Severus Snape paced around the office in a fit of rage. His lips were pulled back and his teeth were showing in a somewhat crazy way. Long fangs showing in place of his canine teeth.

He never thought this would ever happen. He didn't think it possible. No, it wasn't possible. Everything Dumbledore had just told him was false. It was not possible for a vampire to have children.

Stopping his furious pacing, he threw himself into a chair by the fire burning in the fireplace burying his head in his hands. Dumbledore looked at him calmly, a note still held lightly in his hand.

"It is all true Severus. You know it to be true." Albus Dumbledore announced, making the vampire jump. Snape shook his head, still unwilling to believe it.

"It cannot be true. If it was, he would be at least half vampire and he has never shown signs before."

"The signs will start showing up when he turns fifteen. That is in a few weeks time. He will not know what is going on. He needs somebody to guide him through the changes he will go through." Dumbledore slowly chuckled at this. "The strangest things can happen while going through puberty."

Severus took his hands away from his head and snatched the letter from out of Dumbledore's hands. He read quickly over it again. On the piece of paper were two separate paragraphs, one written specifically for him, the other for the boy who was apparently his son.

He shook his head again in denial and handed the note back. The two wizards had been acting like this for half the day now, the sun now making its way up to its zenith, midday upon the Hogwarts castle.

Severus sighed. "What do you want me to do?" He quietly asked, looking to the old wizard standing next to him.

"I want you to bring him here before his birthday. I would not think it wise for him to stay with his Aunt and Uncle. I have heard that they can be quite annoying."

Snape nodded his head and got up. "Fine. I will leave now." He announced, getting up and stretching. He wondered how he had gotten himself into this mess. He had a son, a son who would soon start to show signs of vampirism. That son was no other than the famous Harry Potter.

Harry Potter stared at the piece of parchment lying on his lap and grinned widely. Ron had sent him an owl asking if he could spend the rest of his holiday at the Burrow. Of course, Harry immediately wrote a reply that he would love to and sent it off with Hedwig.

As soon as Hedwig had disappeared out his window, the letter tied to her foot, another owl swooped into his room and landed on his bed. The barn owl had the Hogwarts crest and a letter on its leg.

Confused, Harry took the letter off the owl and stared at it. Why would Hogwarts be sending him a letter? Opening it up and scanning it, his eyebrows disappeared into his hair at what he read.

Why would Dumbledore send Snape to meet him at the Weasley's? How did he know he would be going to the Weasley's? He shrugged. He always got the impression that Dumbledore could read minds.

Hearing a noise downstairs as his cousin Dudley snored loudly, he shivered. He was always paranoid that his Uncle or Aunt would come screaming into his room when he was writing with his quill or reading his spellbooks. That would not be a very good experience.

Slowly he let the owl out and got ready for bed. As he lay there, he stared out the window that had been barred again until sleep claimed him.

******************

He knew he was dreaming the moment he saw his mother standing near a fireplace. Next to her was his dad, James Potter. They were in a heated argument about something.

"I never want to see that slimy git anywhere near you again, you hear me Lily. Look what he has done to you." James yelled at his wife.

"He hasn't hurt me at all James. I liked him all the way through school, before I had noticed you. When he showed up here and you were away . . . I was lonely and he was there. Please understand."

Shaking his head, James opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again quickly. He soon stormed out of the room. Lily bowed her head and began to cry. Harry tried to comfort her, but remembered he was not really there. When he realised this, he began to slowly fade away, before everything went black.

******************

Slowly opening his eyes, he almost expected to see his mother standing there, watching him. His dream had been much more . . . real than normal. Sort of like when he had dreams of Voldemort. Sighing, he was about to get up and get changed, when someone began banging on the door for him to get up.

"Wake up and get down here, NOW. You need to cook breakfast. Burn anything and watch it boy!" Great, thought Harry, it's Uncle Vernon. Hurrying and putting on clothes, he called out that he would be down in a second.

With a leap and bound, he jumped down the stairs and raced into the kitchen, his untidy hair unbrushed. Grabbing a frying pan, he went about cooking eggs and bacon for breakfast, careful not to burn anything. Putting the plates and food down on the table, he immediately grabbed some slices of bacon and the smallest egg for himself.

Quickly eating before Dudley could steal his food, he was bombarded with a sick feeling. What if the Dursley's wouldn't let him go? Oh well. There was only one way to find out.

"Ron from school is going to come here to take me back to his house. He said he promised not to come the way he did last time." He quickly said the last, trying to calm down his Uncle who was turning red from anger. "They are driving here."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than there was the honk of a horn outside. Aunt Petunia got up to look out the window to see who it was and turned a ghastly shade of white. Harry immediately knew it was the Weasley's.

Getting up and running to the door, he opened it and went outside, only to see the Weasley's' new car parked in the drive. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it. Molly Weasley making sure that her husband didn't put any flying charms on it.

Ron quickly ran out, a look of confusion on his face. A minute later he understood why as the form of Professor Snape also stepped out of the small car. The Potions master had never told anyone he could drive a car so it came as a bit of a shock.

"Quickly get your things." Snape snapped at him. "We will leave immediately. And brush your hair!"

Harry did as he was told. When they had his Hogwarts things in the boot of the car, he climbed into the backseat, before the car started to drive off towards the Burrow, leaving 4 Privet Drive and the Dursley's far behind.

Harry had a peculiar feeling that Snape desperately wanted to be anywhere but here, but that he had no choice in the matter. He also looked like he wanted to tell something to Harry.

All the way back to the Burrow, he wondered on what could be so important to have Snape personally coming to get him?

Severus stared at Harry from the opposite side of the dining table later that night. No one seemed to think it odd that he wasn't eating anything, mainly because he was sure everybody knew what he was. Harry stared back curiously.

After five minutes of silence between them, he watched as the boy's shoulders slumped. "What?" he asked.

Snape blinked at him. "I need to take you to Hogwarts Harry. You will have to leave your friends here though. You will see them when school starts again."

Harry looked at the untouched food on his plate. "Has this got something to do with You-Know-Who?"

Snape shook his head. "Not precisely, no. It has to do with something else."

Harry looked back up at his Potions Master, a look of curiosity crossing his features. "Really, to do with me?"

Severus nodded. He looked down at the nauseating food everybody seemed to love and grimaced. "It is important that I take you before your birthday. I was told to come here directly to get you. We will leave tomorrow."

Harry grumbled something and it seemed to Severus that he was the only one that heard what he had said. "I told you that you would have to leave your friends behind. It is important you come alone, Harry. Believe me on that."

Harry nodded quietly, thinking to himself that Snape had gone mad. "Why do you keep calling me that?" he asked, quietly out loud.

"What?" Snape asked confused.

"You keep calling me Harry. You never call me Harry. It's always Potter, or boy, or your going to get expelled for this!"

Severus looked hurt. "Sorry if it bothers you so much. Although seeing you expelled has always been something I have quite longed for, it is important that you stay with me for this year."

"Stay with you? What for? I have friends you know. I'll stay with Ron and Hermione."

Snape chuckled at that. "Fine, but sooner or later, you will come to me for help. Believe that. You will come looking for me."

Ron looked up from the sausages piled up his plate. "Why can't I come too? I've never really seen what goes on at Hogwarts when there isn't any school on."

Snape growled. "Why do you have to be so annoying?" he asked the youngest son of the Weasley's. "I said before that only Harry could come."

"Listen to your professor Ron." Mrs Weasley scolded. Ron looked back down at his plate and began to shovel sausages into his mouth. The act disgusted Severus, and it looked like it disturbed Harry too.

Harry sighed. "Fine." He said. "But I have to go to Diagon alley first to pick up my fifth year stuff." Snape nodded and the deal was sealed. He had gotten Harry to come along with him, but how was he supposed to go about telling him about him being his son, or the vampire that will soon show itself?

The rest of this holiday was going to test both of them. Hopefully they will find a way around all the problems that will pop up.

Harry made his way into the room that had been fixed up for him until term started. It was a great looking room. The only problem he could see with it was that it was green. He was a Gryffindor, not a Slytherin. Snape knew that better than anyone.

"Why can't it be red?" he quietly asked his Potions Master.

"You will not have to stay in it for very long, unless you decide to. You might decide to." Severus began to walk out of the room, but was stopped when Harry suddenly sighed.

"What am I going to do? I mean term starts in weeks."

Snape groaned. "Amuse yourself boy. Come on. You now know where your room is. Let's go get your things." Harry began to reluctantly follow him down to the Great Hall where his new Fifth year stuff was.

Earlier that day he and Snape had gone to Diagon Alley and had spent their day buying his new things. The thing that had been bothering him all this time was finally surfacing in his mind. He couldn't believe it had taken him a whole day to figure out that Snape was being nice to him.

"Why are you being nice to me? You're never nice to anyone, except maybe Draco." He asked his Potions Professor. Entering the Great Hall, he spotted his trunk lying on the Gryffindor table. He slowly walked to it and surprising himself, realised that he could lift the heavy trunk without effort.

Staring at it, he figured that Dumbledore, who was sitting at the Head table in his gold chair, had put a weightlessness charm on it. Shrugging to himself he began to carry it back to Snape.

Severus stared at Harry, a look of what could possibly have been dismay on his face. Shaking his head quickly, he ignored the boy's earlier question. A laugh had come from their right. Both turned to find Dumbledore standing next to them.

"Do you not think it time that you told Harry the truth Severus. He is curious to know." The Headmaster noted, smiling at Harry.

Snape frowned. "I don't see how it is possible. It isn't."

"You have shown him to your old room, Severus?" Dumbledore said, ignoring the outburst his Potions Master had just had. Harry turned towards him fast.

"Your old room? You never told me that. Why am I staying in your old room?" There was anger mixed with the tiniest bit of fear in Harry's voice.

"Thank you so much for saying that Albus." Snape said, sarcastically. Sighing loudly, he answered the boy's question. "I was given that room when I came to Hogwarts. Mainly for the same purposes that the Whomping Willow was planted for Remus."

"Uh, ok." Harry said, confusion mingling with the other feelings he was having.

"Yes. Apparently, I was a danger to the other people in my house if I was to stay in the dormitories. Just before starting here, I had a rather unfortunate run-in with a vampire. I was turned and was amazed when I was still allowed to come here."

"So you are a vampire." Harry broke in.

Snape just stared at Harry blankly for a few seconds. "Yes." He replied. "The room was there for the safety of the other students. I had to learn control. It was hard. I had no friends, I was Slytherin and I had a major grudge against the 'Marauders' as they called themselves. I could tell that Remus was a werewolf right away."

"Uh, if you don't mind me breaking in here, but why did you give me your old room?" Harry asked.

"I liked your mother, Harry. She liked me back. That was before she knew your dad well. Lily was, after all, a Slytherin girl. Them two ending up marrying was breaking so many rules against the two houses. Who would have thought, a Gryffindor jokester and a Slytherin girl who was nice."

Harry froze as he heard this. "Oh no. It's not true. He was only gone for two days." Harry said more to himself than to the other two in the room.

Dumbledore looked at him curiously, Snape looked at him like as if he had just snapped and gone mental. "I dreamt it." Harry announced. "My mum was arguing with my dad. It sounded like she had cheated on him while he was away. I thought it was just a dream. She said "I liked him before I even knew you well". She was talking about you wasn't she?"

Snape slowly nodded his head. "I did not know this would happen, Harry."

"What would happen?"

"Your mother was quite.lonely. She asked me to her bed. Things got a little out of hand. James came home early and found me in the house, before I could leave. I could hear them arguing. What you dreamt happened."

"My mum and you. I can't believe it."

Dumbledore sighed, an unpleasant sound coming from him since he was usually always smiling. "Severus!" He demanded.

"There is more. Your mother found out a few weeks later that she was...with child. She was pregnant with you. James was so proud. I always thought that you were his. That is why I did not like you much."

Harry stared at Snape with his mouth hanging open. "But...I am his.aren't I?"

Severus silently shook his head. "Lily left a letter. It was for the both of us."

Dumbledore coughed and Harry looked at him. The Headmaster handed him a note. Opening it, he read the part that was addressed to him. He shook his head. It couldn't be true. "No. This is fake. It can't be real. She wouldn't have done that."

"I thought exactly the same thing." Severus replied.

Shaking his head, he dropped his trunk and ran back to the green room that used to be Snape's. The room that used to belong to the man he had just found out was his father.

As the days past, it was quite clear to Severus that Harry was very upset at him. Most of the time he stayed away from the boy, but during meals and the odd occasion when they would pass each other in the halls of the school, he was given nothing but the dirtiest look he had ever seen on a child in his life.

So he stuck to his room. Not the old one Harry now had taken residence in, but the one he had gotten when he was made a teacher at Hogwarts. He kept himself busy, planning lessons for the young witches and wizards he taught, most of them cruel or unusual. Some were both cruel and unusual. They were the one he liked most.

As the clock ticked by on the wall, he suddenly realised that today would be the boy's birthday. Hiding his head in his hands, he cursed under his breath. He hadn't got a gift and he was quite sure that it would be important to the boy to receive one.

Grabbing his old broom from its place near the door, he flew himself as quickly as he could to Diagon Alley. He walked aimlessly around for what seemed like hours, but was in fact a few short minutes, pondering what Harry liked to do.

He pictured all the times he had seen him happy and suddenly realised what the perfect present would be. Quickly taking a short detour to Gringotts to get out some more money, he took off to buy the one thing he knew Harry would like.

Returning back to Hogwarts, he could just make out the shape of Harry doing laps of the Quidditch pitch on his Firebolt. Severus saw the look on Harry's face and knew he had received presents at least from his friends. For the first time since he had arrived at the school, he looked happy.

Slipping his way silently past the now-a-fifteen-year-old, he got to his room again and wrapped up what he had bought. Hopefully, it would give Harry some sign that he was trying.

Disappearing once again for a short time and appearing later in the Great Hall, he had gathered the last of his present up.

Harry landed neatly on the ground with his newly polished Firebolt. He had still gotten presents. From Ron, he had gotten a massive horde of chocolate frogs, with a note saying he would need all the cheering up he could get.

Hermione had gotten him a beautiful gold cage with a note saying that Hedwig should be living in style. Harry had smiled when inside the cage, he had found a bottle of Broom Polish.

Hagrid had given him his present directly, since he lived in the hut next to the Forbidden Forest. " 'Ere yeh go Harry" he had said and handed him a birthday cake that, for Hagrid, was actually very nice and they had shared it together.

Still, there was something missing. He went back to his room and was about to lie down on his bed when he noticed a big present lying on the ground at the foot of his bed. Getting up, he slowly walked over to it. Trying to lift it, he found it to be quite heavy.

Puzzled, he ripped away the paper and stared in amazement at what he saw. Opening the box up, he grinned for the first time in what felt like weeks. Lying in the box was a brand new set of Quidditch balls, including the red Quaffle and the two fighting bludgers.

Pulling open the compartment that housed the tiny snitch, he watched as the small gold ball uncurled wings and started to flutter around the room. Now he could play Quidditch whenever he wanted and he could let Hermione and Ron join in.

Spying a note lying in the now-empty Snitch compartment, he grabbed it and read it slowly.

Harry,

I know you're very angry with me, but if the letter is to be believed, I want you to know that I had no idea. Please, enjoy your present. I wanted to buy you something that I know you would like. There is more to your present, but to get that, when you have finished reading this go down to the Great Hall. Happy Birthday.
 

There was no signature on the bottom, but Harry immediately knew whom it was from. Snape. His anger at the man who had kept everything about his mum and the person who he had always thought of as his dad, waned a bit. At least the man was trying, Harry thought to himself.

Getting up, he made his way down to the Great Hall. When he had opened the huge doors to enter the room, he could hardly believe his eyes. The whole room was set up like as if it was Christmas Feast, except without the trees. Streamers were everywhere and the cakes and other foods on the table that had been placed in the middle of the room looked absolutely fantastic.

The best thing he could see in the room, however, was a very confused looking Sirius Black. Running quickly over to his godfather, he flung his arms around the other man's neck and held him close.

"So this is what it is like", he said to himself, "to have a party."

Standing off to one side, Snape was looking like he was about to run in the opposite direction. When Harry spotted this, he let go of Sirius and made his way up to him. Surprising even himself, he hugged the man close. "This is the best birthday ever." He whispered, and for the first time ever, he saw Snape smile.

The first thing Harry noticed when he woke up the next day was that he could see. Of course, he had never been blind, but he had always had bad eyesight. But now, without the aid of his glasses he could see more sharply and clearer than he ever had with the glasses.

Picking up the glasses, he stared at them puzzled. Shrugging, he tried them on, only to see the world turn as blurry as it used to be without them.

"Huh?" he said confusedly to himself. Putting the now-useless glasses back onto the bedside table, he got up and dressed in some comfortable Muggle clothes he had found in a wardrobe. Amazingly, everything was his size.

Walking to the Great Hall, he was surprised to see the Hall spotless. After the party last night, he thought the place would still be a mess. He was actually amazed that the sun was still up. It had started to rise by the time he had gotten to sleep.

Sitting down on a vacant chair at the Gryffindor table, he yawned before he realised he was all alone. Looking around at the deserted Hall, he felt extremely small. No matter how many times he had been in this room, there had always been someone else with him. He figured everybody else was still asleep.

Picking himself up on to his feet, he made his way to the fruit painting and tickled the pear, so he could access the kitchens. Entering, he saw the House elves wandering around doing their chores. Seeing Dobby, Harry walked over to the strangely dressed house elf and asked for some breakfast.

Dobby just nodded and got him some sandwiches, which he ate thankfully. He was soon full of sandwiches as all the other house elves had started to give him them. Before he left he grabbed a glass of pumpkin juice and drank it quickly.

When he escaped from the clutches of Dobby and his elven friends, he bumped into Snape. "Hey!" he yelled.

Snape just sneered at him. "I was told to come get you. You might have noticed some changes happening. I am supposed to help you to adjust."

"Adjust to what?" Harry asked, not knowing what his Potions Master, his newly found father, was trying to tell him.

Growling under his breath, Snape stared at his son. That word that was still so unfamiliar to him. "As I told you when we first got here, I am a vampire. When you are fully grown, you will stop ageing probably. I did, but I am not born this way. You were."

"What?" Harry asked, a confused look coming over his face.

Snape sighed. Sometimes talking to this boy was impossible. "Where are your glasses, boy?" he asked, colder than he intended.

Harry shrugged. "On my dressing table. I can't see a thing with them on anymore."

"You have started to change. You have inherited my Genes."

"But I'm wear...oh. You mean that I'm...but I don't feel any different. You are joking. I can't be a...not me."

"Stop your whinging. If it helps, I had no idea what was happening to me. You are lucky I am here. There is only one other vampire at this school. He might be willing to help as well, but you will have to wait for term to start."

"Another? Who? Is it Draco?"

Snape laughed. "No, it is not young Mr Malfoy, though I can understand how you could think that. No, he is also in Gryffindor."

Harry sighed in relief. "Good. But I still can't believe it." After a few minutes time, he realised what time it was. "I didn't think that vampires could walk in the sun."

"That is myth."

"Good. It would be hard to get to Quidditch matches when they are all played during the days."

Snape laughed again. Harry grinned to himself. He had gotten him to laugh twice in one day. The impossible had happened.

"Is that all you ever think of? Quidditch?"

Harry laughed then, "no, but your present didn't hurt. I loved it."

Severus grinned at the boy. He had liked his present. Now onto other more important things. He had to see how far Harry had changed.

"Have there been any other changes. Your eyesight has already changed. Is there anything else?"

Harry shook his head no. "No. Nothing. Just my eyesight. I promise to tell you if I find anything else has changed. Are all senses supposed to be enhanced?"

"Yes. That is true. Until you get used to it, I suggest you wear sunglasses out during the day. It rather hurts the eyes."

Harry just nodded before running back to his room. This action kind of puzzled Severus, until he saw the boy running back a few minutes later carrying his broom in one hand. "How well do you fly?" Harry asked.

Snape put on his best evil grin. "Let's just see." He announced before he too had grabbed his broom and both went to the Quidditch pitch, Severus carrying the new Quidditch set under one arm.

