Philip settled down in the teacher’s chair behind the desk in the unused classroom and looked expectedly at the two teenagers, waiting for the barrage of questions to start. To his surprise, both brothers looked at each other, and something unspoken passed between them. Then they turned and looked directly at him—most youngsters found it difficult to meet a vampire’s eyes directly—and Draco said, “Uh . . .my lord—”

“Phillip. Or Phil, though only family members or close friends are ever allowed to address me like that. I was my lord Philip for too long back in the eleventh century to want to start that business all over again now.” The vampire corrected softly.

“Right, Philip.” Draco nodded. “Umm . . .Harry and I were wondering if it wouldn’t be better if you continued this discussion when my dad was here too. That way you could meet the whole family. We could go down to the Hospital Wing and meet with him, if you’d like?”

Philip thought for a moment, recalling how he had rescued Severus from the toxic potions lab, and said, “Yes, I would like that. Your father seems like an interesting fellow and I would like to speak with him when he isn’t half-dead from inhaling noxious substances.” He rose to his feet. “Come along, boys and let’s go and meet my potions prodigy descendent.” He opened the door and then turned and hissed, “Since I don’t wish to advertise my presence, I will veil myself and walk ahead of you by ten paces.” He drew in a breath and raised the veils over himself yet again, then began walking.

“Phil, how do you know the way to the Hospital Wing?” Harry whispered, realizing that the vampire hadn’t bothered to ask directions, and in a castle the size of Hogwarts, newcomers always got lost.

“I have been exploring and following you about for a week, Harry,” came Phil’s voice, it was deep and musical. “Wherever you have been, so was I, most times.”

“Oh.” Harry said, thinking, Merlin, he must really be into this bodyguard thing. Hope he didn’t follow me into the loo. He flushed, but then figured the vampire was too savvy to do anything so improper and embarrassing. Though with his supernatural speed he could have nipped inside and scoped things out before I even got there. That made more sense, plus it was something Harry could live with. Just allowing a stray thought to occur about the other scenario made his face heat.

The two boys maintained a safe distance behind the master vampire, who walked much slower than normal, if they had only known, and spoke very little to each other on their way to the Hospital Wing. Draco was still shocked about discovering that Harry had not been imagining things when he said he had seen a vampire, but he didn’t like to admit he’d been wrong, so he kept silent.

But just then Harry turned to him, wearing a rather smug look, and said, “Still don’t believe me, Dragon?”

Draco shrugged. “Well, I guess now I have to—” he began, then yelped when Harry smacked him across the back of the head hard. “Hey!”

“Maybe next time you’ll believe me, huh?” Harry mock-scolded, waving a teasing finger in front of Draco’s aristocratic nose.

Draco rubbed the back of his head and sulked petulantly until Harry laughed and said, “Oh, don’t sulk, big brother. That’s so four-year-old behavior. And aren’t you fourteen?”

“What are you, my father?” groused his brother, then he shook his head and sighed. “Fine. You were right. There really is a vampire in the castle. Happy now?”

“Dancing a jig,” Harry replied. “It’s the miracle of the decade, Draco Malfoy admitting he was wrong to Harry Snape.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Draco waved a hand in dismissal. Then he changed the subject. “I wonder what Dad said when those three dumbasses confessed to him? I hope he called Dumbledore so the Headmaster could hear it all and then nailed their arses to a wall.”

“Me too.” Harry agreed, his eyes flashing. An accident was one thing, but a deliberate attempt at harming his father and brother and himself was quite another. “Too bad Dad forbade us to use kin-sa-dor to harm, otherwise I’d have happily kicked a hole through Nott and Cormac.”

“Yes. I know what you mean.”

They soon had an answer to Draco’s question, for when they arrived at the Hospital Wing, they could hear angry voices, one belonged to Severus and the other . . .amazingly enough . . .belonged to the Headmaster. The two exchanged glances of astonishment and disbelief. Dumbledore . . .yelling? It was almost unheard of for the easygoing Headmaster to raise his voice . . .and at a student, no less.

