I am in shock we've made it to Year Four. Chosen Two is already eighty chapters long! I adore each and every one of you who's read this, encouraged me to keep going and forgiven that I'm a wreck with limited talent. Every review makes my year! And I love that this was all inspired by an offhand comment of "they would both be the Chosen One!" by a friend. Well, let's get on with it!

Apologies for the late update, a close friend was sick and I spent four days taking care of them instead of writing. With any luck, service will resume as normal now.

-YDHP-

Draco was... broken. That was the only way Harry could describe it. Bertrand was clearly at a loss for how to deal with the situation himself. In fairness to the vampire, his long term boyfriend had vanished without a trace and left him essentially an instant father figure. To a teen werewolf no less.

"Come on, you gotta drink it."

"Go away."

Harry sighed, placing the smoldering goblet down. Vlad was better at coaxing, and Ingrid better at tough love. Harry wasn't brilliant at either, but he did have a backup weapon.

"Drink it and I'll let you have this."

Draco spotted the Honeydukes chocolate, the one with the green foamy substance inside even the Malfoy house elves couldn't replicate. A shadow of a smile crossed his face, and he downed the Wolfsbane potion in one painfully disgusting swallow judging by the grimace.

"Chocolate. Hand it over."

He relinquished the confectionary, feeling bouyed by a sign of life from his sort-of-adoptive-brother at last. With only two days until the full moon, it was cutting closer and he knew the boy was terrified. Harry would be too, he was sure, if he was about to venture into the unknown.

"This a private thought party or can anyone join in?"

"Vladdo! Damn, you smell."

The sugar appeared to have done Draco a world of good, as he leapt up to hug Vlad, then stepped back wrinkling his nose.

"Yeah, you don't smell so great yourself. At least your senses will go down between moons."

It took a minute for Harry to click - they were opposing species, instincts warning them off each other.

"What's it like? Since I'm you know, human."

Mostly.

"He smells like a dog. Wet dog."

"Vlad smells like... raw meat and lily."

"Lily?"

Vlad and Draco shared a look, then a chuckle.

"The plant."

"Flower of the dead. Said to look the most poetic scattered over coffins too. Can't say I ever thought to try it."

Vlad visibly rolled his eyes as he spoke, but it was a very strange coincidence for Harry. Lily was his mother, and his pet. Now it was apparently a flower symbolizing his best friend. Peculiar. Searching for a change of subject, he quizzed Vlad.

"So, how's your dad?"

"Throwing a tantrum. He found out about the curse. Wanted to know how come I didn't 'tear out the throat and bathe in the blood' of the person who attacked me."

"You know you're always welcome to hide out here. Ingrid here too?"

"Yeah, in her room. She got into a fight with our mother about marriage or something. I'd give her a couple hours at least."

The three teens retired to the library - one table was set aside for them to have study snacks and drinks, so Hermione wouldn't lynch them even though Vlad charmed almost every book they pulled out to be impervious. Harry and Draco both had big appetites now, food was a necessity.

Bertrand seemed very surprised to find them diligently started on their homework, especially when Hermione wasn't even there yet to harangue them. The vampire was still very clearly adjusting to his new life, had been wary of trying to tell Harry and Draco to do a thing - even though he knew from Vlad Bertrand was something of an authoritarian at times.

"Don't get used to us being such geeks like Vlad. I just need to stop thinking about the moon."

Vlad didn't even blink, quietly continuing with his work. Harry had to restrain the urge to try sniffing Vlad, because he had never thought to notice properly before but he thought he might have noticed Vlad smelling like raw meat. Maybe that was Draco's approximation of Vlad's vampire-death smell... It was hard to say, as Harry wasn't a creature like they were.

Well, not vampire or lycanthrope. Harry couldn't say for sure he was all human, not when his body ran cold and his eyes turned to slits sometimes. Samael had said his venom would change him. Harry wished he knew how, because the occasional but recurring ache in his teeth was really starting to concern him. And then there were his dreams.

"What do I smell like?"

"You smell like Lily. And I do mean your pet snake. Definitely not like the other boys in our dorm. I uh, didn't want to say anything. In case it was for a reason you weren't aware of."

That warmed Harry in a rather odd way. Draco had known something was off about Harry, and not made a single comment in case it upset him.

