Jon : Actually, my view count shows that once people get past chapter one they stick at it, I wonder if the fact the first few chapters are so Vlad-centric? Also, thank you for a) writing such long, well thought out reviews and b) saying this story should have more reviews and stuff - I'm genuinely surprised the amount of people that read this as it is! The Harry learning of the 'more than friends' thing is already planned for later on, but it is planned! And last of all, thank you for the top 100 thing, I feel so proud! :D

If you notice my other stuff gets updated far more frequently, that's because those are more loosely planned and alot of it is just sitting down and writing - I want to do this story justice so alot more planning goes into it. I figure you guys would rather wait a couple of days longer for a good chapter than this go to shit.

-YDHP-

Vlad decided not to go wandering through the forbidden forest alone just yet, but he had an inkling. As much as he didn't want to wait, Vlad knew waiting til Christmas when he could hit the library and spend more time with Ingrid was far wiser. Harry and Hermione caught up with him in the Great Hall, but wisely knew not to talk about what they had learned from Hagrid in such a public place. He didn't give them much chance to talk later, the other boys in the dorm keeping what they could discuss limited. As predicted, his father was irate about Vlad staying at Hogwarts but the vampire could not exactly come and fetch Vlad - he couldn't enter the Hogwarts grounds without special permission. Vlad didn't bother mentioning that Ingrid was currently trapped in some kind of half dead state, because he knew he would get angry at his fathers indifference.

The Weasley twins accosted him in the common room, asking after Ingrid and handing Vlad another ridiculous amount of sweets from Hogsmeade. "There's some in there that make you do animal noises, so don't chew them in class unless you want to answer a question with a lions roar or chicken squawk." "Thanks. I'll pass on your well wishes to Ingrid, though I wouldn't expect a thank you note so much as a go away jinx." The redhead twins laughed, gave Vlad an affectionate hair ruffle and went off in search of the oldest Weasley at Hogwarts - Percy or something - to harass. Putting most of the sweets aside so they wouldn't be gone before Christmas, Vlad offered out the butterbeer to the others who enjoyed the warming drink. "The twins must like you, they got you hot spiced pumpkin juice because you don't like this stuff." Vlad nodded in agreement, much preferring his drink to the others. "I better get them something for Christmas. I'm just not sure there is anything in the world they can't accidentally blow up. Or intentionally blow up for that matter."

"Fair point." Seamus had butterbeer foam stuck across his mouth, but nobody seemed inclined to point it out to him until Phantom leapt on him and started licking it off. "Get this crazy furball off me!" "She's helping you look presentable? And covering up the little deliveries, since we aren't really supposed to have this in here." Seamus looked mollified and wiped his mouth clean, meaning Phantom lost interest and went to try and steal Neville's tie off the edge of his bed. They all laughed when Lily appeared from under it, surprising the four legged one into running off. "This dorm is a zoo, nobody else think about getting a pet!" Draco grumbled, mostly because Phantom loved to wind him up by stealing his stuff - the blond boy had the best reactions.

"It's dinner. Shall we go eat then do our spell practice?" Everyone agreed so they headed off to dinner, which mostly involved Vlad picking at his food until Hermione or Harry nudged him to actually eat something. "You're no good to her burnt out." Harry had a point, he needed to be in top form to figure out what had hurt his sister and wreak revenge, so he sighed in exasperation and finished his vegetables and chicken pie. "I think the elves want you to cheer up. Pumpkin pie in December!" Vlad didn't get a great deal of choice before there was pie in front of him, so he mechanically ate until the others were finished and they could head back up. "Right, who wants to hex me first? No Phantom you cannot hex me." His familiar crawled up on to his shoulder and purred, mewling unhappily when Vlad put her back down.

The last of the school time passed quickly, and Vlad was relieved to wave off his friends leaving for Christmas after breakfast. His first port of call was the hospital wing, to visit Ingrid and make a mental note that Madam Pomfrey also deserved a Christmas gift for putting up with an edgy Vlad in and out of there all the time. Gryffindor was a little fuller than last year, with Hermione staying over, the Weasley twins, Ginny and a few older students who were studying. That also meant that Ron was staying too apparently, and Vlad almost hoped he was the person committing attacks so he had an excuse to punch him for the crude comments about Ingrid he made whenever Vlad was nearby. "I know my sister, she wouldn't touch you if you were the last man alive." "We'll see about that Dracula!" Something in the boys eyes unnerved Vlad, but that could just be bias because the friendly boy on the train had learned jealousy and let it twist him into a 'stereotypical' Slytherin.

