Chapter 2: Dumbledore
Dumbledore sat back in his chair, removing his half-moon glasses for a moment and wearily rubbing his eyes. He rocked back, teetering rather precariously on the back two legs, but sat back up onto four legs hastily with a thud when the chair screamed at him, "Sit up, you slob!"
He groaned slightly and slid his glasses back on. He looked down at the slip of parchment again, as though he hoped that it would say something different. Of course, it said the same thing that it had said a minute earlier – "Harry Potter is in grave danger. If you do not protect him now, he may never live to see 18." The note was unsigned.
Dumbledore sighed. He had made it a strict rule of not babying Harry; he enforced that with himself and everyone else on the staff at Hogwarts. It wasn't that he hated Harry, or wanted to make Harry's life especially difficult. Dumbledore didn't want Harry to have to rely on anyone but himself. If people coddled Harry, he wouldn't have the ability to help himself when danger was most eminent. And therefore, when the time came, Harry would be able to defend himself and the rest of the wizarding world, and not have to run to someone else for help.
Some professors disagreed. Those that did said that failing to help Harry would be dangerous, and that if they as his teachers couldn't help him now, there wouldn't be any Harry Potter to save the world from Voldemort later.
"What if Harry gets into a fight? What if he dies in the fight because we failed to step in and protect him?" Dumbledore recalled McGonagall words vividly, said in half-hysteria when he announced his decision to the staff the year that Harry arrived at Hogwarts. McGonagall was the one that was most against his choice to not coddle Harry. Snape, on the other extreme, supported Dumbledore's decision whole-heartedly.
"Minerva." Snape had cut in smoothly, standing up silently next to Sprout, who was also against not protecting Harry. Everyone turned to look at the dark, greasy-haired professor. His eyes were flashing.
"Albus is right. If we coddle Harry Potter now, he won't know how to defend himself later on," he said, looking around at the table of grave- looking professors. "Potter won't die. He might have a hard time of it now, but he will learn to defend himself later on. And isn't that what's most important?"
"You just don't like Harry Potter!" Sprout burst out, standing up as well. "Just because you had that little feud with James Potter doesn't mean that you have to send Harry to his death along with his parents!"
"How dare you suggest such a thing, you dirty little –"
Dumbledore rapped his hands on the table loudly for silence. Sprout and Snape sat down, glaring at one another.
"My dear Professor Sprout," Dumbledore said mildly, "You must understand that we are not sending Harry to his death. No, quite the contrary – we're helping him learn to protect himself from death."
And the professors understood. Throughout the years Harry Potter had been at Hogwarts so far, they were careful to treat him just like any other student. Snape, Dumbledore knew, treated him even worse than the other students, but Dumbledore said nothing, knowing that Snape's reasons were good. Once or twice, when the treatment of Harry seemed to get a little out of hand in Potions, Dumbledore would remind Snape that they weren't trying to beat Harry down, only teach him to teach himself, and in turn, Snape would loosen up on Harry a bit. However, all the teachers had a fondness for Harry Potter, and Dumbledore secretly thought that even Snape did, too…although he knew Snape would never admit it, not even at wand-point.
Dumbledore reached for his Rubik's Cube and twisted the blocks around idly. Unlike the Muggle one, this one tended to switch colors around if the user took too long in solving the puzzle. But once the Cube was solved, the reward was a firework display that bounced around the room for five colorful, sparkling minutes. Dumbledore was a natural master at the Cube, and loved to play around with it for hours on end. But this time, it just wasn't coming to him as smoothly as it usually did, and Dumbledore finally pushed it away from him after a few minutes of frustrated twisting.
Dumbledore sat there, thoughts churning in his brain. Should he tell someone about the note or not…if it was true or if it was a prank…and if he was to tell someone, whom could he tell and trust?
He finally stood up, parchment clutched in one hand. He couldn't just sit there with this message in his hand and not tell anyone. If it were indeed a prank, then so be it – at least he would know that Harry was safe.
Hurrying down the steep stone stairs towards the door of his office, the middle of each step worn with the countless feet pounding up and down them over centuries of use, Dumbledore ran through the different people he should tell. McGonagall? No, she would overreact. So would Sprout. Sirius Black would certainly have to be informed…he was Harry's godfather, after all. Severus Snape…he would know what to do.
