PercyPowerful - thank you so much! I was worried the last chapter was drug addled nonsense so your review made me smile like Vlad watching Harry.
Jon - wonderful review as always! I wanted Vlad to lose his cool too, but it would have been out of place when he was so ill and then he might have gotten expelled and lost Harry forever! I'm not totally sure what you're getting at with that one shot request, but if you want to inbox me about it I will definitely see what I can do.
Pokemon Go takes up a lot of time, my legs hurt and my phone needs charging twice as often... Gotta catch em all!
-YDHP-
The change in Vlad was almost instantaneous, the pain vanishing and a buzzing energy filling him within minutes of Harry apologising and hugging him. He had to make a conscious effort not to startle anyone with his rapid recovery, burning off most of his energy with a walk from their high tower all the way down to the kitchens, greeted happily by the elves, plied with a lot of extra food and back up again.
The other boys in the dorm were happy to see the snacks, and Vlad was happy to sit and watch Harry surreptitiously over his study book - Hermione promised to get him back up to speed tomorrow, and Vlad had an automatic extension for the following week of schools homework to allow for the blood test that weekend. For now, he could pretend he was studying Herbology and actually study Harry intently. They were all starting to age - except Vlad, who still looked painfully young in comparison, and the shape of Harry's jaw was filling out, his hair growing down to brush over his cheekbones at the sides. Vlad wanted so badly to brush it out of his eyes.
He was almost too giddy to sleep, especially when Harry smiled and said goodnight, but also exhausted by the toll the last few weeks had taken on him. That didn't stop Vlad bouncing out of bed, showered and dressed and raring to go before anyone else was even fully awake. "It's sunday, why are you awake with the dawn chorus?" Draco quizzed, early morning bed hair glowing faintly in the sun peeking through the window.
"I've been ill the last few days, finally feeling better. And I got plenty of extra sleep the last couple of days too. I'll be down in the common room." Because otherwise Vlad was going to want to peer through Harry's bedcurtains, and that was just creepy. Phantom accompanied him, curled up around the back of his neck and yawning occasionally as they sat in the deserted room.
"I thought only I was up at this hour. Well, me and the Ravenclaws." "Morning George." He got a bright, far too awake smile from the first year, who was an instant attraction for Phantom and laughed happily as the black furball licked her face. "So what are you doing up?"
"Just woke up buzzing, but I've been under the weather lately, sleeping alot. Now I'm feeling better." George made an 'ah' sound of understanding, tickling Phantoms chin. "What are you doing awake this early then?" The girl shrugged, looking out at the rising morning.
"Always up early. My mum said it's because I'm just a constant source of energy, and sleep is a battle. Plus I'm at a school of magic, sleep is almost a waste of time. Even not in class, it's just so exciting here. So magical." She was practically lit up, eyes full of joy for the place she was in. Draco padded down the staircase, smiling at the two and still sleepy as he walked over. "Breakfast?" "Sure." George bounded alongside them, chattering away about Hogwarts far too energetically for so early, but he could sympathise - Harry was talking to him again, Vlad was full of beans too.
The hall filled up slowly on sunday mornings, but Bertrand and Lupin were both awake, at the table. Though at opposite ends of said table, and Bertrand was sat next to Snape. Ingrid wasn't awake yet - she often missed breakfast, sleeping in until eleven am on weekends. She would sleep in til midday on weekdays if it weren't Hogwarts, Vlad was sure of it. So she didn't have to see them together, as Bertrand was rarely at lunch. Vlad gave his tutor a beaming smile, showing he felt amazing before turning back in time to hear George complain Jacob and Jason had beaten her at chess.
"It's like they have two brains in one body, I'm convinced they are cheating somehow. Psychic twin stuff. I will discover the truth!" George brandished her fork like a weapon, which would have been fine if it didn't still have food on it. The older Hufflepuff student who recieved the scrambled eggs to the back of their neck scowled, and George apologised loudly but broke into giggles all the same.
She was just forever radiating momentum, barely waiting for the twin boys to have eaten breakfast - they were allowed to sit at other house tables for meal times so long as they didn't cause trouble, and Gryffindor was far more accommodating of Jacob and the other first year snakes joining them - before she dragged them off into the courtyard to "feed the giant squid!". All the while, Vlad was talking to Hermione opposite him, which meant he could keep Harry next to her in his line of vision the whole time.
