Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Vampire Diaries.

Yes, I am a horrible person for putting up another story, but my muses refuse to work on anything else right now.

At fifteen Harry was just tired of everything, he had defeated Voldemort and saved the whole of the wizarding world only to realize that he no longer had anything holding him there. Hermione and Ron were too busy with each other and making sure that anyone that would listen knew about how wonderful they were and how they had contributed to the defeat of Voldemort. The rest of the Weasleys were doing their own thing and Sirius and Remus were trying to figure out how to start living now that Sirius was a free man with Pettigrew's capture. Everyone else was putting Voldemort behind them and that somehow translated to putting Harry behind them too. He found himself wondering what he was supposed to do without Voldemort popping out of the woodwork every couple of months to try to kill him while also having to deal with all of the aftereffects of how he managed to defeat the darkest wizard of the last couple centuries.

Harry took his OWLS and NEWTS within two months and managed to get Outstanding in every subject due to the massive amount of studying he had put himself through from the moment that he realized the Voldemort wasn't going to just sit back and wait for him to graduate to come after him. It surprised Petunia just as much as Harry when he somehow found himself at her doorstep hours after getting his results when he had sent her a letter telling her not to bother coming to the station just two months beforehand. To her credit she just opened the door a little wider and motioned him inside with only two glances around to make sure that no one saw him coming into the house.

"I won against Voldemort but I don't know what to do with myself now." Harry didn't know what compelled him to spill himself to Petunia of all people over a cup of tea but he found that he couldn't stop the words from coming out. "I have spent my entire time in the wizarding world fighting that madman and now that he's gone I can't think of any reason to keep living there. There's no one that sees me for who I am and not the child of my parents or the savior of the wizarding world that isn't so busy that they can hardly call me. I feel like I'm floating in a sea of confusion and I don't know what to do to find the shoreline."

Petunia was quiet for a couple of minutes as she stirred her tea and nibbled on the end of a plain biscuit. "With Vernon and Dudley this will not be a good place for you but there may be a place for you." She looked into her teacup and sipped slowly as a thought started to form in her head. "Lily told me that your father's family had a lot of property all over the world that they hardly used. Most of those properties are rented out at outrageous rents from what she told me but there are a couple that the family kept just for themselves in other countries. If you want to get away from everything the best way to do it is to put as much distance from yourself and those problems as possible."

(V)

Mystic Falls was quaint, that was the only description that Harry could think of that fit the tiny little town in the middle of Virginia. He had chosen it because it was an English speaking country, a must really, and because it was the last place on Earth that anyone would bother looking for him. Of course, he didn't really think that anyone would be interested in looking for him, but its better safe than sorry. The house the Potters' had was a huge mansion with more rooms that Harry could ever imagine using and was in one word: dark.

All of the wood was ebony with dark red walls and rugs with furniture and lighting fixtures that looked like they came out of the dark ages' decorator's guide. The kitchen was fully kitted out with all the modern necessities by the army of house elves that were more than happy to have someone to care for again. The head elf assured him that they didn't ever want to be free and that they would make sure that their 'Young Master Harry' was well cared for and that he wouldn't want for anything if they had anything to say about it. It was actually the elves that suggested that he join the local high school in another month and made sure that no one would know that he didn't attend Muggle School for four years by using their magic to create records and introducing him to the massive muggle section of the house's library. Of course they also made sure that he knew that he was supposed to get out of the house by almost pushing him out of the house on a sunny day with a wallet full of money and the instructions to come back with an empty one.

(V)

"Who in the world is that?" Bonnie Bennett was not used to seeing new people floating around in Mystic Falls and couldn't help but follow the strange sight as he entered the Grille and slid into a booth not too far from where she and Caroline were munching on fries. Elena was still holed up in her house and there wasn't much to do without her there to think up the activities.

Caroline glanced over and looked the new boy over. He was small, thin and not all that tall, with long, curly black hair and some amazing green eyes. Caroline was almost jealous of the pale and smooth complexion that was highlighted by his dark clothes and hair. "It has to be one of the people that moved into the old Potter Mansion on the edge of town. Mom said that the house has been vacant but extremely well maintained for a generation but that someone moved back in a couple of weeks ago. She was planning on going up to see who all moved in in another week if no one came out."

Bonnie wasn't nearly as well versed in the town's property or history as Caroline. "The old Potter Mansion?"

Caroline almost lit up at the thought of knowing something that Bonnie didn't know. "Yeah, the Potters are actually one of the Founding Families but the main branch lives in England and they moved back there shortly after the town's founding and only pop back in every fifty or so years. Mom said that they were the guiding force behind the town and that all the other founding families were mystified when they just left after guiding the town's creation. They own more of the land around Mystic Falls than the Lockwoods do."

Bonnie could practically feel Caroline's smugness radiating off of her and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Why are they considered one of the Founding Families if they don't live here all the time?"

Caroline bounced in her seat and sipped her Coke. "The Potter's are the richest family in Mystic Falls and were the ones that helped the other Families set up here, without the Potters to finance the whole town it wouldn't be here."

(V)

Harry was seriously reconsidering the whole moving to a new country thing when he realized that he had no idea how to talk to people in general. Ron had done most of the talking when they met and Hermione always did all the talking. He had no idea how to approach someone and introduce himself without making a complete fool of himself. He wondered around the small town before finding somewhere to eat, a Mystic Grille, and seating himself with a sigh. Harry could practically feel all the eyes in the place turn to him but he was used to that at least and ordered a burger and chips, or fries whatever.

