Harry Potter and the Scabbard of Excalibur [AU]

Your current Gnosis is 15.75, a princely sum.

According to Geist's explanation, a pact (in the demon-summoning context) is a ritualistic and absolute binding made between a given wizard and a demonic entity. As the result of an orthodox pact, an entity must obey direct orders from the wizard, abstain from harming them or theirs, and respond to the wizard's summoning. However, should a wizard deal intentional harm to a demon, they are completely unchained from their binding; a wizard must also not knowingly tell a lie to a demon (and vice versa, although simply as a result of the wizard commanding the demon to speak truth,) though 'minor fibs' ("I am feeling well and good today," when you aren't, etc,) do not count for this.

Also, obviously, you may unchain a demon yourself, if you so wish.

As soon as a demon is unchained from their binding, they may choose to either stay on Earth (though no longer bound by its pact conditions, meaning they can harm the summoner, disobey orders, etc,) or return to wherever they came from instantly. In 99.998% of all known cases, a demon will invariably choose the latter option, as the prospect of being stuck on Earth forever makes the majority of them profoundly uncomfortable. Apparently, there's a spa in Hell or something.

A pact, however, is not an effortless deed, as it relies upon the sorcerer's innate magical potential and raw power to maintain itself. As such, your ability to maintain pacts will be abstracted in the form of Covenant Strength. At the moment, you have six (6) Covenant Strength to spend - a very ironic number.

Here, you may find the entities you can afford to bind -- if you desire, you can bind multiple weaker entities.

[ ] Nogtail [1 Covenant Strength] - A demonic entity common even on modern Earth, the nogtail is similar to a stunted piglet, but with narrow black eyes, a thick stubby tail, and long thin legs. Almost completely useless as a servile entity in most respects; its only noteworthy traits are mild vampirism and the ability to curse undefended locations with misfortune should it be allowed to feed repeatedly upon the grounds of said location. They are easily defeated in combat, but are monstrously agile and fast, able to escape most encounters. However, a nogtail is deathly afraid of a purebred white dog and will refuse to return to any location where such a dog chased it away; as such, they are treated as irritating pests by modern wizards.

[ ] Rotmote [2 Covenant Strength] - A demonic creature that appears as a levitating, corpulent blob of moss, dessicated flesh, and nasty dirt; roughly the size of an infant's head. It can zip around at fast speeds in order to avoid thrown projectiles or offensive spells and is intelligent enough to comprehend that a pointed wand or gun likely indicates danger. It can maintain perfect awareness of its surroundings, its entire surface acting as a single and giant, omnidirectional sensory organ that draws in light, sound, and other stimuli. It possesses the magical ability to cover surfaces and objects in rapidly-grown moss and sticky filth, spread pools of slippery fluid, and fill areas with disgusting and gut-wrenching smells that often make people flee in revulsion.

[ ] Diabillo, "the Devil Monkey" [2 Covenant Strength] - A small demon with a slightly mischievous personality, vaguely resembling a grotesquely distorted capuchin monkey with a leering grin permanently stuck on its face. Alas, the Diabillo is not useful in any context that involves fighting - it's a gutless coward and will do its level best to promptly escape or avoid any orders that involve combat, but in all other respects, it serves faithfully and briskly; it can, for instance, be ordered to clean your room, bring or steal items for you, sneak into places, or even scout for danger in certain locations. It makes for a surprisingly handy companion in potion-brewing. Although he isn't very fond of them, Geist remarks that you could send a Diabillo on missions to retrieve precious and rare herbs, stones, and ingredients from the Forbidden Forest, either to use or sell.

[ ] Beowulf [3 Covenant Strength] - An unnaturally large wolf specimen (big enough for a child like you to ride on, small enough to fit through most doorways in Hogwarts), its thick fur marked with interchanging stripes of midnight black and deep violet. It has engraved beads the color of lavender in place of eyeballs, constantly turning within its sockets and displaying scenes of exceptional violence in the etchings. It's almost eerily silent, never growling or barking, and its movements are bizarrely muffled; steps do not produce any noise even in open environments prone to echo; it does not even leave paw impressions on muddy earth, or upset sand or gravel surfaces with its tread, like a phantasm that doesn't quite fully exist in our reality.

It may leap extreme distances and ascend vertical spaces in extreme shows of agility, and its long, prehensile tail ends in a cruelly-barbed jade-green stinger that injects a cursed venom that will invariably slay most living, human-sized targets within an hour - a specific antidote is required to cure this affliction.