Yet they could hear, quite clearly, Dumbledore berating the three miscreants through the oaken door of the Hospital Wing. “ . . .am thoroughly ashamed of all of you. That you could think so little of your fellow students’ lives, not to mention your professor, to attempt grievous harm upon them is utterly appalling and disgraceful. If this is an example of school solidarity, perhaps I ought to cancel the TriWizard Tournament and tell the Heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang to stay far from here, since I cannot trust my own students to behave with common decency and restraint.” There was a pause, and then Dumbledore continued, quite irately, “Do you know that attempted murder carries penalties even for a minor? That Professor Snape could bring all of you up on charges if he wished, or Harry and Draco could? Yes, Mr. Nott, I am serious. You may not be incarcerated in Azkaban, but there is another prison for young wizard delinquents who think themselves beyond the law. It is known as the Oubliette, the Place of Forgetting, and those who go in there come out forever changed.”

“That’s a lie, sir!” MacLaggen challenged. “I never heard of any such place.”

“And therefore that means it does not exist, Mr. MacLaggen?” interrupted a familiar soft voice laced with sarcasm. “Based upon that theory half the world must be gone, because what you don’t know could fill a whole volume of encyclopedias!”

“I . . .I’ve heard of it,” quivered Avery. “My grandpop used to threaten to send me there when I was bad. He . . .he said they put you down in a dark hole in the ground and left you there to rot. He said that was where all the wicked little children went. Please, Professor, don’t send me there! I’m sorry, I really am!”

“But, sir, the . . .vampire already punished us!” wailed Nott.

“So you have said,” replied the Headmaster. “But I am responsible for you while you are here and I cannot allow such behavior—deliberate malicious behavior—to go unpunished. I am sure Professor Snape will agree with me.”

“I most certainly do,” Severus replied, in a tone that was stiff with icy fury and disapproval. “You were warned at the beginning of the year what would happen if you disobeyed me and attacked a student. Now you shall reap the whirlwind.”

The two Slytherins began to plead softly for clemency, but Severus remained inflexible. And this once, so did Dumbledore, even when Cormac joined in.

“As of tonight, you three are all on probation for behavioral problems. Which means you are but a breath away from expulsion. Step out of line just once, boys, and I shall begin proceedings to expel you from this school without delay. Said probation will include the cancellation of all Hogsmeade visits, restriction to your common rooms except for class and mealtimes, regular reports to your Head of House from all of your professors in regards to your behavior in their classroom, three nights a week of detention given by Professors Snape, McGonagall, and myself, you are forbidden to attend any matches or play upon your Quidditch teams, and last but not least, I shall be writing a letter to your parents informing them of your atrocious behavior as well as the behavioral probation. Oh, and your wands will be given to your Heads of House directly after class, since you cannot be trusted to use them appropriately. This is your first and last warning, gentlemen. So take heed, else an angry vampire will not be all you need to worry about!” thundered the Headmaster.

Draco and Harry flinched and thanked their lucky stars they were not the ones on the receiving end of that tongue-lashing.

“Am I understood?” Dumbledore added sternly.

Three voices all replied, “Yes, sir,” nearly in unison.

“Sir?” Nott asked, somewhat timidly. “How long will we be on this . . .probation?”

“For the rest of this term, at least. If you show honest improvement, I shall reduce your sentence next term. Otherwise the probation stands for the entire year. Do not whine, Mr. MacLaggen! You are lucky we are lenient with you, otherwise you could be going to the Oubliette.”

That shut even Cormac up, and Harry and Draco stepped off to the side as the Hospital Wing’s door opened and three very chastened and hopefully repentant students filed out. All of them were shivering and pale and sweating, grimacing in pain as well, for Phil’s curse had begun to affect them as well. They didn’t even see their former victims, all were too anxious to get away from the Hospital Wing.

They heard Dumbledore telling Severus to get well and then the shush of flames as the Headmaster Flooed back to his office.

“Phil, the coast is clear,” whispered Harry unnecessarily, forgetting that the vampire had far superior hearing and other heightened senses as well.

“I am aware of that, Harry,” came Phil’s voice from out of the air. It was soft and deep and reminded both boys not a little of their father’s.

“Draco, how should we do this?” Harry looked at his brother. “Should we just go in and tell him what happened and then introduce Phil after or should we introduce him first?”

