A Place to Call Home
The Forbidden Forest
Disclaimer: On the new book that just came out, did anyone see my name anywhere on it…no didn't think so.
A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, I'm really surprised at the positive response I've got for this story. I hope this one is up to everyone's standards. Also, I'd like to take this chance and plug my newest fic, The Founders. It's an AU, but I really like the way it's turning out. I'd love if I could get some more criticism and comments on it. Finally, if there are any questions, comments, or criticisms: please review!
Summary: (AU) A vampiric Draco who finds himself with a new blood donor in Harry Potter must now face the challenges of Hogwarts anew and this time he has more than just himself to worry about. DMHP.
Yawning, Harry snuck back into the Slytherin dorms. Snape was such a prick, to want him to come to his rooms on Christmas Eve of all days. Shrugging off his robe, Harry opened the door to his dorm only to find himself flung inside. Everyone in his year had left for the holidays and panicking, Harry realized that this was probably an intruder. Muffling a yell, Harry lashed out, hitting something hard. The thing- person cried out and Harry had a suspicious thought.
"Ron?" Harry asked wearily.
"Merlin Harry!" Ron swore, "Where the hell have you been!"
"Huh?" Harry asked, feigning ignorance.
"Oh Harry," Hermione said leaving the shadows on the other side of the room so that could see her properly. "Don't do that. We just want to know what's been going on."
Harry looked at them, frustrated. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong. I don't know why you two worry-"
"Because," Ron said sadly, "We've been your friends for a long time and suddenly you're acting you don't want anything to do with us."
Harry's face went white at the implication. "That's- That's not true!" he stuttered, "We're still friends."
"Then tell us what's wrong," Hermione whispered quietly.
"I-"
"Tell us Harry, please," Ron beseeched.
"Look, I-" Harry tried.
"Please, Harry. We just-"
"I CAN"T!" Harry shrieked at them, causing his friends to step back. "I CAN"T, I CAN"T, I CAN'T! I can't tell you what's wrong! It's none of your business anyway. You're not brother, Ron and you're not my sister, Hermione! Just stop bothering me about it. Stop caring!" Harry thundered, "Just stop caring."
Hermione's eyes went brilliant with unshed tears and Ron looked as if Harry had stabbed in the back, his concerned expression fading off his face. Suddenly Hermione grabbed Ron's arm and pulled him past Harry towards the door. "Come on, Ron." Hermione stammered, her voice full of choked back sobs, "Harry obviously doesn't want us here."
Harry didn't turn as the Slytherin door slammed shut with a sound of finality though he let several tears loose, their hot trails leaking like poison down his chin and splashing onto his collar. It had gotten way too dangerous to tell them anything. Maybe if he had been able to tell them about Snape in the beginning, he could lean on them, but now…
Harry wasn't stupid. He was a blood donor to the only two vampires in school; he had horrible dreams that he couldn't remember that forced him to abstain from sleeping; he had found the first dead victim; and the second was one of his friends. If that wasn't a glaringly obvious sign, then the fact that he was the Boy-who-lived (a title he detested) cinched it.
There was troubles brewing at Hogwarts and at the center of the storm, was Harry himself.
Harry would have to investigate the murders along with dealing with Snape, Draco, the dreams, brewing the potion, classes, and Quidditch. He couldn't let anyone else get hurt and as Harry wiped his eyes and resolutely stopped thinking about his best friends, it never occurred to him that he could ask for help.
"My lord." Stiffly, Draco kneeled down and kissed the hem of Voldemort's black robes.
"Draco, it's lovely to see you again, especially since we see so little of each other nowadays." Voldemort said silkily, patting the top of Draco's head.
"It pains me to be apart from you for long my lord." Draco murmured.
"Yes, I'm sure it does, but you're so entranced with your donor that you have to tear yourself away from him nowadays."
Draco stiffened at the mention of Harry whose ever-soft kisses were still present on his mind. "I assure you my lord, my first loyalty is to you."
"Then why haven't you brought in the boy." Voldemort queried, "Do you have some problem allowing me to meet him?"
"Of course not my lord, but-" Draco searched his mind for an appropriate answer to his lord's question. "…He is young still and skittish. I fear that he would not please you as much now than in a few years."
Draco's innards twisted at the thought of talking about Harry like cattle, but his answer seemed to placate the dark lord. "Perhaps." Voldemort murmured, "Now, young Malfoy, walk with me and I'll show you some of the improvements that we've made to the camp, and of course, we must discuss the next muggle raid and-"
Falling a half step behind his lord, Draco sighed in relief: Harry was safe for another year.
Harry sighed as he sifted through his Christmas gifts. His feelings were too raw to deal with Ron and Hermione's gifts. He could barely think about them sitting up in Gryffindor tower all cozy and surrounded by Weasley's looking blearily at the gifts that he had sent. With that in mind, Harry moved all the gifts from the Weasleys and Grangers' to the side and started looking for Draco's.
