In answer to review - Vlad gets his fangs when he turns sixteen. His birthday is in June, so his sixteenth birthday will be toward the end of fifth year. Which means it will be in this 'book'.

-YDHP-

"Today we'll be working on incapacitating spells. Non-lethal, and if possible non-injurious."

Vlad watched on proudly as Harry led the Defence group, enjoying the sight of his mate's confidence building before his eyes. He ignored others throwing Harry's muscled physique admiring or lustful looks. He wasn't jealous - Harry was beautiful, people were bound to notice.

"Why? A Death Eater isn't going to care about that."

His hand twitched, wanting to cover the Mark on his chest though virtually nobody else knew it was there.

"Fighting them is no reason to stoop to their level Timmons. If you came here to learn to hurt other people, you're in the wrong place. The whole point of this is Defence, not Dark Arts."

Timmons scowled and Vlad twisted slightly inside. He had stooped to levels nobody else had and Harry knew that.

"Cedric? Can I borrow you?"

Vlad ignored the memories of Harry and Cedric at the Yule Ball. He had no cause for distress - Harry had outright asked why he hadn't danced with Vlad, and at the time Harry hadn't come to terms with his feelings. Cedric was a good guy.

"Me?"

"You're the tallest here. I thought it would be a good impression of how a teenager might look against an adult duellist?"

The Head Boy stepped forward, canary yellow stripes on his jumper sticking out against the backdrop of Slytherin students in their 'group' behind him. Ingrid was with them, but Vlad knew she was keeping a wry eye on her little brother.

"Want me to put a hood on and scowl really viciously?"

Harry laughed, automatically loosening the knot in Vlads chest. He knew he was distressed by the pain starting in his chest, the reminder he had a role to play for both sides and he had to be careful when one of the other members of their 'club' was Marked. Vlad's actions would be reported on. While he could lie and finesse and outright irritate Voldemort with impunity, he had to maintain a visible degree of neutrality where possible. It might well be necessary in the future.

"Nah. Just focus on slowing me down or stopping me dead without hurting me. I'll defend, then we'll swap."

"Silent?"

"Not first time. They should know what we're doing."

"True."

Vlad clamped down his instincts for a minute, almost cutting the bond off. Harry twitched, looking around at him as though he could feel the dulling. Their bond wasn't two way because Harry wasn't a vampire... maybe Vlad had made a noise or something. Harry's magical senses were different - the Dark Mark setting off was something Harry could tell by Vlad's aura apparently now.

"You ok Harry?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Checking where people are so shield charms don't knock them out."

Harry lied very smoothly, and Vlad held back the urge to leap on Cedric when he did the thing Harry asked for and and shot an Impediment jinx at him. He knew what would happen if he came to the meetings, knew Harry wanted to demonstrate. Harry shielded silently, though Vlad would bet he dialled it down to ensure it looked like a little bit of a struggle for him not to speak the charm.

"Ok. Now you're the victim."

Cedric, ever a good sport, grinned and held his wand ready.

"Bring it."

Harry fired back the Impediment jinx, which Cedric managed to counter but Harry was fast and followed it with a Petrificus. The Head Boy froze solid, eyes the only part able to move. From his spot Vlad noted how the almost-adults magic and heart rate slowed down, flowing normally when Harry reversed his curse.

"Smart. Element of surprise."

"Exactly. Ok, everyone get into pairs and try it out in turns."

Vlad joined Harry in circling, checking on each groups spell work. Ingrid threatened to hex him when Vlad jokingly told her to watch her grip.

"I'll show you how fine my grip is around your throat. You still need to breathe."

The siblings exchanged a smirk and Vlad moved on to help the younger students. He didn't want to risk using magic with the periodic pulses of pain. He watched as Theo and Blaise took turns trading jinxes, Ginny against Hermione while Draco took a breather to chat with Neville.

His scars decided Vlad was too comfortable with just the Mark hurting, pain ripping along the cursed skin and Vlad almost transformed to his phoenix form in front of everyone just to stop the fierce aches. Harry saw him struggling, slid closer while everyone was busy.

"Are you ok?"

"I'll be fine. Just old injuries playing up."

Harry's proximity and concern was almost as potent as a painkiller, but Vlad knew he needed a potion or to transform. He wasn't too fussy which so long as he could breathe soon.

"I'll say you need the bathroom or something. Go do what you gotta do."

