"You should be all healed up now," Madam Promfey said as the glow from her wand faded. Vincent felt his back for the bruise only to feel it smooth, "honestly, what was it this time."

"I wrestled with a Dementor," Vincent grimaced as he pulled his shirt back on, "it threw me on the roof, hard. Luckily, Professor Lupin saved me."

As soon as they arrived at Hogwarts, Vincent and Harry were whisked away by Professor McGonagall to the hospital wing along with Hermione who she wanted to talk with. Something about her subjects.

"Hm, a Defence against the Dark Arts teacher that actually knows what his doing," Madam Pomfrey nodded in acknowledgment before turning to Harry who still looked pale of sorts, "and you say he gave you all chocolate? It helps people who"ve been badly affected by Dementors. It does indeed seem we have a capable teacher this year. Well now off you go, don"t want to miss the banquet now so we?"

"Thank you," Vincent and Harry exited the room and proceeded to make their way to the Great Hall.

"Wonder what Hermione needs to talk about with Professor McGonagall," Vincent said causally.

"Hm, ah, yeah."

Vincent frowned as he looked at his friend, "Ok, what"s bothering you?"

"When, the Dementor attacked me, I heard a woman screaming," Harry explained as his hand brushed against the scar on his forehead, "she kept saying my name, begging someone not to kill me."

They both walked in silence as Vincent pondered over what Harry said, "When the Dementor attacked me, it brought up...memories, sad ones. Maybe what you heard was from something in your—"

Vincent trailed off as he looked at Harry who seemed to get the message.

"Past, that voice could have been someone from my past," Harry had a complicated look on his face as he looked at the ground, "that voice could have been my mothers."

Vincent looked at his friend who had his head hung down and punched him in the arm.

"Ow!" Harry rubbed the the spot that Vincent hit, "What was that for?!"

"Stop being so moody," Vincent said with as he smirked, "its making me depressed, also I"m hungry."

"Huh," Harry looked blankly at Vincent who kept walking ahead, "I just heard what could be my dead moms voice and you expect me to forget about it?"

"Is there anything you can do about it?" Harry was taken aback, "Look Harry, I"m not telling you to forget about it. I just don"t think your mother who sacrificed herself for you would want you to be depressed just because you heard her voice."

Harry looked thoughtful before nodding, "Yeah, she wouldn"t would she? Still hurts though."

"As long as that"s said, let"s go eat!" Harry smiled wryly before a thought came to mind.

"Does Vincent ever think of his own parents?"

...


"So, you going to share with us what you talked with Professor McGonagall about?" Vincent asked Hermione.

"Just about my subject selection this year," she said, brushing of the question. As she turned her head, Vincent noticed an additional item wrapped around her neck, apart from the necklace he gave her last year.

"She didn"t have that on earlier," Vincent thought, "could Professor McGonagall have given it to her? Well if Hermione doesn"t want to speak about it then she should be fine."

Vincent looked around to see some students looking at him curiously.

"Most of them saw you get dragged off," Arnya said as tried to move from her wheelchair to the seat next to Vincent.

Vincent got up and lifted Arnya, surprising her, and placed her on the seat next to him.

"If you need help, just ask for it," Vincent said casually as he sat back down with people looking at him weirdly for a different reason now.

"Th-thanks," Arnya muttered.

"It seems we"ve missed the Sorting," Hermione notes as she watched Professor Flitwick carry a ragged old hat out of the hall.

Professor Dumbledore, though very old, always gave an impression of great energy. He had several feet of long silver hair and beard, half-moon spectacles, and an extremely crooked nose. He was often described as the greatest wizard of the age. You couldn"t help trusting Albus Dumbledore.

"Welcome!" said Dumbledore, the candlelight shimmering on his beard, "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast..."

Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued, "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business."

He paused, it seems that Dumbledore didn"t have a very high opinion of the Dementors.
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"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore continued, "and while they are with us, I must make it plain that n.o.body is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises — or even Invisibility Cloaks," he added blandly, and Harry and Ron glanced at each other. "It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the Dementors," he said.

