A/N: I apologize for not updating for so long, I haven't abandoned the story I was just so behind on my college work that I had to focus all my attention on it…plus I got obsessed with watching Let's Plays on YouTube.
In all honesty, I sort of lost inspiration but I made sure to write at least a little bit every week, all your comments kept me going.
Last chapter I said I didn't know what Thereon's name meant, a kind reader Kai-Kaiden took the time to do the research for me and found out. Thereon means "Hunter" and his last name LĂ©tourneau is a slang term in French, meaning to have sex with a teacher.
I hadn't known the previous author of this story had put so much work into his name, it's really clever.
I hope you enjoy this chapter, it is long to make up for months without an update.
"I'm not joking, you know what? I'm going to get Severus to fall in love with me". Thereon flopped onto his bed happily.
Draco didn't know what to say to that so he just shook his head. "Good luck with that Thereon, now go to bed. I need my beauty sleep and I don't want you keeping me up".
Thereon snuggled into bed, smiling as he thought of how he was going to get the Potions Professor to fall for him.
During the winter holidays Thereon returned home, though he didn't enjoy it as much as he thought he would. He had been feeling homesick when he was at Hogwarts but now that he was home the feeling was still there, which was just weird, after all this was his home right? With his Mother and Father and Sister, then why was he feeling he wasn't home yet?
Thereon barely talked to them, after the brief hug and the 'I missed you guys' he retreated up into his room to feel sorry for himself, he hated feeling like this, it was pathetic. Similar to way he feels whenever he trains with the Dark Lord, he still hasn't been able to grasp even the basics of soul reaping, getting too caught up in the person's memories to do his job properly.
Maybe this wasn't the life for him, maybe he wasn't cut out to be a Reaper. He had the natural affinity for it but it didn't mean he had to do it, right? Even if he wanted to opt out he didn't think he would be confident enough to tell the Dark Lord that. Sure, the man was nicer than he had been made out to be but he was still a very powerful wizard who didn't take failure lightly.
Thereon's mind drifted to Severus, just the thought of his name brought a smile to his face, what he wouldn't give to be lying in bed with the man right now. Thereon didn't know why he was so attracted to Severus, he just was. It wasn't that he wanted to have sex with him, he didn't really know how sex worked, it was more like he wanted to be held by Severus, he wanted to fall asleep next to him and wake up next to him in the morning. He wanted to be the most important person to Severus, wanted to have a family with him.
The last though startled him, family? Why would he even think that far, Severus hadn't even noticed him let alone be interested in him, why would he think the man would want to marry him?
"I'm an idiot." He muttered to himself.
"No you aren't sweetie, you are probably just confused." Vendetta said softly, she was standing at the doorway to his room.
Thereon sat up, startled. "How long have you been there?" He didn't mean to come across as rude but he didn't like how she came into his room without his permission.
"Long enough to see something is troubling you, my son," Vendetta said. She entered his room and sat next to him, then she began gently running her fingers through his dark red hair.
Thereon sighed slowly, he couldn't exactly confide in Vendetta about what was currently plaguing his mind, how was he supposed to tell her he was fantasizing about his Potions Professor, just the thought of divulging such naughty thoughts was enough to make him blush.
Vendetta chuckled. "I assume this is about that crush of yours, is it not?"
Thereon stared at her wide-eyed. "Who told you I had a crush?"
Vendetta laughed. "No-one, I was just making an assumption but thank you for confirming it." She smiled.
Thereon groaned. "Don't do that, it's not nice to tease your son." He pouted.
Vendetta kissed his forehead. "You do not have to feel embarrassed. Though I do feel you are a bit too young to be thinking about crushes and dating." She frowned a little, her little boy was growing up so fast, too fast.
Thereon hugged Vendetta. "I'm not too young to have crushes, though I will wait a few more years before I start dating. You have nothing to worry about, I'm still little Thereon."
Vendetta gently squeezed the little boy in her arms, he was growing up to be such an amazing person, she really was lucky to have him as a son. She will forever be thankful for that fateful day that she happened upon the abandoned babe.
"I love you Thereon, you know that don't you? Your father and I love you like you were our own." Vendetta said quietly, this was an issue they had avoided talking about in fear of making him feel the loss of his birth parents. She and Aaron had collected as many details as they could about Thereon's birth parents and their immediate family and friends, knowing the boy would want to find out one day. What they had found out had shocked them but they knew it wasn't in their right to interfere, Thereon would have to decide what he wanted to do with the information they had provided him.
