A special thanks to my beta Allanah. She helped me a lot with the storytelling-style of Harry and Severus.
A boy was born
"He hasn't read the book and he's still living?" Draco asked astonished, "I wasn't aware that there was a way to resist your charm."
"Very funny," Severus growled.
"Maybe I should try my luck?" Draco suggested.
"No. I don't think that would be a good idea. Harry is convinced that you hate him and will just make fun of him."
"Then it's time to prove him wrong," Draco said.
"No, it is not the time. I can't exactly explain, but I have the feeling there is more to Harry than meet the eye. Something is off. As much as he likes to rebel like a spoilt brat, he also seek comfort like a love starved, scared little kid," Severus sighed once more.
Draco frowned. "You are bonded with him," he finally pointed out, "If you feel something is off, then there is a big probability that there is really something off. What do we know about Harry? In truth we know nothing about him, not really."
"Yes, thank you Draco. You are helping a lot," Severus replied sarcastically.
"At least I know a little bit and I have an idea you should try, but I fear you won't like it."
At that Severus arched an eyebrow. "Spit it out."
Draco smiled smugly. "Okay. I think you should tell Harry a story. To be precise, you should tell him your story. Tell him about your family and your time in school."
Severus frowned deeply, "And in what way would that help me? He won't listen."
"I'm sure he will."
"Why?"
"Because…" Draco started and then paused for dramatical effect, which caused Severus to roll his eyes, "Harry is very compassionate. If you are truthful with your story, Harry would feel sympathy for you and then he will see you in a different light. You won't be the inapproachable, stern professor who suddenly dictates his life anymore, you will just be Severus Snape, vampire who has been through much and can relate to him."
"But I am-" Severus started, but Draco interrupted again.
"You could be much more to him, don't you realize? Don't you want the bond to work?"
"Draco, I already told you, he won't accept the bond," Severus said tiredly.
"How do you want to know that? You can't know for sure until you give the bond a try."
Severus shook his head, feeling rather overwhelmed with the situation. He wasn't prepared to get into a blood bond. He surely wasn't prepared to get into a blood bond with the brat-who-lived of all people. Again he wondered why he let Harry bite him in the first place. On one hand, he wanted to demonstrate Harry on the most brutal way that he is not under control of himself, but on the other hand he wanted to be bonded to the boy. Now he didn't know anymore why he had wanted it. He clearly hadn't been thinking strait.
"Tell him, Severus. Tell him about you," Draco said once more before he left Severus to his own thoughts.
Oxo
Not really considering Draco's advice Severus strode into Harry's room only to discover that Harry hadn't touched his breakfast that Severus had brought earlier. The boy himself lay on his side facing the wall, giving Severus his cold shoulder.
Suppressing a frustrated growl, Severus took a deep breath. This day didn't start good again. Maybe he should try what Draco had suggested. Taking the seat next to Harry's bedside, Severus sat down and starred at Harry's back, hoping the boy would turn around. As it was clear that Harry had no intention to acknowledge Severus' presence, Severus cleared his throat.
"I have something to tell you and I ask you to listen."
Harry didn't answer, but Severus continued none the less.
"Thirty three years ago a child was brought in to this world. His appearance was the same as any other child's, but his destiny was far different. While children his age grew up drinking milk and playing with other children in the sun, the child was suckled on blood of his mother and taught to cover himself in the sun due to his sensitivity. The boy disregarded the differences between himself and others his age until he was approximately four years old. He began to ask questions about the differences and learned he was the newborn of an ancient vampire family, the Princes.
From this age, he was taught to keep his heritage a secret, especially when he came in to his powers. These powers were gained at the age of five, after his mother bit him. He was also cultivated to respect his powers, to not abuse them or others who he believed were underneath him.
While the Prince family shared this belief with other vampire families, there were others who did not share this opinion and teachings. They began to bite mortals instead of family members to further their families and race. Those families, who respected the teachings of their elders, disapproved of these actions and took action to expel them from their families.