"Here's the stuff for Arithmancy, Runes, Transfiguration and Potions. You can catch up on Charms, Herbology and DADA tomorrow. We didn't get essay homework set for History of Magic, and Professor Sinistra will just catch you up as we go now you're back in classes." Hermione handed him the assignments, with helpful notes about which pages in which books he needed to either read or reference.
Hermione also didn't treat him any differently, knowing about his mate bond to Harry - she effectively knew he was gay and in love with Harry, but nothing in her actions even gave a hint of it. She didn't look at Harry knowingly, or make the jokey comments about Vlad and Harry being 'like an old married couple' in the way they just... clicked together. And they did, they were just perfect together but Vlad already knew that, that was why the mate bond picked him. Hermione just helped him catch up, and quietly asked if he was definitely feeling better under the cover of proof reading his Runes and Arithmancy work.
"Awesome. Really. I feel great. Hang on, those two runes are in the wrong places. That ward wouldn't protect against a lit match, never mind a full blaze." They wouldn't be learning to cast wards this complicated, but the basic calculations that belonged to what could be advanced runic warding was so interesting to learn. "That's not even something you should know, we haven't gotten that far in translations yet. Show off." Vlad grinned, especially when Hermione realised she had made the same mistake on her own work.
"You're better at Arithmancy, Potions and Herbology. I'll take Runes, Transfiguration and Charms. And Harry will beat us both at DADA." Hermione glared, but he saw a smile twitching at the side of her mouth and figured they were fine. Harry shook his head, referring to them as his 'geek friends' and talking Quidditch with the other boys.
"You say that now, but when its exam time you all want a piece of us." "Gross Vlad, I don't want any part of you." Seamus gagged, realising what he had insinuated and picking up the nearest issue of the Daily Prophet to hide behind as the post owls dropped off their packages. His dad never wrote to him, so Vlad got very little post.
"Is that Black on the front?" Everyone whipped around, scrabbling to spread the paper out on the table between them and not noticing ink pots and cups were being upended - several students cried out in protest as their work was splattered. Vlad charmed his parchment to be safe from that out of habit whenever he worked in the Great Hall, because his friends were messy creatures. He and Hermione quickly cast cleaning charms on the table, then turned their attention to the paper.
Sirius Black had been sighted in a town, that according to Hermione wasn't that far from Hogwarts. "That's why the dementors are guarding the gates, in case Black comes here. Isn't it?" Dean asked quietly, but Seamus was looking around wide eyed, practically vibrating with nervous energy. "Yeah, but he's already got past them once. Who's to say he won't do it again?"
This led to Vlad and Hermione agreeing to learn spells to teach the others, much like the previous years. Harry was better at this sort of magic, but less likely to sit and learn it - "I have you for book reading Vlad, plus you like extra reading." Vlad didn't argue, because Harry saying "I have you" made him feel far too warm and fuzzy inside for any self respecting vampire, and he didn't care a jot. "Ok Neville" Vlad stood, unarmed and waiting opposite his friend "give it a go."
Neville raised his wand shakily - he didn't like attacking his friends but Vlad smiled reassuringly - miming the wand movement a little to himself before calling out "impedimenta!" and Vlad froze solid, unable to move forwards. Overpowered, the spell could knock someone clean off their feet but it was generally designed to slow someone down to a dead stop for a few seconds, like a less aggressive stunner or petrificus charm. Hermione cast the counter charm, and Neville looked relieved it had worked. Their friends confidence still needed work at times.
"Right. Who's next?"
It was a couple of days before Harry felt safe to get Vlad alone, consistently relieved Vlad hadn't been mad at him for his lapse in judgement. Remus had seemed as surprised at what he was saying as Harry was when he said he had changed his mind about the boy vampire. "What changed your tune sir? If you don't mind my asking."
"Remus Harry, Remus. I've been talking to some of the other teachers, hearing about the... adventures you boys have had. You have a good friend there, I misjudged him. Not to say I won't be keeping an eye on him, but I'm not worried like I used to be." Vlad had looked like all his Christmasses had come at once when Harry hugged him, and he felt horrid for putting his friend through the freeze with no explanation.
Naturally, his friend was caught up from getting ill within two days. He did have Hermione helping, Harry mused as he practiced disinfecting charms on the dummy in Healing. The dreams hadn't stopped, though they weren't every night he had had several while 'not talking' to Vlad. All the things he could remember were written down, so he could show Vlad and explain the dreams now. They stopped off in the kitchens for food, then headed through one of the secret passages Vlad had learnt from the Weasley twins out to the grounds.
