AN: I had a review long ago that said the ending of this chapter was too abrupt. I agreed with it and now I've added almost 1300 words, so enjoy. I apologize for the 2 year hiatus, but hey, better late than never, right?
As the trio retreated from the uncomfortable classroom out into the hall and walked towards the Griffindor common room they couldn't help but whisper about the new, and clearly mental, professor.
"He can't seriously be our teacher," Ron groaned, "He's mental. Coming into the classroom fifteen minutes late, and then just staring at us."
Harry swallowed thickly thinking about the tense atmosphere of the classroom, "He didn't even really give an introduction class like the rest of the teachers usually do."
"He was seriously just waiting for somebody to talk," Hermione pondered, "But that should not have been that insanely terrifying. He didn't even do anything to be terrifying, he just was. Even Snape can't keep a classroom quiet just by sitting there. And what about his first comment? He said he was there the entire time, but we all saw an empty chair."
Ron scoffed, "Obviously, he was lying, or he's crazy, or both. I can't believe he's our teacher. That means we have to go back and do that again. We're not going to learn anything this year," he moaned.
They entered the Griffindor common room and sat in the overstuffed chairs.
"He's probably not going to just stare at us every class period," Harry mumbled unconvincingly, "…I hope."
"I don't think he was lying about sitting there," Hermione trailed off, "But it does suggest that I was right about him not being human. He must have some kind of ability to conceal himself."
Harry considered for a moment, "That would certainly explain the terror. It must be like a how a dementor can take all the happiness from the people around them." He looked to Hermione, "Any ideas on what he is?"
She frowned sharply, "No," she said almost petulantly, knowing where Harry was going with this, "I mean; we know what he looks like. He can darken a room, conceal himself, and he's innately terrifying. That describes just about every shadow dwelling magical creature I can think of… except for the friendly ones… Now we just know that he's not any of the friendly shadow creatures because people aren't instinctually afraid of those."
She looked at Harry accusingly as he started to walk towards the stairs, "No. Just no. You can't be serious. We are not stalking him. We have just established that he can't possibly be something safe." Harry vanished up the stairs and she cursed her luck.
Ron just stayed silent, watching the exchange as his complexion slowly lost all of its color.
Harry went up to his dorm and retrieved the invisibility cloak and returned to Ron and Hermione, "You said one class. We still don't know what he is, and I am not sitting through another class like that without at least finding out. Personally, I'd rather learn on our own terms than have something happen when we aren't expecting it."
Hermione sighed and Ron just nodded glumly, knowing this was an argument that they were going to lose, but they couldn't let Harry go alone. They donned the cloak and grudgingly trudged out of the common room.
They walked out of the dorms into the hallway with the cloak swishing about their feet and leaving their feet partially visible.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Harry whispered to activate the marauders map. Three pair of curious eyes traced the map searching for the name Alucard anywhere. They found something quite odd, there was a dot labeled Alucard, but it seemed to be moving disregarding walls, and sometimes it even jumped from one spot to another without any warning.
"Apparating is impossible in Hogwarts…isn't it?" Harry asked.
"Yes, it must be something else." Hermione answered.
Ron gulped, "What else could it be though?"
Hermione just shook her head, "I don't know," She said as they continued to watch the dot traverse the map for several more minutes.
Finally, the dot ceased wandering and stayed in an isolated location deep in the dungeons. Luckily for the trio, there was a shortcut to the dungeons charted on the map.
"That way," Harry whispered to the other two.
"Are you sure?" Ron asked, looking less and less like he wanted to continue.
"Yes," Harry said, leaving no room for argument.
They lapsed into silence trying to navigate the long hallways.
"…would be able to get me the Defense position." Umbridge grumbled turning around a nearby corner as the trio froze and tried to cover themselves with the cloak entirely, "How does he expect to keep the brats from learning to fight if he doesn't even control the school enough to instate one teacher? No matter, I can just get that creepy new teacher fired. Soon enough I'll control Hogwarts, the Minister will be so pleased. Dumbledore will never know what hit him. His little student army will fall apart before it ever forms. Stupid little brats. Why I have to….." She passed around another corner on the way to her room.
