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Disclaimer: I own Lorien. She's mine. Everything else is not mine. ;) --- CHAPTER 1 --- Every Rose Has It's Thorns --- "Students! Class! Settle down! Just stupefy the things, you all remember the spell, Professor Flitwick assured me that- Ow! No, Neville, throwing wands at them doesn't help, especially if you miss the target..." Professor Lupin, having been re-admitted as the DADA teacher, winced from having been hit with a wand. Neville, looking horrified, squeaked out a tiny. "Sorry proffessor!" "Gaah... Remind me never, ever to let this class have hands-on interaction with the subject..." Lupin said, picking up the last stunned vampire-bat off of the floor. He glanced down at the watch on his hand, and sighed. Thud. Professor Lupin looked up quickly to see Vincent Crabbe laying on the floor, having been pushed, looking genuinely stunned. His poor brain couldn't comprehend quick actions. Draco Malfoy looked straight ahead, then glanced down with a mock face of suprise. "Funny, Mr. Malfoy. Last warning, one more disturbance, and that's 3 days worth of detention, clear?" Draco just glared. "I didn't touch him." Lupin glared back. "Right. Anyway, back to the subject," he was interupted by the bell. "Remain seated! Now, we'll be having a special guest appearance tomorrow, so I want all of you in class. I think it will be rather interesting..."
"Yes. I have an eye for the mysterious, but this is mad. Stark-raving mad! Even I cannot accept such a student-" "Professor..." Lupin pleaded. "She's not a that way anymore, you can put that cross away. She's been cured, it's a spell, I know you've heard of it. You were one of the wizards that helped make it legal." "Lupin..." "Professor! She is no different from me, none at all. As a matter of fact, she's probably safer than me. I have to make sure I don't miss any nights of my potion, while she is permanantly cured." The old headmaster closed his eyes. Lupin did have a good point. And if the girl... (he glanced over at the mysterious, almost evil figure) if she was cured... "Alright Lupin. I'll trust you on this. She can stay, only for a bit. Until we find somewhere else for her." "Headmaster... I was hoping she could stay a bit longer than the week we talked about. You know no one will take her, not with her background... I found her in the streets, remember? She has no one." "No." The girl spoke for the first time. "I don't have anyone. Not anymore." Her voice came out in nearly a hiss, it was so low and feirce. "Your kind. They killed my sire. My family. The people I stayed with. Because we are what we are. An invention of Salazar Slytherin. Just as the veela are. If I recall... You accepted a veela-girl to stay here for a while during the tri-wizard tournament, did you not?" Her eyes narrowed. Dumbledore looked equally forceful. "Fine. Let her stay. Give her a dorm room. I suppose you'll be choosing Slytherin, would you not?" "Wouldn't have it any other way, love." "Lorien..." Lupin turned to face the girl. "Please step outside a minute." The girl, presumably 'Lorien' stood up and walked outside. 'Bastards...' she thought. They kill everything I know, then bring me here, to this place. So I can perfect my 'magic'. I'll show them magic. Magic is when you can drain the life out of someone through their veins. That's power. This riff-raff they teach...' she scoffed. 'There's only one upside to this... I'll be with those chosen worthy by Slytherin's terms himself.' "Dumbledore..." Lupin pleaded. "Please. She's... she's family. The child is my sister. Sired at 15." "What is all this 'sire' nonsense?" Lupin looked down. "When they get turned from a human into a vampire. They lose their soul, they become the walking undead. Much like me. Only I have a soul to torture me with the remembrance of all the lives I've taken while in werewolf form. Eight, Dumbledore. I've taken eight lives. You know how many that girl has taken? Hundreds. No, it doesn't bother her. She has no soul. That's why she's here. I'm in the company of the most powerful witches and wizards of our time. If anyone can restore her soul and her humanity, it's all of you here at Hogwarts." Dumbledore's face softened. "How long will she remain? And is it safe to have her among the students?" "Yes sir, completely safe. Only as long as it takes." Dumbledore closed his eyes. "Alright, Remus. I'm doing this only because it's you, you realise that, don't you?" Lupin nodded. "Yes sir. Thank you sir." *~(Dumbledore's office, later, after having called upon Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall.) "Why would we want to help this girl anyway?" Professor Snape sneered. Him, Mcgonagall, and Dumbledore had assembled in the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore felt these people to be the most trusted at Hogwarts. And here they we're bickering. He restrained himself from a smile. "Because, Severus, it's Lupin's sister." Minerva McGonnagall eyed her co-worker and scoffed. 'So self-centered,' she thought. "And if we help her, she'll be like any other student. It's not her fault she was sired, you know." Snape mumbled. "Right." Dumbledore stood up. "So we're helping her, then?"
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