"Oh. Thanks. I have a pretty good guess on why, if you're interested?"

Draco dropped his quill, grey eyes turning to Harry's almost desperately, and it clicked into place just as fast.

He didn't want to be the only freak.

"Samael. He bit me."

"You were bitten by a damned basilisk and lived?"

Harry nodded, shrugging his overshirt off to show the scar on his arm.

"Feel it. It's sort of scaly."

One slim hand traced over the mark, and he noticed just how warm Draco was. Only Vlad had really ever touched that scar, and he ran cool just like Harry.

"Wow. Freaky. Hey, look. We were bitten in the same spot, same arm."

He wore long sleeves all the time now to cover the scar tissue, but Draco shed the top layer of clothes and hold his arm next to Harry's.

"Oh yeah. Cool coincidence I guess. Yeah, Samael told me I was special, that it would change me over time. For example, I have more trouble not speaking parselmouth than I do speaking it now. And then there's the fact I don't need these anymore."

Harry took his glasses off, placing them next to the discarded shirts. He wanted to at least encourage the other boy not to hide.

"And the eyes?"

Vlad looked up, and nodded at Harry - the snake thing was back then.

"Oh, yeah. They don't do it all the time, but I can see things differently permanently now. It's mostly under control, but my glasses are glamoured so nobody notices if they change back."

Harry didn't go into deeper details, like his dreams or the intricacies of the magic sight thing he had. He wasn't sure why, because Vlad knew all of it. Draco was no less trustworthy than Vlad. He just... didn't feel like sharing everything the way he did Vlad.

"My teeth hurt."

Harry was about to say the same thing, but it was Bertrand who chipped in then.

"Werewolves, bitten and born, have slightly sharper, longer canines than humans. Nothing like say, Ingrid or myself, but noticeable enough to be counted. You haven't changed yet, I expect the dental pain will fade when you come around from the first change, and your teeth will have changed also. We know a glamouring charm for that, if you're worried."

That was clearly not what was causing Harry's dental discomfort, so he didn't mention it. Harry still hadn't told Vlad about his Voldemort-dream. Because he hoped it was a nightmare, that Samael connecting him to Solace Slytherin was reality and the idea he could see through Tom Riddle's eyes was ludicrous. All the same, he was on the lookout for anything that could be seen as a 'test' for Vlad. He would tell him then, but only if it was necessary.

"Huh. Weird. I'll uh, see how I feel about them after. I don't want to be permanently reliant on glamour charms if I can help it."

"Hermione's here."

Vlad had re-cast some of the wards, so that they were tied to him. Used to his friend being extraordinary, Harry had to be told no thirteen year old should be capable. Vlad was now fourteen, but the point was the same. Harry's birthday was mere days away, but under the concerns of Draco's bite and everything else they had going on, it just didn't seem that important.

"Does she know about..."

He didn't need to finish the question.

"No. I thought it better not to risk letters being intercepted. The less attention we draw to ourselves, the better."

"Very prudent. I will inform them you're on your way down, I think it better her parents not see the stacks of lycanthropy books up here."

Bertrand sped off before anyone could argue, so they packed up their half-done homework and replaced their cover-up layers. Vlad waved them off, saying he was going to go check on his sister.

"I don't think they liked me before. Wait til they find out I turn into a mindless beast once a month."

"Isn't that something most girls do too?"

The joke was so crass and unexpected, Harry couldn't believe he said it out loud but it had the desired effect and Draco burst into genuine, hearty laughter.

"Let's never mention that to Hermione. Or Ingrid. They might actually kill us."

"Agreed."

In the sunlight pouring into the wide staircase down to the reception area, Harry caught the beginnings of an amber shade in Draco's trademark grey eyes. If he wracked his memory, Remus Lupin had light brown eyes that turned that shade of amber near the full moon. Vlad's unique experience meant he knew a fair bit about werewolves both born and bitten, but in the magical world they were generally a pariah, hidden away and shunned.

Hermione leapt on her boyfriend on sight - he was never going to get the 'you should leave me I'm a monster' past that girl, and he had only tried twice before she threatened to hex him if he kept it up.

"Come on through, the elves will have made lunch by now."

"Where's Professor Snape?"

