A Place to Call Home

Learning the Truth

Disclaimer: This is it people…I'm about to announce that…I DON"T own Harry Potter.

A/N: Not much to say this time. Basically this chapter's a lot shorter than it's supposed to be and the ending is sort of iffy, but judge for yourself. Comments? Questions? Criticisms?

Harry woke up in his normal bed, surrounded by his normal smells and colors. Unfortunately, on his neck was a very abnormal mark. Harry felt the rough patch of skin and groaned. Then he rolled over and pressed his face into his scented pillow. He could already smell the signs of one of Mrs. Weasley's famous breakfasts. Harry's stomach flipped at the thought of it. His abdomen was uncharacteristically empty, which was unusual since Mrs. Weasley had a penchant for feeding people, especially small orphans with voracious appetites.

Harry was also feeling a bit under the weather; it felt as if a hammer was pounding continuously into his skull. Well, thought Harry, maybe this isn't that unusual considering what happened last night. He had retched what seemed like his entire days food and he still felt sick.

"Harry?"

Harry perked up and lifted his tousled hair from his bed. He turned a bleary eye towards his honorary younger sister, Ginny.

"'Ello, Ginny…what time is it?"

"Erm…"-Ginny seemed to be avoiding his eyes-"it's past noon Harry."-Ah, well Mrs. Weasley must have been cooking her famous lunch then-"Dumbledore says that you should come down now."

Harry nodded at her and proceeded to drag himself out of bed, then a frightening realization struck him, "Gods…Ginny, is Ron alright?"

"Harry, he's…"

But Harry didn't let her finish her sentence. Instead he rushed out the room, still in his pajamas and ran headlong into the kitchen. Five red head shot up from the table. Bill. Charlie. Fred. George. Mr. Weasley. Harry counted them off one by one. His face paled as he realized that he was missing Ron. He turned and sped into the living room, bumping straight into a humming Mrs. Weasley.

"Gerrof, I've got to find Ron. He could be hurt or-"

"Now Harry, relax. Ron is fine. Absolutely fine. You need to calm down. You have just had a stressful ordeal." Mrs. Weasley firmly clasped Harry's wrists together and led him to his seat at the table where everyone including Ginny were looking worriedly at him.

"No…I can't, not till I find Ron…Let go!" Harry wheezed, struggling out of her grasp.

"Oh for gods sake…Ron get in here now."

Harry ignored her and ran back towards the stairs where…he bumped straight into Ron who was running down the stairs to answer his mother's call. As Harry bumped into him, both boys fell to the floor and Harry wasted no time in hugging and yelling at Ron until Dumbledore came in to see what all the noise was about.

"Boys?" He said, his voice carrying amusement.

Draco sped through the forest using his inhuman swiftness to make good time. He was thinking furiously about what to do. It was a dilemma, to say the least; a disaster, to say the worst. He really didn't want to have a master to servant talk with Voldemort right now. He would rather be there when Harry woke up so they could talk. Now that Harry was his Donor everything was different. For instance, Harry was going to have to get over that little hatred of vampires that he harbored.

It wasn't healthy being tied to someone who wanted you dead.

Which bought up the matter of the whole my-master-who-I-completely-believe-in-and-will-follow-to-the-death-wants-to-kill-my-donor-who-I-also-believe-in-and-will-follow-to-the-death…

Draco groaned. He knew he should have gone for the redhead. He might have not been as interesting, but at least he wouldn't have to involve politics in his decisions. In actuality, there really wasn't much he could do. He had three options. He could tell Voldemort everything and throw himself on his mercy. Draco immediately discarded that idea; Voldemort wasn't known for his mercy. He could also turn traitor and stop working for Voldemort…no, Voldemort wasn't known for his kindness towards turncoats either. Or, he could just keep the whole thing to himself and not tell Voldemort anything.

It might work. He was close enough to Voldemort that he wouldn't be questioned too closely on where he went, and that way he could spend the entire night at the village with Harry and the entire day at the encampment with Voldemort while Harry was with his family. This could definitely work…

"Halt!"

Draco stopped abruptly. There was a set of teeth near his neck and he could smell the waft of a vampire.

"You smell of a boy, young Draco." Hissed a soft voice by his ear, "Could it be that you have found a Donor? He smells quite familiar."

With horror, Draco realized who he was talking to, Severus Snape. He had been banished from the grounds for ten years. Back when Harry was four, he had tried to kill him. He had failed and come back blinded by one of the 'brats' as he termed them. Voldemort scorned him and banished him from the encampment for ten years. Draco remembered because he had been there, laughing cruelly at the man who couldn't kill a small boy…the irony.

