Part 5

"Today we will be learning about vampires," Professor Lupin said.  It was
Willow and Amy's third year class of Defense Against the Dark Arts, the one
class they actually were truly interested in.  The two girls were the best
students in the class, having already found out about some of the creatures
that they had been taught about when they were in Sunnydale.  In fact, they
often had to keep themselves from laughing out loud at how outdated some of
the material that they were using actually was.
"Ohhh, vampires," Amy whispered to Willow, who was sitting by her side.
"Good thing we're going to learn about them, since we know absolutely
nothing about them."  Willow tried, but failed, to stifle the giggle that
Amy's comment had elicited, drawing the attention of the teacher.
"Something you would care to share with the rest of the class, Miss
Rosenberg?"  Willow shook her head.
"No, Professor.  Sorry," Willow replied sheepishly, a slight blush coming to
her face as she kicked Amy under the chair.  "Be quiet," she ordered her
friend as she turned her attention to what the teacher was saying.
"Now, as many of you may know, vampires are soulless creatures. The demon
that resides in them has complete control over them."
-"Until the Rom get to them," Amy commented quietly, earning herself another
kick.
-"Shhhh."
"Vampires have been around for centuries.  So long in fact, that the Muggles
even have a warrior to fight them.  This warrior is a female that they call
the Slayer."  Willow and Amy's ears perked up at the mention of the Slayer.
"There is always only one Slayer, the next not being called until the
previous one is dead.  The current Slayer is currently living in the United
States in a small town in California."
-"Sunnyhell," Willow coughed.
"Professor, what exactly does this Slayer do," Neville Longbottom
questioned.
"Well, it is the duty of the Slayer to battle vampires and various other
demons.  And quite often, they have been called upon to deal with a prophecy
or two."
"Do the Slayers have any help?" Parvati Patal asked.
"The only help the Slayer has is her Watcher who is responsible for training
her and helping her researching what she needs to know, although it is
rumored that the current Slayer does have a group of friends that help her,"
Professor Lupin answered.
-"Scooby gang," Amy said softly.
-"Slayerettes," Willow shot back.  Hermoine, who was sitting in front of
them, turned around to shush both girls.
"Now, from the Slayer, it is only natural to move onto the vampires.  There
are two different types of vampires.  There are the minions; that is to say,
vampires that have been giving only enough of their sire's blood to turn
them and then there are the masters, who have been given a considerable
amount more.  Master vampires have an ability to think clearly, usually
wanting to dominate the world in some way or another while the minion is
almost a mindless drone.
Today's class is going to be focused on one particular family of master
vampires that are considerable one of the strongest around, although there
is a considerable space in information as to their current whereabouts."  A
picture appears on the front wall of the classroom, causing the students to
gasp in surprise at the person's appearance.  His face is misshapen, and it
appears to be extremely scaly.
"This is the head of the family.  He goes by the name of the Master.  He is
extremely powerful, not only as a vampire but also as a wizard.  His
magickal abilities are numerous.  He was last seen in California, in the
same town as the current Slayer.  He had attempted to open the hellmouth in
the 1930's and was stopped by one of California's many earthquakes, which
trapped him underground.  No word has been heard from him since and it is
assumed that he is still stuck in his underground prison."
-"Met the wrong end of a sledgehammer last I heard," Willow snickered.
Angel had written and told her how Buffy had destroyed the Master's remains
when she had returned to Sunnydale after visiting her father.
-"Yeah, well, he did try and kill her you know."
-"True."  Another picture appeared on the wall, again of another vampire
Willow knew well.
"This is Darla, one of the Master's eldest childre and also a former Slayer
which makes her an even more powerful vampire.  She has been around for well
over six hundred years and has been rumored to have killed well over ten
thousand people."  A murmur rose up in the classroom as the students tried
to process that information.  "Darla was last seen in London where it is
believe she was planning on trying to find help in restoring her sire to
power."
-"Too bad she had a bad case of indigestion."
-"Hey, she did attack Buffy's mom and try and blame it on Angel."
-"Point taken."
"Now, I'm going to skip a generation for a moment, instead focusing on a
pair of Darla's grandchildre."  A new picture appeared showing a striking
couple.  The male had bleached blonde hair, and resembled a Billy Idol
wannabe, while the woman had long flowing black hair and was wearing a white
dress.  "This is Spike and Drusilla.  Spike is also known as William the
Bloody."  Willow and Amy paid closer attention to what Professor Lupin was
saying as they watched the Spike and Drusilla changing to their game faces.
"Drusilla is rumored to have psychic abilities, but she is also known to be
quite insane.  The two of them cut a wide swath of death and destruction,
along with their sire, throughout Europe in the late 1800's."
"Are they still alive today?"  A Hufflepuff student asked.
"Well, in a way since vampires are the living dead," the professor
continued.  "Spike and Drusilla's current whereabouts are unknown.  The last
actual sighting of the pair had them in Prague, where they had been attacked
by a group of villagers.  That was three years ago.  There has been no word
of them since."  Willow sighed as she realized that her one avenue of
finding Angel's childre for him would be useless.  She had already known
about Prague and had even been able to find out that they had gone to Paris
after the attack, but she had lost track of them from there.
"Now its time to talk about one of the most feared vampires in history.  He
is a legend in vampire circles.  Even those wizards and witches that hunt
vampires have no desire to run acrossed this particular one.  All previous
attempts to capture or destroy him have only led to the destruction of those
that hunted him."  Amy heard Willow take in a sharp breath as the next
picture hit the wall.  "This is Angelus, the Scrouge of Europe."
-"Angel," Willow said under her breath as she took in the old photograph of
the man she loved.  It appeared to have been taken in the early 1900's
somewhere in Europe.  His hair was long and tied in a ponytail.  He had on a
stylish black suit and she could see his eyes dancing with delight at
whatever was just off camera.  The red head felt tears coming to her eyes as
she continued to stare at the picture.  Amy reached over and took Willow's
hand in hers.
-"Willow," she whispered, hoping that her friend would be able to hold in
her emotions until they were alone.  In the two weeks since the other
students had come back to Hogwarts, Willow and Amy had been befriended by a
few of them, including the three that they had met that first day, but they
still hadn't told any of them about their lives before coming to the school.
        -"I miss him so much Amy," Willow cried.  "It hurts not being near him."
-"I know it does, sweetie, but it will get better.  I promise," Amy assured
her.  "Angel and Xander will find us, or we'll find a way to get to them.
Don't worry."  Amy and Willow continued listening to what the Professor was
saying, but neither of their minds were truly taking in what was being said
to the class.  All they could really think about was the lives that they had
had and the men that they missed.  In front of them, Hermoine Granger was in
shock.  She recognized the picture of Angelus as soon as it had come up.
She had seen that face twice before.  Once was in her book of vampire lore
that she had gotten in preparation for the class. The other time was when
she was looking over at a picture of Willow's boyfriend.  She had heard the
conversation going on behind her as the pictures were being shown and that,
along with the knowledge that Angelus and Angel were one in the same, made
Hermoine wonder just who exactly were her two new classmates.
 

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