Nope, don't own.
Got sidetracked writing a new story that got away from me, but realised it was coming up to a week since Vl-Adam-Ir and this were updated, so here we are.
Dark Serpent Cat - I see your point, but I'll get to that!
On we go!
-YDHP-
Feeling like his heart was about to stop four years early, Vlad stared at Hermione. "Are you a vampire?" "Why would you think something like that?" Harry, who looked to be in almost as much disbelief as Vlad though for what he expected were massively different reasons, quickly chimed in with "doesn't she know about Bertrand?" "Oh, I know he's a vampire, yes. It's Vlad I'm curious about." Opening his mouth, no sound came out and Harry looked at him. "Vlad?" Biting his lip nervously, prepared to bolt out of there any second, he nodded. "How did you know?" "The name, your sister, your issues in Herbology, you've never set foot in the owlery, the way you always get healed if you get the tiniest injury in class - your blood is darker than a humans, isn't it?" Harry was looking shell shocked, backing away from Vlad somewhat. "Vampire?" "Not yet I'm not. I have a pulse, I breathe, I eat garlic and don't need magic to go outside. I wouldn't hurt you Harry!"
The wizard bolted, pulling the door of the room they were in open and he ran away from Vlad. He couldn't deny Harry was his mate any longer, the rejection tearing him apart inside like a physical injury. "I'm sorry Vlad, I thought Harry would have known." "No. The teachers know, but nobody else knew." Hermione took a tentative step closer, then shook her head and stepped forward normally. "Doesn't change that you are my friend, unless of course you're upset at me for outing you." "No, I mean, people will work it out eventually. McGonogall will have my head though." "Well, I'm not telling her I worked it out. And honestly, I doubt anyone else pays enough attention or does the extra reading we do. Plus, you aren't exactly vampiric." Trying to fight the pain gnawing in his stomach at Harry's rejection, Vlad could only nod.
"Do you need me to get someone? You don't look well Vlad." "Harry. I need to talk to Harry. And Bertrand." "Can you walk?" Another nod. "Go to Bertrand, I'll find Harry and get him there." Vlad waited for Hermione to hurry off before croaking out a summons for Nimmy. "Mister Vlad, are you ok?" "Can you get me to Bertrands quarters please?" "Of course mister Vlad." The little house elf took his hand, and he was reminded of being apparated by McGonogall forcibly. "Vlad, what happened?" Bertrand caught him as his legs buckled, pushing him into a chair. "Hermione worked out I was a vampire, brought it up in front of Harry and Harry ran." "Severus, could you give us a minute?" Vlad heard a door close, felt a silencing ward go up and a measure of respect at the man giving him such privacy filled him. "So, he rejected you?" Vlad nodded, gritting his teeth against the pain. "No more denying it, you wouldn't be hurting if you were just friends." "That doesn't help, I'm not telling him! He deserves better than that, than another choice taken away from him."
Bertrand sighed, pressing a blissfully cold hand against his feverish forehead. "Did Hermione go to get him?" "Yeah." Bertrand stood and moved to root through a leather case, a potions case he thought. "Here. Fever and pain relievers, they'll only take the edge off but it should help." Vlad gulped the vials down gratefully, feeling a bit of relief at last. "I love that you're dating the potions professor." "Vlad, its not..." "My business, you're both adults and I won't say a word to anyone." His tutor didn't say anything more on the matter, smiling in exasperation at Vlad. "Is he?" "No, but we don't all have them. We accept each other and have compatible, even complimentary personalities." "You're both slave driving teachers who like books, homework and scaring students?" "You're dangerously close to detention young vampire." Vlad managed a short chuckle at that, and then a charm over his face to stop him looking so flushed and emotional, erasing the tears and sweat.
Bertrand's door knocked then, and Vlad gestured for him to go answer it - he could almost physically feel Harry beyond it. Trying not to let the ache show on his face, Vlad looked up at his friends. "Hermione dragged me here by my ear, and made me realise I was being an idiot. I'm sorry for freaking out Vlad, if all vampires were dangerous Bertrand wouldn't be allowed to stay here." The pain started to bleed away slowly, still there but not as acute. Harry ambled over to him, pulling Vlad into a hug and it was a balm to his raw emotions. "You're my best friend. You can accept me, I can accept you. But no biting." "Vampires honor. Are we ok then?" "Of course. So, nobody else knows?" Vlad shook his head. "The teachers. Ingrid and you two obviously. There are probably others who suspect something, but that's speculation." "Another secret. We can manage that." Bertrand gave Vlad his usual half smile, thankfully staying quiet other than to ask "everything is ok then? No hypnosis needed?" The pain receding to a slight twinge, Vlad smiled and agreed it was all ok.
The trio left then, bidding Bertrand good night (and Snape, though they didn't know it) and walking back to the dormitory. "Lets not tell the others, Seamus has only just recovered from the last quirk." "Fine by me, I didn't want anyone to know but bookworms are dangerous. Suppose it's just as well I wasn't sorted into Ravenclaw, I would have a whole house working me out." They fell silent as they got back to the tower, mobbed by Phantom on arrival and Lily hissed in indignation, apparently unhappy they had been gone so long. The snake stretched out on Harry's bed, amusing them all when Phantom licked the snakes head and curled up next to her. "Guess I'm not allowed to sleep tonight?" Harry looked a little put out as the familiars took over his bed, sitting on the floor in front of it until Vlad restocked the pile of junk food in their dorm, at which point he decided chocolate was consolation enough for the moment.
