So, reviews!
Dark Serpent Cat - I understand what you're saying, and I know the story is Vlad centric. There are two reasons for that - This story originally started in my head as just a Vlad POV story but I wanted to bring Harry in, that doesn't mean it's easy when it wasn't my original plan. And second, I actually really struggle to write Harry POV much more than Vlad. However, I am trying and I do have plans for Harry coming into his own.
And Kitsune Jewel - Thank you for joining the followers of this story! And thank you hugely for letting me know how much you enjoy the little bits of Vlad and Harry showing in tiny increments. I too, am very excited for year four, but I'm also super excited for year three. And the end of year two of course. I hope you continue to enjoy this!
-YDHP-
Heart thudding in his chest, Harry checked Vlad wasn't looking directly at where the enormous reptile was appearing - he was watching Riddle instead. Swallowing thickly, it was now or never as the basilisk slid out and coiled up, rearing back and scenting the air with a tongue bigger than Harry. Not needing any help to imagine a snake with this mammoth creature before him, Harry hissed out "close your eyes". Riddle looked at him strangely, then looked utterly murderous as the basilisk calmed and obeyed. "I am the heir of slytherin!" "Not quite. It was after your time, clearly but you will be my grandfather. Making me your heir, and the true Slytherin heir! That basilisk is mine." Harry didn't actually want the snake as a pet, but maybe he shouldn't let on to that right now.
"You're lying!" Looking back up at the basilisk, Harry hissed out "tell him." The cavernous mouth opened, revealing enormous teeth that made a thrill of panic shoot through him. "It is true, he is the heir." Vlad was looking between them, only able to understand part of the conversation as they switched between hisses and speech. "How do I save Ginny?" That was directed at the basilisk too, but Riddle could understand the hisses as clear as English. "Destroy the link." There was a heart stopping moment where both Harry and Riddle dove for the diary, but Vlad cottoned on quickly and held out a hand to summon it. "You forget you're a wizard far too easy." Riddle made a grab but missed as it flew into Vlad's hand, and was then held out to Harry. "You can lecture me later, how do I destroy this?"
"If he kept a memory in it, it will be protected somehow. Ask your friend." Rolling his eyes at Vlad being sarcastic when they could probably still die at any second, Harry hissed the question at the basilisk - it was very odd holding a conversation with something that would use Harry's whole body as a toothpick. Nobody was prepared for the way the basilisk dropped, eyes still closed but razor sharp teeth exposed and they pierced the diary and Harry's arm at the same time. The diary fell from his hand, ink already pouring out of the small leather journal like blood but that didn't register as fire raced through Harry's veins. Vlad dragged him away, looking at the tooth embedded in his arm - it had broken off as he jerked away from the basilisk. "Harry!"
There was nothing to be done, the poison was incurable - they had read that book already to know. Riddle was fading, the diary still pouring rivers of ink but his last words were "at least I'll take you with me Potter!" before the ghostly vision vanished forever. Harry yanked the tooth out of his arm, the length more than his own forearm and it felt warm, strange in his hand. Vlad held his face, begging him "stay with me Harry, you're going to be ok." Not wanting to waste last breaths on correcting Vlad, Harry let his friend go on and tried to breathe through the pain of venom tearing through him. There was a strange sense of waiting to die, the pain starting to recede and Harry wondered if that was his body shutting down.
Tears fell onto his hands, his arms and face as Vlad tried to stir him, gain a response and while he couldn't make out the words, he could hear the panic and grief in his voice. The mark on his arm stopped stinging as Vlad's tears ran over it, and they both stared at it in surprise as it glowed before healing closed. "Harry?" his friend choked out the name, gently touching his jaw and seeing if he was still alive. "What just happened?" His voice was raw, maybe he had screamed in agony and not noticed. "I don't know, are you ok?"