The gargoyle leaped aside as Dumbledore blew past. He walked swiftly down towards the dungeons. Reaching Snape's office, he raised his hand and knocked firmly three times on the heavy oak door.
"I'll be right there," a muffled voice called out. Dumbledore stood there patiently for a moment or two, and then the door swung open.
"Albus!" Snape said, rather surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"I just received this note," Dumbledore said tightly, showing Snape the parchment. Snape glanced at the message, his face turning pale. "Come in," he said, hurriedly ushering the Headmaster in and shutting the door carefully behind them.
Snape gestured towards an armchair by the fire, and Dumbledore sat down heavily. Snape sat in the chair opposite him.
"So?" Snape finally said. "What are we to do?"
"I don't know," Dumbledore said, finally at a loss.
"We talked about this," said Snape. "We agreed that we wouldn't coddle Harry."
"But we have to protect him!" Dumbledore cried out. "Don't you see? This could be it."
Snape stared into the fire. "Fine, we'll protect him," he said harshly. "But how? It can't be any of us, he – or Voldemort - will suspect something." He looked up at the Headmaster. Dumbledore was staring at a spot behind Snape's head, lost in thought.
"The Summoning Spell..." Dumbledore finally said. It was so quiet that Snape barely caught the words. But he did.
"The Summoning Spell?" he repeated, aghast. "That spell is risky! You don't know who or what you'll be Summoning, and if it will even obey you! Do you want to risk all of our lives for one boy?"
"Don't you understand, Severus?" Dumbledore yelled. "Its either Harry survives, or we all die! He's the one that could save us all from Voldemort!" His voice quieted somewhat. "We have to take that risk."
Snape said nothing. Dumbledore stood up. "We need another person for the spell."
"I'll fetch Minerva," Snape said quietly. He got up and left the room. Dumbledore sat back down, brooding.
***
"Minerva!" Snape yelled, pounding on her office door. "Minerva!"
Professor McGonagall finally opened the door, wearing a fuzzy pink robe and fuzzy pink bunny slippers and looking very cranky.
"Severus?" she said, rubbing her eyes blearily and sliding on her glasses. "Do you know what time it is?"
"I'm sorry, but this is urgent," he said. "Hurry, come with me. Dumbledore will explain everything when we get to my office."
"Is something wrong with Harry?" she said worriedly as they hurried back towards Snape's office. Snape gave a short, dry laugh that was more like a cough than anything else.
"How'd you guess," he said sarcastically. They reached his office and Dumbledore got up to greet them.
"Minerva, I'm glad you came," he said, gesturing towards the armchair he had been sitting in. McGonagall collapsed into it, still looking a bit asleep, but clear-minded nonetheless.
"Well?" she demanded, looking up at the two of them. Dumbledore and Snape sat down in chairs next to her.
"Minerva, I just received this message," Dumbledore said, handing her the parchment. McGonagall read through the note, drawing in a sharp breath. She looked up, her face pink with anxiety and accusation.
"What did I tell you?" she said, her voice shaky. "I told you that we had to protect him! And now what are you going to say? Oh, just let him handle it himself? I refuse! I don't care what you say, Albus. I'm protecting Harry no matter what."
"Calm down," Snape said snappishly. "We didn't bring you here for you to yell at us. Albus has offered a solution to this…unfortunate situation." He glanced towards Dumbledore for him to continue. McGonagall turned towards him, obviously demanding an explanation.
"We've decided to use a Summoning Spell to bring someone to protect Harry," Dumbledore said.
"A Summoning Spell?" McGonagall said angrily. "This is your solution?"
"It's the only solution!" Dumbledore replied, eyes no longer twinkling. "Can you come up with anything else?" He glared at her, a very uncharacteristic gesture for the benign, usually mild Headmaster. McGonagall was silent. "I thought so. So let's get started."
***
The three were gravely silent as they set up the room for the Summoning. Crystals were carefully put around the room, creating a large circle, and black candles created a bigger circle around that. Dumbledore went around the circle, lighting the candles one by one, chanting an incantation over and over under his breath. When the last candle was lighted, he took his place between Snape and McGonagall just outside the circle, and they said together, "Demons of the Underworld, we Summon one of your kind to help us."