"Did you guys see the thing on the wall? Someone painted about the Chamber Of Secrets, what is it?" Vlad barely looked up from his book to answer Seamus with "the name is a clue, its probably a chamber that's secret" which amused the other boys. Lily hissed to say he could have his bed back soon, when she was done stretching her scales. Chewing on a cauldron cake, Harry had no better clue about the 'chamber of secrets' than the others. "I think I remember reading about it in Hogwarts, a History but I couldn't fit it in my trunk with all the Lockhart books." Hermione invading their common room was commonplace by now, there was even a folding chair behind the door for when the boys were all sat on their beds. As one, the rest of the boys agreed they hadn't brought theirs either. Vlad surprised him, as his backpack was bigger than his trunk so he could easily have brought every book for this year and last.
"Doesn't matter, if its important we will find it out through other students, but I imagine the name says it all." "For a guy in Gryffindor who transported an illegal dragon and fought off a troll and you know who, you have no sense of adventure Vlad." Seamus flicked a Bertie Botts bean at Vlad, who caught it and flicked it back almost absent mindedly. "I just think we could speculate all night long, but without concrete facts we won't get far other than into frustration." Eventually the other boys agreed, and they finished snacking and went to bed. The chamber was still the peak of gossip the next day, buzzing through the great hall for breakfast. Vlad stuck with the same view as last night until they got to History of Magic, where a Hufflepuff boy asked their ghost teacher if he knew about the chamber. Binns had clearly never seen such an attentive class, every student awake and alert.
"Very well, I will tell you what I know. You will of course know of the four founders, for whom the school houses are named after. They came together, the four best witches and wizards of their age and decided they wanted to train future bright magical minds. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff all got along famously, the fourth founder, Slytherin did not." The professor paused for a moment, not for breath but perhaps for dramatic pause. "Salazar Slytherin wished to be more selective, to keep magical learning in magical families. Pure bloods, to you and I. He tried for many years to convince the other founders, but they would not be swayed. An explosive rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin ended in a near-lethal fight, and Slytherin left Hogwarts. He swore he had left something deeply hidden, a chamber the others knew nothing of the location of, and that it would be sealed until his own true heir returned to the school. The heir alone would be able to open the chamber, and unleash the horror within - a terrible monster of some kind. The school has been searched many times, by many people including our own headmaster. Nothing has ever been found. The words on the wall were clearly just someone's idea of a Halloween prank."
When students tried to ask Binns more questions, he dismissed each and every one and resumed reading in his soporific voice until the class was half asleep as the bell went. Luckily Vlad and Hermione managed to get everything he said written down, so they grabbed sandwiches and headed out into the courtyard to talk about it at lunch. "The heir of Slytherin? That could be anyone, he lived a thousand years ago." "And the terrible beastie could literally be anything, that's the trouble with magic. What can petrify?" Harry was happy to let Vlad and Hermione brainstorm, listening in and only interjecting when they paused for breath. "Are we sure the petrified cat wasn't a Halloween joke? I know she was by the writing, but she could have been petrified any number of ways, and stuck in that torch holder earlier." "Fair point. We will assume that it was this terrible thing for now, and see what happens in the future?"
Hurrying to finish their food and drink, Harry pondered. "We should go look in that bathroom Ginny was in at some point, when they figure out how to stop it flooding. Maybe Vlad and his super powers should try and fix it." "Bite me." Vlad seemed to realise what he had said, anxiety rising faster than Harry thought possible on his friends face. It had been a shock, but he truly believed Vlad wasn't dangerous, nor would he intentionally put Harry in danger. "That's your job." The tension melted from Vlad's frame almost as fast as it had come, and a smile broke out over his face. "Funny. Just wait until I'm sixteen Potter." "I'll be in waiting, garlic and a sunlight spell at the ready. Might even keep a stake in my shoe." Vlad gave up the banter and hexed him, silent and wandless so it must have looked to anyone else that Harry suddenly sprouted coloured spots over his skin. "Oops. I meant to change his clothes, not his skin." "How do you miss?" "I don't use spells that way, its more a feel for a result I want. Knowing the spell helps a lot though."
Hermione pulled her wand and cast a 'finite incantatum' on him, which thankfully worked. "I deserved the hex, but no more experimenting on me yeah?" Vlad nodded quickly, apologising and keeping his hands in his pockets. "Come on, Potions with the Slytherins now." They headed down to the dungeons, and the information they had gotten in History of Magic had already got around the school. "Heir of Slytherin? You're a snake amongst lions Weasley, dream on." Harry caught Ron scowling, apparently the snake house were discussing who the heir could possibly be. "Maybe that is why he got sorted there, you snakes never know." For some reason, this seemed to irritate the Slytherin students, who looked ready to attack. "Leave him alone younglings." "Says who?" "Me, obviously." The second year Slytherin boys quickly melted into compliance as Ingrid defended Harry casually, but a girl still argued. "Why are you protecting him?" "Because he's my little brothers best friend, its my job to hex him, not yours."
Sure enough, Ingrid did jinx him but that was standard behaviour from her whenever they were alone with Vlad, so Harry understood what she was doing. The Slytherins laughed as Harry danced through the hot-foot charm, but Ingrid had added a silent cooling charm so it would not actually hurt him. He caught a whispered "thanks Ingrid" behind him as she passed Vlad, and they all stood stock still by the time Professor Snape threw open the door and shouted "in!". "Does she have that affect on every one?" "Anyone male, its about a 90% success rate within three years of her age. You get used to it." Their whispered conversation was covered by setting up their cauldrons and ingredients cases, but they fell silent as soon as that did. "I know you irksome cretins love to gossip about anything that isn't school work, but anyone who so much as mentions the chamber of secrets in my class will find themselves in detention quicker than you can say Halloween. Yes, that includes my own house. Instructions are on the board. Begin!" Snape may possibly be dating Vlad's tutor, and secretly be their friend in a way, but the man would always be as caustic as a potion.
-YDHP-
The next chapter should be more exciting, but this was oops Vladdy is a vamp. Enjoy!