"Ah yes…quite familiar. Draco-"

Draco whirled away and leapt into the barriers of the camp, certain that Snape wouldn't follow. He would have to deal with him later. Draco hurriedly swept into his luxurious tent and cleaned himself up. He didn't need anyone else to smell the boy-who-lived on him. Then composing himself, he calmly stalked across the compound to Voldemort's conference room. He knocked quietly on the door and when he received an answer, he walked in bowing low.

"Young Malfoy. Your Father and I were just talking about your unfortunate happenstance. So sad that you lost it. You took very good care of her didn't you; your first Donor wasn't she? I hope you've found another to make up for your…loss." Voldemort said silkily.

Draco gritted his teeth, glared at his father and then smiling at Voldemort, he said, "How kind of you to ask, my lord. I have indeed found another. A small wizard. He's a handful, but he'll soon learn."

Both men smiled darkly at him.

"Where is he, Draco?"

"I left him in a temporary home. I've decided keep him out of everyone's hair until he's older and of course, I wanted to tell you what had happened."

"Next time, Draco, let me make those decisions. Leave him, but I want to meet him later."

"My lord." Draco said bowing again.

"If you will excuse us my lord, Draco and I should talk." Lucius said.

"Of course. Draco we will talk later."

Draco and his father walked out back into the bleak sunshine.

"I would very much like to meet your Donor, Draco." Lucius stated speaking softly to his son.

Draco snorted, "I will bring him if our lord wants to meet him, but I see no similar need to obey your wishes."

Lucius stopped and whirled his son around, "I would drop the attitude. You have been gone for a while, searching like a lovesick puppy for another Donor for half a year. People are already disgusted by your display over the death of your last one. Do not forget that they are tools, not beings. Alliances and partnerships have changed. Being Voldemort's favorite pet will not give you the protection to keep alive."-He bared his teeth-"Watch yourself, dearest son…"

"As much as I value your advice, dearest father, I must ask that you take your hands off me or I will be forced to extremes."-Draco lowered his voice ominously-"And next time you threaten me, try and do so in a less obvious way."

Draco pulled himself free and seething, walked back into Voldemort's tent.

"Family dispute?"

Draco looked at Voldemort. He was probably reading him like an open book. He was going to have to pull himself together if he wanted to get a way with this. His original plan was spoiled. Voldemort knew he had a new Donor, but if he could keep his identity a secret…

"No my lord," Draco lied smoothly, "Just a father-son chat."

Voldemort laughed, "Oh how I love your family Draco. I have never seen a more dysfunctional one. The amount of lies and backstabbing…it's what makes you all such great followers."

Voldemort smiled twistedly and leaned closer.

"However I feel as though your father is getting rather elderly for his job. He is an annoying nuisance in his old age. If you would take care of him for me…"

Draco felt the beginnings of a headache coming on. Voldemort did this all the time. He wanted vampires loyal to him and only him. He pitted family members against each other all the time. It was a test. Draco would bet Harry's life, that Lucius had been given the same offer.

"Of course my lord. I will get someone on it myself."-Voldemort raised an eyebrow-"Or if you would rather, I'll do it myself." Draco finished, his head pounding.

"That's more like it Draco. Have it done by the end of the week will you."

Draco could also bet that Lucius had been given two days to kill him.

"Dumbledore"-Draco's eyes widened and he started to panic-"must be resting easier these days. We haven't sent anyone after his Golden Boy for over a year now. Of course no one has really volunteered now have they…I think it's time to plan an attack on our favorite, he must be seven now, wouldn't you say?"

"Well…I wouldn't be able to say." Draco said contritely.

"Yes, well you've never gone on a mission to kill him, have you?"

Draco really didn't like the way the conversation was going.

"Maybe you should."

Draco really, really hated the way the situation was going.

"Well my lord…"

"No I'll arrange something else. I need you to do more important things. Come, lets move into a more private room."

Heaving an unnoticeable sigh of relief, Draco followed Voldemort into his private rooms.

"Harry, I need you to calm down, please." Dumbledore said, taking a cup of strong tea from Mrs. Weasley and placing it in front of Harry.

Harry jumped up and down in his seat on the garden swing in the backyard, nodding furiously. He breathed deeply and jounced around a couple more times before settling down on the worn cushion.

"Sorry Professor, I was just happy that Ron was alright."

Dumbledore smiled, "I could tell, but we need to talk."

"We sure do! How did you get him to leave? He won't come back, will he?"

"I didn't get him to leave, he should be back soon. He asked me to inform you about Donors."

