In case anyone stumbles across it and doesn't believe Dark Serpent Cat has my permission to write their multiverse based fic that was inspired by Chosen Two, I not only gave permission, I helped encourage it. I think. Either way DSC has my go ahead to write about Chosen Two however he likes. It will be a different story to this one. Like chosen two is different to Harry Potter. A fanfic about a fanfic, if you will.

Jon! Glad to see you made it! And you'll just have to trust I know where I am going with the boys, they are still only thirteen. Plenty of time yet!

Warning for very brief, non explicit instance of torture.

-YDHP-

Vlad was quiet the rest of the evening, and disappeared off with Jacob and Jason almost as soon as he was done poking at his porridge. Harry could guess what was bothering him - the boggart session had had a marked effect on half their dorm. Draco and Neville were both quiet too, Harry surprisingly upbeat about his own - Professor Lupin had promised to help him learn to fight Dementors, so he wouldn't have to suffer from the terrible sounds they made echo in his mind.

"Whatcha doing?" Looking up from the Healing book he was reading, Harry found George Giles and her friend Bella. "Studying for next week. I spent the summer doing homework and studying every morning so I've kind of gotten used to using mornings for learning. And Vlad's off with Jacob and Jason." "Yeah, they were sad because the slytherins were being mean so Vlad offered to take them to Hagrids where nobody would be bothering them." Feeling a little bad for being irritated with his friend, Harry smiled. "Yeah, he would do that. He's probably asked Ingrid to keep an eye on him too. Because nobody argues with Ingrid."

By the time they made it down to lunch, George already deciding every class but History of Magic was her favourite, Vlad and the first year twins were both sat at Gryffindor table. "Anyone has a problem with this can take it up with the Weasley twins." A few glaring students gulped and turned away as Fred and George grinned maniacally, dropping down either side of the first years. "We know Ingrid's cool, so you should be ok too. Just don't go dark side and we won't test any joke products on you. Kidding! Don't hurt us Hermione."

Hermione glared a little harder, then turned back to her food, shaking her head and resuming chatting to Draco about protective vs defensive charms. "Two sets of twins. Two George's. We are doomed!" Seamus tried to dramatically faint, but failed to notice his cup was still in hand and threw tea everywhere with an arc of steaming fluid. In the ensuing leaping out of the way three plates were upended, and by the time Professor McGonogall appeared to demand to know what was going on, Seamus was covered in soup, bread and had splattered half a dozen nearby students.

"I would give you detention, but I think you've suffered enough. Go and get yourself cleaned up Mr Finnegan." She also waved her wand over the nearby mess, vanishing it away as Seamus flushed beet red and disappeared quickly. "Anyone else care for lunchtime dramatics? No? I thought so." McGonogall swept away, leaving her house table giggling into their goblets. Vlad walked Jacob back to Slytherin table, greeting the other first year snakes pleasantly as he did so before sitting Jacob next to Ingrid and obviously saying she should keep an eye on him.

"See? I promise he will be fine." Vlad smiled at Jason, who beamed back. "Thanks Vlad." The first years headed off to explore the school some more with the Weasley twins as a tour guide - probably dangerous but apparently Gryffindor was leading the way in taking care of their new students. They came back for dinner with bright smiles and laughter, talking about how Fred had intentionally fallen over a trick step, and George had fallen through a fake wall screaming loud enough to attract a nearby prefect.

"There was a door that wouldn't open until we tickled it in exactly the right place. This castle is awesome! And we got to visit the owlery, so we could use the school owls to write to our families." "My mum and dad are gonna love that. Still, they want me to enjoy it here so I'm sure they will love hearing how much fun my first week has been." They continued chattering away all the way to the tower, and Harry couldn't help chuckling when they all pulled faces at Percy Weasley saying "I'm head boy!" yet again.

