Title: Qye
Author: Shades
Rating: PG-13/T
Pairings: DM/HP/OC, RW/HG
Summary: AU Fifth Year for Harry Potter, one summer since the tragic events of the Triwizard Tournament. He has become quiet and withdrawn, keeping his thoughts to himself. Nevertheless, he will not have the time to be concerned about outside worries like Voldemort, not when he has to worry about his own problems at Hogwarts. A vampire woman DADA teacher and with her she brings out odd feelings and odd people.
Spoilers: From PS/SS to GoF. AU from GoF so nothing plotwise from OotP, HBP or DH. There is slash so if that is not your cup of tea, please leave and do not flame me. Thanks!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or all its characters. Nor do I longer own my army of rabbits, the Canary From Hell, Kaiba, and let us never speak of the Mother of All Evil. However, I would love to introduce anyone who dares to steal Lest, Myn, Qye or ANY of my OCs to my new pet, a cute one-year-old cocker spaniel Buster. I do not own the nameLestat. That belongs to Anne Rice and I have simply borrowed the name. The character, Lest, however is my own. No matter how much any of you want him (even though I don't understand WHY…)
-- is Change of Scene
xxxxxx is Flashback
:Bold/Italic: is Harry to Qye
:Bold: is Qye to Harry
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Chapter Twenty
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
"I'm sorry," Seamus said loudly, finally breaking the silence left in the wake of Professor Opacre's cheerful declaration. "I must've gone temporarily mad. I thought I heard you say we were going to fight a vampire."
"No, no," Professor Opacre replied reassuringly. As the class started to relax, she grinned and continued. "Only some of you are going to duel against my brother." She paused. "Who does happen to be a vampire so I guess you are right about that part."
The silence continued for another minute and when it was clear that no one else was going to speak up, the blonde rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
"Oh really," she huffed. "You're just as bad as the other classes, I was expecting better. I had to start telling people not to warm others in case people decided to ditch." She shook her head. "I don't see what the fuss is all about - "
"You don't?" Theodore Nott finally managed to put out, voice cracking.
Professor Opacre tilted her head. "No."
The eyes of several students widened incredulously. Before any of them could voice their profound objection though, a low drawl penetrated the tense atmosphere.
"I told you this was a bad idea, Soror," Lest said from the corner of the room he had been lounging in. "You can't expect a bunch of children to suddenly grow a spine and take a risk."
At this, Harry felt the objection falter in his classmates, pushed aside by their indignation. More than one pair of eyes shot a heated glare to the male vamire and not all of them were Slytherin. Beside him, Ron muttered under his breath. "Bastard. Bet he wouldn't say that if he knew half the things we've been up against." Hermione shushed him while Harry aimed a subtle kick at the redhead's foot.
Running from overgrown spiders and being knocked about by large chess pieces wasn't the same as duelling with a thinking, planning, war-experienced vampire. Giving Lest a sidelong glance, in case he might have overheard Ron's comment in the quiet of the classroom, he saw the vampire was still looking nonchantly at the bristling students.
:It's not a big deal: Qye said absently. Harry started, almost forgetting about the boy in his surprise and unease of Professor Opacre's pronouncement.
:What?:
:Fighting Lest.:
:How would you know?: Harry frowned inwardly, interested. Had Qye actually fought...no, it couldn't be.
"I can see we're going to have some resistance about this," Professor Opacre said in a dry voice, cutting off the students' protest and Qye's response before it began.
"Resistance?" Seamus spoke, voice high-pitched. "I know I'm a Gryffindor but there's a difference between being brave and being suicidal."
"Merlin, if the Gryffindor can see the stupidity in this..." Zabini muttered.
"Your whining is well acknowledged," the female vampire said, rolling her eyes. "It does not change the fact that it's going to happen however.
"Look," Professor Opacre said, resuming her reassuring voice. The students' faces did not change. "I told you, this has been entirely cleared by the Headmaster and your respective Head of Houses. I won't tell you how far I had to go to push it past Professor Snape," the blonde muttered the last part in a lower voice. She cleared her throat and raised her voice again. "None of your friends from the other classes are missing, maimed, or otherwise harmed. That should say you'll get out of this just fine."
