Immortality Bites

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Author's Welcome Note: Hello! This is my first solo Draco/Harry. I am writing this at the request of Author 2 from my joint account, a.k.a. cathartic! A Vampire Drarry just as you demanded. You guys should check out her solo stories on our account ImSuperSiriusGuys, and on her own, she's my favorite writer.

Here we go...

~Chapter One~

"Where am I?" Harry mumbled to himself as he looked around, seeing only fog. He couldn't make out his location. There were no physical markers. No sky. No walls. No ground. Nothing but air and fog.

"Hello there, Harry."

Harry spun around at the familiar but unexpected voice. His heart jumped into his throat as he looked upon the old wizard, who he had thought for sure he would never see again, smiling warmly at him with twinkling, blue eyes.

"Professor Dumbledore?" His gaze darted again around the area, that suddenly looked a lot like the Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, as his befuddled mind slowly began to piece together his last few memories: him walking into the forest alone, seeing his parents along with Sirius and Remus, standing before Voldemort, and then falling as a green curse filled his vision. "Am I dead?"

"No, this is more of an in-between, " the old wizard said as he motioned around them with a wave of his left hand, which appeared healthy once more.

"An in-between for what exactly?" the young wizard asked, eyeing a bright, red train curiously that he was certain had not been there a second before, the doors sitting open in an inviting manner. Or perhaps it had been, it looked like it belonged there. He felt a strong urge to board it as if it would take him somewhere. Somewhere he desperately wanted to go. He forced his gaze away and back to the wizard.

Dumbledore smiled at him, a sadness softening the wrinkles around his blue eyes. "A place for meetings and decisions one might say. You see, you are neither truly dead or alive at this very moment. You have been given the choice most never have or ever will. You can board the train you see behind me to move on, or you may choose to go back to the living."

Harry nodded, not able to make sense of the explanation completely but accepting it. He heard an odd noise from behind him and turned around to see a deformed infantile-like creature under the bench nearby them wrapped in a blanket. "What is that?" he asked in a disturbed voice.

"Ah, that, is a piece of the wizard's soul you and I know to be Tom Riddle." The wizard's sharp blue gaze studied it closely for a long moment before refocusing on Harry. "It's the reason why you are here right now. It's protected you many times in your life, as well as just moments ago from the very wizard, whose soul it was split from. You see, by bestowing a part of his soul to you, he unknowingly made you immortal."

"But why is it here?" Harry asked curtly, eyeing it suspiciously.

"It's alive, just like you, even if it is incomplete. It's been attached to you all these years, and if you choose to return - you can take it back with you as well..." The old wizard tilted his head as he paused. "Or you can choose to leave it behind."

Harry looked up at the man who had been his main source of guidance since he was eleven. "Why would I want to do that? Take it back with me, that is?"

Dumbledore nodded slowly. "Why indeed." He sat down on the bench slowly, sighing as he settled. He patted the seat beside him, Harry sitting down reluctantly. "You see Harry, if you defeat Tom today, and he were ever to return somehow, you would remain protected with the aid of it. You would be able to fight him again."

Harry frowned as he thought. "Isn't it one of the final horcruxes though? If I leave it, he would be that much closer to being mortal, right? Wasn't that the plan?"

Dumbledore shot him a wry smile. "It was, but one thing I've learned since... passing on, is one can never be certain in anything other than the fact that everything is always uncertain."

Harry's dark eyebrows furrowed. He looked down at the piece of Voldemort's soul and then back up at a patiently waiting Dumbledore. He stood up slowly. "I'll take it back with me then."

The old wizard pushed himself up and smiled tightly, a look akin to guilt dulling his usually bright eyes as he looked down at the determined wizard. He placed a gentle hand on the young man's shoulder. "I should tell you, immortality is a heavy burden to carry alone, Harry. I have seen it weigh too heavily on even the strongest of wizards."

Harry nodded, a determined look alighting his green eyes. "I'll be fine."

"Harry. Harry, wake up. We're here."