Being a full vampire, and Harry with his enhanced sight, they both played long into the night, still both able to see the balls in nothing but the moonlight. Harry thought it was the best feeling ever.

For the first time ever, he felt like he belonged to a family, even if it was Snape.

Harry waited at the Gryffindor table, a feeling of happiness inside him, battling away the boredom he was so used to feeling these days. He had to wait only a few seconds before the Great Hall was flooded with chatting witches and wizards who were second year to seventh year.

Hermione and Ron were somewhere in the lead, both with Prefect badges shining in the light of hundreds of floating candles. Both of his best friends came running up to him, in an un-prefect like way and sat down on either side of him.

Hermione gave him a hug that seemed to squeeze the air out of his lungs. When Harry had owled his two friends about what had been happening around the castle, he had also added in the part about Snape being his father (to the horror of the both of them) and about the slow transformation into a vampire.

Not that much had changed. He had expected it to happen faster, but all that had changed in him so far was his senses, all now as sharp as his eyesight, and his strength. He had been talking to Snape a lot about what went on with him. At first, when his sense of smell doubled, he would go into sneezing fits whenever he went outside, the pollen being too much. After a while, that had stopped though, thankfully.

Severus was worried about him that much was certain. He had told Harry to call him by his first name when students weren't about. That in itself was scary.

Ron stared at him. "How you doing, Harry?" he asked, a smile on his lips. He knew how much his best friend hated being asked that.

Harry scowled. "How do you think I'm doing?" he snapped, before he realized his friend meant it as a joke. He smiled in an apologetic way. "Sorry." Looking around the Great hall, he was suddenly drowned by noise. It had been so quiet for so long, he had grown used to it. He had to fight the urge to cover his ears. "Is it my imagination, or is it extremely noisy in here right now?"

"Everyone is excited Harry. Start of new year at Hogwarts is always this noisy." Hermione replied. "Hey look, the new first years." She announced, pointing to the nervous and scared new pupils of Hogwarts that were now filing into the room.

The sorting. He had forgotten all about it. For the first time ever, he really wished not to see it. The thought of hundreds of people cheering and clapping and (in the Weasley twins' case) wolf whistling and cat calling, was already giving him a headache.

Groaning, he slunk down in his chair, determined to sit through it and enjoy it. When the Hall quieted down and the hat had sung its song, Professor McGonagall brought out the sorting hat and sat it on its three- legged stool. Unwrapping the sheet of parchment with the new students' names on it, she went about saying her usual speech about putting the hat on to be sorted into their houses.

As the first person was called up to be sorted (Simmons, Beverly) and was placed into Hufflepuff one quarter of the hall exploded into sound. Harry stuffed his fingers in his ears and closed his eyes tight.

This went on for a long time, people being sorted into their houses, with an uncharacteristic Harry trying to hide in his seat. After the sorting, he found he had been right. He did have a headache.

Hermione and Ron were openly staring at him and he felt himself turn red. A quick look around told him nobody else was really paying attention to him. He sighed in relief at that. He rubbed his head, but ignored the throbbing when Dumbledore stood up for his announcement.

"Please all of you note that the Forbidden Forest, as always, is out of bounds to all students. This is a rather dangerous time, as most of you know. With the rebirth of Lord Voldemort I would also like to note that nobody should be outside after dark, or alone. Always walk in groups and inform a Prefect or a teacher if there is any unusual goings on I should know about. Now enjoy this scrumptious feast."

At that said the tables filled with all kinds of food and everybody heartily dug in. Harry forgot about his headache and everything else as the food appeared in front of him. Lately, he had one huge appetite and when he saw food, he had a one-track mind. Eat. Nothing else really mattered unless it was food.

He piled a lot of meat onto his plate and began to furiously chew at it. It was overcooked to his tastes, but that didn't really matter. By the time he realized he was being stared at he had managed to figure out that he hadn't been using his knife and fork, but his bare hands. 

Looking down at his now empty plate, he felt himself going red again. Ron again asked if he was ok, Hermione began to fuss over him. "What's the password to get into the common room," he asked quietly.

Hermione looked worriedly at him, but answered. "It's Frogspawn. McGonagall was looking at frogs in a pond at the time." She announced quietly. Harry got up and quickly fled the Great Hall.

"What just happened?" he asked himself quietly, before muttering the password to the Fat lady and entering the Gryffindor Common Room.

Hermione looked at Ron, confusion on her face. "Do you think Harry's alright?" she asked her boyfriend, as they slowly left the table and gathered the first years to show them to the common room.

When she had gone to Diagon Alley to pick up her school things, they had met and Ron had asked her out. Since she liked him, she accepted and they had been going steady ever since.

"Don't know? He was acting strange though." Ron replied. Stopping their rather short conversation, they filed out of the Great Hall, a bunch of tired and well-fed first years tagging along behind them.

Reaching the portrait of the fat lady they stopped. Hermione, acting just as Percy had done, piped up. "This is where the Common Room entrance is. The password to get in is frogspawn."

As the portrait swung open, Hermione waved the first years inside and gently shoved Ron in the direction of the boys' dormitory. Taking the hint, Ron made his way up to the 5th year boys' room. He quietly knocked before entering the room.

Harry was sitting up on his bed, the photo album Hagrid had given him in his first year lying open on his lap. Ron walked over to his best friend and glanced down at the photo Harry was staring at. It was one of the photos of Lily and James' wedding. It was a shot of the four Marauders, Lily and off to one side was Snape.

"You ok?" Ron asked quietly, not wanting to upset his friend. Harry shook his head, no.

"I don't know what's happening to me. Well, I do, but I don't know what to expect. Then I end up acting like a nutter in the Great Hall." Harry sighed. "Don't ask me what happened down there, 'cause I don't know how to answer that."

Ron just nodded, them smiled. "Guess what happened at Diagon Alley," he asked. When Harry shook his head Ron told him all about asking Hermione out. This news did its job well.

Harry started to grin, before breaking out into a full smile. "Good going Ron! I was wondering when you two would finally get together."

Ron smiled sheepishly down at his friend. "Yeah, well, we're happy." After a few minutes of quiet, he asked Harry what had been bothering for a while now. "Snape is truly a vampire?" When Harry nodded Ron smiled even wider. "Hah! Knew it. Gotta tell Fred and George. They were sure he wasn't."

"Yeah. Well, it's not as fun as you think it is. I've been talking to him you know. He was attacked shortly before coming to Hogwarts. Apparently it is not all that easy. I haven't changed that much. What scares me is the fact that I was born this way and I didn't even know it."

Ron flinched. "Tough break. I know you don't really want to be a vampire Harry, but you don't really have much of a choice. If it helps, I'll still be your friend. So will Hermione. She keeps on blabbing on constantly bout how hanging around us will make it easier."

Harry nodded. "Maybe I will. Severus said to start off with it will be hard to control, especially around people. That's why I have a whole room to myself. Just in case it gets too much for me to stay here."

"Severus?" Ron asked, grinning. "Oooh on a first name basis with our Potion's Professor. I would NOT go calling him that from now on."

Harry laughed. "I won't, don't you worry."

"So where is this room of yours. You promised to show Hermione and me remember."

Harry nodded, closed the album and got to his feet. Waving Ron to follow him, they went downstairs to the common room, only to see Hermione curled up on a couch, a book in one hand, with Crookshanks purring loudly on her lap.

After telling her that they were going to go to Harry's private room, she jumped up quickly, dislodging the cat from its resting place. The three of them quickly opened the portrait and took off. Halfway around a bend, they crashed into someone. Quickly looking up, they saw that it was Snape.

Harry quickly looked at the ground. This was the last person in the world he wanted to see right now.

"I suppose that you have told your friends about all the interesting news you have had Harry?" Severus said, glaring at the three teenagers, obviously off running into trouble somewhere.

"Yes sir. They're my friends. They would have killed me if I hadn't told them everything." After a few seconds, he added, "not literally."

Calming down a bit, Snape asked, "Where are you going to in such a rush? Watch what you are doing next time."

"Sorry Professor. Harry was taking us to his room. He wants us to know where it is." Hermione announced.

Severus nodded his head to the girl before turning his attention fully onto Harry. "Be careful. Change the password every now and then. If you feel like having company, then that is up to you but you will need at least a few days, maybe weeks to yourself. When you start to feel the hunger for blood, do not give your friends here the password. They might end up being snacks."

With that said, Snape moved on down the corridor, his robes catching the wind and billowing out, like always. Harry looked at him as he disappeared around the bend. He suddenly didn't feel well. His stomach was knotted and he knew his face was paler than normal.

"Come on Harry. You can show us your room now. When it comes to the time when we have to leave you alone, we'll leave you alone." Hermione said, trying to loosen Harry up a bit. Harry turned and looked at her, before nodding.

Giving a reluctant smile he replied, "Yeah, let's go. It's over here!" By the time they had reached his room, he was once again in a good mood, his conversation with his father lying forgotten at the back of his mind. He would enjoy his time with his friends now, while he had it.

Severus paced the room like a caged animal. Usually he enjoyed harassing the pupils in his Potions class, but lately he had other things on his mind, namely Harry. The worry was expressed as anger during the classes he taught and he was now certain that he had every student terrified of him.

Weeks had passed since the school year had started and watching the boy he now knew as his, was getting him to feel things he thought he wouldn't ever feel. He had noticed that while Harry was now letting his hair grow long, making him look more like his than James', he was looking more like Lily than ever before.

Thinking of Lily made him sad and irritable. He was quite sure that Harry knew that, but the boy couldn't help the way he looked. Especially his eyes. So much like his mother's. Sighing, he stopped his pointless daydreaming just in time to see Neville Longbottom melt yet another cauldron.

This event happened so often nowadays that the forgetful twit that Longbottom was knew exactly what to do. Without one word, the bumbling boy started to clean up the Potion that he had unmistakably made wrong, a look of terror in his eyes at the punishment he would get this time.

To everyone's amazement, all he did was sit at his desk, look at the terrified student and shook his head. He thought that nobody would question his new quiet behaviour that is, until he heard young Malfoy speak.

"Look at that Longbottom, everybody is so fed up with seeing you act like a fool, even Snape is beginning to ignore you." Draco announced, loud enough for the whole class to hear.

Everyone went extremely quiet for a few seconds, before the Slytherins began to laugh and the Gryffindors began to yell in protest at how unfair they were being. The only two quiet people in the class were Harry and himself. He was wondering why Harry was so quiet. Looking to the boy, he was kind of shocked to see the boy look distressed, his hands over his ears.

He realized that the noise level had increased to that of a Quidditch match. Being in the dungeons of the school, everything was amplified. Not liking his quiet classroom suddenly turning into a brawling match between the two houses he did the first thing that came to his mind.

"Silence!" he yelled. "Fifty points off both houses! Stop this pointless fighting and sit down." Seeing the sudden scramble of students trying to get to their seats as fast as possible, he tried to calm himself down.

Draco looked positively shocked. His face had turned whiter than it already was. "But sir. They star.."

"If you say one word more, you will have more points taken away from your house, Mr. Malfoy. You know who started that and it was not any of the Gryffindors."

"But..."

"Ten points, Malfoy. And detention for disobeying a professor. See me after class."

Draco looked shocked. He had never lost a point for his house before. Sure he had gotten a couple of detentions before, but losing points was something new for him. Deciding it best to keep his mouth shut, Draco cowered over his own cauldron and quietly went back to making the set potion.

Looking about the class, his eyes immediately landed on Harry. The boy's hands had come away from his ears and were now clamped across his mouth. A pained look in his eyes. His two friends Ron and Hermione were looking at him, wondering what was wrong.

Severus groaned. Strong emotions usually made the vampire inside surface. Anger, fear and pain. Other emotions could also trigger it, but none of them the boy had felt yet, being too young.

Harry had been talking to him more of late. There was still anger in the boy towards him, but that was mostly faded now. In Harry's last little chat with him, the boy had been complaining of his teeth 'itching'. Of course, at the time, he had had a fight with Ron about something trivial and was angry. He knew the boy's fangs would drop soon at some point, but did it have to be here and now?

Harry whimpered, and stated in a very small voice, his hands still over his mouth, "Ow."

Severus needed to get the boy out of the classroom, before the whole room had figured out what the problem with Potter was. He also had the rest of the lesson to teach. Letting his eyes dart around the room, they landed on who he was looking for.

"Mr. Thomas. Please escort Mr. Potter to the infirmary?" he asked. Seeing the look the Potion's Master gave him, the boy nodded went over to Potter and started to take him away. After all, the other Gryffindor did know what Harry was going through.

Walking out of the Potions Class, Dean close by, Harry once again felt the burning rage he had felt for Snape that he had felt when the man had been announced as his father. He started to blindly walk in the direction of the Hospital Wing.

Taking his hands away from his mouth, he curled them into fists by his sides and stopped his walking, feeling the other boy crash into him. "Hey! What was that for?" Dean asked.

"I hate him. I really do. I'm never going to forgive him for this." Harry replied, clenching his jaw and cutting his bottom lip on his extremely sharp fangs. He let out a growl. "What the hell is going on? Why didn't he tell me?"

Dean looked worriedly over his shoulder to make sure nobody was near. Seeing and hearing nothing, he spied a classroom not in use and dragged Harry into it and closed and locked the door behind them. "Please try to calm down."

"Calm down? Hah! I have had nothing but lies thrown at me for what feels like my whole life. First my aunt and uncle tell me my parents died in a car crash and kept it from me that I was a wizard. I lived for 11 years in a cupboard for something I didn't even know I was."

"A cupboard?!" Dean asked.

"Shut up! Yes a cupboard. Under the stairs. Then I find out I am a wizard and find out the truth about my parents. Then I come here. I'm famous for something I didn't even know about and I don't like it. Hagrid told me about Voldemort and how I survived.

Then in my third year I find out that all this time I had a God uncle, but it is a bit hard to stay with him when he is on the run. Everybody was trying to keep me safe from a person who wanted nothing but to take me in and give me a proper home.

Then last year, the last task for the tournament, I realized that the reason why all this stuff has happened is because whoever gets close to me gets hurt. Cedric died and everybody blamed me.

Then to top it all off, I'm taken here during the holidays and was told that even the person I thought was my father isn't. That my mum decided 'Hey, I think I will go sleep with the first person to come by because I'm lonely' and I am conceived. Oh and then we can't forget the part that I am going to slowly turn into a vampire, I think I left that bit out."

Breathing heavily, Harry realized that after his little rant, he felt better. He didn't know he had needed to get that all out so desperately. He suddenly realized that Dean was looking at him strangely. He blushed and looked at the floor, embarrassed. "Sorry." He apologized.

Dean shook his head. "It's ok. I just didn't think you would have had such a hard time. Everybody thinks you live this life of luxury, even if you are staying with Muggles."

Harry snorted in disgust. "Yeah, well you are about the only one who has ever heard about half of that stuff. Some of it I haven't even told Ron and Hermione. I have a habit of bottling everything up inside."

Dean nodded. He walked over to Harry and laid a hand on his shoulder. "You shouldn't do that. Especially not now. You should tell your friends. The last thing you need is to get angry. The vampire has a habit of surfacing if pushed. I'm guessing that you weren't expecting what happened were you."

Harry was almost about to ask what Dean meant by that. Then he realized that, now that he had ranted and let his feelings out, the fangs he had felt in his mouth had gone. Touching his teeth, he shook his head, no. Then something dawned on him.

"Um, Dean you're Muggleborn, aren't you?" When he saw Dean nod, he asked, "how did your parents take the news that you were a vampire?"

Dean laughed. "Even Muggles know about vampires, except to them we are just myth. My mum and dad couldn't believe it when I went inside from playing in the backyard and had fangs. Fortunately for me, the one who bit me stuck close and taught me everything I needed to learn. She became friends with the whole family."

"How many people here at Hogwarts know what you are?" Harry asked.

"Just Seamus and Professor Snape. I was changed when I was only a little boy. I didn't need my own room. Snape told me about you, but made me not tell you. For a person who has hated you for four years, he seems rather attached to you now."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well when he finds out that he is a father, he went all nuts. You know, he can be really nice when he wants to be but I still hate him for what he did."

Dean nodded, looked Harry up and down, then unlocked the door and opened it looking for any sign of people. "Well, you should go up to the dorms. Don't bother with going to the Hospital wing. I need to get back to class."

Harry nodded. Watching as Dean disappeared out the door. A second later the other boys head stuck around the door. "If you ever need to rant, I'll listen. Remember that."

Nodding again, Dean disappeared for good and Harry went up to his Dorm and bed. Lying down, he realized he was exhausted from all the yelling he had done. Soon he was asleep.

Well at least he had found out who the other Gryffindor vampire was. He was glad it was somebody his own age. Someone who will understand him and his new problems.

Harry didn't wake up until dinnertime, and then only because he was shaken awake by Ron. He felt drained of energy, emotionally, and didn't want to get up.

"Leave me alone." Harry groaned into his pillow. Ron said something about tea being ready and Harry shrugged his best friend off. "I don't care. I'm not hungry." He replied.

"You alright? Why did you suddenly decide to skip classes like that anyway? Hermione started to have a panic attack when you didn't show up for Charms. She got all your homework for you though."

Harry sighed. He figured he might as well make an appearance in the Great Hall, even though what he had said was true. For the first time in a long while, he had no appetite at all. In fact, thinking of food made him feel nauseous.

"Bad timing of something. I think I might have told Dean a little too much about me. I couldn't help it though. I went on this rant and just tired myself out. I slept through the rest of the classes." Harry winced at this. Now, with the O.W.L's looming closer (it was the year they were to be taken), he knew he couldn't afford to miss classes.

Ron looked closely at Harry. "Well, let's go down to the Great Hall, have something to eat and then you can tell Hermione and me all that you told Dean. We're best friends. We shouldn't keep huge secrets from one another."

"Yeah you're right. Fine I'll tell you and Hermione everything."

Ron smiled brightly and nodded. He grabbed Harry by the arms and dragged him out of his bed. Harry sighed, put on some more fitting clothes and followed his friend down to the Great Hall. The smell of the food usually made his mouth water, but now it just made him feel sick. But still, he took his position at the Gryffindor table and began to play with the food in front of him.

"Not going to eat?" someone asked. Looking to his left, Harry found Seamus was the one that spoke.

Harry shook his head no. "I don't feel too good." He muttered more to himself than to the people around him. He let both his hands fall to his stomach and groaned. He was amazed at how many people quickly scurried out of his way. He suddenly went dizzy.

Not thinking, he got up and moved to go outside and get some fresh air, hoping it would clear his head a bit. Unfortunately, his body had other ideas and as soon as he got to his feet, he found himself falling to the floor and darkness enveloping his mind. 

He felt something on his cheek, but couldn't move his hands to brush it away. A few seconds later, he realized that someone was gently slapping his cheeks. Slowly he opened his eyes, only to see nearly every Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff staring at him. He didn't manage to blush, even though it was one of the most embarrassing moments of his life. Hearing a relieved sigh coming from next to him, he slowly turned his head only to be staring at Snape. He immediately shoved the man away, remembering that he was angry with him again.

"I'm fine. Go away!" He glared at Snape. He watched a surprised look cross his father's features, before it disappeared into the usual mask he wore around students.

Harry sat up too fast and almost fell back to the floor. Some sixth year boy from Hufflepuff steadied him. "Thanks." He muttered, before slowly climbing to his feet. He quickly sat back at his position at the Gryffindor table, and putting a little food on his plate, began to eat.

He still wasn't hungry, but if it got every body to stop staring at him, then he didn't really mind.

After dinner Harry, Ron and Hermione all went to Harry's private room where he went on to tell them everything he had told Dean, except in greater detail. By the time he had finished, it was extremely late. Looking to his two best friends, he saw them staring at him and yawning. He knew they weren't yawning because they were bored, more because they were all tired.

"You can all camp in here if you want. I don't know about you two, but I'm extremely tired."

"Wait, Harry. Why did you faint? I mean, you were complaining of not feeling well. Do you know what is wrong? I didn't think vampires could get sick ." Hermione asked, even as she saw Ron slink off to the couch and immediately fall asleep on it.

"I still do a bit, but that faded after I ate. Guess I was hungry and didn't know it. I was just woken up." He replied, looking at the sleeping Ron. He yawned then, and rubbed his eyes. The tangy scent of fear suddenly hit his nose. Looking up, he saw Hermione staring at his mouth.

