(DADA) T4: Lesson One: Bloodsuckers

[Veata Bane]

Somehow, Veata wasn't surprised at all to see the pale form glide in through the doors, but it didn't mean she wasn't scared. Gripping her wand tight in her slender fingers, V glared at the form that strode, endlessly beautiful, lifelessly graceful, across the room. You know, of course the thing she was forced to do this 'demonstration' (note how the Professor didn't call it a 'death sentence', when that's what it really was) got to carry a wand along with her 'enhancements' and fangs. Perfectly fair.

"Great to meet you," she called sarcastically to the vampire, lifting her wand slightly. V shot an angry glance at the professor, not really caring if the whole class saw. This was even worse than the news Erys had for her a while ago. Lately, it was like her life was going downhill, and today it would probably END, so she supposed it wouldn't even matter if Erys wanted to date some stupid guy. Lifting her wand higher, she closed her eyes and took a breath, trying to calm down, but she couldn't seem to get the childish chanting of You're going to die! You're going to die! out of her head.[/font]

[Angelique Juliette]

Angel was so happy she just earned her house five more points. That was probably one of the few things that ever made her really smile her at school. Well that and a really good looking Slytherin male. She was lost in thought wasn't even really listening to the professor as she commented on the other girls outburst. Her penchant for daydreaming coming to the forefront once more. Her eyes began to glaze over and she was sure someone would notice if they stared at her at all.

Luckily, for her two new arrivals to the class forced her to come back to reality. It was some dark haired girl she had never seen before and Joshua a Slytherin. One Angel thought was rather hot. She eyed him covertly as he made his way to a seat. She lost herself once more but then the other person started to speak and Angel realized who she must be. Hearing the teacher called Veata up to the front of the room, Angel once again focused her attention on the class. She could do her pining later if need be.

[croll]

Catching the glare from Veata, Caroline laughed, having expected it. Nobody liked being picked for something like this. Nodding as the beautiful Ravenclaw entered the room, she knew Cessily didn't need to go over the rules again. No killing the students, no harming the students. "Class, Miss Monroe has graciously accepted my offer to help with a demonstration. She will pretend to attack Miss Bane, who will use the information on the board to protect herself." Giving one of those 'its perfectly safe' looks, the professor looked at the door, seeing Joshua join them. "Mr. Rivas, you're just in time." Cracking a small grin, she stepped away from the pair, sitting on a desk in the front row to watch how Veata handled herself. "The trick is to stay calm." She reminded her, knowing the rest of the class was watching. Thinking something around the lines of thank god they weren't picked, or why hadn't they been chosen in the first place. Though Miss bane had contributed much to the topic, she had fallen asleep. This wasn't supposed to be viewed as a punishment, but she probably thought that anyway.

"Take a seat, Mr. Rivas, and dont forget to copy the notes down." Caroline instructed, "You may start, girls." She finished, wand in hand in case anything went wrong. Which wouldn't happen, most assuredly. The quicker he did it, the faster he'd be able to watch Veata defend herself. She looked very scared, the professor had to admit.[/color]

[Cessily Monroe]

"Yes, professor." Cessily muttered, bearing a wide grin as Joshua entered- starting to walk but quickening her pace into a run. She was a blur, heading straight for Veata. If not hit away by a spell, she would slap the girl's wand away before carefully locking her hands on the Slytherin's shoulders. Her lips (fangless, unfortunately) would be at her neck in minutes.

She was the one who had attacked Joshua before the holidays, but nobody knew that. And they didn't know she drank human blood either. But she had made a promise to Professor Croll, and she wouldn't betray her. She'd face expulsion, before she graduated and everything.

[Joshua Rivas]

Joshua retireved some scrunched up parchment from his pocket and started scribbling down notes. He suddenly felt eyes on him to see a girl turn away from him. He knew her....Ange-something? Wasn't she Erys' friend? He shook his head, then felt a different presence in the room.

She was here. The vampire. The one who nearly killed him last term. How the hell could Professor Croll justify this? How the hell could this....creature...still be enrolled. Of course, no one knew it was her. He felt a familiar longing as he looked at the pale girl, beautiful and terrible. Joshua masked conflicting feelings with a face of disinterest and cool confidence. He wouldn't let her get the better of him. And if he was allowed to 'demonstrate', he'd 'demonstrate' why it was better not to screw with a Rivas.

Suddenly the vamp attacked the Slytherin girl, and Joshuas settled down to watch the show.

