343 Lovers

"You have the Protector's sword. You were in Protector's group in Hogwarts and you didn't think why there is a sword when he could do magic?" Rosaline didn't look annoyed but disappointed. Chris opened her mouth to reply but Rosaline dismissively waved her hand. "Anyway, if you don't know then listen. Godric Gryffindor was a gifted wizard. In fact, your kind says that he was one of the best. Well, I never saw him, so personally, I can't confirm it but our family respects him a lot." Rosaline started walking and Chris followed. "It was the time when our royal Dragozera family came here to establish the vampire colony. The vampires had good relations with Wizards at that time but some vampires wanted their different colonies. My great-great-grandfather was one of them." Rosaline stopped in front of a painting and gestured at it. "King Zyerlin Dragozera. He didn't like the Wizards much, he thought they were dangerous and will turn on us the moment they discover our weaknesses."

Chris found a tall thin pale serious-looking man with dark hair standing in the painting. Unlike wizarding paintings here the paintings were unmoving but still, Chris felt as though King Zyerlin Dragozera was glaring at her. He also had a long broadsword in his hands which he held proudly.

"But King Zyerlin's sister, Princess Wilma had a very different point of view. She loved meeting wizards and witches and wandering in the magical and non-magical world. Some say she even had multiple wizards as her lovers," Rosaline walked to the next painting, where a beautiful woman with similar features stood. She looked like an angel in a pure white dress with floral accessories and a soft smile on her gorgeous face.

No wonder she had lots of lovers, Chris thought.

"So as you can guess, King Zyerlin's and Princess Wilma's ideas usually clashed and their relationship got damaged in the process," Rosaline continued. "But it got really bad after coming here. Zyerlin became the new King and forbade all the vampire-wizard interactions. Wilma didn't stand it and argued. Things got out of hands and Wilma ran away from here."

Transfixed in the story Chris reached out and touched the corner of the portrait of Wilma, and suddenly she felt she could almost see the scene in front of her and sense the emotions Wilma was going through: A lonely Wilma, distressed about the rules Zyerlin was making, feeling angry and betrayed by the way he treated her. Chris jerked back from the painting.

"That's the trick of Vampire portraits. The old vampire paintings are painted with paints mixed with a little bit of the owner's blood, so the portraits hold some of their memories or rather imprints of memories. They only work if you already know the stories. That is why this is the best place to tell these tales," Rosaline explained lightly tracing the frame of Wilma's portrait with her sharp nailed index finger. Silently she looked at Wilma's face with a small smile but it wasn't a happy smile, it looked somewhere between mocking and impressed.

"What happened after that?" Chris asked when the silence stretched.

"Three years later, Wilma came back. For revenge," Rosaline looked back at Chris and pulled back from the painting. "She challenged Zyerlin and claimed the throne. Lucky for her, Zyerlin was a very bad ruler. He made and broke rules according to his wishes, he tortured the vampires, killed humans for his pleasure. Whereas Wilma was a literal angel with her sweet voice, mesmerizing face, and kind nature. Everyone supported Wilma on her claim to the throne, but the problem was Zyerlin wasn't a fool. He knew with Wilma's encouragement the vampires would rebel and easily overthrow him, so he challenged Wilma for a one-on-one duel."

"So what's the problem with that? Was Zyerlin more powerful than Wilma?" Chris asked impatiently.

"Yes, he was very powerful, and even after all magic training, Wilma's magic was barely equal to Zyerlin. So Wilma knew very well why her brother had challenged her like that, and she realized Zyerline was planning to kill her in the duel. But she accepted the challenge. She was very smart," Rosaline smirked at Wilma's painting and again started walking. "She tricked Zyerlin. She promised him that there will be a fight and it will be between him and her rights to the throne, and without any other vampire's interference. Zyerlin thought he had won, what he didn't expect was --"

"Godric Gryffindor?" Chris asked as they stopped in front of an enormous painting of a young Godric Gryffindor, though he looked equally proud and courageous as his older self-portraits in Hogwarts and he had his sword with him.

