Hi guys I'm back! Sorry for the delay, I've been working on my Avengers fic and unfortunately, I have this nasty habit of crossing storylines and getting confused so it's best I just work on one at a time.

So, let us begin. As always, everything Harry Potter belongs to the wonderful JK Rowling, I just tinker with her toys for my own pleasure.

Sumus Noctis

Chapter Seven

When the ward over his shop door tripped, Severus did not expect to see Potter stood there, he had expected to see the know it all storming in. Instead, Potter walked around, looking decidedly lost as he tried to find what he needed.

He watched him wandering around and muttering to himself before his patience ran out. "For the love of Merlin, Potter, what are you looking for?" He barked.

Potter stumbled mid-step and narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "Do you speak to all your customers like that?"

Severus drummed his fingers on the counter impatiently. "Only the ones who blunder around like idiots. Tell me what you are looking for."

He handed over a small list and stood at the counter, boot tapping against the floor. The nerves were rolling off him in waves, it was clear Potter did not want to be there, but Severus could not resist the chance to make him uncomfortable for a little longer, so he took his time.

When he finally had the ingredients listed, he started using parchment and quill to tally them all up. He noticed Potter getting more agitated until he finally slammed his fist on the counter top. "You know much it all is! I've wracked it up three times already!"

Severus raised a brow and stared a moment. "If you wish to take your custom elsewhere, Mr. Potter, it would not bother me in the slightest."

Potter rolled his eyes but shook his head. "Take your time, please, it's not like I'll die anytime soon."

"Indeed, eternity with you on this planet is really quite daunting."

Potter's eyes flashed but he looked away and cleared his throat quietly. Severus returned to his parchment but stopped mid-scratch of his quill. "Why are you here, Potter? You were inept at potions in school and I very much doubt becoming a Vampire has made you any better."

A grunt sounded before he answered. "Hermione wanted to come, but I talked her out of it so she wouldn't end up making you a donor."

Severus paled slightly but managed to keep his emotions in check. "Well, don't expect a round of applause, Potter. You're not exactly averse to making someone your donor."

The green eyes narrowed, his mouth twisting in anger. "Don't even think of talking about things you couldn't begin to understand! You might prefer me to starve and die, but I'll burn myself alive before I let Hermione starve. I have to feed in order to feed her."

Severus snarled and slammed his fist on the counter, the ink well jumped and tipped over, coating the parchment in black ink. "You do not have the right to take from another without permission!"

Potter laughed coldly. "Oh yes, I can see it now. Excuse me, Muggle, do you mind if I snack on your throat? Oh, you won't die, I promise, I just need to take some of your precious life's blood to live."

It infuriated him how right Potter was, Severus knew he could never feed in the magical world or all and sunder would know what he was. "It is entirely beside the point, Potter!"

"No, it isn't. I left her just as others came out, knowing full well she would be found and taken home or to hospital. Either way, she was completely safe and won't remember a thing. Far as she will recall, she passed out drunk."

Severus couldn't deny the woman was heavily intoxicated, he had been watching her knock back shot after shot at the pub. He couldn't even say why he was so angry on her behalf, but he was. "You don't seem to grasp the point, Potter. She did not willingly donate, and the Minister has created Muggle donor centres where the blood is transported to points where any Vampire can go and get a bag, free of charge."

"And you are also missing the point, those areas are manned my magical people. People who would turn my story over to the papers with minimal effort. I would be forced to flee and leave the country, dragging Hermione with me. We'd lose the club, a business we built from scratch, and we'd have to leave the few friends we have left behind."

"How did it happen?" Severus asked, blurting the question out before he could stop himself.

Potter stared at him in surprise. "What?"

Severus felt his cheeks warm slightly. "When the battle ended, no one knew where you went. You were there for a few days and then gone, then you turned back up here, years later."

He shrugged, toed his boot against the floor and sighed heavily. "After the battle, I didn't want to stick around. For years I'd been trained to be this perfect little weapon, a means to an end. What was it you said? 'Raised as a pig for slaughter.'" Potter looked away a moment and cleared his throat. "Once it was done, and Voldemort was dead, everyone wanted to shake my hand and praise me for committing murder."

Severus shook his head, his voice soft. "You did what was necessary, Potter. The Dark Lord was prepared to murder thousands to get what he wanted, he killed school children and had no qualms with doing so."

"I know, but that's not the point. You've never had to take a like, Snape, you couldn't begin to understand how it feels. So, I left, when it got to be too much I just disappeared. I travelled for a while, and ended up in Romania. It happened in the middle of the day, but there must have been a spell in place because no one saw a thing, no one came to help."

"Probably some form of Notice-Me Not or a ward of some description," Severus offered.

Potter nodded. "Yeah, I imagine so. I don't really remember much. I was grabbed and dragged into an alley, there was a searing pain in body, like I was on fire, and then nothing. When I woke up, I was so thirsty, and nothing I drank helped."

He waited patiently for Potter to go on, enthralled in the story of how he had gone from innocent teenager to hardened Vampire.

"I passed a guy in the street and he bumped into me, before I knew what I was doing, I'd pulled him into an alley- how ironic- and used a sleeping draught on him. I bit his neck and it was like being in the desert for days and being given a lake to drink from. I drank until I was full, but I didn't know when to stop. I drained that poor man until there was nothing left. I was a killer," he said in a whisper.

