“As Professor Lockhart had asked, I would love to share my own experiences with Vampires. Though unlike the professor I have met more than one vampire!”
His words quickly caught the attention of the students and a round of laughter erupted from his last statement.
“Though my experience may be somewhat special as I encountered vampires in Russia, a few years back. And from my experiences what I could say is that vampires are… well just like us.”
Alexander’s words stunned the students, Professor Lockhart described vampires as frightening beings who would suck your blood and kill you. But Alexander spoke of them as “just like them”. His words made the whole classroom fall into silence as they started to listen attentively to what he had to say next.
When Lockhart saw this he did not stop Alexander or interfere as it may cause his already bad reputation to lower even more.
“I say this because from what I found vampires surprisingly could eat anything. Well not anything but everything we could eat, they could eat as well. Which is why the vampire in Professor Lockhart’s tale was able to only eat lettuce as they could live well with eating the same thing as us!
Moreover, although their skin is pale they do not burn in the sun and could easily walk amongst us. Save for their fangs and red eyes there are no significant difference between them and a regular wizard or witch!
So now the question is- why do we need to study vampires in this class?
They eat the same thing as us, though they could also drink blood, not only from wizards and witches, but also from muggles, animals and magical beast! They are simply wizards and witches with some special eating habits right? Of course they are also stronger and faster than regular wizards and witches. Moreover their vision is not impeded by darkness, something that makes them better at combat at night!
So in essence vampires are basically witches and wizards with some special traits. So why are they being discussed in class?”
His question stumped everyone, they had an idea why but such ideas, after a bit of thought turned out to be nothing good.
Stronger than us? So they are a danger! But that would open a can of worms that they did not want to open. Especially the ravenclaw students who were quick witted enough to realize the implications.
Seeing this Alexander smiled as he answered his own question.
“Fear, that is the reason, a lot of the people who teach about vampires talk about them as if they are a different species. With a diverse set of abilities and even special magic that give them an edge of the average wizard or witch.
Now what does that sound like?”
Alexander posed another question which no one dared to answer.
“Muggles, think in the muggle perspective, in their eyes, we, wizards and witches, are nothing more than muggles who could use magic. So, if we used our own views on vampires on muggle thinking, what would we end up with?”
When he posed that question all the students suddenly sucked in a breath of cold air. The implications of Alexander's words were clear. Wizards and witches saw vampires as a threat, one that needs to be defeated to survive so-
“Such thinking leads us to have the mindset similar to that of fearful muggles, we don’t understand them but we are weaker. We need to kill them”
His words froze the whole class, Alexander’s expression was somber as he continued.
“Not all vampires are evil, they don’t need blood to survive. They could drink it but why should they? Why would they kill wizards and witches? Well think about it, we wizards and witches also have a group that indiscriminately kill, torture, hunt and/harm those they believe are lower than them.”
An image of a certain group of people suddenly came to mind.
“If we are the muggles who see wizards are evil then the vampires who hunt wizards are the same as the purebloods who see muggles as lower species.
Think about it, if you have strength and ability greater than that of wizards would you not see yourself as superior? Wizards have such a group in the purebloods, the dark lord and the death eaters. The vampires also have such a group, and these are the vampires that cause havoc.
But you know what is interesting? Much like the death eater scenario, the vampires, those who are hunted and killed are mostly those that chose to live peacefully with wizards. Those that chose conflict, much like the majority of death eaters, hide and cause chaos”
Alexander heightened his tone, he looked over the whole class seeing their gazes that were holding traces of doubt as he continued.
“Tell me, if you were to hunt down a vampire would you be able to kill an adult vampire who would, most of the time, be stronger than an adult wizard? So who would be defeated then? It would be the vampires who chose not to fight. But!”
Once again Alexander paused scanning the room and when he saw eyes that showed a spark or realization he continued.
“Do you believe that the relatives of the deceased vampire will take things lying down? If you were in their place, someone came up to your family with ill intent. Killed them for no reason, will you simply forgive them and move on? No! You will fight! YOU WILL HUNT THE DAMN BASTARD DOWN TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH AND MAKE SURE THEY SUFFER!”
His tone suddenly turned heavy and the students already saw the image of a vampire being killed wantonly, their relatives, with mad red eyes charging at the killers with an intent to kill.
“Now, of course not all vampires are kind, some are, as I said before, like death eaters, have a certain belief and will kill you. But this complex system only means that the proper way to deal with vampires is treat them like you treat other wizards.
With respect and dignity.
But when they try to attack you, kill you or harm you, only then will you respond with force and power.”
Alexander turned his eyes towards Lockhart before he continued.
“Vampires are beings with a consciousness, they have the mind to feel, the heart to cry over the deceased and the will to avenge their loved ones. They are not mindless monsters who crazily suck blood just because, they are people who are kind but could turn into monsters if they are pushed to the limits.
