You - I uploaded it about 1am Friday my time, because I had had it done for days but knew I was gonna be busy Friday and didn't want it to be late! Hence the early-ish post. And yeah, couldn't not leave a cliffy, I love to torture my readers it seems.

Guest - don't lose sleep! The chapter will still be there tomorrow... though it makes me tickled that my story is so interesting you just have to read it there and then. As for the length of this... the current plan is up to Year Seven and Year Eight... if I continued after that it would likely be more in the style of What To Expect When A Vampire Is Expecting... but that's ages away yet!

And then regarding future crossovers... honestly I wouldn't know where to start, this whole YD/HP crossover started from an offhand comment my friend made that inspired the first of Chosen One Shots... And it sort of escalated and here we are over 100 chapters later.

BlueAutumn12 - I can leave it there! And I did... but here's the what happened next!

-YDHP-

Harry forgot how to breathe, but Ingrid dragged him to one side of the stands to avoid the surge of French girls rushing down to their Champion.

"What are you doing? She's the only person who knows what happened to Vlad!"

"I know! But whoever took Vlad has got people here. If they see you melting down, they are going to suspect you're more than friends and if my idiot brother is alive, you'll be the first person they take as leverage. Now stop with your Gryffindor nonsense and think like someone worthy of a Dracula.'

Ingrid's harsh words didn't exactly calm Harry, but they did jolt him out of his near panic attack state. She waited until he got a grip, nodded stiffly at her.

"So what's the plan?"

"Follow that Veela. You have your cloak?"

"No- wait, yes. I have Vlad's backpack."

"Put it on. Quickly."

Harry fumbled for the shrunken backpack, yanking the Invisibility Cloak over himself as Ingrid did something that screamed Vlad - turned herself invisible, then grabbed his wrist.

"Stay quiet and watch where you put your feet. They'll take her to the medical tent, but there's going to be a lot of people and officials."

Harry nodded, knowing Ingrid couldn't see him anyway and they carefully followed the crowd toward the medical tent. Cedric Diggory and Viktor Krum were already there after being early exiters from the maze, and looked surprised to see the dramatic entrance as several Beauxbatons students accompanied Fleur in, only to be chased out by irate medical staff. Left only with Champions and the officials, Cedric sat up from where he was laid down looking pale, arm still a dark purplish mottled colour.

"Ok so she has the cup, but nobody looks that happy about her winning."

"Vhere is Vlad?"

Fleur Delacour looked utterly haunted, and Harry found hearing her say it again hurt just as much.

"'E... 'e is dead. The cup. It. . It took us somewhere. He was there, and Vlad told me to grab ze cup when it became clear I was to be eliminated. 'E took the spell for me, and then I was 'ere."

Fleur broke down crying, her mothers appearance almost flawlessly timed as she reached for her daughter.

"She eez covered in vampire blood. What kind of task was zis?"

"Mother, eet is Vladimir's. Is clothes were bloody when 'e took a spell for me."

Harry had to bite down on the inside of his cheek to stay quiet, felt Ingrid move closer to him in their carefully selected empty space. He wanted to demand more information, but Fleur was sniffling and discomposed by what she had seen. He couldn't make it worse. A choked sound caught everyone's attention, turning out to be Krum who looked almost as devastated as Harry felt.

"Vlad? He's... He's gone? Vhat did they hit him with?"

Harry felt the first flicker of hope in his chest, though it was a spark surrounded by the storm of darker emotions.

"What does eet matter? I felt... eet was awful. 'E landed on me as I got ze cup."

Everyone stopped dead, staring blankly and Harry panicked momentarily. Ingrid dropped her invsibility spell, making her way to Fleur and looking over at where Harry was still beneath his cloak.

"They are just hypnotised, they'll be fine. I owe Vlad for teaching me that trick actually... I can't wait around forever for them to get to the important stuff."

Ingrid moved Fleur's head upward, eyes glowing a yellowish-gold as she did something to the Veela girl. Her spell reinstated, Ingrid led him outside the back exit, waiting until they were beneath an already-empty stand.

"You're killing me here. What did you see?"

"That there's a chance he's alive. It was the Killing Curse she saw him hit with."

