One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall
And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
Call Alice
When she was just small
When the men on the chessboard
Get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving low
Go ask Alice
I think she'll know
When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's "off with her head!"
Remember what the dormouse said:
"Feed your head, Feed your head, Feed your head"

(White Rabbit – Jefferson Airplane [Collide Version])

Chapter 5

Hogwarts

"What the bloody fuck happened here?"

Talon looked around the area that had once been Camelot and the forest where he had once lived. Now he had this little twerp of a kid telling him that this was Hogwarts and that he shouldn't go into the forest because it was forbidden because all sorts of nasty creatures lived in there.

Of course nasty creatures lived in there; they were the descendents of the beings that Talon had protected while he was human. He turned to the kid and bore his teeth.

"Well here is a little something for you to know kid. I'm one of those nasty things!"

The child ran off, crying into the castle.

Talon was by the lake that he had once been nearly drowned in as a child, letting the cool waters lap against his bare feet. He turned slowly when he felt the presence of four adults. He turned to see four wands pointed at him, though one lowered for a fraction of a moment.

"Let me guess, you are the ones that fowled the name of Camelot by turning it into a school."

The one dressed in red and gold snorted. "Rowena chose this place." 'Rowena', snorted before putting her wand away and stepping forward.

"Hello young man, I am Rowena Ravenclaw. My friends here are Helga Hufflepuff, Godric Gryffindor, and Salazar Slytherin."

"Great, I come home after centuries away and find Camelot has become a school filled with alliteration." Rowena gave a silent chuckle at his comment.

"I can assure you that you would have liked this place when you were learning magic."

Talon raised an eyebrow. "The kid told me this is a school for wizards. I am a sorcerer."

Salazar Slytherin's eyes widened.

"Were you once the Sorcerer of the Forest?"

Talon gave a single nod. Salazar moved over to him and took his hands.

"I must thank you. I am descended from one of your clients. She was a witch but she was terrible because she had never learned anything. You gave her a potion to conceive a child and she made you a stew."

Talon gave a soft nod. "I remember her. She was my first true customer."

Salazar looked as if he had just met Merlin himself.

~~~~~****~~~~~

"So you speak to snakes. Nothing else? How sad. In my day…people of your power level were able to talk to all animals. It must be something in the blood."

Salazar's eyes widened.

"So…because there are those who have blood that is not pure enough…we can no longer talk to all animals?"

Talon actually meant that as time passed that people forgot to teach their children the fundamentals about how magic connected all things, causing their blood to become closed off from the rest of nature. But he doubted that Salazar would understand that. Besides…Salazar was the kind of man that believed whatever he wanted to believe and would not be corrected.

"Sure…whatever"

~~~~~****~~~~~

Talon pulled 'Rowena Ravenclaw' into an alcove and growled.

"What are you playing at Aunt Morgan?"

'Rowena' laughed softly. "I wanted another apprentice, but I decided that it would be easier to teach a mass of students. After all…graduating at thirteen…you would have been a very tough act to follow nephew."

"But why here? Why on Camelot's ruins? Why have you converted Arthur's castle to this?"

Morgan smiled softly. "It is what Merlin would have wanted."

~~~~~****~~~~~

Perhaps one hundred years was enough time to stick around Hogwarts. Talon never did like sticking in one place long, but there were the few places that he could stay for long enough as to not be found out, and as wizards and witches knew of vampires…he was safe within the school. Talon had even taught History of Magic for his time within the walls, but now he was bored and on the move again.