A/N: And this is it… I hope I didn't leave any gaping holes. Hmm. It was a nice ride anyway. .

Disclaimer: For the last time here, I say once more, I didn't do it. I mean… I don't own Harry Potter and his friends and etc.

Epilogue

Hermione entered the library and immediately marched over to the table where the three sat, hunched over books they were supposed to be studying, but were instead arguing with each other in heated whispers. Harry had made up with Ron easily enough, once he was sure he had truly repented – which was after Hermione had given him a good talking to – and Draco had even consented to give Ron a probationary period, after Harry 'persuaded' him to, but they still had their moments, however, Hermione thought that their current arguing was all bark and no bite.

She set her books on the table with a loud thunk, making everyone but Harry jump. Grinning wildly, her hair slightly more frazzled than usual, and with a brilliant sparkle in her eye, Hermione started whispering excitedly.

"Harry, you won't believe all of what I found out about vampires." She took a deep breath, and continued when she saw that she had everyone's attention. "Well, there are a few different types of vampires. There are ones that are bitten and injected with the virus, those ones are the most common and well-known variety."

Harry nodded, he'd done some reading on vampires – obviously – and already knew about this. Snape had been a well of information on the subject, too. The man was infinitely helpful when he decided he could be. Harry was glad that they had ended up understanding each other better, falling more easily into their mentor/student relationship. Not that either of them would ever say anything about it.

"And then there are the ones that are born vampires, or rather, are born with a dominant vampire gene which manifests in a witch or wizard just before they hit puberty, the Inheritance makes them a natural vampire.

"But you aren't either of these, Harry, because you weren't bitten and I checked and double checked and while you had one or two vampires in your ancestry, you don't have enough of the gene for it to be dominant – and if you had Inherited the virus, we would have noticed a lot sooner.

"No, I believe you are one of the few people in history who have had a vampire gene or two, not enough to Inherit vampirism, but have enough magic and innate Darkness which combined to turn you into what you are – A Shadow Vampire."

"Innate Darkness?" Harry repeated blankly. The air around him seemed to grow more shadowy for a second as he considered what that meant. Was he turning into something like the Dark Lord?

"It's just a tendency towards Dark things – night, shadow, Dark creatures like spiders and snakes – or at least, that's what the books say. I think that it just means you were both born at a natural time of darkness which mixed with your own inclinations – also the few vampire genes you have – and then when Vol-Voldemort tried to kill you as a baby, he transferred a little of his Darkness to you, which all coalesced to a point during the summer, when Voldemort was active and all these things were boiling inside you, which, in turn, manifested in your body making you what you are."

"Wow," Draco breathed, his eyes watching Harry's face and expression as he worked through the information entering his thoughts at too-fast a pace.

"I remembered the things you told me, Harry, and I looked up the abilities you described and they fit the list of what a Shadow Vampire should have. Your affinity with the night, with shadows and darkness, hearing the walls whisper thoughts and feelings. It all fits."

Harry's face had closed off, but he nodded to Hermione in thanks. "I appreciate the work you put into finding this out, 'Mione. I know it must've been painstaking."

Hermione blushed and shrugged, she liked researching, after all, and doing it for Harry made it all the more worth while.

Harry stood and walked out of the library, leaving Hermione and Ron to look after him in slight puzzlement. Draco didn't wait to be invited to go along with Harry – he knew he wouldn't be asked – and brought it upon himself to follow the brunette out the doors and into a dark, deserted corridor.

"Are you okay?" he asked, placing a calming hand on Harry's shoulder.

His hand was shrugged off, but he didn't give up. Walking around Harry so that he was looking him in the eye, Draco asked again.

Harry sighed deeply and stared at the wall for a long time. The shadows pooled around his feet and Draco swore they shifted and eddied around Harry's form as they stood there, still as any of the inanimate statues lining the corridor.

"It's just…" Harry shook his head, and bared his teeth briefly giving Draco a flash of his incisors. "I've always felt dark, or at least, darker than I would have been if Voldemort hadn't given me this scar. How long can a person endure as much darkness and hate as I have without turning into what Voldemort is?"

Draco gave Harry a wan smile and touched him lightly on his lightning-bolt scar, and felt the brief touch of a shadow to his hand. It was like cold fur against his skin.

"I know that it might come as a shock to you, to hear all these things, but-" Draco gave a small shrug. "I believe you'd have turned out this way even without the Dark Lord's help. You've got this wildness about you, that you've always had, and it may be what people classify as 'Dark' but I think it's just another kind of night. One that isn't evil, or wrong, but something that you just have, and which makes you this amazing being.

"You're Harry, and you've always had this potential, and I think of it as a gift, not a curse or a virus, because it's not a bad thing, even if it isn't always a good thing."

Harry smiled and pressed his cool forehead against Draco's warm one, and Draco soaked up Harry's presence like a sponge. He could bask in it forever and still never have had enough.

"Thank you," Harry whispered, his eyes closed, the shadows dancing about his skin. "You've done so much for me, and I've given hardly anything back. I hardly deserve it."

Draco pressed a kiss to Harry's lips, lingering for a moment longer than necessary, but revelling in the fact that he could linger, that he had these moments with Harry, and they were perfect.

"I love you," he murmured, and that was answer enough.