Vlad had been asked to stay in the hospital wing for the rest of the week, and today was Sunday, he was finally free from the confines of the stark white bed spread, the smell that reminded him of that he was surrounded by the sick and injured. As the few days he was there went by in the slowness of each second being counted by the nonstop ticking of the clock above him, people came, people left, people came to see their friends and to wish them well.

Nobody came to see him. Until his fourth day, he was staring out the window next to his bed when a smallish blonde haired girl walked in. Vlad didn't recognise the girl, but she seemed to know him.

Vlad had been hesitant, it wouldn't be the first time someone had seemed nice and friendly only to turn away when it suited them. But they talked and he got to know her more, things like her name is Luna, she's in Ravenclaw, she loves rabbits, and… She's alone, like him. An outsider, an outcast. The students thought she was crazy, Vlad thought she was brilliant.

Over the next few days, Luna came back after classes to eat dinner with him so he wasn't by himself, and everyday he thanked her. Everyday she said it was nothing. Vlad knew that it wasn't though, he'd made his first real friend here at Hogwarts, they had made friends in each other.

After Vlad had been released from the hospital wing he and Luna made habit of eating lunch together in the courtyard. It was the only time they could really hang out.

o0O0o

When Vlad had come back into consciousness in the hospital wing the last people he was expecting to see were his dad and Ingrid. They asked him about what happened in the dreamworld, well the Count did, Ingrid just looked annoyed. Vlad decided not to tell his dad about being the Chosen One. He didn't know why, it just didn't feel right.

o0O0o

Madam Pomfrey made her way to Professor Dumbledore's office. She had uncovered something very interesting when Vlad was staying in the wing, things she felt the headmaster should know about his student. She went to knock on his door but it opened before her hand could reach it.

"Poppy, please, do come in." Albus smiled warmly at her from behind his desk. "Is there something you wish to discuss?"

"Yes Albus, there is. It's about young Vladimir, I found a few thing you might want to know about when I was running some tests on him." Poppy stared as the Headmaster smiled an even bigger smile.

"I assume this is about Vampiric blood, yes?"

"Well yes, but not only that. Albus, Vladimir is half human." His smile dropped, this he had not expected. This could be catastrophic, especially for the boy. It would be his neck on the line after all.

"Poppy, I suggest that this information doesn't leave this room."

"Don't worry, it won't."

o0O0o

Vlad still wasn't doing as well as he could in classes, although having a friend did boost his motivation. In classes he could hear them whispering about him. Day after day, he heard them. They didn't seem to run out of things to say. One day, in the middle of potions, Vlad reached the end of his tether. He couldn't handle it anymore.

So he ran. He ran out of the class room, up the stair that lead out of the dungeons. He ran through the halls, to the entrance hall and out the massive doors. He ran down the hill of which the castle was sitting on and into the darkness of the forbidden forest. He knew he wasn't allowed in there, he knew he'd be in serious trouble, but he didn't care. Even when there was a mass murderer on the loose and headed for school he just didn't care anymore.

Vlad found a small clearing just far enough from the edge of the forest that he couldn't be found easily. He lay down and looked up at the sky and watched the clouds move slowly above him. It was almost dark when Vlad finally decided it was time to head back to the castle. He took his time walking up the hill. Took his time wondering the halls until he reached the stair that would take him down into the dungeons. And finally he took his time walking through the Slytherin common rooms and up the stairs to his dormitory where he slowly fell onto his bed. He fell asleep almost as soon as his head touched the pillow, something that hadn't happened in a long time.

He had felt the eyes on him as he passed through the common, he felt the fear, he felt the judgement, and he felt the pity. Even when it was so obvious that he was just lonely, even his housemates didn't want to make him feel better. Only Luna, the other lonely outcast.

o0O0o

It was getting close to curfew when Hermione saw Vlad walking slowly and solemnly. His head up, like he had to put on the facade of being proud of who he was, yet he still looked like the saddest person alive. Hermione had also seen him going to speak with Professor Lupin once in a while. So she figured he might know what was going on with Vlad.

She made her way to his office and knock softly on the door, on the other side she hear a quiet, "Come in!" And opened the door.

"Hello Professor." He gestured for her to sit opposite him.

"Hermione, lovely to see you, as always. Do you have some questions about our lesson today?" Hermione smiled, he knew her well.

"Not on this occasion, Professor. Today I have some more… personal questions." She looked at him to gauge his reaction, he didn't seem to be bothered so she continued, "I've been noticing that Vlad has been looking rather off lately, and well, I also noticed that you and him seemed to be fairly close and I was wondering if you could tell me what was going on with him?" Hermione looked down at her lap, she knew it was a long shot. Even if he did know, he may not be able to tell her.

"It's a very complicated situation, Hermione. Most of which I am not permitted to speak of. But I will tell you what I can." Hermione nodded for him to continue.

"As you've probably noticed, Vlad is a very skilled wizard, some might even call his power superhuman." Lupin smiled to himself, like he had made his own personal joke that Hermione didn't get. "Because of this power, and the fact he is the first born son, his father expects a lot from him. He must take over being the head of the Dracula family, he must produce his own heir with someone of equal power, though that person will be hard to find. All of this pressure on Vlad is then doubled by that fact that he has had trouble making friends here. Several time he thought that he was making progress only for him to be stabbed in the back."

Hermione looked down again, she felt ashamed. She had been that person. She had turned on him when a stupid rumour started floating around, how could she be so cruel.

"It was't all you Hermione. He thought he had made friend in Harry and Ron too, but as soon as he was sorted they turned on him. Then there were his roommates, they had been rude at first, then when Vlad went to clear his head after the boggart lesson. His roommates saw that he was out after curfew and went to find him. They had an argument which ended in Vlad being told that they have to stick together, because no other houses are going to help them. And you saw what happened in the Great Hall." Hermione kept her head down.

