Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Slayer, The Avatar And The Guardian Of Light
Chapter 101 - The Ghost Of Dangers Past
The days after the tragedy at the Chateau were solemn at Hogwarts and not just for those who knew the Delacour's, almost the entire school was affected.
When the History Of Magical Creatures Professor, the Duelling Master, the Alternative Magic's Professor and all those around them were solemn, the school could not go unaffected.
And what made it worse was what they had discovered upon their return to the school after the attack; the Delacour's had not been the only target.
The Grangers, the Weasley's, the Lovegood's and the Longbottom's had all been hit again as well, and this time some of the attacks had been successful.
Luna's father had the sheer dumb luck of having the horn of a Erumpent hanging from his ceiling, he of course though it was from a Crumple-horned Snorkack, but luckily for him it was not and was therefore highly explosive.
When the Death Eaters had stormed his house they were unlucky enough to hit one of the chains holding it as he dashed up the stairs away from them, resulting in it swinging straight into them and detonating upon impact taking all five of them with it, leaving little more than their boots, masks and smoking cloaks.
The attack on Neville's house was futile as no one was there; apparently his grandmother had been taken to St. Mungo's a few hours before the attack and Neville was there when she peacefully died of natural causes.
The attack on Hermione's house lasted only a few seconds, it seems that the attackers had taken advice from James and instead of storming the house like last time and suffering heavy losses, this time they chose to launch five pounds of C4 through the living room window where both of the residents were sitting, killing them instantly and obliterating the house, as the wards around the property could not defend them against inanimate objects.
Lastly, the attack against the Weasley's was much like the standard Death Eater attack with James along for the ride to get them past the wards. Apparently after the attack on his house, Luna's father (who lived nearby) had seen the flashes of magic down by The Burrow, and had Apparated to the location and had arrived just before the Order, witnessing both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley succumb under a hail of killing curses. They had beaten them back but by then it was all too late.
This resulted in many grieving people at Hogwarts, all the family members were shocked and saddened by the deaths and only Neville seemed unchanged, stating that ‘it was her time' and that ‘she had lived a long and full life'.
The others were hit hard by the news. Hermione had spent many hours crying against Ron while he did his best to remain strong, Fleur had been walking around as if she were not there, her eyes seemed completely empty.
Harry and Colette were slightly more aware of what was going on around them but still walked around and did everything they could to take their minds of it, throwing themselves into their work and teaching classes as if it were a pre-recorded program that was being played out. They were so focused on their tasks that Harry, during a duelling demonstration, received a nasty gash across his chest and did not seem to even notice it until Fleur pointed it out to him when he returned to their room several hours later.
The funeral services had been hard on everyone, they were held together up in the Carpathian Mountains near the Veela Colony in a secluded valley where the Veela Cemetery was located. The Weasley's, Granger's and Mrs. Longbottom were then transferred back to Britain to be buried in family plots.
The ceremony itself was similar to that of Wizards and Muggle's with the exception of what was known as The Salute of Fire, whereby all those able to conjure fire either by wand or Elemental means, together as one launched said flames into the sky directly above the grave as the coffin is lowered into the ground below, creating a large ball of fire as all the flames combine above the departed.
The reception was held at the rapidly rebuilt Chateau (the Delacour's had had full Goblin insurance over the Chateau which meant that any damage no matter how severe would be repaired within days of the event that caused it), it was exactly as it was before except for the absence of any personal items in the rooms that were destroyed as the Goblins could not repair what was not covered by the policy; this left Dimitri and Delphine's room utterly devoid of personality....as if they had never been.
This fact did little to help the grieving Fleur, Harry and Gabrielle, as many people from many different countries offered them their condolences to them and the others in mourning.
After the event Madam Maxime and Fleur both agreed that for the time being Gabrielle should not stay in a place that reminded her of her parents, so for the moment she would stay with her sister, resulting in Gabrielle moving into the room next to Harry's and Fleur's at Hogwarts. This resulted in a slight lift in people's spirits as she explored the school, having not had much of a chance to do so during her last visit, but the slightly relaxed state she brought to everyone around her did not last long.
________________________________________________________________________
Dimension: 1375 - Earth
Date: 20th October 2001 AD
Country: Scotland
Location: Hogwarts - Empty Classroom
Time: Late Afternoon
On the Saturday following the events at the Chateau Harry was sitting alone in one of the empty classrooms.
He had spent quite a lot of time recently just sitting and thinking, and this classroom, with windowsills big enough for a grown man to sit comfortably on was his preferred place to do so.
