FangirlFriend2 - thanks! I exclusively only read completed fics myself, because I dread the thought of never knowing how a story would end. I couldn't not have something of Draco's first full moon in it, he may not be a main character but the entire chapter was set in his house, it would have been rude not to note it. As for Zoltan... I don't know, I fear Draco would have torn him apart as he wasn't an animal anymore?
To YokaiAngel, VampireHarry the 2 and lb0302708 - Thank you! Honestly, even little reviews just to say you enjoy this make my freaking day *insert excessive heart emojis*
Asteria25 - I see what you were saying about mates, but there is actually more to it than has been told in the story so far. With regards to Bertrand and Snape... Spoilers! And as for pairing them so young... The bond has been integral to Vlad keeping Harry safe sometimes, it's always had a reason for being an early point. And Chosen Two was always going to be a Vlad/Harry story, 99% of my fanfiction is either slash or Vlad/Ingrid (don't judge me).
-YDHP-
His teeth were still aching randomly, but no matter how much Harry stared at them in the mirror and prodded at the offending articles, there was no discernable difference. And Lily was absolutely no help, she just hissed and hung upside down in her tank, flicking her tongue out and radiating amusement when Harry grumbled about his dental discomfort.
The Quidditch World Cup final was the next day, or rather, the next night, but according to Draco and his knowledge of such things, a great deal of people would be there in advance at the magically expanded campsites, in magically expanded tents.
"We have one somewhere, hold on."
A few minutes rooting around later, and with the aid of a few house elves, there was a very unremarkable-sized tent pitched in a relatively small space in the dining room. Vlad, Ingrid and Bertrand all regarded it very warily, but Harry was curious and ducked inside, staying crouched until he realised there was ample room.
"You must be kidding. This isn't even a camping thing, it's like a house!"
Stepping aside, Hermione, Draco and Vlad followed. Having clearly been in here before, Draco wasn't surprised by the huge rooms. Vlad leant out and 'invited' Ingrid and Bertrand inside, which meant the tent technically counted as a 'dwelling'.
"Wow."
"These are actually kind of old school nowadays, though they help blend in for outdoor stuff. You can get magically expanded trunks, literally you jump inside a trunk and there's a whole building inside them. Not that my father would ever lower himself to climbing inside luggage."
Vlad was looking in all sorts of strange places - the entrance, the walls, even the ceilings. Focusing, Harry realised what Vlad was looking at - the whole place was alight with magic, he was studying it.
"We should see if you can put a castle appearance inside them, dad would never know we locked him up."
Ingrid laughed at her brothers suggestion, glancing quickly over the same spots Vlad had but obviously less intrigued by the how, more by the wow-factor.
"Yes, well. Everyone ensure your things are ready for tomorrow, we will be aiming for Gringotts by 8:15am."
Bertrand sent them all off, and Harry spent a few minutes staring at the outside of the tent. It was clearly made of a high quality material, and the stitching was probably done by hand just to make sure nobody dared think of Lucius Malfoy having less than the best regardless of what was inside. Still, it didn't look like it contained more space than the Dursleys entire house probably had.
Watching Bertrand try to be effortlessly polite with goblins who clearly didn't want to agree with his control of the Malfoy vaults was hilarious - Harry didn't even mind his accursed disguise. Vlad had one too, just to cheer Harry up - and his was funnier. Harry had his hair charmed ash blonde and eyes dark brown by Hermione, glasses folded in his pocket just-in-case. Ingrid had done Vlad's charms, which meant the teen vampire ended up with blue hair and silver-grey eyes, at which his older sister still laughed at.
"We'll go get our stuff sorted then, it defeats the point if we stay with you because everyone will know who we are by association. Meet at Flourish and Blotts in say, an hour?"
Bertrand didn't like it, but had to agree with Vlad's point about staying as a group. Harry faltered when it came to buying their standard fourth year potion kits - Severus had always helped there. Still, Dumbledore had promised to ensure if they needed anything else it would be dealt with when a new teacher was chosen. They would get two new professors this year - having lost a Potions one and Vlad had helped their werewolf DADA professor escape.
Harry saw posters for the Quidditch final around, heard the odd early-morning shopper lament they weren't there to enjoy the match themselves.
"Viktor Krum is so dreamy!"
"He doesn't even talk Bells."
"Exactly Heather. Dream man!"
