Yes, Daddy."
"At one point I will have to cut your hand. It won't hurt much, but it's important that you don't show that you are afraid."
"Yes, Daddy, I will be brave."
"Good boy." Amon said and Harry smiled proudly.
True to his father's prediction, Harry didn't understand anything from what was happening later. There were many people watching the ceremony and majority of them didn't look at Harry too kindly, but the little boy was not afraid, because his father was holding his hand.
Strange symbols were covering the floor and walls of the chamber and many vampires (Harry now noticed their pale complexion, bloodshed eyes and fangs) chanted words in some obscure language. Finally, after what seemed like eternity Amon took small knife with ivory handle and made triangular cuts on the insides of his and Harry's hands. Then he pressed the hands together, so that the cuts matched. Harry screamed piercingly when the magic started to bound them together.
Far away from the city Lily Potter woke up.
She sat up abruptly and looked around with fearful expression of hunted animal. She breathed heavily until familiarity of the bedroom and James' snoring calmed her down a bit.
She slipped out of the bed, poured herself half-a-glass of water, walked to the window and drank slowly, watching the garden bathed in the moonlight.
Strange feeling of dread didn't leave, as it should.
She couldn't remember her nightmare, but it must have been terrible, for those negative emotions to linger for so long. Lily was used to terrifying dreams full of death, pain and cruelty. She had seen too much of such things in her everyday life not to be affected.
She learned special techniques to deal with this, but somehow tonight it was different and the calming exercises didn't help. Lily felt as if something dreadful had happened although she had no idea what.
"Lily…" she turned around and smirked. James was obviously dreaming about her and judging from the way he held the pillow, the dream wasn't exactly innocent.
She kissed him gently on the forehead and grabbed her wand from the drawer.
She needed to check up on the children.
Melissa was lying on her back in the exactly same position that she fell asleep in. She never moved when she slept, never woke up in the middle of the night and never cried.
Petunia was the same, Lily recalled. Their father used to say that at night Petunia turned into an angel and Lily into demon.
It was strange, how much Melissa reminded Lily of her sister. She was just as thin, no matter how much she ate, just as stubborn (almost closed-minded) and had exactly the same strawberry-blonde hair.
Lily moved to the cradle, where her little boy, Sean, should have been sleeping.
Only he wasn't. Instead, he was sitting in the corner with his eyes wide open and grimace of terrible fear on his face.
"You can't sleep too, baby?" Lily whispered while lifting her child up. She hugged him gently and whispered meaningless reassurances, which he probably couldn't understand anyway, being only one-year-old. As she held him in her arms, memories of different child she used to hold this way returned to her suddenly. She hoped Harry was fine.
Finally, after long while she placed Sean back in the cradle.
Comforted by her children's presence, Lily convinced herself that the bad feeling was nothing more than a nightmare.
After the ritual was completed Harry was presented to all the members of the clan. He couldn't remember their names, but they all bowed to him reverently, which rather surprised him – he was not used to this sort of attention. He actually quite enjoyed it.
After that, came another part of the evening, when very dangerously looking vampire swore to protect Harry with his life. Harry felt magic vibrating in the air when the vows took place. He could also see that many of the assembled creatures looked astonished, when they saw who his protector was.
Finally, when this was over, Harry could go to bed. He felt extremely tired, as the whole ceremony lasted well into the night.
The months that came later were probably the best time in Harry's childhood.
Pido was assigned as Harry's personal servant. The house-elf didn't dare complaining, but he wasn't happy with the arrangement. The boy treated him in straightforward manner, which always left Pido uncomfortable. Pido was also never disciplined, which left him with the strange feeling that sooner or later one huge punishment would come, to cover all those that Pido should have, but hadn't received.
Amon didn't have as much time for his child, as Harry would have liked and instead, he left the boy in capable hands of various tutors and caretakers. There was no plan, no routine in Harry's everyday life. Instead, all the time something new and unexpected happened.
Harry learned a lot: reading and writing, mathematics, horse-back riding, etiquette and history. Sometimes Cerentius, centaur that lived in the household, would take him to the observatory, tell the legends and facts about different stars and introduce him to fascinating world of astrology.
Harry enjoyed all those lessons, but his absolute favorite was magic. Amon decided to teach the boy himself – he just didn't trust anyone else with the task.
He was surprised how easily manipulating word around him came to the little human – Harry didn't need any instruction in connecting to his magical core; he could touch it effortlessly all the time and manipulate magic around him as if it was easiest thing in the world. It was enough for him to understand how particular type of magic worked and then he performed it flawlessly and sometimes even modified it to suit his own purpose.
Occasionally, Lady Aileena would come to inquire about Harry's progress and well-being. Harry liked those visits, because they meant whole afternoon spent on games in company of playful fairies from the Storm Court. Most of the inhabitants of the House of Auctorius were very serious and although Harry loved his new life, he didn't really have much fun.
Seeing that his son appreciated the company of fae-people, Amon bought him Nadia, young fairy from the noble, but impoverished family. She was sold into slavery to enable her parents to pay at least some of their debts.
Nadia was supposed to keep Harry company and teach him French, but it turned out that young fae was very mischievous and more often than not, they would run together from Harry's teachers and hide in the house, or play stupid, thoughtless pranks that irritated everybody to no end.
Amon was glad to see his son more self-assured and careless, just like the child his age should be.
Throughout all the lessons Harry was shadowed by his reluctant guard, Mort Lacoste.
Harry had, surprisingly, taken liking to severe and unpleasant vampire and called him 'uncle'; once Nadia followed his example and found herself immediately with knife pressed to her throat. She never did it again.
During those few months all the inhabitants of the house noticed gradual change in Mort's attitude towards his young charge. He kept calling Harry 'insufferable brat' and 'mortal weakling', but his words were laced with fondness instead of venom and his expression became almost nice.
Nobody was more surprised by this development than Mort Lacoste himself.
Amon observed this with hints of amusement, but he couldn't help wondering whether this was another example of the strange effect Harry had on all the powerful magical beings he encountered. He tried to find answers to all the question Harry's extraordinary talents provoked both in books and with the help of various rituals. He was not sure, until one morning Harry fell asleep on his father's lap and Amon started listening to the magical currents in the very similar manner as he did that first night, when he heard Harry's desperate plead for help.
He was surprised to see that somehow Harry constantly affected the threads of magic and shaped them similarly as faeries did, making everybody around him more pleasantly inclined towards himself. Amon wondered whether this was some sort self-defense against his previous treatment. He was certain that more in-tune with magic person was, more strongly he or she was affected by the spell. This would explain why it didn't work at all on Harry's Muggle relatives.
Amon was sure that Harry did this subconsciously and it explained also why Harry was in touch with his magical core all the time. Briefly, the vampire considered teaching boy how to control it, but he decided against it. Some would probably think that this sort of charms was immoral, but the effect were so subtle, that Amon doubted anyone would notice it and well, Amon had never cared much for morals.
Author's note: Answers to most of the questions are in my profile. I am really greatful for all the reviews and I especially appreciate those that provide some constructive critisism. Also, I'm sorry that the chapter is so short - I'm aiming at having chapters 5000 words long, so well... hopefully next one will be longer/
Next chapter: More about Harry's home life and more about other vampires' reactions to the fact that Lord Auctorius has just appointed human as his heir. Probably some other things, I don't really know yet.
Disclaimer: Everything that you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling and plenty of publishers. Only thing I earn from this is some satisfaction and bit of ego-stroking when I get nice reviews.