"Wake up! Lux, wake the hell up!"
Lux jolted awake, eyes growing wide as her vision adjusted to the dimly lit space around her. Fulk was hovering above her, his hands on her shoulders as he shook and shook her, until she had to physically push him off. "I'm awake!" She hissed, glaring at him. Though, as her eyesight cleared and Fulk became more visible, the irritation waned, replaced by worry, as she examined him. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"They're here. They've found us."
"That's impossible." She let out a breath, shaking her head as dread consumed her, a pit forming in her stomach. "How could they have found us? I put up every possible enchantment, I swear, I did."
"I know. You did your best." Fulk placed a hand behind her head, gently stroking her hair. "But they're here. One of them is, anyways — he's been standing outside the door for the past hour."
"He?" She raised an eyebrow. "So it isn't—"
"No, it isn't Adelais. Must be one of her minions."
"It is Torquatus, then? Or Odo?" Lux pressed, shifting so the blanket she had draped over her body was pushed off of her.
He shook his head, retracting his hand from behind her. "I couldn't tell, I could only see that it was a man. I didn't dare try to peer through the window more than I did, lest he see me. We need to leave, now. Before the sun comes out."
"Why can't we just wait? He'll have to leave eventually. The sun will not show mercy, even on the Coven." She demanded as she sat up.
"They'll come back. They always come back. If we don't leave now, then tomorrow night, it'll be the entire Coven at this man's side. We need to leave. Come on, pack your stuff. Only the most important things. We'll sneak out the back window, the one in my bedroom."
"Right." Lux nodded, gulping. Fulk stepped away from her bed, backing up towards the door, his footsteps as quiet as he could make them. Of course, if it was a member of the Coven on their doorstep, any loud movement would be detected by their blasted hearing, their superhuman sense.
"Hurry." He gave her one last look, before exiting her room, softly shutting the door behind him and leaving her alone.
Lux wouldn't pretend to miss this place, the trailer her and Fulk had been living in for the past couple years. Not long enough that it would hold any sentimental value. Soon enough, she wouldn't even remember the tiny house on wheels, tucked away in the corner of the woods. They'd find another place to call home eventually, but that didn't mean packing wasn't a nuisance.
Though, it wasn't her various items that Lux found herself drawn to, but the window to her bedroom, of which the curtains were tucked firmly shut, to prevent even the smallest of the suns rays from entering. Typically, she wouldn't sleep during the night, but she'd spent the day prior watching a Star Wars marathon on the muggle television they had stationed on the counter in the kitchen.
Now, it was coming back to bite her in the arse, as she was completely exhausted as she stumbled over to her window, drawing back the curtains ever so slightly, as to not alert whoever it was standing outside of their door that she was watching them.
She lifted her neck to peer through the glass, and sure enough, a man was standing outside of their door, hands placed in front of him and his head cocked to the side, clearly contemplating something. Though, Lux managed to get a better look at him than Fulk must have, and she immediately recognized the man stationed outside their trailer home.
It wasn't a member of the Coven, no, not at all, she realized as the pit in her stomach grew to the point of an ache.
It was Albus Dumbledore, which was certainly far, far worse than another vampire could possibly be.
"Fulk!" Lux hissed as she swiped the curtains closed again, and rushed out of her bedroom to find him. "Fulk!"
"What?" He responded in a whisper, from where he was in the kitchen, shoving various coins they kept hidden in a drawer into a bag. His icy blue eyes were wide as he met hers with a panicked grimace.
"It isn't one of the Coven outside." She explained to him, shaking her head. "It's Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore? As in Albus Dumbledore?"
"How many other Dumbledores do you know?" She rolled her eyes despite herself, and all the blood drained from Fulk's face, his eyes sliding between her and the door, feet behind her.
"We need to go. Now." He responded, setting the bag down gently onto the ground. There would be no time for packing now, Lux realized. They were going to flee on foot.
"I'm afraid that won't be necessary." Dumbledore's voice echoed from behind the wooden door that separated them from him. Somehow, likely through magic, his voice was easily detectable, at a volume that would indicate he was standing right next to them. "Please, Fulk, it is rude to leave someone standing outside your door for this long without an invite. I'm an old man, as you know. My bones aren't what they used to be."
"What do you want?" Lux responded, hoping the tremble in her voice wasn't noticeable. There weren't many things in the world that struck fear into her cold, dead heart, but the most powerful wizard on the planet certainly was an exception. "Have you come to kill us?"
A chuckle emitted from his lips. "No, Lux. I have not come to kill you. If I wished you dead, you would be already. I would not have waited out here for over an hour, for you to invite me in."
"You can enter without an invitation." Fulk pressed, maneuvering towards the door, so his hand was wrapped around the handle. "Unless you've become one of us?"
