The Price of Survival

Chapter Three

Severus walked towards the infirmary with his robes billowing in his trademark style behind him. Yet again he was wasting his time on the insufferable attention-seeking brat by the name of Potter. Yes, kudos for getting rid of his 'Master', but really, he couldn't even do that without creating a whole lot of unnecessary drama. As Severus passed through the doors and saw the others assembled that were also doing this blasted ritual, he wished he had fortified himself for the Gryffindor reunion with another shot or ten of Firewhiskey. The idea that he was volunteering to spend time with them in order to see if he would have to deal with Potter's incompetency in Potions again during NEWT year.

Lupin and Bill looked blankly at the walls, obviously not having taken the advice of getting some sleep but had laid awake mourning Charlie. He could see the tear tracks down Molly Weasley's face and felt sympathy for the poor woman, her husband and son killed within a week and yet another maimed for life. Now she was here to see if she had lost the all but legally adopted member of the hoard.

Minerva motioned for the potions master to join them and began to address them all.

"You all know why we're here, and how imperative it is that what we do here tonight works. The ritual we will be performing on Harry is actually an ancient curse, but if we do it now it will be more of a blessing. This curse has lain forgotten for centuries in a book in the restricted section and we wouldn't have known about had it not been for our esteemed Miss Granger's addiction to extra credit assignments. Miss Granger was researching ancient forms of magic for charms to see how they had affected the way we use our magic today," here she paused and peered down over her spectacles, "this curse was made by a vampire, believe it or not, who was a witch before she was sired. She discovered that her lover was cheating on her with her worst enemy and decided to create this spell of sorts to exact revenge. The spell works to draw the soul of the vampire back from the underworld and replace it to them, bringing back emotions such as compassion, empathy and love. Most of all, it calls back the conscience, and brings with it an oppressive sense of guilt for the actions they have perpetrated as a vampire. In the original case, the cursed vampire went insane and tied himself to a crucifix outdoors at dawn and waited for the sun to rise and kill him."

The group that were gathered at the infirmary sat in silence as what Minerva had said sunk in. Most were thinking her somewhat insane. Minerva pulled herself straighter and adjusted her glasses before continuing.

"You all think that I am insane for mentioning this but the insanity will not affect Harry as we shall perform this spell before he has killed anyone out of bloodlust, so the overwhelming guilt will not affect him. He will merely be in possession of all his emotions and thought processes, preventing him from hunting down and killing people."

At this, Molly Weasley started sobbing uncontrollably. Bill went over to comfort her and muttered in her ear for a little while as everyone else sat by awkwardly, except Severus, who wished he were getting drunk in the comfort of his own home. A few moments later Molly got herself under control and raised her tearstained face so that everyone could see the look of determination on her face.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" she said in the brisk tone usually reserved for getting the twins in line, "lets start on this so that nothing more will happen to the boy. He's been through enough and I'm going to do everything in my power to see that he doesn't go through more than he needs to with this change." She then stood up and quickly walked over to the door to Harry's isolation ward. After hearing the Weasley mother speaking in that tone, the rest of the motley crew stood and followed her into the room.

Once they entered the room, Minerva passed a basket of red candles to Bill and took a basket of white for herself. She gestured towards a basket of black candles then looked at Severus, who duly picked it up, relieved that he didn't need to use the white ones. If any of his students had seen him at the time they would've been struck dumb at seeing him carry a wicker basket.

The mood then turned sombre as they looked towards the pale figure prone upon the white hospital bed in the centre of the room. Harry's black hair stood out starkly against the deathly pallor of his face and everyone realised just how much life his green eyes leant him. The absence of their sparkle was unnerving.

"The candles need to form a series of circles around the bed, black on the innermost sphere then red and finally, white." Severus and Bill went to place their candles in their allocated spaces as Minerva continued.

"Remus and Molly you stand on either side of Harry. As you two are the closest and most parental to him you should have a better chance at reaching out to his soul and bringing it back. For this spell to work, Tonks, Bill, Severus and I will stand at the corners and chant the invocation to make an opening into the world of Ether while you will call to the Guardians to ask for the return of Harry's soul. This may be difficult, as the Guardians of the Ether do not like to part with their charges. Remus, your presence should placate James and Lily. Molly, your presence should help to command their acquiescence as Harry's mother figure."

