Dark Serpent Cat - I get what you're saying. I will try to break it up more, but I'm not promising it's something I can necessarily stick to. I have a sort of... dysfunctional thought process (well that's what my psychiatrist called it) and writing dialogue that way just doesn't cross my mind when I'm writing. As for nitpicky or whatever, not at all, I'm always hoping people tell me how I can improve (even if I can't promise I'll do it.)
As for a note, as I said before - I will upload the last chapter of this, and immediately after will post the first chapter of Year Three, so once you reach the end of Year Two every one can go straight over to find Year Three.
-YDHP-
"If we tell you, it can't leave this room. We would all probably get arrested and locked up for it." Vlad knew that would get their attention even more, but also hopefully impress upon them how important it was to keep the secret. "Because that will make such a change to half the things going on at Hogwarts. Spill little brother."
Rolling his eyes at Ingrid, Vlad sipped at his tea. "The creature inside the chamber of secrets was a basilisk. Also known as king of the serpents, and Tom Riddle - the future Lord Voldemort, was controlling it to attack muggle borns. When we defeated Riddle, Samael - that's apparently the basilisks name - apologised and told us how to cure you. We knew we couldn't keep Samael in the school, in case Voldemort gets in and controls him again. So we moved him. Very, very illegally so." Harry's parselmouth was already known to Draco, but his genetic link to Voldemort was not, as far as Vlad knew. So he didn't bring that up.
"Why not just... I don't know, kill it? If that's even possible. Basilisks are an X5 creature, you can't control them." Draco looked genuinely surprised to hear the basilisk was still alive. "Why? All Samael did was as he was told, they can be controlled by parselmouths and Harry is one. Nobody will find him, and he's back in suspended animation until we have a better idea of what to do with him. The important thing was getting him out." Vlad had similar feelings at times, but ultimately, Harry wanted Samael safe and Vlad wanted what made Harry happy. Including, apparently, half suicidal plans to shift illegal creatures out of Hogwarts.
"Uncle Severus, you went along with this plan?" Clearly searching for sense, Draco turned to his godfather. "Yes. The creature was agreeable, and seems quite fond of Mr Potter. If it hurts others under Mr Potters care, perhaps we will revisit the idea of leaving the basilisk alive, but until then, surely everyone is entitled to a second chance?" The blond boy shrunk back under the weighted words, nodding stiffly. "Ok, I won't say anything. But you had better be right about it."
"I'm impressed, I thought there was no real Dracula in you after all Vladdy." Cringing as everyone either sniggered, sneered or outright laughed at Ingrid's mocking nickname, Vlad shrugged. "I was just the magical muscle, it was a team effort. In the name of not drawing suspicion to our morning adventure, I suggest we go to lunch after our hard mornings studying for Potions exams?" "I concur." They drained the last of their teacups, and Vlad kept a close eye on his mate - Harry was clearly actually missing the snake.
Harry appeared cheery enough over lunch, and they were not immediately called to Dumbledores office to be arrested and interrogated, so Vlad let himself hope they had gotten away with it. For now at least. Ingrid gifted them with her company (her words, not his) for the time between lunch and dinner, out by the lake watching tentacles of the giant squid occasionally breaking the surface of water. "How big is that thing?" Harry mused as another aquatic limb surfaced and disappeared. "It can't be that huge, even with the size of the lake there are plenty of other creatures down there" Ingrid answered, pointing further out where only boats or swimming would get them to. "That's the merpeoples habitat."
"Merpeople? For real?" Vlad was intrigued by the idea, other non-human people near Hogwarts. "Yep, they only ever surface at night occasionally so most people don't see them. Given the amount of detentions I've gotten, I've spotted one or two over the years." Only Ingrid (and probably the Weasley twins) would look so proud as they talked about getting in trouble. "Awesome." Aside from Harry, that was Vlad's favourite thing about Hogwarts - it just kept surprising him. Ingrid disappeared off after dinner, but Vlad wasn't surprised she wanted to take advantage of her empty dormitory, and despite what she said, a welcome break from a constant swarm of teenage boys following her around (not including Harry, Vlad and Draco that is).
"We literally have the fullest dormitory in the school right now. Not even including these two." Draco held up Phantom, who had Lily coiled loosely around her neck above her collar. It was sort of eerily familiar, Harry always hugged Vlad with arms around his neck. Which was going to become a problem in the future, when Vlad started noticing pulses and his mate would be practically pushing it into Vlad's face. Shaking the thoughts away, Vlad pulled out his books and got on with his revision. "Don't get slacking, Hermione will have your head if you haven't stuck to her study plans when she gets back." Harry glared at Vlad for pointing that out, but pulled his books and the plan Hermione had made all the same.