Suddenly Harry came upon a soft, wrapped bundle. Finding no card, Harry shook the package and then tore into it eagerly. Tossing the packaging aside, Harry withdrew a silky gray cloak. Touching it softly, Harry gasped as he realized what it was.
"An invisibility cloak!" Harry whispered reverently. "I can't believe-"
Turning back towards the wrapping paper, Harry shifted through it looking for a card or at least a sign of who had sent the marvelous gift. Finally, Harry came upon a small white card. Picking it up, Harry carefully read the inscription written in a lacy cursive: Harry, I found this among the corpses of our parent's bodies. Enjoy. There was no signature.
Harry threw the card away from him, his cheeks flushing an angry red. Who would send him a card like that? Who could be so cruel? Gingerly, Harry picked up the card refusing to look at the short sentence. Why-
Snape.
Crumpling the note in his hand, Harry marched out of the dorm grabbing the invisibility cloak to bring along. He was going straight to Dumbledore with this. He didn't care who Snape was; he was not getting away with this. Not when he insulted his parents! Reaching the stone gargoyle, Harry hemmed and hawed for a couple minutes trying to figure out the candy-related password when a finger tapped him on the shoulder.
"Harry?" Whipping around, Harry stared at Dumbledore's benign face, growing more and more upset. "What's wrong?"
Harry bit his lip and showed Dumbledore the invisibility cloak. "Why Harry…" Dumbledore turned the cloak over in his hands, a reminiscing look on his face. "This used to belong to your father. I'd always thought that- well, never mind, you're very lucky to have gotten it-"
"I know it belonged to my parents," Harry interrupted, his voice betraying only the slightest hint of sadness, "Look what I got along with the cloak." Harry handed the card to Dumbledore and watched as Dumbledore's face changed from kind to pensive and was he seeing things…a slight bit of anger.
"It was Snape!" Harry burst out, "I know it was!"
"Harry," Dumbledore said softly, "Someone's playing a very cruel joke on you, and I assure you that they won't get away with it, but I highly doubt it was Snape."
"But Snape's a-" Harry stopped short; he wasn't sure if he could trust Dumbledore any more than he could trust Ron and Hermione.
"Harry, I know what Snape is. I know what's been happening between you, him, and Draco. I am Headmaster of this school." Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling madly.
"But…but…why don't you put a stop to it?" Harry accused, "You could if you wanted to."
"I would Harry, but I think that you're very good for Snape and this will also teach you and Draco a very valuable lesson." Dumbledore answered, and then steered Harry towards Gryffindor tower. "Now I think you should concentrate on going to Gryffindor tower and making up with your friends." Harry looked at Dumbledore with surprise. "I know it's been weighing heavily on your mind." he added softly.
Harry nodded at him and started up the stairs slowly when Dumbledore called him back. "Here," Dumbledore said, handing the invisibility cloak back to Harry, "Don't forget this. It was your father's favorite possession and I know that there's no one he'd rather let have it. It'll come in handy, believe me."
Harry gave Dumbledore a weak grin and taking the cloak, continued to walk up to Gryffindor tower, when his eyes suddenly widened in realization and darted back towards his dorms.
Tom, Harry wrote, his handwriting sloppy from hurry, I've let the water and cat blood boil for a couple of days now like you told me, but now that's it's the holidays I figure I should add the infusion of mistletoe and unicorn tail. The problem is that the only way to get the unicorn tail is to break into my potion master's office and he'd kill me if he caught me. Harry wrote, his handwriting sloppy from hurry,
Harry waited breathless as spidery writing appeared on the journal. There is another way to get unicorn tail. But first, I suppose getting mistletoe is easy?
Yes, it grows here commonly.
Good. The best way to get unicorn tail is to travel into the Forbidden Forest on the outskirts of Hogwarts. You know of it, right?
Yes…but students aren't allowed to go in there. There could be all sorts of vicious beast and rogue vampires are said to roam there.
You're not scared, are you Harry?
No…Harry let his quill trail across the page. He might be a little scared.I thought not. Unicorns are to be respected. They are the purest of all magical creatures. When you find one, which you might not, you must be very polite. Bow. The unicorn must give up its tail hair itself or it's worthless. Understand?
Yes, I'll go tonight.
All right, but Harry…be careful.
Draping the cloak around his body, Harry snuck out of the Hogwarts' front doors feeling oddly guilty, not because he was going to break about a dozen school rules, but because Ron and Hermione- his friends in crime –weren't there with him. Then again, it wasn't like he could tell them why he needed unicorn tail.