Vlad opened his eyes, feeling like he had been hit by a train. It was a painfully familiar feeling, reminiscent of a graveyard and statues. He was on the ground, bound with his hands in front of him, though they broke with little more than a thought and he rubbed his wrists, tried to work out how to breathe in a way that wouldn't hurt. It was a fruitless endeavour.

Looking around, he couldn't see much but he was pretty sure he couldn't sense Veela anywhere.

Poor Fleur... she must have been terrified.

The trophy portkey dumped them in a room, landing harshly on a stone floor. Vlad could tell the magic around the cup hadn't dissipated yet, and then that he knew exactly had issued this little 'invitation'.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Knowing he could survive it - if unpleasantly - Vlad threw his body over Fleur's and just about managed to say "get the cup" before he was knocked out by an agonising pain along his spine.

Speaking of which... Vlad couldn't feel his legs. He knew the scar he sustained from the Killing Curse would do terrible damage beneath the injury. Had it damaged his spine? Vlad immediately thought of his grandfather Atilla Westenra, so old and frail that he could no longer walk, and relied on an electric wheelchair these days.

"Better hope that's temporary trauma. Assuming I survive long enough for it to matter."

Vlad tried to use his legs, but they weren't interested in cooperation and they stayed resolutely on the ground, so he did too. There was nobody watching him struggle at the minute, so Vlad conjured a deep armchair that his legs would be supported by and levitated himself awkwardly into it. At least he wasn't a prone, crippled-looking target. He felt how dead weight his legs were, his entire lower body feeling almost... disconnected.

Like it wasn't his.

Off the ground and feeling a tick less vulnerable for it, Vlad started to take stock of his situation.

Agonising pain? Check.

Magic needing time to replenish as he was short potions? Check.

Potential longterm disability from spinal trauma? Check.

Voldemort rigging the Cup as a portkey to kidnap him? Check.

I am so screwed.

Vlad wasn't sure how he was meant to escape. He couldn't even walk, let alone run. They had taken his wand, but that was the least of his problems. Soft, ghosting footsteps sounded nearby, so Vlad used his arms to shift his body up as best he could, attempting to look comfortable and unconcerned.

"Ah, Vladimir. Making yourself at home I see?"

"Bite me Riddle. Dispense with the pleasantries and skip to whatever it is you want from me so I can say no, you can can threaten me and I escape. Just like I rescued Harry in the graveyard."

Maybe he shouldn't go baiting the mad man, but with all the trouble Riddle had gone to to get Vlad there when he could have had any number of people murder him at Hogwarts... he reckoned he had a little leeway. Sure enough, the pale face sneered and scowled, but he didn't curse him again. Putting his magic to the best use - he ensured his Occlumency barrier was as tight as could be.

"Come now Vladimir, surely you know your manners."

"You clearly know nothing about vampires."

The serpentine face was enough to make Vlad's skin crawl, and the darkness and death pouring from his every pore gave him an awful stench that made Vlad's already painful breathing even more unappealing. Still, he couldn't show the pain he was in.

"Oh, I would call myself quite the expert on your kind."

Swallowing nausea from the pain wracking his frame, Vlad let out a hollow chuckle.

"You think so? I would love to know how, because so much of the information out there about us is false. Vampires don't let the truth out you fool."

Suspicious of Riddle probably going out of his way to learn about Vlad to discover limits, weaknesses, Vlad had made an effort to learn to replicate his vampiric powers with magic. If he played calm and collected, made his 'tricks' appear effortless... he may just plant a seed of doubt in his captors mind.

Maybe.

"Believe whatever you like Vladimir. For the foreseeable future, you are my guest."

"You know, as much as I would love to spend time with a deranged narcissist... I think I'll pass. Is that all? Only, I have a Charms essay due soon."

Riddle laughed, but there was not a trace of mirth or humour in it at all. If Vlad could feel it through the pain, he reckoned he would have ice travelling down his spine from the high, cold sound.

"You think I don't know you couldn't walk out of here if I opened the door for you?"

"I could always fly."

Vlad forced himself to stay impassive, even mildly impudent at the mention of his current disability. Voldemort would not win, even if Vlad had to crawl out of there. He would always get back to Harry.

"That glamour charm on your neck was most intriguing. I see you have a love interest."

Small talk? Really?

"Vampires don't love you idiot. We own each other. You won't get a word out of me about her-"

Vlad ensured he looked aghast at his word, adding to the believability of this fictional vampiress girlfriend.