Hermione was just too observant, scanning the room quickly and spotting the lack of his black coffee mug next to a plate of cheese scones - a favourite of his.

"Gone. It's hard to explain and we don't know most of it ourselves."

Already ravenous for information, Hermione sat habitually next to Draco, reaching for her usual powder blue tea cup and staring between them for an explanation. Her parents followed slower, despite their time there for Christmas they were still slightly awkward guests. The house elves popping out of existence randomly probably didn't help. Bertrand calmly invited them through to a smaller room for 'tea and adult conversation', and Harry caught the yellow-gold hue of his eyes that said they needed some 'convincing'.

"So, after we left you to go catch the train, we went to his office and he wasn't there. Quickly realised he wasn't in Hogwarts. Vlad used the portkey to get here without us, and the elves had a note from him. He's gone, he re-cast the wards and warned us not to try and find him. Taught Ingrid to make Draco's medication and everything."

"You think he's gone to..."

She looked back at the door her parents had gone through, chewing nervously on the edge of a cauldron cake that she was slowly demolishing between her fingers.

"Vlad thinks he went there, but not willingly. He even signed guardianship and everything over to Bertrand. Left Vlad a list of the ward changes. Means he was planning in advance for at least a couple of weeks."

Hermione squeezed Draco's hand, which made him smile tightly before grimacing as he realised there was smudged cake and icing between their skin. Wiping his hand on a paper napkin, he let Hermione lace their fingers back together and Harry ignored the dull pulse of jealousy. Draco needed the support, Harry needed to stop being envious of that.

"Hmm. Where is Vlad?"

"Gone to check on Ingrid, but he knows you're here."

Knowing there was a high chance he would be hexed, Vlad knocked and peered around Ingrid's bedroom door hesitantly. Ingrid was lying on her bed, curtains drawn - the windows had sun-protective spells on, but vampires still didn't love light - and arms crossed over her chest, hands to shoulders.

"Sorry, were you sleeping?"

"Hm? Oh, no. Only comfortable position to lie on my back in."

Ingrid dropped her arms and pushed herself into a seated position, reaching for the bottle of blood on her bedside table. Their grandparents had sent her a whole case of the stuff for her sixteenth birthday, and Vlad was dreading a similar gift.

"I told them you got into a fight with mum, so they shouldn't ask questions about you being in a bad mood. I know it's tough to be here for you."

"Suppose they wouldn't know we've seen her about 3 times in the last five years."

"Exactly. I just wanted to check you were ok."

"Peachy. Go away."

Vlad bit back a sigh, pulling the door closed behind him and leaving Ingrid to brood by herself. He had a lot more exposure, a lot more time to adjust to his need for Harry, wouldn't hold Ingrid's usual turbulent moods against her when he understood what she was going through.

"How's Ingrid?"

"Irritable. Bloodthirsty. The usual."

Draco chuckled, clearly infinitely better for Hermione's presence. He could relate. Harry always made him feel better.

"I'm gonna go do some work on Wolfsbane potion. That way, when Ingrid's done with wanting to stake me in the face, she can make more sense of it."

"I'll come help."

Harry was done eating, he could see from the leftover bones on the side of his plate and the reddish smears on the plate in front of Draco. Hermione was half way through hers, but Vlad knew she would have been chewing between talking and demanding information, she'd likely finish it now the main conversation was over.

"Ok, thanks."

They returned to the library, piled a few books each - Harry's were on werewolves themselves, Vlad's on the potion itself - and got to work.

"Is this true? Werewolves mating on the full moon produces real wolves?"

"Sort of. They aren't like other wolves. More... intelligent, almost human-like. And always, always described as beautiful. There's a couple of them in the Forbidden Forest, that's why we hear howls when it's not the full moon. Rather uncommon though, bitten wolves are so mindless at the full that 'mating' isn't usually on their to do list."

Harry 'ahh-ed' to himself, then turned over the page.

"You could have died that night too."

"Generally true when one's dealing with packs of angry canines."

"No, I mean, for real. Unless this isn't true?"

He flipped the book around and pointed out a sentence. Werewolf bites, from both true and infected lycanthropes, are fatal to any and all vampires, both born and turned. He could lie, but Harry would find out eventually as it was bound to be repeated in the other books.