"Come on Vlad, you can visit later but I will insist on you taking proper mealtimes." "Thanks Madam Pomfrey, I appreciate you letting me see her." Vlad left for lunch, finding Harry and Hermione waiting for him outside the Great Hall. "Library after lunch?" Vlad nodded, wanting to have a good look at Acromantula before he thought about heading to the forest - Hagrid wouldn't have gone through everything for 'Aragog' only to not keep him, and he hadn't mentioned the monster being put down. Hurrying through the motions of enjoying his meal, Vlad bounced anxiously in his seat until the other two were done. Bertrand hadn't made him take the tutoring sessions since they found Ingrid, knowing Vlad would only be reminded she was hurt. "Ready?" "Yeah."

They spent enough time in the library to have a pretty good idea where to start for some subjects, so they split between spiders and "huge deadly monsters" and sat in an alcove where they wouldn't be under the suspicious glare of Madam Pince. "Interesting reading material Vladimir, something you would like to share with the group?" Vlad looked up to see Bertrand during the books on the table. "Not yet. You'll be the first to know. Any progress?" Bertrand shook his head sadly, making Vlad's mood plummet again. "The professor requested you, or specifically your blood." Bertrand already knew these two knew Vlad was a vampire and that Ingrid wasn't exactly 'off sick', so could talk relatively freely. "I'll head down after dinner, I'm sure you can pass the message along." Bertrand gave Vlad a "be careful what you say" look, then bid the others good afternoon and left.

Finding information on Acromantula proved harder than he thought, and Vlad only left because Harry asked him pleasingly. He barely tasted his dinner, and waited only a few minutes after seeing Professor Snape leave before they headed down. Vlad didn't even flinch when the potions master stuck the needle in his arm, listening as he explained that the family of plants mandrakes belonged to had all shown negative reactions. "So now you move on to less obvious candidates?" "That is correct." "I appreciate this, I really do." "Ingrid is my student, Slytherins protect their own." "So do Draculas." Hermione was intrigued by the topic of it all and endlessly quizzed Snape on the matter while Vlad and Harry took tea from Nimmy. "I'm gonna go visit Ingrid, I'll see you guys back in the common room." He left no time for arguments as he hurried off back to the hospital wing, talking to Ingrid about the work to cure her and wishing she would wake and tell him to go away.

"I thought Draco was staying for Christmas?" Vlad had only just realised the blond boy was gone, absorbed as he had been. "Snape said his father suddenly changed his mind. No idea why." Having met Lucius Malfoy, Vlad was concerned for his friend now. "Oh right. I'm beat and need a shower, I'll see you in the morning." Standing under the water, Vlad wanted Ingrid to be ok. He wanted to know who had hurt her. Most of all, he wished he didn't have this desperate need for Harry to be happy weighing down on almost every decision he made. He was twelve years old for garlics sake, far too young for this accursed mating thing to be rearing its fangs.

He heard Harry hissing to Lily as he feigned sleep, staring at the wall while Phantom slept on his leg. Sleep did not come easily, but Vlad tried to stay motivated after breakfast, chatting to Ingrid and then splitting his time between lunch and the library. "Here you go Vlad, I knew I had read about them somewhere." Hermione pushed a book over at Vlad, she and Harry letting Vlad call silent as he searched. "I don't get what this tells us though. Hagrid said it wasn't one of them." Checking there was nobody nearby Vlad leant in. "Spiders are scared of something. If what is doing it is the same thing as before, then I want to know what could scare a twenty foot monster arachnid. Best place to start is by learning about said arachnid." Studying the pages intently, Vlad could see they understood human speech, and were apparently as lethal as spiders could get - one pint of Acromantula venom could kill a hundred men. Though it mostly went in potions as a counter for certain insect effects. Gnawing on his lip anxiously, Vlad wondered if going to the forest to look for these things was a complete suicide mission. Gripping Ingrid's compact mirror he had taken to carrying around with him steeled his resolve - he had to find out before more people got hurt.