She raised a challenging eyebrow. "Or do you want to be the only class to opt out of this simple exercise?" The professor smirked knowingly when several students shifted uncomfortably and eyed each other.
Moving behind her desk, Professor Opacre gestured to the small clear bag containing the multicolored vials. "I've taken the liberty of procuring some simple healing potions from Professor Snape - so you know it's safe," she said, pointedly not looking at the suspicious Slytherins. "It's just in case things get rough, which they will not as my brother will keep strictly to the limits I've set." At this she turned to her brother. "Right?"
The vampire said nothing. Harry followed the trail of his eyes and found himself staring at Draco Malfoy. He couldn't see the Slytherin's face but it most likely matched Lest's emotionless expression.
He wondered if he should speak up and point out the obvious stupidity of allowing the two to fight.
"Lest?" Professor Opacre asked curiously, not yet having caught where her brother was staring.
The vampire broke his stare and turned to his sister with a mild face. She lifted an eyebrow and he shrugged. Clicking her tongue in exasperation, Professor Opacre turned back to the class and ruefully shook her head.
"That's 'of course' in his speak. Trust me," she smiled, "he did well with the others. Furthermore, with the experience he's gained from duelling against the other students, he has a greater knowledge of what your capabilities are and how far he should hold himself back. Now then - "
Hermione's hand shot so fast in the air that Harry almost fell out of his chair.
"Yes Hermione?" Professor Opacre asked.
Hermione lowered her hand, shooting Harry an apologetic look - to which he gave a half-disgruntled, half-questioning response - and looked at the teacher. "Professor, doesn't that make the duel uneven?" At Professor Opacre's inquistive look, she continued. "He knows what we're capable of but taking away what you've taught us - which is hardly great in information of how vampires duel - we hardly know what to expect."
"And that is the main reason why we're doing this Hermione," Professor Opacre responded calmly. "So you have even the smallest bit of experience to take with you should you ever find yourself in such a situation."
At this, Harry silently wondered when such an opportunity would arise.
"But," the female vampire continued, spreading her hands, "it's not like I'm going to let you duel without giving you a bit more information on how exactly we duel." She turned slightly and gestured for her brother to come forward, which he silently did, to the front of her desk. "I"m going to give you a very brief introduction on the fighting styles of vampires. I'll elaborate more later but right now I just want you to pay close attention and grasp a basic understanding.
"Now then, vampires typically engage in hand to hand combat so most are typically well versed in at least one fighting style, if at least just refined punching, kicking and dodging. But as your wizards - and I doubt very many of you know such things, not to mention what the school would do to me if one of you broke something by just flailing wildly - you will deal with long distance duels, at least ten feet.
"We haven't reached this part of vampire culture yet," she said absently, pushing back a sleeve of her robe. "It's discussed later in your texts despite the fact that this is a keystone aspect of our society." As her sleeve was firmly tucked up, a small silver bracelet on her wrist was revealed from which a small stone hung suspended on a delicate chain. "At the beginning I was unsure as whether or not I should present this but giving that it is so integral..." She trailed off and shook her head.
"Well, it doesn't matter," she continued, clearing her throat. She drew her wrist up in front of her so everyone could see the stone twirling on its thin chain, the light of the room bouncing off the brown and yellow. "I suppose I should start at the beginning," she mused. "Well, the beginning as we accept it.
"My Mother told me this story when I was little, before my brother was born," Professor Opacre said quietly, light blue eyes gazing at the spinning gem. "The Earth was lush and green, full of vitality and at the beginning of its life. The Moon meanwhile hung suspended above it, beautiful in its distance. And on the Moon were hundreds of thousands of millions of precious stones. They were the creations of the Goddesses of the Moon, Goddesses who adored the Earth. And one day, these Goddesses decided to give gifts to the creations of the Earth, humans.
"Selene gave light so that humans would not live in constant fear of the darkness, unable to discern what lay within it." A small, wry smile graced the vampire's lips. She shook her head slightly and continued. "Helene decided to give the precious stones to the humans, the stones that were the beauty of the Moon. The stones fell to the Earth and the humans ran to the falling rocks to embrace the gift of the Goddess. All were ignorant of the different ways of the Moon and Earth, particularity gravity's ways.