Draco looked thoughtful. “I think first would be best. After we let him see that we’re all right. He’s probably going spare right now, worrying.”

“Okay. Sounds good,” and with that, Harry pushed open the door to the Hospital Wing and entered, followed moments later by Draco and Philip.

“Harry! Draco!” the undisguised relief in their father’s eyes and voice was palpable. “Are you two all right? Come here and let me see you.”

Both boys obeyed, submitting themselves to Severus’s thorough visual scrutiny and also a magical diagnostic the older man insisted upon performing, making his sons roll their eyes.

“Dad, we’re fine!” Draco said. “Those three bumbleheads couldn’t take us down if we were tied up and blindfolded.”

“Hush, Dragon. I know you, you would tell me you’re fine if you were bleeding internally and missing your arm.”

“Sounds like someone else I know,” muttered his Slytherin son cheekily.

Severus promptly swatted him one, making Draco jump and give his foster parent a sulky look.

Harry, wise enough to learn from his brother’s example, said nothing and simple let Snape examine him.

Once Severus was satisfied the boys were whole and unharmed he hugged them and bade them take a seat next to his bed. “Now then, what is all this nonsense about a vampire attacking Nott and the others? Was this some kind of illusion one of you cast?”

“No, Dad. There really is a vampire here, but he’s a good vampire, he saved you from the poison fumes when the cauldrons exploded that day. I saw him for a minute before he vanished,” explained Harry.

Severus raised an eyebrow. “Are you certain? Because vampires can’t pass the wards about Hogwarts unless invited or—”

“—or if their aura is pure and unstained with the blood of innocents,” finished Phil, drawing off his veils and appearing to one side of the two boys next to Severus’s bed. “Which I am, since I hunt only for food and take blood only from the evil doers—the murderers, rapists, child molesters, and Death Eaters, both wizard and Muggle alike.”

Severus’s jaw dropped as he stared at the tall dark-haired apparition, who bowed gracefully and smiled, showing only a hint of his fangs, but enough that Snape was convinced he was the real thing and not a figment of Harry’s imagination.

“Great Merlin! Have you been here all along?”

“Yes. I can veil myself from the sight of any mortal or wizard and most fae should I so choose,” Phil chuckled. “I am very pleased to meet you at last, Severus.” He held out a hand. “My name is Philip Anthony Snape and I am a very distant ancestor of yours.”

“Of mine? But how?” Severus had taken the vampire’s hand and shaken it, but the sudden revelation left him feeling as if he had been slammed in the jaw with three Bludgers and taken a header off his broom. “My father Tobias was a Muggle, as unmagical as they come.”

Phil laughed, his violet eyes twinkling. “True, but one does not have to have magic to be a vampire, though it does help.” He turned and picked up a chair and brought it back over to the bed, moving so quickly it was as if he had conjured it. “Do you mind if I sit for a spell? My story is long and involved and will probably keep all of you up past your bedtime.”

“A vampire bedtime story? Wicked!” Harry exclaimed, looking as eager as a kid at Christmas, which was rare because as a child living with the Dursleys he’d never had a real Christmas.

“Bloody awesome!” Draco cried.

“Draco, language!” reprimanded Severus automatically.

“Sorry, I forgot,” Draco said quickly. “Don’t wash my mouth out, please?”

Severus frowned sternly at his blond son before acceding. “I’ll let it go, because you’v e been under a lot of pressure tonight, but only this once, mind! You’re old enough to control your mouth, Draco Michael.”

“Yes, sir.” Draco heaved a huge sigh of relief. It would have been the ultimate in embarrassing if he had gotten his mouth washed out in front of Philip.

Phil smirked silently to himself, having caught every thought Draco had been thinking due to his vampiric mind powers. As an ancient vampire lord, Philip had learned to develop his mind to its fullest potential, making him a kind of telepath, but such a skill only came with great age. He cleared his throat and said, “Ahem! Shall I begin?”

“I’m a little old for bedtime stories,” Severus began, feeling a little put out at being placed at the same level as his children by the ancient immortal.

“Not by my reckoning you’re not,” teased the vampire, his smirk an echo of Snape’s own. “Thirty-four is practically a child to me, since I am around a thousand years old.”

