Jon: I see what you're saying, and I am glad you stuck it out but I'm not totally sure how I would go back and accomplish that? Thank you for the long, informative review btw!
To the new followers, welcome!
To anyone plotting to lynch me for Ingrid, I'm sorry!
-YDHP-
"Vlad?" Harry tried to get his attention, but Vlad was shaking and spitting angry now - whoever did this to Ingrid was dead. This was a warning to him, and based on the message so soon after he had written his name in that stupid diary, Vlad knew where to start looking. "Go get Snape. He's her head of house, and closest." Harry hurried off, and Vlad knelt down next to Ingrid, her eyes frozen open to stare unseeingly at the ceiling, but her perpetual look of mild disdain for everyone and everything around her still there. He didn't even notice Harry was back until Bertrand (who he did not want to know how he got there so fast when Harry went to Snape) coughed and whispered for Vlad to drop his invisibility spell. "I'll take her to the hospital wing, I'm not stupid enough to think the threat of detention is going to stop you following me." Bertrand flitted off carrying Ingrid, and Vlad didn't even wait for the other two to move before he was running up there himself.
Madam Pomfrey probably would have suspected Vlad of something given this was the second body he had found now, but a thousand year old zombie could see Vlad would die before he hurt his sister. "What is doing this?" Harry and Snape caught up a few minutes later, Vlad supposed they hadn't ran like hellfire as he did. Holding one of Ingrid's frozen hands, Vlad whispered an apology. "I don't know what did this, but I'll find it and tear it apart. That isn't the only issue though." Everyone looked at Vlad like he had grown an extra head, as he should be the last person to think something was worse than Ingrid being petrified. "What's the other issue?" "How do you cure petrification?" "Mandrake... Oh. Bats, I see your point." Harry and Madam Pomfrey looked lost, until Bertrand quickly informed them both vampires were allergic to mandrakes. "That's why you haven't been doing herbology right?" Vlad nodded, chest uncomfortably tight as he listened to the others talk around him.
Bertrand knelt down next to him, encouraging Vlad to meet his eyes. "We will find a way to cure her, I promise." Snape stepped forward, a mild affection for his student crossing his face as he looked at Ingrid. "Drac... Vladimir, hold out your arm." Vlad didn't even think much of it, holding out the arm not clutching Ingrid's in apology. There was a mild stabbing pain, then it was gone. "What did you take his blood for?" Harry had watched the whole thing with trepidation, as though Snape would get away with using Vlad's blood for nefarious purposes. "He needs to find alternatives to treat Ingrid with, to do that he needs to test for allergic reactions. He needs vampire blood, and I doubt Ingrid is going to be forthcoming there." Harry looked to understand, but then looked at Bertrand. "Why you and not the tutor?" If Harry were any other human on the planet, Vlad would have snapped back angrily by now under the weight of concern for Ingrid, but he couldn't be angry at his "mate" trying to defend him in a way.
"Bertrands a half fang, not a born vampire. It means very little at all, I'm not snobbish about it but it does mean his physiology is different to mine and Ingrid's. Think of it like... Organ donors - a family member is just a better match, and I'll donate my blood every day if it means curing Ingrid." "And a half fang is?" Bertrand stood back up then, twisting his head to show a scar on his neck, glamour charms covered it day to day but Bertrand said they itched and he requested them be taken off most of the time he wasn't leaving his quarters. "I was bitten, turned. I was born human." Vlad waved his hand to re-set the glamour charm, much to the tutors chagrin but rules were rules. He was just about to think the nurse was awfully quiet, but the headmasters voice made him realise where she had gone. "I do not believe you would do this Vladimir, but I must ask why you two boys were out of bed after hours again, let alone down in the dungeons to find her." Vlad didn't think the Harry had nightmares excuse would fly twice, so he tried a different lie.
"I had a dream something bad happened to Ingrid. I couldn't remember what it was, but I just couldn't shake the feeling and eventually I had to go check she wasn't where I saw. Harry didn't want me going alone, but Ingrid was there. I apologise for breaking the rules sir, but I won't apologise for worrying about my sister enough to go looking." Vlad didn't care if he got detention, Ingrid was petrified because of him - he deserved to be punished. "Was she with another message?" "Yes sir. It said do not get in my way again. Do you know what it means sir?" Vlad knew exactly what it meant, but he wasn't about to let that on to anyone, not even Harry right now. "I fear it means the chamber has been opened. Provided there are no more attacks in the next week, I will put new security measures in when the students return from the Christmas break. Until then it will be said your sister was taken ill, and sent home - I don't think inciting panic will solve anything." Vlad merely nodded, haunted by the glassy eyes of his sister.