"The precious stones fell and fell and when they finally made it, as humans stood to accept the gift of Helene, the stones struck. Humans were injured and their blood spilled on the stones. The stones, having lost the strength of the Moon, instead took strength from the spilt blood.
"Some think that from these stones, that changed their strenth from the Moon to blood, were the first vampires, the excolere nosferatu. The stones that fell and took the blood and lives of humans became beasts, the incultus nosferatu.
"As a result of the chaos, some humans became violent and wanted the stones for themselves, enchanted by the beauty and tugged by their own blood. Others ran away into the light of Selene and kept to the sunlight, where stones could not follow as they came by Helene's darkness. That is our origin."
Professor Opacre went quiet, eyes still watching the suspended stone. Then she turned the eyes to the silent class and smiled slightly. "Or, at least, that's the fairy tale our parents tell us." She winked and the spell was broken.
"Whatever the case," Professor Opacre sighed, straightening up, "these stones, these jewels, are an integral part of our society and our main tool in duelling.
"The jewels are only accessible to pureblooded vampires, meaning vampires that were born vampires. People who were turned into a vampire do not have jewels of their own. If they're particularly strong, they might be able to use the jewel of the vampire that turned them, if that vampire is a pureblood. However, even then, they would not be able to use the power of the jewel at its maximum potential if they had been pureblooded.
"This is my Gemmae, a tiger eye," Professor Opacre said, twisting her wrist to move the brown and gold stone around. "A jewel given to a female vampire is typically called a Gemmae while a jewel given to a male vampire is typically called a Gemmus." She gestured to her brother, who looked a little disgruntled. He reached to his neck, beneath his shirt. He paused for a moment and then, lips tightening, he pulled out a necklace and quickly flipped around what looked like a pendant. In the middle lay a stone in the shape of a teardrop that looked...was that...
"Is that pink?" Harry blurted out before he could stop himself.
The exclamation broke the class from their enchanted spell. They all turned to him and he could feel his cheeks heating up dramatically. It didn't help that Lest shot him a dirty look as he quickly hid his necklace beneath his shirt again.
Out of sight, Qye exuded a large amount of shock and hilarity.
As Harry slid further down into his seat, his eyes almost parallel with the desk, Professor Opacre's eyes danced in his direction. "Yes, Harry," she replied, voice full of laughter. "My brother's Gemmus happens to be the rose quartz."
"Does that mean he outranks you?" Dean asked curiously, barely remembering to raise his hand halfway through his question. When Professor Opacre turned confused eyes towards him, he elaborated. "I mean, is a rose quartz stronger than a tiger eye?"
"Why would it be?" Professor Opacre asked, baffled.
"You mean there isn't an order of rank for jewels?" Zabini jumped in, not even bothering to raise his hand as his hazel eyes demanded answers.
The female vampire's eyebrows shot up, understanding sweeping her face. "Oh," she chuckled, finally dropping her arm back to her side. "No, nothing like that. How to explain this..."
"The strength of a vampire with his or her jewel depends on how well they resonate together," Lest said quietly and eyes moved to him. They snapped back to Professor Opacre when she snapped her fingers and grinned.
"That's right, how well we resonate." Seeing their still confused faces, she continued. "Here, to give you a little more background, let me explain how our jewels are given to us.
"During the nine months when pureblooded vampires are in the womb of their mother, parents look through different precious stones, trying to see what best seems to resonate with the child. I can't go into specifics of how that is done but by the time of labor, the parents have at least four different stones picked out that seem to work best with the child.
"When born, there is one stone that seems to resonate best with the child. The jewel is then bound to the child - once again, not going into specifics but that's more because I don't think any of you wish to hear about the process - to be given to the vampire when they begin Maturation.
"Maturation is a process every vampire goes through, both created and pureblooded. Created vampires experience it as they turn so it's a quick thing as they inherit all their abilities during the process. For pureblooded vampires, they all start it at the age of 16, during the end of their puberty. Females finish at 17 and males finish at 18." Here she paused and a smirk came onto her face, playful blue eyes glancing at her brother. "You know how guys are always late."
