AN: I'M ALIVE. Sorry I haven't written in a while, and I'm also sorry that this chapter isn't longer. Life happened. I'm in college and it's eating all my time. I figured that I would update what I do have written rather than wait to publish
Maroongrad: is this still happy spasms? and are happy spasm's a good thing?
Once again, the great hall was bustling and noisy, filled with noisy students. Professor Alucard's seat was empty in glaring contrast to all the other chairs at the teachers' table.
"So, what did you think about defense against the dark arts yesterday?" Harry asked Hermione.
"It was interesting. Professor Alucard certainly has his own teaching style. So, is he as bad as you thought, Ron?"
"He's bloody brilliant. He saw me slug Malfoy. I thought I was going to be in huge trouble. But what does he do? He tells me that I should have hit him harder."
Hermione rolled her eyes, "He was actually instructing you on how to improve your punch, not telling you to hit Malfoy harder."
"Whatever, he still let me punch Malfoy."
"If that was any indication of the norm, we are going to learn lots of practical skills in defense this year. Maybe having a vampire as a teach won't be so bad."
"About that, aren't you guys curious as to what Alucard really is?"
Both Harry and Ron shook their heads. "Not really..."
"You guys aren't even wondering what kind of vampire Alucard is? For all we know he could be a Nosferatu or a Wamphyri, and I, for one, would like to know."
"Nosferatu?"
"Wamphyri?"
"Nosferatu, the strongest rank of vampire, they are both very old and have an extremely high level of natural skill and power. They are considered nearly undefeatable and should not be approached or sought out without extensive preparation. Wamphyri, a human turned into a vampiric creature through a parasitic leach-like worm that attaches itself to the heart. They are fairly weak among vampiric creatures but retain any magical skills from their life."
"We didn't really need a textbook definition..."
"Still, don't you want to know?" She glanced back at the teachers' table where the DADA seat was now filled. Alucard sat there drinking from a heavy golden goblet. "I mean, you saw him cast a wandless spell in class, right? That takes a powerful vampire, especially considering that most vampires can't even perform magic."
"Dumbledore wouldn't have hired him if he couldn't perform magic."
"That's not the point. There has to be a reason he was chosen for DADA by Dumbledore. Most vampires would be unsuited to teaching. Something has to be special about him. I want to know what."
"That's a good point," Harry stated, "There has to be something important we don't know here."
"More research," Ron groaned.
"Yes, more research, Ron. But, I don't want to be left in the dark. Remember the times before when teachers were hiding things and were suspicious? Quirrel shared his body with Voldemort, Lupin was a werewolf." Hermione said, "I'd rather research and know sooner rather than when it's too late."
Harry and Ron both nodded, thinking back to the suspicious discoveries of both Lupin and Quirrel.
The students entered the bleak cavernous defense against the dark room and sat in the chairs situated along the walls. A large mahogany cabinet sat in the middle of the room. It rattled ominously and the students looked at it confused and wondering why they were going over something they were already familiar with.
"Boggarts?" One student whispered in askance.
"Again?"
"Why?" The students continued chatting while waiting for the teacher to arrive.
"Why would he do boggarts when we've already seen them?" Harry looked to Hermione.
"I don't know," she glanced at the cabinet again, "it seems odd."
"I'm not going to complain," Ron interjected, "It'll be easy, we already know how to deal with boggarts."
Harry paled, "Remember what boggarts turn into for me."
Both Hermione and Ron looked nervous, "Oh," Ron glanced at the cabinet, "I hadn't thought of that."
"I'm sure it'll be fine, Professor Alucard seems experienced enough with dark creatures to deal with a pseudo-dementor."
They looked at the cabinet again only to jump at the sudden addition of their professor leaning against one side with his ever-present toothy smirk. The class slowly fell silent as more and more students noticed the professor.
"It took five minutes for everybody to notice me. How incredibly unobservant. If I were hostile, you would all unquestionably be dead." He tapped his hand against the side of the cabinet, "Clearly, you all know what this is, and as such, I expect you also know how to deal with them." He looked at the class with a meaningful expression, "This will not be the same as last time you covered boggarts. Does anybody know what happens to boggarts when they are exposed to dark energy?" He looked to Hermione with her hand in the air, "Yes, Bookworm?"
"They become exponentially more powerful. They still embody a persons' greatest fear, but instead of simply a person or object, it portrays the entire scene and situation of that persons' greatest fear. Ridiculus no longer works and they must be combated with the more complex Haud Vereor spell."