"Seriously?" Ron stated incredulous, "Is that what the Ministry really thinks?"
"Yeah, that sounds about right," Harry grumbled.
"I don't believe it. They really think Dumbledore is trying to make an army of students?" Hermione asked skeptically.
"Yea," Harry grumbled another affirmative.
"You don't suppose that she can actually get teachers fired? Do you?" Hermione asked concerned.
"I bet she can," Harry moped, "but I don't think that the teachers will take that lying down. I mean, think of what McGonagall would do."
They all chuckled at the mental image of the stern transfigurations teacher lecturing the toad.
The halls got gloomier as they neared the dungeons where their new teacher was located. The clean, cheery walls and nice warm wood flooring morphed into dreary stone that smelled of musk and earth. Flickering torches lit their way and they slowed their pace to make sure they didn't trip over any hidden protrusions of the uneven flooring.
"Creepy place for a creepy teacher," Harry whispered.
"Harry, you don't know anything about him," Hermione chastised.
"Um…guys," Ron whimpered pointing downward at spiders that seemed to be a part of the ambiance.
"It's nothing. Just a few spiders. Relax." Harry responded trying to calm Ron's frayed nerves.
The torches flickered out as they walked forward immersing the hallway entirely in darkness. The trio looked around trying to see anything around them, but could only just make out the outlines of the walls. The floor became less and less solid and they could feel the insects crunching under their shoes.
Squeaks could be heard as they went further and beady little eyes reflected an eerie red even without light. Harry felt the unmistakable texture of scales over his ankle and suppressed a grimace. Ron whimpered again as he heard the hisses and squeaks coming from the floor.
"Just a little further," Harry whispered.
"How much further?" Ron questioned carefully.
"Just a few more feet," Harry responded.
They continued forward through the creepy crawlies nearly coating the floor. Suddenly the hallway took on a dim reddish hue and they could see a little better.
"That doesn't look like a few feet." Hermione said annoyed.
"The map showed a few feet," Harry responded indignantly.
The trio started to walk faster hoping to shorten the journey. They broke out into a run, disregarding the cloak that was now revealing all the way to their knees.
"We're not getting closer," Harry stuttered, frightened as the door stubbornly refused to become closer even as they ran towards it.
"What's going on?" Ron whined.
"I told you this wasn't a good idea." Hermione gave her best I told you so, even in the dire situation.
The hallway plunged into absolute darkness and nothing could be seen. The trio gulped and shuffled forward, unable to turn back now that they had come so close. Points of red became visible and they screamed as they were suddenly surrounded by thousands of glowing red eyes.
Crazed laughter echoed along the hall and the trio sprinted away from the sound heedless of the insects, rats and snakes they stepped on. The hallway gave an eerie red glow while managing to not make it any easier to see. It was as if darkness itself had taken on a red tinge. The laughter came closer to them and coalesced to one source. They could hear footsteps as they cowered under the minimal protection of the invisibility cloak. The laughter died down into amused chuckles as the footsteps became worryingly near and the reddish tinge again left leaving only darkness.
A figure emerged from the suffocating darkness, somehow able to be seen even through the absolute lack of light, as if it produced its own source of light. Two red orbs were the first feature the trio noticed as he, no, it approached them. It was the new DADA professor, chuckling to himself like he knew of the plight of the invisible students not even ten feet from him.
He had removed his coat, hat and glasses leaving him dressed in a simple white silk shirt, a tasteful black vest, black pants and riding boots. His eyes were a glowing crimson and had a crazed glint to them as they flicked around, searching the hallway. The trio was afraid to even breathe as his eyes paused when passing over where they were standing.
Alucard seemed to smell the air and then turned towards the hidden students. Long strides brought him face to face with the invisible trio as they tried to shuffle away without him noticing. His mouth opened in a smile that split his face from ear to ear revealing elegant rows of dagger-like teeth and long dangerous fangs. An overly long tongue emerged tasting the air like a snake would and Alucard looked directly at the petrified students even though he couldn't see them with his eyes.
'Invisibility, hmm, interesting. But they still smell and taste strongly of fear' Alucard thought as he reached out with his gloved hand towards the terrified students who watched helplessly. His hand patted the top of Harry's head as Harry stiffened anticipating the worst possible outcomes and praying for the best.