Lest gave her an unamused look.
"Anyway," she continued, looking away from her brother grinning, "once they finish Maturation, they come away as strong as they'll ever be with their jewel. So both Lest and I are at our peak, unable to get any stronger or weaker than we are now for the rest of our lives.
"As to how strong we are, that depends on how two things: how well we resonate with our jewel and how well we did in our Maturation.
"Resonation is how well vampires deal with their jewel." She gave them an apologetic look. "I'm sorry I can't explain better but it's something you really have to be born with to understand, to know the feel of your jewel. The better a vampire resonates with his or her jewel, the stronger they'll be. If they don't resonate well at all - perhaps due to the parents making a bad choice in stone at birth - then they are unlikely to perform well with their jewel. The same goes if they have high fluctuations in their resonation. Such wildly differing resonations from low to high and so forth will typically lead to an unstable relationship between a jewel and their vampire.
"Another factor is how well a vampire increases harmonization during Maturation. By harmonization, I mean increasing resonation so that a jewel is practically a part of the vampire. I can't explain the process very well, mostly due to limitations set by kind as to how much I can. All I can say is some vampires do it well and others...fail, through their own personal faults or perhaps outside forces. Whatever a pureblood comes out by the time they finish Maturation, however, will be the final result."
Zabini shot another question when Professor Opacre paused for breath. "So, is your brother stronger than you?"
The female vampire stopped and stared at him. The Slytherins around him shuffled nervously and some even edged away as they caught sight of the withering look in her eyes. 'Well, that's what he gets for asking such a stupid question,' Harry thought, sharing a brief moment of amusement with Qye.
"You can't put such labels," she said stiffly. "We all have different jewels and abilities and manners in which we use them. For example, my defensive skills are much more effective than those of my brother and my telekinetic abilities happen to be easier to employ - "
"Yes, I'm stronger than her," Lest cut in with an extremely bland tone of voice. "I can now take her on without even exerting my full strength."
'Now?' Harry pondered.
:Lucky bastard: Qye muttered and didn't elaborate when Harry made a curious sound. The rest of the class was again silent but this time Harry could hear a few coughs that sounded too much like cover ups. A few Slytherins weren't even bothering to hide their smirks.
"You know what?" Professor Opacre broke in irritably, crossing her arms. "I think you have more than enough information to go on." She waved a hand at them, moving off her desk. "Up you go, to the back of the room with all of you unless you wish to be the first guinea pig."
The mirth quickly vanished as did the students from their seats as they all hastily made their way to the back of the room. Harry lifted an eyebrow as Ron caught his and Hermione's sleeve and tugged them back, barely managing to grab his bad. As they moved, he saw Professor Opacre lightly flick her hands. The desks scraped lightly against the floor as they settled themselves neatly against the sides of the room, leaving an open, clear space in the middle. The first time Professor Opacre had used telekinesis in front of them - to absently bring a textbook to her - had been startling but now they were use to her doing it for simple things. It wasn't far off from using a Summoning or Banishing charm except without a wand.
It didn't escape his notice that Draco took his time gathering his materials from his desk, leaving him as one of the few not running to the back of the room. "Ha ha, you're cute," he thought he heard Professor Opacre mutter when she caught sight of him standing by his desk, straightening the sleeves of his robes. She not-so-gently edged Draco with a finger and Harry caught sight of the smirk he tossed the vampire over his shoulder before he moved to the rest of the students, stopping right in the front.
"Now then," Professor Opacre said, clapping her hands together and smiling at the huddled group, some taking Neville's example and shrinking back so as to avoid being seen, "who wants to be first?"
There was silence in the classroom.
To date, this had been the most silent the class had ever been since the beginning of the year. Harry's eyes roamed across the Gryffindors and Slytherins and if it hadn't been for the differently colored House badges, one would think they were all the same. The same shuffling footsteps, quiet so as to not attract attention. The same downcast eyes, so when Professor Opacre's gaze swept the crowd, they would not meet her and be forced to speak. Just a little while ago, these same students were glaring at one another and yet now, Harry could see Pansy Parkinson and Parvarti Pati edging behind Blaise Zabini, pushing him forward while he tried to manfully stand his ground behind Draco.