"You're not actually sending her home though right? She's staying at Hogwarts?" "Of course my boy. You may visit her, but discreetly. She will be moved to one of the private rooms, shielded." Imagining Ingrid's reaction to all this made him chuckle a little bit. "She would say she deserved no less. And despite her love of being adored, Ingrid would hate for people to see her like this. Harry, I would say expect death threats when she's back." Harry smiled in response, and Vlad couldn't help but be lifted a little bit by that. "Severus, Mr du Fortunesa, would you kindly show me where she was found?" Looking at the way Ingrids hand was in front of her face, Vlad automatically knew what she had been holding when whatever happened, happened. "Bertrand? I think Ingrid must have been looking in her compact mirror, would you find it for her? She's had the same one for four years, it was a gift from our mother." His tutor nodded, squeezing Vlad's shoulder and leading the headmaster away.
"Let's get her moved into the back shall we? Step back would you boys?" Madam Pomfrey waved her wand, transferring Ingrid on to a stretcher type thing and floating her to a back room. "Only staff, and the two of you will be permitted to enter this room - as nobody else will know she's here." "What about Hermione? I'm not planning to tell her, but then I didn't tell her I was a vampire, she told me." "Very well, but nobody else Mr Dracula. Now back to your dormitories if you would, two young boys need their sleep." Looking at Ingrid, Vlad turned back to them. "Could I have a minute?" Madam Pomfrey steered Harry out, calling back "one minute!" to Vlad. Having used and removed the jinx on their things successfully a few times, he felt he understood the mechanics enough for this. Waving his hand over Ingrid, Vlad aimed for a very specific group of people to be allowed to touch Ingrid - anyone he wasn't thinking had permission now would get bright green stains on their hands. Touching her hand again, Vlad checked his palm was clear. He hadn't been careful enough to stop her getting here, he was going to protect her here now.
Whispering an apology to his sister, Vlad forced himself to turn and leave. "Thanks. Come on Harry." His friend followed behind him as they left, and didn't question Vlad staring into the fire rather than going up to their dorm. "We will figure this out Vlad. Do you know who would do this to get to you?" Drumming his hand against his leg anxiously, Vlad knew exactly but he wanted to try and work this out himself for now. "No, but it wouldn't be a tough stretch. Ingrid is the only non Gryffindor student anyone could guess I cared about, and if its this chamber business then Ingrid is technically not a pure blood, or even a half blood." "Vlad, you could be next?" "True. But I have an advantage - I want whoever did this to find me. So I can tear them limb from limb." Harry grimaced slightly, and Vlad tried to master his anger - he didn't want to upset Harry. "You better tell the guys Ingrid is ill and you're worried in the morning, so they know you're a little snappy." Harry clacked his teeth together then, grinning as he imitated a bite. "Funny. I will. I'm staying for Christmas, dad can bite himself. I'm not leaving Ingrid, and we can spend time in the library trying to work out what this thing is."
"You'll need to think of something to tell Draco then, the others are leaving but he and Hermione are staying." "I think if I just say we won't have a better chance to try and look for stuff about the chamber or creepy bad monsters, he will help. He's a good guy." Harry nodded and smiled, then scooped up a nearby Phantom and dumped her in Vlad's lap. "I better not find out you're secretly the horror within the chamber Phantom, I would hate to have to avenge Ingrid on you." Phantom mewled and licked his hand, then curled up and periodically flicked her tail against him. "I think that was her protesting her innocence." Harry leaned over and scratched the furball behind the ears, getting a rumbling purr from her. "Probably. I doubt she's the heir of Slytherin though. Maybe we should interrogate Lily." Harry smiled in response, knowing Vlad was not being serious.