Vlad wanted to protest, didn't want to leave Harry alone but Ingrid caught his eye and nodded. He took that to mean she would stay with Harry.

"I'm gonna go see what he wants."

"Be safe."

"I'll try."

Vlad slipped from the Room while Harry called everyones attention to the other side of it, moving on to different curses and hexes while Vlad made to move somewhere he could transform before sneaking off Hogwarts grounds. He could apparate, but he wanted to keep that under wraps. And besides which it would be a tough explanation if he got splinched.

He transformed in a side corridor, just long enough to dull the ache. He shifted back, straightened up and shook like he still had feathers to ruffle. The corridor suddenly lit up, scaring the unholy hell out of Vlad as spontaneous flames filled the air. Parchment appeared within the flames, untouched, then dropped to the ground bearing Vlad's name.

Only his self-assurance it was phoenix fire he saw made Vlad pick it up.

Come to my office.

There was no name. There didn't need to be - only one person could send post by phoenix in Hogwarts. Vlad grit his teeth at the summons, but took himself to Dumbledores office. The gargoyle let him in immediately, probably surprising the Auror who seemed to be permanently stalking about the corridor outside the Headmasters office.

"Ah, Vladimir."

"What is it you want? I'm kind of in the middle of leaving the grounds."

Dumbledore knew where he was going and why. Vlad didn't beat around the bush.

"I am aware. I had a favour to ask of you."

"Which is?"

"I require a memory from somebody who I believe is where you are going."

Vlad cocked his head.

"You're going to have to be more specific."

"This is the copy of it I have. It is tainted. Altered."

Vlad took the delicate vial, watching the memory swirl around in it. It was too thick, almost sticking to the sides as it tried to flow, like a polluted river.

"If I look at this it'll be gone, you know that?"

"As I hope you can gain the true one, it is no true loss."

Not liking being so distracted while alone with the head he didn't really trust, Vlad cast a look to Fawkes that said "watch my back" before popping the spindly little stopper. The memory swirled thickly in his palm, Vlad taking a deep breath before pressing it to his temple so the memory would flow into him.

A room full of teenage boys eating and drinking. One of the boys stood out more so, handsome and chilling and charismatic all at once. Vlad saw the ring on his hand - Tom Riddle had already killed and created a horcrux. There was a shiny prefect badge pinned to his suit blazer - an oddly Muggle attire for the steadfast magic and pureblood supremacist. Perhaos it was to appeal to Slughorn, who appeared to favour waistcoats and cravats and smoking jackets in velvety material.

"Sir?"

Riddle addressed the teacher; Horace Slughorn. Rather fatter and more flushed in fancy clothes than the man Vlad had met, but recognisable all the same. He had a fat hand buried in a box next to him.

"Yes Tom?"

"Is it true that Professor Merrythought is retiring?"

Slughorn betrayed surprise with his face. Riddle caught it.

"I don't know where you get your information... I don't know and I couldn't tell you if I did. Thank you fir the pineapple by the way" Slughorn lifted another chunk of crystallized fruit "you're quite right, it is my favourite. How did you know?"

Slughorn was not a fantastic liar, but Vlad suspected he was slightly intoxicated. The memory was hazy at the edges and his face was a little slack.

" I have my sources."

Like raping people's minds with brute force Legilimency. Riddle could finesse to the point he was near undetectable to most, but he was also impatient and easily irritated if he couldn't get in. He also got a thrill shattering someones mind from the inside.

The other boys started chittering nervously - that's how Slughorn seemed to hear it anyway. This was his memory.

"Good heavens! Headmaster Dippet will have us all in detention, it's past curfew! Off we go boys, I'll send an owl for the next dinner."

Riddle hung back, arranging his face to look softer, friendlier. Or whatever the closest was that he could fake. Slughorn turned around.

"Come now my boy, it's curfew! I would hate to put a student of my own House in detention!"

"I had a question sir."

"Oh?"

"I was in the library the other day, and I came across a bit of rare magic."

"I'm a Potions Master Tom, I think the Defence Against Dark Arts teacher would be a better person to ask about magic."

A muscle twitched in Riddle's cheek. A bead of sweat formed on Slughorns brow. He might value Riddle for his charm and charisma and intellect, but the teen still unsettled him.

"I came to you sir, because... the other teachers don't get me. They might... misunderstand."

Vlad watched as Slughorn fussed with the sleeve of his heavy jacket.

"Very well."

