Nearly a week had passed before Draco received a reply from his Mother.

Dearest Draco,

I am sorry to inform you that there is next to no information available on the Dracula family, but I will inform of you what little I could find. The Dracula's are an extremely powerful and influential family, especially in Eastern Europe. They are also very wealthy, and have the power to ruin anyone, even us. Their status in society is incomprehensible, they are above purebloods.

Draco, you must stay away from this boy at all costs. He could destroy everything your Father has worked for.

Be safe my darling,

Your Mother

Draco read the small letter while he ate his dinner. When he reached the last sentence he looked down the long table to see Vladimir Dracula, possibly the most influential person in the whole room, sitting by himself looking lonely. It was then that Draco remembered how much he'd been picking on the boy in the last week since school started. If his Mother was right, then he could have just spent the week repeatedly flushing his Father's career and their status down the toilet.

ooo

It had been a long week for Vlad. Ever since that first Transfiguration lesson people had been looking at him strangely. The Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor kept looking at him like he knew something no one else did. Like he knew Vlad's secret.

It had taken him a bit, but Vlad finally realised where he recognised the smell that was around his Professor. He had the same smell that his mother had on her when she, on the odd occasion, returned home. Except, he reeked of it, Professor Lupin hadn't been around a werewolf, he was one.

It was as Vlad sat in Defence Against the Dark Arts that he came to that conclusion. He was so busy thinking about his teacher being the very creature his dad told him to stay away from.

"Vladimir, you're not trying to fall asleep in my class too, are you?" It wasn't until he spoke that Vlad realised that Lupin was standing in front of his desk looking down at him, and his classmates were giggling at him.

"No, sir! I would never intentionally sleep in the middle of class!" Vlad responded quickly hopefully he wouldn't get a detention or any points removed.

"It's ok Vladimir, I'm only messing with you. Though, seeing as you failed to notice that all the other students moved their desks to the side of the classroom, you can go first in today's practical." Professor Lupin chuckled as Vlad looked around the room and notice he was right, all the other students had moved their desks. He quickly got up and stood where Lupin had instructed, in front of a closet. It was unfortunate for Vlad that he was asked to go first, he had been trying to keep a low profile since his first day. Little could be said about how it wasn't going too well.

"Now, can anyone tell me what this is?" He gestured to the closet.

"That's a Boggart, that is." Stated a boy at the back of the room, who's name escaped Vlad's mind.

"And can anyone tell me what a Boggart looks like?" The Professor looked around the room expectantly.

"No one knows, Boggarts are shape-shifters. They take the shape of whatever a particular person fears the most. That's what makes them so-" Hermione answered from beside Harry and Ron, Ron mumbling something under his breath, until she was interrupted by Lupin.

"So terrifying. Luckily, a very simple charm exists to repel a Boggart." Professor Lupin went on to teach the class the spell and what to be thinking of when casting it. It was several minutes until it was finally time for Vlad to face his fear.

"Okay Vladimir, join me up the front here. Now, what frightens you the most?"

"Umm, well, you see, I'm not really sure…" It was true, he knew things he was afraid of, things like heights, spiders, and Renfield's cooking, but he had no idea what frightened him the most. Well, he knew he was scared of becoming an evil, power hungry Vampire, but surely there was something that scared him more.

"That's okay, we'll just have to wait and see. But remember, when you cast the spell think of something amusing." Professor Lupin moved out of the way and opened the closet. Vlad took a deep breath and watched the door open.

There was a collective gasp in the room as an exact copy of Vlad, although he was wearing a black shirt and pants, stepped out of the closet. Everyone was confused, was he afraid of himself?

"Hello Vlad… I suppose you might be confused. Who were you expecting? Dad, telling you how disappointing you are? Ingrid, complaining how pathetic and worthless you are? Mum? Here to remind you you're not worth sticking around for? Well, you already knew all that. You know it's true and you know that I'm the better version of you, the one dad can be proud of, the our sister adores, like siblings should. And you also know that I am far more powerful than you could ever dream to be. I'm faster, I'm stronger, I'm better… and you know why." Boggart Vlad flashed an evil smile at Vlad revealing his fangs, but from where they were standing, only Vlad and Lupin saw it.

"Ridikulus!" Vlad shouted, turning Boggart Vlad into the 'nerd' version of himself that Stokely Castle sometimes turns his reflection into. The class, after a nervous silence burst into laughter.

"Alright! Who's next!" Lupin cheered to the class. Tears still stained Vlad's cheeks and when he was just about to make his way to the back of the classroom Lupin whisper to him, "See me after class, would you."

Vlad sat at the back of the classroom for the rest of the class. What was with his teachers always wanting to see him after class? It felt like he'd only been on time a handful of times because of it.

His Boggart wasn't like the other students, his was truly the worst thing possible for him. Becoming an evil, bloodsucking monster. Class was dismissed early because of Harry Potter's Boggart, it was a Dementor and a danger to Harry and the other students. So once all the other students left, Lupin approached Vlad. "Vladimir, would you like to talk about what happened today?"

"Just Vlad is fine, and no, not really." Vlad replied with his head bowed, so it was impossible to tell exactly what he was feeling.

