Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Cannot Save You Now	By : tigrelilje Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Slash - Male/Male Views: 15706 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 5
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter fandom nor do I make any money from writing this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
{Parseltongue}
Chapter 7
By the time Harry left the library, he was feeling violently restless as he had after his trip to Diagon Alley. He made his way quickly back to the dungeons to drop off his bag. When he entered his dorm room, Blaise was lounging on his bed flipping through a book. He sat up when he saw Harry burst through the door.
“What happened? Is something wrong?” Blaise asked, assuming something had happened while Harry had been out.
“Nothing happened,” Harry reassured as he threw his bag down next to his trunk. “I’m just feeling restless.”
When Harry spoke, Blaise could see that his fangs had descended just the slightest bit and he quickly looked back at his friend’s eyes to see the slight rim of red he was now expecting.
“You mean, you just feel the need to rip something apart,” Blaise said sarcastically. Harry just flashed his friend a wicked smile before leaving again.
He made it to the front doors without encountering anyone and stepped out into the afternoon sun. With barely a glance around to see who was close by, Harry made a beeline toward the Forbidden Forest in the hopes that he could release some of his tension. As Harry entered the forest, another figure waited a few moments before following after him.
Under the shadow of the forest canopy, Harry let his vampire out completely and immediately felt some tension drain out of his being. He didn’t think it would be a good idea to leave the Hogwarts grounds if he could help it. He wasn’t worried about the wards holding him in but he wasn’t entirely sure that Dumbledore wouldn’t be somehow alerted if he slipped out. Though the possibility was unlikely, Harry didn’t want to take any chances for now.
Deciding he wanted to let his vampire instincts have complete control, Harry began to move deeper into the forest slinking from shadow to shadow, avoiding any rays of sun at all costs. With each step he took, he was mindful of every stick that might snap underneath his feet. Every rustle in the underbrush was potential prey.
He wasn’t really planning on actually hunting anything, but he knew he had to let his more violent side take over for a little while. He eventually came to a clearing and hesitated a moment before deciding that releasing some of his magic and exercising some of the violence out of his system would be beneficial.
He quickly constructed some wards of his own to contain the large burst of magic he was about to expel. He paused for a moment before letting loose with a feral smile.
***
Theodore Nott had been suspicious of Henry Renard since the moment he had heard his name. He had only heard the name Renard mentioned once before when his mother told him one of those ghost stories that parents use to keep their children well-behaved.
But unlike muggle stories, wizard children knew that many of the demons their mother’s warned them against were real.
The story had been about the ancient Vampire Renard. As a human, he had been a part of a very powerful French family. Though they were very influential and held much power, another family started rising in power that they were not friendly with.
It wasn’t long before the two families were at war. Unluckily for the Renards, the rival family gained the upper hand and slaughtered them all cruelly. He had watched the women of his family being raped and the men being tortured to death. He, himself, had been left for dead.
And he almost was.
But a stranger came and turned him into a vampire just before it was too late. When his transformation was completed, he came back as a blood-thirsty monster craving only revenge on the family that had destroyed his. He had gloried in their agony and blood.
Once the killers of his family were all dead, the Vampire Renard disappeared into history. But mother’s warned their children to be nice to their neighbors and obey their mothers or something similar could happen to them.
While Theo had never really believed in such a creature as Renard, something about Henry set him on edge. The old story had wormed its way into his mind the moment he heard his name and now he couldn’t shake the feeling he had.
Theo had not attempted to follow Henry, or learn more about him in the past week, but the opportunity presented itself suddenly when he saw Renard making his way across the grounds in the direction of the forest. Too curious for his own good, Theo knew he would regret it if he didn’t take this perfect opportunity to learn something about the mysterious new boy that everyone in Slytherin was curious about.
He detached himself from the shady area he had been resting in and followed Henry from what he hoped was a safe distance if his suspicions were correct. Before following him into the forest, Theo quickly cast a Silencing Charm on his feet in the hopes that it would prevent Henry from knowing he was being followed.