A frightening howl rose up and a shapeless light slowly formed inside the circle. The nebulous light spun around and around, pulling itself in faster and faster until it created a tiny condensed ball of pure whiteness, so bright that they could barely look at it without squinting. Alone, Dumbledore cried the last part of the spell: "Demon, I Summon you and Bind you to my side, to serve me until I release you from your Bindings." The light slowly grew larger, vaguely forming the hazy shape of a woman. The light brightened even more into a blinding flash, and they were forced to close their eyes. Upon opening them again, they found that the light had faded, and a demoness stood there, completely bare. Like most demonesses, she was voluptuous, and Snape couldn't help but stare. He gulped, and McGonagall rolled her eyes. Dumbledore, on the other hand, was instantly businesslike.
"Good evening," he said. The demoness sneered.
"What do you want of me, mortal?" she hissed at him. "Sex? Money? Power?"
Snape opened his mouth to speak, but McGonagall silenced him by clapping her hand over his mouth.
"None of those, thank you," she said to the demoness, glaring at Snape as she did so. "We want protection."
"Protection?" she said, a bit surprised. She snapped her fingers and a condom appeared. Snape's eyes bugged out, and he mumbled behind McGonagall's hand. Everyone ignored him.
"Not that kind," McGonagall snapped.
"Suit yourself," the demoness replied, and the condom disappeared.
"Protection for Harry Potter," Dumbledore clarified. "Against evil forces."
"Harry Potter?" the demoness said, an eyebrow raised. (A/N: her eyebrow wasn't the only thing raised in the room…if you catch my drift.) "Hmm, I don't believe I know who he is…protection against whom?"
"We're not sure," Dumbledore said. "Although my best guess is Lord Voldemort."
"Lord Voldemort?" the demoness repeated, her brow furrowing. Where had she heard that name before? Suddenly memories flooded back. A young man, no, a wizard…attempting to kill her…announcing in that proud, arrogant voice that he was…
"Lord Voldemort," she breathed. "Tell me who he has become, and who this Harry Potter person is."
Dumbledore and McGonagall glanced at each other. Snape was busy looking somewhere else. The demoness had heard of Lord Voldemort, but not Harry Potter?
"Lord Voldemort is a Dark Lord that, like most Dark Lords (A/N: and Pinky and the Brain) tried to take over the world. However, at the height of his power, Harry Potter, then a year old, stopped him. Voldemort tried to kill Harry, but his mother's love protected him, and curse rebounded off of Harry and hit Voldemort. He was forced to go into hiding, for he was severely wounded. However, last year, Voldemort got his body back through a complex ancient potion that Wormtail, one of his followers, performed. Now Voldemort is back to kill Harry Potter once and for all…and we can't let that happen," Dumbledore finished.
"And that's where you come in," McGonagall cut in. "We Summoned you to protect Harry at Hogwarts." She gestured towards the room as a whole. "That's where we are – Hogwarts, a wizarding school that Harry attends."
"In order to not alert Lord Voldemort that we have taken measures to protect Harry Potter, you will go into hiding as a teacher at this school," Dumbledore informed her. "We don't want any attention drawn towards this affair at all. You are to lay low as a teacher, and not call any undue attention towards yourself. Is that understood?"
The demoness thought fast. She was a succubus, after all, and she had to have intercourse once every hour when the sun set because of her curse…this wizarding school would be perfect. Young teenage boys were easy to seduce. And even if this pathetic Lord Voldemort showed up, she could take him down easy. Besides, Lord Voldemort was such an egotistical, irritating little boy, threatening to kill her and all…why not show him up? Tell him who the boss is around here?
"Well?" Dumbledore said expectantly. "Do you agree to protect Harry Potter?"
"It's not like you have a choice or anything," McGonagall added. "We just want to be sure you won't do a half-assed job because you didn't want to protect Harry in the first place."
"I don't do half-assed jobs," the succubus answered, glaring at McGonagall. "Everything I do is top-notch."