As everyone moved into their given positions, Minerva lit all the candles surrounding them in a bust of flame. The book that the spell was found in was passed to Severus, Bill and Tonks, who memorised the words they were to chant. Molly and Remus were then handed the tome and read what they were expected to do. As soon as they had a better understanding of their task, they put down the book, and the others started to chant in Latin.

Remus and Molly linked their left hands over Harry and as one, pointed their wands upwards and began to speak.

"To the guardians of all we hold dear, we beseech thee

To the holders of he who belongs here, we plea

Return to us the soul of our lost one

So he may garner what he deserves

Return to us the soul of our lost one

It is his, not yours to hold."

At this, the four around the circle began chanting louder, their steady calls opening a portal in the mist that have gathered above the circle. A roaring sound could be heard crying in the swift wind that was now circling in a whirlpool around the bed. A strangled yell was heard and the flames on the candles rose to the ceiling, encircling them in a wall of wind and flame. Molly and Remus struggled to keep their hands joined above Harry and the roar of the wind drowned the chanting of the others out.

Just as suddenly as it had started the wind stopped. The flames from the candles making the black and red circles died and those on the white flickered down to a normal flame. Everyone in the room stood entranced by the faint golden glow emanating from their charge in the bed between them. A few moments later, Severus broke the reverie with his melodious, yet caustic voice.

"I take it that we have finished the spell, then? Gotten Potter out of another mess once more?" He raised a wry eyebrow, and when no one replied swept out of the room, his robes fluttering behind him as always. Remus raised an eyebrow of his own as the Potions master left the infirmary. Due to his werewolf hearing could hear Severus muttering about how he had to get back to his first "Post-Voldie Bender", and why he couldn't just get drunk in peace.

ooooo

Ginny, as usual, was out of the loop. She hated being out of the loop but the fates had decided that once more it was where she was going to be. Since her father had been killed and Ron wounded in the Ministry attack, she'd been kicked out of where she had been happily abiding at 12 Grimmaud Place and packed off to the Burrow. It had been hidden under the fidelus charm with only her mother and Bill knowing where it was, as the Order's HQ was not deemed safe enough.

This irked Ginny more than it usually would, as it meant there was no way of finding out anything about what was going on other than what she heard on the Wizarding Wireless Network, which was less reliable than the Daily Prophet. And that was saying something. It also meant being away from and unable to hear how her Nymph was. Her family, for a change, were out of the loop on that one. Only Hermione knew that Ginny even liked Tonks but no one knew about what had developed between them since the beginning of the holidays. The war had begun in earnest and while Ginny had to stay at Grimmaud, at least she found out the gist of what was happening. It was a few days after Ginny's sixteenth birthday when Nymph had hurried up to the room they were sharing and uncharacteristically collapsed onto the bed crying. Ginny had just held her until the sobs had stopped wracking her body, and found out that Kinsley Shackelbolt, whom had been like a brother to Tonks, was killed in front of her by Death Eaters on a raid. The comforting had turned to kissing and their relationship had developed, however clandestine, since then.

The age gap wasn't too fierce, Nymph was just 23 and although Ginny was 16 and she had been through enough to ensure a maturity that was beyond her age. They all had, being in a war was enough to age anyone beyond their years. But Tonks, her little Nymph, had somehow retained her youth (if not her innocence) much more than the rest of them, bringing them on an equal maturity footing of 20 years or so.

But their age gap wasn't what was worrying Ginny at the moment. She had just heard on the Wireless that Voldemort had been vanquished but it gave no details and left Ginny even more worried than she was before. If the final battle had occurred, there were sure to have been casualties and Ginny had far too many people that she cared deeply about fighting against the bastard. Her mother still hadn't gotten back from seeing Ron at Hogwarts and Ginny was worried sick. What if something had gone wrong with his recovery? What if one of her other brothers was in there? (She included Harry in that part of her worry-list) What if her Nymph hadn't been able to make it through? The ghoul in the attic seemed to sense her turbulent mood and began clamouring on the pipes louder than she had ever heard it do before.

It was then that Ginny remembered the clock. The family clock. She ran downstairs faster than the time Fred and George had decided to let go the flock of doxies they had collected at Grimmaud Place and had them chase after her. She spun quickly around through the door from the kitchen to the lounge room and had to grab hold of the doorframe to stop herself from falling over. She didn't know where this sudden sense of urgency had come from but she followed her instinct nonetheless.