"And if somebody has no fears?"
"A standard boggart will simply stay away while a boggart exposed to dark energy will rapidly go through the persons worst memories and transform into what disturbs the person the most."
"Line up."
The students stood and sorted themselves into an orderly single file line. Neville stood nervously at the front of the line as all the other students pushed behind him. He stepped forward and Alucard opened the door of the cabinet.
Severus Snape stepped forward from the blackness and the potions room seemed to melt from the shadows and turned the DADA room into an exact replica of the potions room with Neville sitting at his desk with his cauldron filled with an acidic compound that was clearly not correct. Snapes sharp glare had focused on Neville's pathetic potion...
Neville shook nervously staring at Snape with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"Cast the spell, Neville." Hermione called.
"H-Haud-d V-veror," Neville stuttered pointing his want at Snape's copy. Snape paused and the room flickered slightly. Neville looked terrified as his spell fizzled miserably.
"Pathetic," Alucard rumbled, "Cast it again. Do not disappoint me."
Neville visibly swallowed. His expression hardened slightly, "Haud Vereor!" He shouted and the whole scene seemed to be sucked back into the cabinet as the room returned to normal.
"Next time, do that the first time."
Ron stepped forward and spiders of every size crawled from the cabinet and the room took on a forest scene. Ron backed away as the spiders began to surround him but a solid hand at his back kept him in place. He looked back and saw the Professor looking annoyed and blocking his retreat.
He raised his wand, "Haud Vereor!" The scene dissipated and melted back into the cabinet.
The line shortened as students took their turn and finally it was Harry's turn. He stepped forward nervously, unsure of what his scene would entail. He faced the cabinet and the boggart erupted into dementors and the room melted into a scene from the muggle world with many helpless muggles standing with only Harry between them and the dementors.
"Haud Vereor!" Harry shouted and the scene remained unchanged. He panicked, "Haud Vereor! HAUD VEREOR!" The scene still remained unchanged. Harry stumbled backwards a few steps, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" He shouted and felt an immediate rush of relief as the ethereal silvery stag burst forth into the swarm of dementors.
The relief turned to horror as nothing seemed to come of the nearly perfect patronus. It charged to the cloaked figures, and then walked among them, having no effect as the dementors continued their relentless pursuit. Ten torturously long seconds passed before the effect finally seemed to kick in as some, then all, of the dementors paused. But then something eerily unpredictable happened. The dementors turned and slowly drifted towards the patronus as if attracted by some magnetic pull. The dementors surrounded the patronus, unaffected, and into it. As they merged, they corrupted the stag, turning it dark as its slivery body appeared to be made from inky black shadows and its eyes turned red.
Harry froze, horrified. The black stag turned to face him, revealing sharp antlers as it ducked its head preparing to charge. It leapt forward towards Harry as he stood helpless against his own creation while more dementors moved in towards the Harry and the muggles.
Alucard stepped between Harry and the stag, halting its charge with one hand. The scene immediately flashed to a battlefield. Impaled victims mounted on spikes densely covered the ground all the way to the sunset on the horizon and rivers of blood flowed across the landscape. Alucard's hands were bound behind his back as he kneeled with his neck over a thick stump. A man towered over him with a battle-axe raised above his head. "Olmeye haziriz Kazikli Bey?" The axe descended and the scene abruptly changed.
The battlefield shifted into a massive graveyard and countless tombstones replaced the impaled victims. Alucard lay on his back propped against an open coffin and a thick wooden stake protruding from his chest with a stoic man towering over him. The man reached down and lifted Alucard by his collar, "She will never be yours, Count. You have nothing. You are nothing." Once again the scene changed drastically.
A bustling modern manor stood in front of them as the people on the scene aged and the building rapidly deteriorated and fell apart only to be replaced by new buildings that also deteriorated into nothing repeating quickly and endlessly. Alucard raised his hand to point at the scene and it rapidly receded back into the cabinet that was then shut.
Most of the students looked terrified and sickened by the scenes but Hermione just looked shocked. The whole episode had lasted less than thirty seconds but all the students had the horrifying scenes imbedded into their memories.
Alucard, however, was completely unfazed, "Class dismissed," he stated and faded out of the room even though nobody else had heard the bell. The students simply stood in their places, unable to comprehend what they had just witnessed.