For once he did not have Gabrielle following after him, she had started spending more and more time around Harry and his friends (she had discovered it was more fun exploring a castle when you had someone with you who actually knew the way) though notably not Adam who she almost ran from whenever they met. Apparently she had seen him transform into a Werewolf during the attack against the Chateau (an ability that he had avoided explaining, though one that wasn't that impressive when you consider the fact that Barty Crouch Junior had turned Malfoy into a Ferret and that Viktor had done a partial shark transformation during the tournament) and she had been terrified of him ever since.
"May I join you Harry?"
By force of habit he spun around, bringing his wand to bear upon Ginny who thanks to similar training from Harry and the other Defence Professors did not even flinch at the move.
"I don't want to disturb you if you want to be alone."
Returning his wand to its holster he turned back to the window, a large number of those at the school were very worried about Ginny as she had shown little to no reaction regarding the death of her parents. The only notable difference in her that people had seen was that for no apparent reason she was spending less and less time with Draco. She almost seemed bored with him despite his best efforts to seem anything of the sort, and instead of being there to comfort her in her grief she had in fact told him to leave her alone.
"No....No, I think I could use the company, thanks."
He heard her cross the room then quickly jump up onto the windowsill, her legs dangling over the side, her height meant she could not just sit straight down on the high sill like he could.
Turning around she moved next to him, hanging her jean clad legs out of the window.
"How are you feeling? She asked.
"Thoughtful." He replied.
"Thoughtful about what?"
"About where Voldemort will strike next."
"Don't think about it." She replied, shuffling closer to him. "If it happens it happens, there are always people that won't make it."
"There shouldn't have to be people who won't make it. There should not have to be any fighting at all, there should not even be a Voldemort anymore."
"Forget about it, forget about the war and forget about the Dark Lord." She sighed, leaning her head against him and putting her arm around his waist. "That's not important now, just be here....with me."
Realizing the position they were in, Harry moved to pull away before a familiar feeling began to cloud his mind as her hand moved up to play with his hair.
________________________________________________________________________
"I don't think I can take much more." Groaned Buffy as she, Anne and Hermione walked through the Hogwarts corridors. "I mean, yes, I know that a lot of good people have just died and that's terrible but this castle is turning into such a gloomy place that I think I almost preferred my coffin."
"It was worse after Cedric Diggory died during the Triwizard Tournament," Hermione explained, she was doing all she could to distract herself from thinking about her parents and luckily that was one thing that Buffy was very good at doing. "We had two extra years from two different schools grieving as well, not to mention the press, Ministry Officials, Foreign Dignitaries and parents who were here too."
"Point taken," Buffy nodded, "Where did that hinky map thing say he was again?"
"The third classroom, down this next corridor."
"Were did that thing come from anyway?" asked Anne from Hermione's other side. She and her ‘clone' had been getting on better since their little duel with Harry and Fleur, as it had managed to prove to both of them that they were different and that they were not trying to compete for the name of Buffy and the title of Oldest Slayer. Anne, having settled in nicely with her new name, and Buffy, having become used to the idea that while she was no longer the oldest she was technically the ‘active' Slayer, as Anne could not fill the role anymore and Faith was incarcerated.
"Harry's father, godfather, Remus and someone who now works for Voldemort made it," She explained. "They were known as the Marauders and were chronic pranksters. Ron's brothers found it in Filch's Office and later gave it to Harry."
"Why are we doing this again, people like to be alone sometimes after a death."
"Harry is not ‘most people'," replied Hermione. "He has a knack of blaming himself for things that aren't his fault, so leaving him alone right now would not be a good idea."
"From what I have heard from Fleur about the summer he is likely to try to cut himself off from us as well." Anne agreed. "It is better if he is not left alone."
As they turned into the room in question they were stopped dead by what they saw.
Harry was lying on the windowsill, his eyes were glazed over and his head was rolling back against the stone work as if he were drugged, and crawling all over him looking rather wild was Ginny.
"Ginny!!" exclaimed Hermione. "What on earth are you doing!!"
"Go away." She growled, not looking away from her prey, her voice several octaves lower than it should have been.
"Ginny!!"
"Leave Mudblood!!" she shouted.
________________________________________________________________________
The room became silent instantly as the words hit everyone ears just at the moment that Fleur staggered through the doorway, looking decidedly unstable.
"Leave....my....mate....alone." growled the irate Veela, conjuring a weak fireball.
"Make me Half-Breed." Returned the redhead, leaping from the sill to stand in front of Harry.