Sat in one of the patches of trees near the lake, a small bluebell fire keeping them warm without burning anything around them, Vlad smiled as he leant up against a tree and waited. Chewing on a chicken leg and tossing the bone into the flames, Harry swallowed thickly. "I uh, I don't need glasses to see anymore. Except it came with this." He pulled off his glasses - every time he looked, his eyes were still snake-y. Vlad had already seen that change before, when it flickered in and out.
"Do you 'see' the aura colour stuff all the time too?" He shook his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose and not bothering to put the glamoured plain glass back on yet. "Only if I focus. I can't always make it happen, or go away but I think I'm getting there. Sucks that I have to wear glamoured glass to stop people questioning me." Vlad chewed thoughtfully on a sandwich, washing it down with pumpkin juice and flushing lightly when Harry looked at him knowingly.
"You can use a glamour on your eyes, but until you get that weird magic sight under control you're better off with something detachable. Glamouring your eyes might make it impossible to see if it flickered in unexpectedly. Plus, when you get that under control you may be able to make your eyes go... I don't want to say normal, because this could be your new normal." The two conversed between mouthfuls about Harry's eyes, and in a way it was a relief not to have to hide so much - Vlad really was a brilliant friend.
Tossing their leftovers in to the lake, some tentacles crept up and grabbed the pieces of food. "That squid must be getting really fat, everyone feeds it." Vlad wasn't looking over the lake as he spoke - he was looking at Harry. Fighting a strange, fleeting urge to squirm under the scrutiny, he knew Vlad was waiting to see if there was more.
"I've been having... weird dreams." There was a flash of mirth in Vlad's eyes as he answered with "Harry, that's perfectly normal for teenage boys." and ducked when Harry tossed a pebble from the ground towards him.
"Helpful. No. About... about Salazar, and Sorrow. And Voldemort. And my grandmother." He wasn't going to refer to Voldemort as his grandfather, biology or not that man was not his family, and wouldn't be named anything close to it. Vlad raised a querying eyebrow, so Harry handed over the things he had remembered each time he woke up.
"Sorrow's daughter was... oh. Gross. Not their faults though I guess. Sounds like Solace turned out pretty well all the same, her dad must have been a good guy." Harry hummed in acknowledgment, not wanting to interrupt Vlad reading through the strange things that happened in his head at night. He watched as Vlad's brow furrowed in confusion, mouth twisted in disgust and occasionally his whole face fell in sadness. He handed it back when done, clearly processing.
"So that's the locket? Stole it off her, then used her murder to make it a horcrux. But not before he got her pregnant? Charming. When we find out how to break them, you can have that pleasure Harry. Hmm" Vlad brought his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs and resting his head there to observe Harry "and you definitely believe this all is true?" Harry looked at his friend incredulously, but Vlad only winked.
"Just checking. I believe you, you know I do. I have to focus on my test this week, but after Halloween I am one hundred percent into helping you find out what all of this means." Harry could only agree there - Vlad could baulk and run, tell Harry they were just dreams or just flat out say his friend was bonkers, but he wasn't. It was only a couple of days until Halloween, and it wasn't like Voldemort was currently stood at the gates of Hogwarts trying to break in. They had time.
Vlad grew more noticably nervous when Friday approached, as every DADA class that day was about vampires - the wizened, angry looking vampire there to administer Vlad and Ingrid's tests put everyone on edge. Especially Professor Lupin, who spent the entire class at opposite ends of the classroom to who Vlad said was a representative for the "Vampire High Council". Obviously, that wasn't what the school as a whole was told - they were informed "Vasilev" was actually an old friend of Dumbledores, and happened to be passing and agreed to the one off visit.
"Loved hearing all the best ways to kill me and my kind." Vlad grumbled, stabbing viciously at his chicken and muttering angrily to himself at dinner. Thankfully everyone was excited about the first Hogsmeade visit and the Halloween feast coming up, chatting loudly and not paying attention to Vlad's minor glowering. Harry promising never to sunlight-charm him did win a smile, but Vlad was clearly still in a bad mood when he set off for 'tutoring'.
The relief that it was over for another year was tangible when Vlad collapsed into the nearest empty armchair by the fire - Harry and Hermione had both waited up for him. Phantom sprung up from the windowledge, leaping into Vlad's lap and refusing to stop pestering her vampire until he smiled.
