Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series belongs to J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros. Inc., Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Raincoast, and any other affiliated party.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Chapter 5: Carbon Succubus
For many people, the attack on Cho Chang was the last straw. Parents started pulling their children out of school to get them away from the succubus lurking in the halls of Hogwarts. Surprisingly, the Weasleys had also decided to pull Ron and Ginny out as well. They had offered to take Harry and Hermione with them but Hermione had refused to leave her studies and prefect duties behind. Harry, for his part, refused to leave Hermione behind alone.
"Well I gotta go, mate," said Ron as he slung his bag on his back. "Can't keep Ginny waiting in the Great Hall for so long."
"Good bye, Ron," said Hermione as she hugged him.
Ron took this opportunity to whisper, "You have to tell him," into her ear. Hermione slowly nodded.
"Take care," said Harry. Ron slapped Harry's palm once in a friendly gesture. He then left the Common Room.
Harry looked around. Aside from himself and Hermione, the Common Room was completely deserted. "Well, I guess it's just the two of us," said Harry. He grinned at Hermione. Hermione also smiled weakly.
* * *
A few hours later, Harry and Hermione were snuggled up on one of the sofas in front of the fireplace. Hogwarts had never seemed so empty, devoid of so many of its students. The two were thinking about the succubus attacks that had caused the emptiness of the castle. Suddenly, Harry sprang to his feet.
"Of course! Why haven't I thought of it before?" he exclaimed.
"What is it?" asked Hermione. Harry was now pacing back and forth looking very excited. "You remember what Lupin taught us in DADA about succubae? Now get this: the victims that were attacked were Malfoy, Snape, and Cho, right?" Hermione nodded. "Now, everybody thought they were attacked by a succubus because it was Malfoy who was attacked first right? Then Snape. But then, that wouldn't make sense because Cho was also attacked."
Hermione realized what Harry was getting at. "Because a succubus doesn't attack women."
"That's right! It can't be an incubus because then Malfoy and Snape wouldn't have been attacked. And there can't be more than one succubae and incubi because there have only been three victims."
Hermione looked alarmed. "Harry, you're not suggesting a carbon succubus?" Harry nodded. "But we don't know if they really exist. There're no reports on whether You-know-who succeeded with his experiments to create one."
"I know," said Harry. "That's why I'm going to go speak to the one person who knows whether a carbon succubus exists or not." He ran up to his dorm and pulled out his invisibility cloak. He ran back to the Common Room and faced Hermione. "What I'm about to do is probably quite dangerous. So please don't tell Dumbledore just yet."
Hermione nodded and bit her lip. "Um, Harry. Before you go, there's something I need to tell you." She blushed red.
"Oh," said Harry raising an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"I…I…I…I love you," she rushed out. For the most agonizing moment, Harry was silent. Hermione looked down at her toes as she tried to fight back tears. 'He's going to reject me,' she thought. 'I've ruined my friendship with him.' The tears started to flow.
Slowly, Harry placed both of his hands on either side of Hermione's head and gently lifted her face up. Her cheeks were tear stained and her eyes were still closed as tears leaked out of them. Gently, Harry leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. Hermione felt her heart sore as she started kissing Harry back. Harry drew her in closer and wrapped his arms around her waist while Hermione wrapped arms around Harry's neck. One of her hands started stroking Harry's messy black hair. Finally they parted. Harry was wearing a huge grin while Hermione made a watery smile.
"Just in case that wasn't enough to let you know, I love you too," said Harry. "And I promise that after I clear up everything with Cassandra we'll make something of it." Hermione slowly nodded, still smiling. Harry pulled away. "I've got to go," he said.
"Promise me that you'll be alright," said Hermione. Harry nodded as he pulled the invisibility cloak on himself. The portrait hole swung open, seemingly by itself, then shut again.
Hermione flopped down on the sofa feeling happier than she had ever felt. Harry loved her. A part of her still couldn't believe it but her increased heartbeat and the warmth on her lips were proof enough. She sighed happily as all thoughts of the carbon succubus left her mind. She failed to notice the shadow creep behind her and say, "Stupefy!"