As such-”
Alexander walked towards Lockhart, when he got about a meter from the professor he stared the blonde haired man dead in the eye as he said.
“Calling vampires filthy bloodsuckers makes one no different from death eaters and pureblood supremacists who coined the term mudblood. A small almost insignificant term, some may say when seen in the grand scheme of things-“
Alexander turned away from Lockhart and stared at the students this time as he continued.
“But it is one that breeds a mindset, if derogatory terms against non-pureblood wizards breed a group of death eaters, then what does a term against vampires breed? Vampire hunters? Vampire eaters? A group of disillusioned witches and wizards who view vampires as a dangerous race?”
Turning his head away Alexander had a look of sorrow on his face as he said.
“The Ministry of Magic has a law that forbids hunting vampires, this proves that there were witches and wizards who understood the fact that vampires are not monsters. But such sentiments are lost when the educational institute itself teaches xenophobic ideas to its students.”
Alex looked up at the students, a look of melancholy flashing in his eyes as he spoke.
“Fortunately, my trip to Russia let me see the reality of this fact. Vampires are just like us, the can laugh, they can cry… they become depressed when they lose their loved ones and hate to part with friends. They can build relationships, from shallow to deeper ones, they make promises and get mad when those promises are not forgotten. They get annoyed when you tease them and they also tease you when they get a chance…”
Alexander began to speak in a soft tone and some perceptive students picked up on a certain emotion in his words.
“My trip to Russia has shown me such scenes, now vampires are seen as equal to wizards and witches there. Look up news from a few years ago, The Russian Ministry of Magic has now accepted all magical beings who could communicate with each other to a certain level as being equal.”
Then Alexander smiled as he finished his words.
“In fact I heard that vampires were already enrolled in the magic school there in Russia. So when approaching vampires I hope you could keep these words in mind. Defend against the dark arts, not against non-wizard beings.”
Alexander finished his words and a long silence followed, a few seconds passed and the sound of Hogwarts bell resounded all over the school signaling the end of class.
When this happened Lockhart was unable to stop the students as they rushed to the door. Alexander sneakily used elementalization and exited the room as he rushed to his next class, his mind now free of burden. But unlike him the students started to gossip and it did not take long for a new piece of news to circulate the whole student body.
“Did you hear? Alexander Walsh seems to have been to Russia and met a vampire who he had fallen in love with!”
“I heard he fought against Lockhart because the fraud used a derogatory term that was used by the people who killed the vampire lover of Alexander!”
“Guys! I looked over the papers in the library and found out about the Night of Blood! It seems Alex was there! This thing happened two years ago? Gosh I was studying the levitation charm then and Alex was already doing big things?”
“I heard he participated in the Night of Blood as one of the mercenaries who fought for equality!”
“I read a paper that said the mercenaries led by Dmitri cast a huge magic circle in the battle! They also joined the fight after they witnessed the murder of a young female vampire's parents! It's said that the vampire family in question had a connection to the mercenaries!”
“I heard that the vampire with the mercenaries was a princess and she’s currently studying in the Russian school of magic!”
“I heard Alexander frequently sends letters to the vampire princess!”
Due to Alexander’s words a huge demand for the international newspaper on June 10 to 14, 1990 occurred forcing Madam Pince to use the duplication charm on the paper to satisfy the demand.
Some students also made copies on their own and passed them to their friends.
That day the sight of students walking around reading newspapers caused all the professors to also find out about the rumors that were spreading. The rumors went from a tame tale of a student fighting for vampire rights to a student participating in a bloody conflict before entering Hogwarts.
Ultimately, during the dinner feast that night, Dumbledore was forced to clear out the rumors as all the professors and a lot of students were asking around about the rumors. Unfortunately Alexander, like always, was holed up in his room and few professors had the time to speak with him.
Moreover, Severus, who should have been the one to handle this matter, completely ignored it as he simply called it, a simple act to gain fame, sensationalism born from the greedy desire for fame.
Flitwick did not agree with Severus as he personally saw Alexander’s notes and believed that, although he may have not been the one to cast the large magic circle. He should have participated in the battle given his ability.
In the end it was Dumbledore who cleared everything by making a public speech about this matter.
“Alexander Walsh, is not the one who casted the spell that night of June 10, 1990, instead it was his teacher Dmitri who did it. I have personally confirmed this fact, now whether Alexander had participated in the conflict, or whether there was a vampire princess involved, well that is something only he would know!”
His words, although cleared up some questions, also brought up other questions and rumors. But, whether it was for better or for worse, right now the rumor with the most fame was that of the Vampire Princess and her knight.
Chapter Title: Vampire Princess