I'm sure, Snape thought.
"Well, it's for a good cause," the succubus said carefully, trying to make them think of her as some kind, soulful demoness. Careful, she thought. Can't let them know I'm a succubus…
McGonagall looked suspicious. "Since when did you care about good causes, demoness? You thrive for evil."
"I loathe this Lord Voldemort person," she said, spitting out his name in disgust. "I just want to show him up, put the arrogant little bastard back in his place." Which is true, she thought. But that's not the only reason why I'm taking this job…so many teenage boys, hormones racing all over the place…it'll be easy for me to keep up with my curse as a succubus.
"How do you know Lord Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked curiously. The succubus didn't answer.
"What's my payment?" she demanded instead. "What will you give me in return for protecting this Harry Potter boy?"
Snape tore away from McGonagall's hand. "Me!" he shouted. McGonagall shut him up by putting a Silencing Spell on him. Snape stood there sullenly for the rest of the conversation, unable to say anything.
"I will release you from your Binds when the danger has passed," Dumbledore said. "On my honor."
"Agreed," the succubus said. "I accept the job." This was going to be an easy job, she thought happily. Usually her jobs ended up with her being forced to have sex with some nasty, greasy little wizard that was too pathetic to get even prostitutes, and had to go as far as Summoning and Binding a demoness. These were the worst, because they always refused to unbind her. Those jobs usually ended up with her having to get the wizard very, very drunk, and teasing him into unbinding her during his drunken stupor.
She stuck out her hand in agreement, careful not to cross the magic circle. However, Dumbledore didn't take it.
"Do you swear to defend Harry Potter with your life and obey any directions I give you?" Dumbledore demanded.
"I swear."
"Do you swear that you will not knowingly or purposefully harm any person in this school while you are doing this job?"
"I swear."
Dumbledore reached into the magic circle and grasped the succubus' hand. They shook. He then nodded towards McGonagall, and she took the Silencing Spell off of Snape. McGonagall and Snape quickly and quietly took apart the magic circle and tucked the crystals and black candles away carefully.
"Minerva?" Dumbledore said. "Please get our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher some robes."
Dumbledore sat back in his chair, removing his half-moon glasses for a moment and wearily rubbing his eyes. He rocked back, teetering rather precariously on the back two legs, but sat back up onto four legs hastily with a thud when the chair screamed at him, "Sit up, you slob!"
He groaned slightly and slid his glasses back on. He looked down at the slip of parchment again, as though he hoped that it would say something different. Of course, it said the same thing that it had said a minute earlier – "Harry Potter is in grave danger. If you do not protect him now, he may never live to see 18." The note was unsigned.
Dumbledore sighed. He had made it a strict rule of not babying Harry; he enforced that with himself and everyone else on the staff at Hogwarts. It wasn't that he hated Harry, or wanted to make Harry's life especially difficult. Dumbledore didn't want Harry to have to rely on anyone but himself. If people coddled Harry, he wouldn't have the ability to help himself when danger was most eminent. And therefore, when the time came, Harry would be able to defend himself and the rest of the wizarding world, and not have to run to someone else for help.
Some professors disagreed. Those that did said that failing to help Harry would be dangerous, and that if they as his teachers couldn't help him now, there wouldn't be any Harry Potter to save the world from Voldemort later.
"What if Harry gets into a fight? What if he dies in the fight because we failed to step in and protect him?" Dumbledore recalled McGonagall words vividly, said in half-hysteria when he announced his decision to the staff the year that Harry arrived at Hogwarts. McGonagall was the one that was most against his choice to not coddle Harry. Snape, on the other extreme, supported Dumbledore's decision whole-heartedly.
"Minerva." Snape had cut in smoothly, standing up silently next to Sprout, who was also against not protecting Harry. Everyone turned to look at the dark, greasy-haired professor. His eyes were flashing.
"Albus is right. If we coddle Harry Potter now, he won't know how to defend himself later on," he said, looking around at the table of grave- looking professors. "Potter won't die. He might have a hard time of it now, but he will learn to defend himself later on. And isn't that what's most important?"
"You just don't like Harry Potter!" Sprout burst out, standing up as well. "Just because you had that little feud with James Potter doesn't mean that you have to send Harry to his death along with his parents!"