And Draco...while the others refused to meet Professor Opacre's eyes, it looked like it was Professor Opacre trying to avoid the challenging look on the Slytherin's face.
"Does no one want to volunteer?" Professor Opacre asked, raising an eyebrow. At the continued avoidant behavior, she raised her hand and from the podium, the class roll lifted up and floated towards her. "I suppose that means I'll have to start randomly choosing students then..."
At that moment, Harry suddenly felt a creeping sensation run along his spine.
'What?' he thought, furrowing his brow. He turned back to the class and felt his mouth drop slightly in shock as he found almost every eye pinned on him, both Gryffindor and Slytherin. 'What the...why are they looking at me?' he thought nervously, taking a small step away from the overwhelming stare.
"Cowards," he heard Ron hiss behind him and his green eyes looked back and blinked when he noticed the redhead's glare at the rest.
"You know it's going to happen anyway Ron!" someone said from the group in a low whisper and Harry's eyes spun back to see Seamus hiding behind an embarrased Dean. "Might as well get a move on."
"Finnegan's actually got point," Nott hissed, back pressed against the back wall. "Just accept your fate Potter and do your little hero thing!"
"Don't talk to him like that!" Hermione whispered back furiously. "I fail to see how you - any of you - have the right to tell him what to do just because you're all so craven!"
"Then why don't you go up, Granger?" Parkinson muttered, pushing Zabini forward a bit more. The dark-haired boy shot her a burning glare as he was forced to take a step forward before holding his ground.
"Why don't you Parkinson?" Ron snarled back in a low voice and Harry blinked when his friend grabbed his sleeve. "He's not going to do it."
"For the love of Merlin," Zabini growled, hazel eyes snapping over to them. "Look, it's nothing personal Weasley! It'll just make things easier if he - "
"What are you talking about?" Harry finally broke in, frustrated. He kept glancing back at Professor Opacre through the quiet argument but she just seemed to be idly perusing the parchment. She didn't appear to hear their whispers but he certainly didn't want to draw attention to himself and -
At that moment, understanding flashed over him and he turned indignantly back to his classmates.
"Are you kidding me?" Harry said hotly. "I am not volunteering to fight him!"
"Something the matter Harry?"
'Damn it!'
"Um," Harry replied, flushing as Professor Opacre smiled curiously at him, a bright look in her eyes. She obviously expected him to step forward and volunteer to be the first duelist. A list of swears ran continously through his mind as he stammered and tried to think a way out of this.
:Why?: Qye asked curiously and Harry's hand twitched in surprise, too distracted by his panic to control his reaction.
:Why?: Harry hissed. :You're as crazy as the rest of them, why would I want to fight Lest?:
:I told you, it's not a big deal - :
:I'm sure it isn't but people already have the wrong impression about us...I mean, him and me...I mean...agh! It's not happening!:
:You're spazzing: Qye noted and Harry noticed he was still just giving off stammers. Professor Opacre's eyes had started to crinkle in concern so he bit his lip and stared back at her, not sure what to do next. :You know, I could help you - :
"I'll do it," a voice suddenly spoke from next to him and Harry turned loving, grateful, worshipping eyes to Hermione, who straightened up, brown eyes determined. She caught his gaze and gave him a small smile. The smile was replaced with an exasperated look when the others around him whispered their thanks. Zabini, still hiding Parvarti and Parkinson, rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath how he should have known she'd be the one to take charge.
"Ah," Professor Opacre said, a surprised but pleased look appearing on her face. She shook her head and beamed at Hermione, who was already stepping forward with her wand. "That's wonderful, thank you Hermione!"
Hermione nodded, pausing in the middle of the room. Lest had already moved to stand on the right side of the classroom, lounging against the pushed back desks. When Professor Opacre beckoned him, he straightened up and moved to the middle, stopping a fair distance away from Hermione. He quirked an eyebrow down at her and Harry couldn't help but feel a tinge of pride when she defiantly raised her chin at him. It might've looked ridiculous to the others, Hermione's small form against Lest's tall stature, but to him, it looked like a rather even fight.