It was always surprising to Theo how much darker the forest was no matter what time of the day you entered it. He saw a slight movement in the shadows further ahead and headed toward it, hoping it was Henry.
As he drew closer to the moving figure, he began to doubt that it was a person he was following and not some animal. The figure seemed to be almost flowing between shadows with a frightening amount of stealth and agility. He saw a marginally brighter area ahead and figured he was approaching a clearing.
Suddenly, the figure straightened up on the edge of the clearing and he recognized Henry clearly. But there was something different about him, something dark and dangerous. It was hard to explain, exactly, just from looking at the back of his head, but the hair on his arms had risen as if he knew he was in danger and being hunted.
He felt a tingle of powerful magic across his skin and saw that Henry had stepped into the clearing. He stepped closer making sure to stay concealed behind the trees. He crept as close as he could, assuming the tingle of magic he had just felt was the raising of wards. As he stepped up toward the edge of the clearing, he got his first good look of Henry.
The boy’s eyes were glowing a ruby red and he had fangs protruding past his bottom lip. His skin was unnaturally smooth and pale and seemed almost luminescent. He was almost painfully gorgeous. Theo could admit that Henry had been extremely attractive before, but now it looked almost unnatural.
And unfortunately, Theo was mildly terrified to realize that his suspicions had just been confirmed.
As Theo stood frozen between terror and fascination, a number of humanoid dummies suddenly appeared around the clearing at irregular intervals. He glanced quickly toward Henry to see that he wasn’t holding a wand. He had used wandless magic to create all the dummies in the clearing. Theo didn’t know of anyone who could accomplish such complex magic without a wand, except maybe the Dark Lord or Dumbledore, and Theo wasn’t even sure they could create so much with just a thought.
Before Theo could finish processing the vast amount of power Henry obviously held, the vampire in question darted across the clearing and slashed his arm through one of the dummies. Disturbingly realistic blood flew in all directions as the dummy was split in half. Immediately Henry punched through another one directly behind him to the appearance of more blood.
Very quickly, Henry and the rest of the clearing were covered in splashes of blood while the dummies reconstructed themselves. The vampire’s face was fixed in a snarl as he viciously ripped apart every dummy while they rebuilt themselves in his wake.
A moment later, Theo watched as Henry threw out his arms to both sides and all the dummies were obliterated with the subsequent blast of raw magic that pulsed out of him. Theo felt a mild throb of magic through his body as the wards strained to contain the amount of power just released. It was like nothing he had ever experienced before. He couldn’t remember ever feeling an aura of magic around the Dark Lord like the one he was feeling right now.
The pulse of magic took him by surprise and Theo slipped a little against the tree he was leaning on just as a small gust of wind came from behind him to add to the slight crack of bark he had just broken off. In a flash, Theo found himself pinned against the tree by a feral vampire he had no hope of fighting off.
***
Harry heard a snapping of bark in the trees at the same time that he got a scent of human flesh and blood. Before he could remember that he was currently on the grounds of a school, Harry ran toward the noise and pinned the human against the tree with the intention of draining him dry.
Right as he was going to lean forward, he recognized the face of Theodore Nott and was able to recall that he was supposed to be playing the part of a human teenager. With a strength of will he had not previously been aware that he possessed, Harry forced his vampire nature into the back of his mind in the hopes he could speak rationally with his housemate.
No one was supposed to know he was a vampire. He couldn’t have anyone know without some reassurance that they couldn’t give away his secret.
“Were you following me?” Harry growled, only mildly in control of his instincts.
“Yes, I’m s-sorry. P-please, don’t k-kill me! I’ll keep your secret, anything you want!” Nott stuttered.
“Why should I give you a chance? What could you possibly offer that could benefit me?” Harry asked mockingly.
