Kitsune Jewel - I'm so glad you can't get enough of this! I have promised you guys powerful Harry, and it will happen! Just be patient!
As for Harry noticing Vlad... You'll just have to wait and see! I can't promise poor Vlad will catch a break there anytime soon.
Dark Serpent Cat - that sort of stuff won't come until at least year four, because Harry has other concerns like finding more out about his grandfather this year!
-YDHP-
Harry still expected to wake up with Aunt Petunia banging on the door, calling him to make breakfast and the kidnap/rescue attempt to have been a dream. Peering around the room blurrily, even without his glasses he knew this was not Dudleys second bedroom. Nor was his bed at the Dursleys like sleeping on a cloud, fluffy and warm and spacious. Stretching luxuriously, he yawned and reached for his glasses. Blinking as his eyes adjusted, Harry looked around the huge, extravagant room and ambled over to the bathroom. Deciding the amazing bath would be a before bed activity, he showered quickly and realised he couldn't magically dry his hair - he needed Vlad for that now they weren't at Hogwarts.
Towel drying it as much as possible, he tried to smooth it down somewhere resembling tidy before perusing the wardrobe. These clothes were all a little too smart for Harry, but he could hardly complain when Draco had done this to be nice, and as thanks for Harry helping him out. Buttoning up a deep green shirt over black trousers, he chuckled at the Slytherin hints all over the place before seeing if he could make the trip today without getting lost. Successfully finding his way to the dining hall, Draco was already there peering blearily into a cup of tea.
"Morning sleepy head." "I've been awake a while, I showered and realised without Vlad my hair has to dry naturally." He could see lingering beads of moisture on the side of Draco's neck, clearly he had had the same problem. "Yeah, uncle Severus can do that for us but I think it's showing he has a nocturnal partner, I've never known him not be up at the crack of dawn before." Harry fell to the stacks of toast and bacon happily, washing it down with a cup of tea and still not used to the fact he wasn't away from Hogwarts hoping for some burnt bacon and a slice of bread with some water.
When he spied the pre teens with damp hair, Harry offered his Potions professor a grateful smile when he charmed their hair dry. "Thanks Professor." He could almost see the effort it cost the man to ground out "here, and only here, you may refer to me as Severus." Fighting a cheeky grin, Harry nodded. "Only if you call me Harry. Sir. Severus."
"Very well Po- Harry." Sensing the tension of unfamiliar... familiarity - in spite of having spent a lot of time with Draco's godfather through the year, now they were actually sort of... living together. That was a strange thought. "Hey, check this out." Draco pushed the Daily Prophet over to Harry, a story about Arthur Weasley winning the 'annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw'. "That's awesome, I bet her brothers are relieved to get to see Ginny after what happened at school." The Weasley family - minus Ron - were waving, grinning brightly from a picture on the fourth page of the newspaper.
"Says they are going on holiday in August. I'm very happy for them." He returned the paper to Draco, pouring himself a fresh cup of tea and watching the amusingly similar habits of Severus and Bertrand eating. Both ate almost compulsively neatly, though Bertrand tended to eat mostly meat whilst Severus had a more balanced selection. Both also wiped their mouths roughly every five mouthfuls, and placed their cutlery just so when they were done. Lily made herself known then, uncoiling from his wrist to slither onto the table. "Oh, that reminds me. Well, Vlad reminded me. There's like, frozen dead mice in a little compartment of the freezer, we don't really have them here and I knew Lily would need feeding. Just ask the elves to defrost one and deliver it to you." Harry relayed the message to Lily, who answered with "tomorrow" and made her way over to a leftover sausage on Harry's plate.
"Lily said thank you, she'll have a mouse tomorrow but right now she wants that sausage." Draco must have known he was lying, as Lily hadn't made that much sound but he nodded anyway, flicking through the paper while they waited for the adults to be done eating. "Right. From breakfast until lunch will be spent in some form of study, with the afternoons for yourselves. When you complete your summer homework, I will set you either reading or potions practice. Your birthday and Draco's excursions to Diagon Alley will of course, be exceptions." It was a vast improvement on doing his homework by himself, wondering if everything had been a long, bizarre dream the year before, so Harry didn't argue.