However the vampires did not stop their actions, which caused the Ministry of Magic to become involved with the situation. As it appears to be for most problems, the Ministry of Magic decided to slaughter rather than make peace. Unfortunately the Ministry was ill-equipped to deal with rogue vampires and often found themselves capturing the vampire families who had upheld tradition in order to appear to the public that they were taking action and progressing on the issue.
The Prince child left for school at the age of eleven, where he had a hard time hiding his abilities. While he was not popular, he was subject to bullying from his peers, causing many to shy away from the boy as not to draw the attention of the bullies. He had a hard time hiding his vampire abilities due to the bullying. Often finding it hard to gain some alone time to collect himself or to drink his mother's blood which was sent as part of his care package once a month.
In his last year, while studying for his NEWTs, the boy received distressing news,"
Severus paused as painful memories of the worst day of his life came crashing at the forefront of his mind. Harry slowly turned around with a frightened look upon his face. It told Severus the boy had been listening to his story and had a suspicion of what would come next. Severus let out a long shaky breath before continuing.
"His family was killed; the whole Prince Clan was no more. His survival had been due to his attendance at school. The young vampire was devastated by the action of the Ministry. Rather than seeking comfort from his teachers or peers, the surviving member of the Prince Clan fled the school in his grief.
He wandered with no sense of purpose other than revenge for his families deaths. He was influenced by a rising Dark Lord who promised him equality for vampires and his revenge on those who had murdered his family. The teenager took the offer callously, not realizing the extent his loyalty would harm him. The teen had made a mistake in accepting the Dark Lord's offer. The Dark Lord's morals contended with his own and he found himself becoming withdrawn from this group who once promised him revenge.
Desperate to find a way out of his service to the Dark Lord, the vampire returned to his school, asking for shelter from the Headmaster. The Headmaster took pity on the vampire, giving him food, shelter and a chance to reform his life with a teaching position at the school. The vampire chose potions, which had been his favorite subject as a child. It allowed him access to the Dungeons with little suspicion and allowed him to keep to himself.
However he found some of his students exhibited signs of vampirism. When questioned, the vampire found the students had been bitten by rogue vampires. In order to help these children who had not grown up in an environment of vampires like himself, the vampire created a secret society for the fledgling vampires named the Black Moon Hunters. With this society, he was able to teach the fledglings how to blend in with their peers successfully, hone their skills and to seek comfort in their peers who had also been affected. When they reached maturity for a vampire, he taught them how to create blood bongs with each other, instead of a parent and child bond.
While his old family could not be replaced in his heart, the Vampire made room in his heart for these fledglings which became his placebo family. He has always been there to help these fledgling with any of their needs. However the Vampire is now beginning to question whether he will be able to help every child who had been bitten and walked through the school's hallways. A well known wizarding child had been bitten by a rogue vampire. While the vampire had tried many attempts to help the child, the child refused all help. The child is frightened to accept his current situation, without the help of the vampire he may never. However the child may become a danger to those around him if he chose not to accept the help offered. He may even end up hurting those close to him."
Harry frowned and looked down to observe his feet. He knew who the vampire and the last child mentioned was. He was shocked at the story and he felt sympathy for his professor having to go through everything he had. He just did not know how to explain to his professor why he couldn't accept this. He just couldn't accept the situation he was in, nor the help being provided.
The child was silent for a while and Severus studied the boy's face looking for any clue what was going on in Harry's head. He could see a mixture of emotions flitter through the child's face. Unfortunately they went as fast as they came and Severus was not able to get a good read on the child's thoughts and emotions.
Chewing on his lower lip, Harry fixed his gaze to a point on the opposite wall and then started with his own story:
"Thirteen years ago, a boy was born." He started in a low meek voice, "He was a normal child born into the magical world. He was happy and well protected, until a mad wizard crossed his way. He was fifteen months old when the life he knew ended. When the dark wizard killed the boy's family. The dark wizard wanted to kill the baby boy too, but the killing curse backfired.
Since then the boy's life has been hell on earth. The boy was left with his muggle relatives who feared magic. They knew raising a magical child in their perfect non-magical little house would cause problems and they tried to prevent it from happening. They told the boy he was a bad freak who had to earn his keep, because he was so much trouble.