"How was it?" "Boring. Gross. That VHC guy complained we were here. Apparently most of us end up in Durmstrang. But our names appeared on Hogwarts roster even though we lived in Romania at the time, I didn't choose this." Harry didn't really know what to say about that, just laughing at Vlad's grimace when Phantom licked his eyebrow.
"Well I, for one, am glad you ended up here. And it's done until next year." Hermione yawned as she finished reassuring Vlad, brushing his fringe off his face fondly as she bid them goodnight and headed up. Raising an eyebrow at Vlad, Harry smirked. "I think Draco might put that class to use if he finds out you're moving in on Hermione."
Vlad shook his head, stroking Phantom and not meeting Harry's eyes. "It's not like that. Hermione isn't my type, and she's as mad for Draco as he is her. I won't be surprised if they end up holding hands slyly under a table when we get lunch tomorrow in Hogsmeade. Or disappearing together. At most, it'll be a done deal by Valentines day coming." Harry chuckled to himself, conceding Vlad was probably right.
Vlad dropped Phantom on his bed, then disappeared to shower before bed - the others would probably all want the bathroom in the morning, so he called it pre-emptive choice. They all had their money bags from Draco, and Vlad groaned on the way to the check point - "You guys are going to buy wayyy too much candy, right?" Seamus and Dean both agreed vociferously, and Harry was mildly nervous as they reached their turn to be checked. Filch scowled, but noted both he and Vlad were leaving and didn't stop them. Sighing in relief, he soon changed his mind.
Vlad gripped his wrist, squeezing gently in reassurance as they walked between the dementors and pulling him along before Harry could feel more than cold and sad inside. "You're alright, we're past them now."
Harry already wanted to find a different way to Hogsmeade, or Sirius Black so they could get rid of the dementors for good. Shuddering inwardly, his wrist felt strangely warm where Vlad's cool hand had been. Putting it down to his own strange body temperature issues, they set off for Hogsmeade.
"I can see you nerds wanting to go to the book store and stationery shop. So we are going to run away now." Seamus, Dean and Neville hurried away, presumably to Zonkos joke shop or Honeydukes sweet store. Vlad and Hermione didn't spend that long in the book store, and even Harry bought new parchment and a new quill in the other shop. Hermione chuckled as Vlad pointed out a bottle of ink that flashed different colours as the person wrote, and Draco took the abuse good-naturedly when both Vlad and Hermione tickled his face with huge eagle owl feather quills.
They did agree to Zonkos, but Vlad threatened every member of their dormitory with painful hexes if anyone bought dungbombs or stink pellets. Harry picked up a bag of trick sweets for their pranks, and a book of trick spells he knew Vlad could be convinced into doing because he could do them word- and wand-lessly. If the older Slytherin students would just leave them alone... He smirked to himself at Vlad's look of trepidation.
Honeydukes was amazing. Vlad brought his tutor a bag of blood pops as a joke, then pretty much everything pumpkin flavoured in there. Harry had to buy some of everything, like the ice mice that squeaked, levitating sweets that literally made people float, sugar quills and piles of creamy fudge, chocolate frogs and jelly slugs. "We gotta stay stocked up. We might run out before Christmas otherwise!" Vlad rolled his eyes at his friends, but ended up bowing under Harry's pleading expression and buying junk food too, amusing himself with the animal-noise sweets and pepper imps.
Their next stop was the Three Broomsticks, a pub that sold butterbeer aplenty. Vlad got himself a warm spiced pumpkin juice, glaring at the foamy flagons of too-sweet buttery froth everyone else had. Harry looked around as they sat around a couple of tables, eyeing the Halloween-themed decorations and interesting patrons. There was a man smoking a pipe, not looking at the smoke rising out but it changed into various animal shapes like a dragon stretching its wings, and then a wolf opening its mouth to roar.
There were also many people with veils or heavy hats that hid their faces, some sipping at large cups or downing shots of something smoke was rising out of - Draco informed them it was called 'firewhiskey' and absolutely burned on the way down. "How would you know?" Hermione rounded on him almost instantly, and the blond boy shrugged. "My parents threw alot of parties. Not many types of magical alcohol I haven't tried."
Parents were generally a topic to be avoided with them, particularly in public. Since Vlad only had a father and he couldn't really talk about him, Harry had no parents, Neville was raised by his grandmother and Draco's father was in prison, his mother legally required to leave her son well alone.