"But that's not what your badge says." Percy looked down, ears burning bright red when he saw his HB badge now read "humongous bighead" and spluttering angrily. "Who did this?" Harry stepped in before he could get too angry, pointing out "no first year could do that." Percy seemed to deflate, then spotted his twin brothers, who jumped up and excused themselves loudly before running from the common room, Percy hot on their heels. "Those two really should be setting a better example." Hermione griped, watching the first years laugh.

"What? They pass their exams with excellent marks. Playing jokes and teasing your siblings happens everywhere. Look at Vlad and Ingrid." Most of the Gryffindor students, particularly in Harry's year, didn't have siblings, except Parvati, Vlad and Seamus. "Hmm. I suppose. Still, antagonizing the prefects and head boy are hardly ideal examples." Harry merely grinned.

"They annoyed Percy before he got a badge, and lets face it, he could do with loosening up a little." "Yeah, he must have a Comet 250 stuck up his-" "Seamus!" Hermione cut him off, but the first years were giggling heartily again. "How many of you have brothers and sisters then?" George quizzed, looking around. "I've got a little sister, and Vlad has Ingrid. Then Parvati has a twin in Ravenclaw... I think thats it in our year." George nodded, turning to the others. "Well I have Jake. But our dad died about six years ago now, and mum hasn't met anyone else since."

Bella replied she was an only child herself, and Matthew had an older brother in Hufflepuff. "I have an older brother, but I've never met him." Everyone looked at George in confusion. "Excuse me?" "My mum got pregnant when she was only eighteen by some guy at a goth festival in Whitby. Her parents made her give him up for adoption, and she met my dad a few months later but he was already adopted by then. So somewhere in the world, I've got an older brother called Adam. Could he be here? Since I'm magical?"

Harry automatically turned to his geekiest friends - Vlad and Hermione. "I guess it's possible. I mean, me and Ingrid don't have magical parents either but I'm not sure how many muggleborn siblings are both magical. Plus if he was adopted at birth, he might not even know." "When he's eighteen, you can access his paperwork and try to look for him. That's my understanding of adoption anyway, maybe you should talk to Professor Burbage." Hermione added on, and quickly answered the question of "who?" with "Muggle Studies professor."

"Maybe. Anyway, we should get up to bed soon, it's getting late and we have Transfiguration first thing. Can't be late!" Vlad disappeared to shower before bed, and Harry sat hissing quietly to Lily on his bed. "You're getting bigger." "As are you wizard. Even the furball is growing a little." Phantom huffed and flicked her tail over on Vlad's bed, then leapt over to Harry's to paw at Lily's head. "Desist furry one." Given Lily's lethality, Harry knew the snake didn't really mind or Phantom would know about it.

"Is Phantom being a menace again?" "No more than usual." Vlad chuckled as he grabbed hold of Phantom, who noticed a stray water drop on his face and craned her neck to lick it off. "I have had a wash, thank you you little pest." Phantom mewled, waiting for Vlad to sit on his bed before curling up on his chest. "Well I'm going nowhere. Night guys." Vlad waved his wand to close his curtains, a faint grayish glow lighting around them as he silenced his curtains for the night. Hissing goodnight to Lily, Harry pulled off his glasses and settled down for the night himself.

"Brother, no!" "Sorrow, you have shamed our noble family. First consorting with that muggle, then breeding with it!" The girl cowered, dark hair damp with sweat and blueish grey eyes full of fear. Her mouth opened in a scream as she fell beneath her brothers wand, jerking and twisting in unseen agony. "Tell me where she is!" "N-n-never." Sorrow spat out blood, fear diluted by defiance. "I will find her, and erase the evidence of your indiscretions. Spare yourself, have a merciful death Sorrow. Tell me."

Sorrow staggered to her feet, limbs still twitching with the after effects of the torture curse as she glared at her older brother Salazar. His beard was short, cropped and dark and his entire presence radiated nobility and power. Sorrow, by contrast, looked relatively indistinguishable from most, except the blood dripping from her mouth and her bedraggled appearance. "Remember your own indiscretions brother, I certainly do. I'll never tell you where she is. I'll die first. And you know it." "Crucio!" She dropped again, screaming and writhing but no words were tortured out of her about the whereabouts of her daughter.

