VKxHP Being turned into a vampire had stolen his magic away from him, and Zero had spent most of his life trying to forget about magic.I love the VKHP scene...and VKHP in general. Why does it go so well together?

1.

"Scary, aren't they?" Malfoy whispered conspiratorially into his ear.

Zero shrugged. "I suppose."

The Alley was uncommonly stuffy the crisp winter morning, an insurmountable and continuous changing flow of people made it hard for the silver-haired boy to even see who his young friend was referring to.

"I heard that they grab you from under your bed—and then eat your toes first." Said Pansy with a snide sniff, prancing over with an air of affirmation.

Zero eyed her skeptically, as did Malfoy. "You're off your rocker, woman." Retorted the blonde with an eye roll. Honestly, Pansy had the strangest ideas. They certainly didn't eat your toes…

Did they?

"Vampires are scary." Zero agreed quietly, voice almost lost in the constant cacophony of the alleyway at Yule time. "But… a little sad too, don't you think?"

Malfoy gave him a confused glance, obviously not thinking the same. "I've no sympathy for them, blood suckers." The blonde crossed his arms.

"Agreed." Though Zero mused that Pansy's opinion had less to do with vampires and more to do with Malfoy.

"I'd feel bad," Zero went on to say. "Wouldn't it be terrible? To never get to use magic? Never know of the wizarding world?"

"Well I wouldn't go that far." Pansy drawled. "They've got their own stuff to do, right? Like suck people's blood and hide in your closets where the house elves can't find them…"

"He's too big to hide in your closet." Zero pointed out, eying the looming man in his overcoat, who looked suspiciously out of place among the bright scarves and hats the wizarding folk around him toted. "And he's not a boggart, you know. I think you've got the two of them confused."

"This is a boring conversation." Malfoy interrupted imperiously, though mostly, he just looked unsure and a bit nervous. Perhaps Malfoy really believed that they ate toes? "And anyway, I've," And he stressed the annunciation of himself as if there really wasn't anyone else in the world. "got a fitting at Twilfit and Taftings. Mum says I can have my whole wardrobe done in green and silver if I like."

"But we haven't even got our letters!" Cried Pansy in shock. "And how are you to know if you'd be in Slytherin?"

Malfoy snorted. "Where else would I go? Hufflepuff? Are you daft?" The blonde patted his arm. "We're going to be roommates. Zero and I have it all planned out. I'll get the owl and he'll get the snake, and then we'll share socks that way we never run out or accidentally misplace them. Right, Zero?"

"Of course." The other boy agreed, though with significant less heart then Draco. To be quite honest, he wasn't so sure he'd end up in Slytherin. But if not the house of the snakes, then where? He certainly wasn't studious enough for Ravenclaw, trusting and naïve as Hufflepuff, or courageous and brave as Gryffindor. In fact… he wasn't… well, anything. He was quiet, and a little shy, and certainly would die of mortification once they all found out he didn't know what house he wanted to be in!

Not that he'd gotten his letter either, or anything. They were set to come this summer, and Zero's heart fluttered in excitement. He could only hope he'd be invited.

"He's gone!" Pansy shrieked, looking around the alleyway as she held onto Malfoy like a sarlaacc. The blonde hissed like a cat and attempted to paw away from her. "Oh no! He—he could be anywhere! What happens if he's right behind me?"

"He's not behind you." Zero cut in bluntly, as he had a perfectly acceptable view of her back. "Maybe he just walked off?"

Zero didn't get the whole vampire fuss. Ever since Theodore Nott had spun up that horror story about a little girl that gets lost in the woods and is eaten by a vampire with the sole intention to scare Pansy, it seemed everyone was suddenly feaked about them. And not just all the other pureblood children—but everyone.

Just yesterday the Prophet had an entire front page line on the thousands of new vampire colonies they were beginning to find. The Wizarding World saw very little of vampires, though quite a lot of books were made on the subject of them, and up until then, Zero had just sort of assumed they were like giants and werewolves and all other kinds of magical creatures. They were out there, certainly, but mostly they did their own thing, and mostly, wizards looked down at them for their creature blood.

To be fair to the frightened Pansy, they were a bit intimidating. Who wanted to stand so close to someone who thought you their next meal? Vampires had been persecuted and shunned in wizarding society since Zero could remember—which wasn't very far back, admittedly—and he doubted it was about to change.

"I suppose I'll see you later, then?" Malfoy began impassively, though he looked eager to see his best friend again. It wasn't very often that a pureblood family moved down to Wiltshire, with boys his age. Though one of them always seemed to be sickly.

"Sure." Zero nodded. "We'll play Quidditch again?"

"Yes!" The blonde looked ecstatic. "I'll show you my new broom!" He waved, before walking off in the direction of the disturbingly overpriced robe shop, where most likely his mother and father were getting fittings of their own.

The young wizard eyed the spot he'd last seen the vampire, though there was nothing there but tarnished bricks and an unending flow of people to take his place.

.

.

His eyes shot open, and even the blistering sunlight that seared the back of his retina couldn't obscure the pain that wilted in his gut.

The young vampire stood up abruptly, wandering out of the pool of sheets that came with him and into the bathroom, rubbing the seal on his neck.

There was no point reminiscing—no point in wishing so fervently—for a dream that was long crumbled to dust.

He'd never attend Hogwarts, never have to fret about houses and belonging again, because he didn't belong.

He was a vampire now, too.

"Are you alright, Zero?"

His head snapped to the not-so vacant bed, Kaname watching him through the fringe of curling hair, smoldering eyes seeming to bore directly into his soul.

"Fine—" He pulled his hand away from his neck, twisting the faucet on. "I'm fine."

He chanced a glance through the mirror while busying himself with washing his hands, unintentionally locking gazes with the pureblood once more. Pureblood. He'd been one of those too, at a distant point in his life.

But there was no use in thinking about that now.

"Don't you have classes to go to?" He frowned, irritated that Kaname could read him so well, even when he was attempting to school his features into nothing but blankness.

The sheets pooled around his bare torso, and Zero swallowed as his gaze lingered on the smooth contours of his chest, the sharp relief of sinewy tendons that made up his neck and travelled to both mobile shoulders, rolling into the sleeves of his crisp button down as he pulled it back on.

"I've missed most of them." The pureblood smiled wryly, getting up regardless.

Zero shut the water off, realizing that for the better part of the last minute he'd done nothing but run his hands through freezing water. He wiggled his hands through the build up of soapy, grayish backwash draining in the sink. They reminded him of Malfoy's eyes, ironically.

He didn't even notice when Kaname moved next to him, reaching over to pop the drainage. His murky reflection drained, and whatever hazy remnant of a pureblood wizard there had been was swallowed away.

The man was making slow kisses up the side of his neck, as if he hadn't a time for anything else in the world. Zero scowled lazily, but made no move to stop him. Sometimes it just felt too good to let the vampire do as he pleased.

Kaname pulled the silver-haired boy flush against him, wrapping his arms around the hunter and grazing his neck lightly with his fangs. "Why don't we just go back to bed?" He mumbled into the flushed, thrumming of the other boy's heartbeat.

"Mmm…" Was Zero's articulate response. Kaname was already leading him back anyway. "Alright."