He eventually convinced his friend up to bed for a few hours, though Harry doubted Vlad would sleep much Phantom curled up on his pillow and refused to let him leave again. Smiling at the cheeky familiar, Harry hissed that he was alright to a concerned Lily before trying to get a little sleep himself. When the others started waking up, Lily slithered out and woke him to see Vlad looking exhausted and upset. "Vlad, what's wrong?" Neville was first to notice Vlad looking sad, and Lily hissed a similar question to him. "Ingrid's sick, she had to get sent home and I'm not allowed to go back too incase I get it." Vlad answered shortly and disappeared quickly, reappearing dressed and freshly showered. "That sucks Vlad, I'm sure she's going to be ok though."
Vlad asked Harry to help him send a few letters, based on him not having his own owl but Harry now knew it was that owls and vampires didn't mix. Hedwig hooted indignantly when they got up there, and Harry apologised for not turning up more often. "If you didn't keep trying to attack Vlad we would be ok." The owl hooted unhappily again, glaring at Vlad who was stood further back in the owlery. "Maybe you should let Hermione take care of her, then Hedwig wouldn't be terrified of our dorm because the girls don't have magical familiars left right and center." "Hey girl, want to have a new human to visit when you get back?" Attaching the post bag to the owl, Harry stroked her feathers gently. "You'll always be my number one girl, don't worry." Vlad smirked at Harry trying to pacify the bird, and Harry was happy Vlad wasn't scowling sadly for a few seconds.
"Shut up, it's not my fault she's scared of you, Phantoms scared of her and Lily just wishes she was big enough to eat things that take my attention away from her." "I didn't say a thing, now can we get out of here before I'm mauled by these angry marshmallows?" They left quickly under the gaze of multiple school owls that knew not to attack students, but were giving Vlad the evil eye all the same. "To breakfast?" "So everyone can stare at me when the headmaster says Ingrid is sick. Excellent." Offering Vlad a quick one armed hug, Harry mused that Vlad was right but avoiding breakfast would only fuel the rumours. They met the others outside the great hall, and their friends were smart enough to sit all around Vlad like a human shield formation. Bertrand dropped a note in front of Vlad, which he leant down to read under the table before screwing it up into a ball and shoving it in his pocket. The boy poked at his breakfast, apparently lacking an appetite - though that may be because Seamus was wolfing down bacon like he had been told it would be discontinued tomorrow.
Either way, it didn't take long for Vlad to give up on his porridge and sit drinking pumpkin juice, staring at the space Ingrid had essentially claimed as her own at the Slytherin table, meaning nobody was brave enough to sit there in case she was late. His face only clouded further when Dumbledore stood up, calling for quiet. "As some of the Slytherins may have noticed, Miss Ingrid Dracula is absent. She was taken ill in the night, and has been sent home to recuperate this close to the Christmas holidays. It was not contagious, worry not fellow fourth years. That will be all. Enjoy your Sunday!" The sound of breaking glass surprised Harry, turning to find Vlad clutching a bleeding palm and claiming accidental magic. Hermione and Draco quickly waved their wands to clean up the mess, and Harry was quick to press a napkin to Vlad's hand and say he would take him to the hospital wing. When they were in the hallway a floor up, Harry began to worry as Vlad wasn't talking. "Was that a clever trick to get back to the hospital wing?" "No, I was just angry about Ingrid getting hurt. Let's go before anyone notices me bleeding darker."
When they got to the hospital wing, they knew they had to wait for Madam Pomfrey to return from breakfast herself - the door to Ingrid's room was locked and accorded to Vlad, warded. If Harry squinted hard, he thought he could see the shimmer Vlad referred to. When he pulled the napkin away, the blood was indeed much darker than he expected. "Mr Dracula! That had better not have been intentional." Vlad explained he got upset, and the school nurse softened and moved to clean and heal his hand. "Since you're here, five minutes. Or your friends will be along to check on you I expect." She made Harry stay outside, so they could lie and say Vlad was in the bathroom if the Gryffindor boys did show up. Vlad came back out just before the second year boys and Hermione, plus the Weasley twins, did appear, and he held up a healed hand. "All good guys, just like magic!"