"I think so? Am I dead? Is this a dream?" They were both surprised to see Ginny stirring, and Harry freaked a little when Vlad stunned her. "What did you do that for?" "Do you want to explain the basilisk?" "Fair point. Help me up?" Vlad tugged him to his feet, both their clothes covered in grime and ink, and Harry looked back at where he had been bitten. There was a dark circular scar already that felt strange, scaly almost as Harry ran his fingers over it. "Ok. We should do something about this?" Vlad indicated the basilisk, which was still laying where it had dropped with it's eyes closed. Hissing out the first thing that came to mind - "why aren't I dead?" - Harry waited for an answer. "Because you are unique. I apologise for the underhanded tactics required to get you here, but the previous heir was using me for petty grudges."
Underhanded tactics? That was an understatement, people were dead or petrified because of this snake. Remembering what Lily had said about 'the river ends at the source', he knew his next question. "How do we cure a vampire you petrified? They can't have Mandrake potion, prove to me you didn't want to do those things and help me save his sister." Vlad went to check Ginny was alive and otherwise unharmed, but his eyes were back on Harry and the basilisk seconds later. "She's fine. What's the snake saying?" "Kindly inform the vampire boy that I understand him, even if he doesn't understand me." Relating the message back to Vlad, Harry couldn't help chuckling at his friends disgruntled expression. "You petrified my sister, how do we help her?"
"Do you have a receptacle of some kind?" Asking Vlad - he probably had several in his backpack - Harry watched as his friend conjured a thick glass bowl and levitated it to Harry. "Yes? Does this help?" For some odd reason, Harry got the impression the basilisk was rolling it's eyes beneath scaly eyelids. "This will be so much easier if I could open my eyes. Repeat this, in parseltongue and sun your wand at your eyes." A strangled hissing sound left the snake, but Harry was wary. "What for?" "It's a protective magic, so whoever controls me can look at me." "Will it work on Vlad?" "Yes." Figuring he had only his life to lose, and since he was stood three feet from a murderous snake that wasn't really much difference, Harry gestured for Vlad to come over. "Trust me?" "Always."
Aiming his wand at Vlad's eyes, his friend looked a little worried but didn't so much as flinch when Harry hissed and a thin green smoke obscured Vlad's face before fading. "Well? What was that for?" "Can you still see?" "Nice to know you experimented on me, but yes." Repeating it on himself, Harry turned to the basilisk. "Here goes nothing. Open your eyes." The lids lifted and Vlad looked at Harry like he was mad, holding eye contact with the basilisk as huge yellow eyes revealed themselves. After a few seconds, Harry realised he wasn't dead or even petrified, and neither was Vlad. "Place your receptacle near my front fangs, I promise not to bite you again." Stepping forwards, Harry placed the bowl there and watched as venom leaked into the glass from the teeth, thick and milky white.
"If I had known it was for that, I would have made one with a lid." "My venom is only dangerous when introduced directly into the bloodstream. I have no need for a defensive spray toxin." Given the sheer size and lethality of the snake, Harry had to agree. "Hold on, do you have a name? I assume you aren't just called the snake, or the basilisk. Or in this case, the horror within." "Samael. I think it is a reference to a bringer of death." Vlad merely raised an eyebrow when Harry informed him the basilisk actually had a name, clearly impatient for a cure for Ingrid. "You must mix my venom with Phoenix ash in equal measure, then have the petrified victims drink the mixture." He didn't know why, but Harry actually trusted... Samael to be telling the truth. Vlad looked less trusting, but then he knew he didn't actually have a better option for saving Ingrid and eventually conjured a lidded box for the venom.
"One thing. How on earth did you get around the school without being seen?" Samael hissed "I slithered through the pipes" for Harry to translate, catching sight of Vlad's watch as he observed his friend picking up the box of venom. "Blimey, we've been down here all night. We should probably try to get out of here before anyone finds us chatting to a sixty foot snake." "I'm open to ideas on how, that pipe must have pitched us way down." Samael interrupted them again, informing Harry there was actually an easier way out, but not in.