Girlish giggles hung in the air as those two left, allowing Vlad to finish choosing new scales - Ingrid had broken his with a stray hex when they were unpacking apparently, and they all remembered Severus' orders that magic and Potions ingredients were not to be mixed.
"Who's Viktor Krum?"
"How should I know?"
The shopkeeper cleared her throat, indicating one of the larger posters on the wall. It shifted between bright green and dark crimson, like a backwards fight between Gryffindors bright red and Slytherins deeper emerald.
"Green is the Irish team. The other is Bulgaria. Krum is the seeker. Only seventeen, still goes to school, and probably one of, if not the best seeker in the sport."
Tilting his head, Harry caught sight of a gruff looking, broad-shouldered form on the broomstick, the low point of their V formation flight - the typical place of a seeker on a display flight.
"Man, that kid must have a big head."
The now-scandalized storeowner glared at the blue-haired stranger - apparently Vlad had offended a Viktor Krum fan. They hurried to pay and leave, chuckling quietly to themselves. They both needed new robes, but they were being done by owl order to ensure they weren't overheard, so after picking up a few new shirts and trousers the two skittered out of Madam Malkins.
"What else?"
"Sweet shop, you and the wolf need your sugar supply. Then" 'Vlad' bit his lip, thinking "we probably only have a few minutes to make it to the bookstore before Bertrand has a coronary."
"He's got no heartbeat!"
Realising they were being candid and open, Harry cast a wary glance around. Diagon Alley was still quiet - it was barely 9:30am and by the sounds of it half the magical population of the world was in some campsite watching a schoolboy seeker.
Obscene amounts of candy purchased, plus a quick trip to Zonkos joke shop for trick sweets and potions in case they had time for pranks, Vlad and Harry made it to the bookshop. Just in time for Bertrand to look at them disapprovingly, scratching at his neck where Harry now knew a glamour charm masked the scar from a bite that turned him from man to vampire some four centuries ago.
That was always a bracing thought - Bertrand was old, older than Voldemort and Dumbledore, the war that was slowly wrapping a stranglehold around their world. Of every person and creature Harry knew, only Samael was older. And he was asleep for most of it. To have seen and lived through so much... He couldn't begin to comprehend it at times, and that was something Vlad and Ingrid had in their futures. Oh, their parents would probably be pretty old too then, Harry mused.
Fingers snapped in front of his face, jerking him from his tangential thoughts. Cheeks flushing as everyone stared, Harry pushed open the door of the bookstore. The shopkeeper practically groaned in complaint when they had to order five sets of books, none of which were identical because none of them took all the same subjects, and Ingrid was two years up.
By the time they made it back to Malfoy Manor it was barely 11am, various things dispensed into trunks that they wouldn't need until the school year began. House elves produced a hearty lunch, and Harry enjoyed the rare steak immensely. Vlad and Hermione looked all-set to move rooms when they realised they were in a minority now - Bertrand and Ingrid had goblets of (donated, though Harry didn't know by who) blood next to their plates, and both he and Draco had barely cooked meat to sate their animalistic appetites.
"Two years to go for you Vladarella."
"I told you, I won't drink human blood."
Ingrid quirked one eyebrow, shrugged and resumed sipping at the thick red liquid. Draco didn't seem all that interested in it himself, but then according to Harry's creature books, to most werewolves meat was meat, it wasn't the gnawing appetite for human life-blood that vampires had. Vlad seemed dead set against that though, glaring at his sister and jaw so tensed he couldn't chew.
"So, who do you think our next Defence teacher is going to be? We've gone through one a year already, can't be many mad enough anymore."
"The headmaster is considering requesting an auror to take the job, as apparently there will be an increase in security at Hogwarts this year."
Draco nodded at Bertrand, then looked down at his arm, covered by fabric but they all understood the implication.
"Voldemort has been back for months, not that I trusted dementors but you would think the man could have thought of that before I became Fenrir Greybacks chew toy."
Harry looked up - he only felt sure Greyback had bitten Draco because of the dream - how did Draco know?
"I can feel it. Pack animal and all."
Conversation lapsed into silence as everyone finished eating, drinking and in Vlad's case probably contemplating future vampirism. Swallowing the last of his pumpkin juice down, Harry was itching to get back to animagus studying - he knew that could in theory, help Draco because werewolves didn't attack animals except for food, and an animagus, with it's retained mental faculties should be able to deal with that.
