AN- Sorry for the wait, my computer got a virus and it was the biggest mess... soooooo enjoy...
I do not own Harry Potter.
Welcome Home
Children...
Desiray was never very fond of the underdeveloped little annoyances.
Now that she thought about it, there was a phase of self loathing she went through at a young age.
Huh...go figure.
She now stood in the darken corner of her new class room, unnoticed by the multiple students that flooded in the doors. They took their seats and chatted among themselves idly, a few of them glanced around the room's new astrology design curiously. The magic celestial casting an eerie light in some darkened corners.
There weren't many students in her class, with it being an elective, so she doubted she would get any of the 'chosen ones' close friends. Desiray frowned, but admitted to herself that it was probably for the best. High priority tokens called for high maintenance, and Desiray wanted nothing more than the minimum amount of work.
She was just lazy like that.
"Oy, when do you think this lady will show up?" A heavy Irish accent stood out from the light chatter, "I didn't get a good enough look during the feast."
Desiray's focus was drawn to the short, heavily rounded male, sandy brown hair and dark eyes not all that memorable.
"Well I wouldn't be that surprised if you never truly caught sight of her. The whackspurts take great pleasure in hiding her from view." An airy voice replied, this time coming from a pale skinned female. Her long hair maybe only a few shades darker than white.
She seemed to be the mystical type and Desiray raised an eyebrow.
Only a few students, notably first years, glance in the girl's direction with dumbfounded looks.
"Yeah sure Luna," The male dismissed her casually and continued his conversation with a friend, "Ron said she was quite the looker. I don't think there's been a young professor in Hogwarts for decades."
"Don't kid yourself Finnegan," One of the Slythrins mocked, "The thought of any girl, especially a professor taking time to notice you is simply laughable."
"Hey! Shut your mouth Zabini." Finnegan shot back at the dark-skinned male.
At that moment, the Gryfindor wadded up a piece of parchment. Sensing the unfavorable outcome of the action, Desiray chose to step out of the shadows, still unnoticed by the class until her hand snatched the wadded up parchment from the air.
It instantly caught fire and disintegrated in her hand.
"Let's not play games in my class, Mr. Finnegan." Said boy stared, startled with the rest of the class. None of them had heard her approach, but that was to be expected, Desiray knew how to move among the distracted.
The students gawked at their new professor, the ones closest to her nearly falling out of their chairs at the sudden appearance. Dark hair cast a long shadow over her narrowed eyes and a hint of a mocking smirk on finely sculpted lips.
The class fell silent.
"It would be wise of you to neglect such thoughts of my person in my class or better yet, not to have them at all, lest they find a way to slip out. This is not my first run, and I do NOT tolerate slackers. Do we have an understanding?" He just stared dumbly at the grin that had slowly spread across her face, "Yes? Excellent!" She finished without waiting for a reply.
Desiray turned sharply to stride towards the front of the room, hands clasped behind her back. When she reached her desk, Desiray spun towards the class, her lavender cloak fanning out in the motion.
Hmm...Introduction.
The new professor leaned back against her wooden desk, arms crossed and posture lax.
"Good evening students, I am Professor Desiray Salvatore as you may or may not already know, your new Mythology Professor, as well as Astronomy if you decide to take my early classes. Note that I have taught in previous years despite my perceptible image and I do not appreciate it when my time is wasted."
Desiray half sat on her desk, hands placed behind her for balance as one of her legs swayed idly an inch off the floor.
"As long as all of you pay attention and don't plan on doing anything too mischievous you will keep a fair academic standing in my class." She shrugged, "Some of you may ask what the difference is between Mythology and, say..., History or Defense Against the Dark Art's. To that I would tell you, Mythology is more than simple history, it is the history of those besides you. The history of those who you have, no doubt, passed, talked to or even perhaps became familiar with, without even being aware. Understanding another's culture is the main step to overcoming any great warlord or wining the trust of a useful ally."
The woman let her eyes roam the class, most of the attention on her, a few smarter ones taking out quills and ink.
"In this class I will help you understand the workings of the darker world. Vampirism for example, was caused by a man's utter fear of death, using its raw essence and prayers to a dark god that no one quite believes in anymore. Or are you more interested in Banshees? The last cries of a woman's soul torn apart by grief and betrayal. I'll teach you their minds, I'll show you the basics and from the basics we build a foundation for progress and mastery. Any questions?"
When no hands rose, Desiray amused herself with the thought of teaching these children about her world... They would never truly understand, but she wondered if some stray child would figure out what she really was. That would be interesting and only slightly cliché.
The woman grinned and clapped her hands together once, "Excellent. So shall we begin?"
/TFP/
Desiray watched as her last class of the day left, relief overwhelming her form as she leaned back behind the desk, eyes closed and face toward the ceiling. Her nose wrinkled at the heavy stench of multiple bodies, some of them hadn't even taken a shower before class. It was enough to give her a head ache and remind her of why she enjoyed the outdoors.
With the thought of endless wilderness and open space fresh in her mind, Desiray stood with the intent of heading outside. She was halfway out the room when she caught the draft of various foods on the air, and was reminded of dinner. Missing one meal wouldn't bring too much suspicion would it? Even if it was the first day of classes...
Desiray cursed under her breath and made her way down the long corridor, sticking to the shadows until she came upon the staff entrance to the great hall. The moment she stepped through the door her ears were assaulted by the loud clamor of the student body.