With a roar of fury the fireball in Fleur's hands expanded to twice its normal size just as she launched it at her opponent.
During the seconds it had taken the exchange to take place; Anne had spotted the glowing eyes of the necklace Harry was wearing. Casting a summoning charm, she was just in time as the fireball and necklace, which broke away from Harry's neck, sailed past each other.
The necklace landed in Anne's hand just as the fireball collided with Ginny's half complete shield, sending her flying backwards.
The still active necklace switched its target to Anne causing her to drop to the floor as it released its hold on Harry just in time for his instincts to kick in as Ginny sailed past him and out of the window.
One rapid twist and grab later saw Harry with one hand holding onto Ginny's wrist, while his body hung out of the window, save for his other hand which was holding onto the stone work around the window.
Diving for the sill Buffy grabbed his wrist just as he lost his grip.
"ARGH!!" she gasped as she was half pulled out the window. "You two need to lose some weight."
Hermione, finally coming back to herself after hearing one of her closest friends insult her, shook her head clear and cast a levitation charm on Harry pulling both him and the now unconscious Ginny inside.
As they touched the ground Harry ran straight to embrace his mate while Hermione conjured sheets of fabric to restrain Ginny, binding her entirely from neck to foot.
"That should hold her." She sighed, turning from her friend to the very lucid Anne lying on the floor. Levitating the still glowing necklace out of her hand Anne immediately began to return to normal shaking her head clear and cautiously taking to her feet.
"God, what was that?"
"I don't know," Hermione replied. "But this necklace that Ginny gave to Harry is responsible."
As if realizing that it had failed in its task, the eyes of the necklace turned black and it split down the middle with a loud crack of magic, the two halves fell to the floor, powerless.
"Well, I don't think we are going to be able to find out anything from that now," sighed Buffy before turning to look at Ginny. "I think she was possessed."
"I think you're right," nodded Anne. "But possessed by what?"
Hermione looked over and met Harry's gaze.
"I have a bad feeling we know exactly what is possessing her," he replied. "Or more accurately, who."
"Let get her to the hospital wing and let the headmaster know, we...."
She was cut off as Colette ran past the doorway, before skidding to a stop as she saw them and doubled back.
"Harry, Fleur! Come quickly!!"
"What is it?"
"It's the Ministry," she panted. "They're trying to take Gabrielle away!!"
The days after the tragedy at the Chateau were solemn at Hogwarts and not just for those who knew the Delacour's, almost the entire school was affected.
When the History Of Magical Creatures Professor, the Duelling Master, the Alternative Magic's Professor and all those around them were solemn, the school could not go unaffected.
And what made it worse was what they had discovered upon their return to the school after the attack; the Delacour's had not been the only target.
The Grangers, the Weasley's, the Lovegood's and the Longbottom's had all been hit again as well, and this time some of the attacks had been successful.
Luna's father had the sheer dumb luck of having the horn of a Erumpent hanging from his ceiling, he of course though it was from a Crumple-horned Snorkack, but luckily for him it was not and was therefore highly explosive.
When the Death Eaters had stormed his house they were unlucky enough to hit one of the chains holding it as he dashed up the stairs away from them, resulting in it swinging straight into them and detonating upon impact taking all five of them with it, leaving little more than their boots, masks and smoking cloaks.
The attack on Neville's house was futile as no one was there; apparently his grandmother had been taken to St. Mungo's a few hours before the attack and Neville was there when she peacefully died of natural causes.
The attack on Hermione's house lasted only a few seconds, it seems that the attackers had taken advice from James and instead of storming the house like last time and suffering heavy losses, this time they chose to launch five pounds of C4 through the living room window where both of the residents were sitting, killing them instantly and obliterating the house, as the wards around the property could not defend them against inanimate objects.
Lastly, the attack against the Weasley's was much like the standard Death Eater attack with James along for the ride to get them past the wards. Apparently after the attack on his house, Luna's father (who lived nearby) had seen the flashes of magic down by The Burrow, and had Apparated to the location and had arrived just before the Order, witnessing both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley succumb under a hail of killing curses. They had beaten them back but by then it was all too late.
This resulted in many grieving people at Hogwarts, all the family members were shocked and saddened by the deaths and only Neville seemed unchanged, stating that ‘it was her time' and that ‘she had lived a long and full life'.
The others were hit hard by the news. Hermione had spent many hours crying against Ron while he did his best to remain strong, Fleur had been walking around as if she were not there, her eyes seemed completely empty.