Dumbledore paused again; he looked very seriously around the hall, and n.o.body moved or made a sound.

"On a happier note," he continued, "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

There was mixed applause and only those who had bore witness to Lupin"s capabilities on the train clapped enthusiastically.

"Look at Snape!" Vincent heard Ron and looked at his potion mentor and raised his eyebrow. He looked absolutely livid, full of loathing as he glared at Lupin. Similar to the look he gives Harry.

"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore continued as the lukewarm applause for Professor Lupin died away. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

Vincent, Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at one another, stunned. Then they joined in with the applause, which was tumultuous at the Gryffindor table in particular. Hagrid was ruby red in the face and stared down at his enormous hands, his wide grin hidden in the tangle of his black beard.

"We should"ve known!" Ron roared, pounding the table. "Who else would have a.s.signed us a biting book?"

Vincent, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the last to stop clapping, and as Professor Dumbledore started speaking again, they saw that Hagrid was wiping his eyes on the tablecloth.

"Well, I think that"s everything of importance," said Dumbledore. "Let the feast begin!"

...

When Dumbledore gave the word that it was time for them all to go to bed, and they got their chance.

"Congratulations, Hagrid!" Hermione squealed as they reached the teachers" table.

"All down ter you four," said Hagrid, wiping his shining face on his napkin as he looked up at them. "Can" believe it... great man, Dumbledore... came straight down to me hut after Professor Kettleburn said he"d had enough... It"s what I always wanted..."

Vincent smiled at the giant man and patted his back, "You deserve it Hagrid."

"Thank you..." Hagrid blew his nose in a napkin.

Vincent then noticed Arnya wheeling towards Dumbledore and frowned.

"Hmm," Dumbledore looked at Arnya who handed him a letter, "you came with Vincent correct?"

Arnya nodded as Dumbledore opened up the letter. His gaze turned sad as he read through it. He then looked at Arnya and sighed, "You can accompany Vincent."

Arnya nodded as Vincent walked up to her and exchanged glances with Dumbledore who gave him a nod before walking off.

"What was that about?" Vincent asked Arnya who shook her head.

"What"s in that letter is between Father and Dumbledore alone, even I don"t know what it holds," Arnya said.

...

"..."

"..."

"So this is your bed here," Hermione explained as she set out the bed next to hers. For whatever reason, the girls dorm room had somehow gotten bigger with an extra bed added. Hermione suspects it"s one of Hogwarts magical features.

It took a while to convince Arnya that it was a really bad idea to sleep in the boys dorm rooms to observe Vincent, but in the end they somehow convinced her, leaving Hermione alone as a guide to Arnya. The room was still filled with girls chattering among themselves, still excited over coming to or back to Hogwarts.

Arnya nodded as she wheeled to the side of the bed and tried to move from her chair to the mattress. She managed to drag herself off before slipping down to the floor.

"Look out!" Hermione caught her before Arnya hit the ground.

Arnya gave a look to Hermione and nodded, "Thank you," before getting back on the bed with a.s.sistance from Hermione.

"Geez, you have to be more careful," Hermione muttered as she helped Arnya with her sheets with Arnya looking at her curiously, "how"d you sleep at Vincent"s place?"

"We usually go out at night," Hermione froze, "for his "Trespa.s.sing" duties," Hermione sighed in relief.

"He barely ever sleeps as well, maybe an hour or two a day," Arnya muttered earning a shocked look from Hermione.

"That idiot needs to take care of himself more," Hermione sighed as she sat at the side of Arnya"s bed, "and you still go with him, don"t you get tired?"

"Vampire"s don"t need sleep," Arnya explained, "it"s something that we like to do, but it"s not required. Then again, I don"t think I"d ever get tired watching him. Eating with him, playing board games, just talking, it"s nice. Compared to the life I"ve lived through, just being with him gives a sense of peace."

"...Yeah, it does," Hermione said softly.

"So why don"t you talk with your friends?" Arnya asked looking at the other girls.