How long was she going to have to deal with this? Suddenly a year sounded like a very long time.
Hogwarts' new professor lounged in the seat next to Snape almost dejectedly, the meal in front of her not peaking her interest as much as the glass of pumpkin juice that sat near it. She took a sip and then toyed with the liquid in her hand, watching the motion of it swirl in the glass...well, goblet.
"Snape scares me big brother."
"This turkey is even better than my mom makes it!"
"I know we all have to take his class."
"Have you seen Luna?"
"I love my new wand! It has unicorn hair!"
"...Hermione to do my homework..."
"My wand's thirteen inches."
"Why is our history teacher a ghost?"
Desiray sighed and rubbed the throbbing vein in her temple. She had forgotten how loud humans tended to be in groups. Sure her hearing wasn't as developed as most, but she was still a vampire. All these voices were going to give her a migraine...
"Tired already, dear?" Albus' voice was closer than the others and he set an elderly hand on her shoulder, "I hear the first week is usually the most difficult."
She looked up at the man, still rubbing her temple."Oh, good evening Headmaster. I'm just adapting to the new environment, so no worries."
He nodded, "Well take care of yourself and do be sure to remember the staff meeting later this week." With that he smiled shortly and made his way to the seat at the middle of the table.
Desiray frowned having actually forgotten about the staff meeting. She supposed she should actually be looking forward to the meeting and the chance to get an idea of what the rest of the staff thought about her. Snape was the only the only one she had talked to for more than a few minutes and it was a good idea to keep her social opportunities open.
Speaking of the man...
The vampire could feel Snape looking at her, glaring down with those narrowed eyes, though when she turned attention to him, he was stabbing at his meal irritably. His attention seemed to shoot to the empty space between the dark haired witch and the red head, then back again.
Desiray grinned, "That boy really vexes you doesn't he? Trouble on the first day is never a good sign."
He turned to glare down his nose, "And how would you be so sure about that? Eaves dropping maybe?"
Desiray shrugged and straitened her posture, "Gossip gets around. These students sure do like to chat don't they? His friend Ronald has been talking about it all day. Apparently Mr. Potter got the best of you."
His glare deepened, "It was a cheap shot."
"Of course it was." The woman grinned, "But here I thought it was my job to get in trouble."
"Don't be so sure just yet Professor, I already hear them prattle about a certain professor and their wand-less magic.
"Oh my, really?" Desiray chuckled in slight amusement while moving her hand to toy with a stray hair, "I can admit that's something I may have overlooked. I don't necessarily like wands, they feel so... restricting."
It was true, focusing with a wand made most lose sight of the whole area. Instead of seeing the options around them, the user instead focused attention on one object...She also may have just forgotten her wand at the manor.
As if to prove a point the same strand of hair she was toying with braided itself, which Desiray then placed behind an ear. She flashed Snape a grin that he glared at, turning back to focus on the meal he obviously had no interest in eating.
As she sipped on her glass and entertained Minerva with idle talk, Desiray figured that the man wasn't the social or friendly type. He spent most of his time in a ridged posture, sneering at any student that stared at him for too long and looking like he really rather be elsewhere.
Well it seemed like they had one thing in common.
A sudden pound and loud unorganized footsteps caused Desiray to jolt out of her thoughts as Slughorn made his presence known. His wide form easily filled out the entire chair and even made a slight creaking noise as he sat.
Horace Slughorn was a sketchy looking old man with an air of deceit around him. His movements were twitchy like a cornered animal and dull grey eyes darted to every small movement near him.
"Hello Professors." The man said in his strained voice. He then turned to Snape, "Severus, I honestly don't see what you were speaking of Dear Harry. The boys done marvelous in my class already."
"Don't be fooled so easily Professor," The former Potions Professor sneered at the man beside him, "Perhaps you're merely blinded by the child's self-proclaimed status."
Slughorn chuckled, "Oh heavens no, he crafted the most magnificent potion today! You remember the Draught of Living Death don't you Severus? You're the only other student I had that brewed it absolutely perfect on the first try."
Desiray made a face at the man's statement; even she wasn't able to craft a perfect Draught of Living Death after a lifetime of tries. Not that she was bragging... She was terrible at potions; the fumes murdered her delicate sense of smell.
"Nonsense, you should learn to keep an eye on Ms. Granger." Snape continued the conversation.
"Oh no worries Severus, you know how good my eye is." Slughorn smiled cheekily, "Don't think I've forgotten about how you used to sneak help to a certain red-head in our early years, young Mr. Potter earned his title."
Snapes heart seemed to skip a beat in Desirays ears and she could almost hear his blood boil in anger. She licked her lips absentmindedly and took a quick swig from her glass, intrigued by the conversation.
Unfortunately for her the conversation was over.
Apparently what Slughorn said had struck a nerve, Snape looked about ready to speak, but stopped himself quickly...with much restraint. He stood abruptly and left the table, anger radiating from every step he took.
Desiray raised an eyebrow at the odd behavior then shrugged uninterested.
Not like he was her problem.
/TFP/
AN- So there's that. Desiray's first day in Hogwarts. I'm mostly just settling her personality into the environment... but once that's done ooooooh the surprises I have for her. :)
And yes... Damon will definitely visit his sister. His personality demands it lol. See ya next time ;)