Worried about Vlad, Harry barely noticed it was Christmas day until he woke to Hermione peering around their dormitory door. "Happy Christmas Harry! Happy Christmas Vlad!" Hermione already had a 'Weasley' jumper on, green with a brown H on. The rest of her gifts were floating along behind her, and Harry had barely put his glasses on before the Weasley twins came barreling through the door behind her. They too had jumpers on, though Harry now knew they swapped them to confuse people and referred to themselves as 'Gred and Forge' to make it funny to them. "Ginny said she wasn't feeling well so we will just have to save the energy to bug her later!" "Given that you two never seem to run out of energy, I wouldn't be surprised to find her running away screaming later."

Vlad was difficult to rouse, but nobody could sleep with the exuberant twins in the room. "Merry Christmas guys. Did you three get my gifts?" "Probably, but we came to open them with you!" Harry could see Vlad's (slowly neatening) scrawl on one gift, but then Vlad would probably have dropped it on his bed and knew he had it. "Come on then, go ditch that awful morning breath and get back in here!" Vlad appeased the twins with some of the second years food and drink stash while the two younger boys went to use the bathroom. Phantom had a little Christmas hat on to compliment her Halloween collar now, and Vlad mumbled something about bonkers headteachers as he sat back on his bed. Mouthful of pastry, George (well his jumper said F but Harry still thought it was George) sprayed crumbs much to Hermiones disgust as he encouraged the boys to open their Weasley gifts first. Vlad's was black, a grey V on the front. Harry's was grey with a red H on.

They pulled them on over their pyjamas, then everyone got stuck in to their own piles. Vlad had gotten Harry a bigger tank, complete with additions for Lily to climb over and hang from. "This is awesome!" Lily hissed in agreement, slithering over the tree bark. "I made it, learned unbreakable charms and got Flitwick to show me how the heat mat magic works. Look, it's got her name on the bottom." Looking on the mat, it did indeed have 'Lily Potter' etched into the bottom and Harry had to fight tears. "Thank you Vlad." Hermione had gotten him an empty journal, but he understood when Vlad pulled out one similar. "Charmed books. Write the name of whoever you want to talk to, and if they have one they will be able to write back." Hermione showed she had one, writing 'Harry Potter Happy Christmas' in hers and it came up "Hermione Granger Happy Christmas" in his. "They'll only work between the three of us, you have to add people to the charm so it doesn't go to say, another Harry Potter somewhere. Though there aren't many. I checked."

"Of course you did. This is awesome Hermione, thanks." Vlad continued through his pile, yelping when something shocked him. "I thought you turned it off!" "No, that was your job!" "Was not!" "Turned what off?" Vlad was looking at a gift, and Harry found one with the same wrapping paper but didn't touch it. "They are like joy buzzers, they shock people for fun. Except, if you're in real danger it can incapacitate the other person if you can touch them with it. Cool huh? We got one for Ingrid too, can you give it to her?" "How do I shut them off so I can touch it?" The twins hunted through their pockets before finding the spells list and handing it to Vlad. "You're the genius, you work it out." Carefully pushing that gift aside, Harry moved on. The other boys in the dorm had sent him things like candy or socks, and Bertrand had sent Harry a book on rare snakes which looked interesting.

Vlad had gotten (or likely made) Hermione a personalised bracelet, little charms on it like books and a wand, and there was even one that up close said "break the rules". "Dracula, did you make that?" The twins were looking at it in awe. "Yeah. I made one for Ingrid last year, but my transfiguration has gotten better since then." Harry knew Vlad had gotten Ingrid something similar to Hermiones gift - charmed two way books so they could talk. He had been planning that before Ingrid got petrified though. He dropped the twins (and surprisingly Hermiones) gifts to Ingrid in his trunk, promising to pass them along. "Did you give us books?" The twins handled their wrapped gifts from Vlad suspiciously. "Look at the books before you disregard them." Fred was first to open his, and when George followed twin smiles crossed their faces. "Pranking for dummies? Charming!" "Mines better - twenty ways to magic mild disasters!"