Severus flushed. “According to wizard reckoning, I’m an adult—”

The vampire laughed. “Ah, Severus! I was teasing. If it makes you feel better, your Headmaster would be barely a teenager by vampire reckoning.”

The boys giggled at that comment and Severus looked mollified.

“If you like, think of it as a family history lesson,” Phil said.

“Yeah, an ancient history lesson,” Harry remarked.

“Indeed.” Phil chuckled, then he began his tale. “As I have said, I was born a thousand years ago, somewhere around the year 995, that’s an approximate date because back then we didn’t really bother keeping track too much of calendar years, since most people couldn’t read or write. Such was the province of the scholars and monks and royalty, most of the nobles couldn’t do more than sign their names. I was born in the northern part of England, what today is Yorkshire but back then the place where I was raised was nearly all wilderness save for a few hardy fiefs. We lived on the outskirts of Yorkshire, up near the Scottish border, though further inland was a thriving cultural center and towns, including the great city of York, one of the greatest in British civilization.

“I was the second son, destined for a life as a knight, helping to protect my home and family. I had an older brother, Theodorus, and a little sister, Eleanor. Both of them were ordinary. I, however, was Born a vampire.”

“Born a vampire?” Severus repeated. “But I thought vampires were turned, not born.”

“Most are. A Born vampire is very rare, and occurs perhaps once or twice in a century. But we are stronger than our turned counterparts and are truly immortal, unlike our made brethren. We age infinitesimally, at least once our vampiric nature has emerged, which usually happens when we are in our teens, sixteen or seventeen or eighteen. Before that we grow much as anyone else and don’t display any differences save perhaps for heightened senses and a quicker healing factor as children.”

“Do you mean you can’t be killed?” Draco asked.

“Now, I didn’t say that. But we have very few weaknesses.” Phil admitted softly. He waved a hand and a strange mist seemed to flow over them, making them shiver for an instant. “There. An Aural Masking veil, so nothing I am about to reveal can be overheard by prying wizards.” The vampire looked rather pleased with himself. “To answer your question, Draco, a Born vampire cannot be slain by a stake through the heart, garlic, holy water, or fire. Stakes and fire can harm us, garlic and holy water have no effect on us whatsoever, nor does the Killing Curse. Our only true enemies are the sunlight, vampire hunters, or the occasional werewolf. Though some of us can walk about in the sun if protected by a Sunstone.”

Phil withdrew his own sparkling jewel from beneath his shirt and showed his descendants the magical pendant.

“Then you don’t need to sleep in a coffin with dirt from your homeland?” Harry asked, recalling Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Phil wrinkled his nose in distaste. “Certainly not! I could kill Stoker for spreading those stupid rumors about vampires. Much of what he wrote, Harry, was either made up or horribly inaccurate. I prefer to sleep in a comfortable bed, with the curtains drawn, next to my beloved wife.”

“You’re married?” Severus arched an eyebrow.

“Happily so, for many years, but we’re jumping ahead of things.” Phil said, resuming his story. “My family did not know I was a vampire, of course. Back then, I would have been hunted down and staked for being a devil worshipper. I did not know myself until the eve of my seventeenth birthday, when my blood hunger and wings emerged. And also my fangs.”

He opened his mouth to display the extra long canines.

“Wings? You have wings? Where are they?” Draco craned his head to peer at the vampire’s back, wondering if maybe he had gone blind to have missed them.

“They are retracted at the moment, but when I need them, I can call them forth. They are a great advantage in a fight. Mine are a pure ebony, like a rook’s feathers.”

“Did anyone in your family find out what you were?” asked Severus curiously.

Phil nodded. “Yes. My sister discovered it first, and she helped me hide my nature, giving me aging sheep and cattle to drink from, until I began to learn how to hunt on my own. The animal blood kept me alive, but I was forever hungry, yet I was terrified that if I bit a human, I would turn them into a monster like I was.” The ancient vampire grimaced. “I was very much torn between two worlds then. Finally, the king called us to battle and I led the soldiers of my house to war against the French. It was then that I earned the reputation of Philip the Undying, for I took a spear through the chest and lived. I used my illusion powers to disguise the wound, so I didn’t appear to heal too swiftly, and declared it a miraculous healing. Luckily, I was popular and well liked and my fellows believed me. It was then as well that I killed my first man and drank his blood. After that, I realized that my drinking blood was a must, and also that I did not make a vampire by doing so. I then made a conscious choice to only hunt those men who were evil and loathsome, never innocents. And I have kept that promise ever since.”

