"What do you see?" I asked the teenager " What do you see when you look into my face, my eyes?" I could feel his brave soul looking into me, his expression showed curiosity and fear mixed together.

"Err… my professor. Why?" he said back to me, as if cautious of my very existence; as if I scared him.

Every word he spoke was spoken with delicacy only a mortal could produce. I felt envious of his current state, a child who was going through his years of learning yet with a dark secret that would soon become his fate and he coped with it all so well.

He shocked me with his state of mind. He wasn't prejudiced towards me yet he stood his guard. He had intelligence.

His jet-black hair reminded me of the darkness I had once known and his illuminating green eyes showed his deepest desires and wishes, his hopes and dreams, which he may never truly own or experience.

My own dancing grey eyes bored into his own and the room around me seemed to evaporate; this often happened when I concentrated hard enough. He had his mind cleared as if he knew what I had planned to do and my respect for him grew even more solid than it had once been.

I did not know how long I had looked into those eyes and I did not really care. It could have been minutes, hours, years, centuries, I didn't care. But he did, eventually, break my gaze and as he did that, the world around me came clear. The wooden tables had pupils sitting behind them with looks of curiosity drawn on them, some expressed fear, some expressed joy; for what reason, I never shall find out.

The walls looked alive with the colours of blood red and a type of creamy colour I had seen many times before but never truly found out its name. This room looked very different from the rest of the tower and, if truth were told, I hated it. I wanted it to be dark like what I imagined hell to be like; in my belief, I belonged in hell. The desks were lined in perfect rows and I hated it. It was too perfect, too bright that it often burnt my very own eyes.

"What a waste of time this lesson is!" whispered a boy with malicious white hair to his rather plump friend. I didn't know if he wished me to hear it, I doubted he did, but I heard everything. Nothing could escape my ears and it frustrated me.

I took a deep breath and turned to the class. They all looked so clueless, so helpless, I pitied them.

"Right, you all know why you are here, you have chosen to take advanced 'Defence Against the Dark Arts'. I am your professor for the mean time. So welcome!" I simply stated, careful not to open my mouth too wide in case they caught sight of my secret; well, not exactly a secret, but I didn't trust some of their prejudice minds, just yet.

I noticed every eye was on me; they seemed fascinated by my appearance as I was of theirs, this annoyed me slightly, but I continued on with my 'lesson'.

"So before we begin does anyone have any questions?" I asked hoping my confidence would show through my dominant voice.

The boy with the white hair raised his arm that I thought strange for him, I guessed he would always just shout out; how I guessed, I couldn't tell you.

"Yes, mister…" I said politely wishing I could just continue my lesson. Of course, when I asked for the questions, I didn't think people would have any.

"Malfoy!" the boy arrogantly informed, "We were wondering, why are you so pale?" His malicious voice matched his pointed face perfectly. I loathed him although I had never spoken to him before. I could tell in his presence that he thought me stupid and powerless, that he thought me a joke.

A girl with long wavy brown hair gasped at the rudeness of the question and gave the boy a vicious glare.

"Malfoy, that question isn't any relevance to Defence Against the Dark Arts, nor is that question any relevance to you. So does any one have any related questions to the topic?" I asked trying my hardest to be courteous.

Then the boy whom had the illuminating green eyes slowly raised his own arm.

"Yes, Harry?" I asked, a small smile on my face. I, of course, knew his name, as did everyone in the wizarding or shall I say, supernatural world.

"Professor, what will we be doing?" he asked simply.

"Well, like I said before, you only have me for the time-being. But in that time, I shall be teaching you about mythical creatures, such as Werewolves, Trolls, Yeti's and… Vampires… of course, they are only examples. I believe dark creatures are my… expertise, so you'll be doing them with me, then you'll do curses with another professor!" I answered.

Harry nodded his head as if to say he understood and as he did so his hair sprung back from his forehead and I glanced the legendary lightening bolt scar. It had all the vibrant colours of red that I felt a thirst developing inside of me, tearing at my heart.

I tried to regain my composure and forced myself to look away from Harry to the other side of room where the wavy brown haired girl sat with her hand in the air.

"Yes and what's your name?" I asked in attempt to distract me from the pain, the longing I felt inside.

