A/N: Hello everyone and welcome back! If FF's updates system decided to mess with us, you might want to go back and read chapter 1 again! You'll find I completely rewrote it as I was unhappy with it and it didn't match my new chapter. Here it is though, I hope you all like it~

Enjoy!

Much had happened the previous night, they had spoken for hours, nearly reaching the dawn before Zachariah granted Harry's request. Much had needed to be said, supplementing gained information and clarifying several points that would be important for the decision at large.

Harry hadn't changed his mind.

When he next awoke, he was laying on his back in a room he didn't recognise. The place looked dark yet bright at the same time and as he wasn't familiar with Zachariah's mansion, he couldn't really guess where he was. That it was Zachariah who was on his mind firstly wasn't as much of a surprise as he would have thought a few weeks ago, where really so many things had been on his mind it had been a struggle to keep up.

His neck still throbbed lightly from where Zachariah had bitten and partially drained him, only to replenish some of that blood with his own; thus completing the change. You didn't turn into a vampire just from being bitten after all. If that were the case vampires wouldn't be able to feed on humans for fear of turning them and losing their food supply.

He shook off that train of thought and rubbed a hand over his face to shake off the heavy feeling that still coursed through his body, only to find his glasses missing from his face.

"Huh? That's odd..." He could have sworn he still had his glasses on when he'd passed out and unless Zachariah had taken them off of him before leaving him here he would still have had them on. But no, when he opened his eyes he could see his glasses sitting on the nightstand next to—

Wait a minute! He jumped straight out of bed when he realised he could see his glasses, which to him was a complete novelty since he was all but blind as a bat if he wasn't wearing them.

"Wicked!" He grinned despite the bruises he'd amassed as he'd fallen to the floor. He barely registered the dull throb, as it wasn't something he'd pay any mind to usually either, and untangled himself from the sheets he'd managed to drag down with him.

He slowly made his way to his feet, methodically checking himself for injuries by carefully moving each of his muscles. It was a bit of a habit by now after the tender care of the Dursleys and really not a bad one to have either. He didn't register anything wrong with himself, but he did notice that some places he'd had issues with on a daily basis no longer bothered him, like the somewhat badly healed fracture in his arm from when Dudley had pushed him down the stairs once.

His centre of balance was off slightly as well but that was quickly explained as he caught sight of himself in a nearby mirror. Accompanying what looked like a walk in closet stood a tall and somewhat majestic looking mirror that he was now admiring himself in. He'd known, of course, that his time with the Dursleys, followed by his years at Hogwarts had not been kind to him and would leave lasting damage, but he hadn't realised quite how much had been taken from him.

Gone was the short, wiry looking lad with a mess for hair and instead stood a male of average height for his age, filled out properly with the muscles he should have from his experiences and somewhat silky looking hair that fell down to his shoulders.

Now Harry wasn't vain at all, but he couldn't really be blamed for staring just a little bit longer than perhaps he should have, right? He was pleased to note that not only had he finally gotten the chance to come into himself, he'd taken on more of his mother's traits than his father's.

Despite loving hem both equally, he couldn't help the relief that perhaps he'd finally be done hearing 'oh you look so much like your father Harry.' Which was amazing once or twice but really got tedious when every adult he met said the same thing to him over and over again.

Though now that he thought about it, he wouldn't be returning to Hogwarts, would he? As a newly turned vampire fledgling, as was the correct terminology, he would have much to learn and plenty of time to do so. Not only that but he knew full well that once the truth came out, and it would, were he to return, he would not be allowed to remain.

'Boy-Who-Lived' or not, the entire British wizarding world rather despised 'dark' creatures after all and surely the parents would be taking up their proverbial pitchforks as they had with Remus Lupin when the truth came to light.

Perhaps surprisingly, the thought didn't sadden him. A year of not being attacked by Voldemort, having to save the school from imminent disaster or being attacked by the press or the teachers? That quite frankly sounded amazing to him. After all, there was no such thing as a quiet, normal school year for Harry bloody Potter.

Deciding to shake off his contemplations and see what the new day would bring, he turned towards the door of the closet and vanished inside in search of some clothes he could wear after his planned shower.

Not too long after he navigated towards where he could sense Zachariah was; somehow. He had no idea how he could even sense such a thing but decided to chalk it up to 'vampire things' he had yet to learn about.