Their dorm mates quizzed Madam Pomfrey about Ingrid too, but the nurse merely said she would be ok but would get better much faster away from her adoring legions. All the boys bar Vlad and Harry flushed then, and Vlad sighed quietly. "No matter where we go, that's the same. She could be in a coma and guys would line up to try and talk to her." The Weasley twins both laughed and flanked Vlad, arms around his shoulders. "Its ok Vlad, maybe it means you'll be attractive one day too." "Oh thanks, nice to feel good about myself." "Unless you're about to hex them senseless and want to save the trip back here, you can all go now!" Harry caught Vlad mouthing "thank you" to Madam Pomfrey as the others chuckled and were shooed out, Harry and Vlad following at their own pace. "Since when do you do accidental magic Vlad?" "Magic is affected by emotions, I'm worried about my sister."
Hermione agreed to homework in the library, the others heading out for what would likely be yet another vicious snowball fight. "Don't break the books, Madam Pince will have our heads!" Hermione tried to win a smile from their anxious friend, and it sort of worked but Vlad buried himself in homework, and Harry expected it was so he was as up to date as possible for the Christmas holidays. He was worried about his friend, and never more glad his family would never expect Harry back for the holidays so he could stay with Vlad. He and Hermione convinced Vlad outside for a little bit, and they bundled up sat in the near empty courtyard for lunch, around bluebell flames eating the stash Vlad always seemed to carry around with him. Since they were already outside, they dropped in to see Hagrid and hung their winter cloaks up to dry by the fire.
"Sorry ter hear bout Ingrid, I 'ope she will be alrigh'." Vlad thanked the man and sat staring into his mug of tea, getting sniffed and nudged by Fang incessantly until he stroked the drooling hound. "Hagrid, do you know anything about this chamber of secrets business?" Hermione prompted the gamekeeper, and Vlad's head snapped up then. "Aye, I was only a young un when it appened before." "Before? You mean fifty years ago?" Vlad's eyes were keen with interest, more animated than Harry had seen him since they found Ingrid. "What makes yer say tha?" "Hagrid. Why were you expelled from Hogwarts?" "Vlad, what are you saying?" "Was it for the attacks? I don't think you did it, but I do need to know." "Now listen 'ere..." Hagrid didn't get further before Vlad jumped up. "Answer me! Please?" Hagrid seemed to deflate before their eyes, and Harry was in awe - he wanted to know where Vlad got this information.
"Ye, I were expelled for th death o' some girl. It was a frame job, I would never 'urt no-one." "I believe you, I do." Vlad walked over to Hagrid, and placed his tiny hand on Hagrids enormous one. "I didn't mean to sound like I was accusing you, I swear. Can you tell us about it?" And to Harry's eternal surprise, Hagrid told them. There had been attacks on muggle borns, threatening messages on the walls, and then there had been a girl who died. "Moaning Myrtle, no wonder she's upset." Hagrid had been raising yet another illegal pet, and someone had turned him in as the one who had hurt people. Dumbledore tried to help, but Hagrid was expelled. "What the hell were you raising?" "Aragog, 'e was beautiful. Acromantula are intelligent critters." "Acromantula? I thought they weren't native to this continent?" Naturally, Hermione knew what he was talking about. "They aren't, I bought 'im off a bloke, 'atched him myself."
Vlad apologised again for getting angry with Hagrid, then vanished off before either he or Hermione could follow him. "Sorry Hagrid, he is really worried about Ingrid. Their dad is a little distant and their mum left them young, they are basically all the other has outside of Hogwarts." "I can sympathise, me mam didn't 'ang around much either, jus' me and me dad. 'e was a tiny little guy." Harry didn't ask further on that, given the size of Hagrid his mother must have been an Amazon. Or perhaps a giant. Yep, he was not going there. "We better go track Vlad down, we'll visit again over Christmas Hagrid." Hagrid crushed them both in rib splintering hugs, and they pulled on their now dry and warm cloaks before hurrying outside. The tracks in the snow were a mess, it looked like Vlad had ran to the edge of the forbidden forest before heading back to Hogwarts. "I don't care if he's undead, if he goes into the forest alone I'll kill him." Hermione agreed vociferously, and Harry was glad she had pulled his head back to earth when he freaked out about Vlad being a vampire. He was a parselmouth, Voldemorts grandson and Vlad hadn't even blinked before sticking by him.
-YDHP-
And now I have updated this I shall go stuff my face with cake.
Until next time!