"Uh, yeah. The fangs are new." He said, before crawling into the sheets of his bed and immediately fell asleep.

Waking up soon after, he didn't know the reason why. Soon though, he realized that Hermione must have woken Ron up as the two weren't in the room. Just about to fall asleep again, he was suddenly hit by a cramp in his stomach. Groaning, he was just in time to make it into the little bathroom and was sick.

When he had emptied his stomach, he flushed the toilet and was going back to bed, when another cramp took him. It didn't feel like it was staying in his stomach though. He suddenly felt like his veins were on fire. He fell to the floor where he curled into a ball, waiting to see if the pain would go away.

Not knowing what to do, he did the first thing that came to his head. He screamed.

He screamed. It hurt everywhere. His whole body was on fire and he couldn't move to put the fire out.

He slowly crawled to the couch. Lying down, he began to pant. Another cramp in the stomach made him double over in pain. At least this time, he was lying down, so he didn't fall to the floor again.

Groaning, he heard the door slowly open and was just in time to catch the back of Hermione's head as she closed the portrait into his room. Something in him took over, because suddenly he automatically quieted himself and hid himself further in the couch.

He could hear her heart thundering in her chest, each beat making him all too aware of how close she was getting to him. He closed his eyes, feigning sleep, as he heard her walk over to the couch. He heard her bend down to pick something up.

Not being able to stand the noise anymore, he pounced from the couch and stood in front of her. "Hermione. Make it stop." He whimpered. She immediately walked toward him wanting to know what is wrong.

He almost fell again as another cramp took him over. "Stay away. The vampire is God, I don't know. It hurts everywhere."

Hermione suddenly got a scared look in her eyes. The fear that Harry could smell made him fall off the cliff he was balancing on and he lunged for her. Just as he grabbed her, the door opened again and Ron poked his head in.

Stopping, Harry looked to his best friend, baring fangs. Hissing loudly, Harry held Hermione up and turned her around so that her back was against his chest. Twisting her head to one side, exposing her neck, he began to pant with the need of blood. He was happy to see Ron run away, leaving him to his meal, struggling in his hands.

"Harry, please don't." Hermione gasped, as she felt needle sharp teeth graze her neck not enough to draw blood.

"Please." Harry whispered into her ear. As he reared his head back to strike deep, he was suddenly doubled over and lost his grip on Hermione. Clutching at his stomach, he looked angrily up at her. "What was that for?" He croaked, winded from where she had just elbowed him.

"You can't just kill me Harry." She replied, running to the tapestry and trying to get it open to get out.

Harry looked at her confused for a few seconds. "I wouldn't do that, Hermione. I just want the burning to stop."

"You will Harry. It's too strong. You won't be able to stop."

Harry looked at her more closely and came back to his senses. He slowly backed away from the way out. His eyes kept on flicking over her neck, making the hunger inside him flare even stronger.

Closing his eyes hard, he tried to clear his mind more, but was pulled once gain by the thunderous sound of her heartbeat. When his eyes opened once again, they found Hermione in much the same position she had been in before she had elbowed him.

Leaning down, he was about to sink his teeth into her flesh, when the tapestry opened and Ron, doing a very Gryffindor thing by being brave, tackled Harry to the floor. A wild struggle between the two boys broke out and soon Harry was sitting on top of his best friend’s chest, fangs burying themselves in flesh.

It took a few seconds of furious sucking, before Harry realized that his fangs were buried not in his friend's neck, but in a wrist. Grabbing the wrist, he held it closer to his mouth, digging deeper with his teeth.

Harry didn't even bother to hear the conversation that was going on around him. He was too caught up in the blood to do much of anything except take as much as possible into himself.

He did realize he was being picked up, however. And the absence of two of the heartbeats. Slowly, he came around to his senses. Slowly he let go of the wrist, only to see that it was Snape that he was clinging to. Could another vampire really feed off another? Harry thought and realized what a stupid thought it was. If it wasn't possible, he wouldn't have and both Ron and Hermione would be dead.

Glaring furiously at the man, he wriggled out of the embrace that held him and fell to the floor. He quickly got to his feet again, fists balling at his sides. He lifted a hand and pointed it at Severus. "I hate you for this. I hope you know that." He said angrily, before stalking off to his bed and laying down.

He couldn't believe he had gotten so out of control that he had purposefully tried to kill his two best friends. Hearing Snape sigh and slowly leave, Harry did the one thing he had been desperate to do since he was brought to Hogwarts that year. He curled himself into a ball on his bed and cried.

The next day everybody knew there was something not quite right going on. Harry didn't show up to any of his classes, Ron and Hermione got scared looks on their faces whenever the boy-who-lived was mentioned and, not so surprising but somehow keyed in to the whole mess, Snape was grouchier.

The latter was lurking the hallways and staying out of people's way. Whenever someone went anywhere near him, points were deducted from their house faster than you could say unfair.

As the Ravenclaw he had just yelled at ran away, Severus sighed. He wasn't really angry with the students, more with himself. It was all his fault that Harry was acting the way he did. The talk he had had that morning with Dumbledore about the sudden change in the boys' diet was adding to the anger.

I doubt that Harry went back to sleep, he thought to himself. He knew he hadn't been able to. All he could think of right now was crawling into his bed and sleeping for a week. Unfortunately, he still had one more class to teach for that day. It just so happened to be the Gryffindor/Slytherin fifth year students. Sighing, he made his way to the dungeon classroom.

The first thing he noticed as all the students turned toward him were the scared looks from Granger and Weasley. Shaking his head, he put all his anger into teaching the lesson. As was to be expected everybody did exactly what he told them to do, even Longbottom managed to get the sleep potion they were working on right.

After an excruciating lesson and the class was getting ready to leave, he surprised himself by holding back Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley. As they finished packing up their ingredients and walked towards him, he was suddenly fumbling for words.

"Professor, you wanted to speak to us?" Hermione asked. She looked closely at Snape when all he did was nod.

"Are you alright?" Severus asked somewhat awkwardly. Being nice to students still wasn't on his to do list. Ron's eyebrows disappeared into his red hair. Hermione got an understanding look in hers.

"We're not dead if that's what you mean." Ron blurted out before Hermione could stop him. Both students were surprised even further when Snape winced.

"What Ron means to say is we are both just a little bit shaken up from what happened last night. I mean it isn't everyday that you find out that your best friend is a vampire and will kill you faster than you can say.. I'm not helping am I?" she muttered the end words.

Looking up at their Professor, they saw a faraway look on Snape's face. When he shook his head and glanced down at the two students, he sighed once again. "You two are extremely lucky. You Miss Granger for holding Harry off for as long as you could and Ron for coming to get me and tackling him knowing that you could have been killed. It was a very brave and Gryffindor thing to do. I would speak to him about it, but the boy seems to hate me now." A sad look swam into his eyes after saying the last.

Hermione immediately saw this. "I'm sure he didn't mean it Professor. Harry has been going through some immensely rough times. Not just now, but his entire life. He just needs somebody to care for him. You will be good for him and I think he would be good for you too."

With that said, Ron smiled and nodded. He had noticed that when Snape and Harry were getting along, the usually cruel and strict Potion's Master wasn't that bad.

Severus slowly nodded his head. He knew he should go talk to Harry, but didn't think it was the right time. He would wait for the boy to calm down a little first. Suddenly it dawned on him that while away from classes Harry would miss a lot of work.

"Do you two think it possible to collect Harry's schoolwork? I doubt he would be too pleased if he ended up failing his O.W.L's." With that said, Ron smirked and Hermione blushed.

"Actually, I was going to ask you if you could pass on all his notes. I have already collected them for him." With that, Hermione reached into her bulging schoolbag and pulled out a pile of notes and parchments with diagrams. "I thought Harry might want something to do."

Severus stared at the girl. He wished he had had friends like her when he was attending school, but he hadn't. Taking the pile of parchment, he nodded his consent. He would pass them on to Harry as soon as he was out of this damnable room.

Seeing that both students were still standing in front of him, nervously moving from one foot to another, he dismissed them. Now that he was alone in the classroom, he didn't feel the courage to go to his son. If he had, he would have been a Gryffindor.

Walking back to his own room, he set the pile down on his desk and stared at it. Sitting down, he was about to pick it up and read through the notes to see if it was really that important when he heard his door creak open a little. Looking up, he was surprised to see nothing there. Standing and making his way to the door he heard the distinct sound of a person running down the hall and the thud of a door soon followed.

Obviously, some Slytherin wanted to see how close they could get to peeking inside his private chambers before being spotted. It was a favourite game of theirs and one that people needed to be cunning to pull off.

Thinking nothing of it, he dismissed the student and closed his door, putting a locking charm on it so no one could enter. Unbeknown to him, that student had been Draco Malfoy. Someone who had heard every word exchanged between himself, Granger and Weasley. Someone who would spread the word faster than fireweed will grow.

By the time Dinner rolled by, everybody was talking about the crazy rumor that Harry Potter was a vampire.

Contrary to what Severus said, Harry did end up falling asleep again. After exhausting himself from crying, he had slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep.

He began to stir when he felt something on his shoulder, holding him tightly. Suddenly remembering the night before, his eyes flew open ready to get rid of whoever was shaking him awake. Growling at the intruder, he looked more closely, only to see that it was Dean. Harry sighed in relief.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked the other boy.

Dean looked down at him, a frown on his lips. "Somebody found out Harry. By the time dinner came round, everybody was talking about the rumor that you were a vampire. Dumbledore is trying his hardest to calm everyone down and tell them other wise, but nobody's listening."

Harry let his head hit the pillow and groaned. "Nothing can go right for me lately can it? How come all this stuff has to happen to me?!" Sitting back up again, he sighed. "It's not like I can really go down there."

Dean nodded, then looked at Harry strangely. "What happened last night? Ron and Hermione wouldn't tell me, Seamus and the other Gryffindors knew nothing about any of this and Snape is being closed-mouthed about the whole subject. Not that he was very talkative beforehand."

Harry shook his head. "I took your advice and told them all that stuff I told you, but in greater detail. I took them here to have that chat. By the time I had finished it was late and we were all tired. Ron fell asleep on the couch and I went to bed. I woke up in pain. It felt like I was burning from the inside out.

Ron and Hermione were gone, so I gathered that Hermione had woken Ron up and they went back to the tower. I laid on the couch, clutching at my stomach not knowing what was wrong.

A few minutes later, Hermione came back. I closed my eyes and feigned sleep. Ron had left something behind and they had come back for it. I think it was his wand. I jumped at her and attacked her. Before I could do anything, Ron poked his head in, and I looked at him and hissed. He ran away.

I was about to bite Hermione when she elbowed me in the gut. I let her go and she ran to get out. I came to my senses for a bit and told her I wouldn't hurt her, but she said I would kill her. I closed my eyes and almost did what she said. I had her and she couldn't get away that time.

I almost had bitten her again, when the door to my room flew open and Ron tackled me. The idiot began to fight with me. In next to no time, I was ready to bite him too, I thought I had when my fangs sunk into flesh."

Dean's eyes widened and he nodded. "Let me guess, Snape right?" Off of Harry's nod, he continued, "That's probably why he has been so angry all day. He hasn't been that bad in class since as long as I can remember."

Harry snorted. "Yeah, well it's not like he's worried for me or anything. Known him, he probably wished I had killed my two best friends."

Dean scowled. "Don't even say that Harry. It's not true. When another vampire feeds off another, it builds a bond between the two. He wouldn't have done that if he didn't care for you Harry. He would have carried you off to somewhere else."

Harry looked to his fellow Gryffindor in confusion. "What do you mean a bond?"

Dean sighed. "When a person is made a vampire, there is an exchange of blood. Sometimes all it takes is a bite though. Like me. The one who made you a vampire is sort of bound to you then. It's sort of like having another parent. Or for me it is anyway. The one who changed me was called Bronwyn. She is really nice, taught me all I know. If she had decided to leave me, I wouldn't have a bond with her and I would have been in a similar situation as you last night."

"Are you trying to tell me that I now have that with Snape?" Harry asked, frowning at the thought.

"I don't know. Probably. You did feed off of him. Also, he is your biological father. You were born with some sort of bond to him. You must have felt something when you first saw him."

Harry closed his eyes and thought back to the first time he had ever seen Snape. He had wanted to know who he was right away, asking the people closest to him all the things they might know on the Potion's Professor. He had felt something, along with the sudden twinge of pain through his scar.

"You're right. I was so curious to know who he was. I asked everyone near me. Well, at least now I know why." With that, Harry sighed and laid back down again. He quickly looked to Dean, who had moved to the couch. "Um, Dean, why did you come here?"

Dean laughed gently. "Snape, the big coward was too afraid that you would hate him that he asked me to hand you your homework and the notes from classes that Hermione had made for you. She will keep this up known her.

Harry smiled for the first time that day and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's Hermione for you."

Rolling off of his bed, he made his way to the couch, sitting down next to Dean, who passed him a large stack of parchments and notes. "She told me to come back down here with your books later. They're still in the dorm. Neither her nor Ron want to see you fail your O.W.L's."

Harry grinned. "Tell them both thank you for the notes and work. Also tell them that I am really sorry for what happened last night."

Dean nodded. "Will do." Then he said he would be back shortly and disappeared out of the room, leaving Harry by himself again. Harry began to idly look through his new lesson work and wished for something else to do.

A few minutes later he heard a loud thump outside and a few curses. He also heard Ron shout out to be careful. Dean quickly poked his head around the tapestry and smiled. "Harry, Hermione and Ron have gotten you a present. I'll bring it in first, then I'll get your books. I sort of dropped them"

"On my feet!" Shouted a rather angry Hermione. It had been her that was cursing, Harry thought. He began to laugh.

"I'm sorry for last night you two. I really didn't mean it." Harry said out the door. He didn't really trust himself to go out there or to even look at them right now.

"Hey, we forgive you. Anyway, I tackled you real good." Ron replied, a hint of pride in his voice. Harry laughed and agreed.

"We didn't want you to get too lonely in your room all alone, so we decided to help with that. Hope you like it." Hermione said. A small discussion broke out between the three on the other side of the doorway. "We are being told to go away. We'll come back and talk to you through the tapestry again tomorrow night to get your reply to our present."

With that, his two best friends said good-bye and he heard them walk away. A few seconds later, Dean came back into the room with a box with holes punched in the sides. It wasn't a small box either, but it wasn't too big to carry for Hermione who was the shortest out of their small group.

"Say hello to your new friend." Dean said with a twinkle in his eye similar to that of Dumbledore's. As Harry grabbed the box and opened it, he was surprised at what he saw inside. It was a snake. One that could easily wrap around his waist and stay there, comfortably. It was asleep at the moment, but that didn't stop Harry from gawking at it. It was a blue colour, with some spots so pale it almost looked like silver.

Harry didn't even hear when Dean went back outside and came in with a stack full of books. He didn't notice when the other boy left him in the room alone. His friends knew he was a parseltongue and would be lonely in his room all alone, so they had brought him a snake.

He grinned widely and left the box by his bed. His friends still cared about him.

Severus paced in the confines of his rooms, nerves on edge. He had just about enough of everything and was going to do something that he would regret if everybody didn't shut up. And it had only been one day!

The news about Harry had not gone away and was now the talk of the school. As it was common knowledge for over eager students and people with good intuition, which of course applies to everyone in this school, that he was a vampire the questions were coming thick and fast.

He had to get away from it all before he broke his own rules and began snacking on the students. The only good news he had heard was that Harry had made friends with Dean and the visits from Ron and Hermione was keeping him from being completely alone.

Sighing, he went to the door to go out to the dungeons and go visit Harry. Like most other times he had tried this, he stopped before he got too far. He was not certain yet whether Harry had been in a rage from what he had been going through or if he really did hate him. He knew the latter was a stupid thing to think, but he couldn't help it.

Spying a book on Transfiguration Hermione had given him to give to Harry, he growled, picked it up and decided to just get this over and done with.

His mind set on it, he found himself in front of the door into Harry's room and was about to knock, but froze when he heard strange sounds coming from inside.

Forgetting to knock and barging right in, he was shocked at seeing his son with his head in a book on Charms, doing what looked to be homework. He was hissing every now and then. Beside him, Severus could see a snake. He let out his breath that he didn't realize that he was holding. He had thought Harry was in trouble and had forgotten the fact that the boy was a Parseltongue.

"Where did the snake come from?" he asked, trying to sound the tiniest bit civil instead of the bundle of nerves he seemed to be at the moment. Harry looked up at him, before quickly looking back down to his studies.

"Present." Harry replied. Severus just nodded and went to sit next to Harry on the floor. The snake hissed at him and he scooted further away from it. Harry chuckled. "He wants to know who you are."

"Oh. Well, are you going to tell him?" Severus eyed the snake to see if it decided to bite him or not. He looked over to Harry when the boy began to start hissing. The snake hissed back and laid his head back on the ground.

"He won't bother you if that is what is scaring you."

Severus snorted. "What makes you think I'm scared?" he asked.

"I can smell it. You should know that by now. After all, you have been a vampire for far longer than I have."

Severus winced at the sharp tone that Harry used. "I told you that might happen, but did you listen? No. You are just as stubborn as your."

"My father? Yes, you do seem to be right there."

"I deserve that. I have been a bit of a prat lately."

The last thing Severus was expecting was laughter, but yet it was the first thing that graced his ears. "Of late? Are you joking? I swear you always have been the awful slimy haired git that you seem to love being."

Harry was sure he was going to get yelled at for that last comment, so when he looked up to see an unreadable expression on Snape's face, he realized he might have went too far. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm still a little mad at you. Everything's changing and I am trying to do schoolwork for my O.W.L's cooped up in one room. It is kind of lonely you know."

"Yes. I do. You are lucky you have Hermione to give you your schoolwork. The Weasley boy too, Ron, he is a good friend I suppose. Like I told you before I had no friends in school. You think you are lonely? Pretend that Granger and Weasley don't exist and they hadn't bought you the snake. That Dean was a normal human teenager and you had nothing but your studies, your room and your thoughts. Not pleasant is it?"

Harry looked back down to his book and shook his head. "Why are you telling me this?" He asked.

"I wanted you to know that despite having to be in this room for a while, you aren't as alone as you think."

Harry squirmed on his place on the floor, before moving closer to his father and hugging him. "Do you have any idea how much I have wanted to have a parent, a father? Now I find out that I do and you know what. I'm actually kind of glad it is you."

Severus looked closely into his son's green eyes that remind him so much of Lily. "I thought you hated me." He whispered, before hugging the boy back.

Looking up from his place on the floor, Arien looked up at the two and hissed in delight. Finally his owner was happy.

The next week passed all too quickly. Harry was constantly in his room, though that was more Severus' fault than anything. Ron and Hermione came and visited him whenever they got the chance, but were only allowed in the room with him when either his father or Dean was there as well.

Thus, he had been building control and now didn't feel the urge to attack anybody on sight, thankfully. Still, he was a bit put off when Ron and Hermione were first let in and he could smell fear mixed with their concern.

Dumbledore was unable to stop the news spreading about Harry being a vampire, but thankfully the news that Snape was Harry's father hadn't gotten out. Severus had been lucky enough to smuggle Harry out to Hagrid for visits too. Although this was mainly for the chickens that Hagrid was keeping for Harry, until he learnt how to hunt the forest animals for himself.

Now, he was finally out of his room and wondering the halls of Hogwarts in the safety of his invisibility cloak. If Severus got wind of this, Harry knew he would be in big trouble. Still, he managed to make it to the Gryffindor common room. He had told Hermione he would meet her and Ron here at her last visit.

Knocking softly on the Fat Lady's portrait, careful not to wake her, he sighed in relief when the portrait opened and Hermione poked her head out and let Harry in. Taking off the invisibility cloak, he moved in and hugged Hermione. "Where's Ron?" He asked, when he couldn't see his redheaded friend anywhere.

"He's still in the Hospital Wing. Seems that he caught something nasty on the last Hogsmeade trip. Still Madam Pomfrey as usual already has him fit again, but wants to wait for morning before letting him loose."