Though speaking of vampire things, he was starting to get rather hungry and there was an odd sort of scratchiness in his throat that he couldn't seem to get rid of...

"Ah Harry, how nice of you to join me." Zachariah said from the chair he had just risen out of at the entrance of his new pupil. "Shall we adjourn to the dining room? I assume you have many questions." He tilted his head in the direction they were meant to head and led his charge through the double doors that made way to the dining hall.

Harry's jaw quite nearly hit the floor when his eyes landed on what was undoubtedly the largest buffet he'd ever seen; and yes, that included Hogwarts feasts where it really was just long tables of mostly the same four or five dishes.

"Have a seat." Zachariah bid him, taking place in one of the chairs at the table, leaving Harry to situate himself in the other. "I do hope you haven't come to regret your decision by now." He said teasingly, as they both knew that becoming human again was impossible.

"I haven't" Harry replied calmly as he seated himself, eyes raking over the dishes, half of which he didn't recognise. All of it looked absolutely delicious though, and he didn't bother to question if vampires could eat or enjoy regular food, as the spread in front of him really was answer enough.

It wasn't until now, when his eyes wandered the room that he realised the reason everything looked just slightly on the dark side was because it was night out, and he'd managed to sleep through the entire previous day. Logically speaking this wasn't surprising, but on the other hand it was interesting that being turned would override his internal clock so thoroughly.

The meal was spent comfortably speaking about several matters, mostly concerning vampiric little details Harry would be experiencing over the next few weeks, just so he wouldn't become too disoriented bout what was happening to him. After all, the vampirism would be improving him slowly and the easiest changes had already occurred. Harry's very nature was being changed; you can't expect such things to happen in less than 24 hours now can you?

"I'm sure you've noticed also, the small change in available drinks." Zachariah continued, a small smirk playing on his lips. Harry was an interesting lad, and not at all like what his few, unfortunately easily influenced sources had to say about him. Ah but his confidence was growing in leaps and bounds as the night progressed, quite a favourable development.

Harry merely rolled his eyes at that, pointedly taking another sip. "As if I wouldn't have noticed the blood, honestly Zachariah." He retorted, continuing his meal for a moment before setting his cutlery aside. "What I'm curious about is how I don't think I've yet to really experience blood thirst like it's often described."

"You haven't indeed." Came the older vampire's response, looking rather smug about something. "The stronger the sire vampire, usually the stronger resistance to bloodlust the fledgling will have. However while I was bitten by such a vampire, the most apparent reason you have yet to experience any strong signs of bloodlust is simply because you yourself are powerful."

"This is in no way said to give you any sense of power or grandeur over others, but rather as a measure. You had much potential as a human and quite a large amount of magic at your disposal. You had ease with the more difficult spells yet struggled on the simpler charms simply due to your magical output. This is something the vampiric gene will build upon as it is powered by the innate magic within one self."

"So, depending on the amount of magic within a person, regardless of how they use it, the resistance to bloodlust will be more or less?" Harry asked after a moment of contemplation. He had never seen himself as powerful in any sense of the word and he doubted he would anytime soon, but he supposed the amount of magic someone has could make a difference.

After all, someone can have little magic but be able to draw all of it out at once and perform great feats, and someone could have large reserves of magic yet only be able to draw out a trickle at a time. It's easy to see which would be thought of as powerful, despite the amount of magic inside. Yet the one deemed powerful by others would suffer from the bloodlust more, as there is less magic to build upon.

The conversation continued wandering from there until the topic of Hogwarts came up, by which time Harry had enjoyed his fill and their glasses had emptied, prompting them to move back to the sitting room to simply relax.

As he had surmised earlier, Hogwarts would not be an option Zachariah was even remotely willing to consider. Apparently despite its own boasting, Hogwarts had long fallen from its position as the number one school of magic in all of Europe. And that was only concerning the regular schools. There were several schools that served as the magical variant of universities where masters of their subjects came together to teach the students and pick up the lucky few that would be made their personal apprentices.

However the school Zachariah had in mind was not one of these but rather a jack-of-all-trades type of school, which recruited at a later age and lasted as long as you wanted it to. There wasn't much of an age limit, although the students who remained longer than was average really only stayed that long because of an apprenticeship or because they were taking one of the courses for alumni.

The name of this mystery school you ask?

Aurum Academy of Arcane Magics.