"Hello, would you happen to be a member of the Potter family?" The woman that walked up to his booth had short blond hair and was wearing a police officer's uniform. She slid into the opposite seat and smiled at him.

"I am the last Potter." Harry figured that she was just curious about the new guy in town and he couldn't blame her, better safe than sorry.

Her face showed that she picked up the hint like he figured she would. "Do you have a guardian? The name is Elizabeth Forbes by the way."

Harry waited until the waiter that walked up to the table deposited his food before he answered. It gave him time to think about what he wanted to say. "My name is Harrison James Potter. My parents have been gone for a very long time and my previous guardians emancipated me this summer. I looked into properties that my family owned and chose Mystic Falls to settle in."

Ms. Forbes shifted in her seat and watched him eat for a couple of minutes to gather her thoughts. "Aren't you a bit young to live in that big house all by yourself?"

Harry smiled a bit as he washed his food down with some Coke and wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin. "I am quite capable of taking care of myself and have been doing so for almost my entire life." He made sure to make eye contact to drive his point home. "Having guardians does not mean that I have been taken care of, I know how to care for myself and several other people without help. I appreciate your concern, but I will be just fine on my own. My only goal is to become a member of this town and enjoy every moment that I can."

(V)

Harry honestly felt like a coward, after meeting with Sheriff Forbes he holed up in his mansion and completely avoided the town entirely. The house elves only allowed it as he was going to be attending high school at the end of the summer. He didn't want to be the center of attention even if he knew that there was no possible way he would be able to avoid it. He was going to be the new kid that lived on his own in a huge house and had more money than he would ever be able to spend. The investments that his ancestors had made just kept piling the money into his vault and it wouldn't matter what he spent money on.

Of course, he regretted his decision when he reached the school and realized that he didn't know anyone that went there. He had picked his schedule up and went through the whole school tour the previous day but he didn't meet anyone his own age. Harry ducked his head as every head turned to watch him as he dodged around the gawkers in his way and slipped into the school with a sigh. This was going to suck.

(V)

"That kid looks like he's going to rabbit the first chance he gets." Tyler had heard about the new kid from his father. Apparently the kid owned more of Mystic Falls than his family and that made him incredibly attractive to his power hungry father. The man's exact words were that he was to make nice with the new boy, no matter what that took. Tyler was pretty sure that if he so much as blew the kids hair the wrong way his father would have his head on a spike. "He barely looks big enough to be a freshman."

Matt looked up at the kid right as he slipped through the door and had to look twice to make sure it actually was a boy. "He looks a little like Elena."

Tyler rolled his eyes and socked Matt in the arm, hard. "Dude, you sound like some soppy eyed idiot, she dumped you after losing her parents. You should just find a nice looking distraction and she'll either come crawling back or you'll find something more interesting to play with." The disgusted look that crossed Matt's face before he stomped off was so worth it.

(V)

Muggle high school should be listed as one of the most effective torture methods known to man. Harry had been gawked at, whispered about, and blatantly asked if he was the rich kid that lived in 'that huge old mansion'. The kids here had no concept of privacy, which the kids at Hogwarts didn't either, but there were so many more of them here and they would not get the hint that he didn't want to talk about why he lived alone and he was not going to invite them over to his house to party just because he didn't have parents to tell him not to. At least the classes weren't that hard with the massive amount of textbooks that his family had decided to collect, some of the history books were a little outdated but facts don't change only the way people talk about them.

Harry was so intent on finding the cafeteria and burying himself into some dark corner that when he hit a solid something he hit the ground hard with thud. "Whoa there, where's the fire short stuff?!"

Harry looked up to find what had to be an American football player considering the teen above him looked like he could snap him in half with his pinkie. "I have to get away from all of these gossipy, staring idiots that think that I'm here just to make their day interesting."

The boy laughed and held his hand out to help Harry up, which he did with an embarrassing lack of effort. "Yeah well, around Mystic Falls there isn't a lot of things to keep people's attention for long. Eventually there will be something else that they circle around. Best bet is to just pretend that you don't know that they're there and they'll either get the hint or you'll get good enough at ignoring them that it won't bother you anymore."

Harry dusted himself off and picked his backpack off of the ground. "It couldn't hurt. The name is Harrison, Harry, James Potter, not that you probably didn't already know that."

The boy rubbed the back of his head and hiked his book bag higher on his shoulder. "Yeah, there probably isn't a soul in town that doesn't know about the most powerful family in town coming back. I'm Tyler Lockwood. My dad made sure to tell me all about how much of Mystic Falls you own. He's the mayor and the Lockwoods are in second place for the amount of property we own."

Harry had a moment of clarity and couldn't hold back the smirk. "Let me guess, as the richest person in Mystic Falls he sees me as something that he needs to have and told you to be as nice as possible."

A matching smirk bloomed on Tyler's face and he shrugged as he turned to lead the way into the cafeteria with Harry keeping pace with him. "My old man is used to being the biggest powerhouse around and probably hates that there's someone bigger floating around now. He made sure that I understood that I was supposed to make nice and avoid making his life difficult."

Harry nodded and joined Tyler in the line for food. "Yeah, he doesn't like having someone in town that he can't impress with his money or how much property he owns so he's hoping that he can figure out a way to make an ally out of me and add me to his list of assets."

Tyler piled his tray with some high protein foods and nodded absently as he scanned the room looking for Matt and located him staring at Elena, wonderful. "Yeah, he's completely out of his element and doesn't want to admit it. I thought mom was going to deck him when he told me to make friends with you 'no matter what I had to do.'"

