Lamia grinned nastily and shook her head.
"Who are you to order me, little princess?" she hissed. "I do not submit to your will. I surpass you by far. A single, solitary, sixteen-year-old witch is no match for a vampire such as myself."
"She's not alone," Hermione said, walking over with her wand out and her face set in a strangely heroic expression. "She has me."
"And me!" said Ron, bounding over and nearly tripping over a table.
Draco watched them rush to Sarah's aid, enthralled. Would anyone do that for him? Maybe Sarah, but that was really it...he was alone in this school. He lingered on these thoughts for perhaps a moment more before he determined their Gryffindory-ness. Quickly he regained himself and contemplated Ron and Hermione's bravery.
Of course, he almost laughed out loud at them. They were rushing to her aid, when Sarah herself had been plotting their downfall. Draco watched Sarah. He knew that was what she was thinking about. As part of the plan, she had made friends with these people, and now the consequences were revealed. She had allowed herself to get attached to them, and she was having doubts. It was all plain on her face.
No matter, Draco thought. I'll just have to dispel those thoughts.
Harry, meanwhile, was watching his friends rush to help Sarah, but her words rang through his head.
Not yet? What's she mean? So they are going to let the vampire attack me? Is that it? he wondered, scowling slightly.
"Sarah," Harry said. "Not yet? What's going on?"
Sarah turned around to look at him, while Lamia and Draco smirked and Ron and Hermione adopted a confused look.
"You mean- you were planning- to have Professor Teres attack Harry?" Ron asked, bewildered.
"That's right, Weasley," Draco said, sauntering over. "Sarah befriending you- it was all a hoax to get closer to Potter. She was supposed to remain objective," he added with a meaningful glare at Sarah, who scowled back at him.
"Is this true, Sarah?" Hermione asked.
"I was supposed to get him into the woods," Sarah said through clenched teeth. She turned to glare at Lamia. "She was supposed to stay in the woods." Lamia shrugged and sneered at her.
"One does what one must. You thought I'd actually wait for one human boy- not even that young, mind you- when there's a whole hall full of scrumptious first years?" she said, gesturing around as said first years quivered and took several steps back. "Speaking of which-"
She turned back to the group of first years she had jumped over to get to Harry and launched herself forward-
"Lumos Solarum!"
She shrieked and fell to the floor, trying to cover herself with her robes to hide from the brilliant light at the end of the three wands before her. When the light faded and the students could see again, they beheld Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall standing over an unconscious Teres. Dumbledore looked up at the students, smiling gallantly. Dumbledore had that quality of being able to appear cheery even while staring at hundreds of frightened faces, and it was one of the reasons Harry held him in highest esteem.
"Prefects, please escort your Houses back to your dormitories immediately. Teachers please oversee the students," he said loudly. "Except you, Ron and Hermione, let the seventh year prefects take them. Mr. Malfoy, you remain as well."
Ron and Hermione, who had been about to march off calling for students loudly, placed their feet back on the floor and remained stationary.
Once the Great Hall was empty save for the three teachers and Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sarah and Draco, Dumbledore looked down at Lamia and back up at Harry.
"It really wasn't her fault. A student, it seems, broke into her office and stole her blood supply, forcing her hunting instincts to take over," he explained. He looked at Sarah.
"Your father, I suppose, asked you to do this for him?" he asked. Sarah nodded.
"In my dream, do you remember? I didn't tell about that part, I didn't think it was that important, I don't know why," she said, shrugging. "He was just telling me all these things about Harry and I forgot about all the nice things he'd done for me and such."
"And Mr. Malfoy, of course, knew but chose not to remind you...I see," Dumbledore said, and it was obvious that he'd already known all about it. Draco scowled but didn't comment.
The doors of the hall burst open once more and when they all turned to look, they saw none other than Lucius Malfoy. He was a different Lucius Malfoy than Harry had seen at the Department of Mysteries- he was emaciated slightly, though his brilliant robes hid most of it. His eyes lacked shine and his hair hang lank and limp. There were heavy bags around his eyes, and the wrinkles formerly hidden by magic were now clearly visible. However, his trademark smug scowl was still in place as he marched over, whipping out his wand. McGonagall and Snape glared at him and also raised their wands, but Dumbledore motioned them down. He smiled cheerily at Lucius.
"Evening, Lucius," he said. "To what do we owe the honor?"
"I'm coming to get Lamia Teres," Lucius snapped, pointing his wand at the vampire. She rose off of the ground and began to float at waist level.
Dumbledore shook his head.
"Ah, Lucius. I'm afraid that's not possible. You see, she is a teacher here, and we need her. It is only Christmas, you know. Still a good bit of the year to go," Dumbledore said.
"She's dangerous, Dumbledore," Lucius snapped. "After what happened tonight you can't possible think you can keep her here. She obviously isn't as in control of her condition as she thought."
"Lucius, you know as well as I do that this was aided," Dumbledore said sternly.
"Still...it could be- aided- again. As for your need for a teacher, I myself will of course volunteer. I'm sure you'll find that I'm quite qualified," Lucius said in reply.
An almost immediate groan sounded from the Gryffindors, who in light of this catastrophic announcement had briefly forgotten the events which had taken place only moments before. The Slytherins, for their part, looked somewhat pleased- well, Draco did. Sarah seemed to be reluctant to look anything but highly interested in her shoes.
Dumbledore looked surprised for a moment, but quickly recovered.
"An excellent suggestion, Lucius," he said, oblivious to McGonagall's incredulous expression and the dark looks Snape was giving both him and Lucius. "Thank you so much for your consideration. In light of your comments I suppose the best thing would be to dismiss Lamia."