Chapter 37: It's (almost) all about History
When he arrived in the History of Magic classroom together with Ron and Hermione who had been nice enough to wait for him, they couldn't help but stop and stare. Each window was completely darkened with thick, velvety curtains, the only light in the room coming from torches at the wall. Of course, thinking about it it made sense, for their teacher was a bloody Vampire, so letting in the sunlight wasn't exactly the best idea, but still... It was a pretty unusual sight for this classroom, especially so since for once the room was already almost full, filled with the constant chattering of their year-mates. This was probably the most excited Harry had seen the others in this class since ever, but he could understand. He himself was more than curious, so the three of them quickly took their seats next to Neville, who had been nice enough to reserve some for them and prepared everything for the lesson.
The second the bell rang to signalise the start of the lesson their teacher materialised in front of them, causing some of the students who sat at the front to scream in surprise.
The rest of them, Harry included, mostly stared. How had the man done that? Apparating wasn't possible inside of Hogwarts after all!
"Good morning," Professor Drakul greeted them evenly. "If anyone missed it yesterday, my name is Vlad Drakul and I am a vampire. And yes, I do have an aversion to sunlight, which means that we will soon be relocating into the dungeons. Setting up a classroom needs some preparation though, so this room here is the temporary solution. But if anyone thinks it would be a funny joke to open the curtains at any time to let some sunlight in, I will count this as attempted murder and suck the offender dry." He smiled at them at this, making it all the more unbelievable that he had just basically given them a death threat... That was certainly... unusual for a new teacher. Well, Harry was rather glad that he wasn't sitting near the windows right now, for the people who did had blanched rather strongly. Professor Drakul didn't seem to care much. "Now that this is out of the way, a few other announcements before we start: I will not give or take any house points, just so you know. I want no part of this contest to see what house has the most teachers pets. Same goes with detentions, I will not give out these time-wasters for you and me. But I will kick you out should I notice that you do not have the will to learn. I noticed that this lesson was not the most popular in the past and I do understand that history can be difficult to get into with the wrong teachers, but I will not stand for students who do not wish to learn in this class. I won't care if you are here or not, but as long as you are in this classroom you will either learn or leave. Is that understood?"
Surprised silence reigned between them. This certainly wasn't what they had imagined but if it was better or worse... Only time would tell, probably.
"Very well, I will take your silence as a yes," Professor Drakul then said after nobody spoke up for another long moment, before grabbing a list off of his table, probably for doing roll call. But instead of reading the names of the students aloud, checking if they were here or not, he just seemed to skim the list until his eyes locked on something.
"Mr. Longbottom, please stand up for a moment," he said and Harry shot a worried look over to Neville, who had gone white but shakily stood up. Nervously Harry looked back and forth between the teacher and his friend, but Professor Drakul just mustered the other for a moment before nodding. "Thanks, that was all."
Now even more confused Neville just stared at him, but the teacher had already turned away, looking onto some other parchment on his desk so he slowly lowered himself back to his seat.
Harry frowned a little. What was this all about? Did Professor Drakul want to single Neville out? If so, this could get even worse than with Snape as Neville hadn't even done anything yet... But the teacher hadn't looked particularly mean... Hm...
"Good... Now, as my part of the introduction is over, are there any more questions before we begin with the lesson?"
At first nobody seemed to dare asking anything, until Lavender nudged Parvati - something Harry only noticed as they sat directly in front of him - and the latter carefully raised a hand.
Immediately, Professor Drakul's eyes were on her.
"Yes?"
"Um... Yesterday you said something about... blood donations, right...?" she asked, fidgeting a little under his gaze. "What did you mean by that?"
"Ah, that..." his face cleared and he even smiled a little. "Yes, I decided on organise blood donations once per term. Every student who wants may donate some blood to me. There is no reward or anything though as I would be perfectly fine without those donations, but whoever wants to help me may do so. I will only draw a little blood too, and only with fierce regulations. I will add some information about it on the black boards in all of your common rooms at the end of each term, but the basics are that you have to be deemed healthy enough for a blood donation and either seventeen or with permission of your parents or guardians. Everything else will be explained later, for I think you should be worrying more about passing your OWLs than about donating blood."
She blushed a little and nodded, before staying silent - something he seemed to see as a sign to keep looking through the room.
"Any other questions?"