[Maria Turolia]

Maria sat silently through the lesson, watching as vampire students joined the class. She had studied vampires some, but not a lot. She was actually surprised that the vampires had agreed to participate in this sort of thing.

Her eyes followed the blur as the Ravenclaw vampire suddenly went toward Veata. She watched in Veata's direction carefully, so that she would be sure not to miss anything. She had been right, this class was turning out quite interesting.

[Alexis Heart]

Alexis hadn't said much after she asked her one and only question. Sometimes she preferred taking notes to participating. Her parchment for this class was almost already filled. Her left hand tired from all the writing as she tired to keep up with all the new information written on the board. She had heard everything that was going on but she preferred to focus on the board. This is what she usually did when she felt uncomfortable she tried to find other things to focus on. It was just easier that way at least for her.

The only thing that deterred her from what she was doing thought was two more people joining their class one Slytherin boy and a fellow Ravenclaw. Al thought she was there for class, which she was but not as a student no she was there as the example of a vampire. Alexis gasped but no sound had come out from her mouth. She dropped her quill on the floor and quickly bent down out of sight to pick it up.

She couldn't believe this, how could she not have known that one of her own was a vampire. She was breathing kind of fast now, still she was pretending to look for the quill. She was afraid to lift her head again for fear that everyone would see her reaction including her fellow Ravenclaw.

After some time her little panic attack subsided. She righted herself, putting the quill back on her desk. Eyes never leaving the front of the room she made sure she was paying attention, she wanted to know exactly what to do to repel a vamp if she had to. With what she just found out she just might have to.

[Veata Bane]

When it happened, Veata wasn't exactly ready. She hadn't thought of a spell to repel the girl... the vampire, and yet the streak of pale white was heading right towards her. V needed time to think, she needed a distraction. Pointing her wand confidently at Cessily, she flicked her wand and cried out "Avis!" Instantly and explosion of feathers erupted in the air, and a flock of midnight black birds burst from the tip of her willow wand. Hopefully, that would slow the vampire down for a second.

Thinking quickly, Veata glanced to the board. She couldn't think of any spell to get her garlic fast enough. Accio, but that wasn't quaranteed to get it here quickly. And for some reason she didn't think a spell to decapitate Cessily in some way was a reasonable reaction to a fake attack from a vampire. So that left light. Light. A light spell. Her diversion wouldn't last forever, she could see Cessily's white skin from behind the wall of screeching birds.

And then she had it.

"Expecto patronum!" Veata cried over the sqwuaking of her birds, closing her eyes and imagining her father holding her on her fifth Christmas morning. When she opened her eyes, slinking from the tip of her wand like a lion on the prowl came the elegant sabretooth cat of her patronus. A light spell. Holding her wand steady, Veata fought to concentrate on the sparkle of the lights on the Christmas tree as she was held in her father's protective arms.[/font]

[Cessily Monroe]

Startled, Cessily hissed, closing her eyes and thrashing away the flock of birds that had gone kamikaze on her. She hadn't been expecting that spell, which hadn't even been in her conjuring index. Hell, she hadn't even known that spell. Clawing at the enormous amount of feathers blocking her view, the vampire slapped away a more vicious one with a small crack. Finishing off the last flying creature, she stepped forward only to shrink back at the patronus. "God damnit!" She cursed, slashing at the bright beast in the hopes of fighting it back. This was the same thing that had stopped her from changing Joshua that day, how could that impudent whelp have known to use it now? Croll had told her to use light, but..

Pressing herself against the closed door, the vampire squeezed her eyes shut, throwing an arm up to protect her vision. "Okay, okay, turn it off." Cessily snarled, still attempting self control. Right about now she wondered why she had been stupid enough to accept this ridiculous offer.

[Maria Turolia]

A smile played across Maria's lips as she saw Veata conjure a patronus. She had known Veata was a force to be reckoned with, but she was still very impressed by her performance. Her gaze landed on the vampire as she stood protecting her vision from the patronus.

"Brilliant," Maria said, barely audible. Using avis to by time and then casting a patronus, brilliant was the only way to describe Veata's reaction. She had been hoping, of course, that the vampire would have been a little more difficult for Veata to stop, but the birds seemed to have surprised the vampire more than they did anybody else.

[croll]

"Well, that was quick." Caroline muttered, impressed once again with Veata's accomplishment. "Excellent, Miss Bane! You guessed the best way to protect yourself. Ten points for Slytherin." Clapping her hands together to stop the demonstration, she turned to face the class, grinning. "Do you all know what a patronus is? It is a reflection of a person's most treasured, happy memory. You have to think of the happiest moment in your life, and hold onto that image for as long as you can. After doing exactly what Miss Bane did, your 'spirit guardian' of sorts will sprout from your wand and protect you."