"I thought catching the snitch won the game?"
The results of the Quidditch final were in the next days Daily Prophet, and Vlad didn't totally understand it. His interest in the sport was very limited unless it was watching Harry zoom through the air, but he was certain Harry had won every match by catching the little golden winged ball.
"Usually, yes. It gains you one hundred and fifty points, and ends the game. Most of the time that's enough to win, but Ireland's chasers trounced Bulgaria. Krum must have wanted to end it, and apparently he pulled off his signature move beautifully."
Draco spread the paper over the table, so they could all see the moving photograph displaying said move. The dark red blur shot towards the ground, pulling out at the very last second and the green blur next to it hit the ground pretty hard. There must have been a cushioning charm of sorts - that should have killed the Irish seeker.
"The Wronksi Feint. It's like playing against gravity and sanity."
Harry eyed the picture with a spark that made Vlad panic slightly, making a mental note to put protective charms on the ground in the Malfoy Quidditch space outside. Just in case he didn't pull out in time. That wasn't overprotective... right?
"If you're quite done drooling over some Bulgarian bon-bon, can you get out of my way?"
Ingrid wanted the coffee that Draco's arms and newspaper were in the way of, and was apparently feeling amiable enough to verbally request that he move out of her way, rather than just hex him like she normally would. Vlad caught Bertrand gearing up to say something, getting grins from Harry and Draco and teaming up together.
"Hold on, let us guess."
"We spend the mornings on essays."
"Then afternoons on practicals."
"Then after our school homework is done"
"You will figure out what else we need to do."
"Except for birthdays, because Harry's is in two days."
By the time they were done, Bertrand had his brow set in a show of mild irritation.
"While you are correct, and annoying, I was actually going to ask if there was anybody else invited for Harry's birthday. So I can instruct the elves to prepare adequately."
Vlad stuck his tongue out petulantly, then fished through his backpack for the various lists he had - who had portkeys, who knew where Harry was and so on.
"The Weasleys as usual. Uh, that's it this year, though that was before Professor Snape vanished. What with Draco's first full moon and Ingrid having transformed, we agreed it best not to have anyone we didn't trust with the revelations here unless it was via emergency portkey because they were about to get kidnapped or killed. The Weasleys know about you, and I'm totally certain they either knew, or wouldn't care about Lupin."
Bertrand nodded, then did send them off to do their homework with what Vlad expected was no small amount of satisfaction. Rather than spend afternoons on practical work, they blitzed through their essays and were done by late evening just before Harry's birthday.
Ingrid had superspeed to write with, which Harry personally thought was cheating - apparently, so did the Exam boards, it was banned during any exam, and between the four soon-to-be fourth years, they managed to have it all done. Rubbing at the cramp in his wrist, Vlad dropped his quill with a relish and laughed at Hermione wiping ink off her face.
"Personal best I think. If I ever see the words Bamboozle Brew again I will dig out my eyes with quills."
"Lovely."
Draco grimaced at Harry, then checked the time.
"10:30pm. Wanna stay up until midnight and eat cake?"
Harry nodded eagerly, apparently gaining a second wind and bouncing out of the library.
"What was that?"
Vlad knew - Harry had told him multiple times about his personal tradition.
"His relatives didn't celebrate his birthday, so Harry used to stay up until midnight to wish himself a happy birthday, when nobody could tell him not to. I'm going to go wash this ink off and put pyjamas on, reconvene by the fireplace in say... fifteen minutes?"
They seperated, certain their homework was perfectly safe where it was as they all cleaned up and put nightclothes on. Ingrid's nightwear wasn't much different to her daywear - a lot of heavy black and red.
Harry dropped onto the sofa spot next to Vlad, and the teens chatted and drank too much hot cocoa and ate biscuits until they felt sick. It was brilliant in it's ease, the weight of everything going on in the outside world fading for a while - even Bertrand sat with them, quiet mostly but Vlad caught his half-smile a few times - he was obviously out of his depth as the sole parental figure there, even though they could mostly take care of themselves as a whole, so it was nice to see him looking a little less down trodden.
Even for a vampire, he was gloomy lately.
As the large grandfather clock chimed midnight, Dobby and a small cake appeared in the room, fourteen candles surrounding bright green letters that spelled "Happy Birthday Harry".
"Make a wish!"
