Everything You Are

Chapter Three:

Sirena Lupin paced around through the empty dormitory, her mind racing. She ran her tongue over her sharp pointed fangs and sat down with a sigh, thinking of what her father had said. She looked in the mirror at her faint reflection. 'Did my mom REALLY look like me?' she wondered, squinting. She looked herself over, her auburn hair falling straight down to her hips, her brilliant blue-green eyes looking a bit like a cat's, as the light in the room had brought out their yellow.

She felt a dull ache run throughout her body, reminding her of her need to feed. Granted, she didn't need blood as often as a full-blooded vampire and she had to eat human food as well, but it was for the times when she DID need blood that Dumbledore wanted her dead. It was only under the condition that she wouldn't feed on any students that she was allowed to go to Hogwarts, so she kept the promise, but it didn't solve her problem. Bloodlust.

She bit her arm, trying to quench her craving for the time being. As she tasted her blood, a rush of her own thoughts and memories entered her, fragments of a time she didn't remember anymore overwhelming her. As one of the first times Dumbledore went after her started to fight its way into her mind, she pulled away, hearing her father's voice.

"She's in here, Albus."

"Wonderful. Is she asleep yet? It will be easier that way."

He sighed. "I don't know... she has a tendency not to sleep when she senses something wrong. She's like me."

"But she's enough like her mother that she has to drink the blood of innocent people..." he snarled.

"I know, but she's four years old. She's too young." he shook his head. "Can't you wait a few years? I don't think she's a threat yet. Come back then. You can do it someday, but not yet..."

She shuddered. Even though it was one of the more tame memories she had, it always seemed to be one of the ones that hurt the most when it surfaced. Her eyes began to blur with tears until the door to the dorm suddenly burst open, a few fifth year Slytherin girls rushing in. She sat up, startled, and wiped her eyes, pretending it was nothing and wiped her arm, hiding the blood that trickled out. Pansy Parkinson giggled and chattered rapidly with a few friends until Sirena cleared her throat. The room went silent.

"S-Sirena... I didn't see you there."

"Apparently not." she snorted. "If you guys wanna sit there and be loud and giddy, can you take it to the common room? I'm getting a migraine."

"Ok."

"No problem."

"Right away."

Sirena sighed as the door shut behind them and looked at the clock on the wall. She cursed when she realized she had Divination in a matter of minutes and ran off to get to the tower.

Sirena willed her legs to move faster. She bolted, getting winded, through the halls, up the stairs. 'One more hallway...' She ran around the corner, DIRECTLY into...

"Oof!"

"Oh shit! I'm sorry! I..." she stumbled to pick up all of her things.

"Ms. Lupin, perhaps you weren't aware that there's no running in the corridors?"

Sirena looked right up into the eyes of a grinning Professor Snape.

"And the 'shit' didn't help either." he snickered, being unable to hold it in, and helped her up.

"Sorry." she mumbled. "I'm late for divination." Her robe slipped and the blood trickling down her arm was only visible for a second before she nervously covered it. Unfortunately, that second was long enough.

"What's that?" Severus asked, arching an eyebrow.

She remained calm. "What's what?"

"What was that on your arm?" He asked. Not waiting for an answer, he took her by the wrist and pushed up her sleeve an inch, spotting the bite marks on her forearm. He looked at her, his eyes slightly concerned.

She bit her lip nervously. "I promised Dumbledore I wouldn't feed on students... I figured it might be safer this way."

He cocked his head slightly to the side. "But you can't actually FEED on yourself, can you?"

"No, but it helps until I can find someone who I CAN feed on." she said, pulling her arm away and picking up a few papers. "Vampirism is quite a bit more complex than most people think." she said, more to herself.

"You must have excellent self-control to be able to stay around all this energy and not feed." He remarked, helping to gather a few quills.

"I do what I can." she said. "It's not to the point where I'll die without feeding... yet."

There was a slightly awkward pause. "If you feel you're nearing that point, I'm sure there is at least one staff member who will help you." he said, his voice much softer than usual.

She paused and looked up at him for a moment. "Thank you."

He said nothing, but picked up her copy of "Unfogging the Future" and handed it to her. "If you want, I can go with you and tell Sibyll that I stopped you."

"That would be wonderful... thanks." She said, taking her book and re-adjusting herself. They climbed up the ladder to the room, filled with a misty, heavily scented haze.

Professor Trelawney, who had been giving instructions to the class, saw Sirena first and stopped what she was saying. "Late on your first day back, Ms. Lupin?"

Severus stepped into the light. "It was my fault. I had to ask her about something from class earlier today, Sibyll."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. Thank you, Severus. Sirena, you may take a seat."

Sirena sat down in a spot away from the little clusters of people that filled the room.

"As I was SAYING, we'll be doing crystal gazing today. As you have done this for the past few years, I think you have the gist of what to do, but I'm going to raise my expectations of you quite a bit this year. Over the past two years, most of you have seen little more than indistinguishable shapes that take quite a bit of guess work and quite little use of the Inner Eye."

'Like you'd know shit about the Inner Eye...'

Sirena thought, a snort coming out involuntarily. Professor Trelawney pretended not to hear it, but Draco turned and grinned. Sirena just smiled slightly and looked into the sparkling crystal in front of her. She looked briefly at a slight reflection of herself that shone off the side. While it was there, it was much fainter than everyone else's. She tried not to let it bother her, as her vampiric blood was also what allowed her to See so well, even if not in mirrors.