Salazar lowered his wand again, looking at his sister dispassionately. He had once cared for her, protected her, loved her, even forgiven her for dating a half-blood in her youth. But this, marrying and mating with a muggle, diluting their noble magical blood with such disregard, he could not abide this. "I wish things had been different." Sorrow, whole body wracked with pain and blood dripping from her ears, nose and mouth now, bruises scattered up and down her exposed skin from thrashing on the floor, forced her eyes up to her brother who towered over her prone form. "I forgive you Salazar." "Avada Kedavra!"

Harry bolted upright, feeling cold sweat pour down his chilled skin. "Wizard? What is wrong?" Lily hissed from her tank, watching as Harry scrabbled for the glass of water on his bedside and taking a long swallow. "Nightmare. I think." He hoped, at least. Though he hadn't even been thinking about Salazar Slytherin or his 'heritage' much that day, so he wasn't sure what set it off. His scar was aching somewhat, not a drop in the bucket compared to some of the times it had hurt, but a dull throb in the lightning bolt was there all the same.

"Harry?" Vlad's sleep-roughened voice sounded outside his curtains, the side opening to reveal Vlad rubbing his eyes. "You were sort of... I don't know, crying almost. Are you ok?" Harry shrugged, slipping off his bed and hunting for a clean t-shirt. Vlad followed him to the bathroom, but politely turned around while Harry stripped off the sweat soaked top and splashed cold water over himself. "Scourgify." A whispered incantation from Vlad removed the sweat from his skin, another cooling charm making him less clammy. "Thanks. You can turn around now." The clean t-shirt on and the sweaty one in the laundry basket, Harry rubbed at his forehead.

Vlad looked at him oddly, sleep still fuzzy on the edges of his expression. "Your scar looks red. Does it hurt?" Harry nodded, and Vlad's fingers traced the scar. It was kind of weird, but the ice-cold relief Vlad seemed to have a power for made Harry stop caring as the pain receded. "So, what happened?" "Just a nightmare. How did you even hear me? You silenced your curtains.'

Vlad's fingers stopped for a second, but then continued and his face didn't give anything away. "Went to the loo. Don't worry, I washed my hands." Vlad offered a small smile, brushing Harry's fringe aside to look at the scar again. "Doesn't look so red now, does it feel better?" "Yeah, barely hurts now. Thanks." Vlad was a little taller than Harry now, only an inch or so but just enough to be noticable as they faced each other. It was a little too intense, the way Vlad seemed to look right through him at times and Harry blinked it away before turning back towards the dorm. "I'm gonna try and get back to sleep. Thanks Vlad."

He thought he heard a sigh, but the sound was gone before he was sure and Vlad patted his shoulder awkwardly before disappearing behind his own bedcurtains again. His best friend was a little odd, Harry mused. But he never judged Harry, just helped even when it was the middle of the night. Sometimes Harry felt like he didn't deserve Vlad, but Vlad didn't seem to agree and Harry wasn't going to insult the boy who had risked detention, expulsion, prison and even his life for Harry by refusing his friendship.

Lily coiled around his wrist, hissing worriedly until Harry reassured her he was fine. "Go to sleep Lily, I will tell you about it tomorrow ok? I'm tired." "Fine. You had better wizard." Chuckling as his familiar let him put her back in her tank, Harry stretched and repeated the cleaning charm Vlad had done to remove the damp sweat from his bed. Followed by a drying charm, as he overpowered it and slightly soapy water pooled in his bed. Dry and clean again, back down and stared up at the canopy. There was no way his dream was what really happened... He couldn't be related to that, surely.

His mate letting him touch him, touch the scar so many idolized because he knew Vlad didn't see 'the boy who lived', it made his heart skip. Whatever made his scar hurt seemed to be muted by Vlad's touch, like the mate bond lying almost dormant inside him could override whatever lingering magic caused his mate pain. So long as it worked, Vlad was happy. Whatever was giving Harry nightmares did not make him happy, but short of forcing Harry to talk or drugging him with dream less sleep every night - a bad idea, they were addictive and had bad effects used long term - all he could do was help deal with the aftermath.