“Whatever you’re here for, I’ll help you. I swear, Renard, I can help. No one ever notices me, I’m invisible. I can help,” Nott said desperately.
“And why do you think I’m up to something that would require spying and subterfuge?” Harry asked curiously with his head tilted slightly.
“Why else would a vampire be hiding at Hogwarts as a student?” Nott asked, momentarily losing his fear in the face of what he thought was an obvious question.
Harry stepped back slightly and gave Nott a good look. It was true that Harry hadn’t given much thought to the boy since his first night back at Hogwarts and he could barely remember him at all from when he was alive. And he had to give him credit for knowing that Harry was at Hogwarts for a reason other than school.
“So you would keep my secrets?” Harry drawled with a dangerous smirk. He grabbed Nott’s left arm roughly and pinned it to the tree above his head before pulling down the sleeve. As he had expected, the Dark Mark stood out harshly against his skin. “You would swear your loyalty to me above all others?”
“Yes,” Nott said without hesitation, even after glancing at the damning mark on his arm. “I will, you are someone worth following.”
Harry gave a harsh laugh before stepping back again, “I’m worth following? You don’t know anything about me! You have no idea who I was, why I’m here, or what I’m after.”
“Then tell me,” Nott encouraged. “Do whatever you have to do in order to feel you can tell me. But I know you are someone worth following.”
Harry was beginning to wonder if Nott was actually a fool or if he did just have extraordinary instincts. Not that Harry needed or wanted followers, but if Nott was simply looking to stay alive, he would be best off if he was out of Harry’s way and on his side.
“Fine,” Harry said, “if you are willing to make a vampiric version of an Unbreakable Vow on it, I’ll tell you a few secrets.”
Nott agreed with a slight bit of confusion on his face. Harry smiled before reminding Nott that a normal Unbreakable Vow required a binder in addition to the two taking the vow, but that as a vampire he had his own version of the Vow that he could implement.
“Do you, Theodore Nott, vow to give your loyalty to me, Henry Renard, formerly known as Harry Potter, and keep my secrets,” Harry began. He was pleased to see Nott’s eyes widen comically when Harry revealed his previous identity.
“I do,” Nott said slowly.
“And do you promise to help me in my goal to exact revenge on all those who wronged me while I was alive, no matter what?” Harry continued.
“I do,” Theodore agreed again.
“And do you promise to keep the secrets of those closest to me if or when they are revealed to you?” Harry said.
“I do.”
“Very good,” Harry smiled, reassured that he could now trust Nott. “Now I imagine you may have some questions for me.”
“So, Harry Potter, huh?” Nott said after a moment. “Not some ancient Vampire Renard that children are threatened with by their parents for misbehaving. Who are you here for revenge on, all Slytherins and Death Eaters?”
“Of course,” Harry said, “along with Dumbledore, most of the Light side and maybe even the Ministry if I’m feeling particularly ambitious. So,” Harry smirked, “are you really up for the challenge, Nott?”
“I think it sounds like fun,” Nott agreed with his own smirk, “the perfect pastime for an antsy Slytherin, don’t you think?”
“Definitely,” Harry agreed. After a moment of thought, he added, “Are wizarding children really warned about an ancient vampire named Renard?” Harry asked, trying not to laugh.
“Yeah, we are,” Theo said a bit warily.
Harry burst out laughing, sincerely looking forward to making fun of his Father about the whole thing next time he saw him.
***
Harry and Nott headed back to the castle after the quick use of a few Cleaning Charms to erase the traces of blood that had found their way onto both of them. Nott had insisted that if they were going to work together, and be seen together, then Harry should call him Theo. In return, Theo was allowed to call Harry by his human name in private but was warned about forgetting that his name was now Henry in public.
The boys entered the castle and headed toward the dungeons. Before they had taken more than a few steps, the faint sound of familiar arguing voices reached Harry’s sensitive hearing. He told Theo to go on to the dungeons without him before heading up the first flight of stairs and down a side hallway before concealing himself in shadows to listen to the argument within.