With that both laughed. Harry knew that Madam Pomfrey was very strict with her patients even though there was nothing that had happened to Harry, physically, that she couldn't fix. Settling down into a pair of lounge chairs, he and Hermione started a game of wizard chess. Something of which Harry had become quite the Master at with all his spare time while not studying.

After a few games, he knew he should leave when he saw Hermione growing tired. He chuckled. "Why don't you go to bed? I'm quite sure I can make it to my room before dear Severus swoops down on me." He rolled his eyes and smiled. Hermione smiled back, got up, bid him good night and went up to the Girls' Fifth year dormitory.

Snuggling down into the chair he was sitting in, he was content watching the fire crackling away in the fireplace. Soon he had slipped to sleep, comfortable and near friends. 

The dream was unexpected and frightening. Although, he immediately knew it was more than just a dream.

There in front of him was the broken and torn form of his father, lying on the floor in front of Lord Voldemort. The Dark wizard had just found out that Severus was a spy and was teaching him 'a lesson he will wish to forget'.

As he watched, the Cruciatus Curse was aimed at the man on the floor. Horrified, Harry watched as Severus screamed from the pain of the Unforgivable he was under. It was the worse thing in one of these 'dreams' he had ever seen.

When the Curse was finally lifted, Severus was in too much agony to get up again. Voldemort loomed over the man, a scary looking smile on his face. The voice that came next froze Harry's blood.

"Go back to that school and do not tell them about this. If you do, the next Curse to be flung your way, you won't be able to bounce back from. Even your kind can die from the Killing Curse."

Harry watched as, broken and bruised as he was, Severus got shakily to his feet and Apparated away from the spot he was at.

Harry woke up quickly, breathing hard and scared for his father. Quickly disentangling himself from the blanket he was under, he was aware that he was suddenly being stared at. Looking wildly around himself and then back to the blanket, he realized that he had fallen asleep in the chair by the fire.

Gasping, he quickly got up to his feet and ran to the portrait to go to the dungeons. He needed to see if his father was all right. He was stopped by a worried Hermione with a rather angry Dean.

"What do you think you are doing here?" Dean asked, anger clearly burning in his eyes.

"Can't talk right now. Gotta go see if Snape's all right." Harry was still calling his father Snape around students other than Ron and Hermione. He again went for the portrait to get out, but was stopped by Hermione.

"What happened Harry? You're scaring everyone."

"I know that! I can't help it. I fell asleep in front of the fire. I had one of my 'dreams', Hermione. I've got to go."

Hermione's eyes widened. "Go see Dumbledore. He is the one you should go to."

Harry shook his head. "I can't. You don't understand. I can't tell anybody. He will be killed for it. You gotta trust me. Please let me go." The last was said in a whiny sort of voice that immediately made Hermione let go and move to stop Dean from coming at him again.

Not being stopped this time, Harry made it out to the halls and ran as fast as he could to the Dungeons. Although he had never been to his father's rooms before, everyone knew where they were. Quickly opening the door, he was scared to find unlocked, he madly dashed around in a wild search to see if he could spot Severus.

Not seeing him anywhere in his rooms, Harry felt what hope he had fall away. He made his way back to his own room, carelessly leaving the door unlocked but not caring.

Arien was waiting for him, angry that his Human had run off on him.

**Where have you been? I have had visitors throughout the night. One being your father** Arien hissed angrily.

**Sorry. I fell asleep at the Gryffindor Common Room. When did you see my father? I need to know where he is**

**Not long ago. The vampire could hardly walk and collapsed, but was able to reach the Headmaster before blacking out. They took him to the Hospital Wing**

Harry looked down at the snake in front of him, thinking. **Was the Headmaster in here?** He asked and was surprised to see Arien nod his head. **Do you want to come with me? I'm going to the Hospital Wing** Again Arien nodded and slithered his way around Harry's neck, letting most of his coils, fall near to the boy's heart in a comforting gesture.

Running all the way back to the Infirmary took little time and Harry wondered if super-human speed was one of the vampire traits he had just picked up on, or if it was pure adrenalin.

When he opened the door, he was quiet enough to sneak over to the only occupied bed. Ron had been sent back to the Common Room, as he wasn't here. Looking at the dark figure on the bed, Harry crumpled into the seat next to the bed and stared.

Arien hissed something to him, but Harry never caught what. Lying on the bed, worse than he had ever seen on any victim of Voldemort, was Severus. The only thought that Harry had, before he was sent back out again by an irate Pomfrey was thank Merlin he is Unconscious.

The first thing Severus noticed when he woke up was that he wasn't in his own bed, shortly after that thought he was bombarded with pain. Groaning, he rolled onto his side his eyes closed tightly trying to ignore the pain.

He wasn't too aware when Poppy came over to him with a Potion in her hands. He opened his eyes to stare at her, a look of embarrassment making its way through the obvious pain in his eyes. Somehow, he always ended up in the Hospital Wing.

"You're awake I see. We were all wondering if we had to start looking for a replacement Potions Professor." Poppy said, a hint of laughter hiding in her eyes. This was one of their routines. This time though, there was worry showing in the Mediwitches voice.

Extremely groggy, Severus just grunted and winced. Gods he hurt. Eying the Potion, he immediately recognized it as a pain reliever. Snatching it quickly, he drank it down knowing it would take about five minutes to kick in. Lying back down, he realized he was exhausted, even though he must have slept for a long time.

Try as he might though, he couldn't seem to fall asleep again. Something kept on bugging him, though whatever it was it was buried at the back of his mind. He knew he had been summoned by Voldemort, but couldn't remember what had exactly happened at the meet. Obviously, he had been put under the Cruciatus Curse. The after effects were dim however. Whatever else had happened had put him through an extreme amount of pain.

As the Potion kicked in and his body relaxed, he sighed in relief. Looking back to Poppy, he asked about the other thing on his mind. "Where is Harry?" He asked, looking around. For safety reasons, the students hadn't been told about his relationship with the boy, but all the teachers had been informed, including Poppy.

"Off with his friends. Causing some kind of trouble no doubt. I have had a rough time keeping him out of here. He has grown quite attached to you. But, you needed rest. You were in nasty shape when you were brought in here. Far worse than normal."

Severus grunted again. "I can feel that. Or at least I could. You make one good pain reliever." Poppy beamed at him. That coming from him was high praise.

"You should get some rest." She replied, fussing over him more than usual.

He shook his head slowly. "Not until I see Dumbledore and Harry."

Poppy frowned. She started to tap her foot on the floor in a sign of her anger. "Once you have some rest, I'll let them in, not before."

Severus grinned, showing fang. "Let them in first. Then I'll stay in this bed for the rest of the week if you so wish."

"You'll get out of here when I say you can, Mister! Now be a good boy, close your eyes and get some rest." Poppy walked away from the pouting vampire. Again they had moved onto routine. Severus should have known that she wouldn't let him do anything until she said it was ok to.

Sighing, he did as she bid and closed his eyes. He didn't have to wait long for sleep to claim him and when Poppy came back to check on him five minutes later, he was in a deep sleep.

The last coherent thought he had was that he hoped to not dream. Though the fates were obviously not that nice to him. He was stuck and he couldn't get out of the hellish place he found himself in. Some part of him knew that it was a nightmare, but he was pulled into it as if it was real.

Peter Pettigrew was there. But Peter was dead, he thought to himself. Killed by the traitorous Black. The things Peter were doing though terrified him. The chamber he was in suddenly lit up as Voldemort glided in. Severus immediately froze, too scared to even move. It was then that everything came back to him. Peter was alive and the traitor. The torture both he and the Dark Lord had put him under. Then the news that he had been found out. Voldemort knew him to be a spy. All he felt then was panic.

He woke with a start and could feel a cold sweat on his body. His breathing was hard and ragged and he could swear his heart was trying to rip its way out of his ribcage. A touch to his arm made him react out of instinct. He growled low and deep before lashing out with his teeth. He could hear several voices shouting his name, but was too far away to hear them properly. He was in the throes of a panic attack.

He knew that they were all working together, but to what he didn't know, neither did he want to. He felt someone grab his arms and pull them behind his back, while someone else held his head as still as possible. Again, they started to shout his name. It dawned on him that he recognized the voices, and who they belonged to slowly filtered its way into his brain and he began to calm down a little.

He was in the Hospital at Hogwarts, he remembered and the stern voice he heard was Poppy's. There were two others calling out to him. One was the calm voice of Albus and the other was the scared shouts of Harry. It was the latter that finally snapped him back to reality. He stopped moving and very slowly he felt the grips of the three on his arms and head fall away.

The minute he was loose, he dropped his head back to the pillow and turned around, trying to bury himself. He couldn't believe he had tried to attack the Headmaster of the school. He was sure he was going to lose his job over this.

Again, he felt a touch on his shoulder, though this time he just tensed under the touch. "Severus?" Came the worried voice of Albus. "What happened?"

Severus moved his head to look at Dumbledore. "He knows." Was all he said, but it was enough. Immediately Albus lost the always-present twinkle in his eyes. Poppy was asking what he meant and Harry, his Harry had a look that told him the boy had already known.

Burying his head again, he apologized into the pillow, not wanting to look anyone in the eye right now. He felt someone lying down next to him and was surprised when Harry snuggled in close to give him comfort.

Looking back up after a while, he was surprised to see Poppy standing holding out another Potion. This one he knew very well, even more than a pain reliever. It was a Dreamless Sleep Potion.

Taking it gratefully, he then held his son closer to him, taking as much comfort as possible out of the boy and fell into the dreamless sleep the potion promised.

Two weeks after the Dark Lord found out about Severus being a spy, Harry moved back into the Gryffindor Dorms to the delight of his roommates. Dean, Seamus, Neville and Ron all crowded around him to welcome him back. It was a good thing he had been studying like crazy, as he was going back to classes the next day.

He was also happy to see that nobody was truly afraid of him, although that could be the Gryffindor bravery showing through. He was actually kind of amazed that Neville wasn't shaking in his boots. That was until Harry found out that Dean had told the boy that he too, was a vampire and had been sleeping in the dorms for all five years without hurting anyone.

Harry laughed as Ron pulled him towards his bed and sat him down and asked him if he had any idea what was going to be on the Potions O.W.L. "Of course I don't. You think that Snape would actually give me the answers? I don't think so. I'm as clueless as the rest of you."

Ron sighed. "Drat. I was hoping you could help me perfect whatever we were going to do in it before it came up."

Harry grinned wickedly at his best friend. "I could ask, you know. If he let's something slip, then I'll tell you." Harry watched as Ron's face lit up at that.

"Yeah?! Thanks mate."

Harry was about to say something else when the other three boys came over and started a conversation about the upcoming Quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

On a whim, Harry put on a bet that Hufflepuff would win this one, as he had no idea how good their new Seeker was. As he did so, he remembered what happened to Cedric and a wave of guilt crashed over him. He knew it wasn't truly his fault that Cedric had gotten killed, but he couldn't help but blame himself.

He knew the emotion was plainly visible on his face, as the next minute everybody was trying to tell him he wasn't to blame. Harry smiled a small, sad smile, laid down on his bed and just listened to the rest of the conversation.

By the time the others had gone to sleep, Harry was tossing and turning in one of his nightmares about Cedric. He hadn't dreamt about the Hufflepuff Champion since he had gotten to Hogwarts and had thought the dreams had stopped. The dreams were always the same. In the old graveyard, with Cedric's dead body staring up at him, cold dead eyes glaring a hole through his head. His mouth would open and he would tell the terrified Harry that it was all his fault.

Harry woke up with a start, body shaking from his nightmare. Before he could think, he had gotten out of bed and exited the Gryffindor tower and began making his way to the dungeons.

Deciding that he might get some sleep if he slept in his old room, he was surprised when instead of seeing the room he had been in for the last couple of weeks, he was standing out the front of his father's rooms. Sighing loudly at his own cowardice about his dreams, he knocked on the door.

"What?" Growled the voice of Severus from the other side, before the door opened. It was plain to see that Snape hadn't been sleeping very well.

Harry suddenly felt silly, standing out the front of his father's door, hugging his arms around his chest to try to keep warm. He looked sheepishly up at the ruffled Potion's Master and replied, "I had a nightmare."

Severus sighed. Shaking his head, he turned around and made his way to the couch he had been lying on. He heard the door open more as Harry entered the room. "What do you want me to do about your nightmares? Mine are bad enough."

Harry looked to the floor, embarrassment written all over his face. "I know. It's just. I thought that the nightmares were over. I hadn't dreamt about it since I got back here. To Hogwarts, I mean."

Severus rubbed at his aching eyes, trying to ease them shut, so he could sleep. "What are these nightmares about? Surely they couldn't be that bad if they stopped when you came here to stay." Lying back onto the sofa, he turned his head to look at the boy.

"The last task. When Cedric was killed. When I saw his shade, he told me he didn't blame me, but in my nightmares, he does. Sometimes they all do. It's all my fault."

"That's rubbish Harry and you know it." Severus replied, his eyes shutting of their own accord. "Go back to bed." He mumbled, before he fell asleep.

Harry stared down at the exhausted form of his father and smiled slightly. He was right, Harry thought to himself. He couldn't help but feel that no matter how bad his nightmares were, Severus' were worse.

Slowly making his way to the door, he slipped out of the room, not making a sound as he did so and made his way back to the Gryffindor Dorms. Sliding back into bed, he looked around the room quickly and was surprised to find an extra person in the Dorm.

Sitting by the window as if waiting for him to return, was Ginny. He was even more amazed to see Crookshanks, Hermione's cat, lying on her lap. He smiled lightly at the slight rise and fall of the sleeping girls' chest.

He shook her slightly, startling her awake. "Shouldn't you be in the Girls' Dormitory? What are you doing here?" He asked her, slightly confused.

"I was worried. I saw you go out of the Common Room and wondered where you were going or if you were going to get into trouble. I waited up for you."

Harry smiled slightly. "I had a nightmare. I went out for a walk to clear my head. Went down to my old room. Then come back up here. I think it helped."

Ginny smiled back at him, her face filled with relief. "Hope you sleep better now. Goodnight."

"Night." He replied, as she walked out of the room. Crookshanks however stayed behind. Harry crawled back into his bed and quickly fell asleep. He was unaware when the ginger cat jumped on to his bed and curled himself up by Harry's side.

Harry slept well for the rest of that night.

Halloween was finally here and was the one day Harry was actually allowed to go around with his fangs exposed. This did two things: made people realize that he was, indeed, a vampire and that he could get away with a whole lot more.

He was told that he was allowed out into the Forbidden Forest! He had grinned all day so far at hearing that, although he had to stick close to either Severus or Dean when he did go out. His dad was adamant about teaching him how to hunt.

His classes had started that Monday, three days earlier. Amazingly, he wasn't as behind as he thought he would be. The other students were also glad that he wasn't now a whiz at Potions. Apparently they had all been afraid that he had been getting tutoring in the lesson. He had laughed hysterically at that.

Harry was now in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class where Professor Fletcher was teaching. It was a pushover of a class as it was Halloween and Fletcher was telling everybody interesting facts about vampires and their abilities. It was very helpful to the fledgling vampire currently sitting by his two best friends.

When the class was dismissed, he was talking animatedly to Ron about all of that lesson he had learnt. Not watching where he was going, he tripped over a loose stone on the floor. Falling heavily to the floor, he looked back to the stone and saw that it had moved. Looking closely, he saw that it wasn't a stone at all, but a loose tortoise.

"Uh, Ron, any idea of why a tortoise is in front of the Defense classroom?" he asked, rubbing at his ankle which had started to throb. When he saw his redheaded friend shake his head, no.

"No idea. Though I think McGonagall wants it back." Ron replied, pointing down the hall where their Head of House was frantically looking for something. Harry chuckled and picked the slow animal up.

"Professor, looking for this?" he asked, holding up the creature that was frantically trying to get out of his grasp. McGonagall nodded, grabbed the tortoise and briskly walked away without saying a word.

"Well, that was rude wasn't it." Ron said under his breath. Shaking their heads, Harry and Ron slowly made their way down to the Great Hall for lunch. Harry hated coming down here as the smell of so much food made him nauseous. The Great Hall was in its usual state and he briefly wondered what it would look like tonight at the Annual Halloween Feast.

His happy mood stayed with him as he saw Hedwig fly into the Hall with a letter in her beak. Smiling at the bird, he gave her some food and a little water before she took off to go rest in the Owlery for the time being. Opening the letter, he widened his smile and showed Ron and Hermione.

Harry,

Snuffles and I have come for a little visit for Halloween. Expect us around the time you reach this owl. Hope we find you well.

Remus and Snuffles.

"Oh wow! This is great," Hermione squealed. Looking around her, she couldn't spot the two said people, or in this case the werewolf and dog.

"Lupin's coming back? Now? That really is great. And he's bringing Snuffles." Ron replied. Then with a chuckle he added, "Better look out for Snape. You know how much he hates them two."

With this, the grin on his face faded to a frown. "They don't know. How am I going to tell them? What am I supposed to say?"

Hermione clicked her tongue. "You could try the truth Harry. I mean, I'm sure that Professor Lupin would understand, though I would watch Snuffles like a hawk when he finds out."

Banging his head against the table and leaving it there, Harry groaned. Ron patted him on the shoulder in a comforting way before leaning down to look Harry in the eyes. Before Ron could say whatever he was about to, the door to the Great Hall opened and the great big dog that was Snuffles came bounding in, followed closely by Remus.

Regardless of Lupin trying to stop the dog, Snuffles ran straight to Harry, planted himself on the floor next to him and began to slobber all over his face and hands. By the time Remus made his way to the table, a smile on his face, Harry was covered in dog slobber.

"Snuffles, that is disgusting." Hermione scolded, hitting the dog playfully on his flank. Looking at her, it repeated the action on her, before moving over to Ron. In next to no time, all three students were in a major need for a bath.

Remus looked at them sheepishly. "Don't mind him, he is excited to see you three." Looking closely at them, his eyes roamed over them carefully and came to a stop on Harry. After a short staring contest, the werewolf shrugged, leaned in close and hugged Harry close.

"So how are you three doing anyway? You alright Harry?" Remus asked, carefully checking over the boy. He immediately took in the fangs and knew they weren't fake. He could feel the vampire looming just under the surface.

"Great." All three answered, grinning again. "How are you Professor?" Hermione asked, always concerned for anyone who had ever taught her. More so for Lupin.

"Ok. A little tired, but that is because it is so close to the full moon. Thank Merlin that nightmare is over for this month." The werewolf said with a small shudder. Snuffles whined and nudged his best friend with his nose. This got Remus chuckling. "I see that a lot has changed for you, Harry."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Tell me again why I have to deal with this. I never wanted it, though it wasn't actually forced on me either. Guess that's what happens when your dad isn't." Harry stopped that train of thought when Snuffles growled low and deep in his throat.

Remus again stared at Harry. "What did you mean by that?" He asked.

"Um, I think now might be the time to move this somewhere a little more...private," Ron said, distracting enough for all eyes to turn towards him. "I mean it is a private matter. Isn't it?" The last was said in a confused voice.

Hermione nodded. "Good idea. Though I think that there is one more to add to the group before any more is said." With this, all three fifteen year olds looked up to the Teacher's Table and looked directly at Snape. Snuffles growled again and before anybody could stop him, the dog was running to the table.

Putting his front paws on the table right in front of Snape, he looked straight into the other man's eyes and growled. Severus just stared right back into the eyes of the dog he knew now as Sirius.

Huffing, the dog pointedly looked at Harry, back to Severus and got his paws off the table. Severus blinked. "You want me to follow you?" He asked. With that said, the dog nodded its black head and loped back off to the table.

Shrugging, Severus got up and did what the flea-bitten mongrel wanted him to do. Moving closer, he saw Harry, Remus, Ron and Hermione get up and make their way to the doors, Snuffles close on their heels. Following them out, he was just in time to catch the group wandering into a vacant classroom.

Following them in, he scowled. "What?" He asked as the door closed behind him. Remus lifted his wand and performed a Silencing Spell around the room so anybody eavesdropping wouldn't be able to hear anything. After this, Sirius immediately was back in his human body and gave Harry a giant hug.

"Harry wants to tell them." Ron blurted out. Covering his mouth with his hand, he immediately removed it again as he remembered the dog licking him.