Harry asking how Vlad had heard him almost caught him short, because his curtains were still silenced and he had been in bed, but instinctively knew Harry needed him and it had dragged him back to consciousness. The scent of mate still filling his lungs, Vlad hugged a pillow to his chest and ignored the aching emptiness that followed whenever Harry withdrew from him. He had felt the intense moment too, wishing he had any idea whether or not Harry would ever see him that way, wishing Harry would surprise him and just kiss him and the world would be perfect for those precious brief seconds... Wiping away a couple of tears, Vlad forced himself back to sleep.

Arithmancy was a welcome distraction, because numbers didn't care he was a pre teen vampire pining for its mate, they just sat there waiting to be solved and there was always a right answer. Which made a huge difference to the rest of his life lately, he mused. Outside Transfiguration, seeing George and the others reminded him of their conversation before about her brother she had never met. Ingrid had been part of his entire life, he couldn't imagine not knowing his sister. He really hoped she could find him in the future. She was a sweet kid, her brother would be lucky to know her.

Care of Magical Creatures was massively underwhelming after being mauled by a Hippogriff, because they were just taking care of flobberworms - lazy, sluggish creatures that needed next to no intervention. Vlad tried to soothe the teacher, but every time he tried to talk to Hagrid the Slytherins would re-enact his being attacked loud and exaggerated, which never failed to make Hagrid lose the thread of what he was saying. If Crabbe fell into the flobberworm slime box meant for Potions, and spent the next week reeking of it regardless of baths, cleaning charms or scent potions... Well, Vlad hadn't tripped him on purpose.

Something was bothering Bertrand, Vlad was sure of it. Even during their private sessions, Bertrand was quieter than usual. And given the vampire wasn't known for being chatty anyway, it was a little unnerving. When Vlad tried to ask, Bertrand would gently but firmly deter him from the topic. And since Vlad didn't know if it was to do with Ingrid, or mates, he physically couldn't ask. But then, Ingrid could no sooner tell Harry, which she would given half a chance. The saving grace of a mate bond - the choice to keep it from the mate.

"So, how did you learn to do this?" Bella asked, the first years joining Vlad, Harry and Hermione around the bluebell flames to warm their hands outside one Saturday. "Reading." "Hermione reads everything. She had memorised all our textbooks before we started. I mean, I read them but memorizing was a little much for me." He expected Hermione would have complained, but then a small sort of smile crossed her face and Vlad spotted Draco sat chatting to Neville, overlooking the hill that led down to the rest of the grounds. Wondering when the two of them would get some sense and admit they were both crushing like crazy, the better.

"Have you been to Hogsmeade yet?" Jason piped in with "We went once with mum, a friend of hers used to live in the housing complex nearby" as the third years shook their heads. "First visit is the nearest weekend to Halloween each year. For us, it's actually Halloween I think." Vlad nodded in agreement, mind dreading Halloween already. It was around the full moon, and there would be a VHC member visiting Hogwarts to administer Vlad and Ingrid's blood tests. All in all, it just didn't feel like a good time to be approaching.

Jacob and Jason both started laughing, pointing to where Ingrid was hexing some fourth year Slytherins who were glaring over at their group. "They'll learn. And be sure to lead by example - be nice to all the houses. Anyone gives you trouble, come see us. How are the other first year Slytherins?" Jacob shrugged, fiddling with one of the tassels on his green and silver scarf. "Quiet. I don't think Curtis was expecting to end up in Slytherin either, his brother is in Ravenclaw, sixth year. Astoria is just like her sister from what I see. Paul seems ok, more interested in being top of our class than anything else. But it's early days I guess. I mean, were you guys best friends in the first month?"