Harry shook his head and bumped his shoulder with Tyler's after they left the line. "Thankfully I'm not a spoiled little snot that would make you follow me like a gargoyle and flex your muscles at anything that moves."

Tyler's laugh caused half the room to turn to look at them and Matt raised an eyebrow as he finally took a break from his Elena watching. "It sounds like there's a story behind that one." He slid into his seat across from Matt and motioned Harry to sit by him, which he did with a graceful slump. "This is my best friend, Matt Donovan, star quarterback and hopelessly lovesick idiot that stares and pines after the object of his affections rather than try to win her back." The glare he got was so worth it.

Harry laughed and shook his head as he stretched across the table and offered his hand to the offended looking Matt. "It's a pleasure to meet you Matt. The name is Harry Potter and while I can't say that I have ever pined after someone I sympathize anyway." Matt ruefully shook his head and the hand that was being offered. He contained the frown when he felt just how delicate and birdlike that hand was. "And as for the comment earlier, there was this rich boy in the boarding school I went to before that had these two huge boys that followed him everywhere and would flex their muscles every time that he threatened to call his father over something that someone said to him. He absolutely hated that he wasn't the biggest thing in the school and used every tactic he could think of to make it seem like he was."

"You went to a boarding school? I can't imagine having to stay at school all the time, I can hardly last the eight hours as it is." Tyler managed to shove almost half of his burger into his mouth at once and both of the other boys hid their winces.

"It wasn't too awfully bad really. The classes only went on for eight hours Monday through Friday and we had the weekends to ourselves. The school is by invitation only and located in one of the most remote parts of Scotland so they don't really have another choice. The train ride there takes almost twelve hours and there aren't any other ways to get there." Harry obviously couldn't tell them that no other mode of transportation could get you there with the magic frying electronics.

"Damn, that would suck. Why did you decide to jump countries and attend public schools with the humble people of Mystic Falls?" Matt couldn't imagine the amount of money someone would have to have to go to a private school like the one Harry was saying that he went to nor could he imagine trading it for Mystic High.

"I completed most of the specialized classes they offered and didn't really want to stick around for the normal ones. I really wasn't comfortable in England and decided to try something new. My family was definitely into the whole expansion thing and they bought properties around the globe. I speak quite a few different languages but I prefer English so that limited the choices. In the end I picked the place with the coolest sounding name." Harry blushed a bit and tried to think of a change in subject when he caught Matt looking back out of the window with a sigh. "So, who is this mystery girl that dumped you and has you sighing longingly while looking out at her?"

Matt looked like the kid with his hand in the cookie jar but it was Tyler that decided to lay out the info. "That would be Elena Gilbert. Former head cheerleader and one of the most popular girls in the school. She and Matt have been together since the diaper years." Tyler seemed completely obvious to the death glare that he was getting from across the table. "She was in a car accident at the end of the last school year," Tyler's voice dipped a little in a show of remorse, "she made it out of it okay but her parents were in the car and they didn't make it. She dumped Matt over the summer and hasn't been out of the house until today. She dropped most of her normal activities and hasn't picked anything back up yet. Matt refuses to bother her about the whole relationship thing nor will he try to see anyone but her."

"Yeah and it looks like the chance passed me by too." Matt looked like a kicked puppy as he watched a boy Tyler had never seen walk into the cafeteria with a broody little frown on his face. "That is the other new student to Mystic High, Stefan Salvatore. He's in our history class and he and Elena made eyes at each other the entire time." The sigh Matt let out led to Tyler looking up as if waiting for patience.

Harry looked over at the boy and felt his magic unfurl like a cornered snake, it hissed at him and the translation made him freeze, not even noticing when the Salvatore glanced at him in shock. This was no boy, but a vampire in broad daylight at his high school. He only wanted one normal school year, just the one. "I don't see the appeal, broody isn't really my thing. He looks like he could suck the life right out of someone." The barely noticeable flinch from across the room told him that his magic was spot on again and that there really was a day walking vampire in Mystic Falls, wonderful.

"We're all going to head to the Grille after school, it's a tradition." Tyler focused on the boy beside him as Harry's attention moved from the new boy and back to him. He didn't know why he didn't want Harry anywhere near the new boy but he almost felt like growling at the Salvatore for drawing Harry's attention away. "They have good food, pool tables, and darts."

Harry finished off his food and tilted his head to the side. "I went there once in the summer and the food was pretty good." He looked over at the hopeful expression on Tyler's face and laughed. "Sure, but you'll have to teach me how to play pool and putting a dart in my hand is asking for trouble."

(V)

The Mystic Grille was packed full of families and teenagers vying for food, drinks and positions at the pool tables scattered on the upper section. Harry would have turned around and ran if Tyler hadn't noticed him and motioned him up to the pool table that he and Matt were perched by. Harry glanced around nervously as he dodged around the crowd and made it up to where they were without touching anyone. He noticed a rather odd looking girl with a long face waiting tables and looking at Tyler as if he was a piece of meat, he looked away quickly. "I see you weren't kidding about this being the tradition."

Tyler shrugged and racked the pool balls as Matt gulped down whatever he was drinking. "There is literally nothing else to do in this town unless you count the Founder's crap that my mother enjoys forcing everybody through every single year."

Harry felt his eyebrows raise as the waitress came over to deliver some drinks to the pool table next to theirs and made eyes at Tyler that he didn't even notice. The girl huffed and stalked off with an exasperated looking Matt watching her, interesting. "Founder's crap?"

Tyler downed his drink and handed the pool cue to Matt. "Yeah, every year there are a ton of Founder's Day events that end in this huge fireworks display and this year they're going to have this huge comet watching event since the rock hasn't passed the Earth in like a hundred and some years or something."