"Stop encouraging breather traditions you pustule."
Even Ingrid mocking him couldn't stop Vlad enjoying the way Harry lit up brighter than the candles, grinning as he blew out the candles. The cake split itself into six slices, then popped onto plates in front of each of them. Bertrand was clearly at a loss with the confectionary, but Vlad knew Ingrid couldn't resist chocolate, and there was a thick slathering of sweetened, chocolatey goo over it. After all the biscuits and hot chocolate, they shouldn't want it.
Vlad ate it anyway, and so did everyone else. Even Bertrand gamely took a mouthful, hiding his overwhelmed grimace at the sweetness from Dobby, who would take it personally whether it was vampiric-reasons or not.
Everyone felt a little sick until Ingrid mercifully presented anti-nausea potions - showing off, Vlad expected. Swallowing it down, he crawled into his bed and fell asleep almost instantly. Harry was still excitable the next day, only sitting still to cram an inordinate amount of sausage and bacon into his mouth before heading out to play gobstones on the perfectly-manicured lawns with Draco. Hermione referee'd, Ingrid scowled from beneath her charmed parasol until one got sprayed in the face, then she laughed.
Vlad kept watch for the port key landing spot, which would deliver a large amount of Weasleys in the next ten minutes or so. The 'pop' of the portkey was almost instantly drowned out by a cheer of "Happy Birthday" from a group of red-heads bearing gifts.
It got harder each year to get Harry gifts - with him all but adopted into the Malfoy family, and Draco happy to share the wealth his family had probably gained by nefarious means in previous generations just to annoy them, Harry could in theory buy almost anything he needed. Lily's tank and carry bag, the pendant to show he accepted Harry's Slytherin ancestry... What else could he possibly do?
It clicked when Draco told them about the magical tents and trunks, leading to Vlad making a rushed owl order - Hedwig was difficult to persuade, but seemed to understand when Vlad pleaded gently and said it was for Harry. It arrived just in time - Hedwig was not thrilled by the wards keeping her out, squawking indignantly at the edge of the protective bubble.
It was surreal, jumping down a relatively narrow gap into a huge space, though luckily there was a ladder to allow him to get out. Vlad had been vague about everything but needing a lot of space - now he needed to change it to suit properly. One room became mostly water, contained by a charm already in place - to stop a bathroom leaking apparently. Another had a fireplace and heat lamp put in, designated sleeping space.
The rest was just free roaming, some simulated outside conditions - tricky Transfiguration, but Vlad was pretty good at that. It wasn't perfect - no food source, for example - but damn it was roomy and hopefully Harry would like it.
Clambering out and closing the lid, Vlad flipped open his old runes book, using his wand to magic the shapes onto the lid. Few would be able to translate it - he was using a less common Runic Alphabet, and even fewer would understand if they could.
For show - and mostly as a joke - he gave Harry 'homework help vouchers', which cracked Fred and George up no end. The Weasleys stayed for dinner, talking about the Quidditch match - as it turned out, they had attended it, Mr Weasley had tickets from a friend.
"We would have invited you, of course, but Albus insisted for security reasons, it was too dangerous with You-Know-Who about."
"The Malfoys have their own box. When this dark lord nonsense is dealt with, I'll be inviting you guys."
"Knew there was a reason we kept you around!"
Fred and George did their usual double-sided hug, ruffling Draco's perfectly groomed hair and grinning. Charlie Weasley pulled Bertrand aside, but neither would answer the twins pestering about what they had been discussing when they returned.
"We know he's an evil lord of the undead."
"When he's not teaching. Speaking of, is our dear Potions teacher not here? We haven't been scolded all day."
That sufficiently brought down the mood, Draco's face falling and Hermione moved to comfort her boyfriend instantly.
"He's uh, gone. And no, we genuinely don't know where. And you can't say anything until Dumbledore has located a new Potions teacher, last thing we need is Voldie-juniors lining up to interview for it."
The Weasleys absorbed the information, clearly deciding what to ask first like some kind of ginger-haired hive mind.
"Right. So we get two new teachers this year? Since Professor Lupin vanished."
"Yep. You wouldn't know anything about aurors becoming staff would you sir?"
"Arthur, Vlad. And yes, I have a suspicion about who. As for a Potions teacher, not a clue. There are only half a dozen potion masters in the United Kingdom, and Severus was one of them. Albus may have to outsource."