“What were you thinking, Hermione?” Ron demanded. “You know better than to trust one of them.”
“I don’t really see how this is any of your business, Ronald,” Hermione said furiously. “You can’t tell me who I can be friends with.”
“I’m supposed to be your best friend, now,” Ron insisted, “so why would you become friends with someone I’ll hate.”
“You don’t know that!” Hermione yelled. “You don’t know anything about Henry. And why are you acting like we have to have all the same friends? Go make some of your own. Why are you telling me what to do?”
“I’m not telling you what to do,” Ron insisted, “but you’re being an idiot. You can’t possibly believe that Slytherin isn’t going to betray you the moment it seems like a good idea to him,” Ron paused before adding jealously, “You’re always moping around about Harry and how he was your best friend ever, but you’re the one betraying him now by making friends with the enemy. He would be disgusted with you.”
“How dare you,” Hermione hissed quietly. “How dare you presume that you know how Harry would have reacted to my friendship with Henry? I want you to leave me alone Ron, just leave me alone.”
“Whatever,” Ron said scathingly, “you’ll be back as soon as you realize Renard is no good and you have no other friends to talk to.”
The classroom door suddenly burst open to reveal a bright red and furious Ron Weasley who immediately strode off in the direction of Gryffindor Tower. Harry waited a moment, debating whether murdering Ron Weasley would be more satisfying than destroying his life, before he stepped cautiously up to the open door beyond which he could hear Hermione crying softly.
“Hermione?” he called softly as he tapped the door lightly to get her attention. She spun around, immediately on the defensive before seeing that it was Henry and relaxing her stance a bit. She quickly tried to brush the tears off of her face and calm down.
“Hello, Henry, can I help you?” she said in an almost normal voice. Harry quickly stepped over to her and brushed the tears from her face without thinking. Her startled look reminded him that he had supposedly only met her that morning.
“I just heard you arguing with Weasley and wanted to make sure you were alright,” Harry said.
“So, in other words, you heard us fighting about you,” Hermione said with a sound between a laugh and a sob. Unable to smother his vampire instinct to touch and comfort so soon after letting it out to play, Harry pulled his old friend into his arms for a hug.
“I’m sorry for causing you trouble,” Harry murmured. “Would you prefer it if I left you alone, then?”
Eventually Hermione hugged him back after relaxing and replied, “No, no I don’t want that. You may really be my only friend now. I can’t let Ron boss me around anymore. I can’t even remember if we ever had a real friendship once. I miss Harry so much,” she finished in barely a whisper.
Harry was feeling extremely torn. He had only just reconnected with Hermione that morning, and hadn’t been sure if he would ever be able to reveal that he was alive. But the part of him that missed Hermione was screaming at him to say something now and trust his friend. If he was ever going to do it, now seemed like the best time otherwise he was afraid she would look back and resent him for not trusting her the way she had put her faith in him in the past.
“Hermione,” Harry said slowly, “may I ask you a personal question about your friendship with Harry?”
“I suppose, but I might not answer,” she said warily.
“You said before that you would have accepted Harry, no matter what; any of his secrets that you were sure he was hiding,” Harry said. Hermione nodded. “Well, did you really mean that? If he had wanted to join the Dark Lord, would you have stood by him? Or if he wanted to run away from the war and not be everyone’s savior, would you have supported him?”
“That’s hard to answer when I’m not actually in the situation,” Hermione said slowly. “If he had decided to side with the Dark Lord, I would have to ask him why. I’m a muggleborn, would he have been against me then? And if he ran away from the war, again, I would want to know the reasons why. Perhaps I would be disappointed in the latter situation, and definitely scared for my life at the prospect of the war never ending and my life always being in danger; but I would hear Harry’s reasons before making any judgments and do whatever I could to keep my friend.”