Matt saunters away from them as a dark skinned girl comes in with a blonde that looks more than a little wired and bouncy. "Who are they?"

Tyler looks over at the door and shakes his head with a rueful looking grin. "That is Bonnie Bennett and Caroline Forbes, they are Elena Gilbert's best friends."

"Forbes? Is she related to Sheriff Forbes?" Harry looked over and couldn't see any similarities other than the color of their hair and general build.

"Yeah, her dad skipped town a long time ago and those two are like oil and water. You won't find two people more different in the whole town. Caroline is the town's biggest gossip and about as shallow as a person can get without being completely see through." Tyler sounded completely unimpressed as he motioned Harry to his side of the pool table and put the cue into his hands. "I think it's high time for you to learn how to play pool."

(V)

"Why are Tyler and the new boy so buddy, buddy right now?" Caroline didn't even give Matt the chance to open his mouth to say hi before she pounced on him like a predator that just scented blood. "He's practically ignoring your sister and hanging all over the new boy that's been hiding in his super cool mansion all summer. How did they even meet?

Matt looked back to see that Tyler was leaning over Harry and showing him how to hold the cue to shoot a combo. "Tyler ran into him on the way to lunch and decided to bring him along. We all talked during lunch and Tyler decided to invite him to the Grille. He's a good guy and Tyler's slightly less of a dick with him around, slightly anyway." Matt focused back on Caroline and Bonnie with a grimace. "So how is Elena doing?"

Caroline got a slightly pinched look on her face as Bonnie started to look a cross between sympathetic and pitying. "She's doing better, she just needs a little more time."

Matt looked up as the door swung open and felt his heart lurch as Elena walked in with the Salvatore boy looking happier than he had seen her in a long while. "Time, huh."

(V)

"Oh, that's going to go over real well for Matt." Tyler's voice practically dripped with sarcasm as Harry turned to see what could only be Elena Gilbert walk in with the Salvatore vampire that immediately looked up to lock eyes with Harry. Tyler immediately shifted slightly in front of Harry and Stefan's eyes glided over him before focusing back on Elena. "That guy gives me the creeps."

Harry hummed as he took a sip of his drink and tried to force his magic back under the surface and away from springing at the vampire casually chatting with Elena and introducing himself to a clueless Matt. "He looks far too broody and guilty with that furrowed brow for my taste."

Tyler laughed in shock and turned around to focus back on Harry and not the scene in the front of the Grille. "That's a good one. There's a bonfire party tomorrow night to celebrate the beginning of school, it'll be fun and I'll need all the help I can get to snap Matt out of his Elena fog. Do you think you could lend me a hand?"

Harry lifted his glass up and saluted the amused looking Tyler. "Sure, I might as well tag along to see you fail to dispel his fog and probably get hammered in the process."

(V)

Tyler's father was on him the moment that he came in the front door with his mother following behind like a little puppy. "How did your first day go? Did you manage to make the acquaintance of the Potter scion?"

Tyler could practically hear the veiled threat in his father's tone. "As a matter of fact we spent lunch together and the last couple of hours were spent teaching him how to play pool at the Grille. I invited him to the bonfire tomorrow night and I dropped him off at his house before coming home."

Tyler could see his father's face slacken slightly with shock as his mother beamed with happiness. "Liz said that he was such a small polite young man when she talked to him briefly over the summer. I think that it would do him a lot of good to get out of that lonely house and spend some time with other kids his age." Tyler could almost imagine his mother trying to set up play dates for him and Harry. "You'll have to invite him over so that we can meet him. It can't be good for him to spend so much time in that big old house all by himself."

(V)

Harry followed behind Tyler and Matt as they cut through the crowd at the bonfire and managed to secure his own cup of some kind of alcohol while both of the other boys nursed their own as they looked around for the people they knew. "So this is just an excuse for a whole bunch of under-aged people to get completely smashed in the name of tradition?"

Tyler knocked back whatever it was he was drinking and smiled as he crushed the cup and tossed it in a nearby bin. "Pretty much. The cops know that we doing it but since they all did it when they were young it just get brushed off. They just hover nearby to make sure that we all get home alright and nobody gets hurt in a brawl."

The same waitress from the Grille the other day saunters up and Harry can tell that she's either already had too many drinks or she's been doing something else from the sway in her walk. "Hey Tyler, you want to go for a walk with me in the woods?"

It isn't Tyler that answers her, but a rather aggravated Matt. "Vicki, you already look three sheets to the wind and we all have school tomorrow. I'm going to take you home and you're going to sleep whatever else you have had off with the alcohol." She tried to protest but Matt just picked her up and carried her away without looking back.

"Who in the world is that?" Harry watched as Tyler rolled his eyes and grabbed a drink from one of the teenagers walking by. The boy turned like he was going to yell at Tyler but paled and hurried off instead.

"That is Vicki Donovan, Matt's older sister. She's a complete slut and there isn't a drug in this world that she doesn't do. She probably just wants to upgrade from her summer fling with Jeremy Gilbert, Elena's stoner little brother." Tyler sighs and thinks a bit about how little Vicki tempts him. He had fooled around a bit with her right before school started but it just didn't seem worth it.

"Sounds like a charmer."

(V)

Matt was amazed at how Harry just slid into his and Tyler's routine and the effect he had on Tyler was something Matt had been trying to manage for years. Tyler mellowed out to the point that only half of the things out of his mouth made him want to deck his best friend and he didn't react to every single slight with violence. The only time he flipped out this week was when some idiot sophomore ran into Harry and knocked him to the ground. Tyler helped Harry up and then decked the idiot so hard even Matt felt it.