"I will stay down here, I must rest after the ridiculous things my previous master imposed on me." "Alright, but if I leave you down here alive are you going to hurt anyone else? And how long does this spell on our eyes last?" "It should be permanent, but feel free to repeat it before you return. No, I have no grudge against magical beings of any sort, basilisks are actually a fairly docile race but once our immense power was discovered, we were poached and used for more nefarious purposes. I will slumber for a few months, and call out to you if I need to." Running at the mark on his arm absent mindedly, Harry had to ask.
"How am I alive? I mean, did Vlad heal this when he was crying?" "No, merely coincidental. I cannot speak to the exact changes it will have on you, but they will be slow and subtle as you are so young." Deciding that was a conversation to have with Vlad, his tutor and probably Snape after they were out, Harry nodded. "Alright. Thanks Samael, I hope you enjoy your rest." Samael turned around, very very slowly slithering back into the hole he had come out of and it closed up behind him. "You let that thing go?" "His name is Samael, and he's technically mine. Riddle made him and Ginny do those things, and he's offered us a cure. Can we get out of here? I'll carry that, you get Ginny?" Vlad handed over the box, which Harry took very carefully while his friend downed a vial of replenisher and waved his hand to levitate Ginny alongside him.
Almost as an afterthought, Vlad leant down and picked up the diary. It felt different to before... lighter, emptier. He wasn't totally convinced Harry was right to leave 'Samael' alive, but he was so utterly relieved his mate was alive and alright, he let it go for now. Harry led him to a tiny sliver in the wall, which he rapped with his wand and hissed out something in parseltongue. The sliver closed, then opened wider and they both lit their wands to creep through the tunnel beyond. It didn't seem to go on for that long before there was a low incline staircase, winding and long before they reached a door. Vlad could even see the wide pipe entrance nearby that Samael must have used to get out and about in the school, following Harry and carefully moving Ginny along with them.
The door closed behind them and melded away, invisible against the wall as they looked around. "Where are we?" "Dungeons. Snapes room?" Hoping the potions teacher or Bertrand would be there, Vlad put out his wandlight and pointed it in Ginnys direction so nobody would know he wasn't using it as he and Harry stole along the empty corridors. A mumbled password opened the quarters they had spent a lot of time in, and Vlad and Harry found Bertrand, Snape and Draco all in the room. "You look like hell. Is that Ginny Weasley?" "Not surprised. Yeah. She's fine, we sorted it. Professor, you wouldn't happen to have any phoenix ash lying around would you?" Bertrand physically lifted Ginny away, waiting for Snape to return with a box. "What for? This is a rare ingredient." "And there is a phoenix at this school, you can get more. Just trust us, we need to go to the hospital wing."
Harry gave him an exasperated look - they could at least have offered some explanations beforehand - but Vlad was desperate to find out if Samael was being honest about curing Ingrid. The school was dead and empty mostly - everyone was preparing to leave Hogwarts according to Draco, who jogged to keep up with their fast pace. "Mr Potter? Mr Dracula? Is that... Miss Weasley? What is this?" Hoping Harry followed, Vlad managed to say "in a minute" as they got to Ingrids room. She was the same as ever, and Vlad's heart hammered with anticipation as he and Harry carefully measured out equal parts of the items and hesitantly mixed them. The mixture glowed red, then faded to a pale green liquid - Gryffindor and Slytherin may have not chosen their colours by mistake.
"Mr Dracula, what the devil are you doing?" "Hoping." Ingrid's mouth was frozen slightly open, allowing him to pour the mixture in. If this didn't work, he was going to go and kill Samael himself. Everyone crowded around the doorway for a moment, silence thick enough to hear a bat flap and then it happened. Ingrid's hand had been frozen in position for so long, but as he watched Vlad saw the fingers relax, the arm slowly come down and his sister breathed. "Ingrid? Ingrid! Are you ok?" Her whole body seemed to thaw for a moment, but then her eyes opened and Vlad couldn't stop himself throwing a hug at his sister. A low, annoyed whisper of "Get off me zombie snot, you reek. If you have gotten dirt on my robes, I will stake you. Where have you been and where the blood and garlic am I?" made it to his ear, tears flowed freely as relief permeated every atom of his body, being frozen in a half alive state hadn't changed her one bit.