It wasn’t a definite, unconditional yes, but it was good enough. She would hear him out. Assuming he could convince her that this wasn’t some sick Slytherin joke.
Harry pulled his wand out and aimed it at the door slowly, wanting to make sure Hermione knew he wasn’t threatening in any way. He quickly locked and warded the door against listening with some of the strongest spells he knew before pocketing his wand once again. He leaned against the nearest desk and faced Hermione, unconsciously crossing his arms across his chest protectively.
“Hermione, I’m going to tell you something that I don’t think you will believe, but I ask that you stay calm and hear me out,” Harry said, with a hint of pleading in his otherwise calm voice. “And before I even start talking, I swear this is not a prank.”
Hermione was eying him very warily now, completely on the defensive, and Harry hoped with everything he had that he didn’t regret this decision.
"This summer, in July, I had a very serious… accident. Life-altering, you might say,” Harry began. “When I woke up, I was a different person. Everything about me from my appearance to my food preferences had changed. I had actually been declared dead. And I was.”
Hermione looked suspicious now, like she had an idea of where this might go and was already assuming a cruel prank was in progress.
“I’m not sure how to say this to you,” Harry floundered, uncharacteristic of him since his change, “but I guess I’ll just come out and say it. I know you aren’t going to believe me, but before you try to hex me, give me a chance to explain, please,” Harry searched Hermione’s face, hoping to see agreement before finishing with, “Harry Potter died, but he didn’t stay dead. I’m right here, Hermione.”
Dead silence met his announcement before his friend’s eyes began to fill with tears, but they weren’t happy ones. She thought he was lying and they were tears of betrayal.
“Please believe me, ask me anything you want that only Harry would know,” Harry pleaded before she could speak. “Please, Hermione, give me a chance. Ask anything. I wouldn’t lie to you.”
“Fine,” Hermione said, her voice rather choked, “but if this is a joke, so help me, I will do everything in my power to get back at you, even if it kills me.”
Harry nodded and then there was silence for a few moments while Hermione thought of what questions she could ask him.
“What form does your Patronus take and why?” Hermione asked.
“It takes the shape of a stag because my father’ animagus form was that of a stag,” Harry replied, knowing that question wasn’t going to be anywhere near enough proof.
“What mission did you and I go on at the end of third year?” she asked next.
“We used a Time Turner, that you had been using all year to attend classes, to go back and save Buckbeak and Sirius Black,” Harry said immediately and saw a small amount of hope enter Hermione’s eyes.
“How did we become friends?” Hermione asked quietly.
“Ron had been an ass, and hurt your feelings,” Harry gave Hermione a pointed look before continuing, “so you had hidden in the girls bathroom, crying. A troll had been let into the castle and I knew you didn’t know about it. I convinced Ron that we had to go and warn you. Instead, we ended up saving you by dropping the troll’s own club on its head with a Wingardium Leviosa. And you took the blame for us breaking the rules,” Harry finished with a fond smile.
Tears were starting to escape Hermione’s eyes, but she was apparently determined to ask a few more questions.
“What potion did we brew in second year and what went wrong?” she asked as quickly as she could with a strained voice.
“We brewed Polyjuice, to interrogate Malfoy about the Chamber of Secrets,” Harry answered. “Ron and I went as Crabbe and Goyle. You were supposed to go as Millicent Bulstrode, but you used a cat hair by accident instead.”
A sob escaped Hermione before she threw herself into Harry’s arms and Harry held onto her tightly as she cried her heart out. They stood like that for a few moments until Hermione started to calm down. As she calmed down, Harry felt anger slowly starting to take its place. Finally, she stepped back and landed a smack across his face. For a moment, Harry could only stare at her in shock before she started yelling.
“How could you not tell me sooner, Harry!” she demanded shrilly. “How could you let me think you were dead, after everything we’ve been through? I felt like my heart had been stomped on when I thought you were gone. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, I just wanted to cry all the time. And now I see you’re alive and you’ve been at school for a week and only just talked to me today?” She paused before adding, “And how are you here, if you’re dead?”