Another chuckle. "Ah, I suppose that is true. Alas, I remain quite human. I just fear entering without permission would be quite rude, wouldn't you say?"
"Don't open the door." Lux mouthed, too afraid to actually speak, lest Dumbledore overhear, and it anger him.
"He'll just come in anyways." Fulk responded at a typical volume, and with a deep breath, he pulled the door inwards, revealing a silvery frame illuminated by the gentle light of the moon. Dumbledore was a haunting sight indeed, with his pale, withered skin and sparkling blue eyes, but what Lux was more concerned about was the wand he had clutched between his aged fingers. A weapon.
She had a wand, and so did Fulk, but their usages of their instruments were few and far between. Lux wasn't quite sure where she'd put her wand when she'd last used it, let alone know how to use it to defend herself if Dumbledore was to attack her.
No, she'd have to rely on her fangs to keep her from certain death. It was two against one, and Dumbledore was a mere mortal, so it should've been an easy fight, if one were to break out. But that didn't stop the anxiety bubbling in Lux's throat, which she had to bite back as she used her clever tongue as a weapon, as a means of distraction.
"What is it you want, Albus?" She tilted her head to the side, hoping cockiness radiated from her, and not the primal fear coursing through her veins, the veins that should've hosted thick, red blood, but now were hollowed out, leaving plenty of room for terror in its stead.
Fulk took a step towards Dumbledore, inserting himself in between the old man and Lux, with his chest puffed out. Maybe Lux couldn't take him in a fight one on one, but if anyone could, it was Fulk. He was power itself, power and fury and unnatural strength, combined into one body that certainly held more strength than the old man in front of them.
Fulk would keep them safe, she told herself firmly, inhaling through her nose. Fulk always kept them safe, he wouldn't stop now.
"I've come to talk." Dumbledore said with a gentle smile, peering over Fulk's shoulder to meet Lux's harsh gaze.
"Talk?" Fulk scoffed. "You came all the way out here to talk? Tell me why I don't believe that for a second, Albus."
"Perhaps you need to be more trusting." His attention remained fixed on the girl, though, as he stared at her through his half moon glasses. "Lux, I have not come to hurt you. You have no need to be afraid."
"I'm not afraid." Her nose twitched, though she still attempted to assert dominance, lifting her chin and baring her teeth. "You should be afraid, old man. Entering a home of not one, but two vampires? What would possess you to do such a thing?"
"As I said earlier, I wish to talk."
It was Fulk's turn to speak, now, a sly grin sliding onto his parted lips. "Why would you assume we'd let you leave with your life?"
She expected Dumbledore to be afraid, as all were of them. She expected him to apparate away the moment his life was threatened, or worse, attack them. But the man didn't show an ounce of fear, as he grinned right back at Fulk, and when he spoke, his voice didn't so much as tremble. "For the same reason you don't drink human blood — because it would draw attention to you. Attention you've spent the past twenty or so years desperately trying to avoid. It wouldn't due to kill me, and then have not only the Coven know of your latest whereabouts, but also the Ministry."
He had a point, Lux admitted to herself as she released a breath, and inhaled another one.
"I have not come to harm either of you." Dumbledore continued, his gaze fixed on Lux. "I have simply come to make an offer to you. A deal."
"A deal?" Lux's eyebrows jumped up. "What sort of deal?"
"Albus Dumbledore, wheeling and dealing with vampires." Fulk mused, the size of his smirk increasing.
"It is strange, how we wind up where we do." Dumbledore acknowledged. "I never thought I'd brave the home of two vampires either, but here we are." He turned his attention to the male vampire, his silver hair swishing behind him as his head moved positions. "I wish for you two to attend Hogwarts this term — in three days, to be precise. Lux, as a student, and Fulk as a professor. We have yet another vacancy in Defense Against the Dark Arts position, and I feel as though you would fit it perfectly."
"You wish for me to teach?" Fulk didn't mask his surprise, the typical veil he wore to conceal his emotions falling with the gust of wind that was Dumbledore's strange offer. "You wish for two vampires to invade your castle? Do you have no sense? Have you lost your mind?"
While she didn't voice it, Lux was thinking the exact same things. What sort of alcohol must've the Headmaster of Hogwarts recently consumed, to have come to them with such a request? What man in their right mind would want vampires in their school — a school full of walking blood bags? He'd simply be putting students in danger, and for what reward?
"Perhaps." He shrugged casually. "But I know you, Fulk. You wouldn't hurt a child. You may me a vampire, but you have morals. Otherwise your dear Lux wouldn't be alive, isn't that so?"
Lux shifted in her position, shoulders caving into her body as she hunched over ever so slightly, as though to shield herself, though there was no outward threat. "Why do you want us at Hogwarts? I already went to Hogwarts, after all."
"Alas, our curriculum has drastically been altered since…what was it?"