Severus looked at the youngest male Weasley closely. "About what? I'm pretty sure both already know the boy is a vampire. Everybody knows that."

"Um, about his dad. He wants to tell them." Hermione stated, clearing up that matter, but turning Snape's angry scowl onto herself.

Severus was more scowling to himself than at Miss Granger though and quickly turned his gaze to Harry. "Well? Are you going to tell them Harry or are we going to stand around here all day?" He asked, not as hard as the others expected.

When Harry just stood staring at his Godfather, they all realized this was going to take more time than they originally thought. Hermione and Ron moved to a few seats and arranged them in a circle so they could all sit down.

Remus was the only one to thank them for doing so and sat down on Harry's left, while Sirius sat at the boy's right side. The other three sat in the seats closest to them. When everyone was as comfortable as possible, the awkward silence was even more so.

"So, what were you going to tell us Harry?" Remus asked gently, trying to coax the answer out of the boy.

Harry squirmed in his seat, suddenly wishing he was anywhere but in a classroom with a werewolf, a Godfather he knew would go into a fit the second he heard the news, two worried friends and the vampire he knew as his father.

"Um. where did I get up to in the Great Hall?" He asked, knowing full well he was stalling for time.

"You had just said something about your father not being something." Sirius said, knowing if he were Snuffles he would have growled after the short sentence. He didn't like anybody accusing his best friend of anything, especially since James was dead now.

"Um, yeah, well, I meant to say that my father wasn't James." He announced, looking quickly to the floor.

Remus and Sirius just stared at the boy. "Then who is?" Asked Sirius.

Not knowing how to put it into words, he raised his head and stared at Severus. Sooner than later, the two remaining Marauders turned at the same time to look at the man they had not liked since school days.

Sirius, true to everyone's thoughts launched himself towards Severus, but was stopped by Harry who was stronger than his Godfather. Remus just sat in shock staring at Severus and Harry in turns.

---------------------------------------

By the time Sirius was settled down enough not to attack Severus openly, it was almost time for the feast. Ron and Hermione, on Remus' orders were to stick close to Snuffles whenever he was near Severus. Sirius was once again the big, black dog and having thoughts of sinking every one of his sharp canine teeth into Snape. Harry was standing between Snuffles and Severus, trying in his own way to keep the two apart.

Remus walked in front of the group, making sure that the students seeing the strange behaviour of the dog and their Potions Master were given a plausible excuse for them acting the way they were.

By the time Harry had sat down at his seat and Severus went back to the Teachers table, Sirius had calmed down a bit, but that was because he was tired, more than the fact that he wasn't mad at the slimy git that was Snape.

Lying at Harry's feet, the dog soon fell asleep. Harry laughed at the weight on his feet. Remus had joined them at the Gryffindor table, telling everybody that would listen about some of the adventures he had had when he was a student at Hogwarts himself.

All in all it was a brilliant night and everybody had a great time. Even Severus got up and talked for a while about any of the good times he could remember. Obviously, that had not been at the Gryffindor table, but in private with the small group, with the exception of Sirius, who was busy exploring the castle as Snuffles.

They were all extremely glad that classes on Friday were cancelled.

Sirius was on a rampage and everyone knew it. Well, everyone knew that Snuffles was. All students were staying out of the dogs' way, afraid of what it could do to them. As he was back, Sirius was trying his hardest to make Severus' life a living hell and it was working.

Severus mainly stuck to his office and potion's lab to avoid the furious mutt. Black thought it was the funniest thing to bowl him over if he went anywhere else. If this went on for much longer, he swore that if he didn't kill him, he would make Harry hunt him round the school.

An evil smile crossed his face at that thought, making sure only to put in one drop of belladonna paste into the potion he was working on. As the smoke that was billowing out of the potion moved away, he sighed in relief at the purple colour of the potion. He was still having trouble sleeping and ignoring Poppy, decided enough was enough. He poured the liquid into flasks, making sure to put only one dose in each. Stoppering them all, he carefully marked each as Dreamless Sleep Potion.

Not wanting to truly walk the hallways (he was not going to admit to being afraid of a damned mutt) he took one of the potions and fell into a blissfully sleepless state on an office couch.

Meanwhile, Harry was trying to stop Sirius from pulling a nasty prank on Ron.

"Sirius, please don't. You do realize if you put that rat in his bed, he won't sleep for weeks."

Sirius laughed. "That's the point Harry. I mean it does look relatively like Wormtail doesn't it? But it has all it's toes."

Harry shook his head slowly. "Grow up." He muttered. Wandering over to his own bed and lying down, he watched a flicker of some unknown emotion flash across Sirius' face. He was happy to see his Godfather pocket the rodent.

As Sirius turned into Snuffles, he looked at Harry with what could only be called the 'puppy-dog eyes' look, before opening the door and padding slowly out of the room. Harry knew he would probably try pulling his pranks on someone else now. Fred and George both thought he was a God and Harry couldn't help but smile as he thought of what their faces would look like if they ever found out that he was Padfoot.

Sighing, Harry closed his eyes, wondering if he could get some more sleep before lunch. When his stomach growled at him, he knew he wasn't going to do anything without feeding first. Getting back up, he made his way down to the dungeons and to his father. He hadn't yet gotten permission to wander around the grounds alone. With Voldemort back in his body and growing stronger every day, people had to at least be in pairs when outside.

Knocking on the door to Severus' rooms, he slowly opened the door with the password he had achieved to smuggle out of his father. Looking around, he knew the man wasn't in there anywhere. Shrugging and making sure the door was closed and locked before he left, he moved on to the lab and checked in there. When he still couldn't see him, he slowly went to the back of the classroom, where the door to Severus' private lab and office is.

Slowly opening it and peeking his head in, a grin made its way across his face as he saw his father half on-half off the couch in there. He was also fast asleep, an empty flask near his hand on the floor. Carefully making his way over to the sleeping figure, he got a blanket kept in there and put it over Severus. The man didn't even stir.

Quietly slipping back out the door, he was content to let Severus sleep, even if it was potion-induced. His face fell at the thought of having to wait until he woke before going out. Sighing loudly, he made his way slowly back to the Gryffindor Common Room.

He was met by Ron and Hermione playing a game of chess, Snuffles curled up near the fire and Remus watching, giving not-so-helpful hints to help Hermione. He went and sat on the couch near the chessboard, half watching the friendly game going on between his two best friends.

"You ok?" Ron asked him, nudging Harry out of thoughts he didn't realize he had gotten lost in.

Harry nodded. "Yeah. Just kind of impatient for Severus to wake up."

This made Remus look up. "He finally got to sleep did he? Looks like he will be asleep for a while with how exhausted he is."

Harry scowled and nodded. All three stared at him, thinking of how much he had resembled Snape then. Looking around at his friends, he spat out "What?!"

"Why are you so touchy all of a sudden?" Remus asked, leaning forward to listen to whatever Harry had to say. With Sirius asleep and in dog form, he was the only adult figure in his life at that moment.

"I'm not allowed out by myself. That's what's wrong." He snapped. Remus' eyes suddenly filled with what Harry realized was understanding. Ron and Hermione were looking confused. He hadn't told his friends about his 'eating habits' and wasn't ready to yet.

"Ah," Remus replied. "Why don't I go with you? You won't have to wait for Severus then."

Harry shook his head fast in a jerky manner. "No. I'll wait. Its just. frustrating the hell out of me. That's all. Sorry for snapping at you all."

Remus shook his head. "I'm taking you now! Come on. Get up."

Harry, being his stubborn self, just squirmed on the seat he was in for a few minutes, before sighing and standing. "Thank you." He mumbled.

Remus smiled. "No problem. I remember what Severus was like at school. You remind me a lot of him in your stubbornness. He didn't like acknowledging it either."

At this Harry immediately relaxed more and smiled at the werewolf. Remus wasn't disgusted, maybe because of his wolfen instincts. It made him feel a whole lot better. Taking Remus' hand he led him to Hagrid's for lunch and to talk. All the while, thinking that he found someone that wasn't an actual vampire to still care about him enough to take him out.

Still, he couldn't wait for dinner that night. For the first time, Severus was going to take him hunting.

Severus woke up with a start. He hadn't been dreaming, he just felt as thought there was something important he was supposed to do tonight. Clearing his head of the cobwebs running around in it, he realized that he was supposed to take Harry out hunting, and he was supposed to have done that at lunchtime.

Groaning at how he could have forgotten, he rolled over, only to fall heavily to the floor with an "oomph". The couch in his office? Oh yes, he thought, well at least I got a days sleep. Standing up and stretching, he looked at the clock. It was 9:30pm on what he hoped was still the Saturday he had fallen asleep on.

Yawning, he made his way out of his office and to his rooms. He was a little surprised to see Harry's pet snake lying on his bed. The was a note strung around the middle of Arien's back, courtesy of Harry, as he couldn't speak Parseltongue. Taking it off and reading it, he saw that, indeed it was a letter from his son. The boy still wanted to know if he was on for tonight and had sent Arien to wait for a reply, as he could sleep comfortably on his bed, unlike Hedwig.

Quickly writing a reply to say that he would still take him out, he carefully tied it back around Arien's middle and opened his door. As soon as Arien had completely left the room, Severus closed the door again and went to change into a more suited pair of robes.

By the time he had finished that simple task, there was a knock on the door and an excited Harry entered into his room. Severus looked the boy up and down carefully. Harry must have been fed at lunchtime, but who would have went out with him? Shrugging his shoulders, Severus looked up to Harry's eyes and smiled. "Ready"

Harry nodded his head so fast, it looked like it was about to snap off and fall to the ground. Severus laughed at this. "So, where did you leave Arien? I don't think he was too pleased to have me touching him round the middle."

Harry put on his own grin, with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "He doesn't, but I told him not to bite and he promised he wouldn't."

Severus shuddered at being told this. He had gotten used to the snake showing up in mysterious places, and sometimes it followed Harry to classes, curling around the boy's waist. Still, being told he could have been bitten by it was a totally different story.

Shaking nasty thoughts out of his head, he walked out of the rooms, Harry close behind him. Closing and locking the door with as many spells as he could think of to keep snakes as well as people out, he was satisfied and led the boy outside.

Stopping at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, he saw Harry shudder with both fear and excitement. He was well aware that Harry had been through quite a bit in here, but knew he wouldn't not go in there again if called for.

Walking into the forest, Severus felt his own excitement mounting. He didn't think there was a feeling quite like the one he was about to share with Harry. Stopping suddenly when Harry trod on a twig, making it snap, he whirled suddenly around. "Have you forgotten how to walk without sound all of a sudden?!" He whispered roughly.

Harry looked away. "Sorry. I forgot to." He whispered back, not sure about the tone of the whisper that his father had just sent his way.

"You forgot? Well you better remember or you can go back." After a break, Severus sighed softly. "Sorry for being rough, but you need to be as silent as possible. You'll scare everything away otherwise." He didn't know about the boy, but he would like to eat sometime tonight.

"I feel like I'm in your classroom right now." Harry whispered so low, Severus almost missed it altogether.

"Some things are easier to learn if taught." With that conveniently said, the two fell into silent steps next to each other. Severus could hardly hold in the sudden urge to run through the forest as quickly as he could until he caught something. He grinned at thinking of how that was how Remus hunted when he was the wolf. With the wolfsbane potion, the werewolf still felt the urge to hunt.

The thought of running though was stupid with another learning how to hunt. That would come when the boy was proficient enough in his sneaking skills. Relaxing his muscles as much as possible, he realized how good this felt. He hadn't been out to hunt since Harry had started to feed on the chickens at Hagrid's hut.

They made their way to a clearing, staying in the shadows of the trees, while watching the river that was found running through it. Standing, lapping at the water was a deer-like creature. Harry wasn't too sure what it was.

Severus unconsciously licked his lips. Perfect. The deer-like creature would be big enough for the both of them. Tonight, Harry could merely observe how it was done. Telling this to the boy, he saw Harry's features fall a little, but he conceded.

Slowly, he made his way into the clearing. The closer he got, the more his muscles tensed in anticipation until, he was wound as tight as a bow. By the time, the creature sensed him it was too late. Taking it by surprise, it easily fell as it lost its footing trying to cross the river with the added weight of a full-grown man throwing it off balance.

In next to no time, Harry had joined him. Looking at each other, they bared fangs before biting down hard in the creature's glossy neck. Expecting Harry to need more than him, he was surprised when he was the last to pull away from the animal's neck. Of course, Severus had missed out on the last two meals.

Dazed, the animal got up fast, but slowly walked away, swaying heavily through the woods. Severus was surprised, yet pleased to know that between the two of them, they had not killed the creature. The chickens they had no choice to as they were small creatures. When Harry learnt how to catch small things like rabbits in this forest, he would have to tell him it was all right to kill it. They were pest animals anyway.

Shaking his head out of the clouds, he saw Harry staring at him. "What?" He asked, a little offended at the stare.

Harry shook his head. "That was amazing." The boy said. Looking over his father, he grinned. "You got blood on your face."

Blushing silently at that remark, he went to the river and washed his face and hands. Harry joined him silently. Shivering suddenly, he realized that winter would soon be here. He didn't like winter. His dungeons got really cold, yet he wouldn't risk a fire in his rooms fireplace as it was hooked up to the Floo network and he didn't want any unwanted visitors in the middle of the night (Voldemort had surprised him before, he didn't want THAT happening again).

Making their way quickly out of the forest, he found a way to make Harry learn how to hunt faster. He got the boy to chase him round the school grounds. By the time they went inside, they were both out of breath and in too good a mood to realize that something had been watching with keen eyes perfect for spying.

Lucius Malfoy was busy. Not doing anything for his Master, but for his own enjoyment. Whenever he had free time to himself, he spent it doing what he did best. Annoying the other house elves and sitting quietly by a roaring fire with a copy of the Daily Prophet in his hands, magically circling and cutting out any articles that he could find about the newest batch of Death Eater attacks.

As soon as he got the call, he immediately Apparated to the appointed spot, only half done with the paper. Grumbling angrily to himself, he slipped his mask on and walked into the clearing the meet was being held at.

"Ah, Lucius, you made it!" He heard his Master talk from right behind him. Starting a bit, he turned round to stare at the serpentine features of Lord Voldemort.

"Yes Master." He replied, playing his most favourite role of Voldemort's favourite lackey.

"Have you any news?" The question was more a demand than any thing else, but as soon as the words were out of his Master's mouth, he grinned wickedly.

"Actually yes. I sent my son a letter to report his monthly findings to us. I was quite shocked and pleased when I got the reply. It seems that our dear Severus changed stripes for the Boy Who Lived. It happens that they are very close. In fact, they are Father and Son. Both the Traitor and the Boy who Lived have to be killed."

Voldemort laughed in his high cackling way that sent shivers down even his spine. "Very good. Your Son will be rewarded for this. What does he feel about joining the ranks of my Death Eaters?"

Lucius grinned again. This he had been waiting for a long time, the chance for his Son not to screw something up and please the Dark Lord. "He will be pleased, Master. As would I."

"Good, good. As soon as the Holiday is upon Hogwarts, bring him here. He will be even more helpful at that school then." Again, Voldemort's high, shrill laugh filled Lucius' ears. "You may go back to whatever you were doing in that Manor of yours Lucius. You and your son have pleased me greatly this night."

"Thank you, my Lord." With that said, he Disapparated back to his seat by the fire, got his newspaper again and immediately saw an article he cut out and stuck in a workbook. Soon it would be full and he would have to get another one. Also, he will soon have to buy one for Draco. He knew it would be something the boy would like to do.

Harry jumped, fell, and missed his target. Seeing the small creature run as fast as it could away, he let out a low growl of frustration. He would never get the hang of this, not even when his father was nearby. Slamming his fists into the thick earth around him, he slowly picked himself back up.

He was about to start off again when he heard a rustle in the bushes next to him. He gave up when he saw Severus come out into the open, his teeth buried in the flesh of one of the many rabbits running around. He recognized it as his rabbit. His eyes lowered with anger as he realized that Severus had been waiting for him to fail and had hidden to catch himself an easy meal.

"That's mine!" He growled out, his anger flaring even more at the small smile that played around his father's lips at that. Running up to the other man, he grabbed onto the rabbit and pulled it out of Severus' hands and mouth. Throwing it to the ground, he stormed off deeper into the woods.

He was only allowed out once a day now, so he had to feed as much to hold him for the whole day to wait for the night. Unfortunately, by that time, he is too hungry to concentrate. He wondered if the professors knew or understood that.

He had just spotted a rather large animal that he didn't recognize. Before he could start to go after it, hands wrapped themselves around his waist and stopped him. "Poisonous." A voice whispered in his ear.

Growling out his frustration, he watched as whatever it was scared off by the noise he was making. "Let go of me!" He shouted. Wriggling as much as possible, he was then unceremoniously dumped on the ground.

"What is wrong with you lately, Harry?" Severus asked, just out of reach of his son.

"I. Am. Hungry." He sounded each word out as a new sentence. He needed to get his point across.

Severus frowned. Looking about the clearing he found them in, he realized that in the whole time that Harry was allowed out once a night he had not been able to catch anything. "Do you need help?" he asked, slightly taken aback when Harry whirled on him with an angry scowl.

"I can damn well do this myself, thank you! I don't need your help. Leave me alone."

"Harry, you will hurt...”

"Shut up! I can control this now. I just need to learn how to do this properly and I am not going to accomplish that with you holding my hand."

"You're out of control. I'm taking you back to the castle. I will try to change the rules for you. We will stop by Hagrid's first."

"I am not going to be fed again! All I want is to be able to hunt properly." Harry yelled out angrily.

"I know! Obviously once a night is not enough. You cannot concentrate and botch up any attempts made at hunting for yourself."

"You blame this on my inability to do anything right? Hah! How like you Professor." The way Harry stated that last word made Severus flinch.

"I do not blame you for this. Shut up and listen to me." Severus shouted, just as angry as his son now. He knew that last sentence escaped his mouth before he could think. He grabbed the boy's shoulders and shook him.

A horrified look came over Harry's face. He squirmed out of Severus' grip, fell to the ground and ran back to the castle, tears started to fall half way back. By the time he got to the Gryffindor dorm room, he was out of breath, but didn't care. He flung himself onto his bed, before starting to sob loudly. His own father didn't like him, thought he was useless. Just like the Dursley's thought.

He knew at one point Arien snuggled up to him in his own snaky way of comfort. Harry was too upset from his first real fight with Severus to speak to the snake however. When Ron joined him, he could get out words though.

"You alright?" Ron asked, coming to sit on Harry's bed and putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Harry shook his head, no before sputtering out "He hates me." Calming down slightly, he started to lightly scratch Arien on the head, on a spot he knew the snake liked to be scratched. If a snake could purr like a cat, he knew Arien would be louder than the Hogwarts Express. This little action made Harry smile.

Wiping his eyes, he sat up on his bed a look of utter embarrassment on his face. Especially when he noticed Ginny standing near the doorway into the Dorm. He smiled sheepishly at her and she smiled back, oblivious to the fangs that were visible in his mouth.

With that, his stomach growled at him and he growled back at it. He realized that he had not gone to Hagrid's, but ran straight up here. He was beginning to feel the same burning sensation he had when he had first felt his hunger for blood. It hadn't been this bad since that night.

Quickly getting up he apologized to the two youngest Weasley children and fled. He didn't want anybody to see him in this state, but when he thought about it, the one he truly didn't want to see him at the moment was Ginny. Harry was just realizing that he had feelings for the redheaded girl. What those feelings were, he wasn't too sure, but at the moment they ran along the lines of Dinner.

He made it to his private rooms without bumping into anyone of which he was really grateful for. As soon as he got in his rooms, he noticed the fact that there were three chickens stunned on his bedside table.

Sighing in both relief and a bit of shame, he fed then went to bed. His dreams were unusual ones. When he woke up, he forgot all about them. Yet somehow he knew they were important.

By the time the Christmas holidays arrived, Severus and Harry had been at each other's throats more than once. Each was still angry with the other.

Ron was going home for the holidays to be with his family, but Hermione was staying behind. The only other one in their year that stayed was Neville. Almost all the Gryffindors were gone and only a First-year girl was left.