“I’m sorry, Hermione,” Harry said, feeling truly remorseful for the first time since his change. “I wasn’t sure if I could trust you after everything else that I found out about my life after I died, and once I realized I could trust you, I was too afraid to tell you and have you turn on me anyway. Even though you never had in the past, I was still afraid you might. And to answer why I’m still ‘alive’-,” Harry trailed off for a moment before looking directly at Hermione. He let his fangs descend and he knew his eyes were melting from green to red while his skin became unnaturally perfect, “Well, the answer is that I died, and came back as a vampire.”
“But how-,” Hermione began.
“Everything you’ve read about vampires, is probably wrong,” Harry cut her off, letting his appearance become human once more. “We’ve taken great steps to ensure that wizards know very little truth about us.”
“The books about vampires aren’t accurate?” Hermione asked in disbelief, clearly offended that the knowledge she had learned was wrong. “And what do you mean, after everything else you learned after you died?”
Harry laughed at Hermione’s indignation before beginning the tedious process of informing her about the betrayals of the Light side. He was overjoyed to see her genuine anger at the wrongs that had occurred to him in life and Harry was infinitely thankful that he had become such good friends with Hermione Granger in first year.
“I can’t believe the Weasleys,” Hermione said in a scary-calm voice. “Every other wrong is relatively understandable. But the Weasleys have no excuse, except being cheap, ttention hungry bastards.”
“Hermione!” Harry said with a smile, not in the least offended by her choice of words, but just surprised that she was the one using them.
“What?” she asked defensively. “It’s true, they deserve much worse.” She crossed her arms in a stubborn gesture, as if Harry might actually reprimand her choice of words. Harry just shook his head fondly before she added quietly, as if almost afraid to ask, “What are you going to do about Ron?”
“Humiliate him as much as possible,” Harry shrugged. “Ruin him utterly. Make sure he knows just how worthless he truly is.”
“I want to help,” Hermione said, with a disturbing gleam in her eye. “How can I help?”
“Oh, how I hoped you would say that,” Harry smiled wickedly.
***
When Harry finally got back to the Slytherin common room, it was close to curfew. He had intended to go straight up to his room but noticed Draco sitting by the fire alone. After a moment of indecision, Harry decided it was time to at least attempt to speak to his potential mate once again. He had been avoiding Draco since their Potions class, out of uncharacteristic fear rather than his previous lack of desire for a mate.
If his mate had been a vampire, it would have been only too easy to make this whole mate thing work. But Harry had been hopeless with dating as a human. He had no reason to believe that he would be any better now that he didn’t even have similar instincts when it came to romance anymore.
Why couldn’t he have had some species confused human as a mate, like Blaise?
As he got closer to Draco, he realized that his mate was upset. Looking at him though, it would have been impossible to tell; only his scent gave him away to Harry.
Harry sat down in a chair across from Draco and waited until the other boy glanced in his direction before speaking, “Are you alright?”
A look of surprise flitted across his mate’s face before a guarded look replaced it and he said, “What makes you think I wouldn’t be?”
“I can just tell that something is troubling you,” Harry said with a small smile. “I don’t expect you to tell me what it is, but I was hoping you would tell me if you would be okay.”
“Yes, I will be fine,” Draco said after a moment, clearly surprised by Harry’s concern and willingness not to pry. “At least, I hope so,” Harry heard Draco whisper to himself with barely any lip movement.
“Would you like to talk?” Harry asked. “About anything, to take your mind off what’s troubling you,” he added before Draco could automatically deny him.
“Sure,” Draco said after a moment, “I think I would like that.”
A warm feeling filled Harry’s body as he gave Draco a heart-felt smile before he could stop himself and began to get to know the boy he thought he had all figured out just a few short months ago.
- 7
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- 9
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