* * *
Slowly, while under the cover of his invisibility cloak, Harry made his way to the astronomy tower. A part of him was telling him what he was doing was far to dangerous, but he reasoned with himself that he was going to speak with someone who had no way of reaching him. Harry was going to go speak to the last person he, or anyone in his or her right mind would want to speak to.
Harry slowly crept into the astronomy tower and pulled out what looked like a compass. In truth, it was a magical communicator, the magical equivalent of a telephone. Harry had gone to the top of the astronomy tower since the magical reception was stronger there.
Harry started to chant. The communicator started glow and within a few seconds, an image of a face sprang out of the communicator in glowing light. The face was completely white like a skull and had glaring red eyes similar to a snake's. Harry had contacted Lord Voldemort!
Voldemort stared at his arch nemesis with mild surprise. "Why Harry, you would usually be the last person I'd expect to contact me this way."
Harry gritted his teeth. It was only an image of Voldemort before him, and yet he still felt a slight twinge in his scar. He was also incredibly apprehensive of seeing the Dark Lord's face again. "I'm a little surprised myself," hissed Harry. He straightened up and took on a business tone. "Tell me everything you know about carbon succubae."
Voldemort laughed his high-pitched laugh. "And what made you think I would give this information to you freely?"
"How about this," said Harry. "Suppose one of your carbon succubae is in Hogwarts now. Also suppose that this creature eventually kills me, henceforth robbing you the chance of killing the one who defeated you so many years ago. What do you think of that?"
Voldemort actually looked thoughtful for a minute. He finally seemed to have come to a decision and started speak. "If you really want to know, I worked on creating carbon succubae for years. Yet, in the end I only successfully managed to create one. Lets see now, it was just a few months before I killed your parents." Voldemort grinned. Harry gritted his teeth, anger starting to boil up inside of him.
"How do I find this creature?" said Harry.
"You should treat my creations with more respect," said Voldemort. "The name of the carbon succubus is Cassandra Frost."
"What?!" This was news Harry did not expect. His betrothed fiancée was a creation of Voldemort!
"Hmmm. Judging by your reaction, I suppose you know her." Voldemort grinned once more. "Years ago, when she was only a year old, my Death Eaters kidnapped her from her home. Killed her father in the process but that doesn't matter. I finally completed the transformation on her and sent her back to her home, a new weapon for my use." Voldemort laughed briefly but he suddenly grimaced as if recalling a horrible event. "Unfortunately, before I could use her, I had that run in with you!"
Harry glared at the Dark Lord. "Yeah, we all know what happened then," he hissed.
Voldemort laughed. "I hope that this information has been most useful for you. Oh, in case you forget, I'm still going to be the one who kills you. So don't die fighting Frost!" With a flash, the image of Voldemort disappeared. Harry gasped a breath of relief.
'That's the last time I ever do that,' he thought. 'Well, nothing left to do but tell Dumbledore that Cassandra's the carbon succubus. I sure hope he doesn't ask me how I got a hold of this info.' Harry wanted to make sure that Cassandra was still in the castle. He pulled out the Marauder's Map from his cloak and said, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." In an instant, the map flicked to life. As he glanced down at the map, Harry gasped at what he saw.
The name 'Hermione Granger' was right next to 'Cassandra Frost' in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom!
"No!" said Harry. He quickly pulled out a pen and parchment and scribbled something down. He then whipped out his wand and shouted, "Accio Hedwig!" In an instant, his snowy white owl zoomed right next to him. Hedwig seemed very angry to have been summoned so rudely.
"Hedwig, I need you to take this to Dumbledore, now!" said Harry. Hedwig simply ruffled her feathers and looked away. "Dammit Hedwig! Hermione's in trouble!" That caught the owl's attention. She thrust out her leg and Harry tied the parchment to it. As Hedwig flew away, Harry started running as fast as he could, hoping that he would make it to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom in time.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A/N I just wanted to say that everything that has happened in this story was precisely how I planned it: I fully intended to make Cassandra a carbon succubus from the start. Keep your thoughts in mind and everything will be explained in the last few chapters. So R/R.