Harry's eyes fluttered open. He sat up slowly, leaning forward to look out through the dark window of the Hogwarts Express for a glimpse of the school in vain. A tight smile pushed up the corners of his mouth. "Too bad Ron didn't come back with us." He looked over to Hermione, the only other occupant of their car.

"Yes, well it's only for a year," she said in a forced, cheerful tone. She shot him an encouraging smile, the expression looking like it could fall at any point.

"Yeah, it's just a year," he agreed, returning the sentiment and dropping the subject. He hadn't meant to bring it up. The witch had been rather broken up when Ron had told them both he was going to do a year of apprentice work under his brother Charlie in Albania instead of joining them for their seventh year at Hogwarts. It just felt odd without him.

He stood up as the train came to a complete stop. He lowered his trunk by hand from the overhead storage, the sounds from the hallway filling with excited students assaulting his ears. For some reason he couldn't tell if the sudden coiling in his stomach was from excitement or apprehension.

Hermione lowered her trunk with her wand as Harry pushed the door open.

Harry took in a calming breath and stepped out in the hallway - to run straight into someone. "Oh, sorry. Sorry," he said before his brain could catch up with his eyes, not realizing who he had just run into.

Cold, grey eyes glared down at him. "Watch where you're going, Potter," Draco Malfoy sneered before pushing by him with a sharp shoulder and stepping over his overturned trunk.

Harry glared darkly at the wizard's back as he rubbed at his shoulder. "I should have left him in the bloody Roo-"

"What was that about?" Hermione asked suddenly, eyeing the wizard's dropped trunk and startling him.

Harry's hand dropped from his shoulder, a look of guilt flitting across his features. "Oh, uh. Nothing. Just ran into Malfoy," he grumbled, leaning over and tossing in a few books that had fallen out. He flipped over the trunk and secured the lid, placing a locking charm on it for extra measure.

"Malfoy? He came back too?" Hermione asked with a surprised look on her face as she pushed a wayward, curly lock of hair behind her ear.

"I guess so," Harry said in a disheartened voice. That was the last thing he needed. Defeat Voldemort, go back for his final year at Hogwarts without his best friend, and deal with Draco Malfoy for another year. He groaned. Maybe he didn't need to be an auror. Maybe he'd just play Quidditch. Tryouts weren't for another two weeks. He eyed the car wistfully. He could just stay on, and it would take him back-

"No Harry." The witch shot him a look of sharp reproof. "I know what you're thinking. Now, come on, let's go find a carriage."

Harry smiled sheepishly. He turned, levitating the trunk with a swish of his wand and then began to make his way towards the closest exit. Hermione was right. He wasn't going to let the Slytherin ruin his last year at school. He probably wouldn't even be around him that much.

"Holy Salazar, Potter, it said ten and three-quarters clockwise. You only did ten, and it wasn't even in any specific direction. How do you even manage that?" Draco hissed, grabbing the spoon from his lab partner. He shook his head in disgust as he quickly stirred three times counter-clockwise to save the potion they had been working on for the past hour.

"Sorry," Harry muttered. He stifled a yawn and ran a hand roughly through his wild, black hair. He hadn't been sleeping well since school had started three days before. He hadn't slept too well before that either honestly. Not that it'll hurt me, he thought acerbically.

The wizard had been finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a feeling of normalcy ever since his decision to keep the horcrux attached to him. Immortality. He shook his head as he looked down at his Potions book, pushing the stressful thought away. Just don't think about it.

He just needed to focus on finishing the day's assignment without making another mistake for his partner to berate him over. It shouldn't be too hard, after all he had already made a perfect batch of Draught of the Living Dead in fifth year. Although he had used Professor Snape's old book to do so... Why had he even signed up for this class? Right. He needed it. He glanced over at his assigned Potions partner.