"Which subjects are you taking Harry?" Bertrand enquired, fingers laced together loosely on top of the table but he looked genuinely interested. "Care of Magical Creatures, and Healing. I wasn't sure any of the other subjects were for me, Muggle studies and divination would be near enough pointless, and I'm not quite as excited as Vlad when it comes to Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. So I decided to take subjects I was sure I would want to continue to NEWT level, and have the adequate time to study."
"Surprisingly well thought out. For now, I imagine you both have the same summer homework to be getting on with. I expect to see you in the library in fifteen minutes." Severus (that was going to take some getting used to) didn't seem to be glaring as severely as he usually did, and getting homework out of the way early on and a head start on studying didn't actually sound like a bad idea in general. "After lunch, I'll show you our flying pitch. Start with Charms?" Draco grinned as they picked up their textbooks, Harry having been told there were quills, ink and parchment already in the library waiting.
"Eagle owl?" "Does it make a difference to writing?" Draco shrugged, handing Harry a quill and they set up on a table in the centre of the room. "Everything is divided into subjects here, that corner is charmed because the books are either evil or dangerous in some way. I would get rid of them, but Bertrand wants to read them first." Harry looked where his friend was pointing, seeing a corner boxed in by the backs of book cases - he couldn't even see a way in. "Fair enough. So, twelve inches on the limitations of fire and ice based charms."
The two worked diligently until lunch, chatting to compare notes but mostly silent other than the scratch of quills, the turning of pages. Measuring carefully, Harry grumbled. "Still three inches short." "Careful, or there will be no lunch for you." Harry flinched, barely even aware he had done it and hurried to keep writing - he didn't need them thinking he wasn't good enough to deserve good here too.
"Harry! I'm kidding. Of course we aren't going to starve you... Oh. They did that didn't they?" Shrugging, Harry kept on with his work. He had admitted the Dursleys was not a good environment when Draco needed the encouragement, but he was only even remotely comfortable talking about it to Vlad, and that was subjective in itself. "Stop it Harry, you can finish your essay tomorrow. Come get some food, then lets go flying." Still feeling a little awkward, Harry was quiet over a rich leek and potato soup accompanied by roast beef sandwiches. Sipping at some pumpkin juice, he handed over his mornings work to Sna- Severus, stomach in knots. "Why do you look so scared Harry? Even if you only did half an essay a day, you would be finished by the end of next week."
Shrugging absently at Bertrand, Harry kept his face behind his glass until Draco opened his mouth, paying no mind to Harry's glare. "I made a joke he wouldn't get lunch if he hadn't finished. I forgot that used to be a very real possibility. I'm sorry Harry." "It's fine."
"Po- Harry" Severus sighed "you will not be denied food for any reason other than if you are ill, or currently leant over a cauldron making a potion. Both solely because of my lack of desire to clean up after you. If your work were outright lazy and shoddy, the worst you would lose is your afternoon freedom until it was sufficient. This is excellent for an incomplete essay, you can finish it tomorrow."
Taking the invitation to go flying with Draco, Harry made a stop for his broomstick out of his trunk, not wanting to use one of the highly polished, new looking Malfoy collection when he had his trusty Nimbus 2000 with him. He did truly love flying, diving and soaring and nothing else concerning him as fresh air whipped past his face. "Fancy a real game Potter?" "Bring it on Malfoy!" The boys grinned at each other in mid air, and even though he had seen it before it was still odd to see Bertrand out in the July sunshine. "Teleporting snitch. Basically, you pick a timer, and it'll count whoever catches it the most." The boys agreed on an hour, each gripped the ball so it remembered their touch and Severus charmed it.
Draco was a very good flier, but Harry was a natural seeker and even with well matched brooms, he beat Draco twelve catches to nine. "Good job I plan on trying out for the keeper position next year when Wood leaves." "Show me what you're made of then Malfoy." There was a set of Quidditch balls in the broom cupboard, so Harry grabbed the quaffle and they spent another hour practising Draco's goal keeping skills. He caught more than half, but was vulnerable to Harry feinting to one side and then throwing at the other.