Fred and George's hands were both set on "celebrating", her mother's and Bill's on "none of your business!" Percy's wasn't on the clock anymore; it'd been taken off after the infamous falling out. Ron's hand was on sleeping. Ginny fell to her knees when she noticed that Charlie's hand had faded until it was almost invisible, just like her father's had after he had died earlier that week. She tried to ignore the fact that tears were running down her face, tried to ignore that Charlie's hand was fading from view before her eyes. And then his hand was gone, and there were only six hands left on the clock.

It was then that Ginny collapsed on the ground and cried for what seemed like the hundredth time that week. Ginny hated war.

ooooo

Hermione had finally convinced her parents that she had had a change of heart. It had taken the best part of a week, but it worked nonetheless. The room to her door was no longer locked and she had been allowed out of the house, with a nice sum of money, to shop for some clothes (or books) while her parents were out at work. She packed up all her Hogwarts stuff, some clothes, her CD's and Discman and wrote a note for her parents not to go looking for her and made her way over to the Muggle Bank near Charring Cross Rd, and withdrew all ₤10,000 that she had saved over the years and quickly made her way past the fancy bookstore on the corner and into the Leaky Caldron. Once she got into the wizarding section she garnered a few strange looks in her muggle attire and a few people seemed to be trying to remember where they had seen her face but she rushed through before they recognised her as one of Harry Potter's best friends and supposed girlfriend. Like Harry would have time for a girlfriend when he's out trying to save the world, really. She walked as quickly as she could with her luggage down Diagon Alley towards Gringotts, passing through the doors purposely before walking straight to one of the counters. The goblin behind it was sitting there, greedily fondling a pile of galleons and did not seem very interested in her.

"Excuse me," Hermione said in her best McGonagall impersonation, which was admittedly marvellous. It certainly worked on every student she had ever met. Except the Slytherins, that is. Apparently, this goblin would not have been sorted into the house of the silver and green as it looked up straight away and eyed her beadily.

"I would like to exchange some money, if you please. May I ask what the current rate of exchange for muggle currency is?"

The goblin took in her serious demeanour and polite yet direct way of speaking with an experienced eye. He wouldn't be able to rip this one off. Not that he wanted to, she seemed to be one of the rare breed of witches that didn't think of goblins as either gross or inferior. The two then proceeded to talk business for five minutes or so and reached a suitable agreement. He would open up an account for Hermione and she would then get the house rate for exchange, where the ₤10,000 would be 8000 galleons and the goblin would take a 50 galleon handling fee for opening the account and exchanging the money. This was also for overlooking the fact that she was underage and didn't have the approval of a guardian.

When Hermione walked into the busy streets of Diagon Alley ten minutes later she felt a great deal better than she had all week. She had her own little golden key for her own vault now and could start her independent life as a witch in only a few weeks. She walked back out into Muggle London with a smile on her face and grabbed the underground to King's Cross Station. She made her way to Platform 9 ¾ and looked to see when the next train would be. She had an hour to wait, so she settled herself down and waited for the train. She was where she was meant to be. Where there was magic.

ooooo

The sights were flashing in split seconds, from the beginning to the end, pulsing as he felt himself come into being. Snippets from the life of his sire and her sire and their sire before, continuing until he was almost overwhelmed but not quite. Never too far from awareness, how could he be with these visions pulsing ceaselessly throughout his being, making him over again, giving him an innate knowledge of strength, an innate knowledge of frailty.

Just before this knowledge left him crazy, he felt a golden glow encasing his body, giving him knowledge of himself in all these new visions, stopping him from getting drawn too far into something that he wouldn't be able to get out of again. He was strong but he was safe. This was until he looked into his own memories, having forgotten them in the sensory overload he had experienced over the past hours. He saw his childhood, being shunned and feared by everyone around him; saw his first days at Hogwarts- the safety and the danger- and then he saw the last year.

He saw the training he had in Defence and the Dark Arts. He saw how he felt so alone even when surrounded by hundreds of people. He saw Ron and Hermione finally getting around to the snogging part of their relationship. He saw the showdown at the ministry and watched again as Arthur went down in a flash of green light and how his best fell to a dark curse again for him. He saw himself as he went to get his muggle shotgun from an unsuspecting store with his invisibility cloak and the rounds of ammunition he had gone through in target practice, getting ready for the final showdown.

And he saw the final shot, the one that ended it all.

With that Harry sat up in his bed, his eyes wide open once more.