Hermione was helping Neville with his Potions work. With the brain of the school helping him Neville was actually improving. A good thing for all, since Severus had become even more formidable in class as of late.

"Neville," Harry said as he walked by the two other fifth year students, "can I talk to you privately for a minute?"

It was quite clear to the round-faced boy that Harry was nervous. "Sure. What about?" He replied, getting nervous just thinking about what would be brought up.

Harry looked to Hermione, silently begging her to go away. Seeing the hint in his eye she nodded got up and walked into the Girls Dormitory. Harry turned back to Neville and sat down where Hermione had been sitting. "Um, I'm sorry if this upsets you Neville, but last year I looked into Dumbledore's pensieve and saw some stuff I wasn't supposed to. Afterwards, I had a chat with Dumbledore and he brought up your parents. I heard them mentioned in the pensieve and was curious."

Neville suddenly went very pale. "Did he tell you? About my parents, I mean?" There was a tremor in the boys' voice. As Harry had suspected, the other boy was upset.

Harry nodded. "I haven't told anybody. Not even Ron or Hermione. Dumbledore made me promise not to. He needn't have done that though. I just wanted you to know that if you needed someone to talk to, I know."

Neville's bottom lip trembled, but the boy refused to cry. "Why?" he asked.

Harry looked puzzled. "Why what?"

"Bring this up now? I mean, why not tell me last year when you found out?"

"Ah. You were still in a daze at Mad-Eye Moody for showing everyone the Unforgivable Curses in class. I've now officially had all three fired my way. I hate to say this, but two seconds under the Cruciatus Curse and I was hoping the next thing to come my way was Avada Kedavra. I can't possibly understand how your parents could have survived under it for as long as they did. I have seen people die under less time. Both your parents are extremely strong. I am so sorry for what happened to them."

Harry stopped talking when he felt a fist collide with his face. Looking up, he saw Neville, tears streaming down his face, look back at him with rage in his eyes. Harry just stood there taking the blows. For some unknown reason, he had been expecting this.

After a few minutes, Neville stopped his attack and collapsed into a sobbing pile on the ground. Harry walked over to his friend and gave him a brief hug to show that he didn't mind what the boy had just done. He stayed sitting on the floor, rubbing Neville's back until he felt the boy calm down.

"Sorry." Neville muttered, wiping at his face with his sleeve.

Harry gave a slight chuckle. "Tell you the truth Neville, I was expecting that reaction. I don't mind. With the rising of You-Know-Who, I just thought that you would need to get that out of your system."

Neville just nodded. Rubbing at his eyes embarrassed. "What do you mean you have seen people die from being under it in less time?"

Harry winced. "That is a little hard to explain. Let’s just say my scar is a direct link to whatever Voldemort (he noticed Neville flinch) is doing. When I dream and You-Know-Who is doing anything like murdering or torturing someone, I can see what is happening. I feel effects of Cruciatus, I feel whether or not people are fighting Imperius. Lucky I don't die if the Killing curse hits someone in my dreams." With this Harry shuddered. He hadn't really shared his dreams with anybody. It felt strange to do so.

Severus he couldn't go to, he had bad enough nightmares himself. Ron and Hermione just know he has them regularly.

Sighing, he got to his feet, muttered something about going to bed, then trudged upstairs. He was asleep almost instantly. He knew that Neville had fallen asleep just as easily.

As to be expected, as soon as he began to dream, he found himself in a strange looking room that smelt a whole lot like the Divination class he took. Looking around, he realized why. There pleading to an angry looking Voldemort was Professor Trelawney. He was too shocked to realize what was being said, especially when he saw the jet of green light fly straight towards his Professor and the crumpled figure that used to be one of the worst people in his life.

Seeing her lying there dead was just too much though. He snapped himself awake, quickly dislodged himself from his blankets and ran straight to the gargoyle that was guarding the Headmaster's door. He started to yell names of all the sweets he knew, but nothing he could think of would make the gargoyle move.

Getting angry, he moved right up to the gargoyle looked straight into its eyes and growled "If you don't move now, I will blow you into a million tiny little pieces and bury them all around the school."

The gargoyle, not wanting something else to take its job, automatically moved. Harry raced straight up the spiraling staircase without stopping and banged on the door until, it was opened by a sleep ruffled Dumbledore.

"Professor Trelawney is dead. I just saw him killing her." He yelled, eyes suddenly bulging with what he had just said. For the first time ever, Voldemort had killed someone he had known.

Without so much as a warning, Albus suddenly realized he was standing in a room with a passed out Harry. Picking the boy up, he placed him on a couch and called Severus to his office.

Severus quickly rushed to the Headmaster's office, worry showing plainly on his face. As soon as he entered and saw Harry passed out on the couch, he was immediately at his son's side. Slowly looking the boy over, he realized nothing was physically wrong with him and he let out a sigh of relief.

"What happened?" Severus asked the Headmaster, holding Harry close to him. All of a sudden their fights were all forgotten. Looking closer, Severus noted faint, almost non-existent, bruises on his face.

"He had a dream. His dreams of Voldemort are usually more true than not most of the time, and this one I believe was one of his vision dreams. Sybill is dead."

"Trelawney?! Why? Sure she wasn't my favourite person in the world, but what did she do to attract Voldemort's attention enough to get killed?"

All Dumbledore did was shrug. Neither adult would ever know the answer to that question now, and they both doubted that Harry would know. Both wizards frowned, or at least Dumbledore did, Severus gave his customary scowl at the latest murder.

Severus was soon looking back down as he felt Harry stir in his arms. As he watched those green eyes open and slowly focus on his face, he was pleased when he felt arms encircle him even as he felt Harry bury his head into his shoulder where the boy began to cry.

Beginning to rock the young wizard in his arms, he whispered words that were supposed to be comforting into his ear. He knew not a lot he would say could help though. Harry had seen far too many people die in front of him. First his mother, then Cedric Diggory. He couldn't imagine how many other's he had seen die through his dreams.

A knock at the door startled Severus, but didn't seem to have registered to the boy still crying in his arms. Looking at the entrance as Dumbledore got up to open the door, he was quite surprised to see Hermione Granger enter the room, a look of worry on her face.

As the girls' eyes fell on Harry, she came and sat on the other side of Harry and started to rub his back. She then pointedly looked at her best friend, then at Severus. He immediately got the message and mouthed 'not here'. Hermione nodded and began to slowly rub her friends back again.

After a while, they both realized that Harry was so quiet because he had fallen asleep again. Hermione got off the couch and let her Potion's Professor lay Harry down. Dumbledore then put a blanket over Harry.

"He saw the death of Professor Trelawney." Severus quietly told the Gryffindor in front of him. "He is, as you can quite see, very upset. Though he did not like her very much she is the first person he has seen killed that he had known in one of his dreams."

"I didn't think he had told you of his dreams?" Hermione stated.

Severus frowned. "I only just found out. Why did he keep this from me?" It was quite obvious to the girl and the Headmaster that not being told had hurt Severus.

"He didn't tell us what any of them were about, but we did know about them." Hermione added, silently wishing that her Professor would stop looking at her like he was thinking of having her for lunch.

"I think," Dumbledore said, butting into the conversation, "that Harry thought you were having bad enough dreams without having to hear about his."

Severus then banged his hand against his forehead, showed his fangs and growled. Dumbledore knew it to be a sign of irritation and frustration and chuckled. Hermione took the thought she was going to be lunch to heart and took a nervous step back.

"He came to me once after Voldemort found out I was a spy. He said he had been having nightmares about what happened at the graveyard after touching the Tri-Wizard Cup. I hadn't been sleeping very well, if at all then and I told him to go back to bed. Did I do the right thing?"

Neither of the other two responded which made Severus groan. "I stuffed up big time. I cannot do this. I cannot be a father to Harry. I shouldn't be a father at all."

Dumbledore frowned and, a little out of character, scowled. "Just because you and Harry have been fighting does not mean that you don't love each other any less. I know you care for the boy Severus, but maybe you should not yell at him every time he says something you do not like."

Unexpectedly, Severus blushed and ducked his head. He was not used to speaking about feelings, especially if that feeling is love. He realized that it was true. By finding out that Harry was his son, he had begun to love the boy as such. He wouldn't be able to stand it if he lost Harry now. He realized that maybe he hadn't yet failed the boy.

Hermione rolled her eyes, sighed men under her breath, before bringing up an important topic "Um, what about Divination? I mean, who is going to teach it now that we haven't got Professor Trelawney anymore?"

"I will set a day after Christmas to look into possible teachers. There are some good Divination Professors I know of that would like the position. Until then, I vote we take Harry back to his bed and all of us get some rest. Tomorrow is, after all Christmas."

With a nod, Hermione left to keep the way clear for Severus as he scooped Harry up in his arms, careful not to wake him and went to put him in his bed in Gryffindor tower.

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The next day, Harry woke up feeling just as miserable as Neville. The pile of presents at the foot of his bed brought him out of his bad mood though. There was more than usual for him. Quickly, he picked up the nearest present and opened it. It was his yearly Weasley jumper that Mrs. Weasley knitted for him each year. He eagerly got dressed and put it on, sighing at how warm it was.

Before he could get to his next present, which was from Ron, Hermione came waltzing in, her own presents in a sack slung over one of her shoulders. Sitting down on Ron's bed, she, Harry and Neville spent the Christmas morning unwrapping their presents and talking.

By the time they made their way down for Christmas breakfast, which was never as good as Christmas dinner in the style and decorations, they were all in greatly improved moods, though Harry was still quite shocked at the death of one of his least favourite professors. They were also, quite understandably watering at the mouth at the sight of the breakfast. A couple of Ravenclaw's grabbed their food and left again, obviously rather eating at their Common room. Other than that, the three Gryffindors were left pretty much to themselves.

"Wow!" stated Neville, who had always gone home for Christmas every other year he had been at Hogwarts.

Hermione giggled. "You think breakfast is something, you just wait until the annual Christmas Feast. It is the best thing ever. Or so I've been told." Hermione had also never been there throughout Christmas, though Harry and Ron had.

"You're right Hermione. You will be able to stuff yourself full of the best food that was ever made. Though I will miss it quite a bit." Harry had found that while Severus could eat a bit of normal food, and enjoyed it greatly though he wouldn't admit to it, he had absolutely no stomach for it. The professor's were kind enough to have left him some small creatures from the Forbidden forest for him. He would truly have to thank his father later on.

As Hermione and Neville sat down at the Gryffindor table to eat, Harry took what was for him and slunk out of the Great Hall. He still wouldn't feed in front of anybody, except Severus. Or the occasional time before his hunt when Remus would take him out.

He found the nearest classroom, sat down and sank his teeth into the first of the small treats. His breath caught in the back of his throat. Whatever the heck he was eating was the best thing he had yet to eat as a vampire. By the time he realized anything else, he had several drained rodent-like animals lying on the floor.

Turning around to go get something to put them in to give to Fang for a Christmas present, he gasped as he stood face to face with a stranger. A woman stood in front of him, a small smile on her lips.

"Hello, Harry," she greeted him. "I am your new Divination Professor. I am sure we will be good friends."

Harry stared at the woman in front of him. Quickly, he finished picking up the rodents and began to hurriedly walk around her to give them to Fang.

"Fang will be happy with his present. I am sure of it." The Professor said from out of nowhere. Harry stopped in front of the door and slowly turned around.

"Um, sorry if I sound rude, but Professor what?" he asked, sure that the woman hadn't introduced herself.

Chuckling she replied, "Nashii Magecast. Professor Magecast in class, until then call me Nashii."

Harry smiled. "Ok then. Thank you Prof. Nashii. Um, I gotta go take these to Fang now and see Hagrid."

Nodding her head, she let the boy disappear out the door, before going up to the Headmaster's office. After all, he was now only writing out his invitation for her to become the new teacher.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

A week passed and the other students that had gone home came back all laughing and telling each other what they had been doing. The first thing that caught Harry's eyes was a Hufflepuff girl going over to Neville and kissing him. He recognized her as Hannah Abbott, a fellow Fifth year student.

Her best friend Susan Bones was seen with Justin Finch-Fletchley. That was nothing to the fact that Neville had been hiding a girlfriend from everyone. Shaking his head and smiling, Harry took his seat between Ron and Hermione and cast a glance to Ginny.

He suddenly felt rather nervous. He had missed her through the holiday, even more than his two best friends. That had seemed strange. The embarrassing thing about it though was when he had told Severus and his father had laughed.

Harry ducked his head as Ginny looked to him, trying to cover the sudden blush on his face. By the way her face suddenly turned the same colour of her hair, Ginny must have seen.

"Hey." He said quietly to her. She looked to him shyly and said hey back. Looking at one another for a few minutes, Harry finally looked down to the table. He was quick to realize that his feelings for Cho had disappeared after Voldemort had killed Cedric, but what he was feeling now for Ginny was stronger than that had ever been.

"Um, what did you do for the holidays?" he asked her.

She stared for a bit longer, before answering. "Went to visit Charlie. Saw dragons. It was good."

At that, the two fell into a very uncomfortable silence and Harry realized that Ron and Hermione were staring at him. Hermione had a giant grin on her face, while Ron was looking a bit concerned.

"What?!" He said loudly. "Have I done something wrong?"

Hermione shook her head, and Ron reluctantly did the same when he felt his girlfriend's elbow dig into his ribs.

Frowning, Harry looked around the Great Hall where everyone was and spotted Draco scowling at Pansy as she sat next to him and tried to talk to him. Harry grinned at his enemy's bad luck, as Draco quickly shoved her off her new perch on his lap.

Suddenly their eyes locked and scowls were exchanged. Harry was curious when he saw Draco suddenly rub at his left arm. He hoped that maybe Draco had cut himself with one of the knives when he had pushed Pansy away. He deleted that scene from his mind when he saw several other Slytherin's doing the same thing.

The Dark Mark.

It had to be.

They were all rubbing their arms in the same place where his father's Dark Mark was. Harry frowned to himself and shook his head sadly. He didn't want to see the look of disappointment on Severus' face when he realized that at least ten of his Slytherins had the same Mark he hated so much to have.

He quietly stood up, excused himself from the table, gave his father a small glance, then left the Hall and walked slowly up to the Gryffindor Common Room. He was surprised when he found he could hear footsteps following him. Slowly turning around, he saw Ginny standing a few paces behind him and quickly closing that gap.

"Harry, why did you suddenly leave? You have everyone worried."

"I'm fine Ginny. I just couldn't stand to be in the room with those Slytherins all smiling and playing nice, when it is plain to see some of them have turned to Vol . You-Know-Who."

"There are students who are now Death Eaters?" Ginny asked, gasping at the news. She was too shocked at the thought to realize that she should have suspected it. "Why would they want that anyway?"

Harry shrugged. "Some have parents who are Death Eaters, some just want power, others probably will join just because they are asked to, or peer pressure. I feel so sorry for Severus."

"Severus oh, Professor Snape."

Harry nodded and sighed. Before he knew what happened, all thoughts of his father fluttered right out of his head as Ginny stood on the tips of her toes and kissed him briefly on the lips.

Too shocked to respond, he just stood staring down at her for a few seconds. When she started to say an apology, he kissed her back.

As they parted once again, he was turned to one side and saw a smiling Hermione. Ron on the other hand looked ready to shout out rape, until he realized that it was indeed Harry with his sister, and then he got a look of unbelieving on his face.

"Harry, what are you doing kissing my sister?" Ron asked, voice strained with what Harry noted was anger.

Before he could answer though, Ginny scowled at her brother, reached up to Harry's face and pushed their lips together again.

After that, Ron left them lone in the hall, slipping past the oblivious couple kissing in the middle of the walkway and made his way to the Dorms. Hermione followed him, caught up to him and did the same thing as Ginny had done to Harry.

By the time Dinner had finished, everyone knew that Harry now had a girlfriend. As the news reached the ears of a certain blonde Slytherin, Draco immediately stormed out of the Hall and to his room.

He sulked for the rest of the night.

Lucius Malfoy was pleased. For the first time ever, he was glad his son had made the right move and joined Voldemort of his own accord. He would love to see the look on Severus' face when he realized he failed to stop some Slytherins from going over to the Dark Side.

Lying on the couch he had been sitting on, he continued to read the letter Draco had sent him that evening. Twelve Slytherins altogether had become Death Eaters, including that Parkinson girl he was thinking of telling Draco to marry. Sure she might look like a dog, but her blood was as pure as they come.

He heard the door open and his wife step into the room he was in. Narcissa made her way towards him and took her position on the couch next to his. Passing the letter over, he saw the wicked gleam that came to the woman's eyes when she read the latest news from Hogwarts. It was that evil streak that attracted him to her in the first place.

"I think I should have a little visit to our Lord, Dear. It seems there are some interesting things happening at the school this year. Nashii Magecraft, teaching at Hogwarts? This ought to be a very interesting year." He said, more to himself than to his wife.

Nashii Magecast. Oh, yes, he knew that one well. Divination was what she was good at, though he still had to think of why Draco decided to join the class? Sure dropping out of Muggle Studies was a good idea, but moving on to something even worse?

Getting up and moving towards the lit fire, he flooed to the old Riddle Mansion where his Lord was currently staying. Being Voldemort's favourite had its good points and one was always knowing where the Dark Lord was, something even Pettigrew didn't always know.

Seeing his Lord was busy and being dismissed before he was able to say anything made him angry though he did go back home. He would just have to tell Voldemort some other time. Maybe bring Draco along, since it was the boy who had told him this most amusing news in the first place. Things were now beginning to heat up.

Transfiguration was beginning to really annoy Harry. Today they were working on the basics, as it seemed they were reviewing everything they had done from first year to the beginning of fifth year.

Turning the stick in front of him into a snake was the easiest thing ever, though he got into trouble for talking to it. It wasn't his fault that Arien had followed him to class that day and decided that the new snake would be a good friend. The two wreaked havoc in the classroom, getting him thrown out of the classroom and a detention.

Angrily he kicked the wall in front of him. He didn't know why, but of late he had had one very bad temper. He hadn't told Severus about it though. He didn't want to know if this was supposed to happen or if it was because of Voldemort.

Sleep eluded him most nights now and he found himself falling asleep in classes regularly. Whenever that happened, he got Ron or Hermione to wake him up fast, just in case he has any 'dreams' in front of everybody.

Hearing the bell ring, he sighed. He still had Charms before lunchtime. He wasn't hungry, he just needed to get out of the castle for a while. In fact, he decided to just skip his next class and take a walk.

Slowly slipping out of the school was easy, even when it was the middle of the day. His stealth and ability to walk silently and stick to the shadows made it easy for him, he didn't even need the invisibility cloak anymore.

Walking into the sunlit grounds, he breathed in deep. The sun still hurt his eyes, but he didn't bother wearing sunglasses anymore. Walking to the forest and into the shade of the trees, he walked to a nice clearing he had found one night, with a log fallen near a small creek. It was very peaceful there. His secret place.

Sitting down, he yawned loudly and lay down. Figuring he would close his eyes for five minutes to rest them, he soon was in a deep sleep.

----------------------------------

Severus didn't have any classes after lunch, of which he was quite glad. He wanted to speak to Harry today. He had noticed the boy falling asleep during first class today. It was a good thing that they hadn't started making their potions yet, or he would have been covered in an eroding potion. Thankfully Longbottom decided today would be a good day to not blow anything up. Something he had secretly been dreading.

"Thank the Gods that nightmare is over." He muttered to himself, making Lupin chuckle. Silently, Severus wondered why the werewolf had stayed at the school, though Black had left ages ago.

"Surely it wasn't that bad." Remus replied, smiling at the sudden look of disgust that swept across the Potions Professors face. Deciding to change the topic a bit, he decided to talk about something else.

"So, what do you think of Nashii?" Severus heard Lupin say and he couldn't stop the sudden grin from forming on his face. Looking out of the corner of his eye to where the woman was sitting, he quickly looked down again as he saw her return the look.

Trying to distract himself from the laughing werewolf next to him, he looked up and scanned the tables for anything to get his mind off a certain Divination Professor. He soon found something that completely made him forget about everything else. A worried-looking Hermione and Ron were trying to comfort a sad-looking Ginny.