“That is a very good thing,” Severus remarked dryly.

“Yes. Well, eventually I had to pretend to die, since I wasn’t getting any older. I left my family holdings and wandered everywhere, including the realm of the fae. I learned much from them about how to disguise myself and swordfighting and became an ally of the Seelie Court.”

“Do you know Queen Titania then?” was Harry’s next question.

“Yes, she and I are old friends. She is partially the reason why I am here, little Snape.” Phil told him. “I could never stay very long in one place, because people might begin to notice how I never aged or spent much time abroad during the daylight. I also hated watching my mortal friends and family die, though that could not be avoided.” Phil’s violet eyes suddenly lost their sparkle and went dull and filled with an old pain. “My brother eventually died, though he left behind him three sons and a daughter, and my sister Nell married another lord and had several children as well before she died of the cursed black plague. So the Snape line continued, and I made it my business to check in on my descendants every so often, making sure they were safe and well.

“Once every generation or two, I chose a descendant to show myself to and to tell my story, so that I would not be forgotten. But they could never tell anyone else about me. I chose your father Tobias’s brother, Andrew, to reveal myself to. But my secret died when he did, and your father never knew about me or magic or anything else to do with wizards.”

“Until he met my mother,” Severus said, a faint note of bitterness creeping into his voice.

“I am sorry, Severus.” The master vampire said sincerely. “Sorry I wasn’t there to help you like I helped your sons. But I was . . .occupied with protecting my own little family from vampire hunters, who had been set on me by your dark necromancer Voldemort.” Philip’s eyes grew hard as amethysts. “I eventually found a beautiful vampire who was willing to be my mate. Her name is Julie, and she is very special. She is my other half, my soulmate. She and her younger sister Alice also live with me and at the time I had to keep a low profile and protect them as well as myself. But had I known what your childhood was like . . .rest assured I would have made your bastard father suffer for his treatment of you.”

“How do you know about that?” demanded Severus. “No one knows about that, except Lily, and my two sons.”

Philip nearly blushed. “Forgive me, Sev. I . . .am an ancient vampire and as such can read minds when the person is in the same room as I am. I picked up some of your thoughts regarding your father before and others from your boys when you mentioned him. I did not mean to invade your privacy, Severus, only among family it is sometimes hard for me to block thoughts out, since we are bound by blood.”

Severus frowned and raised his Occlumency shields to a level he had not employed since he had last faced Voldemort. “Is that better, Philip?”

Phil looked astonished. “Yes. Now I don’t feel so . . .pressured. Thank you. And please, call me Phil. All of my family does.” He smiled at Severus.

The Potions Master smiled back. “It would be my pleasure . . .Phil.”

“Uh, Phil? How exactly are we related?”

“Draco, that question is difficult to answer, since you are many times removed from me. But suffice to say that you are sort of like my many times great nephews, all of you.”

“Then, should we call you Uncle Phil?” Harry wanted to know.

“Uncle Phil?” Philip seemed vastly amused. “Well . . .why not? I can get used to that as quickly as I did my twin sons calling me Dad.”

“You have children?” Severus stared at him. “But then . . .that means the myths of vampires being unable to procreate are false.”

“Yes. A Born vampire may sire or carry a child with another vampire or occasionally a human, though that is very rare and dangerous for a human woman to carry a vampire’s child to term. I would never risk my mortal wife’s life if I had one. But Julie is a vampire and she could bear my children safely. I have twin boys, they are four years old, and mischief makers incarnate. They are named Siren and Setus, and they frequently drive me and Julie up a wall.”

“Like these two,” Severus waved a hand at his sons. “I know exactly what you mean, Phil.”

“Hey! We’re not all that bad, Dad!” Harry protested.

“Yeah, you still have your original hair color,” Draco pointed out.

