Barbara knew that James was always boasting about something to make sure people knew who had pride. She was known as the modest twin whilst her brother reeked of an ego bigger than the Quidditch field. But she had her moments, too.

When she and James started their Fifth Year, everybody but their immediate group of friends were shocked that she was able to teach other students. After some teasing by her peers– mainly the Slytherins– everyone got used to it because she was able to illustrate how knowledgeable she was on the subjects.

It was hard adjusting to the workloads at first; but then it became extremely simple once she employed Marlene and Lily to help her grade papers. They always helped her when they finished heir homework, it was their quirky way of bonding. They also didn't know anybody who was in their First through Third Year at Hogwarts; so Marlene didn't feel the need to give bad grades to any of them.

It was early January, when OWLs were coming up on the Fifth Years. Barbara knew she had to take a few; but she didn't worry as much as the others. Instead, she was excited to teach the next lesson to the lower-years: Vampires. She was chatting with Umbridge about them before the bell rang.

"Are you all prepared?" Umbridge asked Barbara, who suppressed an eye roll. That's what she had been doing every day since she had been in the toad's presence; and she wasn't the only one. Barbara heard that Umbridge was a terrible teacher in general, which made a lot of her students come to Barbara for tutoring. The more favored teacher held lessons in a room she had recently discovered. With everybody making good grades, nobody went to detention for low grades in Umbridge's class.

"Yeah. I have everything set. If you need assistance with teaching about Vampires, I'll be ready! I've been doing research about them this summer and I think they're fascinating." Barbara told her excitedly.

"It's okay, sweetie. We all have our flaws." Umbridge said in a baby voice. The Royal's wide eyes quickly turned into a glare. She had no fear of the toad. After all, she couldn't be punished by her.

"I know, I'm looking at one." Without waiting for a response, Barbara turned on her heel and into her classroom, seeing as her students were beginning to file in.

Even though teachers weren't supposed to have favorites, Barbara definitely had a few of them in her class. The students were a mix of Slytherin and Ravenclaw, all Second Years. Bertram Aubrey was a favorite from the Ravenclaw House, his input in the lessons always making Barbara's mind work harder. Alex, a Slytherin, was someone Barbara recognized from the Kingdom when they were younger; but she knew he didn't realize they met a couple of times. It's very hard to recognize a Royal when they're not in such fancy attire.

"Alright, guys, you know the drill. Aside from what I'm going to teach today, any questions on last week's lesson? I know the homework was a bit harder than usual, which is why I want you guys to make individual appointments with me to go over the stuff you might not have understood."

No hands went up in the air. "Good. Let's get started, then. Today's lesson is about Vampires. You need to write everything on the board today because we'll have a big quiz on this subject next time I see you."

Vampires: we have nothing to fear or harm, was the title she decided to use for thenotes on Vampires. She wanted to make sure her people– and all other beings– were thoroughly understood by the upcoming wizards and witches.

"These will be the categories we'll be going over." She flicked my wand towards the chalkboard, which now read:

Wings-

Teeth-

Nose-

Eyes-

Magic-

Weaknesses-

With a flick of her wand, more words appeared next to the first category:

Wings- goes up to six feet, Royalty Wings go up to eight feet

Before she went on to speak, she noticed how some of the students from each House already had prejudices against the Vampires. There was no surprise to her to see that the majority of them, however, were in Slytherin.

She flicked her eyes over to Alex, noticing the slightly worried look in his eyes. Barbara decided to speak with him at the end of class and tell him who she was. Her secret identity didn't matter to her at this point. After all, she had a stable income and a place to live.

Once she saw the quills drop, Barbara decided to continue. "Now, the Wings of Vampires are very bat-like, obviously. The 'common' wing span of most Vampires reach up to six feet, on men it can be up to six and a half feet because they're taller. Royalty is a different story." She patiently waited for them to write down what was o the board, which was what she was saying. Barbara silently thanked Dumbledore for teaching her the spell which wrote down why she was saying on the board.