"How did you appear out of thin air before?" Michael Corner asked, for they had History of Magic together with the Ravenclaws. "You can't apparate inside of Hogwarts after all..."
"Well, I didn't apparate. I was there the whole time," Professor Drakul answered easily.
"Did you turn invisible then?" another student asked.
"Let's just say, it has certain merits to be a vampire," the teacher answered mysteriously, leaving Harry to wonder if there was any real reason behind keeping this a secret or if he just wanted to keep this air of mystery around him... Because that at least was working perfectly well, he found it difficult to judge the man at all...
"Anything else?"
Silence reigned after that. Harry thought about asking what this action with Neville was supposed to be, but if he was honest with himself he didn't quite dare... Also, he was rather glad that for whatever reason the professor hadn't paid attention to him as of now, so it was probably better to stay quiet for now.
"Very well," Professor Drakul was saying then, taking a stack of paper into his hands. "Then let's begin with our actual first lesson. I've prepared a short questionnaire concerning different time periods and historical events. Please fill out as much as you know without using your books, I need to see on what level you currently are to make sure you are as prepared as possible for the upcoming O.W.L. exams."
A collective groaning was heard - a test in their first lesson with the new teacher? Just great - but Harry was actually rather curious. He had tried his best to keep up with the material of Binns this year, so he could only hope that it would at least somehow help him there.
"Mr. Longbottom, be so kind as to help me distributing the sheets," Professor Drakul continued then and once again Neville was white as a sheet as he stood up and stumbled to the front. Harry nervously watched how his friend shook as he got handed half of the sheets. "Now now, no need to be afraid, I won't bite."
Harry wasn't sure if that was supposed to be humour - the professor was even winking - but Neville seemed to get even whiter, giving off some sort of nervous squeak before hurriedly bringing some distance between them, distributing the sheets to one half of the room as Professor Drakul took the other half.
"What's that?" one of the pureblood Ravenclaws suddenly called out, pointing at the paper in front of them. And only then Harry realised that it was actual paper, not the parchment he had become used to in Hogwarts.
"Paper," Professor Drakul answered calmly. "The muggle version of parchment, so to speak. I know it's not wide-spread around here, but I will use it for my lessons, no arguments."
Huh... What a weird decision... Although Harry guessed that if he had already been alive for centuries maybe it was just normal to get a little weird.
And then, finally, all the sheets were distributed and Neville was back on his seat, looking very much relieved.
"Very well. You may begin, write the answers to the best of your knowledge, you have... Let's say, thirty minutes for it," Professor Drakul said before sitting down behind his desk and actually pulling out a book.
Harry stared at the scene for a few seconds, not quite comprehending the seeming... randomness of the teacher, before shaking his head and focussing on his questionnaire. No use in pondering over stuff like that now.
The first question on the paper seemed innocent enough, too.
'Name one major conflict that has happened in the last one hundred years and the partaking factions.'
It felt almost like cheating but Harry still wrote the last Wizarding War down, he knew it well enough he guessed... Including the factions, the Death Eaters and the rest of Great Britain - though the aurors were probably the main faction.
He would have liked to include the order of the Phoenix too, but... It was kind of a secret organisation, so... bad idea. Instead he focussed on the next question.
'Now, point out why the winner of the previously named conflict won and name at least three things you can learn from this conflict - take both factions into consideration for that.'
Harry blinked. That was much more difficult! And actually not something he had expected, but after a moment of thinking he began writing anyway.
ooo
The other questions followed mostly the same scheme. Only few of them actually wanted dates and even the ones that did were normally fine with a very rough naming like 'the second half of the fifteenth century'. But at the same time many questions related more to the 'Why?' and 'How?' than to the 'What?'. Harry certainly didn't know all the answers - the question regarding an early Goblin rebellion he even outright skipped, remembering only hangman games with Ron in those long lessons with Binns - but he still rather liked the style of the questions, for it gave more room to interpret and think about what had happened instead of just plain out writing what was standing in the text books anyway.
He was at one of the last questions when suddenly, the classroom door banged open, startling most of the room as two men entered, with their robes billowing behind them and their wands drawn.
"Stay right there Mister Drakul! We're from the Vampire Registry of the Being Division from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures!" one of them said, holding up some sort of badge in the teacher's general direction.