"-How you even managed to win the vial of Felix Feli-"

Harry rolled his eyes, blocking out the wizard again as he looked back down at his text. He noticed a piece of folded parchment poking out between the last few pages of his Potions book. He frowned and flipped to the back of the text to find what appeared to be a note. Odd. He picked it up and examined it cautiously with furrowed eyebrows. There was nothing written on the outside. It was sealed with an unmarked blood-red, wax seal. He started to open it—

"Don't do that," Draco snapped, snatching the parchment from his hands and then dropping it unceremoniously into their cauldron.

Harry's mouth dropped open, his eyes widening in disbelief. "Why did you do that?" he shouted, watching in dismay as the edges of the note quickly turned black and then caught on fire, curling up on itself as it began to sink into the black potion.

"Ah, it's ready," Draco said in a pleased tone, seemingly deaf to the dark-haired wizard's exclamations beside him.

Harry's jaw clenched tightly as he glared darkly at the wizard. "I said - why did you do that, Malfoy!" he demanded.

Draco turned to him slowly. He lifted a single, platinum-shaded eyebrow and shook his head, rolling his eyes, clearly not impressed by the wizard's display of anger. "Really. You ask the most inane questions, Potter."

Harry's right hand clenched into a fist, and he found it making contact with Draco's jaw before he could stop it.

"Detention! How did I get detention for being hit? Favoritism, blatant favoritism is what it is." Draco stomped through the Forbidden Forest a few feet ahead of Harry under the night sky, holding a lantern disdainfully in his right hand. "And how are we supposed to defend ourselves? I think there's something wrong with our new Potions professor. He doesn't-"

Harry ignored the blond and looked around at the ground, searching for the mushroom Hagrid had sent them out to look for. He wasn't overly worried about his own safety. He would be fine. He frowned at the not so comforting thought.

"What are you doing, Potter?"

Harry looked up slowly, the sharp question pulling him from his morbid musing. "Looking for-"

Draco held up a silencing hand, Harry for some reason stopping to see why. "They grow on trees, not the ground. And not just any tree before you start searching every bloody trunk."

Harry blinked, taking offense to the statement as he ignored the fact that he had been about to do just that. He studied the platinum blond, who was standing in an all too expectant manner. Harry rolled his eyes and let out a begrudging sigh.

"What type of tree, Draco?" he asked in a bored fashion, finding a sadistic pleasure in seeing the blond's mouth drop open if only for a second when he used his first name.

Draco's expression darkened as he lowered the lantern to his waist side, the light casting shadows across his face, lending admirably to the intensity of his scowl. "A Corniphilus tree - Harry."

Harry held back a growl as he felt the distinct urge to hit the wizard again, a satisfied smirk crossing the blond's aristocratic features as he continued to wait.

"And do you know where to find this tree?" he asked between clenched teeth. It wouldn't do to get detention during detention. He just wanted to find the bloody mushroom and go back to his dorm.

Draco scoffed, "Of course I do. I'm not an idiot." He shot Harry an unimpressed but somehow also disappointed look, turned and began to walk through the woods once more.

Harry trailed behind him. He looked around as he followed the wizard, hoping to find the elusive tree he had never heard of until just a few moments' past. As he scanned the woods, his mind began to drift back to a detention in first year he had served with the blond in a similar fashion. He eyed the wizard, who was walking in a wholly unaffected and surprisingly confident manner, not resembling the Slytherin he remembered at all at that moment.

The thought shot a sharp feeling of unease through his chest. He had admittedly been struggling with the intangible sensation of feeling oddly stuck as everyone around him continued to change and move forward. He shook the thought away. He was just being neurotic. He began to search the trees again in vain as he rubbed at his chest, trying to rid himself of the disconcerting tension.

"Ahhh!"

Harry's gaze shot up to find Draco swiping wildly at his shoulder. The blond let out another noise of distress, did an odd sideways step that almost looked like a dance and then began to stomp viciously at the ground in front of him.

"Vile creatures," the blond muttered to himself, stomping once more at the piece of ground in front of him. He glanced up at Harry and shot him a snooty look, jerking his chin up. He then began to walk again but more quickly.