"They have wings that drag on the ground, and they are up to eight feet long. The Queen's wings are very different from the common Vampire. Her wings are black with a gold crown in one of the corners. The immediate members of the Royal family have the same style of wings."

A hand raised in the middle. "What's a Royal?"

"Good question," Barbara replied, "a Royal is a member of the Royal family that rules over the Vampires. There are two types of Vampires: the somewhat creepier ones told about in Muggle stories, and the more civilized ones, which live in the Monarchy. The Royals and those Vampires are too distant from the other ones to be called related; and there's a big rivalry between the two. So don't mention that they're related to the other or you will never hear the end of it." Some snickered, imagining a Vampire droning on and on to a skeleton.

"Now, who can tell me about their teeth?"

Barbara was surprised to see Alex's hand raise. "Yes, Mr. Lexington?"

"The fangs can 'suck' blood, but can also be used to 'pour out' the Vampire's own blood if they were poisoned. They also do that to clean the inside of the 'tube' if there's still more poison in there. They try to avoid human blood as much as possible, only drinking cow or pig blood. But they drink human if it'll save their life or if it's deemed necessary for a cure."

Teeth- sharp, dagger-like; blood 'tube'; drink and spit blood (only if necessary); human blood avoided as much as possible (cow or pig); drink human blood when deemed necessary by medical personnel

"Onto the next thing. Can anyone tell me about their nose that's slightly unusual?"

If Barbara was shocked about Alex raising his hand, risking suspicion, she was more shocked to see a Slytherin's hand pop up. She flashed her eyes and subtly touched her necklace, which was tucked under her clothes. Barbara saw that she was a Vampire.

"The only thing that's different about their noses from ours is that they can smell blood and what type it is. Sometimes, if they smell something good, they will take a deep breath and their eyes will flutter to their Pigment."

"Speaking of Pigment, can anyone tell me about their eyes?" Nobody raised their hand, so she answered her own question.

"They can turn into a lilac to an electric blue whenever they feel 'intimidated', so to speak. They call it 'flashing' because Vampires will flash their eyes to give a sort of warning. Also, the Common Vampire's eyes can flash unknowingly to the Royal Vampire, which alerts them that the other person is a Vampire."

Eyes- can turn into lilac or electric blue, depending on blood; flash: when intimidated by someone or something, Vampires will flash their 'Vampire Eyes'; see: when a Royal is approached with another Vampire, other Vampire's eyes will unknowingly flash to the Royal's, and other people won't notice because it's only seen by the Royal.

"Two more guys. I'll tell you about their magic after I give you a few minutes to copy down the rest of these notes." After a few minutes of day dreaming of her bed in the Gryffindor tower, Barbara snapped back to reality when a quill dropped. She continued the lesson.

"Their magic is considered to have a 'wider range' because they can do countless things in a snap, even though some Wizards and Witches can use magic without their wand."

Magic- considered 'wider range'; wands not needed, makes for half-Vampires to have more control of other magic

"Finally, what are he weaknesses of a Vampire?" A Ravenclaw raised her hand and answered confidently.

"Garlic and crosses give them migraines. If you pour holy water on them, it's supposed to be like the crutiatus curse." Well, she definitely likes reading up on them in her free time, Barbara thought amusedly. With a flick of her wand, she copied her thoughts into the board.

Weaknesses- boggart: drive to insanity, holy water: crutiatus curse, garlic and crosses: migrain

"Ok, I'm going to give you a few minutes to copy this down and then you can start your homework." She said. After everyone was settled, she motioned Alex to come to her desk, where they couldn't be overheard.

"Alex, I know you're a Vampire." His eyes widened and he gulped, clearly nervous with somebody knowing his secret.

"I-I- please don't tell anyone." He whispered shakily. Barbara smiled softly at the Second Year.

"As long as you don't tell anyone I'm one, too." She said gently, and untucked her hidden necklace to show him. This time, Alex's eyes widened in shock.

"Oh."