Vlad and Hermione both extracted promises that they were not to be victims of the pranks, and that exam season was not to be disrupted but otherwise they would absolutely look the other way on the twins disruptive behavior. "We'll hold you to that when you two swots are the Gryffindor prefects!" "Better stay on our good sides then?" Hermione prompted, lapsing into giggles when Fred and George both started bowing to her and calling out "Queen Hermione!" Vlad hadn't yet opened Harry's gift - it was a joke box of fake plastic fangs, but there was a note hidden beneath it that said "I accept you". It was obvious Vlad was terrified of how people would react finding out the truth about him and he wanted his friend to have a reminder that Harry had gotten over it. Vlad scooped up another wrapped bundle from his trunk, then dashed off saying he was going to deliver a gift to Madam Pomfrey - which may well be true, but it was also probably to say Merry Christmas to Ingrid. "Why the nurse?" "You think she doesn't deserve gifts when she puts kids back together all year round?"

The twins looked a little guilty then, suddenly discussing in hushed tones what they could do for her now. "Worry about it after breakfast, lets go!" The four of them went in their pjs, complete with Weasley jumpers and Harry had to bite down on laughter when he saw Dumbledore convincing Bertrand into a Santa hat, the headmaster already wearing one himself. "Its either this or you open a cracker and wear what you find!" Chuckling at the vampire looking very put out with his festive gear, Vlad appeared soon after and he brightened considerably at his tutors attire. After seeing him so weighed down lately, it was nice to see his friend smile properly. They exchanged wizard crackers, the twins somehow pulling matching floral bonnets from theirs and wasting no time putting them on. Hermione got a muggle baseball cap that she promptly traded with Vlads medieval jester hat. Harry got two because the twins made him pull one each with them and he won both - the medieval knight helmet wouldn't make breakfast easy so he pretended to be as disgruntled as Bertrand and put on the 'dunce' hat.

There was far too much food for the few there, but everyone overindulged for Christmas day in spite of the huge lunch upcoming. The headmaster had traded his Santa hat with McGonogall for a rather startlingly purple mermaid wig by now, and Hermione could scarcely breath for laughter when Vlad started charming it to wave in front of his face whenever he tried to speak. The headmaster took it in stride and they hurried off before he could get in trouble. "We got it!" The twins declared as they barreled in and out of their dorm, holding up a large bar of Honeydukes finest chocolate. "We shall deliver it to the nurse now. We also got McGonogall a gift. I say gift." "We gave her vouchers that force us to own up to pranks if she thinks we've crossed a line." "Very thoughtful." Vlad watched them go with sad eyes - he couldn't inconspicuously visit Ingrid if they were up in the hospital wing. "Cheer up Vlad, it's Christmas!" "Good point." Harry found himself on the receiving end of a hex, and suddenly his jumper was the colour of a hundred twinkling fairy lights. "Now you can take Christmas cheer with you all day."

Given that it made his friend smile, Harry didn't bother asking him to reverse it and they sat by the fire waiting to see the twins come back. They did, grinning and congratulating themselves on accidentally buying two of the chocolate they sent back to their mother, their mistake having a good ending. "How's Ginny? Not seen her all day." "We took her up some food, had to fly up to the girls dorm because that charm is still in effect." Harry looked at the girls dormitory stairs in confusion. "Charm?" Fred rolled his eyes as George lit up. "Your turn!" The younger students watched in surprise that melted to amusement as Fred tried to climb the stairs, making it half way up before the steps melted into a slide with a loud alarm-like noise, pitching Fred backwards to land on the floor. "The founders put it in. I'll never understand why it isn't the other way around. Still, we worked out the trick." George found Harry's jumper hilarious enough to ask Vlad to do his too, so Harry and George glowed through the hallways as the headed down to lunch, greatly amusing the staff members with their Christmas cheer.

-YDHP-

I am aware this chapter comes off as Vlad doing a lot of intelligent research stuff and Harry is goofing off in comparison, but I know where I'm going with it and I am still very aware a lot of you think its too Vlad-sided powerwise.