"How dare you suggest such a thing, you dirty little –"
Dumbledore rapped his hands on the table loudly for silence. Sprout and Snape sat down, glaring at one another.
"My dear Professor Sprout," Dumbledore said mildly, "You must understand that we are not sending Harry to his death. No, quite the contrary – we're helping him learn to protect himself from death."
And the professors understood. Throughout the years Harry Potter had been at Hogwarts so far, they were careful to treat him just like any other student. Snape, Dumbledore knew, treated him even worse than the other students, but Dumbledore said nothing, knowing that Snape's reasons were good. Once or twice, when the treatment of Harry seemed to get a little out of hand in Potions, Dumbledore would remind Snape that they weren't trying to beat Harry down, only teach him to teach himself, and in turn, Snape would loosen up on Harry a bit. However, all the teachers had a fondness for Harry Potter, and Dumbledore secretly thought that even Snape did, too…although he knew Snape would never admit it, not even at wand-point.
Dumbledore reached for his Rubik's Cube and twisted the blocks around idly. Unlike the Muggle one, this one tended to switch colors around if the user took too long in solving the puzzle. But once the Cube was solved, the reward was a firework display that bounced around the room for five colorful, sparkling minutes. Dumbledore was a natural master at the Cube, and loved to play around with it for hours on end. But this time, it just wasn't coming to him as smoothly as it usually did, and Dumbledore finally pushed it away from him after a few minutes of frustrated twisting.
Dumbledore sat there, thoughts churning in his brain. Should he tell someone about the note or not…if it was true or if it was a prank…and if he was to tell someone, whom could he tell and trust?
He finally stood up, parchment clutched in one hand. He couldn't just sit there with this message in his hand and not tell anyone. If it were indeed a prank, then so be it – at least he would know that Harry was safe.
Hurrying down the steep stone stairs towards the door of his office, the middle of each step worn with the countless feet pounding up and down them over centuries of use, Dumbledore ran through the different people he should tell. McGonagall? No, she would overreact. So would Sprout. Sirius Black would certainly have to be informed…he was Harry's godfather, after all. Severus Snape…he would know what to do.
The gargoyle leaped aside as Dumbledore blew past. He walked swiftly down towards the dungeons. Reaching Snape's office, he raised his hand and knocked firmly three times on the heavy oak door.
"I'll be right there," a muffled voice called out. Dumbledore stood there patiently for a moment or two, and then the door swung open.
"Albus!" Snape said, rather surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"I just received this note," Dumbledore said tightly, showing Snape the parchment. Snape glanced at the message, his face turning pale. "Come in," he said, hurriedly ushering the Headmaster in and shutting the door carefully behind them.
Snape gestured towards an armchair by the fire, and Dumbledore sat down heavily. Snape sat in the chair opposite him.
"So?" Snape finally said. "What are we to do?"
"I don't know," Dumbledore said, finally at a loss.
"We talked about this," said Snape. "We agreed that we wouldn't coddle Harry."
"But we have to protect him!" Dumbledore cried out. "Don't you see? This could be it."
Snape stared into the fire. "Fine, we'll protect him," he said harshly. "But how? It can't be any of us, he – or Voldemort - will suspect something." He looked up at the Headmaster. Dumbledore was staring at a spot behind Snape's head, lost in thought.
"The Summoning Spell..." Dumbledore finally said. It was so quiet that Snape barely caught the words. But he did.
"The Summoning Spell?" he repeated, aghast. "That spell is risky! You don't know who or what you'll be Summoning, and if it will even obey you! Do you want to risk all of our lives for one boy?"
"Don't you understand, Severus?" Dumbledore yelled. "Its either Harry survives, or we all die! He's the one that could save us all from Voldemort!" His voice quieted somewhat. "We have to take that risk."
Snape said nothing. Dumbledore stood up. "We need another person for the spell."
"I'll fetch Minerva," Snape said quietly. He got up and left the room. Dumbledore sat back down, brooding.
***
"Minerva!" Snape yelled, pounding on her office door. "Minerva!"