(V)

Harry felt a little uncomfortable sitting at a table with Tyler and his parents. There was something about the way that the elder Lockwood male looked at him that made him nervous. The look in his eyes reminded him of the look Rita Skeeter got in her eyes when she heard something that she could turn into a horrible article. The only reason that he didn't run was that Tyler had wanted him to come to be his backup against his parents and their constant questions about Harry. "So Harry, why did you decide to settle in Mystic Falls?"

Harry shifted slightly in his seat and took a sip as the waitress, Vicki, passed by the table and failed to make eye contact with Tyler, again. "I had enough of England and decided to pick one of the Potter properties to live in. My family has property all over the world but Mystic Falls seemed to be a nice place."

Mr. Lockwood's eyes practically lit up at the mention of Harry's family's property. "My family made most of their purchases close to home to make them easier to handle. It must be time consuming to manage properties all over the world."

Harry could almost hear the drool in the man's voice. "I have a whole team of people that help with the management of the real estate and investments." A whole team of goblins that viciously increased his net worth at every opportunity. "I get statements and have to approve or disapprove of the major things but my team is extremely effective. They tend to almost double my net worth every couple of years just because they can."

Mr. Lockwood looked completely speechless and Harry could feel the suppressed laughter from Tyler as his mother fiddled with her napkin before looking up with stars glittering in her eyes. "It's good that you don't have to spend your free time worrying over numbers." She smiled even wider as Vicki passed by the table again, and was ignored again. "You should come to the Founder's Party at our house, it's a little gathering we throw every year to celebrate the founding of the town. It's been around for 150 years." Harry found that the only thing that he could do was nod in the face of her enthusiasm. "It's a formal occasion with a lot of history and dancing. I bet you're adorable in a suit."

Tyler could feel the blush rising as his mother continued to gush about how Harry would look in a suit and what color his tie should be as Harry just stared and nodded, smart man.

(V)

Harry stared at himself in the mirror and tried valiantly to ignore the giggling female house elves that had taken great pleasure in dressing him up and doing his hair. The suit was more expensive than anything he had ever worn with an emerald green tie that the head elf had chosen with a smirk with the comment that it 'brought out the Young Masters' eyes.' He smoothed out the suit one last time and made his way to the foyer to await Tyler, who was supposed to pick him up for the party.

(V)

Damon was bored out of his mind watching Caroline sip champagne and gossip about everyone whether they were far enough away to not hear her or not. He zoned out for a minute or two before he heard her gasp and giggle. "Looks like Tyler decided to bring Harry to the party. Those two have been completely attached at the hip since the first day of school. If I didn't know Tyler so well I'd think that he had switched teams like my dad."

Damon glanced toward the entrance to see the jock, Tyler Lockwood if he remembered correctly, leading in a boy with a pair of emerald eyes that most of the women he had met would kill for, most of them literally. The boy glanced his way with a sharp glare and he could feel the magic coiling around the boy like a snake ready to snap his head off at a moment's notice. Another witch in Mystic Falls, how fun. "I don't think you've told me anything about this Harry."

Caroline may be dense but she managed to pick up the order rather well without compulsion. "He's a member of the Potter family, the last one left as far as anyone knows. He moved back into the mansion of theirs over the summer and joined freshman year. My mother talked to him over the summer and found out that he lived alone but he insists that he is more than capable of taking care of himself and he has been emancipated so there wasn't anything my mother could do about it."

Damon hummed as he thought about the Potter's that were around in 1864. They had been a secretive lot that had been in Mystic Falls a lot longer than any of the other families. He also remembered that his father had been adamant that he was to be on his best behavior. They were also the only member of the Founding Families that had refused to join in the mass vampire burning that the rest of them had committed. Being witches kind of accounted for all of that though.

(V)

Harry tensed as Tyler led him into his house and he felt the presence of another vampire. His eyes found the man instantly and the first thing that popped into his head was that this vampire was going to be trouble. The man had a wild look to him that practically screamed that the man was unstable and probably viewed humans as walking, talking blood bags. The fact that he was standing so close to a scarf wearing Caroline just added evidence to the theory. Harry only pulled his eyes away when Tyler gave his hand a tug and pulled him over to where the table with finger foods was laid out while neatly avoiding both his mother and father. "That is Damon Salvatore, he apparently decided to follow his broody brother into town and latched onto Caroline the minute that he strolled in."

Harry listened with half and ear as he forced his magic to behave as it kept trying to wrap around Damon and drain him dry like it had with Voldemort and that would be a little hard to explain away in a room full of muggles. "He looks like he's one step away from wringing her neck and killing half the guests while laughing maniacally." Harry caught Damon's smirk as he winked in Harry's direction and raised his glass slightly before draining it, creepy vampire hearing.

Tyler raised his eyebrow as he handed Harry a turkey finger sandwich and inhaled his own ham one. "Caroline is a good person but she tends to have that effect on people. If he tries anything though I'll make sure to get you out of dodge before the bloodbath, though I reserve the right to leave my father here."

They both shared a look as the aforementioned father strolled up with a smirk and a half empty glass of what looked like whiskey or scotch. "You two don't look like you're enjoying the party as much as you should be. Why don't you try dancing? I'm sure that you could either find a couple ladies or even give each other a spin on the dance floor." It was obvious that the glass in his hand wasn't his first as he smiled a little too widely and walked surprisingly steadily toward where his wife was watching all of them with a creepy little smile.