"Hmmm, interesting," Alucard laughed as he pulled the unresisting cloak off and exposing the three wayward students.
"Ummm, Professor…. we can explain…." Harry stuttered not knowing what to do.
"Really? I've got to hear this," Alucard responded with mirthful anticipation while leading the three students down the hallway that now seemed much shorter without the vampiric illusion preventing the students from gaining ground. (AN: the technique used against the biker freaks if you're wondering)
The trio followed like kicked puppies, dragging their feet and dreading the outcome of this encounter. Alucard led them into a dim dungeon room that was vast and nearly empty. The professor walked over to a vaguely hexagonal box with cloth draped on top that was shaped suspiciously like a coffin and sat on it.
"You may sit if you like," Alucard said, knowing full well that there were no chairs in the room. The students looked quizzically at each other, and then simply sat on the dirty stone floor, hoping that if they were cooperative that they would receive a less severe punishment.
"So, about that explanation, do you care to share?" he asked knowing full well that the three students had no real reason to be wandering around the dungeon.
"Well, you see…" Hermione started, "Ummm."
"We were trying to…uhh…" Harry continued.
They babbled over each other for a while, never really managing to say anything to explain themselves.
Alucard waved them off, sparing them further embarrassment, and laughed at their foolish attempts. "You really should learn to lie better. Of course, it doesn't help that I can read your minds anyway."
The trio looked at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. Alucard simply graced them with a wide smile, revealing his fangs. Hermione gasped, belatedly realizing what their new teachers race was.
"You're a vampire!" she screeched horrified. Harry and Ron looked towards her and back to the teacher.
"And you have invited yourself into my den," Alucard responded, his smile growing wider, exposing more dagger-like teeth, "What do you think happens to wayward students who stumble into the monsters lair?" Alucard stood, slowly approaching the students who screamed and immediately jumped to their feet to flee, praying they could escape. As they ran down the hallway the shadows gained form and grasped their ankles tripping them and dragging them backwards as they struggled.
Hermione conjured sunlight with her wand and the shadows loosened allowing them to wriggle free. Laughter echoed behind them, then in front of them as Alucard appeared from the flickering shadows cast by the torches. Ron ran into Alucard and impacted like he had run into a brick wall. The trio whipped around and rushed down another hallway chased by the cruel, insane laughter of their professor.
They stopped and recovered themselves before they put the invisibility cloak back on. They gasped for air, hoping they had lost the crazed professor. They backed up to the wall and took a few seconds to recompose themselves. They glanced up and down the hallways nervously, expecting to see their red-clad professor approaching at any moment.
Instead, they screeched as long thin arms extended form behind to grasp Ron with gloved hands. Ron squirmed uselessly against the vice grip while Harry and Hermione jumped away from the wall and whipped around to see the arms extending through the wall. Ron craned his neck to see and they all watched in shocked silence as their tormentor emerged the rest of the way out of the wall bringing a stunned Ron with him and grasping the unfortunate boy to his chest.
Alucard smirked again, gracing the trio with his snakelike fangs yet again and openly laughing at their fear, "You'll have to do better than that. Cowering in the corner simply won't cut it." He released Ron and vanished back into the wall. The trio screeched as the expanse of wall he melted into became a mural of shadows and glowing eyes shortly before tendrils reached towards them and quickly persuaded them to run away down the hallway leading in the opposite direction and away from the terrifying ribbons of shadows.
They glanced behind them and shrieked in horror as they saw what could be interpreted as a demonic mockery of a dog's head emerge from the shadows. Their limbs froze as the new threat emerged further its many eyes glinting mischievously, front legs, back legs, and finally a long bushy tail that wagged like an overly excited puppy being presented a tempting bone.
Their frozen terror transformed into fast kinetic panic as the dog turned to face them and, amazingly, smiled with its toothy maw, reminding them of their demonic professors gleeful, taunting smile. They fled as the dog bounded towards them.
They turned to frantically race down staircase that branched off of the hallway and the dog bounded past them into the wall at the end of the hallway.