"I don't think reading a book implies a particular high risk of flight," Professor Drakul replied wryly, but he closed the book and placed it in front of him on the table. "Although I would ask you to please return after the lesson is over. You are interrupting a test."
"I don't think you've got the right to talk anymore! You've been accused of illegally entering Great Britain without registering yourself and even taking on a job without previously seeking approval with the Ministry. As such we've come to arrest you for illicit work. Will you come quietly or do we have to use force?"
Harry's eyes widened a little at the scene unfolding in front of them and the silence that followed these words was apprehensive, as if nobody dared to move and miss something.
Finally Professor Drakul stood up.
"I don't think so," he said calmly, causing the Ministry official to straighten his wand, pointing it directly at him.
"What? You vampire scum-"
He had to stop then, for the vampire had suddenly moved from his position at the desk to directly in front of him, causing the official to stare in shock.
But Professor Drakul wasn't attacking. Instead, he gently placed a hand upon the other's shoulder, looking directly into his eyes, suddenly seeming a lot more... appealing?
"Now, why don't we talk like civilised men, hm?" he said softly, before slowly running his hand up the official's neck until it rested on his cheek.
"Uh... well... I..." the man stuttered, looking flustered and confused, his colleague watching the whole scene mortified. What the hell was going on there?!
"You don't want to inspect me right now, do you...?" Professor Drakul muttered, leaning forward until his lips almost touched the other man's ear. "In fact, I think you deserve a day off... How about you take your friend here to a bar? I'll not leave the castle after all... Just come back another day, maybe in the evening? Does that sound good...?"
"Uh... yeah..." the man answered weakly, his face flushed as he kept staring at the vampire who smiled at him.
"Very well. Then off you go...! Have fun!"
He turned the man around to face the still opened door before pushing him slightly, making him take a few insecure steps forward, before turning to the second official.
"Now, I would suggest following your colleague, yes?" he said, still smiling and the men hurriedly nodded, leaving the room quickly, causing the teacher to close the door behind them.
Immediately it seemed as if some sort of... aura fell away, for as he turned around he looked totally normal again, as if nothing weird had happened at all.
"Now, I believe you had still about... three minutes left before those officials were interrupting us, correct? So please just continue, I will give you additional time to finish, hopefully without another interruption."
"What did you just do?" Terry Boot asked incredulously, making Professor Drakul look at him.
"Nothing at all... I just explained to them that it was an inconvenient time, did I not? I don't really like unexpected interruptions."
"Are you gay?" a girl asked, obviously not happy with that explanation. He turned to her.
"Why would you think so?"
That seemed to make her insecure.
"W-Well the way you acted with this man just now..."
"Like I said, normal conversation. He wasn't even my type anyway," he answered, waving his hand. "But to clear the confusion for you: No, I am not gay. And now I would suggest to write, you've got two minutes left."
That seemed to be all they would be getting for the moment and the girl seemingly had realised that too, so she quietened down and they all settled back into answering their last few questions, although Harry couldn't help but keep thinking about the situation just now... He could have sworn there had been... something weird going on... As if it had become difficult to tear his eyes from the vampire... But maybe he had just imagined it? He probably should just forget about it, but he told himself he would have to check his literature again regarding vampires and their skills... There was pretty much Professor Drakul wasn't telling them and Harry couldn't help but being curious about some of it... He would have to see.
ooo
After that the rest of the lesson was almost boring compared to the beginning, but it was still loads better than any of Binns's lessons had ever been. Professor Drakul talked about historical events as if he had been there - and with some, he even freely admitted that he had been there - and instead of just giving them dates and happenings, although that was part of it too, he explained more about the motivations of the people, of the aftermath and what one could learn from it. Because he was a strong advocate of the principle that history was something everyone could and should learn from, to keep it from repeating itself indefinitely...
It was very interesting.
Sadly the lesson was over way too soon and as such they went back to the usual stuff, where nothing else seemed to have changed very much. Although it was very interesting to see Madame Viv walking the huge corridors of the school instead of Filch, as she was a much friendlier presence than the old squib had ever been, even though she was also scolding people if they made the floors of the castle overly dirty and fairly reported the troublemakers to their Head of Houses... But it seemed that with magic, the whole caretaker job was a lot easier, making Harry wonder why Filch had ever been doing that... Keeping a huge castle clean without magic sounded horrible, no wonder he was always grumpy.