"Hermione Granger!" she said in a knowledgeable voice, "I was wondering, professor, will we be doing practical work? Or just… learning from a text book?"

I admired her; I wished I were like her when I was younger. She had a thirst for knowledge even stronger than my own thirst I felt then.

"Well, there are some things that I can not do as practical work because they would be too dangerous. However, the things like Boggart's, which I heard you could all tackle anyway, we could have a bit of fun with.

"I will try my best to make your lessons as bearable as possible and maybe even enjoyable…if you're lucky!

"Mythical creatures can be very interesting if looked at the right way. Even to the most knowledgeable person, if they are looked at the wrong way, they will cease to be enjoyable and cease to be interesting. You have to look upon them with an open perspective, with an open mind. You have to stay positive and only then will you truly appreciate the creature… but I would class neither Werewolves, nor Vampires to be creatures. The term creature is often used wrong to the uninformed or the unfamiliar… the word creature could well, possibly be an offence!" It was as if I was talking a different language then. I was blabbering on and on about nothing, I could tell they were bored. But through their boredom they held a fascination most mortals held when they saw me.

Although the feeling of longing and thirst still tore at my veins, it had calmed and I could ignore it.

Malfoy and his friends seemed to be trying their best to annoy me but they were failing miserably. They whispered to each other how different I looked and now it seemed to be that they were fully aware that I could hear them. I wanted to forget everything and to taste their sweet liquid pumping through my veins like a waterfall. I wanted to make them my next victim, to see them suffer as many had suffered before in my grasp. To see them beg for forgiveness, to make them beg for their very life… but I could not do this. It took all my will to make me not do this.

"Professor, can we open the shutters…" a voice trailed off however it did break my penetrating thoughts.

I looked at the windows; no natural light was able to peer through. I had large black shutters that blocked it all out and the only light the room had was the light off the lamps that hung from the ceiling.

"No!" I answered slowly, lost in my own thoughts again. My own thoughts of how I would never see the baby blue of the sky or the light greenness of the grass. I was a nocturnal creature, wishing for my non-nocturnal life back, but if that would come true, I would be dead.

As soon as the lesson had started, it had to my relief, ended; my first lesson was over.

"Right class, homework. Write an essay about what you believe Defence Against the Dark Arts is for next Monday, no shorter than a thousand words. Thank you!" I said as I opened the door for them to leave.

They left one by one, each face as curious as the next and as I shut the door behind me, I heard their voices, each one saying similar things like 'Did you see how pale he was?' 'Did you see how bright his eyes were?' 'Did you see how dark his hair was?'

I heaved a sigh and walked over to a mirror on the side of the wall. My reflection stared back at me. My dancing grey eyes, my smooth pale skin, my black hair which reached the length a little longer than my shoulders, my red lips, my sharp fangs. I was lean and about 5'9.

I looked around the age of 27, in actual fact, I was older than that, much older… I had lived on this world with the mortals for one hundred and sixty-five years; I had lived on this world as a mortal for twenty-seven years. I was a lot older than I seemed.

My attractive face looked odd when I was around mortals, but when I was with my own kind, I blended in.

Only after my first day of teaching had I made an enemy. I knew him as Snape, he had greasy black hair and surprise, surprise he was not as pale as me, yet paler than most mortals I'd seen. His eyes didn't dance like mine, they weren't as warm as my predator eyes either; they were darker. They were black, cold and emotionless. He seemed to fear nothing yet judge everything.

I was an immortal moving around with the living and like most humans; he feared me or envied me. I could not tell. He had blocked his thoughts when I was around. I had seen things he could never imagine and I had experienced things he could never dream of and still he had no respect for me. He treated me as if I was an insect he wished to squash.

He reminded me of a rotten corpse, his skin seemed to stick to his face and I could see his veins clearly. His way of life sickened me.

He thought just because he lived that he deserved to be served upon. He never did explore the towers or the precious things he had that one could only wish for. He seemed to think life was a right and not a privilege. In my beliefs, life was a privilege, it was pure and luring and I thought every aspect of it was amazing. Out of all the books I'd read, of all the things I'd seen, I had never known anything so pure, so fascinating as the human being.

Although I detested Snape and that boy, Malfoy, I had grown some respect for others.