“No thanks to either of you,” Severus shot back.

“Look on the bright side, Dad. We haven’t given you a heart attack yet,” remarked his son impudently.

“With the rate you’re going, Harry Albus Snape, I foresee one occurring in the near future,” said his father, deadpan.

“Gee thanks, Dad.” Harry made a face at him. “Nice way to make me feel guilty.”

“Well, son, if that’s the only way to keep you out of trouble . . .” Severus cuffed him gently on the ear.

“I can think of a few other ways,” Phil put in, laughing.

“Help, Draco. They’re ganging up on me,” Harry looked at his brother hopefully.

“What do you want me to do? I’m just as guilty as you are of doing stupid things and making Dad flip out. Face it, little brother, they’ve painted us into a corner and the best defense is . . .to just shut up and not say anything.”

“Big help you are.” Harry muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

Draco snorted. “So hex me. I’m all about self-preservation, I’m a Slytherin. I don’t go in for all that charge of the Valkyries nonsense like you Gryffindors.”

“It’s not nonsense! I saved your arse with my so-called ‘charge of the Valkyries’ stunt back in the Deepwood!” Harry pointed out indignantly. “If not for me you would have been wearing a magical arm!”

“You’re never going to let me forget that, are you?” Draco began hotly.

“Boys! Enough!” interjected Severus sharply. “Phil doesn’t want to hear you quarreling like a pair of four-year-olds. I’m sure he gets enough of that at home.”

Both of his sons immediately subsided, looking abashed.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Phil shook his head ruefully.

“You see what you have to look forward to?” asked Severus with a wicked grin.

“DAD!” the two chorused.

“What?” the Potions Master asked innocently. Then he reached out and deliberately mussed his sons’ hair, a gesture of affection that they permitted him only when they were in private.

Phil was laughing quietly, pleased at the way the three got along, it was refreshing to see how the little family had bonded, knowing that they had only just come to terms with their relationship that summer. When he had regained his composure, he looked at Severus and said, “I can only hope that by the time my sons are this age, I will be able to provide them with the affection and discipline you have and that they will turn out to be as fine as these two young men.”

Both Draco and Harry straightened and shot their ancestor huge grins of triumph. “You are the best, Uncle Phil,” said Draco.

“Awesome,” Harry agreed.

“Thank you,” Philip smiled.

“Dare I ask what I am?” muttered Severus a bit jealously, for his sons had never looked at him with that starstruck hero-worship in their eyes. Must be the vampire aura.

Harry turned to his father. “You’re the greatest, Dad. Thought you knew that already.”

“Yeah, Dad, you’re brilliant,” Draco chimed in. “Even if you do scold us into next week and ground our arses when we need it.” He flashed his father his most winning smile.

“Enough flattery,” Severus said gruffly, but he was pleased to discover that he was still loved by his boys, despite the fact that their newfound ancestor was a very charming, handsome, and ultra-cool vampire. “Save it for the next time you want to buy something at Hogsmeade.” Then he smirked at them.

“Spoken like a true Snape,” Philip laughed. “And all of you are the reason why I am here now. It is my sworn duty to protect you from harm, and I shall endeavor to do so to the best of my ability,” he said gravely. “As you saw tonight, no one hurts my family and gets away with it.”

“A fact that I am very grateful for,” Severus told him. “If not for you, my sons might have been seriously injured. For that, I can never repay you.”

“You would never need to. We’re family. Family has no debts.” Phil stated firmly.

Severus nodded. “Nevertheless, I can certainly use your help. As you can tell, these two are born trouble magnets.”

“You shall have it, Sev.” Phil promised. “And now, I think it is getting very late and you need your sleep. It’s almost past your curfew.”

Both boys groaned. “Merlin! Two of them!”

“Good night, boys,” Severus said, pointing towards the door.

“Night, Dad,” they replied, then gave him a quick hug before they slipped out the door.

Harry called over his shoulder, “By the way, Uncle Phil, you tell the best bedtime stories.” Then he ducked out the door, laughing.

“Impudent rascal!” Philip snickered. Then he bid Severus goodnight and rose to shadow his two younger charges back to their dorms.