Draco eyed the two occasionally, particularly Harry whenever he was hissing to Lily. "Draco, if anyone should have issues with Samael, it's me. Its my sister he petrified. But he's not even awake, only Harry can wake him up and he's where nobody can find him. So relax." Realising he had been caught, the pale cheeks flushed. "Sorry. It's just... A lot to take in." Hmm-ing, Vlad went back to his Herbology textbook, mind still pestering him with the thought of how convenient it had been that Dumbledore had a mandrakes crop just in time for the chamber to be open. And for Vlad to start having problems with his vampirism already, four years before his transformation. He could hardly accuse the headmaster of conspiracy, so Vlad made himself forget about it, helped by Phantom clambering into his lap and mewling for attention.
The two way journal he had that connected to Ingrid's whistled then - he had forgotten to turn it off in the confusion and terror of Ingrid's petrification. Switching it to a lower sound, Vlad flipped it open. "Why did you lot come back smelling like werewolf?" Vlad remembered - the shrieking shack had reeked of it. "No clue, the shrieking shack we had to get back through smelled worse than Patrick." Patrick was the werewolf Vlad and Ingrid's mother had left their father for, back when he was only a little boy.
"That must have been pleasant." Chuckling at Ingrid's sarcasm, Vlad scrawled out an affirmative reply. "I was just glad to get back to Hogwarts alive and not caught. But yeah, it smelled awful, I thought Bertrand was gonna vomit." "Gross." They wrote back and forth for another few minutes, then Ingrid politely told him to get lost so she could finish her studying for the evening, then enjoy her empty dorm. Scribbling out a goodnight, Vlad smiled as he tucked the journal back into his trunk. Harry started discreetly eyeing Vlad's backpack, which usually meant he wanted to know if Vlad had food stashed in there. Rather than call him out, Vlad smiled and declared he was thirsty, trying not to be obvious as he pulled out the leftover sweets from the Weasley twins and some of the extra Easter cupcakes from the house elves in the kitchen.
"It's a wonder any of you have any teeth left, I swear." Draco still helped himself to a few cakes, sipping elegantly at his butterbeer. "They have this amazing invention, it's called a toothbrush. I employ one every morning and evening to clean my teeth. As such, they stay clean and healthy." Vlad added an exaggerated smile to his words, just to wind up his friend. "And anyway, that butterbeer is far more sugary than pumpkin juice, so you are in no position to talk." Draco shrugged, checking the time and deciding he was done studying for the night. Harry followed suit, disappearing to shower and laying on his bed hissing quietly to Lily. Making sure Phantom couldn't steal leftover chocolate, Vlad changed in the bathroom and climbed into bed.
A couple of days later on actual Easter Sunday, Vlad was beginning to wonder if the Weasley family were determined to give them diabetes. Not that Vlad could get diabetes, but they wouldn't know that. "Hilarious. I'm going to hex the twins." Draco had little dragons iced over his chocolate egg, and Harry had golden snitches. Vlad's egg had red bats iced over it, and he was certain it was a joke from the twins aimed at his surname. "Think they convinced their mother to put hearts on one for Ingrid?" Harry grinned, shoving his mouth full of chocolate a minute later.
"Wouldn't surprise me. If they used pink icing she would hex them to next Halloween though." They also all had extra sweets, homemade fudge and cookies. And admittedly, they were exceptionally tasty. That didn't stop Vlad enjoying breaking the iced bats into pieces, only leaving their dormitory for mealtimes. Ingrid glared daggers as she did so, but Vlad did convince her to visit the Gryffindor common room. Her retaliation was to steal half of his cookies, but as there were so many anyway he didn't really mind. "If Draco can survive being sorted here, the red and gold won't hurt you for a couple of hours. I know you wouldn't come in here when everyone's back." Her mood lifted when Lily slithered along her arm, apparently declaring again that Ingrid was "her favourite female snake".
It was a tough job, but Harry managed to finish all of their Easter junk food before the others came back. He felt violently ill for a couple of hours after, but Vlad got him some water and a stomach settling potion, then warned him against eating so much chocolate in one go. "Bleurgh, never again." His vampire friend chuckled, making sure Harry wasn't going to throw up before he headed out for his private lesson with Bertrand. Vlad was good like that, always taking care of Harry but never being overbearing.
A warm bath later, Harry felt much less ill as the potion kicked in, laying in bed by the time Vlad got back looking exhausted. "Damn, I've never been so happy to see my bed." Vlad dropped onto his bed, still dressed. "You need a shower and pyjamas, you're a sweaty mess Vlad. No offence." Vlad grumbled into his pillow, then pushed himself up and staggered off to the bathroom clutching his nightclothes. Draco just looked between them in amusement, shaking his head and pretending to not enjoy Phantom nuzzling his face. "What?" "You two. You're like an old married couple, he feeds you and takes care of you when you're sick, and you tell him off for going to bed in his clothes."
Harry rolled his eyes, coiling Lily around his wrist to deposit her in her tank. "Don't be so daft. Vlad's not my type, he's a boy. Nor is Vlad gay, he's just caring and I knew he would be grumpy when he woke up with a stiff neck in his clothes." For a second, Harry thought he heard a distressed, pained sound from the bathroom, but Vlad shouted out "I got shampoo in my eye, don't worry" and then the bathroom was silent again. "Idiot!" Draco called back, but Vlad didn't answer, just reappeared in his pyjamas and hurried to his bed, closing his curtains and, given that he couldn't hear Vlad even breathing, silenced them too. He had been very tired, so Harry let it slide.
