Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
A/N: Once again no one reviewed. Will I have to threaten to discontinue the story every chapter? I really like this story and some of you who are reading it like it enough to review when there is a risk you won't get any more of it. All it takes is one click. PLEASE! I need to know what people think of this, do you not like what I've done with Voldemort/Tom Riddle? Well, here's another chapter, since I have it written and it isn't fair to stop without giving you a warning.
Of Blood And Magic
Chapter 5:Air and Water
Their next Defense Against the Dark Arts class was something all of the Slytherins were excited for, that is, except for Tevelle. Though Moody as at least trying to appear nice to her and treat her fairly, it was obvious he didn't really feel that way. She didn't entirely blame him. He was an ex-Aurorer and now a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. It was his job to fend against Dark creatures and wizards. How could she expect any different from him?
When the class had settled down, Moody explained to them what the lesson would be.
"But it's illegal!" Malfoy complained loudly, clearly not keen on having the Imperious curse preformed on him, despite his eagerness to see it preformed on a spider.
"The Headmaster wishes you to know what it feels like," Moody explained in his gruff voice as he cleared the desks away with his wand.
"Now, who would like to try first?"
When no one volunteered, he looked over the entire class with his magical eye. The erie orb settled on Malfoy. "Malfoy, you first."
The blond haired boy looked at the Professor scathingly.
"Well, come on boy, we don't have all day."
Still glaring at Moody, Malfoy stepped out into the cleared space. With just a flick of Moody's wand and a word, Malfoy was dancing.
Tevelle laughed as he leaped and spun. She felt no remorse for the Imperious curse to be put on him as she had the spider. She was one of the few laughing, however, for Crabbe and Goyle were kneading their fists menacingly and glaring at anyone who did. Tevelle continued to laugh, she wasn't afraid of them. What human could best a vampire's strength?
As soon as Moody lifted the curse, Malfoy stood stock still, his face flushed red with humiliation. Tevelle's smile widened at his mortified look. Draco Malfoy was not used to being made a fool of. Her smile faded when Moody's eye swung around to fix on her.
"You think it's funny, Miss Nightshade? Very well, your turn."
She stepped out into the middle of the room, unsure whether to be nervous or not. No wizard she knew of could get through her natural mental barriers to read her mined, but would those same barriers guard against the Imperious Curse? Or worse, would they simply amplify the effect, making it impossible for her to fight it?
Moody raised his want, causing Tevelle to flinch involuntarily. After a few moments she became confused. Moody lowered his wand, his expression blank.
"Professor?" Tevelle began, "Are you going to begin?"
Confusion and astonishment flickered in Moody's one normal eye.
"I've already cast it. One more time. Imperio." Moody nearly shouted the word.
Tevelle blinked, careful to remain still. Did he say that he had already cast it? After a few moments she began to believe him. Xeven has explained to her what the Imperious Curse should feel like, but she felt no sense of pervading peace that should have filled her mind, no voice whispering in her ear, telling her what to do.
A slow smile spread across her face. "Well that answers that question," she said quietly to herself, reflecting back on her earlier worries. Her mind's barriers acted the exact way they should have.
"There are some people who are immune," Moody said slowly, as if trying to make is make sense.
Like vampires, Tevelle finished for him in her mind.
Tevelle shrugged and stepped aside, ignoring the surprised and slightly fearful glances of the other students, and made room for the next person to take their turn. The rest of the class went by quickly, though no one was able to fight the curse nearly as well as Tevelle.
Tevelle was relieved that Friday when Potions was half and hour shorter than usual. She hardly wanted to spend more time in that class than was necessary. The bell rang, dismissing them from class to go and put their books away. Tevelle finished up the essay Snape had made her write and handed in the roll of parchment after securing her pen behind her ear. Many of the other students stared at her for using a Muggle pen, instead of a quill, but she found it much easier to use the pen than quill an ink, especially in class.
Snape glared at her as she set the parchment down and walked away, but she had done nothing wrong and here was nothing he could do to take his annoyance out on her.
By the time Tevelle arrived at the front of the castle, the steps were already packed. She fought her way to the edge of the crowd where she could see clearly, yet not be tempted by the pulses of heartbeats surrounding her. She could breathe easier away from the press of bodies, and the beast in her subsided to mere grumbling. Dumbledore noticed her flight to the edge of the throng and nodded his head approvingly.
Gasps washed through the crowd and a lot of the students pointed up to the sky at a black shape that was moving steadily towards them. Guesses and queries rang out in the crisp night air. Tevelle fought not to laugh at some of the guesses. A dragon! What an absurd thought. What dragon would submit to being ridden like a common animal. Wizards did not realize, but dragons were not mere beasts, but prideful creatures with strict laws and morals. Not that different than centaurs in their beliefs.