The trio shared a look, shaking their heads. "Me and Harry met on the train and were friends pretty fast I guess, but took a near death experience to be friends with Hermione. Draco and Seamus weren't buddies early on either, but now our dorm gets on pretty well as a whole. Just... Be nice to each other, look out for each other. Houses won't matter when we leave here, the kind of person you are will." The first years all looked super serious, taking in the message and then grinning. "Enough heavy stuff, check this out!"

The twins and George backed up, standing a little distance away from each other and pulling their wands. "Spongify!" The softening-bouncy charm gave the grass between them a slightly gelationous look, and the three eleven year olds leapt onto it, promptly pitched about thirty feet in the air. Their joyful screams attracted most of the courtyards attention, and suddenly they had a dozen children in a mix of house colours bouncing on the charmed ground. Vlad kept an eye on them and the charm, making sure nobody got seriously injured.

Their bounces grew smaller and smaller as the charm wore down, and then ended completely as they all dropped to their feet safely (with perhaps a little help from Vlad). "That was awesome! Magical trampoline!" Recognising Alex McCauley, Malcolm McDonald and Zachary Arden from the sorting, Vlad smiled and they introduced themselves. "You're Harry Potter!" Harry managed not to scowl at the recognition, nodding and shaking the hand of the hero-worship looking boy. "That's me. Nice to meet you Malcolm." Jacob somehow dragged one of the other Slytherin boys over, introducing him as Curtis Cadmus.

"Are you really Ingrid Dracula's brother? You don't seem much alike." This boy didn't know they would both become members of the living dead club, he supposed. "Oh, you would be surprised. How are you finding Hogwarts?" Curtis shrugged, not quite meeting his eyes. "It's ok. A lot to take in and my parents were a little... offset by my house placement." Beckoning Jacob and Curtis aside, Vlad tried to pacify their deeprooted concerns. "Slytherin is not an evil place. You were placed there because the hat saw qualities in you like ambition and resourcefulness. Those aren't negative things to be. If anything, it means you have the potential to prove everyone who doubts you for being a snake wrong. Alright?"

"But Salazar Slytherin was bad. Didn't agree with muggle borns learning magic." "He lived over a thousand years ago. People have learnt since then. So long as you don't buy the blood purity superiority, you'll be fine. In fact, you'll be brilliant. Want to know a secret? I mean, really really secret?" The two leaned in, eyes like saucers - what Vlad was telling them wasn't truly secret, but little known enough it would probably pacify the boys. "Merlin himself was sorted into Slytherin, and he believed wizards should help muggles, live in peace with them. Look him up in the library if you don't believe me."

That fact seemed to cement the fact they could be in Slytherin and be good, hurrying off to join their friends again. "What was that about?" Harry quizzed as they headed back in for dinner. "Telling them how Merlin was a Slytherin and he didn't hate muggles or follow Slytherins ideology. Seemed to work quite well." Harry 'ahh-ed' in understanding - he had been the one Vlad was helping research Slytherin for, in light of his ancestry. "Yeah, helped me too. Good old Merlin."

October crept up on Vlad almost without warning, realising he had only a few weeks to prepare for his second blood test, while Ingrid was preparing for her final one, the most difficult. "What was Sebastian the Cruel's world record for most blood drunk in one sitting?" Vlad sighed, rubbing his tired eyes. "Three hundred and... Ninety four peasants? Didn't he get really bad blood poisoning from it? Not to mention that must have been hell on his waistline, he would have needed a new coffin!" Bertrand rolled his eyes, closing the book. "Go, we aren't getting anywhere fast with you falling asleep."

Vlad closed his own book, stifling a yawn in his hand. "Does this examiner know I'm the chosen one?" "No, and it is imperative he not find out if you wish to stay at Hogwarts. The VHC accept the existence of Magical vampires, but you would be taken out of here and given private tutelage by other, older magical vampires. Likely from Durmstrang and other places less concerned with morals or your mate. So do not let on if you want to continue schooling here." Gulping, Vlad nodded. Being taken away from Harry? Never.

-YDHP-

Almost didn't realise this was due to be updated today. Whoops!