"We'll see. Would you like to see the medic yet? I wouldn't want my guest to stay injured but I wouldn't like to insult that famous Dracula stubbornness. When you're ready to be a little more agreeable, I even have a... gift for you."

Quirking an eyebrow, Vlad would trust a medic from Riddle about as much as he trusted Draco to cook. Whiz at Potions, but the blond could barely boil water when given a kitchen rather than a laboratory.

However...

"A gift?"

"I feel you won't enjoy it as much if you can't get around. No medic, no gift."

"You're such a weirdo. Fine, bring me your questionable healer... but I won't hesitate to incapacitate anyone who tries anything. Off you go."

Riddle couldn't out-attitude a Dracula... even Vlad, the least Dracula of all Dracula's ever to stalk the earth. So when he looked murderous as Vlad waved him off like a schoolboy, he kept the lazy smirk on his face until the gaunt, wasted creature turned and floated away in a haze of billowing black cloak.

Conclusion - whatever Riddle wanted with him... it was major. A years work at least, a heavily complicated, slow and patient plot to kidnap him after a series of trials Vlad almost died during to test... something about Vlad. Skill? Nerve? Cunning? It was unclear.

"You didn't mention I would be treating a vampire my lord."

Vlad's heart turned over in his chest. He hadn't even thought of potentially finding such a familiar yet absent face.

"Is that important Severus?"

"Yes sir, their physiology requires a more specialised, specific approach my lord."

There was nothing in the deep black eyes that told of familiarity, and Vlad found himself letting some of his senses focus harder to check for Polyjuice or Imperius... neither of which he genuinely believed.

"Perhaps you should transport our guest upstairs Severus?"

Something about the look in his old Potions teachers face made Vlad think Riddle was tormenting him somehow, subtle but it seemed to hit its mark.

"Perhaps that is best my lord. Is he ambulatory?"

"Sadly not. Such a shame, he's not as entertaining if he can't try to run."

Talking about him like he wasn't there irritated Vlad - but that was the test. He didn't let it show.

"Is that something you wish me to repair sir?"

"Of course. I want our guest to be comfortable, top of his game. However, first my loyal followers must see I am capable of crippling him first. Carry him."

Vlad resisted as best he could, but every shift he tried to make only hurt his battered back more. Plus, for now he didn't want to attack Snape. Not until he had chance to see if the man really had defected to the dark side.

It didn't make being paraded past the Death Eaters any less humiliating, his legs hanging limp and useless. They laughed and jeered behind their masks, but when one got too close Vlad refused to let them touch him, clenching his fist in mid-air and watching the masked minion choke and reach for the invisible grip on his airway. Before it killed him, Vlad flung him aside and watched several more minions bowl over in an ungainly pile.

"I think your robed idiots need re-educating."

"Perhaps."

The room was suddenly eerily silent - Vlad had not suffered for his resistance, and he had already displayed magical tricks they couldn't fully understand. Riddle swooped, batlike and rather awkward alongside them as Snape carted Vlad across the room, then down a winding staircase to the Potions lab he could smell from halfway up the stairs.

Surprisingly careful, Snape laid Vlad on a table and stepped back. Using his elbows to push himself up, Vlad glared over at Riddle.

"I agreed to the medic. Not you."

"I hope you appreciate how agreeable I'm being for you as my guest young Vladimir."

"I hope you appreciate how little I care."

He was in too much pain, hated the man who had tried to kill his mate too much to play along. If he didn't need to at least try and get hold of Replenisher, and perhaps something to treat his back, Vlad would have just kept refusing Voldemort completely.

Eventually the pale spectre of evil floated out of the room, though not before he held Vlad's wand in his free hand, looking careless and bored about it then vanished. The second they were alone, Snape handed Vlad a vial he identified as Replenisher. Fixing the silent man with a stare, Vlad tried to marshal Occlumency, Legilimency and telepathy properly and sent a short message along to Severus.

"Are they listening?"

Black eyes widened in momentary surprise, but he nodded stiffly. Damnit. Vlad swallowed the Replenisher, feeling his magic fill back up. It didn't help his legs though, still as useless as Phantom during homework.

"I'll need to turn you over to examine your injury."