Tramping past the three greenhouses, Harry stopped at the edge of the forest, trying to see if there was any good way in. Seeing none, Harry barged through the middle, smacking low tree branches aside and pushing through the unbelievably thick underbrush. Within minutes Harry was panting, sweaty, and his cloak kept getting snagged on brambles. Stopping, Harry shrugged off the cloak and gasped as the winter chill suddenly infused his body. Shuddering slightly, he slung the cloak over his arm and kept moving forward.
After three hours of aimless wandering Harry was tired, irritated, and completely lost. He was surrounded by trees that all looked the same and he could swear that he never went downhill, instead climbing up an endless hill. Panting, Harry wheezed to a stop, even with all his Quidditch practices, his shorts legs weren't built for this, and he had no idea why the forest was forbidden. In all the time he had been in here, Harry hadn't seen one dangerous-
Harry screamed as something goosed him from behind, sticking something hard into his lower back. Shooting up, Harry whipped around his wand at ready only to find a young, completely golden unicorn in front of him. Awed, Harry stumbled backward, tripping over a rock and ended up in a quasi sitting-kneeling position.
The young unicorn nickered and pawing its hoofs nervously, nuzzled Harry's neck. Reverently, Harry lifted dropped his wand and touched the unicorn's head, petting gently down his neck and behind his ear. The unicorn's eyes rolled in pleasure and nudged him, his horn butting against Harry's ear.
Laughing, Harry got up so that he stood eye-level with the young unicorn. It was so beautiful. His golden hue seemed it cast a light of its own and he had the most beautiful violet eyes Harry had ever seen. It striped him of all his problems and worries and suddenly, Harry didn't care about the unicorn tail he needed for the potion anymore. The unicorn took a few steps away him, gesturing for him to follow, and Harry wanted to do nothing more than run with him till dawn.
So that's what he did.
Harry never felt so free as when he was running next to the loping unicorn. His weariness, his slowness, everything had wiped away by the exhilaration of running alongside such a pure creature. The wind was whipping past his face, gently tousling his face and Harry knew that the entire forest was quieting respectfully as they ran past. Perhaps Harry wasn't the only one in awe the amazing creature.
Suddenly the unicorn turned around and stampeded back towards Harry. Harry, who had been a few feet behind him, jolted to stop and cried out as the unicorn tossed him to the side with his horn. As Harry looked up, a green light shot over his head. Scrambling to his feet, Harry clutched the unicorn who pranced out of the way of another green light taking Harry with him.
Harry reached into his pocket for his wand and then cursed as he remembered that he had dropped it back where he and the unicorn had met. It didn't matter though because the unicorn tossed Harry to the ground again and charged at the assailant. The creature yelled in pain and staggered into the faint moonlight.
Vampire.
He raised his wand to cast a spell at the unicorn when Harry yelled himself and lunged at the vampire. Tackling him, Harry bit his hand and kicked his wand into the snow several feet away where the unicorn delicately stepped on it, breaking the thin wood into bits.
The vampire howled in rage and flipped Harry into the snow with inhuman strength. He leered at the young boy beneath him and Harry froze, remembering that there were other ways that vampires could kill. Harry started struggling, thrashing his arms and legs, but he was pinned securely and one hard hit to the head made Harry go limp against the cold ground.
Distantly, Harry could hear the unicorn neighing frantically and knew that it couldn't come closer without the vampire attacking him. Not that he wasn't going to do so anyway. There wasn't anything anyone could do, Harry thought fuzzily, as the vampire's gleaming teeth drew closer and closer to his neck.
That's why he was so surprised when Ron and Hermione's chorused voices called out, "Expelliarmus!"
The vampire flew off Harry and landed with a thud against a tree, laying there unmoving. Ron and Hermione hurried over to Harry and pulled him to his feet.
"Here, Harry." Hermione said, passing Harry his dropped wand.
"How did you-" Harry started, dazed.
"We'll tell you later!" Ron said, handing a piece of parchment to Hermione. "Come on, we don't know when he'll wake up."
"But the-" Harry paused and looked around. The unicorn had disappeared…and in its place it had left several silky strands of hair. Gratefully, Harry picked them up and leaning heavily on Ron, he said, "Yeah, let's go back. I need…I need to talk with my family."
"Oh Harry…" Hermione whispered. Then she jumped up and hugged him hard, almost sending all three to the ground. "Come on, lets get you warm."
The three children walked back through the forest, Hermione leading. Harry thought to ask how Hermione knew where she was going so well, but decided that it would come up among all the other things they had to talk about.
"It's almost morning." Ron commented as they walked out of the final trees and back onto Hogwarts ground.
"Yeah, it's-" A soft neigh interrupted Harry's words and looking behind them, the trio saw a beautiful golden unicorn standing at the edge of the forest looking sad.
On a whim, Harry ran back and kissed the unicorn on the forehead whispering, "Thank-you for herding us home safely. We'll meet again, I promise."
And then Harry ran back to his friends to his waiting friends. It was time to trust them.
To Be Continued…