"If you're all done rotting your teeth" Vlad stood up, handing over some coins for his drink at the nearby bar "lets go see the shrieking shack and get back before the Halloween feast?" Cocking his head, Harry knew they had plenty of time to get back before the feast, and only he and Hermione followed Vlad - the others were in no rush to stop trying to get firewhiskey.
"What's that about Vlad?" Harry questioned as they stood at the fence guarding the shack. "The dementors check every store in Hogsmeade first thing in the morning, then again in the afternoon and again at night. Figured you would want to be clear of that and we have been most places but here." Harry hadn't even known that, and affection bubbled for his friend automatically planning to keep Harry away from the foul creatures.
"Thanks." "Don't mention it. So Hermione, tell us all about the shrieking shack." Hermione flushed, but her eyes glittered happily as she launched into a thorough history lesson about the dilapidated building they were looking at. Harry let the words wash over him, only vaguely noticing Vlad staring intently at a spot near the building before his friend was ducking beneath the fence, wand out.
"Vlad, where are you going?" Harry looked around, nudged Hermione mid-sentence and followed Vlad. "We aren't supposed to come down here!" She scolded as they walked down, Vlad a few steps ahead and clearly intent on something.
By the time he caught up with Vlad, Harry was a little winded from the steep incline down. "What are you doing? Other than getting up close and personal with the most haunted building in Britain?" Vlad crouched, peering into some overgrown bushes. "It's not haunted. Hogwarts is more haunted than this place." The boy vampire straightened up, shrugging.
"I thought I saw something. Must be seeing things. Come on!" Vlad set off back up the hill, leaving Harry and Hermione exchanging looks of exasperation before they followed him to the school.
Plenty of students were dressed up for Halloween again, pumpkins floating in mid air with faces ranging from funny to almost-scary carved into them. In spite of the sweets consumed in Hogsmeade, everyone had a huge appetite and the first years were quizzing them about the local magical village incessantly.
"Our first Halloween feast was the troll in the dungeon, wasn't it?" Harry, Hermione and Vlad hid grins - they weren't technically banned from talking about all their rule breaking, but weren't supposed to encourage the new students into danger either.
"A troll? Like, a real, huge troll?" "Yep. Someone must have let it in as a joke, not that we ever found out who." Dean mused as he held up a chicken leg, biting into it contemplatively as George and Bella stared at them wide eyed. "Wow."
Stuffed full of food, Harry still found room for plenty of treacle tart while Vlad ate his way through one solitary slice of pumpkin pie and cinnamon sprinkled ice cream. Granted Vlad probably didn't feel like he had swallowed a planet when he stood up, but Harry felt that it was worth it.
Climbing up the staircases slowly, they made it to the seventh floor but discovered a crowd around the entrance to Gryffindor tower. "Who's forgotten the password?" "Come on, let us in!" Various students called out, and Ginny appeared between several taller Gryffindors, spotting them and hurrying over. "The fat lady, she's gone!" Vlad shifted out of the way to reveal Professor Dumbledore, who cut through the crowd with ease.
The canvas had huge slash marks in it, torn right through to the wooden support at the back and thr occupant was indeed missing. "Nobody is to enter this tower until it has been thoroughly searched. Everyone please head back to the Great Hall." The students all started whispering amongst themselves, some trying to hover but scampering away under the glare of their headmaster.
Vlad had disappeared when Harry had the space to look, overhearing "Mister Filch, assemble the school ghosts and tell them to search every painting in the castle, to find the fat lady. Mr Weasley, kindly round up the other prefects and keep watch over the students in the hall." Percy puffed his chest out and started barking orders at a now-scowling fifth year. Harry guessed the prefects weren't too fond of the head boy.
"Headmaster? I've found her." Vlad was up another floor, the only thing up there the entrance to the Divination tower as far as Harry knew. And stood in front of a painting containing a very, very large hippo that a pink hat could just about be seen over - naturally Harry followed them to his friend.
"My dear lady, who did this to you?" Dumbledore asked, and they were garnering attention from the other students lower down now. Percy tried to shoo them away, but few cared about "head boy" in the face of gossip and drama.
The fat lady popped up from behind the hippo, clearly hysterical with fear. "Eyes like the devil! Soul as dark as his name! It's him headmaster, the one they all talk about. Sirius Black!" Another shriek of terror and the woman was hiding again, Vlad's eyes on Harry. Was Black really in Hogwarts?
-YDHP-
Long Harry side to make up for only-Vlad chapter before. Also, I think this might be a day late, I get confused by days of the week at times.