Someone's guess about a house was the closest. It was a huge powder blue carriage drawn by a dozen palomino winged horses the size of elephants. The carriage landed with a crash and Tevelle frowned. She could hear the whinnying conversation of the Abraxan horses. The giants were the shallowest and most vain of the winged horses. These were no different as Tevelle overheard their speech.
"Does my tail look alright," one at the front asked plaintively to the one harnessed next to it, "I'm afraid the wind mussed it up a bit and I was really trying to look my best."
"Your tail looks lovely, dear," The other replied, "But what about my wings? I combed them specially for today, and now they're all ruffled from flying."
"Oh, now I've got dust on my hooves. They were just polished too," another snorted in complaint.
Tevelle rolled her eyes at their frivolous talk and turned her attention to the Beaubatons headmistress who was speaking to Dumbledore.
"'As Karkaroff arrived yet?"
"He should be here any moment. Would you like to wait here an greet him, or would you prefer to step inside and warm up a trifle?"
"Warm up, I think," said Madame Maxime. "But ze 'orses-"
Dumbledore assured her that Hagrid would be able to handle them. After a few moments, Madame Maxime bowed slightly in acceptance, though still slightly unsure.
"Will you please inform zis 'Agrid zat ze 'orses drink only single-malt whiskey?"
Tevelle snorted at this. Single-malt whiskey? No wonder these pampered horses were so shallow and high-strung. To be given that when plain water would do just fine.
The Beaubatons students followed their headmistress into the school, and quiet settled as the Hogwarts students waited for Durmstrang to arrive. The stamping of the palominos could be heard clearly, and Tevelle tried to tune out their irritating complaining of the weather and the flight.
"This cold is making my mane soo brittle!" one of the winged horses whickered loudly, and Tevelle was sorely tempted to slap the Abraxen mare's sensitive nose to quiet her. But that would bring her to much attention, something the vampire was unwilling to risk.
"The lake!' A boy named Lee Jordan yelled pointing at it. "Look at the lake!"
Everyone did so and slowly, the skeletal form of a ship rose from the churning black water like some lost pirate's wreck out of myth. A plank was lowered onto the bank and a procession of people disembarked and began walking towards the castle.
Even from that distance, Tevelle could tell that all were dressed in heavy fur coats. The fur was shaggy and matted on all but the man leading them, whose coat was of a sleek, silvery fur that resembled his hair.
Tevelle frowned slightly, and drew on the shadows of the night to hide her, while trying not to appear to obvious. The man in the silver fur was Igor Karkaroff. The man had visited her Coven fifteen years before, and would most likely recognize her. Dumbledore would warn the other Headmasters, but Tevelle didn't want Karkaroff to recognize her and blurt out her secret in surprise of finding a vampire at Hogwarts before Dumbledore had a chance to tell him not to.
"How good it is to be here, how good," Karkaroff was saying looking up at the school, their greetings apparently said while Tevelle's mind had been wandering. "Viktor, come along, into the warmth...you don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold..." He continued, beckoning to one of his students.
A wave of murmurs ran through the crowd. Apparently this Viktor Krum was a bit of a Quidditch star. Tevelle was curious, but nothing more. Quidditch had never interested her, even before her death.
As the rest of the congregation began making their way back inside the castle, Tevelle hung back. Hagrid would probably need some help with the high-strung Abraxan horses and she wanted to give Dumbledore a chance to warn Karkaroff and Madame Maxime without the risk of them spotting her beforehand.
Tevelle walked over to where the giant palominos waited, and joined Hagrid in unharnessing them., The half-giant looked at her startled for a second, but as she did not acknowledge him, he did not send her away.
The great winged horses balked at their unfamiliar presence, but Tevelle swatted them as she had been longing to do.
"Behave, or I'll box your nose again!" She scolded the mare who had been complaining about her mane earlier.
Stuck up dog food, she growled silently realizing that she much preferred the thestrals. Luckily, after that, all the winged horses went meekly into the paddock that had been set up for the. Hagrid nodded sharply once the gate had been latched, not that it would really matter given the horses could fly, and walked back up to the castle. Tevelle followed, slightly annoyed that Hagrid still shunned her despite her help. Shrugging, she entered the dining hall to seek her meal and the goblet of blood that accompanied it.
As she entered she looked up at the head table. Dumbledore smiled at her, thought Madame Maxime became pale and Karkaroff glared. Neither shouted out however; Dumbledore had warned them and they had agreed to keep her secret.