Because of all these things happening time flew though and as such it was Thursday way too soon and Harry was standing in front of the small office he and Moody would meet in. He had gotten the location just this morning via owl and while on one hand he was glad to get more education he really missed his training sessions with Professor Pyrites... The teacher had acted so much like an older brother of some sorts and helped him a lot, it was not easy to see his lessons replaced with Moody. Who wasn't a bad guy or anything, but still... Firmly on Dumbledore's side, wasn't he? Maybe he should speak to Tonks about that, she had been trained by Moody too after all if he remembered correctly...
Still, he was not exactly somebody Harry wanted to share his memories with.
"Potter, stop standing in front of the door like a coward and come in!" Moody's voice suddenly shouted from inside the room, making Harry jump a little.
Damn him and his magical eye that could see through everything it seemed...
Taking a deep breath he opened the door and stepped into the room. It was mostly empty and there was a lot of space to move around. Moody was already standing in the middle of the room, his wand drawn.
As Harry was just closing the door, he suddenly heard a shout.
"Legilimens!"
Reflexively ducking, the spell only barely missed him, hitting the door instead where it vanished with a quiet hiss. Harry whirled around.
"What the-?"
"Not bad," Moody just commented. "But also not good enough. Legilimens!" Another bolt of light shot out of his wand, but while Harry dodged that one too - he had trained for quite a while after all - he hadn't been prepared for the second one, cast only a moment later but silently it seemed, for it quickly connected with him and memories began flashing in front of his eyes once again.
Using the little exercise he had with Professor Pyrites he did his best to clear his mind, trying to keep the other out... Only to be brought down after a moment with his sight growing dark...
When he woke up again Moody was standing over him, his wand pointed at him.
"If that would've been Voldemort, you'd be dead now, Potter," he said harshly and despite the situation Harry couldn't help but think that he wasn't so sure about that anymore... But of course, he kept that particular info to himself. "So, what did you do wrong?"
Harry tried to think. "Um... I should have anticipated you attacking me, sir?" Harry tried, having no idea what Moody wanted from him.
The man grunted.
"That too, but not what I meant. First: Dodging is all well and good, but use the time you gain by dodging to cast a shield, otherwise your enemy can adjust his tactics and catch you off-guard. And second: While it's a good idea to have some Occlumency shields, don't just stand there and wait while your opponent tries to enter your mind. Fend him off by firing a spell in his direction, interrupt his concentration somehow. If you stand against a stronger opponent you won't hold out against his mental attack forever anyway, and if not it's easy to overpower him while he's distracted. Otherwise people might cancel their mind attacks on their own and hit you with something while you're still confused. Which was what I did just now. Always keep one step ahead of your enemy! And now get up, we'll try again."
Staring for a moment in surprise and disbelief Harry only barely managed to scramble up as Moody began to throw more spells at him.
Damn... This would not be fun...
And there we have the first lesson of Dracula (and Moody, but psh :p), I hope you enjoyed it? He is a rather mysterious figure still, but oh well~ At least some of his secrets will get revealed... later. ;)
Actually we're already almost through with the year now! Next chapter will be the last before the summer holidays... But that's when the fun actually starts anyway, right? (Right now at least my plan of the story encompasses all of Harry's upcoming school years anyway, maybe even more... So there is still a long way to go.)
Also, on a slightly unrelated note: I've received quite a few reviews already that were basically telling me how the summary isn't the best - something I have to agree on, but I wrote it more than three years ago (damn this is going on for so long already...?), as the story was only a few chapters long, so back then it was kind of fitting.
Still, the idea of a new summary probably isn't the worst, but since I'm really not sure about those I was hoping to gather a few opinions before changing it? So if anyone cares, this was what I had thought of as a new summary:
Sometimes even the tiniest bit of snow can set off an avalanche. Sometimes even small, seemingly unimportant events can change the course of history forever. And sometimes, meeting a snake can lead to falling in love with your worst enemy. Fate has always had it in for Harry Potter, hasn't it? (slow moving! TMRxHP Slash, Grey!Harry)
Your thoughts would be appreciated, thanks in advance. :)
Regards, Violet-san
(Small Edit: Changed the wording of the summary proposal a little, thanks to awkwardtaxi's review)