"Good, you're both at a rather nice distance from each other," Professor Opacre observed, moving to stand behind her desk. "Now, everyone, pay close attention to the distance when duelling. How far apart Hermione and my brother are should be the amount you aim for if you do not wish to engage in hand-to-hand combat, which, I must remind you, most vampires have at least a basic training in. So unless you're well versed in such fighting, please do not attempt it.
"When I give the signal - raising and dropping my arm - please begin. Do not bow to your vampire opponent, Hermione, as I hear you would do in a wizarding battle. That would be a foolish opportunity that even the weakest of vampires would take advantage of. You may use whatever spells, hexes and yes, even curses, to either immobilize my brother, knock him unconscious or, if this had been a real duel, kill him."
Harry knew his eyes weren't the only ones to shoot over to Professor Opacre's calm face at the last part of her instructions. She merely looked back at them impassively and Harry tore his eyes away, a bit of concern welling up at him as he looked at Hermione gazing at Lest with a determined look in her eyes, wand held lightly but ready.
"Now then," he heard Professor Opacre say and from his peripheral vision, he saw the female vampire raise her arm. It hung there, for a moment, and then dropped.
"Confundo!" Hermione shouted, flicking her wand towards Lest. Harry could feel the blast of magic make its mark and knew Hermione had made it as strong as possible, taking this duel seriously.
Lest merely stared at Hermione, arms folded across his chest.
A moment passed, then another, and as Hermione slowly lowered her wand, a frown on her face, Lest - miraculously - raised an eyebrow.
"Oh," he drawled. "Were you expecting that to work?"
Hermione's shock was evident to Harry even from the back of the room and he heard a few disturbed murmurs pass through the rest of the crowd, a few of them shifting uncomfortably, some even mumbling to themselves to not use that spell. Harry didn't move his eyes from the duel where Lest was just staring amusedly at an unsettled Hermione, neither of them moving. That prickle of concern welled up in him again and he wondered for a moment if this duel was really as even as he had thought.
"That's not going to work," he thought he heard Ron murmur behind him and he glanced quizzically at his friend but the redhead didn't continue. He was only looking at the pair with a resigned expression on his face.
"Granger's spells never mess up," Zabini muttered and a few people agreed uneasily.
"I suggest you try something else," Lest said smoothly, voice silencing the whispers.
His voice seemed to bring Hermione out of her daze because her face firmed up and she waved her wand again, hand deft and brown eyes further determined.
"Stupefy!" she cried out.
Once again, Harry could feel the strength of her magic and knew from the aim of her wand that the spell found its mark again. However, yet again, Lest stood on his place, unmoving. The students shifted again but Hermione didn't let her shock hold her for long, moving to her next spell. Hermione's wand flicked over to where a small but heavy inkpot rested on a pushed back desk behind Lest and it flew towards him, aiming towards the back of his head.
This time, Lest moved.
But he didn't move his entire body. Arms still folded, he tilted his head just enough that the inkpot brushed past him and Hermione had to duck the rushing object, making it crash into the wall behind her. Throughout that, Lest never moved his eyes from Hermione.
As she straightened up, Lest gave her slow smile, dark blue eyes flashing slightly.
"Getting a bit aggressive, are we now?" he smirked. Hermione glared at him and she raised her hand, opening her mouth. Before she could utter her next spell, Lest finally unfolded his arms and sighed, shaking his head. "Considering your style, I think we're done. And I don't think you want to see me laughing, Ms. Granger, so I suggest not using that Tickling Charm. "
Harry's eyes widened along with Hermione's in shock. 'How did he know what spell she was going to use?'
:Son of a bitch: Qye suddenly broke in, voice heavily laced with irritation. Before Harry could ask, the duel, quite suddenly, finished.
In the midst of Hermione freezing in shock, Lest waved a hand. Her wand shot out of her hand and landed neatly in his palm before she could finish squeaking in surprise.
"You have no wand and no knowledge of hand-to-hand combat, leaving you with no way to defend yourself," Lest said quietly, all trace of mocking and smirking gone as he looked at her. He glanced over to Professor Opacre, who was straightening from the wall she had been leaning against to watch the duel. "The duel's mine, Soror."