Harry and Colette were slightly more aware of what was going on around them but still walked around and did everything they could to take their minds of it, throwing themselves into their work and teaching classes as if it were a pre-recorded program that was being played out. They were so focused on their tasks that Harry, during a duelling demonstration, received a nasty gash across his chest and did not seem to even notice it until Fleur pointed it out to him when he returned to their room several hours later.
The funeral services had been hard on everyone, they were held together up in the Carpathian Mountains near the Veela Colony in a secluded valley where the Veela Cemetery was located. The Weasley's, Granger's and Mrs. Longbottom were then transferred back to Britain to be buried in family plots.
The ceremony itself was similar to that of Wizards and Muggle's with the exception of what was known as The Salute of Fire, whereby all those able to conjure fire either by wand or Elemental means, together as one launched said flames into the sky directly above the grave as the coffin is lowered into the ground below, creating a large ball of fire as all the flames combine above the departed.
The reception was held at the rapidly rebuilt Chateau (the Delacour's had had full Goblin insurance over the Chateau which meant that any damage no matter how severe would be repaired within days of the event that caused it), it was exactly as it was before except for the absence of any personal items in the rooms that were destroyed as the Goblins could not repair what was not covered by the policy; this left Dimitri and Delphine's room utterly devoid of personality....as if they had never been.
This fact did little to help the grieving Fleur, Harry and Gabrielle, as many people from many different countries offered them their condolences to them and the others in mourning.
After the event Madam Maxime and Fleur both agreed that for the time being Gabrielle should not stay in a place that reminded her of her parents, so for the moment she would stay with her sister, resulting in Gabrielle moving into the room next to Harry's and Fleur's at Hogwarts. This resulted in a slight lift in people's spirits as she explored the school, having not had much of a chance to do so during her last visit, but the slightly relaxed state she brought to everyone around her did not last long.
________________________________________________________________________
Dimension: 1375 - Earth
Date: 20th October 2001 AD
Country: Scotland
Location: Hogwarts - Empty Classroom
Time: Late Afternoon
On the Saturday following the events at the Chateau Harry was sitting alone in one of the empty classrooms.
He had spent quite a lot of time recently just sitting and thinking, and this classroom, with windowsills big enough for a grown man to sit comfortably on was his preferred place to do so.
For once he did not have Gabrielle following after him, she had started spending more and more time around Harry and his friends (she had discovered it was more fun exploring a castle when you had someone with you who actually knew the way) though notably not Adam who she almost ran from whenever they met. Apparently she had seen him transform into a Werewolf during the attack against the Chateau (an ability that he had avoided explaining, though one that wasn't that impressive when you consider the fact that Barty Crouch Junior had turned Malfoy into a Ferret and that Viktor had done a partial shark transformation during the tournament) and she had been terrified of him ever since.
"May I join you Harry?"
By force of habit he spun around, bringing his wand to bear upon Ginny who thanks to similar training from Harry and the other Defence Professors did not even flinch at the move.
"I don't want to disturb you if you want to be alone."
Returning his wand to its holster he turned back to the window, a large number of those at the school were very worried about Ginny as she had shown little to no reaction regarding the death of her parents. The only notable difference in her that people had seen was that for no apparent reason she was spending less and less time with Draco. She almost seemed bored with him despite his best efforts to seem anything of the sort, and instead of being there to comfort her in her grief she had in fact told him to leave her alone.
"No....No, I think I could use the company, thanks."
He heard her cross the room then quickly jump up onto the windowsill, her legs dangling over the side, her height meant she could not just sit straight down on the high sill like he could.
Turning around she moved next to him, hanging her jean clad legs out of the window.
"How are you feeling? She asked.
"Thoughtful." He replied.
"Thoughtful about what?"
"About where Voldemort will strike next."
"Don't think about it." She replied, shuffling closer to him. "If it happens it happens, there are always people that won't make it."
"There shouldn't have to be people who won't make it. There should not have to be any fighting at all, there should not even be a Voldemort anymore."
"Forget about it, forget about the war and forget about the Dark Lord." She sighed, leaning her head against him and putting her arm around his waist. "That's not important now, just be here....with me."
Realizing the position they were in, Harry moved to pull away before a familiar feeling began to cloud his mind as her hand moved up to play with his hair.
________________________________________________________________________
"I don't think I can take much more." Groaned Buffy as she, Anne and Hermione walked through the Hogwarts corridors. "I mean, yes, I know that a lot of good people have just died and that's terrible but this castle is turning into such a gloomy place that I think I almost preferred my coffin."