"Okay, but just know that if you ever want to talk, my office door is wide open. Also, you may want to rest up before dinner, you look tired." Lupin turned and walked up the stairs leading to his office.

Vlad decided too take the advice and made his way to the dungeons. On his way he noticed Hermione seeking into an old, unused classroom. He decided to ignore it for now, he needed sleep. Vlad and Hermione had developed a strange sort of friendship in the week they'd known each other, they hung out a lot in the Library a lot. But they never really talked in the classes they shared. He supposed it was because Hermione knew that Harry and Ron didn't like him very much.

Vlad's thoughts were broken by voices coming from one of the couches on the other side of the common room as he entered. He couldn't see who it was, but he could hear them.

"…And did you see what happened today?"

"Yes! It was so funny. I mean, come on, who's afraid of themselves? And did you see that he was crying?!"

Vlad narrowed his eyes, he knew they were talking about him, but should he confront them? Or leave them be? He decided on leaving them be, for now anyway. Vlad ran up the stairs and walked to his bedroom door. When he opened the door all of his roommates were there, minus Crabbe and Goyle, who were most likely already waiting for dinner to start.

The other Slytherins all just watched him walk to his bed and close the hangings around him so he could get some sleep.

Vlad had fallen asleep almost as soon as his head touched the pillow.

The boys on the other side of the hangings all spoke in whispers. Not out of respect for the fact Vlad was sleeping but because they had all read Draco's letter from his Mother. As time passed on they debated wether or not to wake him for dinner. They decided not to.

But what surprised them the most was, when they returned rather late from dinner, Vlad's hanging were still closed and they hadn't seen him at dinner. The group decided to take the risk and and drew back the hangings. Expecting to see the teen fast asleep in his bed, they were, naturally, shocked when there was no one in the bed.

ooo

Vlad was sitting under a tree on the edge of the forbidden forest, gazing up at the moon. He was beginning to think that having a nap wasn't such a good idea after all. He'd slept through most of dinner, and when he went to the Great Hall to grab something to eat, he decided against it because he wan't feel very hungry. So instead Vlad made his way to the edge of the forbidden forest and sat down.

Vlad had never realised how much he missed his tower room at home. It helped him when he needed to get away from everything and just look at the sky. Vlad supposed that's what he was doing here, getting away from everything. If he was caught he'd probably be punished for being out after curfew, especially this close to the forest when a known killer was on the loose and headed for Hogwarts.

He sighed to himself, he'd heard awful things about Slytherin being evil from the first people he'd become friends with. They probably won't even consider being his friend now, except Hermione, but even then they basically just sat next to each other in the Library. Vlad didn't think he was evil, he didn't think his house was evil. But when it comes Slytherins it's only ever the bad things you hear about. It's never "This amazing wizard just made a new potion to cure Dragon Pox! He was a Slytherin at Hogwarts!", it's always "There was that one evil wizard that tried to take over the world that one time. Yeah, he was a Slytherin, not surprised."

Vlad was shaken out of his thoughts when he heard a group of rushing footsteps coming toward him and hid behind a tree until he knew they had passed him.

"Dracula! We know you're out here. Show yourself!" Vlad heard a shout from further down the hill toward Hagrid's hut. It was Draco Malfoy, and going by the footsteps he heard earlier, he wasn't alone. Vlad didn't say anything for a bit, until he decided that it would probably end up better for him if he showed himself.

Vlad walked out into the open and looked down the hill at the group of Slytherin boys. "What the hell, Dracula! You're going to get us all in trouble!" This was the Blaise Zabini.

"It's not like I asked you all to come down here! I came here to be alone!" As the boys looked at Vlad they saw something in him they'd never seen before. He seemed to subconsciously revel in the darkness, only broken by the half moon. The boy appeared to be more powerful here, and that was saying something, they'd all seen what he could do in class.

"Don't you get it Dracula?" Draco was feeling frustrated, Vlad was clearly very clever and knew many aspects of wizarding culture, yet he still didn't get that Slytherins stick together. Because of all the rivalry from the other houses, it was inevitable that they would have to be there to protect their own, but Vlad just didn't understand! "Us Slytherins have to have each others backs, one of us gets in trouble, we all get in trouble, one of us fail, we all fail. If it wasn't this way we wouldn't have anyone."

Vlad laughed cruelly at the statement. "Have each others back? If what I've experienced this past week is you having my back I'd rather be without. I know what kind of people you are, you preach the whole 'stronger as one' and the 'united front' bullshit, but when it comes down to it you'd abandon everyone here in the blink of an eye if it helped you get ahead. So I think I'll pass on the 'sticking together' thing."

Draco was more than annoyed now, he was angry. "You don't get to make that choice! All the other houses hate us, we don't get to choose whether or not we want to be friends with people outside Slytherin. So neither do you. Now just come back inside, before someone sees."

Vlad resigned to following his roommates back inside and into their dormitory. Unfortunately, someone had seen.

Professor Lupin ran into the school once they boys had disappeared from his sight, he got to the Headmasters office as quickly as possible. He had seen everything, Vlad sitting by himself with his thoughts, his housemates coming to find him, the power exuding from the boy as he argued with the others, and finally, Vlad's close enough to acceptance of his house.