"I"m not much of a talker," Hermione said looking back at the girls, "when I do talk, it"s usually about books and such. No one"s interested in that. Even Harry and Ron, people I hang out usually aren"t interested in what I"m talking about."

"And Vincent?" Arnya asked making Hermione smile wryly.

"While he may not understand everything I"m talking about, he takes everything I say seriously and studies them."

"Like how?" Arnya asked interested.

"Well there was this one time when he asked me about Muggles not being able to see Hogwarts..."

...

...(A Year Ago)...

"Hermione, this book says that Muggles can"t see Hogwarts," Vincent asked one day in the library, holding a book called Hogwarts: A History, "so why can I see it?"

"Generally no," Hermione explained, "in fact, if an actual muggle were to see this place, they would only see old ruins with danger signs around it. There really isn"t an explanation except for perhaps one, and this is my theory, an old spell similar to the Fidelius Charm."

"Fidelius?" Hermione smiled at his confused face.

"It generally uses a person"s soul, otherwise known as a Secret Keeper, to conceal a secret. If used to protect a location then only the Secret Keeper can tell others of its location for them to access it," Hermione said rambling on, "however, for Hogwarts, even if you tell a muggle where Hogwarts is located, they wouldn"t find it. So the option that this place is put under a Fidelius charm is crossed out, meaning it"s something of a similar nature. In that case, someone must have given permission for you to enter and see Hogwarts."

"Dumbledore," Vincent muttered, "but he was definitely surprised that I came here. Wouldn"t that mean he intended for me to come to Hogwarts at some point in time?"

"You have to ask Dumbledore yourself," Hermione said, "but then again, these are all theories, there could be any number of reasons that you could see Hogwarts, for example—"

Hermione stopped rambling when she noticed Vincent smiling in amus.e.m.e.nt. He had a small notebook in his hand that held a full page of small notes.

"I"m sorry, was I going on for too long?" Hermione apologised, " W-were you writing down everything I said?"

"Just small points for me to look into later," Vincent said scratching his head, "some of the stuff you said sounded interesting, but I didn"t get most of it. So I thought I should look into it later."

Hermione"s head fell on the table with a thump and a groan earning a chuckle from Vincent.

"Thank you," Hermione looked up to see Vincent smiling, "you helped me out a lot Hermione, I"ll keep learning until I can understand at least half of what your saying."

Hermione felt her eyes twitch as she glared at Vincent, "Half?! I"m speaking english you know?!"

Vincent could only chuckle nervously in the face of Hermione"s glare.

...(Present)...

...

"Vincent"s a hard worker, and one of my best friends," Hermione said before looking around, "have we talked that long already?"

Everyone around them had already gotten changed and ready for bed.

"Vincent is right about you," Hermione looked back at Arnya, "you"re a good person."

Hermione scratched her cheek in embarra.s.sment while having a small smile on her face, "It"s getting late, I"m going to do some late night reading before heading to bed."

Hermione was about to head off before feeling Arnya tug at her arm, "Um, can we, be friends?"

Hermione looked taken aback as she looked at Arnya who showed a rare expression of embarra.s.sment a she hid some of her face under her covers, "I—I never talked to another girl before, a—and I"m Vincent"s observer, I have to know his friends too."

Hermione turned her face to the side, also embarra.s.sed, as she let out a deep breath, "Y-Yeah sure."

Hermione never had anyone ask directly to be her friend before. While originally having her guard up against Arnya just for being Dracula"s daughter (and being close to Vincent), she felt that Arnya was a little lonely, a feeling she herself knew all too well.

"Y-yeah, well night," Arnya turned to the side, facing away from Hermione.

"...Night, Arnya," Hermione said as she picked up a large book from her bag and crawled into bed.

The next day Vincent, Harry and Ron had confusion written across their faces as they followed Arnya and Hermione who were both talking happily to each other.

"Since when did they get this friendly?" Harry asked with a sign of disbelief. Just yesterday, Hermione and Arnya barely spoke a word to each other. However, after just one night they started talking like they were best friends.