They were both achy, all but dropping into chairs for dinner, then Harry indulged in a bath and went through at least ten types of bubble bath on the changeable tap - there were thick purple bubbles that smelled like lavender which made him sleepier, bright green bubbles that wouldn't pop unless Harry tapped them with his wand, and something that made the water blue and almost gloopy, which let Harry float on his back in the bath. Placing a dry towel over his pillow to absorb any excess moisture, Harry dropped into the inviting bed and was asleep almost instantly.
"I am not eating that! It's alive!" Only home for three days, his father was already firmly back on the "make Vlad more vampiric" track. Which at this moment, involved a fluffy bunny rabbit on the table that Vlad was supposed to be biting and drinking. "I'm not a vampire yet! I don't even have the fangs to bite it with, and I'm not going to try." His father growled in anger and irritation, thunder cracking outside as he shouted something to the effect of "start acting like one!" before he flitted off. Sagging back into his chair, Vlad looked at the bunny rabbit. "Come on, lets get you outside while it's light Mr buns." Ingrid snorted as he transported the rabbit out to the driveway, dropping it outside the gated walls where it could find it's way down.
"Mr buns?" "I don't know, first thing that came to mind." Ingrid hummed, resuming her Transfiguration essay work. "You could tell him you've gone very vampiric, found your... you know." Knowing Ingrid meant his mate - Harry - Vlad shook his head avidly. "Not a chance, he'll either hunt him down and drain him, or contract me off to some crazy vampiress in order to 'straighten' me out. Pun very much intended."
Ingrid didn't have a counter argument for that - she knew Vlad was probably right. "Where is that accursed tutor of yours? Ingrid should be preparing for her final blood test, and you your first Vladimir." Well, now was a good time to try and test the water on his fathers view of homosexuality. "He's spending the week with his boyfriend, then Ingrid and I are spending the week after at a friends. They have a magical library, and need our unique skills in some evil curse detection stuff" that was stretching the truth a little, but Vlad knew his father would have only heard curse and evil "and then all three of us will be back for at least the majority of the time until September. I told you all this yesterday."
"Evil curses you say? At least you have the right sort of academic interests, we just need to transfer that to your behaviour. Wait, wait" Vlad waited for the explosion "boyfriend? I knew it! What sort of name is Bertrand? With his rolling R's and wavy hair. Of course he would be... Oh well, no great loss. Not like you would be my son, you shall grow up dark and powerful and spawn plenty of Dracula heirs!" Cringing, Vlad shrugged his fathers hand off his shoulder, already counting down the days to Harry's birthday when they could escape for the week at Malfoy manor. Scratching out a mistake on his essay, Vlad could only scowl at his fathers retreating figure before turning to Ingrid - "Told you."
The time between that painful conversation and them leaving for Malfoy manor was spent half panicking about what to get Harry, and half being giddy at the thought of seeing him again. The whole mastering his feelings was not going spectacularly, it seemed. Ensuring his stuff was all packed away in his magically expanded backpack, Vlad had a lightbulb moment for Harry's gift, or at least part of it. A sort of desperate pleading with Ingrid gave Vlad a snake shaped pendant - he could transfigure one, but it wouldn't hold the port key charm permanently if he did. He did charm the chain to be unbreakable, then spent most of the day coming up with the list of word activations to the portkey. Lastly adding a glamour so Harry could make it look like a lion to everyone else, Vlad was satisfied with his work on that.
The second was based on something Harry had mentioned in passing - how would he transport Lily easily when she was past the point she could curl around his arm and sleep in his pocket? The Gryffindor jumper from first year would do for material, the inside charmed expanded and weightless - even when Lily was ten feet long, she could snugly fit in the pouch Vlad made and Harry could get her from one place to another without being seen carrying an enormous serpent. Not that Lily would appreciate the Gryffindor colours on the edges, but it was all in the name of camouflage.
Scribbling out a note explaining the particulars, Vlad wrapped them in parchment he charmed to resemble snitch-patterned wrapping paper and placed them carefully in the front pouch of his backpack. Almost too excited to sleep, Vlad all but jumped out of bed on the 31st July - Harry didn't know they were having a birthday party later that day for him but Vlad knew, bouncing with excitement as he waited for Ingrid to be ready. "You have five minutes or I'm portkeying without you!" "You wouldn't dare zombie licker!" was shouted back out from Ingrid's crypt room, and she was right. Even Vlad wasn't so far gone in his excitement to leave Ingrid alone with their father when she could be happy and get all the attention she wanted at the manor.