Thereon swallowed, he had been hoping they would have this talk but now that there was actually a possibility of it happening he wanted it to stop as soon as it had started.
"I know Vendetta, I love you and Aaron too but I want to know what happened to my real parents, I miss them. I feel like such an idiot for missing people I don't even remember meeting." He smiled sadly.
Vendetta pulled her son to her breast. "You are not an idiot; it is alright to miss your birth parents." She said softly. At first, when Thereon started calling her by her name instead of 'Mother' she was hurt, she thought he didn't need her anymore, that he wanted to find out about his real parents and leave her. Her husband had told her to put herself into Thereon's shoes, to feel the emotions he felt and to understand that even though he wanted to find out more about his real parents that their son will always come back home to them.
"I just feel like I don't fit in with you, Aaron and Angelica, you're a real family. Sometimes I feel left out, not that you've made me feel that way or anything. It's just mentally I guess." Thereon said, wanting Vendetta to understand that he still loved her but he desperately wanted to find where he belonged.
"You are such a big boy now, I remember when you were just a little babe, you fit just right in the crook of my arm. The way you would look at me and smile just melted my heart, you'd always look for me when you had not seen me for more than five minutes and smother me with sloppy kisses. It's a shame those days are over. You are now an intelligent young man and I am so proud of you." Vendetta sniffled.
Thereon hugged Vendetta tighter. "I love you guys so much, you're the best family anyone could ask for and I'm sorry I've been so distant." He said. He felt bad for ignoring them in favour of locking himself in his room to wallow in misery.
Thereon sat in the study, going over all the information Vendetta had provided for him regarding his birth parents. Apparently his last name was Potter, his mother's name was Lily and his father's name was James. They had placed him on the doorstep of the Dursley household because they wanted to protect him from the war that was happening in the wizarding world.
That little information had Thereon weeping his little heart out. His parents hadn't wanted to give him up, they had loved him and wanted to protect him. They had died protecting him and he loved them even though he didn't remember them.
He stroked the picture of his mother and father, they looked different from him. He supposed it was because of his transformation to a vampire. He tried to imagine what it would have been like living with them if they had survived.
Thereon spent the rest of the day cooped up in the study, taking in as much information as he could about his birth parents.
He discovered his father had three best friends and was in the group called the Marauders. He had heard the Weasley twins talking about it and claiming since Neville's father was a Marauder that he would be one too but the boy was way too meek to be a Marauder, he preferred to keep his head low and stay out of everyone's way.
Thereon absently wondered which of the Marauders had been Neville's father. From what he knew about the shy boy he was the Boy-Who-Lived and that his parents had died protecting him and he was the only one to survive the killing curse.
Thereon frowned, something didn't add up. He didn't know what but he knew that something definitely didn't add up.
Thereon was back at school but his mind lingered on the new information he came across during the winter holidays. Draco had wanted to know what was wrong with his best friend but the vampire just ignored him. This obviously upset the blonde and he confronted Thereon, which led to them yelling at each other and in turn put them both in a foul mood.
Blaise was wary of approaching the blonde, he didn't want to get yelled at but he could see how much the fight had upset Draco so he tried his luck.
"Draco?" Blaise said softly, as one would to a temperamental animal.
Draco shot him a glare over the top of the pillow he was clutching tightly to his chest. He was sat on his bed in his pyjamas. "Can I sit with you?" Blaise asked, not taking a step forward unless he got permission.
"Whatever" Draco muttered, glaring at nothing in particular.
Blaise approached the bed cautiously and sat next to Draco, pulling the smaller boy into his arms. "It's okay to be upset, Thereon is your best friend and you were upset by the things you said to each other." He soothed Draco.
The blonde buried his face into Blaise's chest and silently cried. This was the first major fight he'd had with Thereon, he had said some things he hadn't meant, called him dreadful names and Thereon had given just as good as he'd gotten, calling him names till they were both hurling insults at each other. Blaise and Theodore had to separate them before things got physical.
"He makes me so angry, he just never listens. I was only trying to find out what happened over the holidays to make him so withdrawn and he responds by calling me a nosy bastard." Draco sniffed.
Blaise continued calming him though he hesitated on his next words. "You did call him petulant and annoying first." He pointed out.
Draco sniffed. "Well he was being petulant and annoying and I told him so but I didn't expect him to insult me back." He pouted.