"Potions Master?"
Arthur Weasley nodded, sipping at his tea, but Draco interjected before he could reply.
"To teach Potions, you must have a Mastery in the subject. Safety precaution, to prove you can handle volatile ingredients and be trusted to make sure no students hurt themselves. Takes like, seven years, it's an intense study. Severus started at fourteen the Mastery, finished by twenty two. Youngest ever."
There was pride evident in Draco's tone, the familiar ache of loss at his adoptive father's disappearing act. Not a cheery end to Harry's birthday, but they had celebrated as much as possible before. The Weasleys left sans Fred, George and Ginny - the library and ability to practice magic was too much of a lure for the students.
"You have Ginny's portkey, pop back if you want to. Or need to, of course."
Draco flushed when Mrs Weasley gave him a huge, motherly hug - that was something Vlad, Ingrid, Harry and Draco were very, very unfamiliar with. Ingrid predictably vanished before there was a risk of hugs, but Vlad and Harry both got them too.
Everyone separated for the night, and Vlad managed to get Harry's attention for the proper gift.
"I did wonder... Not that you have to get me anything, but I thought Hermione was going to hex you for those vouchers."
Vlad presented the trunk, which Harry traced the lettering of.
"I didn't take Ancient Runes."
"That's a different alphabet to the one taught before Seventh Year anyway. It says Samael, open it."
Harry bent down, flipping the lid and peering into the pitch black space.
"Am I going in?"
"Makes sense to, I think."
Rolling his eyes, Harry gripped the side and leapt down into it. Vlad followed quickly, casting a quick light charm.
"What is this?"
"A magically expanded trunk. I uh, modified it. Snake bathroom through there, sleep room with fireplace and heat through there" he indicated the East and West stone archways "then fake-outdoor roaming space that way. I didn't know what else a Basilisk needs, but there is a two hundred foot space that way too, if you have any ideas. I know you don't like leaving him asleep and alone, this way you could take him places. I uh, wouldn't cast a shrinking charm on the trunk though."
Harry stared around, speechless before running to each archway and looking around.
"What did you ask for?"
"Said I was building a real life dungeon obstacle course, not sure he believed it but I asked for a spot you could in theory use for human seating, and have your enormous serpent roam about the place in these huge rooms. He's what, sixty, sixty five feet? I went with as roomy as possible. The rest is my handiwork, I thought asking for a fifty foot heat circle was a tad obvious."
Harry spun in place, eyes wide as they took it all in. Vlad started to panic - was it too much? He frequently worried he was plastering a neon sign saying "I'm in love with you" across his face sometimes, but luckily Harry was as oblivious to his best friends feelings as ever.
"I... I don't have the words. Vlad, I... This is..."
He was suddenly wrapped in a fierce hug, and he had a minor heart attack when he realised Harry had let a few tears free. They were cold, not the usual warmth of tears from anyone else, and made his skin feel a little strange. That could be the effect of Harry's proximity though... Vlad needed to move soon.
"So it's a good gift?"
"Amazing. You have to stop trying to outdo yourself each year, unless you're going to eat my evil grandfather for my sixteenth. In which case you can give me socks next year."
Vlad couldn't help but laugh aloud at the absurd statement, glad Harry liked his gift and that was all that mattered.
"I want to go get him now, but I think that would be a tricky explanation to make. Especially to Ginny. Before Hogwarts though, yeah?"
Vlad wanted to argue, even if realistically he had known such a thing would be too appealing to Harry to wait. Faced with a rapturous, desperate look, he was powerless to crush that hope in his mate.
"If you can figure out how you'll keep him fed discreetly all year, then yes we can go get him before we go back to Hogwarts. Because unlike Lily, he can't exactly eat one rat a week and be fine."
He could see Harry already trying to work it out, full of fire for the enormous serpent he had... inherited, absorbed venom from, and somehow formed an attachment to. They climbed out of the trunk, and Harry hugged him again before levitating it out - Vlad had checked that was safe - and disappearing into his room. Seeing his mate so happy... It was worth any concern really.
-YDHP-
A lot of this probably seemed like filler and nonsense, but it'll mostly make sense next chapter... I hope. And we should be back at Hogwarts by Y4 C4. Also, it's about 2am here but as an insomniac who hasn't been to sleep yet, it's still technically Sunday. For me.