Harry looked at Tyler and then put his glass on the table with a grimace. "I think I feel vaguely violated."

Tyler set his glass down and started to usher Harry through the room with a hand on his back. "Surprisingly enough, if you spend enough time around them they grow on you, like a fungus." Tyler got the laugh he was going for as they reached the dance floor to see Elena and Stefan sedately spinning on the dance floor with a slightly sour looking Damon leading Caroline back into the house through another entrance. "I doubt that you'll want to ask any of the girls to dance in front of their escorts so how about I lead in a couple dances to make both of my parents explode with joy, if I'm lucky, and then we can disappear to do just about anything else?"

Harry had the feeling that Tyler's parents wouldn't be happy until they managed to put him in a gilded cage and change his last name to Lockwood, but anything that kept them from doing the creepy advice and date setting thing was a good thing in his book. "Sure, just don't blame me if I crush all of your toes and trip us both."

(V)

"Now that is an interesting sight." Elena smiled at Stefan as she saw Tyler Lockwood lead a reluctant Harry Potter onto the dance floor with a grin. Tyler swung Harry around and managed to arrange them with him leading into a standard waltz with a grin.

Stefan looked over and the sight actually managed to pull a grin from him, a reluctant one, but a grin all the same. "At least they're having fun even if Harry looks about ready to trip over his own feet and Tyler is spending more time correcting him that anything else." It was amazing to see a witch with as much power as the green eyed young man stumble with an amused Tyler correcting his footwork until they managed to make it all the way through without a stumble. Harry's face looked like he was minutes away from decking Tyler as he finally got his chuckles under control.

(V)

Harry found himself spending more time with Tyler than he was spending at home. The jock was kind of an asshole to just about everyone but Harry, but it struck Harry as a defense mechanism powered by the huge temper issue he had. Almost every single day Harry had to pull Tyler back from pummeling some idiot that had bumped into him or had dared to say something negative where Tyler could hear him. Despite his anger problems he was a great listener and managed to distract Harry from the 'animal' attacks that took several druggies, campers and the football coach from the town. Harry figured that it had to be Damon, but he couldn't go off without proof and light the little leech on fire, no matter how much he wanted to. Everything seemed to come to a head when Matt's sister and Tyler's eternal stalker Vicki went missing after the aforementioned druggies were lit on fire in the forest.

Tyler didn't really feel anything for his stalker, but Matt was his friend and that meant that he would spend as much of his time trying to find his sister as possible. Harry joined him as that kept Tyler's parents from realizing that their son was searching for a girl that they wouldn't give the time of day to and added two more eyes to the search. Jeremy Gilbert was searching for Vicki too but he refused to be anywhere near Tyler.

(V)

"I can't believe that Vicki just took off like this." Tyler had stopped by the school with Harry to let Matt know that they hadn't found a trace of his sister today either before they made their way to their respective homes for the night. "Their mother is a complete waste that runs off and leaves them every time that a man pays her the slightest amount of attention and Vicki knows how much that hurts Matt. For her to run out on him without a note, without even calling to tell him that she's okay but has things that she needs to work out, it's too much."

Harry let him rant as they neared the parking lot and was so intent on Tyler that he almost missed the feel of a vampire on the edge of going feral. "Tyler, hold up for a minute. There is something wrong." Tyler stopped mid step as he heard the nervousness in Harry's voice and slid closer as the door to his car opened.

Vicki looked like hell with her hair tangled and a wild look in her eyes as she looked first at Tyler and then at Harry. When her eyes hit Harry the wild look intensified. "You think you're so special. Some rich kid that sweeps into town and takes everything away from me. I should have had Tyler and his money and his attention and instead you pop up and he's wrapped around your little finger." She stalked forward in a series of jerks and unnatural movements that had Harry even more convinced that she was a second away from going completely feral.

Tyler stepped in front of Harry with a more than slightly irritated look on his face. "Do you honestly think that it's Harry's fault that the fooling around during the summer didn't go any further? You were sleeping with a couple other guys during that same time, including Elena's little brother. What in the world would make you think that I would want anything to do with a girl that can't keep her legs closed for more than a couple minutes? The fact that Matt is your little brother is completely mystifying to the entire town."

The scream of rage Vicki let out as she sprang forward was guttural and animalistic and Harry only had split second to push Tyler out of the way and dodge as she landed two feet behind where they had just been standing. She spun with a snarl and faced Harry as he tried to think of a way to get out of this without having to resort to magic. He felt the Salvatore brothers headed their way but there was no chance of them getting here before she lunges again.

Harry was about to stun the baby vampire when Tyler managed to lock Vicki's hands behind her back and he actually restrained her as she struggled. Either she was one weak vampire or Tyler is a lot more than what he seems. "What the hell is wrong with her?!"

Harry thought about lying but he was already doing enough of that. "She's a vampire, probably newly turned if you can actually keep her in place. Whoever turned Vicki Donovan into a vampire has to be the stupidest thing this side of the Atlantic."

Tyler cracked a smile as the Salvatore brothers flashed in and Damon gave Harry a look that could have melted steel. "Duly noted short stuff, it sounded like a good idea at the time."

To Tyler's credit he didn't even jump as they suddenly appeared and even managed to raise an eyebrow at the surprised expressions on their faces as they took in the fact that he was restraining a vampire, baby or no. "Not that I don't just love standing here holding a druggie vampire that somehow thinks that I am her property and Harry is a snack but do you think you could help clean up your mess?"

