Learning a Little History

Welcome back to the era of false hope and shattered dreams. The time when optimistic thoughts were drowned out by the cries of the pessimistic. The time when weak light was a child's only hope during the blackest night.

Welcome back to my era.

"Why?" Hermione asked, tears streaming down her face.

"Hermione, it's not that bad of a thing," Roxanne told her. "Your sense of smell and taste increase. In the near future you will be able to identify a pure blood witch, a half-breed and a muggle born witch. Your friend Ronald will smell much like Draco since they are both pure bloods."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Hermione whimpered.

"Come now Hermione, I do have something that will make you feel better," Roxanne told her, caressing Hermione's chin.

"What?"

"Not now," Roxanne told her. "It's too dangerous. Right now, we have to clean you up." Roxanne wiped away the remaining blood on Hermione's face. "All right, we go out there and tell Snape that the vampire is still in the woods and you found another body."

"Snape will never buy that," Hermione told Roxanne with a sniff.

"That's a great thing about being a vamp," Roxanne told her with a huge grin. "People can't read your memories. Don't you see? You'll be safe from Voldemort, Hermione."

"I think I would rather face him," Hermione muttered.

"Vampires also have an acute sense of hearing," Roxanne noted with a smile. She tugged on Hermione's arm and helped her up. "All that's left to do is for you to keep your mouth shut, and come to my office after classes tomorrow."

"Why?"

"I'll shall clarify everything tomorrow," Roxanne told her. "Try to look as though you are repulsed by finding the girl's body."

"I am," Hermione muttered, as the two of them walked out of the forest.

"How do you know so much about vampires?" Severus asked, while he and Roxanne were waiting to see the Headmaster.

"Is it a crime to be familiar with such a deadly creature?" Roxanne asked, with a smirk.

"How?"

"To be a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, you have to be very well read about the Dark Arts," Roxanne answered him, looking down at her emerald green colored, pointed, fingernails.

The door to Dumbledore's office opened and the two professors quietly filed in. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, while McGonagall was at the bookcase, pulling out an old leather bound book. Severus and Roxanne sat down, and waited for Dumbledore to initiate the conversation.

"Have you searched the grounds?" Dumbledore asked.

Severus started to tell him that they had, but Roxanne interrupted him. "We did, but we found nothing, which is what I just said. Vampires are roaming creatures, they never seek a victim in the same spot more then once."

"Then how do you explain the second body?" Severus asked.

"If you had the chance to get two meals, when you don't know where or when the next meal was coming from, wouldn't you eat the two meals?" Roxanne asked.

McGonagall dropped the book on the desk and opened to the page. There was a picture of an attractive young woman, with deep olive skin. Next to the picture of the woman was a picture of the same woman, only her eyes had no iris, her skin was an aqua green appearance, and her teeth had became fangs. Roxanne smirked and asked, "Lamia? You think this is an attack from a dead vampire?"

"How do you know Lamia is dead?" Severus sneered.

Roxanne turned to him, obviously annoyed and explained, "Years ago, right when You-know-who came to power, Lamia was a huge threat to him. He decided to enlist the powers of one Cynthia Snape to help stop Lamia. However, Cynthia Snape knew she could not stop Lamia, even with the help of the Dark Lord.

"That's where Tomas Potter comes into the picture. Cynthia convinced You-Know-Who to agree to allow Tomas to work with them. That unlikely trio managed to kill Lamia."

"By the way Severus, how is your mother?" Roxanne asked with grin.

Severus glowered at her, and started reading the caption next to the picture. "You're wrong."

"What?" Roxanne asked.

"You-Know-Who never agreed to work with a Potter," Severus told her. "Potter was trying to stop Lamia on his own, and attacked her the same day Cynthia did. Also, this caption says Lamia may still be alive."

"Give me that," Roxanne said, snatching the book away from him. She quickly scanned over the article, and then flipped to the page about the Cyclops. She read over the description and said, "If you believe everything in this book then you believe the Cyclops is a tall, fat man with only one eyeball socket."

"Wasn't he?" Severus asked back.

"No," Roxanne told him quickly. Severus went to ask how she would know that, Roxanne quickly covered, "The more accurate interpretations of the Cyclops is that her was born with the mutation of having two eyeball sockets, but only one eyeball. Also, her was over seven feet tall, but not fat."

"Those interpretations can be wrong," Severus told her with a sneer.

"Or they could be right," Roxanne shot back.

"None the less, there is a vampire loose. Professor Roxanne, what do you suppose to do about it?" Dumbledore asked.

Severus bit his lower lip, as he restrained his self from giving Roxanne a lethal glare. Instead he gathered the book and flipped back to the page about Lamia. Roxanne sat up straight and said, "Well, this vampire is obviously strong enough to come to Hogwarts undetected, thus hanging bunches of garlic has a low possibility of working, but is still worth a try. The crucifix, despite the popular myth, does not have an effect on vampires unless they are very young and weak. Keeping the students in the castle during the night might be the safest way to keep them safe."

"Unless the vampire is Lamia," Severus muttered.

"Lamia is dead."

"How do you know so much about vampires?" Severus asked.

Roxanne's facedrained of all emotions. She stared at the wall of Dumbledore's office and quietly stated in a cold voice, "My fiancé was killed by one."

There was silence for a moment and then Roxanne stood up. "Headmaster, I'll go see if there are any bunches of garlic we can use." She turned and left with out another sound.

Severus got up and excused himself. He went down to his chambers, and pulled out a large black book. He placed it on his desk and started skimming through the pages. He stopped when he reached a picture of a woman with her face hidden behind a scarf. The picture was called Ascondo. He quickly read the passage.

'Ascondo was believed to be a large threat to the Dark Lord. She rejected his offer to join forces, and told him he would pay for his sins. The Dark Lord has tried and failed in many attempts to kill her.'

Severus skipped over the next few paragraphs until he reached the part about Ascondo's death.

'The Dark Lord ordered one of his most faithful followers, Cynthia Snape, to order an attack against Ascondo. Snape worked with a fellow Death Eater, an unnamed Malfoy, who during the attack was, supposedly, bewitched by Ascondo and help fight with her against Snape.

'Unfortunately, the Aurors (they fight Death Eaters but can't think of their names or how to spell it) were also aware of Ascondo. She was a threat to both sides by having all of the powers of a vampire, but not all the weaknesses. Ascondo was a rogue agent, but neither side could figure out which side she was working for. The Auror Tomas Potter was leading the attack for the Aurors.

'While attacking Ascondo, Snape was killed and Potter was deeply injured. However, it is rumored to believe that Snape beheaded Ascondo before she was killed. There was never a credible sighting of Ascondo again, leading the Dark Lord to believe that Ascondo was dead.'

Severus stopped reading and closed the book. He rubbed his eyes and wrote a quick note to himself.

Find out more about Lamia and Ascondo. Watch out for Roxanne.

A/N: I am sooooo sorry for not updating in forever! I hate the fact that I didn't update! please don't hate me, I already hate myself so much! None the less, here is a new chapter for you to enjoy.
and a side note to grace07: I did not know the Dodo bird had three-way mating habits. your review was very informational and fun to read! Thanks!