"No, it's true. But anyone could have died there, I just figured I would be more rational than Hermione in the situation, and they couldn't turn me. I'm not frightened of werewolves Harry, I just wanted to get those three out of there."

"You don't like them though."

Sighing, Vlad leant back in his seat, rubbing at his jaw as he tried to word his explanation.

"My genetic coding says no to werewolves, my senses detect werewolf and prepare for danger on instinct. However, my biggest issue with them are people like Fenrir Greyback, who intentionally pass it on. And then there's Patrick, who ran off with my mother. I'm not Remus Lupin's biggest fan, I grant you because he was a hypocrite. Draco on the other hand, is my friend and I want to help him."

"Do you think Greyback was the one to turn Draco?"

"The wolf was the biggest of the six, so I would bank on it. I didn't stick around to see him change back though."

Something in Harry's expression confused him, but Vlad didn't want to push - Harry came to him when he needed it, he would continue to respect that. He lapsed back to silence, so Vlad carried on writing the list of ingredients in the potion - they would search for things with similar reactivity once they were done researching the trial and error steps that became the finished product.

"We need to decide what to do about Diagon Alley. You cannot just wonder around that place unprotected, not with Riddle out for you."

Harry tapped his quill against the table, then picked up his glasses where they were folded next to his parchment.

"Glamour charms? My hair and eye colour is pretty distinctive."

"Maybe, but then there's how to get you about. Everyone knows us, knows you would be with us."

"The situation has been dealt with. I acquired your school lists from the headmaster, we will go while the focus is on a major event at the other end of the country. By the time you're expected to be school shopping, it'll be a past event."

Bertrand stepped into the room, keen eyes scanning over their work even as he spoke.

"What's that?"

"I believe it's the final of the Quidditch World Cup. Meaning many of Riddles followers are likely to be there, public events are excellent places to make a statement or possibly recruit new followers. As he has yet to find replacements for Remus Lupin and Severus Snape, your Potions and Defence textbooks and equipment will be obtained by him when an instructor sets the course material."

"When?"

"After the full moon. For now, focus on your summer homework and other studies."

He left them to it, and Vlad watched him go with a multitude of thoughts.

"Vlad, please tell me you don't have a crush on your tutor."

"Excuse me?"

Harry grinned, indicating the route Bertrand had just left via.

"Kind of looked as though you were checking him out."

There were many reasons what Harry was saying was impossible, but none that he was about to share.

"Bats alive, no! Just worried about him. This was as big a surprise to him as any of us, and he's gotta keep it together for everyone elses sake. And even then, he had the forethought to plan our school shopping for maximum safety."

"Right. Sorry. Bad joke I guess."

Vlad shook his head, nudging Harry's arm to make sure he was listening.

"It's fine. Just don't make that joke to him, he would probably worry someone overheard and thought he was inappropriate with me."

"Makes sense. I will go back to staring at werewolf facts while Draco and Hermione are awkwardly supervised by her parents."

Chuckling, Vlad looked back at his work. Ingrid would have his kidneys for appetizers if he managed to develop a crush on Bertrand. Her mate's homosexuality was one thing, her brother getting in the way was another entirely.

Hermione managed to get her parents to leave her there - though they took her emergency portkey with them - before the moonrise, so they missed Draco's jumpy, edgy and almost aggressive hours leading up. His muscles would grow tense with the pull of the moon, the 'inner wolf' would begin to fight for control and his senses would border on painfully acute.

Grey eyes completely obscured by amber as the time ticked nearer, it took Ingrid's physical strength and several threats of forced sleeping potions to get Hermione away as Vlad put Draco in the silver room. He cowered away from every tiny amount, handing over his wand and stripping down to his boxer shorts. Anything on his body, anything in the room not coated in silver, it would all be obliterated by the wolf.

"Hurts."

"I won't lie to you, this first is going to be the worst of them. But its also the only one you'll ever have to totally surrender to. After this, the potion will work. We have a full treatment plan from Madam Pomfrey on how to patch you up afterwards, and you are going to come out of this just fine."

Harry took a few minutes in there after Vlad left, came back out looking pale and unhappy. It was going to be a long, restless night for all involved.

"Moonrise is imminent. We have to lock the door."