I respected Harry for what he was going through; for what was in his future, how he dealed with it all and didn't judge me when he saw me, like so many before him had done.

I respected Hermione for her knowledge and her thirst to know about the world and how she appreciated aspects of it that humans knew nothing of. Stuff that I knew nothing of when I was human, only when I became the son of the devil did I notice these things and begin to appreciate these things.

They were both, in my opinion, incredibly brave and would become good people. They were pure, too pure of a life to become my victim; I almost feared their pureness, and their will to live.

If I sunk my sharp vampire fangs into their necks they would fight for their life, their hearts would not give up until I had drained them fully, to the point of death of all their blood… if Snape were to become my victim, I wouldn't think he would have the strength to survive it or at least last long.

The appreciation of life moved me. The colours of life moved me. The thoughts and cleverness of life's people moved me.

I was a vampire. Being a vampire was like being born again. The world was completely new and ready to be awakened and explored. The world constantly changed in my lifetime and everything was dear to me, everything was new like a newborn baby. It excited and thrilled me, but what thrilled and excited me most was the people.

At 2pm, I had finished my teachings and was extremely tired, partly because of my work and partly because I wasn't used to the change in my sleeping pattern. I wanted my coffin that lay in a near room, but before I could reach the room, I had sensed a foul smell, the foul smell of a certain human approaching the door to my classroom.

Before the human got the chance to knock on the door, I had answered it and it appeared - although I already knew this - to be Professor Severus Snape.

His corpse-like face had an expression of disgust implanted in it and his midnight eyes held hatred.

"Is there something I can help you with, Severus?" I asked politely trying to ignore the urge to drink from him. I was hungry but I wouldn't get anything until night, night was the time I was most myself… plus, I could not take anyone in the castle…

"Just a chat." he spoke aggressively spraying saliva on my long cloak.

My arm blocked the way into the room but he ducked under me as if I was nothing. I felt an urge as if to say 'I'll show you nothing!' But I held back and closed the door.

"Have you settled in well?" he asked me. I was non-pulsed by the randomness of this question.

"Extremely well, thank you!" I replied not bothering to hide my curiosity.

"I do not pretend to understand you, nor do I try to but I warn you, if I hear anything from my students that you've-"

"That I've what? Severus?" I interrupted him, my voice rising. "That I've what? Hurt them?" I took a long deep breath and carried on, "You really have shitted yourself into believing you care about those pupils, but do you? Do you really? What are you really after?" I paused, "My job? Money? Intelligence? Acceptance? Immortality?"

To be perfectly honest, I didn't believe what I said. I did think secretly he cared for the students, but I also knew for a fine fact that he wanted my job. His face lay emotionless and my hatred for him seemed to increase.

"Yes, I do care for those pupils. Don't you ever question me again. Why would I want 'your job'? I want nothing of you!" he spoke clearly with definite anger in his tone. "And for those other things apparently I want? Money? Don't I have enough? Intelligence? Don't make me laugh. Acceptance? Coming from a Vampire! And immortality? You are crazier than I thought." He spat his words out bitterly as if each one was poisoned. His eyes were narrow and he seemed to love insulting me.

He turned his back on me and walked to my bookshelf. Layers and layers of books homed that shelf. Books about everything. I had the popular tales and the best sellers from a copy of the bible, to vampire books that I read out of pure interest to see what others believed and to learn about myself.

"Oh and bloodsucker, do us all a favour and dig yourself a grave deep in the ground and stay there… that's where you belong!" And with that he turned around and left me standing there with his last words on my mind… 'That's where you belong'.

Where did I really belong? I had pondered that question for years. Did I belong in hell? Heaven? Earth? Did heaven or hell exist? What did exist and what didn't? What is a figment of the imagination? What is real? What is good and what is evil?

Out of all my years, I had never found the answers to those questions, and that unnerved me for some reason. I couldn't help but think 'Do these things really have answers!'

Thank you to my Beta: Kate Mari.

This is my first 'modern' fic, my first fic with Harry in. Please review.

Summary: Lystern De Standercort is the new Defence Against the Dark Art's professor, the professor whose job it is to keep Harry alive, safe and well and to lead him into the arms of the final battle. But there's a catch, he's a vampire...