"Yes, Godric Gryffindor. He arrived on the day of the duel and announced that he was going to fight Zyerlin rather than Wilma," Rosaline nodded. "Zyerlin was shocked but he didn't want to look weak in front of so many vampires. After all what kind of vampire king he would be if he backed out from a duel with a wizard? So he accepted. The duel began. Between Zyerlin's sword and Godric's Wand. They were both powerful so the duel went on for hours. Zyerlin was confident that he was going to win but Wilma had another trick up her sleeve. You see, we vampires are almost immortal. Ordinary objects and weapons don't harm us, however, weapons made of silver can do real damage to us but specifically, goblin made silver weapons can kill us in an instant."

"Gryffindor's Sword is goblin made. And I almost stabbed you with it," Chris gasped. "Sorry."

"It is alright, Lady Christina," Rosaline smiled looking amazed. "To be fair, I tried to kill you too. Anyway, as I was saying, Godric Gryffindor had this goblin made silver sword, especially for King Zyerlin because Wilma had already told Godric Gryffindor about the silver thing. So just when Zyerlin thought he won, Gryffindor pulled out the sword and stabbed him in the heart. King Zyerlin died and Godric Gryffindor became a hero who saved the vampires from a terrible monarch. He became the Protector and Wilma became the new Queen. Though it was unclear what kind of relationship Godric Gryffindor and Wilma Dragozera had, some say they were just friends, some say they were lovers. Anyhow, Wilma never married, which is not unusual for us vampires but the odd thing was she didn't have any kid. At least not any kid we know of. She made Zyerlin's youngest son, Ryan, her successor, who was close to her. But even though Godric left a few days later of the coronation of Wilma and the vampires never saw him again, his legends are still popular among us. He was the very few wizards who fought for our cause and gave the vampires a new ruler who took care of them well. He was the Protector."

Chris stared at Godric Gryffindor's portrait as Rosaline finished. She had seen some of Godric Gryffindor's life in her dreams but she never saw any vampires . . . or did she?

"Wait, what do mean you don't know if Wilma had a kid or not?" Chris asked turning to Rosaline.

"Well, no vampire saw or knew about any sort of kid that could be Wilma's," Rosaline paused as her eyebrows knit together. "But there was a rumor that she had a kid who lived with the wizards because the kid's father was a wizard."

Chris waited for Rosaline to elaborate but when she didn't Chris frowned.

"And that's it? Nothing more? You guys don't know anything else about two legendary people? I mean Wilma was your queen, right? So shouldn't you know?"

"And Godric Gryffindor was the founder of the school where you have spent your last seven years," Rosaline retorted and Chris didn't correct her. "Legends are legends for a reason, Lady Christina. They are stories we tell, we listen to. You can debate all day if they are true or not, but at the end of the day, you need to understand that those legends do not influence your life and leave it at that. It took years but we were finally leaving our past stories behind and moving on . . . until you showed up and opened the chest of all old legends." Rosaline didn't look angry but very tired as she said those words.

"I wish I didn't have to," Chris gave a bitter smile. "But the truth is, Princess Rosaline, the legends were never gone just because people forgot them or thought they were just stories. Legends exist for a reason, true. But they exist because sometimes somewhere those things had happened and someone was very real, like you and me, who created those legends."

Rosaline stared at Chris, her gaze pierced through her but she didn't back down. She stared back. At last, Rosaline broke the gaze and walked towards the different side of the room. Chris suddenly thought of something.

"Hey, not to sound ungrateful, but it will be great if you can tell me something related to Malgino," Chris said. "I mean I loved to hear about Godric Gryffindor and the sword I pulled out of thin air, but the truth is, Godric Gryffindor enchanted the sword to rescue when a true Gryffindor needs its help, that's all. But I need to know more about Malgino because --"

"How did you know that that evil wizard Malgino wasn't related to this story?" Rosaline stopped walking and turned to face Chris.

"It was?" Surprised Chris almost walked into her.

"Guess who was the Queen when that evil wizard stole from us?"

"Wilma!"

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To be continued. . .