"So it is," she sighed, walking over to the middle of the room. She held out her hand and Lest gave her Hermione's wand, which she returned to the dazed girl.
"You did very well, Hermione," Professor Opacre smiled kindly at Hermione who blinked. The vampire gently edged her and Hermione walked back to them, only pausing momentarily to look back uncertainly at Lest. Lest, however, seemed to have forgotten about her as her resumed his crossed-armed pose with a bored expression.
"Now then, Hermione did well," Professor Opacre said, raising her voice to the class as Hermione rejoined them. "As well as could be expected from the knowledge provided."
Harry placed a hand on Hermione's arm as she resumed her place next to him and he gave her a grin, which she returned half-heartedly, a frustrated look in her eyes. Harry smiled as he realized she was annoyed for having lost the duel. He hid his relief as Neville whispered his amazement at the spells, Seamus thanked her for going first and Ron smugly kept silent even as Hermione glared at him. With a glance at the innocent clear bag on Professor Opacre's desk, Harry thought it could have gone a lot worse.
"Now, does anyone care to share why exactly Hermione lost?" Professor Opacre asked finally, after the Gryffindors hurriedly finished their congratulations. There was a silent response, even from the Slytherins, as Hermione frowned in their midst. Professor Opacre chuckled and grinned at them. "Okay, I see your point."
"Well, the first spells she did were aimed for the mind, did you notice?" she asked and a few murmurs ran through the crowd.
"But they didn't work," Zabini frowned. His hazel eyes glanced grudgingly over at Hermione, who still look irritated. "And even I have to admit Granger's execution is flawless."
"Yes, but you missed the point," Professor Opacre stated easily. "One was aimed to confuse the mind and the other to essentially shut it down. Now, from what you've learned this year, I would've thought you would've already known vampires have great strength with their minds." She raised an eyebrow. "Telekinesis, telepathy, ring any bells?"
"Oh!" Hermione suddenly said, jumping and flushing. Harry blinked at her and Professor Opacre laughed.
"Yes, I thought you'd figure it out after I took you out of the situation, Hermione," Professor Opacre smiled. Addressing the class, she continued. "Spells aimed to interrupt the mind or brain will, I assure you, fail. Since a vampire has so much training - simple, instinctive, day-to-day training - with using their minds to control their abilities, it's no wonder they'll immediately recognize an attack on it and be able to cut it off, or at least mount a suitable defense. Furthermore, since our minds are so adavanced and wired differently to work on these abilities, it'll be harder for such spells to effectively penetrate and work properfly. Therefore, I'd advise against using such spells."
"But he said - " Neville begin and then stopped, turning a bright red when every eye turned to him. He slouched further down, edging to hide behind the group. "Nevermind," he muttered.
"No, go on, Neville," Professor Opacre said encouragingly. "What was that?"
Neville looked helplessly around him and finally, after Hermione patted him on the shoulder with a smile on her face, swallowed and continued. "But he said Hermione was going to use a Tickling Charm and she didn't even say anything and he didn't even see the inkpot and I don't know," he finished, looking slightly green in the face.
Professor Opacre merely smiled and nodded. "I'm glad you caught on to that, Neville!" she said cheerfully and the awkward Gryffindor blinked, looking slightly surprised.
"Did you use Videte or..." Professor Opacre trailed off, turning to look at her brother with a curious expression.
"I used Videte for the inkpot and a brief, superficial scan for the others," he responded quietly and she nodded thoughtfully before turning back to the class.
"One of the telepathetic tools vampires employ is Videte," she explained. "Basically, my brother used his mind to enhance his vision so he could 'see' things that aren't in his immediate line of vision. It's not something many vampires can do and those that can don't do it all the time since it is rather draining to be focused on your immediate and distant environment at the same time. However, if you find yourself fighting a vampire, I suggest taking the assumption that they have the ability. Launch your physical attacks quickly so that even if they see them coming, they don't have time to react." She paused. "And I suppose that brings me to him knowing about the spell before she uttered it."
She focused her eyes on them and Harry was taken aback by how serious they were. "If you ever have to duel a vampire, if there is at least one thing to know about dueling them it is that you do not think about dueling them."