[ ] Phooka [3 Covenant Strength] - A somewhat classic and disturbing 'horned devil,' the dark-furred Phooka takes on the unmistakable appearance of a man-sized bipedal creature that is not quite goat, not quite horse, and not quite cat, with a pair of twisted black horns growing and curving from its head. Its fingers conclude in sharp claws, which are moderately useful for self-defense but reduce its dexterity and ability to operate human items with finesse to a certain degree. It can be unexpectedly cunning and creative in its actions and hides extremely well in dark and narrow spaces. Aside from these abilities, it's also particularly resilient against offensive magic, making it excellent in ambush attacks against inexperienced wizards; dosed on a proper regimen of potions, it can be especially deadly.

[ ] African Troll [4 Covenant Strength] - Although not, in fact, a species of troll, this rare and exceptionally unusual demon shares many of a troll's magical traits: large physical size, magic-resistant hide, fast regeneration from injury, and inhuman strength as well as constitution. Aside from its combat potential, the African Troll makes a great menial laborer. Its back is studded in sharp and armored quills, which may be removed and can be a useful substitute for a number of ingredients in potions with regenerative or healing properties; powdered, the quills can also universally prolong the shelf life and duration of a potion's effects.

However, this demon is particularly unintelligent and unperceptive - should you summon and leave it to its devices, it might accidentally do something idiotic. Still, it should be fine so long as you don't leave any combustible potion ingredients nearby.

[ ] Akh'tarmuh [6 Covenant Strength, 7 Gnosis] - Among the entities Tom Riddle managed to contact, this one is possibly the most individualistic and powerful. A deceptive yet endearingly polite creature, this pretender-thing's default form is a brown-red mass of flesh sprouting tentacles, but its supplementary abilities allow it to hide in any number of alternate forms. It's a skilled manservant and infiltrator, well-versed in the linguistics and culture of humanity, as well as their natural behaviors and instincts.

Among the demons available to you, this entity is easily the most intelligent, powerful, cooperative, cordial, and versatile in all of its skills - around the same level of general usefulness as a well-trained House Elf, and then with further excellence in several areas - but also costs the most of your power to effectively bind. Can be very philosophical and engage in drawn-out debates on the nature of human perception and reality; stalwartly believes that selfhood and identity are both amusing lies that sapients perpetuate and expertly cultivate so as to not face the horrors of truth.

It accepts the appellation, 'Akh,' as a term of affection only from its summoner, but in line with its personal philosophy, it doesn't take offense to any insults; even straightforward objectification. Although Akh'tarmuh possesses a minor cornucopia of weak magical powers on par with a creature like a House Elf, including slow levitation, rudimentary Legilimency, and the ability to become invisible, its true strength lies in the ability to take on the form of anything - any object or existing person - it desires, down to the level of copying some of their surface magical traits. (A system that recognizes the Headmaster of Hogwarts would be expertly fooled should this entity assume the guise of Albus Dumbledore, for example.)

It's subject to an ancient and powerful oath to never use wand magic, virtually impossible to remove for you in the reasonable near-future, although it has expert knowledge of how to brew potions up to a relatively advanced level (can and will, prepare brews for you upon request, though it'll take much longer if you do not have ingredients for it to use.) It also seems to know much about the history and the fickle nature of reality, having survived the purges and genocides its kind was subjected to long ago, but it knows nothing that Geist couldn't tell you. It also knows many things it won't tell you, or him - it seems the usual command to force it to speak the truth won't help here.

Geist has called upon this entity's services to help in breaking into the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic in the past. He deems it as decently reliable and particularly useful for any tasks related to subterfuge.

[ ] Ornias [6 Covenant Strength, 14 Gnosis] - Alas, Geist knows almost nothing about this mysterious entity. He's never summoned or bound it before, not requiring its services and not having any valid reason to cancel his other, ongoing contracts for a simple experiment in curiosity.

However, the manuscript he found its ritual in also remarked that it was, quote, "the devil who set the stars into motion, and may now call them down." Although Geist is sure that passage is, on some level, an exaggeration, hyperbole, or comical mistranslation from Latin, that doesn't change the fact that it may be useful for Astrology.

Alternatively, this may be a complete dud and provide nothing - Covenant Strength may be restored by canceling a pact, but are you willing to splurge all of your Gnosis on something that might simply be a huge orb of starlike flame that dumbly floats in a direction you desire?