Harry gaped, "But…"

"Harry," Dumbledore stated gently, "There was no other way to save you. I needed to make a deal with him and after talking we decided that you would spend your days here with the Weasley's and your nights with him."

"What if I don't want to?" Harry whispered softly.

"Then he will see it as a breach of our compromise and he'll have every right to take you forcibly, which I would rather didn't happen."

Harry struggled to grasp the concept; he distractedly picked at the marked skin on his neck and then turned his green eyes towards Dumbledore.

"Ron said that he was one of Voldemort's vampires. They've tried to kill me for years; how is he any different?"

"Well for one you're his Donor."-Harry remained silent-"Let me explain about the Ritual, Harry."

At Harry short nod, Dumbledore continued, "You've already learned about the three parts of the Blood Donor Ritual, and seeing as how you went through all of them last night, we don't need to go over them again. Now after you've become a Donor, the vampire in question, Draco in this case, will need to feed from you once very twenty-four hours or so. It'll depend on how much energy he expends during the day. Usually you're going to be very tired and drained after this, since he will be draining your blood, but since you're young you'll regain your energy quickly so I wouldn't worry about it."

"Sir, I don't see how any of this will stop Draco from killing me or my friends. Why wouldn't he just kill me and find a new Donor."

"Harry, generally Vampires get rather attached to their Donors. After taking their blood, they begin to form a bond. And from what I could sense, Draco is very protective of his Donors, all of them, no matter what. Even more than regular vampires."

"I…guess…" Harry said uncertainly, not wholly convinced.

Dumbledore sighed, taking in Harry's distraught face, "Harry I know this is difficult because of what has happened to and your family over the last couple of years…you probably think that this is a betrayal to everyone whose died protecting you, helping a vampire, but it isn't. All those people who died wanted you to live. They died to give you that right. The right to live. Is it fair to deny someone else that right, when so many others have died protecting it?"

"That's completely different!" Harry burst out, "Vampires are already dead. DEAD! They're called the bloody undead!"

Dumbledore didn't even flinch, "They are dead only in physical sense, not mental or spiritual. They still think do they not? They still have the capacity to love and yearn and feel pain, Harry. That is what makes us human, not a beating heart and running blood."

Harry looked downward.

"You've become so disillusioned towards vampires, Harry, I never wanted that to happen. I hoped that in spite of all, you might be able to put aside your biases, especially since Draco's life is in your hands in a way. This is my fault." Dumbledore said reflectively.

"You were such an inquisitive child. I was so sure that one-day you would wander into the forest and happily take the hand of a murderer. I didn't want that to happen. No one did, so we decided to scare you; to make sure that you knew that all vampires were evil. We taught you all about vampires…only the bad side though. We never once mentioned that there are good vampires out there did we?"

At Harry's confused shake of the head, Dumbledore continued, "There are Harry. Before the war, before Voldemort, vampires and humans lived in harmony. There were problems of course, but it was actually an honor to be a Donor, since they were the bridges between the vampiric and wizarding world. A long time ago, when the new species of vampires appeared, the ones with wizarding powers, they helped protect us from normal vampires, which were the bloody, animalistic sort. Even now, there are vampires that are neutral in the war and some work for our side at great personal risk."

Harry gawked, open-mouthed. He hadn't known about any of this. People usually impressed the bad, blood-sucking part of Vampiric history on him. It was rather simple: In the beginning, Vampires were little more than animals, then vampires starting biting wizards and a new breed of wizard/vampire hybrid was formed. After they gained more and more power, the new hybrids killed all of the old vampires. They became extinct after awhile. For a long time wizards and vampires lived in a tedious sort of harmony. Then Voldemort gained power and…all vampires became evil.

Looking back on his timeline, Harry could definitely see some holes.

"Harry"-Harry turned and looked up at Dumbledore-"I want you to talk to Draco. Learn Vampire history from him. And…try and get along. Just try, pretend that you've never heard of vampires and start over again. Perhaps this time, the adults won't make such a mess out of it."

Harry stared at Dumbledore. There was no twinkle in his eye.

He looked sad.

Draco looked in the window at his sleeping Donor. He was hungry, but he wasn't quite sure whether he was allowed to waltz in and take Harry. It might get him in trouble with Dumbledore and if Dumbledore really wanted to keep them apart, then he could easily do so.

Draco decided to play it safe and stay at the window. After spending two days at Voldemort's camp, he was ravenous. He needed to feed badly. Finally he had left with the excuse that he needed to see to his Donor who was supposedly left all alone in a cave. He wondered what Harry had been doing for the past two days. He had promised to be here in three days but here he was a day early, thinking about Harry. He hoped Dumbledore had managed to change his mind about vampires.