The little boy didn't understand why they were so mean to him and many nights he cried and begged for his mother to come back for him. But she didn't come and so the boy tried everything in his power to please his relatives, in hope to earn a single kind word, but it never came regardless what he tried. He was always the freak. So he grew up like a house elf and slowly believing that he really must be some awful joke of nature.
Then on his eleventh birthday, a big scary man came and picked the boy up. The man introduced the boy into the magical world, explaining that the boy was a wizard and was famous for defeating the Dark Lord, who the boy could not remember. As the boy started Hogwarts, everybody talked about him behind his back or pointed their finger at him. The boy was not happy with this new attention. He had learned to keep himself low and not to draw attention to him and suddenly that had become impossible.
Everybody knew him and watched his every move. Some worshiped the ground he walked on and others simply hated him without any reasoning. The boy tried to ignore them all and concentrated on a completely new thing: friends. Never in his life before did he had friends. He was so happy to finally have friends, that he would have given his life for them.
It would have been too easy though to just go to school and have fun with his new friends. No, trouble seemed to follow the boy. Never used to trust any adult, the boy tended to solve the problems on his own and ended up in detention for his risk taking and refusal to include adults.
At the end of his first school year, the boy learned that the dark wizard, that had killed his parents, still existed as a bodiless spirit. It was a big shock for him and he wondered how it was possible, but the Headmaster refused to answer his questions on the matter. The Headmaster also refused to let the boy stay in school over summer. So he was send back to his hateful relatives, his distrust in adults renewed.
He survived the summer somehow, but he was more than happy to be back in Hogwarts for his second school year, although it also was destined to be not a normal school year. In his second school year the boy learned that he had the ability to talk to snakes. It was kind of a curse for the boy, because he heard voices in the wall without knowing what it was. The boy believed he was losing his mind, but thanks to his friends, he learned that it was an ancient basilisk he was hearing.
A few of unhappy incidents caused the boy to go into a secret chamber and kill said basilisk and to faced once again the spirit of the dark wizard, this time as a memory in a diary. He nearly lost his life, but somehow he survived again.
Once again he asked the headmaster not to be send back to his relatives over the summer and once more his plead was ignored.
This time the summer was worse than the previews ones, because the sister of the boy's uncle came to visit and the woman was just vile. Everything escalated and the boy accidentally blew up his aunt and then fled. It was a moonless night and the streets were pitch black and before the boy knew what was happening he got attacked and lose consciousness.
As he woke up again pain was cursing through his whole body and his neck was too stiff to move. He was unable to stand up, so he just lay there and hoped someone would find and help him, but once again nobody came. At night he finally was able to move again, but his whole body felt strange. Everything he heard, saw, or felt was more intense than he was used to and it scared to boy so much that he didn't dared to leave the woods were he woke up after the attack.
A week later he left the woods finally and tried to find a way back into the wizarding world. By mere chance, he learned about the Knight Bus and found his way to the Leaky Cauldron. To his surprise the Minister of Magic was waiting for him at the pub. The boy thought he could be expelled but to his surprise, instead of expelling the boy the Minister allowed the boy to stay at the Leaky Cauldron for the reminder of the summer holidays.
The boy was glad, but he didn't feel well. He felt tired and hungry no matter how long he slept, or how much he tried to eat. At first he thought that was because he rarely ate anything as he was in the woods, but he felt worse as the next week went by. He felt terrible as he finally reached the school for his third year.
Trouble once again found him and the boy was dragged away from his friends and then confronted with an awful truth. He learned that he no longer was in control of himself. He learned that he was no longer a human being. He was transformed into a monster; a blood sucking monster and of all people, it have to be his least favourite teacher that claimed to know how to help the boy.
The boy felt like the rug was pulled from under him."
Once again, silence stretched through the room. Severus was shocked to hear Harry's story. Draco had been right, they know nothing about Harry.
"I… wasn't aware that you were abused at your relatives," Severus finally said.
"It won't change anything now you know. You hate me," Harry said, still staring at that point on the wall.