Blaise sighed and hugged Draco. "That's why you both are best friends, you're so similar; you never back down from a fight and you're quick to insult people. You're also incredibly headstrong and quite annoying sometimes." He obviously said the last part under his breath but Draco heard it all the same and glared at him.
"You're sleeping in your bed tonight," Draco said, using his feet to kick Blaise off his bed.
Blaise sighed, knowing Draco was going to crawl into his bed in a few hours. Blaise made himself as comfortable in his own bed as he could get without Draco's warmth and fell asleep. He faintly felt Draco snuggling under his arm sometime during the night, he didn't say anything, just cuddled the blonde closer and they both fell peacefully asleep.
The next day found Thereon sat in the library, he wasn't actually doing any studying, he just needed time away from Draco. The blonde was being a prat and he couldn't stand it any longer, plus he was feeling a little bad for yelling at Draco; he hadn't meant to hurt the blonde's feelings, he just wasn't in the mood to deal with Draco's bitchiness.
He was also subtly spying on one Neville Potter who was sitting with the bushy-haired know-it-all that always got on his nerves. Thereon watched as she said something to Neville and the poor boy looked like he was about to cry. The know-it-all stood up abruptly and gathered up her beloved books, putting them in her bag and leaving Neville sat there, nearly in tears.
Thereon got up after she had left and he sat next to Neville. The sniffling boy didn't even notice Thereon's presence until he called his name. "Neville, are you alright?"
Neville startled as he saw he wasn't as alone as he had thought. "H-hey." He answered, trying to wipe his eyes and nose subtly.
"Why are you crying?" Thereon asked, he wasn't exactly friends with the Gryffindor but that didn't mean he wanted to see him cry.
Neville gave Thereon a tearful smile. "I'm not, I just got something in my eye."
"Really? That's what you're going with?" Thereon asked with an eyebrow raised. "Surely you can come up with a better excuse than that."
Neville smiled through his tears. "I guess I could have done a little better." He admitted.
Thereon gave him a little smile. "How 'bout you just tell me why you're crying, maybe I can help." He offered.
Neville hesitated, he knew he shouldn't be interacting with a Slytherin, they were dark and dangerous. Dumbledore wouldn't be happy if he found out he was speaking with one of the snakes.
That made him want to talk to Thereon even more. "Hermione said the title of the Boy-Who-Lived is wasted on someone as insignificant as me, I don't have even the most basic knowledge of important subjects. That I need to improve or just vanish and spare everyone the effort of having to put up with me. She's right of course but it still hurt." He sniffed.
Thereon shook his head, he had thought as much. They had been harassing poor Neville. The Gryffindor doesn't have a mean bone in his body and couldn't stand up to his bullies, sadly which also happened to be his so called friends.
"You're great at Herbology, even the know-it-all can't compete with you in that subject. You are not insignificant. I'm certain you've got friends out there who would gladly spend time with you, they will want to be friends with you because of your kindness and not because you're the Boy-Who-Lived".
Neville's face lit up. "We're friends?" He asked, and Thereon didn't have it in him to refuse those eyes.
Thereon opened and closed his mouth a few times but no sound came out. He gave Neville a tight-lipped smile and nodded. "Y-yeah. Of course." He couldn't believe those words just came out of his mouth. When Draco hears of this he will surely have Thereon's head on a fucking platter. He could practically hear Draco shrieking now. 'You befriended a Gryffindor, are you outta your mind?!' He winced slightly, Draco's shriek was legendary. It could reach a pitch that only dolphins could hear. The thought of having that shriek directed at him was enough to make him fall forward, his head landing on the table with a small 'thump'.
Neville was visibly startled. "Are you okay?" He asked, gently pulling Thereon up by the shoulders.
Thereon sighed and smiled at Neville. "I'm alright Neville, just not looking forward to the conversation I'm about to have with Draco." He said. Not to mention the blonde was already pissed off at him, this will just be the icing on the damn cake.
Thereon and Neville made their way out of the Library and towards the Great Lake, they took their time and walked slowly as they still had about half an hour before dinnertime was over.
Thereon was still wallowing in self-pity when he remembered the real reason he had been stalking Neville. "Neville, now that we're friends and all. We can ask each other personal questions, right?" He asked, being not at all subtle.
Neville looked amused as he nodded. "Yeah I guess."
"Do you know anything about your parents?" Thereon asked, getting straight to the point, he didn't believe in beating around the bush, he was a straight-to-the-point kind of person.
