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.