Looking quickly for Harry, he soon realized that the boy was not in the Great Hall like he usually was for the Lunch break. Standing up and walking over to the Gryffindors before he could stop himself, he ordered them to his office right that minute and stalked out of the Great Hall.

He was soon accompanied by the three Gryffindors. "Where is Harry?" He asked surprised at the worry he could hear in his own voice.

"We don't know?" Hermione replied. "He was supposed to meet us in Charms when Professor McGonagall told him to get out of her classroom."

Severus frowned at that. "What did the boy do?" He asked.

Ron chuckled. "We were turning sticks to snakes. Arien followed Harry to class." He got over the laughter faster than usual. "We had Charms after that, but he never showed up in class. He was supposed to meet Ginny for lunch."

Ginny nodded, but kept silent, thinking that it was somehow her fault.

"Have you three noticed him falling asleep in classes?" He asked. Ginny stared at him, before Severus remembered that she was a year younger than the others. Ron and Hermione nodded however.

"He hasn't been sleeping." Ron announced. "Sometimes he wakes everyone else in the dorm up with his screaming." Shuddering at that, Ron slipped back into silence.

Nodding, Severus quickly dismissed the three students and decided to try to find Harry before the boy got into even more trouble.

Thinking the most obvious place to look would be the Forbidden Forest, he soon made his way outside and into the trees. He soon found the clearing that Harry thought of as his, and Severus made sure to not come here because of that. This was an unusual circumstance though.

Looking around the clearing, under and inside the fallen log, and even in the creek for the boy, he was surprised to not find the boy anywhere. Looking around again, he noticed something he didn't the first time. A note was stuck on a tree not far away.

Picking it up and reading it, Severus was suddenly in the grips of a panic attacked and was soon running as fast as he could to the Headmaster's office. Regardless of anyone else, he barged in there, the note clutched in one hand, panic now showing plainly on his face.

Not being able to speak he handed the letter to Dumbledore who, confused, took it and read through it quickly. The worst thing Severus hated to see was the twinkle leaving the old wizards eyes, yet he was seeing it happen right now.

"Please tell me this is some kind of a joke." Severus pleaded.

Albus looked up and into the eyes of his Potions Professor. "I don't think it is a joke, Severus. Both of us know the handwriting of this letter. It seems that Lucius has gotten his hands on Harry and is taking him to his Lord. I am sorry Severus. We will try everything to get Harry back."

Severus, stunned, stared at Dumbledore with wide eyes. Slowly he backed up until his feet hit the edge of a chair. Falling into it in an unorganized heap, he buried his head in his hands and started to take deep breaths. Right now Harry needed him thinking clearly and not in the grips of panic.

It was a shock to him when he finally raised his head only to see the three students he had earlier talked to standing in the office looking worried and confused.

"Severus. I think that you should be the one who tells them." Albus said, handing the note back to the obviously distraught vampire.

Nodding slowly, he looked up to the three Gryffindors but didn't know what to say. Like he had done earlier with Dumbledore, he just handed them the note.

A few seconds later Ginny was staring blankly at a wall, Ron was fuming quietly to himself about how much of an evil bastard Lucius Malfoy and his son were. He was even a bit more shocked to see tears streaming down Hermione's face.

Slowly, he got up and left the room, not knowing where he was going. It was a bit of a surprise when, in what seemed like a few seconds later, he found himself outside of Harry's room. His old room. Opening the door and walking to the bed, he sat down on the comfortable piece of furniture, grabbed one of the pillows and held it close to him.

It suddenly hit him that he had lost his son. He finally didn't feel alone anymore and somebody stole his son away from him. He was alone once again. He couldn't stop the tears that suddenly sprang to his eyes and slowly made their way down his cheeks.

There was only one other time he had ever felt this bad and that was when Lily had been killed. He had been a wreak for weeks, and then he had decided to go against Voldemort. Now he didn't even have his spying job to help him through.

It was only when he could compare losing Harry to what it was like when he had lost Lily that he truly realized that he did love the boy. Why he didn't know before was beyond him. All he knew was that if Harry ever got out of this alive, he was going to hug the boy and never let go again.

Harry slowly woke up, the pain in his head increasing as he moved position. One hand going up to his temple and rubbing it, he couldn't feel any sign that he had been hit to render him unconscious, so that left the idea that he had been drugged.

Slowly sitting up, his eyes swept about the room he was in, finally choosing to rest on the heavy oak door that had bars along the little window at the top. Wherever he was, he was definitely a prisoner and that idea made his blood boil.

Getting up quickly and almost falling back down again, he took a few seconds to make sure the world had stopped spinning around him, before he rushed to the door and began to pound helplessly at it, knowing it to be useless.

When the man came around the corner, Harry growled angrily at the figure he knew all too well by now as Draco's father. Laughter found its way to Harry's ears as the man heard the implied threat.

"What are you going to do, Harry? You didn't even realize that you had been drugged earlier. You just went so obediently into the forest and went to sleep like I told you to." With that said, Lucius Malfoy held up a flask filled with a dark green liquid.

"It is a potion that acts the same way as the Imperius Curse. Fortunately, it is not something people can resist so it was with no problem at all that I have imprisoned you in my dungeon."

Shaking the bars yet again, Harry tried to use what strength he had gained from becoming a full blooded vampire to try to bend the bars back. He was skinny enough that if he succeeded he would probably be able to squeeze his way out.

If. Small word, big meaning. Even as he began, he knew it to be hopeless. The bars were stronger than he could ever be. He doubted Severus, his father, would be able to break out of this room. Thinking about the other vampire, Harry felt a pang of guilt. Oh, how Severus would blame himself for this.

"What do you want, Malfoy?!" Harry said in an angry voice.

The last thing he expected to hear was the cruel laughter from the man. "Oh, all I want is to have a little fun with you, before I send you to my Lord and Master."

"Fun?" Harry asked, as Lucius walked all the way to the door and peered into the dirty room Harry was locked in.

"Yes. I have heard that a starving vampire can be quite vicious. I want to see just how vicious you can be. If you are a good boy and do as you are told, the Dark Lord might even accept you to his side instead of killing you."

Stunned Harry backed away from the door, shaking his head in denial. "Never," he whispered to himself. He knew, however that given the chance, he might just do what Lucius was thinking. After all who knew how vicious a starving vampire really could be than a vampire.

The memories of the night the hunger had first reared its ugly head slammed their way into his brain and he knew, as clear as the night sky outside, that if he killed he would be lost to everyone he holds dear. He would be lost to his friends, he would be lost to his father and, worst of all, he would be lost to himself.

That was the one thing in his life he would not allow. He would rather die.

Severus felt somebody shaking him roughly. Groaning, he buried his head further into the pillow he had been resting on and told whoever it was to go away. He must have fallen asleep, as he couldn't remember where he was. It took the scent from the pillow to make him remember.

Sighing loudly, he turned his head slightly to one side and glared at the person who had woken him up. Naturally, he wasn't a bit surprised to see Albus leaning over him, a worried look in his old eyes.

He was more surprised to see Nashii standing a few feet away, staring at him with knowing eyes. It was only then that he remembered that he had been crying. Blushing furiously, he swiped at the tear-streaks on his face trying to get rid of the evidence.

Clearing his throat, he turned his eyes back to Dumbledore. With all the bravery that he could he uttered the first thing that came to mind. "What?!" Unfortunately it came out more a whine.

"Come now, Severus. There is no need to be embarrassed." Albus stated, turning his head slightly to the woman behind him. A smile crossed Nashii's face and the blush that Severus felt before was nothing to what he felt now. Gods, he was acting like a teenager.

Burying his head into the pillow again, he felt the pat to the shoulder that he was so used to when he was angry or upset.

"Are you curious as to where your son is, Severus?" A feminine voice he only heard in the Staff Common Room on very rare occasions asked him.

Turning his head slowly, he looked hard at Nashii. "Of course I am. Do you know where he is?"

With that a chuckle fell from her lips and Severus suddenly knew that he was going to be kept up all night by that one sound. Shaking his head and groaning slightly, he just hoped that she couldn't read minds as well as tell the future.

"We all know where he is, Severus. It is a matter of trying to get him out that is the problem." Dumbledore stated and Severus closed his eyes. Of course, Malfoy Manor. To try to infiltrate the place and steal Harry away from his old 'friend' was going to take a lot of planning.

"It will take a lot of going over. Albus, what if we are too late? I know Lucius' dungeons and Manor. It is nearly impenetrable."

"But it is possible. No we have a few reasons to believe that Lucius will keep him for a while yet. I think he is also personally baiting you into saving him."

Severus nodded. "I think you might be right there. Still, the faster we get to him the better."

While Nashii cast that knowing glance at him, Albus curiously asked why he was in such a rush if he knew Lucius was waiting for him.

"Albus, I know Lucius. I know the lengths of cruelty he has in him. He will stretch them to see me suffer for betraying his master. I am more afraid of what this will do to Harry than I am of what Lucius will do to him."

It was plain to see by the wince that crossed her features that Nashii knew what he meant. "Do you really think Lucius would do that to Harry just to get even with you?" She asked, disgust colouring her features.

Severus nodded, got up and stalked to the little bathroom to wash his face. The last thing he wanted was the students to have proof that he had emotions. He thought with a small smile how funny it would be to see the shocked expressions on his Slytherins' faces. 

Once he was feeling slightly better and cleaner, the three left Harry's room to go to the Great Hall. Severus was amazed that it was way past dinner-time and the Hall was deserted except for a few other members of staff and, not too far off, the ever present Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

Seeing the empty tables he wished he hadn't been asleep. Even though he tried to hide the fact from everybody, he loved the meal times at Hogwarts, more for the food than the talk, but liked it nonetheless.

Shaking his head of thoughts of what the House-Elves had thought up that night, he turned his attention to the conversation going on around him. As was expected, they were talking about ways to get to Harry. He knew as soon as every pair of eyes turned his way that he was going to be a big player in his Son's rescue.

"Severus we are waiting." Albus announced, much to his embarrassment.

Shifting form foot to foot he asked, "What?"

The three students giggled and he shot them a glare. He turned his attention fully to the Headmaster and repeated his question.

Albus chuckled quietly for a few seconds. "As you said before, Severus, you are the only person here who knows the layout of Malfoy Manor. We need the plans to the house. Especially the dungeons."

As the truth of this statement sunk in, he sighed, grabbed at one of the tablecloths on one of the tables, ready for breakfast tomorrow and began to draw a rough sketch of what he knew of the Malfoy's home.

It took a long time and was a strain on his memory, but finally it was done. Now the worst part. Trying to figure a way to bust into the place and rescue Harry.

For the first time ever, Severus was glad of the presence of Hermione Granger.

Harry fell to the floor in an exhausted heap after his energy was spent trying to bend the bars on the door.

Lucius Malfoy, the bane of his existence at the moment, had said he had gotten a present for Harry. He really didn't want to know what it was. Anything that Malfoy senior could give him as a gift couldn't be good, especially after what he had been told about the man's plans for him half an hour ago.

Slowly cursing himself for his stupidity of wandering out of the school when he should have been in class, even if he was under someone else's control at the time, he almost missed the shouting of a voice that was all too familiar to Harry.

Groaning, Harry moved himself away from the door, knowing the evil git Malfoy would not open the door with him anywhere near it. As the shouting got closer, he noticed more than one person’s shouts, all voices he would know in his sleep.

"How?" Harry whispered to himself, as the door was opened and the three new prisoners were pushed into the room with him. As the Dursley family fell in front of his feet, he heard the door slam closed again and the evil laugh as Lucius told him to have fun with them.

"Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, Dudley. Are you ok? Did the evil bastard do anything to you?" He asked, suddenly worried for the only family he had known throughout most of his life.

As his Uncle got to his feet and spun angrily towards Harry's voice, he knew he should have stayed quiet. "You got this into this mess. You get us out of it. NOW boy! I will not warn you again." Vernon shouted at him.

"I can't. I'm just as much a prisoner here than you are. His house is probably warded against magic, especially in the Dungeons. They also took my wand from me. I can't get us out." As he said this, the full realization hit him and he wrapped his arms around his legs.

"Why did we get kidnapped from our own home by a bunch of your freakish kind? This is your fault, I just know it." Aunt Petunia said, angry eyes glaring at her nephew.

Harry nodded, but kept himself as small as possible on the floor. "It is my fault that you are here. He kidnapped you for a 'present' to me. He wants me to kill you all." Harry replied, starting to rock gently. He might not like the Dursley's very much, but they did raise him and are family. He couldn't kill them, could he?

"I have learnt some stuff this year about my real parents. Because of my father being what he is, I went through some changes on my birthday. I would have been taken out of your home to Hogwarts on my birthday anyway, even if I didn't go to Ron's house."

"What are you babbling about, boy?" Vernon cut in, wanting to know how this skinny little boy cold possibly kill them all.

"I'm . well, not human anymore. My father was a vampire. I sort of am one now, too."

There was silence for a few minutes, cut only by the sudden hitching of Dudley's breath. Seemed his cousin believed him. So too did Petunia. Harry could see she knew he was talking about as soon as he mentioned the v word.

"That . monster. He raped my sister I just bet. Lily told me all about him when she was in Third year." At this, Aunt Petunia grimaced. "I think she had a crush on him."

"She did. James was away from home at the time, but I guarantee you it was not rape." Harry said, trying to reassure a suddenly fuming Petunia. Who would have thought that his Aunt really did care for her sister?

Suddenly there was a flurry of motion as Petunia was hustled to the other side of the room by Vernon and Dudley. The woman had fainted at the mention of his real biological father and the rest of his family didn't trust him enough to leave her where she was.

Sighing and shaking his head, Harry laid himself down on one of the four beds in the room and closed his eyes, his exhaustion finally pushing him to sleep. Something he needed if he had to think of any way possible to escape from this dungeon and go back to Hogwarts.

He was relieved when he didn't have any of the terrifying nightmares he had been having for the past week.

Severus sighed in frustration. For once in his life, he wished he had been a bit nicer to people. After the map was finished it was plain to see everyone sitting around it knew at least one thing to prepare for a rescue mission.

Especially the children! Ginny, who was a whole lot smarter than she let on, had the map memorized completely within minutes of looking at it. Ron was extremely well with figuring out where to place people for the rescue with their personal skills in magic. He was obviously their strategist. And Hermione. He will never underestimate that girl ever again. She had soon become the leader of the gathered people despite her age.

After hearing the useless ideas the adults had been throwing at each other, Hermione had thrown her hands in the air and immediately told them how stupid they were. All that is except for him. She had told the staff that the only one she knew who had a brain was he. He had heard praise coming from one of the students at the school.

Somehow, he felt like the world was ending.

Shaking his head, he looked at the map and where everyone was positioned. He promised himself that if he lived through this war, he would have to play a game of chess with the youngest Weasley boy. Severus himself couldn't have placed all assembled into better positions.

Some teachers this school had. How were the majority of them teaching when the students were better at preparing a raid.

At this thought, Severus chuckled. He was not surprised to find all eyes swivel his way in surprise. He shook his head again before letting himself laugh a little.

"Um, sir, what is so funny?!" Hermione asked, still in boss mode.

Severus looked at her, then to the assembled teachers and couldn't help but smile stupidly. "I was thinking Miss Granger, that in this war it is the teachers who are supposed to be looking after the students. With your three skills alone, you have shown that the students would do a better job looking after the teachers."

Now the three students were the ones that were sure that the world was ending. After all, how many times does Snape, the Greasy git of a Potions Professor ever say positive comments about students' skills in anything?

Hermione blushed bright red, bent her head and for the first time that night was silent. Ron just stared. Ginny had a smug smile on her face at the praise, one that Severus thought he would never see on the Weasley girls face. That was his smirk she was displaying.

He was being stared at from the other teachers as well. Some looked angrily at him, some were just surprised. Albus was beaming at him, his smile wide enough to reach his ears.

Rolling his eyes he looked to the Granger girl and told her to continue her evil plotting. Severus was going to keep his eyes on that one, make sure she doesn't decide to go over to the Dark Side. She would be brilliant at it though.

Blinking, he wondered where that thought came from. He concentrated on the rest of what she was saying from then on in. Ron was eagerly preparing the groups that would resemble Aurors. A nice little surprise he himself had come up with.

Ginny was the one who would be showing everyone to their positions on the grounds when they were ready to put their plan into action. He could see the anxiety at that in the young girls' face. In a way, the youngest member of the team had the most important job. If one person was in the wrong spot when their plan went off, it could lead to disaster. A point she now knew quite well.

After their plot to raid the Malfoy Manor was sorted out the best it could possibly be, the three students were obviously about to fall asleep at the table they were sitting around. Luckily they had moved to a room where nobody could possibly spy on them.

Fawkes, the phoenix, was preening his feathers on a stand not too far from the headmaster. Once all plans had been made, the students had stumbled their way back to the Gryffindor common room and most Professors had made their way to their own living quarters, Severus petted the bird lightly on its winged head for no other reason than to get the bird to sing.

The song filled him with a sense of peace. Even Fawkes believed that they would get Harry back. Nodding at the bird, he slowly got up from the table and made his way slowly back to his dungeon room.

For the first time in a long time, even with the thought that his son was gone, he slept peacefully without the aid of a potion. He knew without a doubt that their plan was perfect and that nothing could go wrong.

What little he knew.

Harry woke as a fat hand prodded him. Slowly opening his eyes, he quietly growled at Dudley and rolled over, hoping to fall back to sleep again. Dudley's had jabbed at him again, making Harry sit up, stare hard at his cousin and asked "what?"

"I think someone's coming." Dudley replied, his eyes showing the fear that Harry could smell. Groaning, he got up, went to the door and listened carefully at anything he might be able to hear outside the room.

A slight movement caught his eye. Looking to where he had seen the movement, he heard a slight tapping of small claws on stone. Using his vampiric eyesight, he could easily see that it was a rat. One that thankfully didn't have a silver paw.

Sighing in relief he turned back to his cousin. "It's just a rat Dudley. It won't hurt you. I doubt it could even get in here."

He immediately saw relief in his cousin's eyes. The fat boy slumped back onto the bed he had been using and it groaned under the weight. Harry, not knowing what to do, sat on the bed next to Dudley.

"I'm sorry I got you and Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia into this mess. I was under a spell from an extremely powerful potion made by an evil man. The one that captured you. His name is Lucius Malfoy."

Dudley could see the hate his cousin held for the man when he had said Lucius' name. It was spat out, more of a curse than anything else. Looking at Harry, he squirmed on the bed to turn to look at him fully. "You really hate him, don't you?"

Harry let his eyes harden to show just how much. "If I knew I could beat him in a duel, he would be the first to drop out of all the Death Eaters."

"Death Eaters?" Dudley squeaked.

Harry nodded. "Evil wizards who are followers of a powerful and evil Wizard called Voldemort. He is so twisted that he doesn't even look human anymore. He is more snake than man, I swear. It is my job, my destiny you could say, to kill that evil son of a."

"Language!!" Came a voice over in the corner of the cell. Aunt Petunia stared hard at Harry. "I will not have you talking to my Dudders like that."

"It is the only way to save everyone. Muggle and Wizard alike. Don't worry so much anyway, I bet right now all my Professors will be trying to think of a way to bust us all out of here."

Harry was so convinced that his father would do anything to get him out that he was sure that someone would be willing to form a party to get them all out of here. He knew it wouldn't be Severus though. Even though his dad was smart, Dumbledore wouldn't let him run in here looking for vengeance.

Sighing, Harry turned to look at his Aunt and Uncle. "I promise that we will all get out of this. Alive would be better. Just do me one favour, do not provoke me."

Seeing his Uncle was still asleep on a bed over in the corner furthest from Harry, he turned his attention fully to his Aunt. "Please don't let him do anything stupid." He begged.

Aunt Petunia stared blankly at him for a moment. Then it suddenly hit her like a ton of bricks. Her nephew was a vampire now. If provoked far enough, he would attack. Especially if he was hungry. The reason why she was there, with her husband and son suddenly knocked the breath out of her. Harry really was supposed to kill them all.

"Ok." She whispered, not sure if she could raise her voice any higher even if she wanted to. The room went suddenly quiet again, so much so that the rat outside sounded like a giant walking along very fast.