Translation - you need your back to me. Vlad had to think hard about the risk that posed, but he also wanted to know if he was going to walk again. Struggling to use the upper body he could still control, Vlad managed to roll on to his stomach and vanish his muddy, bloodied Champion shirt. It was just as painful as being hit in the chest had been, but there was no knowledge he was defending his mate to temper it. Not that saving Fleur was bad...

but she wasn't Harry.

"Well? Is it as bad as it feels?"

"The extensive bruising makes it difficult to ascertain. The curse mark as we know causes a deep cut, its too soon to tell if major spinal nerves were permanently damaged."

"Great. Suggest bruise balm and I will eat you."

Glad to have his magic stores refilled, Vlad levitated himself back up and leant himself seated against the wall. It hurt, but at least he could see the room again. He recognised the small black vial he was handed, sniffing it skeptically before swallowing it and felt the potent painkiller wind through his system, lowering his back pain to a tolerable level.

His chest scar still hurt at times, now both front and back would ache constantly - perhaps even eternally as his hope of it stopping when he transformed was just that - a hope. His current state of half-dressed didn't concern him much outside of self conscious thoughts. It was probably good to display the scar that proved he survived not one but two Killing Curses were on display to Voldemort. A reminder he was not a human to be easily controlled, disposed of.

"I must check on something. It would serve your best interests not to attempt to escape or go rifling through my laboratory."

"Hilarious."

Vlad watched as Snape left, taking stock of the man. It hadn't yet been a year since they last saw each other, yet the man looked to have aged much more. There were hints of greyish-white in his pitch-black hair, the furrows around his eyes looked etched in like stone. He had a scar winding down his cheek, jaw and neck that had been healed well, but still pulled on the thin skin around it.

The way he walked had changed too, that old powerful strut now an awkward, stiff gait. About all that seemed to remain of Severus Snape was his quick mind, Potion knowledge and human heartbeat. Even his scent was different, and Vlad couldn't work out why.

Looking around the stone walled room offered no clues - it was a compulsively clean, tidy space that held a mammoth Potion cabinet, wooden surfaces that showed rough scrubbing and scorch marks, little divets that would hold cauldrons.

Vlad could smell Wolfsbane - while it was used in a miniscule amount of other potions, told Vlad there was likely to be a bitten werewolf around the place, being carefully controlled with Wolfsbane Potion when Riddle wanted him compliant, and probably left undosed if he wanted to sic him on others.

Good. Vlad had unfinished business with Fenrir Greyback.

Snape came back out, seeing Vlad had not moved an inch and his appearance gave away nothing about where he had been or what it had been for.

"So... is this my life now? I mean, I did mention I have homework to do so I can't hang about here, but your boss didn't seem to consider my education important."

"I believe the Dark Lord wishes to explain his motivations himself. Perhaps you should be less petulant and he may explain himself."

"Where's the fun in that? He's potentially left me paralysed, not exactly a way to befriend me."

"Well if I heard correctly, that was actually owing to you interfering with him attempting to kill some collateral damage. He did not directly attack you."

"That doesn't actually make it better, he had no right to attack Fleur. She was only there because I insisted we jointly win to piss off the judges."

"Your sense of fairness will not serve you well here. No more than once every four hours. That is all there is to be done for your injuries."

He handed Vlad a rolled up pouch containing multiple black vials. One every four hours... there were a few dozen vials and that added to expectations for him being there several days. Not promising. He was silently handed a second, smaller one that he immediately hid in his left pocket - it was the one with a minor expansion charm on to let him carry his wand without it digging into his leg. Replenisher vials.

"Yeah, I've taken these hits before."

He kept his voice harsh and biting, ensuring whoever listened in - they obviously weren't watching or Snape wouldn't be slipping him extras - heard them at odds.

He wasn't naive however. Riddle may well be instructing Severus Snape to appear to befriend Vlad, support him. Never trust anything at face value. Now... how was he going to get out of needing to be carried around the place until he could get out?

-YDHP-

I don't doubt many are disappointed with the lack of Harry reaction, but this chapter only contained a short glimpse at Hogwarts. It was supposed to be all about Vlad, but I felt like I owed Harry a little hope. More on the wizard later.

And... I promised he would be back!

Consider this a bonus chapter for hitting 100 likes on Chosen Two Y1 + Y2 because I felt terribly guilty for leaving you guys hanging... and I wrote this in a day, next chapter is already half finished.