AN: I still have readers! And the reviews! You guys are the best. Cookies for all! Speaking of which, I could use some ideas for dark magical creatures or spells they could learn about. I'm a little lacking in inspiration for the next few lessons. I have the next chapter written already. When I hit 5 reviews on this chapter I will post it.
DADA was going to prove interesting today. They had gathered in the sparse room and as the tardy bell sounded Seras bounced in, calling out "Everybody, follow me!" So they followed, and found themselves outside. From what they had seen of Seras, she was naturally bubbly and excitable in general, but today she seemed even more hyper than usual. It was hard to believe that she was possibly one of the most lethal species on the planet.
It was just after dusk that class had started and they had followed Seras to the grassy area just outside of the forbidden forest. Alucard was waiting for them there. He managed to appear as if he was lurking in a shadowy corner instead of standing in the middle of a fairly open field.
Seras clapped abruptly, "So! Today's lesson is also on vampires. Professor Hagrid is going to join us for this lesson," She gestured over the students' heads and they flinched when they realized that the gentle giant had unintentionally snuck up on them. The class shuffled nervously as they considered the implications of Hagrid's attendance.
"Today, we're going to cover magical creatures that are likely to be found near vampires. Last class, we practiced dealing directly with a vampire attack. This class, we will cover what to do once you have managed to successfully neutralize the vampire," Seras lectured. "Even after neutralizing a vampire, you are still in danger. Vampires are rarely alone. Very young vampires form covens with other young vampires of similar power. Juvenile vampires in a coven are unlikely to have any companions outside of that coven," she smirked, "essentially, what you see is what you get." She looked to the class, "Any questions so far?"
The students shook their heads and she continued, "Apart from stray fledglings, small covens of young vampires are the easiest kinds of vampire encounters to deal with. They won't exhibit any unpredictable abilities, and they are likely to be skittish rather than aggressive. If you neutralize one member of the coven, the rest are likely to choose to stay back and defend their defeated member rather than pursue and attack. There are also juvenile vampires that choose to either travel in pairs or stay solitary. Does anyone remember what you are likely to encounter near this kind of vampire?" She paused, and the class stared blankly, distracted by their proximity to the intimidating forbidden forest. They were getting fidgety as they focused more and more on the dark forest in front of them, waiting for something to jump out.
Seras was having none of it, "I'm not going to tell you if you're not even paying attention," she snapped harshly.
Alucard chuckled, immediately becoming the center of attention. "How do any of you expect to handle dark creatures if you can't even manage to stand outside confidently?" he mocked.
"I'll ask again," Seras started, and this time she had the classes full attention, "What are you going to encounter near a juvenile vampire who lacks a coven?"
Malfoy was the first to answer, "Werewolves that are hunting the foolish vampire."
Seras looked pleased, "That's actually one I didn't expect you to guess right away. Ten points. Yes, werewolves and vampires are natural enemies. Werewolves are instinctually smart enough to stay away from large covens and powerful mature vampires, but a lone juvenile vampire is very likely to have at least one werewolf hunting it. This is only really a problem during full moons though." She paused, "Actually, you are reasonably likely to encounter a pack of werewolves near a coven of vampires during a full moon. Though they are not likely to attack you while in pursuit of a vampire unless you provoke them." She added lightly. "Anything else?"
"Ghouls?" Harry questioned.
"Yes, you are almost guaranteed to encounter ghouls near a solitary vampire. Ghouls are slow, stupid, relatively short-lived, and arguably more dangerous than the vampire itself." Seras glanced over at the class who looked a little nervous, "Can anybody tell me why?"
"Is it because they attack in swarms?" Harry considered.
Seras smiled, "And not only that, they are very dangerous in close quarters combat. They are also completely immune to pain and they never tire. They are only hindered when they have taken too much damage to move. Oh, and if a human gets a single scratch from a ghouls tooth, they become a ghoul as well. How many people here could calmly face an army of your friends shambling at you as a horde of ghouls?" Seras asked rhetorically. Silence fell over the class as they considered the horrifying scenario.
She continued, "If you do manage to keep running and stay far enough away from them...well...it's very likely that the master vampire will grab you. Then you're dead. If you neglected to neutralize the vampire, the ghouls will run you in circles until you're too exhausted to move or the vampire chooses to devour you as an easy snack."
"It might also choose to have some entertainment first, " Alucard chimed in and Seras blushed, "if it has chosen ghouls as companions, it is likely to guarantee that you turn into a ghoul." A few of the students looked confused, and the rest looked sick. "Or, I suppose you could have another vampire come save you..." he trailed off.
Seras caught his eye, "Or come and shoot you through the heart."
"As well as the vampire," Alucard amended. The class looked thoroughly confused with the odd exchange.
Seras sighed, "The point is, ghouls are often more dangerous than you think, immune to magic, and you are almost guaranteed to die if a hostile vampire grabs you. Any questions?"
Hermione looked thoughtful, and then alarmed, "This would be exceedingly effective against muggle emergency response teams wouldn't it? Not only do they operate in fairly small, close knit teams, but they send backup if things go sour."
"The more backup comes, the worse the situation would become," Malfoy immediately concluded.
"Muggles would have no idea what was going on," Hermione added.
"By the time the Ministry responded even the Aurors would be impossibly outnumbered," Ron squeaked.
Alucard laughed cruelly, "Did you forget that ghouls are completely immune to direct magical attacks and immune to all pain? Aurors fight with magic and don't have many methods besides magic to defend themselves. If we depended on Aurors to take on vampire exterminations they would be hopelessly outmatched. There would be no more Aurors, just shambling corpses."
"Who takes care of vampires then?" Harry inquired.
Alucard smiled, making the students cringe, "The Hellsing Organization."
Malfoy was watching Seras suspiciously, half-ignoring the questioning session that was going on. Seras noticed, "What is it?" She asked cautiously. Malfoy looked vaguely disturbed, she couldn't recall anything she had done that could cause him to look at her that way.
"Why does Professor Alucard call you Police Girl?" He asked completely devoid of his usual mocking tone. The whole class went silent. Now that they thought about it, that was an odd nickname.
"Hmm... oh... oh, yes," Seras stuttered, "I was a police officer before I worked for Hellsing..." She trailed off as the students looked at her with horrified expressions. Hermione tentatively raised her hand, "Yes?" Seras prompted.
"How did you meet Professor Alucard?" Hermione queried.
Realization finally dawned on Seras, "So that's what you're getting at." Well, at least that explained Malfoy's strange expression. "I guess it was inevitably going to come up at some point. My patrol was sent as backup for another team that went missing. They couldn't establish any communication with the team, so we were going in blind. We almost immediately encountered what looked like zombie versions of the police squat that we were supposed to be backing up. We immediately called it in to headquarters and some of the older members started to open fire at the corpses. I was new at the time, so I got scared and ran. My comrades were quickly surrounded and outnumbered. Shooting ghouls with standard bullets is not effective in the slightest. So I found myself pursued by ghouled versions of my comrades. Luckily, ghouls are slow, so I managed to outrun them for a while. That bought me enough time for Master to show up, but the vampire had already grabbed me. You can probably fill in the rest."
She looked around at the class, who were all starting to look a bit green. "That's probably a good example of the dangers of ghouls. Any more questions before we move on?" The class stood in stunned silence. "Okay, then moving on to ghasts."