"It changes a lot. I thought you were a spoilt brat." Severus attempted to reason.
"Yeah, and what exactly gave you that impression? Did I act in any way like Malfoy?" slowly Harry turned his head to look at Severus with a hurt expression.
"No, you didn't act like Malfoy, but your preference to solve all the problems on your own, was easily misinterpreted by me as you being arrogant. You gave the impression that you believed yourself to be above the rules. I'm sorry I didn't look more closely."
"You are sorry? In what way is that helping me now? Will you allow me to leave?"
"No. You cannot solve this on your own. You need the help of others."
Harry glared angrily. "All I need are my friends!"
Severus sighed, "You don't understand. You need help from other vampires. You will need blood every month and you need to learn to control your drive for blood, or you will hurt your friends in the blood rush."
Once again Harry shook his head in denial. "I will not-"
"Harry," Severus interrupted the boy with a frustrated moan. Harry jerked at the un-snape-ish tone of voice and then looked at his professor with big eyes.
"We are turning on the spot. How can you know what awaits you at the next new moon? Are you that sure that you won't harm your friends?" Severus asked.
Harry gulped and hung his head again. "No," he whispered.
"I know you don't like me, but I can't change the past. I can help you now though. If you would give me a chance to explain you would see that being a vampire does not mean that you are a blood sucking monster as you put it. There is much more to it. Vampires have a distinct sense of family and the club can give you that. I can give you that."
"Family," Harry whispered to himself. How much did he wish for a family? But Snape? Family? Harry shook his head and without realizing it tears started to roll down his face.
As the boy turned away from his professor Severus got the signal and left the room, just before he walked out he said: "You will not return to your relatives, that much I can promise you!" and with that he closed the door behind him.
-xox-
Severus gave Harry more time to think things through, but as it became obvious, that Harry had no intention to join him at lunch, he walked back into Harry's room only to find the boy in tears.
Suppressing a sigh Severus sat back at the chair on Harry's bedside and said, "Harry, nobody benefits from you feeling sorry for yourself. Not you, not me, nor your friends. Is it that hard for you, that you can't give it a chance?"
"I don't know what to do," Harry whispered in a heartbreaking, desperate voice. "I wished for a real family for my whole life. It's hard to believe that somebody ever will grant me that. I'm just trouble."
"No, you are not just trouble. You had a very hard life and you face more problems than any child should face."
"I feel so lonely," Harry still whispered.
"You don't have to be anymore. I know, you are a fighter and I respect you for how you managed your life this far, but now is the time to accept help."
Fresh tears swelled up in Harry's eyes and the boy turned his head away, but Severus put his fingers under the boy's chin and guided Harry's head up again. "There is no reason to be ashamed of your emotions. They are just making you human."
Aghast, Harry shook his head, "I'm not a human being anymore."
"Yes, you are. In your soul, you will always be human. As long as you don't run wild and bite innocent people, you will be more human than the ones in the ministry, that are too blind to see and too unwilling to learn the difference between wild and dangerous vampires and the harmless ones. They are the monsters. They are the reason why there are so many wild vampires."
Harry sniffed, looking at Severus with sad, green, teary eyes. Severus couldn't hold himself back any longer. He moved to sit beside the distraught child and wrapped his arm around the boy. Harry stiffened at first, but quickly relaxed and snuggled into the warmth the other body was providing. They sat for a while in silence.
Slowly Harry realized one thing. No matter if Professor Snape had hated him earlier or not, right now Harry could feel his professor no longer hate him.
"I'm so sorry," Harry finally whispered.
"What for?" Severus wanted to know.
"I was such a brat," Harry explained.
"Don't be too hard to yourself. I understand now, that it isn't easy for you."
"I want to learn the difference between wild and harmless vampires. I want to give it a chance," Harry finally said and looked up into Severus' face.
Severus tightened his hold on Harry for a moment, feeling immense relief at the boy's words. "I'm glad to hear that, Harry."
A tentative smile appeared on Harry's face and Severus smiled back.
I Hope you enjoyed the ride. ;-)