"Hermione, as long as you're here for him now, and when he needs it, he'll forgive you."

"Thanks Professor." Hermione flashed him a smile and walked out of the small office.

"Oh! Hermione, before you leave, I was wondering if you've ever wondered about Vlad's last name?" Hermione gave him a confused look, but nodded.

"Yes, I did think it was strange that his family came from Transylvania and his last name is Dracula. It just seems like a bit too much of a coincidence. Don't you think?" However, Hermione did have a faint memory of Vlad talking about a distant relation to the story, but she have just imagined it.

"Yeah, but it' s probably nothing." Lupin turned back to the work on his desk as Hermione left.

o0O0o

Christmas came and went too quickly for Vlad, he was currently sitting on the train back to Hogwarts. He wasn't ready to return to it yet, all the whispers, all the hate. He just wanted to be a normal kid and go back to normal school. But he couldn't do that, he had spent the whole summer studying to make sure he wouldn't be left behind. He has a duty to himself to get through his schooling at Hogwarts.

When the carriages arrive in front of the main entrance Vlad gets out along with the other occupants. They all walk into the Great Hall and depart separately to head toward they're separate tables. Vlad sat down at the Slytherin table and waited for the feast to be over so he could go to bed and pretend he was a normal thirteen year old.

o0O0o

"Professor Lupin is once again unable to teach so I will be filling in for this lesson." Everyone turned around in their chairs to see Professor Snape walking down the centre of the room towards the chalk board. He waved his wand and a word appeared on the board that Vlad had dreaded seeing ever since he had read the chapter names in his Defence textbook. "Vampire."

"Can anyone tell me a defining trait of a vampire?" Hermione was, naturally, the first to put up her hand but he ignored her. "No one? Okay, these are the defining traits of a vampire."

Snape waved his wand and a list of traits appeared of the board.

Fangs

Drinks blood

Strength of twenty men

Shape-shift into bat and wolf forms

Can turn into dust / smoke

Has no reflection

Casts no shadow

Hypnosis

Can turn victim into a vampire

Cannot enter a household without being invited in

Loses power in the day time

Must sleep on the soil of his native land

Is repelled by garlic and holy symbols (crucifix, holywater, etc.)

Killed by a wooden stake to the heart, decapitation, direct sunlight

Vlad raised his hand to speak when he finished reading the list. "Excuse me Professor, but only about two thirds of that is right. And you missed a couple things."

Snape looked annoyed, yet intrigued. "And how do you know that, Mr Dracula?"

"Professor, I grew up in Transylvania, the birthplace of the original vampires."

"Then why don't you come up here and make your corrections." Vlad could tell he was being condescending, but he didn't really care. So he got up out of his seat and made his way up to the board and grabbed the piece of chalk that sat next to it.

"Fangs and drinking blood are fine. But for starters, vampires don't have the strength of twenty men, it's about five for average and ten tops. The shape-shifting is right, but with enough talent and practise, a vampire can shift into the shape of anything. Dust and smoke is correct. So is reflection, however, they can cast shadows. Hypnosis is also fine, as well as turning people into vampires, although a vampire can also be born of two vampires. Entering houses is correct. The powers part is just flat out wrong, so is the soil thing, but they do find it easier to sleep in a coffin, so it almost count I suppose. They are repelled by garlic, but not holy symbols. And then the kills thing is all good there." Vlad finished and turned back to Professor Snape with a small smile.

"Oh! I almost forgot, you missed three crucial things Professor. A vampire has suppressed, when they die they turn to dust, and as a rule vampires are very pale." Snape gave Vlad a look, a look that said he knew something. Something that could hurt Vlad.

"Thank you for your contribution, Mr Dracula. Does anyone have anything against these added points? Yes, Miss Granger?" Everyone was confused when he called on Hermione, Snape must really have wanted to prove Vlad wrong.

"I'm sorry Professor, but how can any of what Vlad said be true? None of that is in the text book, how could he even know that?" Hermione was looking from Vlad to Snape and back again, the gears in her head clearly working hard. Vlad was annoyed, not much was know about vampires to the wizarding community, why was it so far fetched that what he said was true?

"Other than the fact it's not in the text book you have nothing to prove that what I said was wrong. And how could you possibly know? There is next to zero information about vampire here, the chapter is only two pages long! Why don't you go find a vampire to tell you that you're wrong!?" And with that Vlad sat down at his desk in the back of the room.

o0O0o

"Professor! I worked it out! I did it! I figured out what you were trying to tell me when we talked about Vlad! I'm going to ask him about it right now." After the lesson with Snape Hermione had finally noticed that Lupin had basically told her what Vlad was. It was no wonder he knew all that stuff about vampire that no one else did.

Hermione ran to find Vlad, he'd probably be in the library.

o0O0o

"Hey Vlad, can I talk to you for a second?" Hermione had found him, not in the library, but in the courtyard.

"Umm, yeah sure. If it's about today in defence, then I just want to say I'm sorry for yelling at you." Vlad looked into her eyes and all Hermione could see was sincerity.

"Thanks, but that not what I wanted to talk about, well, It almost is." She paused for way longer than was necessary in Vlad's opinion.

"I know." was all she said.

"You know what?" Vlad had some idea of what she was talking about, but to be safe he wouldn't blab.

"I know that your a vampire." She said this with a stern, no nonsense look on her face.

"What are you on about, Hermione? How could you think that I'm a vampire, I love garlic." Vlad knew that was a lie, he hated garlic, but at home he ate it just to show that he could and that he wasn't a vampire yet. He was still human!

The list I used for Snape's class is a slightly modified one from the internet. All of is basically the same, except that direct sunlight wasn't there. It's a list of the traits of the original Count Dracula