Harry shivered at the sound. The only giant thing he would like to hear now was Hagrid trying to break down the door.

Unbeknownst to Harry, the rat outside was suddenly gripped by a claw of a bigger animal, one that's carnivorous appetite didn't want rat. The smell of human flesh not far away was making the creature salivate though. If it could manage to break out of its own chains and break down the door to both rooms, it would be able to have a feast.

Growling lowly to itself, the creature paced almost silently in its own cage, the chain holding it to only a little of the space.

Angry at whoever had put it in there, it suddenly made a dash at the door only to be choked as the chain tightened around its neck. Not being deterred by that, it kept making its wild dashes hoping the chain would snap soon.

Hermione paced the small space in front of the Gryffindor Common room's fireplace, Ron sitting in one of the comfy armchairs nearby watching. Both were extremely nervous, but none more so than Ginny.

The other two Gryffindors might be having jitters about what they were doing, but Ginny was having a nervous attack it seemed. Jumping at any sound, her eyes darting everywhere at once seeing if they could find a way to get out of the mess she had found herself in, shaking. She felt like she couldn't possibly do this.

"Ginny, you'll be fine. Just calm down a bit." Ron said to his sister, who was sitting in the chair next to him.

"Calm down, ok Mr. Strategist. You just had to figure out where everyone was going to go. I have to put them in their places. If I mess up even one person, someone could die." Swallowing thickly, she shook her head. "I couldn't stand that Ron."

"Ginny, you will do fine. Just remember that this whole raid is to help save Harry." Hermione announced, stopping her pacing and flopping herself down into the nearest chair available to her. "We could go over the plan once more if it will make you feel better. You will memorize everything a whole lot faster then and will have less of a chance of doing a mistake when it is time to put it into action."

"I cannot believe you actually told the teachers that they were all stupid." Ron said, staring amazed at his girlfriend.

Hermione clucked her tongue annoyingly. "I didn't say stupid. I said incompetent. Nobody can tell me otherwise either. The only teacher in this school who knows what to do is Snape. Thank God he is on our side. He must have been formidable as a Death Eater."

Ginny groaned at that. "Why did he have to suggest Aurors to come in after us? That is more of a job for me."

"If the Death Eater who is the right hand man to You-Know-Who is caught, then it will slow down the war a bit. Give us more time to figure out a good strategy to actually stop You-Know-Who altogether. The world would be a safer place." With an evil grin to Ron, she added, "Plus in the larger war, Ron would have an even more important role than you do now. Think about how much pressure will be on him then."

"Oh thanks Hermione. You sure do know how to make people less nervous don't you?" Ron muttered, more to himself than to Hermione. But to his relief he saw his little sister giggle and calm down a bit.

"So, do you all want to go through the plan again, or do you think we should all go to sleep now. We start this plan up tomorrow night and need to be well rested."

"Can we go over it one more time? At least we wouldn't have the teachers throwing in their say as well. We can concentrate on the plan ourselves." Ginny asked, thinking it might erase more of her nervousness.

At Ron's nod, the three Gryffindors were soon deep into their plans for the raid that was going to happen the next night. They would have to hurry anyway. After a few days of Harry not coming to classes, people were now starting to talk.

Severus was pacing. He didn't think he could stand still if he wanted to. Off to his right sat Albus, to his left Nashii and in front of him sat a frowning Minerva.

His mind was working overtime, giving him a slight headache and a grumpy mood. He wished Minerva would go change into a cat so he could boot her backside for frowning at him like that.

Tomorrow night. The plan the staff and three students had put together would begin tomorrow night. He wanted, no needed, to see his son again. Alive, well and ready to go hunt some Death Eaters. Just the thought was making his teeth itch.

Thoughts like that would only get him in trouble though, well deeper trouble than he already was. The worst thing was, with his son being the one held captive and his sudden interest in the taste of freshly spilt Death Eater blood, the rest of the staff had decided him to help Ginny out with her job.

"I still don't understand why I am the one that has to help the girl? Why me?!" He demanded of Dumbledore. The answer he got never came from the old wizard however, but the young woman sitting opposite him.

"You know that quite well enough, Severus. We will not have you go and get yourself or someone else killed." Minerva stated, Albus nodding his head in silent agreement.

Turning towards Nashii, he silently asked her with his eyes for help.

"I agree with the Headmaster." She said. "You are too close to losing yourself in the moment to be of any use in the actual raid, best you stay off on the headlines with Ginny."

Feeling decidedly hurt by the comment, he turned and stalked out of the room they were in and back down to his dungeons. He was surprised when, before he could lock his door, Nashii barged her way into the room.

Scowling fiercely at her he demanded to know what she was doing in his private rooms.

"I am here to warn you. I saw that if you go running blindly into this, you will die and a most horrible death at that." She shuddered at the thought. Surprising Severus to no end, she lifted a hand and laid it to Severus' cheek. "You miss your son and want him back, but you cannot go rushing blindly into this. You have more than done your part by mapping Malfoy Manor for us. You did an excellent job of that and now you should relax and let the others do their jobs. Please stay with Ginny and make sure she does her job right. That is what is most important right now."

Severus went to argue his point, but was stopped when he felt Nashii's lips brush against his. Suddenly his mind went blank. The kiss was nothing more than a faint brush of lips, but Severus in that one instant changed his mind. Whatever the angel in front of him said, he would do.

Harry was pacing in the room like a caged animal. His hunger was rising and he knew it wouldn't take much provocation to attack.

Aunt Petunia watched him pacing, hoping they would all get out of here and fast, before she and her precious family became nothing but food to the boy.

Dudley was thinking on all of what Harry had been telling him about what had happened the last time Voldemort ruled. For being stuck in a little hole for a couple of days together, amazingly no fights had erupted, Uncle Vernon taking the hint not to get angry at his nephew quite seriously.

Sighing, Harry went and sat down on the bed. There was a lot more shuffling sounds outside as the rats that lived in the dungeons here kept on moving. Since the time he had first told Dudley about Lucius, he had also been hearing something else, something bigger, down here. Still, the sound of rats was making his mouth water.

A loud banging sound came from the cell right across from them. All four jumping to their feet as quick as possible, Harry rushed to the door to see what it was. Wild scrabbling could be heard from the other side of the door to the cell, as if something huge was trying to claw its way out.

As soon as the thought entered Harry's mind, a giant clawed hand came through the door, a shriek of success coming from the beast inside the room. The hunger that had been gnawing at Harry for days suddenly vanished as another giant claw ripped through the door, this one silver.

Gasping, he realized that whatever the creature was, it was also the person who had betrayed his mother and James to Voldemort. Peter Pettigrew was slowly clawing his way out of the room.

As the snout of the beast came through, Harry couldn't help but scream. His relatives raced to the door to see what could frighten a vampire so much, only to be staring into huge beady eyes.

Peter Pettigrew, the man Harry should have killed when he had the chance was not even a man anymore. His body had changed, much like that of Voldemort's except that he was more close to a giant rat. Long snout and wicked teeth could be seen from one of the holes it had made in the door, the beady eyes searching for the meat it could smell.

Suddenly, the door was broken down and a shriek of animalistic hunger and success escaped its mouth.

All four people in the cell screamed and ran to the other side of the cell. They tried vainly to get Harry to break down the bars on the window, but he wasn't strong enough. A whip-like tail lashed out at the door, making it rattle in its hinges. Terrified beyond thought, all the four could do was try to get out of the room.

The snout appeared again this time sniffing inside their cell, looking around to find the meat. There, two good plump people and a skinny woman. The other was not to its liking however. Too small, yet somehow wrong in smell.

With an ear-splitting screech, it began tearing wildly at the door trying to get in. This door however was more sturdy than the one to its own cell. It hunched up its already hunched body and began to slam repeatedly at the door.

His relatives all looked to him for help, though he had no idea what to do in this situation. How many giant rat-men had he ever been attacked by? None. He couldn't die though . . . not like this. A seemingly stupid idea entered his head that he stood more a chance against the beast then the others.

As the door began to give way, Harry did his best to find a weapon, only to see nothing he could use. The thought that he could actually kill it without a weapon never entered his mind.

The wererat slowly made its way into their cell, sniffing at which of the fat people it would like to eat first. Its beady little black eyes fell upon Vernon. With an angry screech, it launched itself at Harry's uncle. Harry tried to get in front of his uncle but was flung away by a tail lashing that shook his senses.

As he watched, the creature bit heavily into Uncle Vernon's arm. The sound of his Uncle's scream was enough to snap him out of the haze he was in and sudden anger took over. He screamed his own rage in the face of the rat, before biting it back. Though he knew he should have been disgusted by the taste, but it was absolutely heaven to the suddenly starving vampire.

As he felt strength return to his own limbs, he felt the strength leave that of the wererat that used to be Peter Pettigrew. Before he could completely drain the creature though, he was pulled off and was yelled at until he could see straight again.

The last person he would expect was holding him. His Head of House, Professor McGonagall was there, helping him to his feet. The tail whipping he had received must have done more damage than he realized as the whole world went black as he slipped into unconsciousness. The only thought in his head was, how did McGonagall get here?

Harry woke slowly, unconsciousness leaving him to the unwanted glare of lights as he opened his eyes and found himself in the Hospital Wing. Groaning, he lifted a hand to rub at his head where a headache was forming.

There was an awful taste in his mouth that he couldn't identify but he thought it reminded him strongly of rat... suddenly, some the events of what had happened before he fainted came rushing back and his stomach cramped.

He suddenly sat up straight in the bed he found himself in, thinking of the Dursley's and what had happened to Peter Pettigrew.

Did he kill him or not? Was it really his Head of House that had saved them from the cell? Were his family alright? Did he imagine the bite his Uncle Vernon had gotten from the werecreature?

Sighing, he let himself fall back to the bed and closed his eyes. He tried to stop his thoughts, but failed miserably. One question kept on grating on his nerves more than the others...how did he end up in the dungeons of the mansion he was in to start off with?

He was sure someone had come and told him, but who and when he couldn't remember.

A low moan from the bed next to his caught his attention and, turning around, he found his Uncle Vernon asleep, but caught in a nightmare. Harry could see the bandage wrapped around one pudgy arm where the bite from the wererat was.

Closing his eyes, he shook his head sadly. Just when his Uncle had been a little nicer to him, this had to happen. Well, whether or not he wanted to believe it, Vernon now was a part of the magical world, being classed as a monster though...not very pleasant Harry knew. While everyone here accepted him as being what he was, he couldn't help but think of Remus and how much trouble he had just trying to find a job.

Getting up, he found himself very unstable on his feet. Growling softly as his stomach did, he wanted to go hunting. It was then that he remembered his father.

Walking unsteadily to the door he was almost out in the corridor when he was caught by Madam Pomfrey.

"Just where do you think you are going, mister Potter?" She demanded, going over to him and escorting him back to the bed he had been in before. "You are in no condition to go wandering about the castle."

"Where's my dad?" He asked, knowing that Pomfrey was at least in on that small secret.

"In his chambers asleep, or so I told him to be. Knowing him though, he is probably on his way here right now."

She had barely finished the sentence when the door was opened with such force it banged against the stone walls behind it and Uncle Vernon snorted before waking himself.

Harry never knew what had hit him when the arms wrapped around him, stopping him from being able to breathe properly. "Can't breathe." He managed to gasp out of his oxygen starved lungs.

Severus reluctantly let go of his son and glared at him. "Don't you ever do that to me again! You had me worried sick!" He shouted, before hugging Harry close to him again.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get kidnapped." Harry replied wrapping his own arms around his father. His stomach growled again then. "Hungry..." He muttered quietly.

Without even thinking, he let his fangs drop and carefully bit into Severus' neck. He felt his dad tense, before muscles relaxed as he suckled from the puncture wounds he made.

Not thinking, he bared his own throat and wasn't surprised to feel fangs enter him there. He sighed happily as he felt Severus' mind brush lightly against his. This is what he wanted, a deeper connection to his father. Hopefully, it would last forever.

Someone cleared their throat and they parted to look at Pomfrey. "Please share somewhere else!" She commanded, cocking her head to one side to make them look in that direction. Uncle Vernon was there, staring at his nephew and the boy's real father with a shocked look of horror on his face.

"I'll leave now..." Severus said, before letting Harry go and walking towards the door. Harry kept his eyes on him until he disappeared out the door. Not until then did he turn to face his Uncle.

"You're a monster!" Uncle Vernon shouted, pointing a pudgy fist towards him. "I don't ever want to have you in my house ever again."

Harry blinked, not too sure yet as to whether Dumbledore will make him go back to the Dursley's or not.

"Has Madam Pomfrey told you anything about that bite on your arm?" Harry asked, a grin on his face at thinking of telling his Uncle that he, too, was a monster.

Vernon nodded his head. "The nurse said that it was bitten by a wererat. She then touched me with silver to see if I was allergic, as were animals are and nothing happened. So she said that I am not a wererat."

"Oh..." Harry said dejectedly, before he remembered something. He went off to find Pomfrey in the nurses station and found her looking busily at papers in front of her. "Madam Pomfrey?" He asked quietly.

"Yes Harry?" She asked, looking up and towards her vampire charge.

Harry smiled at her before stating the obvious fact he had just learnt. "The wererat that bit Uncle Vernon was Peter Pettigrew. Peter had a hand made entirely of silver before he must have been bitten. He must have been immune...do you think Uncle Vernon could have been passed that immunity?"

Madam Pomfrey looked shocked before nodding. "Yes, it is possible. Thank you for bringing this to my attention."

She then proceeded to step into the Hospital Wing to tell Vernon Dursley the bad news.

The next few weeks passed by in a blur. The unfortunate affect of the attack by the wererat was found as Harry had very little control, though he wasn't as bad as when he had first changed.

In the weeks gone by, he had learnt control all over again and it bugged him like nothing else could. At least he was safe to be around once again.

The opposite could be said of Uncle Vernon, who was taking the news that he would turn into a huge rat once every month extremely badly.

Harry couldn't blame him for that. He hadn't exactly acted like a good boy during his transition period either.

Slowly, he approached his Uncle, expecting to be yelled at by him.

Aunt Petunia and Dudley were down in the main hall scared out of their wits as they were surrounded by the student body, each wanting a closer look at the Muggles.

"What do you want boy?!" Vernon spat out, looking up from the book he had been reading on transfiguration.

"Remus will meet with you later today. Seeing as he is a werewolf, he thought it might be easier if someone else was there with you. First full moon and all..."

"I don't want the company of that...monster. You can go and be with all your freaky friends now. Leave me alone!"

Harry just shook his head in a way that Vernon knew meant the boy thought him crazy. "Anything you say, Uncle. He has been going through these changes most of his life and is quite used to it by now. I can understand how you would just hate to be in the company of someone more experienced than yourself."

His plan worked. Vernon bristled at the very thought of someone being better than himself and was quick to change his mind. "Fine! Send him up here then, go on."

Harry disappeared then, not in a popping way like Apparating, just running very fast in the opposite direction, but Vernon Dursley was very pleased with himself. He would show that werewolf friend of his nephew a thing or two.

An idea formed in the man's mind then. Would Wizards and their like be interested in drills? If so, his business at Grunnnings could raise a lot! A satisfied smile crossed his lips then. He would ask this Remus fellow when he arrived.

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Harry bit deep into the rabbit’s neck and fed. Since his return, he had been hunting by himself, even had permission to three times a day! This lunch hour, he had to be quick though...he had wasted time talking to both his Uncle and Remus.

For the life of him, Harry just couldn't be mad at his Uncle for yelling at everyone. Truth be told, he wouldn't like it very much if he suddenly found our he would be turning into a gigiant rat once a month either.

Therianthropy...he would have to ask his Defence against the Dark Arts teacher if they would be studying it now. He thought it would be a good idea if Aunt Petunia and Dudley came to those classes, maybe even Uncle Vernon himself?

Nodding his head, Harry put the dead rabbit to the ground, knowing a nearby fox would be having its lunch also. Luckily Defence was his first class after lunch. He would have to find Professor Fletcher and ask before class started.

He made his way into the Hall, joining Ron, Hermione and Ginny at the Gryffindor table.

The class was quite interesting. Professor Fletcher had decided that he would take the subject of Therianthropy and teach the class about it.

Aunt Petunia and Dudley had been given special permission to join the class, as had Uncle Vernon and Remus. In fact, Vernon even looked mildly interested, though quite scared at some of the pictures that were being shown about the class.

Well, since some of those things, if not all of them would soon happen to him, later on that night for the first time, in fact, Vernon did have cause to worry.

Of course, he did have Remus with him and the two adults were seen whispering every now and then at the back of the classroom, obviously about things that the teacher had just talked about.

The lesson was a good one and afterwards, the three Muggles, or should it be said, two Muggles and a Wererat, now knew what would be happening to Vernon. It would have helped ease their minds a bit, if nothing else.

The best thing about his Aunt, Uncle and cousin staying at Hogwarts within the school itself for 'protection', was that they could all learn that they were just normal people, but with the ability to use magic.

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"Where do you think you are going?!" Petunia asked, as Dudley seemed eager to follow Harry and his friends about for the rest of the day.

"I want to see what Transfiguration is." He stated, getting ready to chuck one of his fits if he didn't get his way. Harry and his friends, that Ron Weasley of whom Dudley was looking at a little frightened - and with good reason - and some girl of which seemed to be bossy, were standing not too far away, chuckling slightly at the sight of him and his mother fighting.

Still, he didn't want to pass up this chance to see a little magic at work. He hadn't seen any in the...Defense class, Harry had called it, but he had never so much as had one of those fake magicians come to one of his parties before. He truly wanted to see something to prove that it wasn't all just, well, make belief.

"It is changing one thing to another! Now you know, lets go meet your father. He is supposed to change into that...thing tonight and who knows what may happen then"

Dudley couldn't help his "ooohhh" of excitement at seeing something like a rock, turn into...well, a turtle or something. The whole idea sounded marvellous to him.

Petunia lifted her hands into the air, shook her long-necked head and decided to just let her son do what he wanted. "Fine, Diddy dear, but please...stay out of trouble."

Dudley's face lit up then and turned towards the other three teenagers and walked as quickly as he could towards them. He had found that being locked up in a cell in a dungeon was a faster way to lose weight fast. Well at least the Headmaster of Smeltings would be a little happier with the new thinner him.

Shrugging slightly, he met his cousin and his friends with a smile, before the four of them ventured off to see what this Transfiguration thing truly was. Magic was something that Dudley Dursley suddenly found very interesting.

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Harry laughed as Dudley touched and prodded the small lizard in front of him. Of course, it was immobilized, so it couldn't scurry away and Dudley found the frozen state of the reptile rather amazing.

"You know, this lizard will be very sore when it is unfrozen." He stated, seeing the slight blush of embarrassment come across his cousins face.

"I'm sorry. It is just, usually I don't get to see a lizard this close up. What are you going to do with it?"

"He and his classmates are going to be turning these lizards into rulers, Mister Dursley!" Professor McGonagall stated, coming over to tap Dudley's fingers away from the green scales of the possibly very frightened creature.

It was revision work, but since final exams were coming frightfully close for this year, McGonagall found this to be a complete must, much like Hermione, whom he could see already had a perfect ruler in front of her.

Dudley's eyes widened at the thought. "Harry! Turn the lizard into a ruler!" he cried out, clapping his still pudgy hands together and ignoring the rest of the class as they all laughed at his expense.

Rol.ing his eyes, Harry did as he was bid, working the lizard first into a ruler, followed by other things. A stick, a watch that kept time, though it was a little fast, and a lollipop after Dudley stated he wanted to see if he could turn stuff into food.

Finally, with five minutes of class time left, Harry turned it back into its original reptilic form and unfroze it. Catching it before it could scamper away, he handed it to Professor McGonagall, before sitting by his desk, waiting for the bell to ring, signalling the end of classes for the day.

All in all, he had had a good day. Tonight though, he had decided, after much prompting from Remus, who said he wouldn't be attacked because of his vampiric nature, to hunt with the two werecreatures. Wolf, rat and vampire..one of whom he disliked, one of which he loved like an uncle and the other being himself.

He was willingly going to spend the night with Vernon Dursley. This had got to be one of thhe signs that the world was ending.

Either way, he would be well fed for tomorrow.