"I was in the Restricted Section, and I came across this word. I believe it's called a horcrux."

Slughorn visibly recoiled; he knew well what the word meant then.

"This is very dark stuff Tom. This is all hypothetical? Intellectual understandings, yes?"

"Of course sir."

Riddle was fighting to keep his face genial rather than hungry. Vlad was confused; Riddle had already made a horcrux by then. Why was he asking this?

"A horcrux is an object that a witch or wizard conceals a part of their soul in. This way, should your body be destroyed, you can never truly die as part of your soul still inhabits this world."

"But how does one split his soul? I don't understand."

"I think you do."

Something a little too bright and happy lit the eyes of the teenage killer.

"Murder."

"Murder rips the soul apart. It is a violation against nature" Vlad suspected vampires would debate that as a whole "and leaves a stain like no other on man."

Riddle started to give up his sense of maintaining casual interest, and Vlad now realised what he was really asking.

"Can one only split his soul once? For example, seven is the most powerful magic number-"

"Seven!" Slughorn paled "isn't it bad enough to consider killing one person? But to rip the soul into seven pieces? Th-this is all hypothetical yes?"

"Of course sir."

The memory fizzled and faded away, leaving Vlad reeling on his feet.

"What about that was altered? Riddle asking about horcruxes or Slughorn telling him?"

Dumbledore's widened in surprise.

"You saw the true memory?"

"Well I saw what was in there. I don't know how you expect me to get anything from Slughorn without putting my double agent status at risk anyway."

"Please, explain what you saw?"

Vlad relayed the memory quickly, in a hurry to get visiting Voldemort out of the way so he could get back and take a hot shower and possibly pin his mate to a bed and taste the pheromones that intensified during sexual acts.

"That wasn't what he gave to me. Fascinating that you can see through the alterations."

He had the feeling Dumbledore was going to pour more memories into him sometime. And Vlad would do it, because it was aimed at helping Harry.

"Yeah, great. Can I go? Only I'm going to visit a guy not known for his patience."

Dismissed with a note excusing him being out past curfew - some twisted apology or gratitude from Dumbledore, he didn't know - Vlad slipped out of the ajar front doors of the castle. He wasn't sure why they were open at first, until he forgot to silence his shoes and the gravel path crunched beneath his foot.

"What was that?"

Vlad stayed still, silently charming his shoes to not make a sound and contemplating if he needed a further distraction. Umbridge was out on the grass, chatting and probably plotting something with one of the Aurors on site at Hogwarts.

"I don't know. I can't see anything! Stop making yourself look paranoid Dawlish."

Focusing, Vlad set fire to the bush behind Umbridge and 'Dawlish'. When they turned around, Vlad ran for it. His spell dulled it, but a little gravel was still displaced and rattled as he headed for the wooden bridge, then the grass. His steps echoed on the wood - Vlad was used to taking a side exit that came out down on the grass so he made little noise. When he saw the doors open Vlad opted to try and save a bit of time.

"Don't just stand there. After it!"

Vlad's laziness was possibly about to get him in trouble. Not with the Aurors, but the VHC would want an explanation that Vlad couldn't give. Allowing himself to be branded by another was shameful, needed to be kept a secret. Only a bite scar from the vampire he married would be considered acceptable.

He had a scar from Harry, but they were neither married nor the same species.

Ducking sideways and sliding down wet grass, Vlad gripped a slat of the railing and swung up so they couldn't walk into him, watching Dawlish and Umbridge with their wands drawn looking truly confused. Vlad set off a minor explosion in the grass a few feet away, which threw soil and dampness and grass into the air. He grinned as he remembered tripping up the Minister for Magic with similar spells, dropped down from his perch and bolted for the Whomping Willow.

He froze it, knowing as soon as he passed the Hogwarts wards he could portkey out before Umbridge and the Auror caught on to the frozen tree.

It wasn't until Vlad landed in Riddle's compound that he regretted drawing such attention to his way out - the last thing he really needed was more security around. As amusing as they were to annoy. Dropping his Invisibility spell while he was alone for a second, Vlad shook off the nausea borne of having his magic yanked roughly along.

Everyone turned to look at him as he strolled in late, dressed in casual gear rather than cloaked and masked. Riddle eyed him, and Vlad wasn't certain if he looked amused or irritated. The flat reptilian features were Harry's area of expertise.

"Good of you to join us at last Vladimir."

