Chap. 7: An Interesting Start for the Day

Vladimir woke to find himself in an unfamiliar bed, though it was very comfortable. He felt the covers, a nice velvet and silk like texture. Who knew two such materials could blend so well with each other? It was like magic...

Vladimir bolted up, remembering where he was.

It was his first day of school, and he couldn't afford to sleep in. Oh, but the covers, warm, and soft, and the darkness, and silence... It was heaven! How could they ask him to abandon it for the hard benches in the classrooms, the cold atmosphere, and most likely to be nosy students... How could they make him give it up?

"'ey, Vlad!" Ron said as he opened up the curtain a bit, but it was too much.

Vladimir hissed his dislike of the sudden light, and Ron jumped. "Did you really just hiss? Or was that the snake?"

Vladimir gave a sidelong look in the darkness- Ron had released the curtain in his surprise. "Maybe..."

Ron looked at him through a smaller crack skeptically, then shook his head. "C'mon mate. Can't miss breakfast!"

"Argh... Do we have to?" Vladimir complained, falling back into the soft heaven that was his bed.

Ron gave him a scrutinizing look. "You know, I thought you'd be like, kinda proper, not the type to complain and stuff like that. I really didn't see you as the type to sleep in either."

"Ha!" Vladimir laughed, as he finally managed to get up and out of the bed. "I do sleep in and at the same time, I don't."

"So, you sleep in sometimes?"

"Nope. I sleep in all the time..."

"Ok, so why'd you say you don't?"

"Because I don't." Vladimir said, hiding his smile as he slipped on a new shirt. He was having fun with this round about talk.

"I don't get it. You said you sleep in all the time, but you never sleep in?"

"That is correct."

At Ron's "duh..." face, Vladimir gave in.

"I'm on a schedule that wakes me up at 12:00 in the afternoon, and then I go to sleep at 12:00 at midnight- sometimes later." Vladimir said, downing his robs.

"Why? My mum would never let me sleep in if she could manage it- which, let me tell you, she could."

"It's so that I have an equal share of day and night. We do hunt vampires, so we have to be able to be up at night. But we also have to have daytime hours, as there are other people that will come to see us, like the Round Table Conference, who talk about big problems that they don't think Mother isn't handling very well-" Vladimir had a slight edge to his voice, one of disgust, "-or someone that tells us about some new vampire. They don't sleep all day, so we have to make some arrangement, so that they don't have to come to us at night."

"Wow..." Ron said, as they made their way out the door. "So have you seen any vampires, like in real life?"

"Well yeah, of course. There was once an attack on our estate, a full on invasion, complete with a ghoul army. I got to see Uncle Walter and and my sister Seras kill one of the two vampires. My father took down the other, but I didn't get to see that."

"Cool..." Ron had a look of awe on his face.

They got down to the Great Hall, and Ron was immediately taken by the food. Vladimir merely filled his plate with some bacon, eggs and some buttered toast. Crimson slipped out from his robes and curled up next to his plate.

"Ah, so it is true..." said a voice in front of them. Vladimir looked up to see the Headmaster himself standing on the other side of the table, looking down at Crimson, and then looking at Vladimir with a pleasant smile. All Vladimir saw was the eyes that sparkled too much to be normal, even in the world of magic- which in turn made him see the old man's eyes flicker briefly to a certain spot on his forehead. He was about to deny his being Harry Potter when the Headmaster continued.

"I'd heard," he continued, "there was a boy with a snake, at the Gryffindor table. Quite unusual, both in the fact that a Gryffindor would have a snake, the symbol of their rivals. And the snake itself is quite unique. Tell me, dear boy, what type of snake is it?"

"She's a vampiric snake, Sir." Vladimir said, "Her name is Crimson Eclipse, or just Crimson..."

"Ah, a perfect name for such a snake. And I must say that our groundskeeper Hagrid would be most interested to see her. He has a passion for the wildly dangerous."

Crimson seemed to be enjoying the praise she was getting, and she nodded her thanks to the Headmaster. This surprised him.

"Intelligent as well! She seems to understand what we are saying."