Raising an eyebrow, he couldn't put his fang on it but Vlad could swear Ingrid was making more effort than usual today. "Ready?" "Yeah, just gonna say goodbye to dad." Vlad did feel a measure of guilt for how little he saw his father since starting Hogwarts, but it was only seven years and they were immortal creatures - it was the blink of an eye despite his fathers dramatics. "We'll be back in a week, then it'll just be out for a couple of shopping trips for school supplies." His father dropped elegantly and dramatically over his throne, groaning as though Vlad was dancing naked and covered in garlic. "You abandon me so frequently!" Rolling his eyes, Vlad shot back with "if you didn't try to eat anyone with a pulse who comes through the door, we wouldn't have this problem."
He got no reply, so Vlad tucked Phantom into her carrier and gripped it tightly, shouldering his backpack and holding the kite out to Ingrid. When she touched it, Vlad muttered "Malfoy Manor" and they were jerked, dragged magically through the air and dropped heavily in the garden of Malfoy Manor. Three house elves were waiting, bouncing on the balls of their feet excitedly. "Master Draco expects you in the main reception room mister and miss." Smiling at the exuberance of the elves, Vlad and Ingrid hurried inside to find Draco looking thrilled to see them.
"Glad you could make it. What's the story again?" They peered around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping - namely Harry - and Vlad quickly, quietly spoke. "Harry's birthday is the only one in the summer holidays, so you offered to host his birthday. After we all leave, he will go to an unnamed location for his own safety. On no accounts does anyone else find out he lives here." Placing Phantoms carrier down, Vlad retrieved his familiar who gave him an affectionate lick, then leapt over to annoy Draco by getting fur on his expensive shirt. She started purring, so predictably Draco let her get away with it.
"The grounds are warded so she can't disappear, not that I expect her to. So long as she doesn't eat the peacocks." Vlad smiled as Draco stroked Phantom, getting her head rubbed against his cheek and ear for his trouble. "Unlikely, she's scared of birds." Now done harassing Draco, Phantom shot up the stairs to cause havoc elsewhere with her furry face. "We'll just go drop off our stuff, where is Harry?" "Should be in his room, we spent an hour this morning flying and he wanted a shower before you guys got here." Vlad all but bounded up to his room, thankful for the natural sense of direction he was born with as he dropped his bag off, hunting out Harry's gifts and knocking on the door hesitantly.
Harry opened the door, a wide grin spreading over his face and it made Vlad's heart stutter. "Happy birthday!" He couldn't help but hug Harry, joyous in the other teenagers presence alone. Realising there was water dripping from Harry's hair, Vlad waved his hand. "Better?" "Much! I didn't realise how reliant I was on magic for that." Harry turned away, leading Vlad further into the room and he had clearly been part way through dressing - he hadn't even noticed Harry was topless, eyes fixed on the bright and happy face. Dropping the gifts on Harry's bed, Vlad smiled. "I'll uh, let you finish getting ready. Gonna go irritate my tutor."
Ducking out before Harry could see the faint flush of his cheeks, Vlad shook his head and went back downstairs. The invites were timed portkeys - he had needed help from his Potions professor and Ingrid for that one, Vlad was the most powerful easily, but some of the theory and specifics escaped him - one of his motivations to take Arithmancy and Ancient Runes.
By the time he made it back down to the front doors, Seamus and Dean were both staring around, awestruck by the sheer size of the gardens and building, their mothers probably equally so. "Hey guys!" They looked for the source of Vlad's voice, turning bright grins to him. "This is Draco's house? It's huge!" Having heard similar things from Harry, he nodded.