Satisfied, yet still wary, Tevelle went to sit down, but frowned as she neared the Slytherin table. Clustered around Malfoy and his gang was a large portion of the Durmstrang students. Seated at her place setting was Viktor Krum. Normally, she would have had not problem simply moving, but her goblet of blood was there, and she dare not risk him tasting it, even if taking it would be slightly suspicious.
Out of the corner of her eye, Tevelle saw the at Karkaroff had noticed her darkening expression and had risen from his seat only to be gently pushed back down into it by Dumbledore. Tevelle would have to thank him, but not at the moment.
Krum casually reached for her goblet just as she came up behind him, and as quickly as her reflexes would allow without spilling any of the precious liquid, Tevelle snatched the goblet from his fingertips.
Krum turned toward her in confusion and surprise.
"You're in my seat," Tevelle explained impatiently, taking a small careful sip of blood to quell the hunger that had risen in her.
"Excuse me?" Krum blinked and stood slowly as if he didn't fully understand what she was saying. Around him everyone was staring at her as if she had sprouted wings. She could almost hear their thoughts, wondering whether she really knew who he was.
"You are in my seat," Tevelle repeated and Krum's baffled expression eased slightly. At least he wasn't a complete idiot.
"I vas not aware, I am sorry. Vould you like to sit down? I vill request another plate for you."
Flattered as she was by Krum's courteous manner, Tevelle was only half tempted to take the swat. Sure she wanted to emphasize that Krum was no god to be worshiped by mere mortals, but on the other hand, did she want to sit surrounded by Malfoy's gang and an affronted group of Durmstrang students? This was probably the only chance she was going to get to eat a meal without having to listen to Malfoy's bragging.
"No. if you can stand these people, then you deserve to sit here," she nodded towards Malfoy, letting disdain color her voice, "Though if you find their conversation interesting, I pity you greatly." With that she turned on her heel and strode away., Still, with her slightly superhuman senses she caught the amusement Krum felt as well as Malfoy's outrage.
Tevelle smiled and took one of the empty seats at the far end of the table. This was going to be interesting.
After the second course had been consumed and cleared, Dumbledore stood and an expectant hush filled the hall. The excited tension was palpable and Tevelle scowled uncomfortably at the sensation. Her heightened senses allowed her to feel a piece of every person's excitement and it was slightly overwhelming.
"The moment has come," Dumbledore beamed at the students, "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those that do not know them, Mr. Bartemous Crouch, Head of the Department of International magical Cooperation and Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."
There was a good deal more applause for Ludo Bagman than Bartemous Crouch, but Tevelle kept her hands still in her lap. She didn't like Ministry officials. They tended to be the most prejudiced toward her kind, even when their office was irrelevant such a sports. Still, when Crouch's gaze swept the hall she ducked her head, suddenly finding the woodgrain of the table very interesting and let her hair fall to obscure what showed of her face. She didn't want to be recognized by them unless there was no way to avoid it.
Dumbledore was speaking again and Tevelle returned her attention back to the present and to the Headmaster. "Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts. The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch."
Tevelle felt as if she could pluck the tense excitement that suddenly filled the hall like a harp string. She resisted the urge to lick her lips as the pulses of the students surrounding her raced, their heartbeats loud to her ears.
The headmaster was speaking again as Filch carried in an ancient jewel encrusted case, but Tevelle was to busy concentrating to truly hear what Dumbledore was saying. It took all of her energy just to keep her muscles from tensing up visibly an preventing herself from springing on any of the students despite the goblet of blood she had just enjoyed.
Her thirst died when she noticed a goblet filled with something quite different from blood held in Dumbledore's hands. Blue-white flame flickered within the rim of the simple wood cup. It was a wonder the thing did not catch fire.
"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line."
Idly, Tevelle wondered if the age line would work on her. Technically she was as old as some of the teachers, but her body was of a fourteen year old and had been for quite some time. Which part of her would the age line recognize? Perhaps she should try to cross one night. It would be interesting to see the result. Obviously she would not put her name in the Goblet, but she did not need to in order to cross the age line.
Students were rising from their seats and exiting the hall, bringing Tevelle back to herself. Apparently she had missed the rest of Dumbledore's speech, but it did not matter as she had no intention of entering the tournament. Hastily, she stood and made her way towards the doors into the entrance hall. She found herself close behind harry, Ron, and Hermione. She considered pulling Hermione aside and showing her the sample leaflets she had drawn, but did not want to interrupt the argument she was having with the Weasley twins.