"But of course, Headmaster. All snakes are intelligent creatures. Though, I must say, she is by far the smartest I've ever seen."

"Hum hum..." the Head Master chuckled, and then bowed, "Well, I regret to say, but I must take my leave for the head table. Have a good day, boys."

Vladimir nodded as the Headmaster headed up to the table. He resumed his eating, and conversing with Ron and Crimson, and the occasional odd person.

It was five minutes before they had to leave for their classes to start, when Vladimir realized he was on edge.

He cursed himself slightly for not realizing it earlier, but attributed it to nervousness for the first day of school beginning soon.

But now he realized this was not the case. He had the feeling that something was watching him.
He looked to the Slytherin table, expecting it to be Malfoy and his goons, but found them to be gone. His brow frowned and he looked back at his food.

{Crimson, look around. See if there's anyone staring at me...}

She looked around, not even having to move, as her six eyes allowed her to see 20/20.

{Yes, I see them... not just one, but three...}

Vladimir's brow furrowed further.

{Who is it?} Vladimir said, noticing she was looking up at the head table.

{Well, there's that turban fellow, the greasy man, and then the Headmaster...}

{Really, if this is the attention the Harry fellow gets- and I know that's what they're thinking, that I'm him- then I definitely don't want to be him...}

{Sisi... but master, what if it's because they are confused? What if it's because they really think you're him, but you deny all claims to this. So, if you were the Harry fellow, maybe they'd not stare so much?}

{Ha... Seems having the title 'boy-who-lived' puts you at a celebrity status, meaning never ending attention. Once they finally realize I'm not him, they should just drop it, and let me slide back to the shadows.}

He remembered why they'd been having this conversation, and scowled. {But I'm not going to enjoy it while it does last.}

{Sisisiss... Most kids love this kind of attention.}

{Well, I'm not most kids...} He said, smiling as he got up to leave with Ron and the other kids, Crimson sliding up his arm to his neck.

Once they'd finished their breakfast, they gathered their things. They got out into the hall and Vladimir immediately felt at ease. Ron looked at him skeptically.

"What's got you, mate?" he asked.

"Whatever do you mean?" Vladimir asked, smiling innocently.

"Back in the Hall, almost all through breakfast, you seemed all tense. And right when you step out, you look like my mum just got off you from a piggy back ride..."

Vladimir raised an eyebrow. "Ron, that is no way to treat your mother. She's not that big..."

Ron gave him a look, then said, "Ok, fine. It looked like my mum just let you off the hook for something worthy of the Twins."

"'Worthy of the Twins', 'e says." came a voice from behind. They turn to see the said twins, smirking.

"I'd like to know what that is." one said.

"Yes, be very interesting to hear of some more material..." said the other.

"The only way you'll ever get any material is if it's thrown at you." said Ron, "Why would anyone in their right minds give you ideas for more pranks, unless they were the ones doing the pranking, and you're the target."

"I'd love to see them try."

"Even make a game of it."

"Yeah, let's see who can prank us. We know how to check for charms, and curses. Let's see you try."

Ron looked a bit defeated, knowing he'd never be able to pull it off.

"Alright then. You're on."

They all looked to Vladimir, a look of surprise on their faces.

"Vlad! Don't get yourself into this! You don't know what they're capable of!" Ron pleaded.

"No, no, Ron, let the man have his fun."

"Yeah, let's see what this vampire hunter can do..."

"We'll be waiting..."

And then they were gone.

"What the bloody hell were you thinking?!" Ron asked later, walking down the hall to their first class, "You can't possibly get a prank in on them!"

"Come on, Ron. Let's get to class. Can't be late for our first day..."

"Huh... you're insane, you know that right?"

"Ha! So much so, I'm in the sane."

"Huh... bloody hell..."

The first late bell went off and Ron looked panicked. "We'll never get to the room on time!"

"You seem to forget..." Vladimir said, and a black and red portal opened up next to him. "I have portals..." He grabbed Ron's arm and pulled him in before the boy could run, and the next thing they knew, they were standing in an more secluded spot in a different hall, kids rushing into the room that was their first class of the day.