"Girls, I just can"t understand them," Ron muttered.

Vincent however, was glad that Arnya has made a friend other than himself and that Hermione has a girl that she can talk to.

...

"So you come down here for potion experiments?" Arnya asked as Vincent stirred a rather green looking potion.

"Yep, kind of like a hobby," Vincent answered as he looked at a book. Nyx, eating grapes, stopped to enhance some items as Vincent threw them in. Their understanding of each other has gotten to the point where they could communicate without words.

They were all in Vincent"s potion making hut (or the Mad Lair as the Weasley twins liked to call it) out on the school grounds. It was around lunch break and Vincent had an urge to start making potions. He had a few ideas in mind and wanted to put them to use in the next hour or so before his next lesson.

"Wait, why are you looking at a book for gardening?" Arnya raised an eyebrow as she picked up a book on planting seeds and vegetables.

"I"m curious to know what would happen if I cultivate a plant using potions instead of water," Vincent said as he took five potted sprouts and five large different colored potion vials before walking outside.

"So how"d you think of the lessons we had?" Vincent asked Arnya as he planted the plants around his house.

"It was boring," Arnya admitted earning a chuckle from Vincent, "but Hermione seemed interesting today, she"s extremely knowledgeable."

Vincent smiled, "That she is. The smartest student in our year and perhaps even Hogwarts."

"h.e.l.lo Vincent," They both turned to see a blond dreamy looking girl approach Vincent. She had an aura of dottiness around her, adding to that was the necklace of bottle caps around her , "oh, a friend?"

"Luna, good to see you," Vincent waved, "this is—"

"Arnya Tepes," Arnya nodded as she shook hands with Luna who had an "ah" look on her face.

"Luna Lovegood," Luna said, "so you"re Dracula"s daughter?"

"You"re not bothered by it?" Arnya asked with a bit of surprise in her voice.

"Definitely not," The younger girl said, "I"m rather curious in the unnatural."

"Is that so?" Arnya felt that the girl was extremely strange and looked at Vincent who had just finished planting. He then poured the five different colored potions on them and pocketed the empty vials.

"What are you doing?" Luna asked Vincent.

"Gardening with potions."

Luna paused as she looked at Vincent and back at the covered plants. She did this a couple more times before Vincent stopped her with an amused look.

"Ok, spit it out."

"...You sure these won"t explode?" Luna asked carefully.

"The potions I used are non-explosive."

"Will they turn to dragons?"

"Nope."

"Burst to flames? Turn to ghosts? Attract ghosts? Summon lightning? Eat people? Turn into Whomping Willows?"

"...Have some faith in me Luna," Vincent put a hand to his head, "although they are interesting ideas..."

"I trust you Vincent," Vincent felt his heart lift before being shattered at the next line, "but you still have a long way before anyone has faith in your "potion ideas"."

Vincent fell to his knees with his hands on the ground, "B-but what about the ones that turned out well?"

"Turned out well after how many tests and accidents?" Vincent felt his heart shatter even further, "and that one potion that leveled the school grounds? Remember that?"

"...He really is a Mad Scientist," Arnya observed causing Vincent"s eyes to twitch and Luna to giggle.

"I"m not mad," Vincent muttered as he curled up in a ball, "I"m not mad, I"m not mad..."

Luna merely patted his back comfortingly, "There, there...Everything is going to be alright..."

"Luna Lovegood," Arnya said softly, "appears extremely strange and weird, but there"s something more to her than she lets on. Speaks her mind without constraint or care for what others think of her. From Vincent"s att.i.tude, they both get along extremely well, showing that he has complete trust in her."

The school bell sounded, urging her to poke Vincent in the shoulder.

"Lunch is over," she said, "and weren"t you looking forward to that giant"s cla.s.s?"

"Oh yeah, Hagrid!" Vincent scrambled to his feet, "Catch you later Luna!"

"See you," Luna gave a wave as they parted ways.

If they had stayed a bit longer, they would have noticed that the plants Vincent had planted had started to sprout, all with different colors.

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