Harry shifted in his bed and Draco groaned and slipped through the open window. Moving delicately through the darkened room, he knelt next to Harry's bed and shook him gently.

"Harry." He murmured.

Harry moaned into his pillow and lifted himself out of bed. He ran a hand through his tousled hair and searched haphazardly for his glasses.

"Wassit?"

Draco laughed softly, he had to, and Harry shot up.

"I recognize that laugh."

Draco smiled, "You have no idea how touched I am." He said, leaning in close.

"Oh, you're back." Harry said crossly, "What is it with you and nighttime. Couldn't you have waited until morning?"

"I'm hungry, budge up, and tilt your head to the side."

Harry nodded sleepily and did as he was requested. Draco sat next to him on the bed and leaning over him, he gently bit down and sucked. Harry remained quite still and just as Draco thought that this might work out, Harry gagged. Hurriedly Draco let down of him and conjured a basin. Leaning over Harry threw up his dinner. Then sighing, he leaned back into Draco.

"We need to fix that." Draco said, banishing the basin and all its unsavory material.

"Or you could just stop sucking my blood."

"And I thought that we'd gotten over that. You were so good just a minute ago."

Harry snorted, "I'm tired. You're always more compliable when you're tired and I had a talk with Dumbledore. I still don't particularly like you, but I'll…"

"Harry?" Draco nudged the younger boy and found that he had fallen asleep on his shoulder. Draco rolled his eyes and shifted him off onto the bed. Then Draco leaned against the wall, telling himself that he'd move in a minute or so after he rested.

When he finally woke up five hours later, it was because of Harry who threw a pillow at his face.

"What's your problem?" he asked grumpily.

"Why are you here?" Harry countered inquisitively.

Draco sighed, dragged himself off the floor and muttered, "God only knows; its not like I want to spend time around you. Come on, I'd rather leave through the door than the window this time."

Harry glared at him ferociously, but padded to the door and opening it, led the way outside into the hallway. Then walking past a bunch of doors, he clambered down a staircase, with Draco following more carefully.

"I'm up. Is there any food?"

Mrs. Weasley looked up from her cooking and smiled at Harry gently, "There's always food for you Harry. Come sit down."

Draco watched the two interact from just outside the kitchen door. He felt odd intruding on what seemed like a private scene. Mrs. Weasley was rubbing Harry's hair affectionately and Harry kept giving her this overwhelming smile of happiness that made Draco's gut twist. The two acted so perfect around each other. Like a real mother and son. Draco felt something ache inside him where his heart should be; where his heart was. He had never had a mother…

"Draco, you coming?"

Draco looked upwards and caught both of them looking at him quizzically. He smiled and entered the sun-lit kitchen. He looked around the airy kitchen. It seemed it reflect its owner. Warm and welcoming. He bowed in Mrs. Weasley's direction, and with the utmost respect, he gave his greetings.

"Mrs. Weasley, I'm honored to meet you."

Mrs. Weasley chuckled sweetly and shook her head him, smiling, she replied, "It's wonderful to meet you too, Draco. I've heard a lot about you from the boys…though I wish my boys were as polite as you."

Draco distinctly saw Harry stick his tongue out at him.

"Come sit down here. Have something to eat."

"Draco doesn't eat-"

"Of course I eat." Draco said smoothly, talking over Harry's protests. He took a seat at the table near Harry and smiled at Mrs. Weasley.

"Good, why don't you start with this."

Mrs. Weasley placed two dishes piled high with steaming pancakes in front of the two boys. They both dug in and Mrs. Weasley beamed at both of them. Soon Mrs. Weasley and Draco began talking, stopping only to tell Harry to sit up straight or chew his food. As the two talked, Draco became increasingly comfortable with Mrs. Weasley who seemed to regard him as an eighth son.

In fact Draco was astounded by Mrs. Weasley's generosity. Most women wouldn't have been so accommodating if their son had become a Blood Donor. Then again, it might have been because she had so many people in her life to love and take care of that she barely noticed another.

"What's he doing here?" Ron cried shrilly as he entered the room, clad only in his pajamas, "Harry get away from him!"

At Ron's words, the three sitting at the table jerked upwards, caught unaware and the rest of the family came rushing into the room, and halted, staring at Draco pensively. Ron was steadily growing redder as everyone continued to stay silent.

Suddenly, the airy, welcoming kitchen became stuffy and heavy with tension. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Harry nervously smooth his hand over his collar, hiding his mark.

This was going to be a bloody nightmare.

To Be Continued…