"Sixteen twenty eight." Lux said harshly.
"Right. You were the pride of Hufflepuff, if my memory serves me correctly."
"And you know that how?" She cocked an eyebrow. Dumbledore was old, but he wasn't that old. He certainly wasn't alive at the same time as she'd been a human, anyways.
"Records, of course." He explained with the wave of his hand.
Lux suddenly felt heat spread across her face, as her shoulders caved even more. Embarrassment, she realized. She was embarrassed. She should've known that.
She couldn't remember the last time she'd been embarrassed, and an old man with an ugly beard had just caused her humiliation.
"Why do you wish for us to attend your school, Albus?" Fulk redirected the conversation back to the original subject, with the gentle curve of his eyebrow.
"There is a war coming, Fulk." Dumbledore said, his voice suddenly solemn. "I'm sure you've heard all about it."
"Voldemort, yes?" The male vampire asked, his voice casual, bored, almost. As though this so called Voldemort posed him no threat.
Lux supposed he didn't. She'd heard about this man, who called himself a Dark Lord, lurking about, attacking muggles while he grew a steady following. On the rare occasion she left their trailer to snag a copy of the Daily Prophet, he was all they ever reported on, the front page of every article.
Through his half moon glasses, Dumbledore's eyes grew wide in gentle surprise. "I'm shocked you dare speak his name. Most do not."
"We are not most." Fulk lifted his shoulders in a shrug.
"Indeed, you are not." He nodded in agreement.
"We have nothing to do with Voldemort." Lux folded her arms over her chest. "And we never will. All we wish is to remain here — in peace. Left alone. We don't desire fame or glory or a world like Voldemort does."
"I know. I did not come to you out of suspicion that you were involved with that man. In fact, I've come here to propose the opposite. If you attend Hogwarts, you're safe under my protection from the Coven. I know they still seek you out. All I ask is that in return, when Voldemort comes knocking on your door, and he will, you turn him down. You fight with us, instead."
"You wish for us to fight in this war?" Fulk blinked, shifting his position so he was even moreso blocking Dumbledore from Lux than he had been prior. "Albus, Lux is just sixteen. She has no place in this."
"I'm not just a girl." Lux protested before Dumbledore could speak, maneuvering around Fulk so she could properly see the Headmaster. "You can protect us from the Coven? You swear it?"
"I swear it." Dumbledore promised, his kind eyes meeting hers with an oath written into them.
"We'll do it."
"Hold on!" Fulk interrupted, raising a hand in the air to cut her off. "Lux, you cannot agree to anything. Not yet. How do you expect us to interact at this school, anyways? Or do you plan on banishing the sun?"
A gentle laugh escaped Dumbledore, as he softly shook his head. "Always on top of everything. Don't you worry, Fulk. I have just the thing for your little…predicament." The old man begun to dig into the pocket of his purple robe, eventually pulling out two identical rings, setting them atop his wrinkled hand. Each of the jewelry had a tiny red gemstone, that shimmered in the bit of moonlight that slipped through the still open door.
"Have you come to propose to me, Headmaster?" Fulk raised his eyebrows. "Or is it my dear Lux that you desire the hand of?"
Once again, Dumbledore chuckled. "Truly a joy, Fulk. No, I have not come to ask for your hand in marriage. These rings, they will allow you to walk in the daylight."
A deafening silence fell between the three.
"A daylight ring? How…" Lux sputtered, breaking the quiet.
"Magic is a beautiful thing, Lux." Dumbledore lifted his hand, and thus, the rings, towards her. "Would you like to try it on?"
This could've been a trap, she knew that. For all she knew, the moment she put on that ring, she could burst into a ball of flames and collapse into a pile of ash, as had occurred once before. Now, she wouldn't have any chance of surviving a harsh flame, though.
"I'll do it." Fulk interjected, shoving Lux to the side with his shoulder, and grabbing one of the rings from the palm of Dumbledore's hand. Lux noticed, to her great shock, that he was shaking as he slid the ring into his middle finger, as if he suspected the same outcome that she had just imagined.
Nothing happened.
Fulk was fine.
He looked at Dumbledore first, then at Lux.
"Go ahead." He nodded at the girl, nudging towards Dumbledore. "It's safe."
She reached over, taking the remaining ring out of Dumbledore's hand and sliding it onto the same finger Fulk had — matching him. The ring slid onto her with ease, the shape melting into her finger as though it were made for her to wear.
With wide eyes, she looked up at Dumbledore. "You swear this will let us walk in the light? We won't burn up?"
"You sure do like your promises." He said as he smiled down at her. "Yes, Lux, I swear to you. With this ring, you are invincible to the light. You're free. From the sun, and from the Coven. As long as you join us, as long as you come to Hogwarts, you're free."