"Yeah. Well, it's Malfoy Manor and he's the Malfoy heir, so yeah, it's his until he produces a son. I think. He's thirteen, I have no idea." Waving a hand dismissively, he shooed them through to the dining room and stood waiting for the others. Neville and his very stern looking grandmother were next, and he was somewhat surprised the boy had come at all - his grandmother clearly didn't approve of the Malfoy's. Having met Draco's parents, Vlad wasn't surprised. Introducing himself politely to who turned out to be Augusta Longbottom, he added a little bow before hugging Neville. "Seamus, Dean and Draco are in there. Bubbly here will show you." House elves had such ridiculous names, and Vlad felt bizarre giving them orders but they had agreed on him greeting first so it didn't look like a trap.
Last but not least, the Weasley family appeared, also looking taken aback by the place. "Vladdo!" "No, it's Vladdy!" Rolling his eyes at the twins, he greeted Ginny, her parents and the eldest brother still at Hogwarts - Percy. "Anyway. Vladddd, is Ingrid here?" Smirking as he withheld the information, Vlad knew they had everyone and led the redheads in. Harry was just making his way downstairs as Vlad closed the door behind them, looking to see the snake pendant resting just between Harry's still-too-prominent collarbones. "Lily highly approves of the pouch, but said if you try to make her a Gryffindor again she will bite you."
Chuckling, Vlad was happy Harry and Lily seemed to enjoy their gifts. "I would put the glamour over that, just saying." Harry looked at him suspiciously, but changed his necklace to the lion appearance the same. "Come on, cake!" Pretending that was all that was waiting, Vlad opened the first door and watched Harry open the second one - he could hear the loud "Happy Birthday Harry!" shouted even across the room. Stepping up behind him, Vlad quickly explained "Hermione couldn't make it because she's in France or Germany, I'm not sure because my dad set fire to the letter. Said she'll see us in Diagon Alley if she can't make it here before." Harry nodded, still looking a little dazed as Vlad encouraged him to head over to the party people.
There was cake, Vlad hadn't lied about that. And a banner with 'Happy Birthday Harry' across it. There was a table now piled with gifts from everyone, but Vlad hadn't wanted to explain his in front of anyone else. Chewing on a chocolate frog, he gravitated over to Professor Snape and Bertrand, who occasionally chatted with the parents. Well, the other parents. Snape was now Draco's legal guardian, and Bertrand and he had been dating for at least two years now. By vampire standards, they were all but engaged.
"Weasleys and loud partying in Malfoy Manor. His ancestors must be turning in their graves." Swallowing the last webbed chocolate foot, Vlad wiped his mouth. "Harry looks happy, not sure he's ever properly celebrated his birthday." There was an amusing moment where Fred and George were trying to juggle cauldron cakes to impress or amuse Ingrid, he wasn't sure to begin with, before Ingrid 'accidentally' made them explode and there were two cake coated Weasleys. Who Ingrid glared at distastefully, brushing crumbs off her jacket and demanding they go away until they were cleaned up, and then to go away just because.
Having never met Ingrid properly, the other parents were clearly a little offset by her behaviour, Seamus and Dean both making fools of themselves at the only Slytherin in attendance unless they counted her head of house. As the party wound down, Vlad caught the "No, I'm just hosting because I have this place and I wanted to show off/celebrate" excuse repeated to multiple people. Harry had a stack of gifts, clothes and candy and joke items. Bertrand and Snape had both gotten him books, but Harry seemed interested so Vlad was happy.
Catching sight of Ingrid in a rare moment alone, he spotted her rubbing her jaw - she carried tension there and that usually meant she was stressed. He recognised the slightly crushed flicker of pain in her eyes, looking around for Who on earth Ingrid could have 'found'. Nobody seemed to be acting out of the ordinary, most were eating or drinking and Bertrand and Snape were sat talking quietly in a corner, eyes scanning the room occasionally but mostly giving each other almost soft, gooey looks. Though Vlad was looking, nobody else really was.
If he had to guess, Ingrid had found her mate but damned if he could work it out, noone was acting strange except her. Her face cleared after a moment, and she seemed fine when she slipped extra ice in Percy's drink and laughed as he cringed against the icy cold. Harry hadn't stopped smiling for at least an hour, and that was plenty of distraction for Vlad.
-YDHP-
Apologies if this is terrible? It's the product of sleep deprivation and energy drinks!