Vlad knew they would have to explain where they had been, what they had done and how he cured her but right now he didn't care. "Hospital wing. You were petrified, we were so worried. And now Madam Pomfrey is going to give me a years detention after she checks you're alright." Sure enough, the nurse was hovering and glaring. Ingrid looked confused as she was scanned and assessed, then declared absolutely fine. "I'm keeping you in overnight for observation. No arguments Miss Dracula!" If looks could kill, Ingrid would have left their school without a nurse with her glare.
Snape luckily removed Draco so they could talk more openly, and Ginny was moved to a side room to be looked at more closely - she had been sort of possessed for months and who knows what Riddle had done to her. "I promise we will explain. Once I have some clean clothes, man the chamber of secrets was filthy." Magic hadn't protected his clothes from getting dirty, he wasn't expecting it to be able to remove the accumulated grime. Bertrand disappeared off and returned a moment or two later with clothes for both he and Harry. "From the house elves, I didn't want to be quizzed by your dorm mates." They headed into the bathroom and used separate cubicles to shower and change, realising a minute too late Bertrand had mixed up who's was who's, but not caring a moment later seeing Harry in his clothes. Vlad really needed to get a handle on his possessive tendencies.
"Is it worth changing back?" "Nah, I'm just glad to be clean, we'll sort it later." Because he didn't want to stop seeing Harry with his things on. Shaking the thoughts away, Vlad realised they kind of had to go and answer some questions. Stepping back out, he asked Madam Pomfrey if Ginny was ok. "She seems fine, struggling with some amnesia at the moment though. The headmaster and your head of house are on their way here, I have set up that room" she pointed "for privacy. There is good and drink from the house elves waiting, you missed breakfast." It wasn't until she said that Vlad realised how hungry he was, stomach growling. He and Harry hastened into the side room, finding Bertrand already waiting and drinking a cup of tea.
There was far more food than even two hungry teen boys could eat - though Ingrid did join them and started eating too. "How long was I... petrified?" "A little over a month, but the Mandrake allergy meant we weren't sure we could actually reverse it. It was terrifying. Do you remember it?" "Not a thing. I couldn't believe it was January. It's like I slept away a month." They went back to eating for a few more minutes, and then they were joined by the headmaster and McGonogall. "Miss Dracula? But how..." "Bats if I know, I want to know what petrified me." Ingrid barely even looked up from her breakfast, not looking nearly as interested as Vlad knew she actually was. "Why is it always you two? And usually Miss Granger, but of course she's..." Vlad and Harry both jumped up, not even discussing it as they ran past their protesting teachers.
"What on earth are you boys doing?" They didn't answer, mixing up the venom and ash and hurrying to feed it to Hermione. "Just watch." Like Ingrid, Hermione changed slowly but then all of a sudden she was breathing, her eyes opening. "My goodness, she's awake!" "I don't know if this is safe to give to a cat, but we can wake up Aurelius too?" Madam Pomfrey looked very uncertain, but given Ingrid and Hermione were up and unpetrified, she eventually nodded and pointed them over to the other victims beds. "What is it you're giving them?" Harry didn't answer them until they were done - even with proof it would sound mental. "Basilisk venom mixed with Phoenix ash." "I beg your pardon?" Vlad indicated they should return to the private room - they probably couldn't say everything, but even what they could say shouldn't be discussed in front of anyone and everyone. Harry's parseltongue ability wasn't even public knowledge.
"I'm getting a distinct sense of dejavu with you two."
-YDHP-
Well? This chapter was pretty nerve wracking, do let me know if you think this is terrible. I'm not going to change where I'm going, but I'm still nervous!