The amused smile on Neville's face was immediately replaced by a frightened look. "W-why do you want to know?"
Thereon noticed the change in demeanour. "Neville, it's okay. I just discovered something about myself and it seems we might be brothers."
Neville's eyes snapped up to meet Thereon's. his hands shaking and tears welling up at an alarming rate.
"Neville, calm down!" Thereon said, mildly panicked. Neville was wringing his hands together and biting hard on his bottom lip, tears slipped freely from his eyes as he paced back and forth.
Thereon panicked, he didn't know what to do, by the looks of it Neville was going to pass out soon, with the way he was hyperventilating. Just what exactly had been done to this boy to make him so frightened?
Thereon embraced Neville, trying to soothe him and stop his pacing, he didn't know what else to do. He slowly lowered them both to the cold, wet ground. All he could do was hold Neville as the boy cried himself to a restless sleep. Once Thereon was sure Neville was asleep he picked him up and ran up into the Slytherin dorm.
They were on Thereon's bed now, with Neville's head on Thereon's chest as he carded his fingers through Neville's brown hair, smoothing out the tangles to keep him calm as he slept. It was what Vendetta always did for him when he had a nightmare.
This was how Draco found him after he and Blaise came back from dinner. The blonde was making a point of ignoring Thereon but he was having a really hard time. He wanted to demand why he was holding a Gryffindor, why he had dared to bring a Lion into their dorm.
Blaise's hand on his back calmed him a little, he knew Thereon needed his space and would tell him in his own time.
Neville was awake and calmer now and Thereon was trying to figure out how they were related. Neville definitely knew something but he wasn't saying anything, anytime Thereon asked him a question he would panic and shake his head, saying he wasn't allowed to say anything.
The only thing Thereon's certain of was that he was going to protect the Gryffindor with everything he had, he wouldn't let anyone bully Neville. The only problem would be Draco; the blonde wouldn't be happy Thereon's taking a Gryffindor under his wing.
Thereon looked at Draco and sighed. "Draco, can I talk to you please?"
Draco sent him a glare but a little nudge from Blaise had him getting up from Blaise's bed and coming over to Thereon's. "What do you want?"
"I'm sorry." Thereon said, he didn't want to hurt his best friend and he knew they were both being silly, it's all part of growing up. They were both, after all, eleven year olds, they were bound to have quarrels over the silliest things.
Draco bit his lip. "I'm sorry too, I know how much you like your privacy. I should have left you alone and let you tell me in your own time."
"I'm sorry for being an ass, I really did want to tell you but I just needed to get some things sorted out first."
"So what's the big secret and why is there a Gryffindor in your bed, don't tell me he's become the latest object of your affection." Draco teased, though he was curious to know why his best friend had let a Lion into their dorm.
Neville blushed all the way to his ears and Draco almost felt bad for what he said, almost.
Thereon on the other hand just laughed. "No, my heart belongs to one person only. Neville is just a friend." He said, knowing very well he just admitted to befriending a Gryffindor. Draco surprised him when he just nodded and didn't press the issue.
"The reason I have been distant is that I found out about my birth parents but something seems off. I've been trying to figure it out." Thereon admitted to the blonde, he knew Draco might sometimes be a bit of a bitch but he was very smart, smart enough to be one the best students in their year, right underneath Granger, which infuriates Draco to no end.
"Neville and I are Potters, my parents also happen to be Neville's but there was no record of the Potters having two children. We're twins apparently, seeing as we were both born on the same day but twelve hours apart." Thereon explained to Draco. Neville was looking anywhere but at Thereon and he was back to wringing his hands and biting on his lip.
Draco took in the information while studying the way Neville moved, how panicked he was as Thereon explained the situation further and divulged everything he had learned.
"You know something don't you. You know something we don't." Draco said to Neville. "You need to tell us, this doesn't add up and if what I think is true then we have a huge problem on our hands."
Thereon frowned. "How so?"
"I don't think you two are twins. I think one of you, either Neville or you, was used to replace the other. In my opinion I think Neville was used to replace you, seeing as you're the one that was found by a vampire on the doorstep of the Dursley household." Draco mused.
The silence in the room was almost deafening. No one knew what to say, Thereon tried to find an excuse as to why Draco's musings couldn't be the true but he came up with nothing. He had lots of questions and not enough answers but there was one question that needed to be asked.
"Does this mean I'm the Boy-Who-Lived?"