Professor McGonagall finally opened the door, wearing a fuzzy pink robe and fuzzy pink bunny slippers and looking very cranky.
"Severus?" she said, rubbing her eyes blearily and sliding on her glasses. "Do you know what time it is?"
"I'm sorry, but this is urgent," he said. "Hurry, come with me. Dumbledore will explain everything when we get to my office."
"Is something wrong with Harry?" she said worriedly as they hurried back towards Snape's office. Snape gave a short, dry laugh that was more like a cough than anything else.
"How'd you guess," he said sarcastically. They reached his office and Dumbledore got up to greet them.
"Minerva, I'm glad you came," he said, gesturing towards the armchair he had been sitting in. McGonagall collapsed into it, still looking a bit asleep, but clear-minded nonetheless.
"Well?" she demanded, looking up at the two of them. Dumbledore and Snape sat down in chairs next to her.
"Minerva, I just received this message," Dumbledore said, handing her the parchment. McGonagall read through the note, drawing in a sharp breath. She looked up, her face pink with anxiety and accusation.
"What did I tell you?" she said, her voice shaky. "I told you that we had to protect him! And now what are you going to say? Oh, just let him handle it himself? I refuse! I don't care what you say, Albus. I'm protecting Harry no matter what."
"Calm down," Snape said snappishly. "We didn't bring you here for you to yell at us. Albus has offered a solution to this…unfortunate situation." He glanced towards Dumbledore for him to continue. McGonagall turned towards him, obviously demanding an explanation.
"We've decided to use a Summoning Spell to bring someone to protect Harry," Dumbledore said.
"A Summoning Spell?" McGonagall said angrily. "This is your solution?"
"It's the only solution!" Dumbledore replied, eyes no longer twinkling. "Can you come up with anything else?" He glared at her, a very uncharacteristic gesture for the benign, usually mild Headmaster. McGonagall was silent. "I thought so. So let's get started."
***
The three were gravely silent as they set up the room for the Summoning. Crystals were carefully put around the room, creating a large circle, and black candles created a bigger circle around that. Dumbledore went around the circle, lighting the candles one by one, chanting an incantation over and over under his breath. When the last candle was lighted, he took his place between Snape and McGonagall just outside the circle, and they said together, "Demons of the Underworld, we Summon one of your kind to help us."
A frightening howl rose up and a shapeless light slowly formed inside the circle. The nebulous light spun around and around, pulling itself in faster and faster until it created a tiny condensed ball of pure whiteness, so bright that they could barely look at it without squinting. Alone, Dumbledore cried the last part of the spell: "Demon, I Summon you and Bind you to my side, to serve me until I release you from your Bindings." The light slowly grew larger, vaguely forming the hazy shape of a woman. The light brightened even more into a blinding flash, and they were forced to close their eyes. Upon opening them again, they found that the light had faded, and a demoness stood there, completely bare. Like most demonesses, she was voluptuous, and Snape couldn't help but stare. He gulped, and McGonagall rolled her eyes. Dumbledore, on the other hand, was instantly businesslike.
"Good evening," he said. The demoness sneered.
"What do you want of me, mortal?" she hissed at him. "Sex? Money? Power?"
Snape opened his mouth to speak, but McGonagall silenced him by clapping her hand over his mouth.
"None of those, thank you," she said to the demoness, glaring at Snape as she did so. "We want protection."
"Protection?" she said, a bit surprised. She snapped her fingers and a condom appeared. Snape's eyes bugged out, and he mumbled behind McGonagall's hand. Everyone ignored him.
"Not that kind," McGonagall snapped.
"Suit yourself," the demoness replied, and the condom disappeared.
"Protection for Harry Potter," Dumbledore clarified. "Against evil forces."
"Harry Potter?" the demoness said, an eyebrow raised. (A/N: her eyebrow wasn't the only thing raised in the room…if you catch my drift.) "Hmm, I don't believe I know who he is…protection against whom?"
"We're not sure," Dumbledore said. "Although my best guess is Lord Voldemort."
"Lord Voldemort?" the demoness repeated, her brow furrowing. Where had she heard that name before? Suddenly memories flooded back. A young man, no, a wizard…attempting to kill her…announcing in that proud, arrogant voice that he was…
"Lord Voldemort," she breathed. "Tell me who he has become, and who this Harry Potter person is."