Vlad hissed at a Death Eater who was in Vlad's usual seat, glaring until it was vacated so he could drop into the seat lazily.

"I was on my way a little sooner but then I stopped to play with some Aurors. Did I miss much?"

"Some talk of raiding Azkaban. Nothing concrete but it is so fun to watch the Ministry scramble for a spin, don't you agree?"

Vlad gestured to the already-escapee members of the meeting like Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Don't you already have what you wanted there? Or are you planning to empty it so much the Dementors have to go elsewhere for food?"

His leeway with Riddle was not missed by the Death Eaters, but they also knew that Vlad was merely a connector for their boss and for now, he was tolerating the teen vampire in order to obtain the key to his downfall in the hopes of preventing it.

"Perhaps."

The more Vlad looked at Riddle, the more he wondered if seven horcruxes were actually made. It would explain the brutal dehumanisation of the wizard before him. They had already tracked down at least three in the locket, the diary and the ring. That left four. Three if they assumed Riddle actually had a bit of a soul left inside him. He was almost completely certain Nagini was one, inadvisable as bonding a soul to a sentient creature was, by the way she responded almost intimately to her owner.

Vlad would consider how Harry felt about having to kill a snake later. That still left two.

"I think its a stupid idea, but then that's because I think Dementors aren't controllable and they are only pretending to work for the Ministry because it gives them regular access to a captive feeding pool. They could hire vampires and never have a break out again since they would all be drained dry. Or turned, I suppose."

Something about the look on Riddle's face at the word 'turned' was deeply unsettling for Vlad. He really hoped he was wrong about that might mean.

"Quite. Are you quite finished with your juvenile interruptions?"

You Mark teenagers, you get teenagers. Anyway, as you were."

Vlad gestured lazily, taking stock of who was in the meeting and keeping an ear out for anything pertinent rather than pontificating from the shiny crystal ball with a mouth that formed Riddle's head.

The meeting dragged on and grew progressively more boring, and then everyone was dismissed at last. Vlad lingered, testing to see if he could pick up anything but Riddle was only thinking about Harry at that moment. He clearly expected that turning Harry to the dark side would be all he needed, without having to work out a way to kill him with his guardian vampire and magical protection.

Of course, Riddle didn't know he was Harry's grandfather. Or that Harry was immortal.

"Did you want something Vladimir?"

"I did actually. I wanted to chat to your Potions guy."

"For what reason?"

"My reasons. I just wanted to check you hadn't got bored and killed him yet."

Riddle shook his head, twirling his wand between his fingers lazily.

"He's a pliable servant."

"Most of your lackeys are. Like Bellatrix."

Riddle smirked, exhaling a short icy chuckle.

"True. She is a most loyal... pet. If you wanted to make use of her, I can ensure she does as she is told."

There weren't many less appealing prospects for Vlad. He allowed the cringe to roll through him.

"If I wanted a nonconsensual fuck I have my own ways. Not to mention that at least biologically, she's human."

"Please yourself. Shall we?"

Vlad knew he was going to ire Riddle with his question for Slughorn, but mostly he wanted to check the man was alive for now. And he wanted an answer to his curiosity without getting Moonshine started on a lecture of excitable tangents with little information for a bemused Vlad.

"I'm almost done My- oh. Hello."

Slughorn relaxed infinitesimally seeing Vlad, as though knowing he was somewhat safer when Vlad was in the way.

"I have a question and my Potions teacher wouldn't tell me. I was in the neighbourhood."

"How can I be of assistance?"

Vlad attempted to look casual and unconcerned, rather than intensely curious.

"Is it true babies conceived through love potions are incapable of love? A straight yes or no will do."

Oh, Riddle definitely knew Vlad was at least thinking of similar circumstances to his own birth, if not directly thinking of him. As far as Riddle knew, virtually nobody knew how he came into the world.

"Yes."

"Thank you. Let's leave him to work shall we?"

Vlad looked pointedly at the door in a show of waiting for Riddle to leave first. He could at least buy Slughorn a few more minutes reprieve, maybe longer.

"What was that about?"

"It was something someone said to me. I know how things are exaggerated. So I thought I would check out of curiosity."

Vlad suspected Riddle could have been a very different person had he not been born to a woman who drugged someone into sex and marriage.

Or perhaps not. Vlad was proof nature and nurture weren't unavoidable blueprints. Else he would be the crude killer he was pretending to be.

-YDHP-

Not super exciting I'm sure but we are getting places.