Vlad was already gone when Harry woke up, not at breakfast either and Harry could only shrug in response to Ingrid's questioning glance. He did notice Bertrand missing, but the vampire tutor didn't always rise for the daytime. By midday, the other students were back from their holidays, Hermione throwing herself at Harry for a hug, greeting and interrogating him on his revision in the same breath. "Yes, I've been studying. How was your family?" "Just happy I'm ok, they were a little iffy about me coming back but I said I would use magic to run away if I had to. They don't have to know I couldn't do that." Hermione was flushed with happiness to be back at Hogwarts, smiling as they chatted through lunch. "Where's Vlad?" Harry shrugged. "He was gone when I woke up, haven't seen him all morning."
Her face fell slightly, but then Ginny Weasley was drawing her into conversation and the Weasley twins 'accidentally' set off a firework they had stored in their pockets. Harry ended up leaving lunch early to get away from the noise, wondering if it was worth checking the hospital wing or Bertrand's quarters for his friend. Deciding Vlad may just be busy, Harry resolved to look after dinner if Vlad still hadn't turned up. Something unsettled him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Vlad wasn't at dinner, but Bertrand was and Harry hung around, waiting for the vampire to be done eating before accosting him in the hallway. "Have you seen Vlad? He's been gone all day."
Bertrand nodded. "He's been with me, he's back in the tower now." "Why? He was exhausted last night, and then just gone when I woke up." Bertrand surveyed him for a long, nervous moment. "If he wants to tell you himself, he will. Its not my place to divulge students secrets." That slightly irritated Harry, as Vlad had known about his heritage before Harry had, because Bertrand had told him. But then he remembered that was because Vlad would have known better how Harry would take the news, trying to shake off the annoyance and looking up at the tutor. "Is he alright?" "He should be fine. If you don't mind, I have some work to sort out for my next sessions."
Bertrand hurried off, strange as he was usually more friendly towards Harry. Heading up to the tower, Vlad looked perfectly fine sat chatting to the Weasley twins. He hoped to quiz Vlad when they got up to the dormitory, but Seamus and Dean were already in there, asking how their holiday had been at Hogwarts and raving about their own break. Vlad smiled like he always did when he came up himself, perhaps a little tired but if he had spent the day with Bertrand, he might have been training. The vampire boy headed to the bathroom, coming back out in his pyjamas and apologising to his friends for wanting to go to bed early. "I'll silence my curtains, don't worry about making any noise."
Phantom was on Harry's bed, meowing at Lily before dashing up beneath Vlad's bed drapes and being covered by his silenced curtains. Harry changed into his own bedwear, sitting on his bed and hissing questioningly at Lily. "The furry one says her familiar" the idea of humans, or vampires he supposed, being familiars to their... familiars, was quite odd to Harry but he pushed the thought aside "is sad about something. She doesn't know what though." Lily coiled herself up on Harry's pillow, beady eyes on the other boys. "He doesn't seem upset."
Lily looked as though Harry was being intentionally obtuse before she answered. "Well, I suppose you must know better." He didn't get a chance to answer the sarcastic snake, as she slithered up and into her tank, and Harry had the distinct feeling his familiar was annoyed with him, her face turned away and her coils stilling in a sign of sleep. "So, Neville, how was your break?" "Not bad. My gran was a bit annoyed about me not taking all the subjects she told me to, but other than that it was good." The four boys awake chatted for a short while longer, then agreed they should get some sleep before class started up the next day.
His familiar was still in a mood the next morning, barely hissing out a thank you when Harry dropped her mouse in her tank. Harry didn't have time to deal with her, having to hurry to make it to breakfast in time after being awake part of the night wondering what was going on that Lily and Phantom knew and he didn't. Vlad was talking to Hermione about the exams that would start soon, comparing revision topics for their subjects and if he didn't know better, Harry would say Vlad was avoiding talking to him alone. That was ridiculous though, they had been fine only two days ago... Right before Harry had made an offhand comment about Vlad not being gay.
They were only twelve years old, but Harry had heard some people knew even younger. If Vlad thought Harry had a problem with it, and was concerned he may well be gay, no wonder the boy was hiding and scared after Harry's reaction to the vampire revelation. Still, either way that was a topic he knew not to push on. Bertrand was better equipped to deal with that topic, given he was dating another man himself. He would just have to give Vlad the space to come to him, they had exams to think about right now.
-YDHP-
The next chapter may take a day or so longer than the usual week to come up, I will do my best not to but as I plan to put up the first of Year Three right after, I have two chapters to write (and two other active stories).
Also, you guys who love these boys should be reading Chosen One Shots and prompting me, because I feel like I'm neglecting it but I have zero inspiration for them.