Harry walked over and peered down, a smile forming on his lips. Spider. He let out a soft laugh. Maybe he wasn't so different. He looked up to see that he was suddenly alone and without light. He cursed silently as he searched around him for a glimmer from the lantern. "Malfoy?" he called out in a tense voice, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention.

He heard a rustling sound come from behind a line of trees some yards away to his left. He reached instinctively for his wand only to remember they had been taken away. He took a few small steps back. Maybe it was just Fang, or even better, Hagrid. And if it isn't, I'll be fine, he tried to convince his suddenly anxious body. He took another quiet step back, his feet clearly disagreeing with him on the subject.

"Harry. Potter." A tall, dark-haired man in a long, black cloak stepped out from behind the trees and into the opening, a wide smile gracing his lips. His skin was a deathly pallor, recognizable even in the dim moonlight, and his eyes a bright crimson. Vampire.

Harry's eyes widened minutely as he began to mentally scour his mind for a useful piece of information to use against the man that wouldn't require the use of his wand. His lips pressed tightly together. Shit. He would run for it.

Cool, red eyes met alarmed, green orbs.

A soft smile crept eerily up the vampire's mouth, exposing gleaming white teeth. "And what, may I ask, is the Chosen One doing alone in the Forbidden Forest?" he paused, his sharp gaze shifting down to the wizard's empty hands, and his smile widened, displaying impressively sharp canines. "And without his wand?"

Harry took another small step back, almost tripping on a shallow root as his focus remained glued on the vampire, who had begun slowly approaching him. He needed a distraction. "Detention."

The vampire let out a throaty laugh, stopping in his approach. "I would have thought you would be exempt from such forms of punishment." He cocked his head to the side and lifted both eyebrows, his intense gaze boring into Harry's. "But, I can't complain. This will be much easier than I had originally thought."

Harry glanced around discreetly, hoping Draco didn't make the mistake of coming back to search for him and finding himself grateful for once of the wizard's complete dislike for him. "What do you want from me?" he asked, trying to sound calm, but his traitorous voice coming out notably tense.

The vampire let out a dry laugh and began to approach him once more. "What do I want indeed." He stopped, leaving only a few feet between them, Harry's legs itching to put more space between them. "You can give me something. Something that has eluded me... for far too long." The vampire's gaze suddenly clouded, a faraway look overtaking it.

Harry tensed his muscles in preparation.

The vampire's gaze snapped back, hardening. "But not any longer," he said sharply and took a deliberate step forward.

Harry made to run, but in a flash cold, strong hands were digging painfully into his arms and holding him firmly in place. "You weren't going to leave, were you?" disturbingly red lips asked in feigned surprise.

Harry opened his mouth to lie when a sharp pain shot up the entire left side of his neck and head. He heard someone groan, and everything went black.

"Harry?"

Harry blinked slowly as he sat up, his vision blurry. He reached instinctively for his glasses on the nightstand that sat to the left of his bed, his hand only finding air.

"Here."

Harry took the offered, blurry glasses and put them on. He looked around the suddenly clear room: neatly made beds with tightly tucked, white sheets, white curtains for temporary walls, uncomfortable plastic chairs for discouraging lingering guests, and the sterile smell of healing potions. He was in the hospital wing at Hogwarts.

He looked over to Hermione, who was sitting by his side in a chair. "What happened?" he asked groggily as he scratched his head, his brain stubbornly resisting to work.

"Hagrid found you and Malfoy in the forest an hour ago," Hermione said quietly, glancing around the room anxiously.

"The forest?" Suddenly flashes of woods and lips and eyes... deep red eyes ran through his mind. His hand shot up to his neck. He felt for a bandage or a wound but found nothing, the area not even tender. "I don't understand..."

Hermione opened her mouth to speak when Madam Pomfrey opened the door to her office, Headmistress McGonagall stepping out behind her.

"Remember Poppy, keep the wards up and do not allow anyone in there," McGonagall said in a quiet, clipped tone.