Draco turned away, facing where the moon would come up very soon and meant Vlad didn't have to look him in the eye as they slammed the door closed, locking it before a werewolf got loose in Malfoy Manor.

They didn't need to look outside to know when it would begin, a piercing howl filling the air and it was obvious very quickly that the transformation must be agonising. Even through the walls between them and the wolf, Vlad could smell blood where it tore his body apart and reassembled in their new formation.

The idea of soundproofing hadn't even come up, because Draco was alone enough as it was. Intermittently, sounds of growling and destruction made their way through, as Remus Lupin of all people had recommended there be several things for the wolf to destroy in the room - otherwise his aggression would turn inwards, and he would just hurt himself.

Hermione was beside herself, outright sobbing periodically into Harry's shoulder and Bertrand sat, stone faced and silent through most of the night. Eventually exhausting herself, Vlad looked to see Harry and Hermione in fitful dozing, waving a hand to gently levitate them to the nearest sofa. Ingrid was there too, head in a book on Alchemy but Vlad had grown up knowing her tells - the way her head tipped to one side as she listened, the twitch of her shoulders as she restrained the urge to look round.

The faint prickles on the back of his neck told Vlad sunrise was coming, the pepper up he had taken three hours ago still firing through him. More pained yelps sliced through the air, but then it was finally silent as the moon went down. Ingrid made sure Hermione didn't come rushing in before they had chance to clean him up, because from experience Vlad knew Draco would look like hell immediately after, but their healing regiment would make a massive difference.

The room was completely totalled, unrecognizable from the night before and Draco lay in a pile of bloodied pillow stuffing, bruised and twisted into an unnatural position as he passed out where he was during the change back. The smell of blood was nearly overpowering, smeared across Draco's mouth and nails where the wolf had bitten and clawed at itself in frustration.

"You don't need to be here. I can patch him up."

Bertrand shook his head, the tensed muscles of his jaw and neck saying he was holding his breath to limit the effect the blood scent had on him. A cleaning charm took most of the blood off his skin, let them see where he needed healing creams applied. He tossed a blanket over Draco until he started to come around, Bertrand practically pouring the healing potions down his throat as soon as he could swallow.

"I feel like I was trampled by hippogriffs. And it looks like a tornado came through here."

Dobby came in with water and clean clothes, snapped his long bony fingers and Draco was magically dressed in a blink. He drank the water gratefully, thanking the elf with his still-hoarse voice and Vlad caught the newly sharpened canine teeth.

"Come on, up we get."

Draco couldn't stand under his own power yet, but he was healed of the serious injuries and a few hearty meals and some sleep would finish the process. Bertrand hesitated before just picking him up and carrying him out, against Draco's protests as he was laid down on an empty sofa.

"Can you clean up in there for him please Dobby?"

"Yes Master Vlad! Dobby also be saying there be a lady in a strange hat in the fireplace."

Almost no fireplaces could connect to the Manor, and all of them were in Hogwarts with password-wards on both sides. Vlad went to see who it was, finding Madam Pomfrey waiting.

"Password'?"

"Honestly, I could throttle that man. Licorice Wands."

Chuckling to himself, Vlad let the school nurse through the Floo and took her to where Draco was convalescing.

"Come to put me out of my misery?"

"Oh don't be so dramatic Mr Malfoy."

Chagrined, Draco let the nurse cast diagnostic spells, check his teeth and declare him "as good as can be expected". Hermione woke up soon after, practically diving out of the spot she had been sleeping in to check Draco was ok. Vlad stood back, watching and overheard Madam Pomfrey giving Bertrand the verdict on her exam.

"His condition increases his bodies ability to heal, so the majority of aches and pains lingering should be gone before dinnertime. Ensure he takes a sleep draught tonight, and while I doubt it will be an issue ensure he eats plenty of protein today. He should be totally fine tomorrow."

"Thank you Madam Pomfrey. That is good to hear."

Draco napped throughout the day, but was happy to eat heartily at every meal and Hermione quickly bullied him into his sleeping potion that night. Everyone was exhausted, physically and emotionally but Draco had survived his first, and worst, full moon. Small victories really, but Vlad would take anything right now.

-YDHP-

Again, apologies for the late update!