"What?" Seamus said loudly, finally coming out of his cowering and looking incredulously at her. "What does that mean? How are you - "
"That is something you'll have to control," Professor Opacre said dryly. She shook her head. "Look, vampires have telepathy, right?" She waited for them to nod before continued. "Vampires can read minds." She glanced at Seamus. "Yes, Mr. Finnegan, I've known you've been talking to the Hufflepuffs since the beginning of the year," she smirked.
:Bastard, I knew it: Qye mumbled and Harry's eyes widened.
:You knew?: he asked incredulously.
:I had an idea: Qye admitted. Then he growled. :That's just cheating though! I can't believe Myn's letting him get away with it.:
:I think that's the least of problems - :
"Bit of an invasion of privacy then, isn't it?" Harry jerked and came back as the icy voice cut through the room. It was the first time since class started that he had heard Draco speak and when Harry's eyes glanced at him, he saw a hard expression on his pale face.
"You know the laws about them so stop stirring up trouble, Malfoy," Lest cut in before his sister could reply. His blue eyes glared coldly back at the Slytherin. "And I've heard wizards have their own ways of mind-reading so not much to talk, are you?"
"At least we know when it's coming," Draco shot back.
"Like that's - "
"Boys, I'm going to throw each of you in a corner if you don't behave," Professor Opacre muttered, sending her brother and Draco a stern look each. They glared but thankfully stayed silent. She sighed and turned back to the alarmed class, raising her hands in a placating manner.
"Look, at the level my brother was doing it, he didn't see any deep, dark secrets. All he knew was what she was immediately thinking of doing in action and even that was at an abstract level. If he went any deeper, she would've felt something, perhaps like a tingling sensation that would have grown in intensity the further he went. She might have been able to prevent him from doing so..." She paused and winced. "Well...I wouldn't count on it if he really wanted to find something out but as you may have heard, there are several laws, many of them severe, if he ever went out of line. So you have nothing to worry about either of us reading your mind."
Harry felt the tightening in his shoulders ease slightly but the others looked much how he still felt, with slight hints of unease and suspicion.
Professor Opacre must have noticed it and sighed, nodding. "Yes, well, I suppose you'll just have to take that on faith. Either way, you should expect something along those lines if you fight a vampire. They'll take any advantage they can get, especially forewarning of attacks. That's why it's best to not think or plan far ahead when duelling." She spread her hands apologetically. "I know it'll be hard so you should probably start training to not think as you send out your spells. Another reason my brother reacted so quickly to Hermione throwing that inkpot is that she must have thought about it before she did it, so he knew what she was going to do. Added to his Videte so that he knew where the inkpot was coming from, he didn't have to move much to avoid the attack.
"A tip: the minute you think of your attack, do it and do it fast. It's the only way to win and if you ever face a vampire seriously...well, winning means living."
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Author's Notes: Do not worry, please expect more fights. XD I unexpectedly had a lot of information for vampires and it didn't feel to cram so much in one chapter. O.o Please look to my writing journal at Livejournal, link on my profile under homepage, for full author's notes.
Quick question: WHERE ARE ALL YOU NEW PEOPLE COMING FROM? O.O Lol, seriously, I see a lot of my old reviewers (LEECH-GLOMP ;-; So loyal...even when I've been so mean to you...) but it's like there's this sudden influx of new people! I'm curious, is it word of mouth, talk getting around somewhere I don't know, friend-circles hooked, what what!? Whatever it is, I'm EXTREMELY happy about it! I LOVE YOU ALL, OLD AND NEW. preening daily from your reviews
(Lest) Gods above, the arrogance.
(Shades) ...Are you serious? Look who's talking!
(Qye) pops in Quick pet peeve: MY BLOODY NAME IS QYE NOT BLEEDING QUE! DO I LOOK SPANISH TO YOU?! pant pant
(Shades) giggling hysterically
(Lest)...been holding that in haven't you?
(Harry) coughs To be fair, it's been going on a while.
(Draco) peer To be fairer, the 'u' and the 'y' are awfully close...maybe it's just typos?
(Qye) NOT WHEN IT HAPPENS IN EVERY BLOODY REVIEW!
Next chapter: "Fights, Fights and No Fights" In which we see more duels and a few surprises.