Dumbledore and McGonagall glanced at each other. Snape was busy looking somewhere else. The demoness had heard of Lord Voldemort, but not Harry Potter?
"Lord Voldemort is a Dark Lord that, like most Dark Lords (A/N: and Pinky and the Brain) tried to take over the world. However, at the height of his power, Harry Potter, then a year old, stopped him. Voldemort tried to kill Harry, but his mother's love protected him, and curse rebounded off of Harry and hit Voldemort. He was forced to go into hiding, for he was severely wounded. However, last year, Voldemort got his body back through a complex ancient potion that Wormtail, one of his followers, performed. Now Voldemort is back to kill Harry Potter once and for all…and we can't let that happen," Dumbledore finished.
"And that's where you come in," McGonagall cut in. "We Summoned you to protect Harry at Hogwarts." She gestured towards the room as a whole. "That's where we are – Hogwarts, a wizarding school that Harry attends."
"In order to not alert Lord Voldemort that we have taken measures to protect Harry Potter, you will go into hiding as a teacher at this school," Dumbledore informed her. "We don't want any attention drawn towards this affair at all. You are to lay low as a teacher, and not call any undue attention towards yourself. Is that understood?"
The demoness thought fast. She was a succubus, after all, and she had to have intercourse once every hour when the sun set because of her curse…this wizarding school would be perfect. Young teenage boys were easy to seduce. And even if this pathetic Lord Voldemort showed up, she could take him down easy. Besides, Lord Voldemort was such an egotistical, irritating little boy, threatening to kill her and all…why not show him up? Tell him who the boss is around here?
"Well?" Dumbledore said expectantly. "Do you agree to protect Harry Potter?"
"It's not like you have a choice or anything," McGonagall added. "We just want to be sure you won't do a half-assed job because you didn't want to protect Harry in the first place."
"I don't do half-assed jobs," the succubus answered, glaring at McGonagall. "Everything I do is top-notch."
I'm sure, Snape thought.
"Well, it's for a good cause," the succubus said carefully, trying to make them think of her as some kind, soulful demoness. Careful, she thought. Can't let them know I'm a succubus…
McGonagall looked suspicious. "Since when did you care about good causes, demoness? You thrive for evil."
"I loathe this Lord Voldemort person," she said, spitting out his name in disgust. "I just want to show him up, put the arrogant little bastard back in his place." Which is true, she thought. But that's not the only reason why I'm taking this job…so many teenage boys, hormones racing all over the place…it'll be easy for me to keep up with my curse as a succubus.
"How do you know Lord Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked curiously. The succubus didn't answer.
"What's my payment?" she demanded instead. "What will you give me in return for protecting this Harry Potter boy?"
Snape tore away from McGonagall's hand. "Me!" he shouted. McGonagall shut him up by putting a Silencing Spell on him. Snape stood there sullenly for the rest of the conversation, unable to say anything.
"I will release you from your Binds when the danger has passed," Dumbledore said. "On my honor."
"Agreed," the succubus said. "I accept the job." This was going to be an easy job, she thought happily. Usually her jobs ended up with her being forced to have sex with some nasty, greasy little wizard that was too pathetic to get even prostitutes, and had to go as far as Summoning and Binding a demoness. These were the worst, because they always refused to unbind her. Those jobs usually ended up with her having to get the wizard very, very drunk, and teasing him into unbinding her during his drunken stupor.
She stuck out her hand in agreement, careful not to cross the magic circle. However, Dumbledore didn't take it.
"Do you swear to defend Harry Potter with your life and obey any directions I give you?" Dumbledore demanded.
"I swear."
"Do you swear that you will not knowingly or purposefully harm any person in this school while you are doing this job?"
"I swear."
Dumbledore reached into the magic circle and grasped the succubus' hand. They shook. He then nodded towards McGonagall, and she took the Silencing Spell off of Snape. McGonagall and Snape quickly and quietly took apart the magic circle and tucked the crystals and black candles away carefully.
"Minerva?" Dumbledore said. "Please get our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher some robes."