"It was worse after Cedric Diggory died during the Triwizard Tournament," Hermione explained, she was doing all she could to distract herself from thinking about her parents and luckily that was one thing that Buffy was very good at doing. "We had two extra years from two different schools grieving as well, not to mention the press, Ministry Officials, Foreign Dignitaries and parents who were here too."
"Point taken," Buffy nodded, "Where did that hinky map thing say he was again?"
"The third classroom, down this next corridor."
"Were did that thing come from anyway?" asked Anne from Hermione's other side. She and her ‘clone' had been getting on better since their little duel with Harry and Fleur, as it had managed to prove to both of them that they were different and that they were not trying to compete for the name of Buffy and the title of Oldest Slayer. Anne, having settled in nicely with her new name, and Buffy, having become used to the idea that while she was no longer the oldest she was technically the ‘active' Slayer, as Anne could not fill the role anymore and Faith was incarcerated.
"Harry's father, godfather, Remus and someone who now works for Voldemort made it," She explained. "They were known as the Marauders and were chronic pranksters. Ron's brothers found it in Filch's Office and later gave it to Harry."
"Why are we doing this again, people like to be alone sometimes after a death."
"Harry is not ‘most people'," replied Hermione. "He has a knack of blaming himself for things that aren't his fault, so leaving him alone right now would not be a good idea."
"From what I have heard from Fleur about the summer he is likely to try to cut himself off from us as well." Anne agreed. "It is better if he is not left alone."
As they turned into the room in question they were stopped dead by what they saw.
Harry was lying on the windowsill, his eyes were glazed over and his head was rolling back against the stone work as if he were drugged, and crawling all over him looking rather wild was Ginny.
"Ginny!!" exclaimed Hermione. "What on earth are you doing!!"
"Go away." She growled, not looking away from her prey, her voice several octaves lower than it should have been.
"Ginny!!"
"Leave Mudblood!!" she shouted.
________________________________________________________________________
The room became silent instantly as the words hit everyone ears just at the moment that Fleur staggered through the doorway, looking decidedly unstable.
"Leave....my....mate....alone." growled the irate Veela, conjuring a weak fireball.
"Make me Half-Breed." Returned the redhead, leaping from the sill to stand in front of Harry.
With a roar of fury the fireball in Fleur's hands expanded to twice its normal size just as she launched it at her opponent.
During the seconds it had taken the exchange to take place; Anne had spotted the glowing eyes of the necklace Harry was wearing. Casting a summoning charm, she was just in time as the fireball and necklace, which broke away from Harry's neck, sailed past each other.
The necklace landed in Anne's hand just as the fireball collided with Ginny's half complete shield, sending her flying backwards.
The still active necklace switched its target to Anne causing her to drop to the floor as it released its hold on Harry just in time for his instincts to kick in as Ginny sailed past him and out of the window.
One rapid twist and grab later saw Harry with one hand holding onto Ginny's wrist, while his body hung out of the window, save for his other hand which was holding onto the stone work around the window.
Diving for the sill Buffy grabbed his wrist just as he lost his grip.
"ARGH!!" she gasped as she was half pulled out the window. "You two need to lose some weight."
Hermione, finally coming back to herself after hearing one of her closest friends insult her, shook her head clear and cast a levitation charm on Harry pulling both him and the now unconscious Ginny inside.
As they touched the ground Harry ran straight to embrace his mate while Hermione conjured sheets of fabric to restrain Ginny, binding her entirely from neck to foot.
"That should hold her." She sighed, turning from her friend to the very lucid Anne lying on the floor. Levitating the still glowing necklace out of her hand Anne immediately began to return to normal shaking her head clear and cautiously taking to her feet.
"God, what was that?"
"I don't know," Hermione replied. "But this necklace that Ginny gave to Harry is responsible."
As if realizing that it had failed in its task, the eyes of the necklace turned black and it split down the middle with a loud crack of magic, the two halves fell to the floor, powerless.
"Well, I don't think we are going to be able to find out anything from that now," sighed Buffy before turning to look at Ginny. "I think she was possessed."
"I think you're right," nodded Anne. "But possessed by what?"
Hermione looked over and met Harry's gaze.
"I have a bad feeling we know exactly what is possessing her," he replied. "Or more accurately, who."
"Let get her to the hospital wing and let the headmaster know, we...."
She was cut off as Colette ran past the doorway, before skidding to a stop as she saw them and doubled back.
"Harry, Fleur! Come quickly!!"
"What is it?"
"It's the Ministry," she panted. "They're trying to take Gabrielle away!!"
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