"Of course, Minerva." The mediwitch nodded sharply, shooting a stern look over towards Harry and Hermione before following the headmistress to the doors.

Harry sighed and opened his eyes in defeat. He couldn't sleep. He grabbed for his glasses, shoving them on quickly before glancing around the darkened room. He noted the absent light from under the mediwitch's room and pushed himself out of his bed quietly. He walked along cold stone floors with bare feet, his eyes trained on the closed door at the back of the hospital.

He needed to find out what had happened. Hermione had been swiftly shooed out by Madam Pomfrey after Professor McGonagall had left, and the mediwitch had not been forthcoming with any details of the night when pressed, merely informing Harry he would be able to speak with the headmistress in the morning.

Harry stopped just in front of the door and waved his wand, running through several unlocking spells until he heard a soft click.

He took in a slow breath and pushed open the door slowly and glanced around. The bed in the center of the private room was empty, the sheets messed. He stepped in further, the door shutting softly behind him. Where was he?

"Potter."

Harry spun around to see Draco stalking towards him, hands clenched and nostrils flared, his eyes black, no sign of grey in them.

Harry's wand arm shot up.

Draco stopped and let out a harsh laugh, his hands lifting casually in concession, almost in what Harry would describe a mocking manner. "What are you going to do, Potter? Kill me?" He let out another laugh, the noise sounding oddly bitter.

Harry's gaze shifted down to a white bandage, covering the left side of Draco's neck. "What happened out there? In the forest?" he asked, holding his wand still out and pointed at the blond's chest as his mind began to come to its own conclusion.

Draco took a step closer, Harry taking note of his skin, which was even more pale than usual and causing the memory of the vampire to flash before his eyes unbidden. His hand tightened around the wand.

"I made the mistake of not leaving you behind is what," Draco hissed.

A memory of white teeth and then pain shot to the forefront of his mind once more. "I thought I was bit," he said, eyeing the bandage on the other wizard's neck with a sinking feeling.

Draco smirked. "If only." He touched his hand absentmindedly to the bandage and then winced, removing it quickly. "No, I guess I was a preferable target for some reason."

Harry's chin dropped. "But, I - I remember being bit. It hurt." He rubbed at the unblemished skin on his neck that proved his assumption wrong.

Draco took another step closer. "No, that was the lantern. There's a reason I wasn't a chaser. I have a terrible throwing arm," he said, his tone dry.

Harry's wand lowered to his side as the wizard's words found purchase and began to make sense. Draco had tried to save him. "You hit me with the lantern?"

Draco nodded and took a small step forward, leaving only two feet between them. "Yes, now we're even." He shot him a soft smile.

Harry blinked. He cleared his throat as he tried to make sense of the rather nice smile the wizard was directing at him.

Draco took another step forward. "After I missed... he took notice of me, and well - here we are," he said in an even softer voice, taking the last step to close the distance between them.

"I see." Harry blinked again, his mind feeling like mush.

Draco let out a slow breath, and Harry breathed it in deeply. It smelled like cold. Odd. He hadn't realized that was a scent. He felt his eyes begin to drift shut seemingly of their own accord.

"Do you?" Draco whispered in his ear.

Harry nodded as the cool breath ran soothingly down the side of his face and then over his neck, hovering just above the pulse in his neck. He tried to open his eyes or move or think. Something was very wrong, but he couldn't find it in himself to do anything but stand there and focus on the increasingly small puffs of air.

Suddenly the intoxicating scent was gone.

Harry's eyes popped open, his mind snapping back and dread immediately shooting into his veins like a bucket of ice water to the face. His wand shot back up, pointing accusingly at the sneering blond, who was sitting casually on his bed.

"You were going to bite me!" Harry shouted.

Draco let out an unapologetic laugh and reclined back onto his bed. "Yes, I was. But now I know why I was bitten instead of you."

Harry took a step forward. "What? Why?"

Draco shot him a look of complete distaste. "You don't smell appetizing at all, Potter."