Harry stopped to let Karkaroff and the Durmstrang students through first. Karkaroff brushed past him carelessly but froze when his eyes caught on Harry's lightning shaped scar. His students halted as well and stared at harry curiously. One particularly sloppy boy pointed openly at Harry's scar.
Tevelle could feel a scowl pull the corners of her mouth downward. There was no need for those people to gawk at him like he was some sort of animal in a zoo. Tevelle was just about to step forward and reprimand them for being so rude when Professor Moody spoke up from behind them.
"Yeah, that's Harry Potter," Moody growled.
Karkaroff looked towards him and Tevelle saw a flicker of anger in his eyes. Then his gaze shifted to Tevelle. She caught his eyes with hers and shook her head slightly, warning him not to make a scene. Fear mingled with his look of fury and all color drained from his face. Tevelle had to restrain a sigh at his reaction. It got very annoying when everyone's first reaction to her was fear.
"You!" Karkaroff said in astonishment and for a second Tevelle was unsure whether he spoke to her or Moody. Must be speaking to Moody, She reflected, he already knew I was here.
"Me," said Moody grimly, oblivious to Tevelle's effect on Karkaroff. "And unless you've got anything to say to Potter, Karkaroff, you might want to move. You're blocking the doorway."
Without another word, Professor Karkaroff swept his students away with him. A look of intense dislike showed on Moody's scarred face as he watched Professor Karkaroff leave. Tevelle understood their mutual hatred, but could find no part for herself on either side.
Aurorurs hated her kind, seeing vampires as servants of the darker side of magic when in reality they were just as much dark creatures as wizards themselves. And though Karkaroff had visited her Coven fifteen years prior, neither she nor her Coven bore Karkaroff any love.
This train of thought carried her out of the hall and back to the dormitories. Once there she waited quietly in her corner for the rest of the castle to fall asleep. Assured that her way was clear and she remained unobserved, Tevelle drew on a cloak of shadows and made her way back down to the entrance hall where the Goblet of Fire awaited any participant's entry. The age line shimmered dully in a light circle around the goblet.
Confidently, Tevelle stepped across. She made no move toward the goblet. She did not even have a strip of parchment to drop withing the blue-white flames on which she would divulge her name and school. The vampire had no wish to enter the Tournament, it would hardly have been a fair contest that way. Tevelle laughed softly to herself when the age line remained quiescent. Apparently it recognized that she was older then she appeared.
A sound to quiet for any ordinary human to hear caught her attention. Someone was coming, and not a student. This person was to quiet to be traveling without the aid o fa spell t ensure none heard them. That kind of spell was only potent enough to guard against human ears not a vampire's. Still, it was the kind of spell an Auroror or Dark wizard would know. Someone accustomed to sneaking about and remaining unseen as they carried out possibly less than appealing tasks. Tevelle got the feeling she did not want to be found standing next to the Goblet of Fire just the. Swiftly, she stalked to the shadowed wall ans allowed the darkness to conceal her from even the most careful eye.
Someone entered, her predatory instincts told her though her eyes insisted that the room remained bereft of any save her. Impatiently, Tevelle closed her eyes so she could better use her other senses that were less likely to be fooled. Yes, there it was, a heartbeat and the accompanying pulse of blood. Tevelle allowed her inner monster to surface slightly so that she could better observe this person. A sense of foreboding filled her as her senses sharpened and her added senses flared into life. This person had some Dark purpose in mind. For a second Tevelle was tempted to sneak up on the intruder and whip off their invisibility cloak to reveal the,. But the monster in her dashed that idea quickly away. Self survival was one of the most potent instincts in vampires and not easily overridden. Her safety here was tenuous at best already and all it would take to reveal her secret to the wrong person was one brash move on her part. Perhaps her vampire nature had more sense than her human side. She would not be surprised.
Light suddenly flared through Tevelle's eyelids, startling her into opening them. The light flared once again, blinding her. The brightness was painful to her overly sensitive eyes ans she bit back a whimper. Once the pain subsided she was able to work out that the flare had been the Goblet's wards fighting back whatever charm this wizard was trying to impress on it. Dark magic was thick in the air and Tevelle found it hard to breathe for the solidity of it. She needed to leave or she could suffocate. As quickly and as quietly as she was able, Tevelle fled the room. She did not stop until she reached the dormitory.
Tevelle found no rest that night. A single idea kept running through her mind. There was something more going on here. Someone at Hogwarts was not as they seemed.
A/N: That's the last chapter for a long while unless someone reviews. All it takes is one review and I will update. I don't care if it's criticism or praise, all I want is to know that I'm getting some response to this story. I don't want to threaten to discontinue the story every chapter, so just review, I promise I won't bite...much.