Alucard appeared in front of them, grinning manically and they immediately stumbled to a halt and ran up the staircase instead. Quickly traversing up the staircase, they jumped and escaped the staircase into the hallway next to them as they heard a gut-wrenching snarl echo within the stairwell and saw the distinctive red brim of the hat emerge slightly from the wall in front of them.
They tore down the hallway as fast as they could run and shrieked yet again as all three of them were suddenly pushed against the wall. The trio was caught, two long arms caging them against the wall with gloved hands pressed flat to the brick, and the glowing red eyes fully visible as Alucard leaned over the terrified trio.
The trapped golden trio flattened themselves into the brick, cringing away from the manic visage of their professor who was towering over them and presenting them with a smile that showed all of his teeth in horrifying detail.
All three flinched back as the mouth opened and the overly long, pointed tongue emerged. Hermione whimpered as Alucard leaned forward and licked her, leaving a slimy trail of saliva up her neck and cheek all the way to her temple.
The professor leaned back and graced them with a chuckle that chilled them to the bone as his form faded from solid to opaque and finally faded away entirely. The trio, badly shaken, looked at each other with eyes the size of dinner plates. Untrusting and disbelieving they quickly checked up and down the hallway to see no signs of the vampire.
Almost at the same time, they noticed the portrait of the fat lady directly across the hallway from them and nearly gasped. Hurrying to the portal they spoke the password and rushed into the safety of the common room, breathing hard from their exertions and nearly delirious with relief.
"That was on purpose, there's no way it wasn't," Hermione panted almost to herself.
"What was on purpose," Ron gasped quietly, his voice too shaky to trust with any higher volume.
She looked at him with raised eyebrows and continued, "He chased us back to the Gryffindor common room entrance on purpose, there is no other way that chase could have ended here. We certainly didn't arrive here without help. And didn't it strike you as odd that we didn't encounter a single other professor patrolling after curfew? We should have been caught with as much noise as we were making."
Harry looked at her like she had grown a second head, "There's no way. You saw how he was chasing us. We were going to be vampire snacks."
"And the way he disappeared just after he caught us?" Hermione huffed, "If he wanted to eat us, he easily could have."
Harry shuddered at the reminder, but there was no denying the facts. They shivered as the room seemed to become colder, but the feeling left almost as soon as they felt it.
After a few minutes of hushed silence passed, Hermione had recovered a little more. "So," she chastised, "are you satisfied? I told you before we left that we shouldn't go. We're just lucky that he was just toying with us." She continued stronger, "It would have been our fault too, he didn't come hunting us. We were stalking him!" She nearly screeched at them.
Harry just sat quietly, knowing they couldn't argue with her logic. And they couldn't blame her for being mad. He knew he had dragged them off on a foolhardy escapade with no protection beyond the thin fabric of the invisibility cloak. Wait, the invisibility cloak. "Where is the invisibility cloak?" Harry asked Ron and Hermione.
"It must have been dropped along the way," Ron moaned.
Harry hung his head dejectedly, knowing that he may not be able to retrieve the prized gift from his father. Hermione leaned in to comfort him but froze just as she was about to put her hand on his shoulder. Harry, curious, followed her gaze and gasped. Lying innocently on the back of his chair was his invisibility cloak, the unique, shimmery fabric folded neatly. The trio shuddered at the revelation.
Ron squeaked an airy whimper, "He was in here?"
"Apparently so," Harry whispered and glanced around.
"Well," Hermione started, "vampire or not, it looks like he's not malicious."
"After that chase!?" Harry began only to be cut off by an annoyed glance from Hermione.
"Think about it," She chastised, "We actually got in less trouble with Professor Alucard than we would have gotten into if we ran into any other Professor. He didn't hurt us, he didn't take house points, he didn't give detention, and he didn't turn us in. I could continue, but you get the idea. All he did was suggest that we shouldn't have gone to his room." She breathed in deeply to continue her rant, "I, quite frankly, agree with him. It was stupid and foolhardy."
Harry almost cut in, but was yet again cut off by Hermione's glare.
"He even returned your cloak," she bit off.
"Fine, it's not like we get much of a choice but to deal with him anyway." Harry grumbled, defeated, "I still don't trust him. At least we know what he is…I guess…"