Harry could practically see the wheels turning in both of their heads as they looked between Tyler, Vicki and him. "There will be no removal of memories. If you are going to be risking the population of Mystic Falls by turning teenage girls with no human self-control into vampires than Tyler is going to need to know what's going on to keep him from getting caught up in your mess." Harry walked up to where Vicki was being restrained and managed to catch her eyes and keep her attention. "Vicki Donovan, you have become a vampire, not by choice, but through the stupidity of another vampire. You will not continue to act like a spoiled child that can't play with the same toys that she used to. Stefan and Damon will take you to their house where you will let everyone know that you are okay and you will listen to what you are told."

Harry had used just enough magic in his voice to compel her to obey and she nodded meekly before Tyler let her go and she walked up to Stefan with a slump to her shoulders. The two brothers were smart enough to just leave without doing anything to make Harry turn his attention back to them from where he was focusing on Tyler. "So vampires are real and all the crap stories that my parents have been feeding me about the town are probably true."

Harry smiled as he patted Tyler on the shoulder and turned to finish the walk to Tyler's car. "There are probably plenty of parts of your parents' stories that are probably complete crap, but vampires do exist and you just met three of them."

(V)

"What do you think is going to happen with Vicki?" They were sitting in one of Harry's living rooms and Tyler was sipping on some scotch that he had found on a desk while Harry stared at the ceiling. "She's too much like her mother to be able to handle controlling herself."

Harry sighed as he thought about the options, not that there were many. "If she can't learn to control herself, and soon, she will either force Stefan and Damon to kill her when she threatens to expose them with her bad behavior or the Founder's Council will figure out what's going on and take care of it themselves."

Tyler finished off his glass and cocked his head to the side. "Founder's Council?"

Harry stretched and pinned Tyler in place with a look. "Mystic Falls is a lot older than 150 years. It has a long history with the supernatural. It was first settled by werewolves, then vampires and then humans that formed the Founder's Council to eliminate what they viewed as the vampire threat. There have also been quite a few witches burned in this town as well as a couple families that settled down here to live. I do believe that your parents are currently leading the Founder's Council with Sheriff Forbes making sure to cover up any vampire attacks with 'animal' attacks so that reporter, Logan Fell, is probably in on it too. My family never joined the Council as we are witches and they tend to take the whole supernatural hunting thing a little too far."

Tyler shrugged and propped his feet on the expensive coffee table. "It doesn't really surprise me. My parents have been feeding me all kinds of stories about vampires since I was a kid. How about I shoot out some things they have told me and you tell me if it's crap or not?"

Harry propped his own feet on the table and looked Tyler in the eye from the other side. "Twenty vampire questions sounds like fun."

"Vervain causes vampires to burn and makes someone immune to mind compulsions."

"Fact."

"Vampires burn in the sun."

"Fact, unless they have a witch make them a ring of lapis that lets them walk in the sun."

"To turn into a vampire someone has to drink vampire blood and then die."

"Fact."

"A wooden stake through the heart will kill a vampire."

"Fact, except for the first vampires which can only be killed with a special kind of wood."

"All vampires kill anyone that they drink from."

"False, most vampires that have self-control just take a little and then erase the memory. The exception is the vampire type known as a Ripper that cannot control their bloodlust and tends to rend their victims limb from limb."

"Vampires are immortal."

"Unless killed, that is a fact."

"Vampires have to be invited in."

"Fact, but the owner has to be living and apartments can sometimes be a grey area. Witches can also spell areas to be vampire proof."

(V)

Tyler's mom and dad were both waiting on him the moment that he stepped through the door. "Where have you been? You were supposed to be back over an hour ago." His mom was wringing her hands nervously while his father was flexing his arms like he was desperately trying to keep from wringing his neck.

Tyler hung his jacket up and fixed his parents with a glare. "After Harry and I finished with what we were doing we headed out into the parking lot when we got attacked by a vampire." The speed that his parents paled was almost enough to break his glare, almost. "Harry recognized what was going on and managed to distract the vampire long enough for me to get a good hold on it. The vampire managed to get away but neither of us were hurt so I consider that a win. Afterwards I took Harry home and we played vampire twenty questions where I listed something you both used to use in my bedtime stories and he told me whether it was fact or fiction. We had a blast and lost track of time." Tyler raised his wrist and showed both of his parents the wristband with a wolf head on it that Harry had given him. "When I mentioned that I really didn't want to risk getting mind wiped by a vampire Harry gave me this wristband with vervain."

(V)

"I honestly don't know whether I should run screaming or hide in a corner and rock myself while muttering incoherently." Tyler and Harry were both watching as Tyler's mother bounced around the room and picked up random pieces of costume and jewelry before either nodding and adding it to the yes pile or sighing and putting it back. Neither of them were sure if they were safe.

(V)

"If you laugh one more time I will light you on fire." Harry battled down his blush as he stuck to Tyler's side and avoided making eye contact with anyone. Apparently having Carol Lockwood dress them both for the Halloween party was one of the worst decisions that he had ever made. Tyler was dressed as a king with the crown and cape to match and, well, Harry somehow ended up dressed like a queen, dress and all. He honestly didn't know what happened, one minute he was listening to Mrs. Lockwood talking about traditions and history and the next she had shoved him into a bedroom with a costume and a creepy smile. He tried arguing but she pulled out the pouting mother with sad eyes look and he caved like a house of cards.

Tyler bit his fist and wrapped an arm around Harry when he noticed how many guys were eyeing him up like a piece of meat. "If it makes you feel any better she managed to get me to wear a clown costume freshman year and I had people leaving red noses in my locker and on my desks, in all my classes, until I caught one of them and beat him to a pulp."