"I want everyone to stand and find somewhere around the room. Do exactly what I explained, and I'll grant three points each for whoever successfully conjures their patronus. Five points for whoever has a cool-looking animal." Caroline declared, waiting for the light show to begin. "Thank you very much, Miss Monroe. Seven points for Ravenclaw, due to you helping me out. You can go now, I hope your eyesight isn't damaged." It shouldn't be, she was sure of that. It hadn't been for very long.

Waiting until the student left, Caroline stood, returning to the front of the room. "Expecto Patronum!" She commanded smoothly, pointing her wand in the air as a humongous shark burst from the tip, swimming through the air as if an ocean, looking for its prey with snapping jaws. Grinning proudly, she looked back at the students, expecting them to follow suit.

Slytherin: 26
Gryffindor: 10
Ravenclaw: 7
Hufflepuff: 0

[/color]

[Veata Bane]

Veata brought down her wand, her chest heaving, her legs trembling a bit. Well, even though it had been a simulation of the real thing, it was still pretty frightening to have a vampire charge at you at full speed. Brushing invisable dust off her rodes, Veata cleared her throat and tried to gain her composure enough to stride to her desk with the same defiance and control she had left it with. She offered Maria a small smile as she passed, her only friend in Hufflepuff. If you asked Veata, that girl was meant for Slytherin, the Sorting Hat had made a mistake.

V slid her dragon adorned wand back into her pocket as she sat down, her hand still clutched around it in a death grip. Idly she wondered how she had managed to make it from the front of the class to her desk without falling over, her legs felt so weak when as she landed in her seat with a thud.[/font]

[Alexis Heart]

Alexis was happy to see Veata make the vampire back away. The patronus was a good move. She had read about those but knew nothing about conjuring one. She was only a third year she doubted she'd ever be able to do anything like that but the professor wanted them to try. From what she said you needed to think of you happiest memory. Thinking about it she got up and walked to the other side of the room finding an unoccupied corner she thought about the day she got Snowy her kitten. She always wanted a pet and her parents had thwarted her for years as a treat for getting into Ravenclaw house she received the cute all white kitten. She was so happy she stared at it all night afraid it was a dream.

Thinking of that, and only that she recited the same spell Veata had uttered just moments before. The first few times she got nothing but on her third try something bright shot out of her wand and it soon began to take shape, it turned out to be a large white cat it looked like a tiger but she couldn't be sure, it walked around her and she smiled as it looked at her protectively.

She'd done it and she was so proud of herself. That and now she had a repellent against vampires.

[Cessily Monroe]

Sweeping out of the room like a rolling fog - but not before blowing a kiss to Joshua - Cessily just managed to glimpse the other Ravenclaw's performance before slamming the door on her way out. She hadn't eaten anybody, and that other vampire girl Erika might have to leave too because of the light. Perfect. Well, Defense Against the Dark Arts was turning into her least favorite class so far. She might just switch it to something better, like History of Magic.

That Joshua boy looked like he wanted to get even with her, and badly at that. Grinning, Cessily licked her lips, remembering the taste of his mouth on her own. Should she pay Erys a visit again? Maybe. Then sneak into his room at night like a stalker and bite him again, he'd like that.

[Maria Turolia]

Seeing Veata's slight smile as she passed, Maria was glad that she could count that girl among friends rather than enemies. Maria had cast a patronus only once before, so as she stood up and walked to the corner of the room, so that she would be away from most others, she knew exactly which memory to use.Standing in the corner, Maria closed her eyes momentarily to let the memory become clear and vivid.

She pictured the chandelier falling from the ceiling toward her cousin. She could see her wand arm going up and casting the spell that stopped it. Then she saw the part of the memory that made it the happiest she ever had. She saw her family, all of them, standing around her, proud and accepting. Opening her eyes, still full of the happiness and empowerment that the memory made her feel, she raised her wand.

"Expecto Patronum!" She watched as a wolf formed out of the light that her wand emitted. The wolf threw its head back, as though silently howling at the moon. Allowing the feelings to fade, Maria lowered her wand. She walked back to her seat, stopping momentarily to speak to Veata, "Impressive work with the vamp. I must say, it takes a unique mind to think to cast avis on a vampire." She reached her seat and sat down, waiting for the professor to dismiss class.