Severus felt a twinge of guilt at attacking Potter for drinking from the intoxicated woman. He had no idea how awful it must have been to wake up completely changed and within hours from waking, he had taken the life of an innocent man who had just had the misfortune of bumping into Potter accidentally.

"It didn't take long someone to realise something was amiss when people kept complaining of black spots on their memories, and pretty soon I had an entire town looking for me, trying to find out who was preying on them. I still don't know how it happened but I found Charlie, or at least, he found me. Charlie took me in, became my donor, taught me everything I needed to know, and made sure I was safe. He tried to find out who had done this to me, but nothing ever came of it. Whoever it was, they were long gone."

"Potter…I'm sorry," Severus said quietly.

"Don't be," Potter said with a shrug. "Just how it is. The most important thing is that I'm doing the best I can with the cards I've been dealt. Charlie taught me to take from people who wouldn't remember, or were willing. Like the drunken lady, she was wasted and would have no recollection, a little pinch of a nerve in the back of the neck and she was out cold."

Severus raised a brow. "Willing donors?"

Potter laughed softly. "You would be amazed at the number of Muggles who worship Vampires and enjoy being drank from during uh…relations," he trailed off.

"I see," Severus coughed. "So, are you still searching for your Sire?"

Potter shook his head. "No, that's a dead trail. Charlie kept looking even after Hermione brought me back, but he's found nothing. With no witnesses and no history of Vampires being there at that time, there's nothing to go on."

To busy himself, Severus safely packed up Potter's ingredients and handed them over, taking the payment from him. "I do not have the skills of Mr. Weasley, but if you wanted some help on the search, should you wish to restart it, I can ask around. Being of a darker circle of friends, it would not be too difficult to get an ear to the ground."

"Uh…sure. If I do want to try again, I'll let you know. I need to get going, Hermione wanted these over an hour ago."

Severus checked the clock on the wall and realised he and Potter had been there for a couple of hours. "Of course. Goodbye, Potter."

The brat waved as he left and Severus found himself angered on his behalf at the fate which had befallen the young hero. Tasked with saving the Wizarding World from just over a year old, his life continually splashed over the Prophet and even after he had saved them, everyone thought they had a right to know what The-Boy-Who-Lived was doing with his life.

It was a raw deal, and Severus understood why the young man had become so jaded towards others, why he had his little bubbled with Granger, their club and a tiny circle of friends, those who undoubtedly knew of his status but cared not one whit. Idea forming, Severus shut the shop for the day and disappeared into the back.

-oo0oo-

Harry returned home immediately and found Hermione in the basement working on another potion from the latest journal. He handed over the ingredients without a word and sat on the stool she had set aside for him when he was hovering around.

He noticed that she didn't pay him any mind, totally focused on her potion, not that he was particularly bothered. He could wait until she found a spot where she would be able to divert her attention. He knew there was no point in disappearing until later, she would find him and demand the answers anyway.

The bubbling of the cauldron and steady chopping of ingredients went on for a solid half hour before Hermione turned her attention to him, her face creased in worry lines. "How did it go?"

He huffed a laugh. "Well, I came back so he hasn't chopped me up to use as potions ingredients, and the Prophet isn't camping outside our home so he hasn't gone running to them."

She offered him a wry smile. "Obviously."

Harry sighed and rolled his shoulders, easing some of the tension. "I don't know what you want me to say, Hermione. It went about as well as could be expected. He drove me nuts, was rude to me, and then he asked me how this all came about."

There was a pause where Hermione blinked continually, her mouth flapping but failing to form words.

"I know, right? So, I gave him as much detail as I could, which is pretty much everything that I know considering there's so little of it. Then he offered to help find my Sire."

The flapping continued, her fingers wringing at the hem of her shirt.

"I said thanks and left. I think he had a bit of a wake-up call after went off on one about the woman I drank from. Yeah, he saw me. And then to find out that when I was changed suddenly and woke up completely afraid, that I drained someone because I had no idea how to stop drinking once I'd started."

Hermione chewed her lip and sighed. "Harry, I know you care about him, but was it really a good idea to let him know that you uh…that you were responsible for a mass panic in Romania? That is a lot of power you've just given him, not only over your future but Charlie's as well. He helped you, and that means he lied for you as well when you were being hunted."

Harry nodded and smiled. "I trust him, Hermione. As cold as you've seen him be, I think today gave him some perspective. To realise that we aren't monsters, that I'm not out draining every person I come across. That I only eat what I need to survive."

She got up and knelt at his feet, her small hands grasping his tightly. "If you're sure, Harry. Just remember that there is a very strong chance that you aren't going to get your feelings returned."

He shrugged and squeezed her hands. "I know, I just don't want him believing that we're monsters, that we do as we please with no concern for boundaries or rules."

She nodded and pressed a kiss to the knuckles of both hands. "Okay, Harry. Whatever you think is best."

Worry still creased her face but Harry was getting used to the look, it seemed she wore it more often than ever of late. He brushed his hand over her cheek and cupped it. "What would I do without you?"

Hermione snorted and got to her feet, returning her attention to the potion. "Probably wither into a husk and be lonely without my bright presence."

Harry left the lab laughing, his heart feeling lighter than it had since Snape had seen him outside the pub, drinking from the drunken woman. He wanted to see him again, but on a more even setting, perhaps he could pop into the shop and ask him out for a drink, that would be a good place to start he reckoned.