"I don't really have that option, but I suppose I could always get you to defend my honor." Harry sighed as he straightened and decided that if he was going to be wearing a queen costume, he might as well wear it well.

Tyler brandished the actual sword, his mother went all out, and squeezed Harry's shoulders. "I would gladly defend my queen's honor!"

"Jackass."

(V)

It was about an hour into the party that Harry's magic started to go haywire. Tyler pulled him away from the drink table when he noticed that the glasses had started to shake. "What's up with the mojo?"

"Vicki is here somewhere and she's getting closer to feral by the minute." Harry desperately pulled in air as he tried to calm his magic down enough to locate the baby vampire. "You would think that two vampires with a little age to them would be able to keep an eye on one baby vampire."

Tyler squeezed his shoulder as he looked over the heads of the teens around him trying to catch Vicki's stringy hair. "To be fair I have yet to meet anyone that can keep an eye on Vicki, Matt has been trying for years to get her under control. She takes after their mother way too much."

Harry sighed as his power found and latched onto Vicki from the edge of the gym. "I suppose that I could give them a little slack. She's at the north entrance, headed outside with someone else."

(V)

By the time that Harry and Tyler made it out of the gym it was to find Vicki making out with Jeremy Gilbert with blood on his lips. "Oh goody, a baby vampire and a bleeding baby human." Both Vicki and Jeremy turned to glare at Tyler, but Vicki added in a growl and showed her teeth.

Harry sighed as his magic reacted to the threat of a hungry baby vampire and wrapped around Vicki to the point that she couldn't even twitch. It took almost a full minute for her to realize that she couldn't actually move when Elena and Stefan rounded the corner and she tried and failed to run. "What the hell is going on?! I can't fucking move!"

"Of course you can't. I can't have you running around draining various humans of blood and risking exposure for all supernatural creatures because you can't just say no." The glare Vicki shot Harry's way was so worth the comment. "What we are going to do with you is the important thing to be worrying about poppet."

Stefan stepped closer, making sure to stay between Elena and Vicki at all times. "This isn't her fault, Damon turned her in a moment of boredom and she just needs to learn to control the hunger."

Jeremy looked at everyone with the oddest look on his face. "What the hell are all of you talking about? Why can't Vicki move and why is it a problem if she's hungry?"

"Your little trampy girlfriend is a vampire, squirt." Tyler looked almost bored as he rested his hand on the pommel of the sword his mother gave him while contemplating if it would take Vicki's head off. His father often took the old relics in for sharpening and oiling, so it should be able to hack her head off.

Jeremy looked around as if he suspected that someone was going to hop out from behind a bush and tell him that he had been caught on a prank show. "There's no such thing as vampires."

"Yes, because Vicki has always had extremely long canines and a thirst for your blood so strong that she sucks it from your lip after biting it." Harry could feel his temper rising as Vicki continued to struggle and piss his magic off more and more. "Whether you can wrap your head around it or not is not the issue, your girlfriend here is a newly turned vampire and would have drained you of blood had we not interrupted her. Now we have to think of something to keep her from hurting anyone and announcing the existence of vampires to the entire town."

"I say that I just cut her head off and we burn the body." Tyler pulled the sword out and gave a few experimental swings. "My father always moans that the weapons our ancestors collected don't get to do anything but gather dust, I can think of no better use than slicing and dicing an out of control vampire."

Stefan and Elena both looked like they had never seen anything like Tyler while neither Jeremy nor Vicki looked particularly surprised. Harry rubbed the bridge of his nose and put his hand over Tyler's. "Unfortunately, killing her would only be a temporary solution. She has already been reported as missing and her staying gone would only raise suspicions even with her mother's unfortunate habit. Vicki is a teenager and completely unable to support or control herself enough to leave on her own. Stefan and Damon are obviously not capable of controlling her, so we only really have one option."

Harry walked up to Vicki while shooting Jeremy a look that clearly told him to stay very still if he wanted to be able to walk away. He made sure that he had perfect eye contact with Vicki and made sure that his magic filled both his eyes and his voice. The first time was just a request, this was going to be an order. "You are not going to drink from any human being for the whole of your immortal life, their blood will hold no attraction for you. Animal blood will be the most delicious thing you have ever tasted and will keep you full. The only time you will be able to use your vampire abilities will be when hunting or in self-defense. Do you understand?"

Vicki blinked slowly and all the fight drained out of her as Harry's magic unwrapped and sank back into his skin. "I understand, sir."

Harry looked toward Stefan, who looked about ready to keel over in shock. "I have fixed your current problem for you, I do hope that I don't have to do this again." Harry looks over at Jeremy and sighs again before looking him in the eye. "I would rather not have to do anything to you, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Don't try to tell anyone about what happened here and at least try not to waste your entire life wallowing in your own self-pity."

Jeremy puffed up like a blowfish. "What the hell do you know about what I am going through? I lost my parents!"

Harry stepped in front of a suddenly looming Tyler. "My parents were murdered when I was one and a half years old and the aunt that I got dumped with hated my mother, her own sister, so much that my room for most of my life was the cupboard under the stairs. Yes, it is very sad that your parents died after you experienced most of your childhood with their love and attention. Do you think that they would be proud to see you doing drugs and skipping school with the lame excuse that you can't deal with their deaths? When you close your eyes can you see them looking approving while you drink until you can't even see straight while flunking all of your classes?"

Jeremy shrank back and hung his head. Harry huffed and glared at Jeremy until he slunk back into the school without looking at Vicki once. The silence was finally broken when Damon hopped down from the roof with an odd look on his face. "Are you wearing a dress?"