The Resurrection of Sirius

12

Finding the Spell

Hermione spent much of the next few weeks at Willow's. It seemed hopeless. There wasn't much they could find.

Until one day when Willow received an owl.

"I wrote Giles and asked him for his help. Looks like we've finally got something," she said, opening the letter. It was definitely Giles' writing.

Willow-

It would seem that you need a book entitled The Book of Complex and Complicated Spells. Though it seems a bit cliché, I believe it may be a great deal of help to you.

I am not sure it will be in the library at the school since it is an entirely different form of magick. Inform me if you need me to send you a copy and I will have one sent to you shortly.

Everyone sends their love and wishes you good luck.

-Giles

Willow read the letter aloud to Hermione.

"That's great! If the book is here, though, I'm sure it'll be in the Restricted Section."

"No problem. You'll probably need permission to get in, so you've got it from me. Do you want to go look for the book now or tomorrow?"

Though it was only nine o'clock, Hermione decided to leave. For some reason, she was tired, so she gathered up her things and bid good-bye to Willow.

"I'll come back tomorrow," she said.

Willow nodded. "I figured. Good night, Hermione." She smiled.

She plopped down on her bed, thinking. She missed everyone -- Giles, Dawnie, Xander, Buffy, Anya, and even Andrew. She'd have to get used to Anya being gone -- she was killed in the fight to save the world. But she ached for Tara.

Ever since Tara's death, she'd had an empty feeling in her. Sometimes it felt less empty than others, and it was easier for her to seem happy, but other times it was just unbearable. Nothing and no one could replace her, not even Kennedy. Kennedy was cool and all, but she was not Tara. No one was. At times Willow wanted to give in again and become that evil thing, killing people for the heck of it, doing whatever she wanted, that feeling of freedom, of power, of strength --

No. She couldn't. She had to be strong. For herself. Tara was dead, and she'd have to get used to it.

Sighing, Willow got up and walked to her desk. She pulled out a picture of her and Tara. Just seeing her face again made her feel a little better. Imagine how talking to her again would be.

What? What was she thinking? There was no way. No spell could bring her back, because she hadn't died of mystical causes. It wasn't fair. Warren didn't even mean to kill Tara!

Which is why it was so horrible that Willow killed him. She did more than kill him -- she flayed him. And she'd wanted to kill Jonathan and Andrew because they were Warren's sidekicks, but they were in prison when Warren had shot at Buffy and ended up killing Tara.

No, the pain of losing Tara would never go away, no matter how hard she tried.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

The veil is there in front of him, and there are candles all around, white and black, flames flickering merrily.

Willow is chanting, reading from a thick book.

"I bid that you give him back to us, his whole, his being --"

There is a gust of wind and the candles blow out. Hermione and Ron light them quickly, using their hands. There are no wands. Harry watches silently, sitting in a magick circle beside Willow.

"Osiris, give us that which you have taken from us. I command thee, give us back what you have taken --"

Another gust of wind, but the candles do not go out. The veil blows open and reveals pearly white beings.

"Sirius Black, step forward and reveal thyself." Willow's voice is deep and commanding.

A single figure steps out of the crowd, not out of the veil, but visible, distinguishable from the others.

"Sirius Black, come forward. Come, Sirius, come! Come! COME!"

A final gust of wind blows the figure of Harry's godfather out of the veil. Sirius' empty space reveals another figure, with long dark hair. Harry does not recognize her.

Willow steps back in surprise and whispers a name --

Harry sat up in bed, breathing heavily. His dream had been so real! What was it, though?

Well, he could answer that. It must have been the spell they were going to use to get Sirius back. But who was that girl?

A loud snort from the next bed over told Harry that Ron could be woken up easily. He plucked a pair of socks from his trunk and threw them at Ron.

"I don't wanna buy any cookies --"

"I'm not selling you any. Ron, wake up, I've gotta tell you something."

"Huh?" Ron rubbed his eyes sleepily, confused.

"Come here." Harry crossed his legs so that Ron could sit on his bed, too.

"What is it?"

"I just had this wicked dream..." And Harry launched into the story of it.

When he was finished, he looked over at Ron -- who'd fallen asleep. How could anyone fall asleep sitting up? Grinning at Ron's uniqueness, Harry reached over for his watch. Pressing the light button -- it was digital watch that had belonged to Dudley, but his wrist was too fat for it now -- Harry saw that it was three a.m. That would explain Ron's falling asleep.

Not wanting to disturb Ron again, Harry got up and moved to Ron's bed. It felt a little weird -- the pillow was sunken in in the wrong places -- but it didn't matter. The blankets were still just as warm and comfy. It didn't take more than a minute for Harry to fall back asleep.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Hermione woke up earlier than usual, even for her. She looked out the window and saw that the sun was barely rising -- a breathtaking sight. Sitting on the windowsill with her knees drawn to her chest, her breath fogged up the window. Her Wiccan capabilities allowed her to use her hands to un-fog the windows and keep them from fogging up again.

Since the sun was so barely risen, Hermione figured it was around five. A chill ran through her, as if something exciting were about to happen. Getting up, with the intention of reading in bed for a while, Hermione took one last glance out the window. Her gaze was not drawn to the sky, but to the ground. There, a person stood.

What on earth were they doing out there? It was far too cold to be outside. And alone? Perhaps they were watching the sunrise. But no, the person seemed to be looking -- at her. She blinked.

The person came closer, more in Hermione's range of view. From here she could see that the person was pearly-white, like a ghost; she was clearly a woman, with long-ish, dark brown hair. Then she disappeared.

***

Willow had been up for an hour now. The whole time she'd been doing research, though she had to admit that she'd been distracted by the sunrise.

Looking back to her book, Willow closed her eyes and rubbed them. Then she saw something, something very helpful. She snapped her eyes open and got up to head for her trunk where she kept her endless magick books. Finding the right one, she sat back down and flipped through the pages of the 2,000-page, 980-year old book.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"I have to tell you about this dream I had last night." Before Ron or Hermione could say anything, Harry started talking about his dream.

Almost as soon as he was finished, Hermione had something to say.

"We need to tell Willow."

"Why's it so urgent?" It was obvious that Ron had no idea as to what was going on.

"Because, Ronald, it could have been the spell that we're actually going to use! Harry might actually have had a real prophecy-type dream."

Ron's eyes brightened as he began to understand. "Oh!" he said, bouncing on his toes.

"Yes," Hermione said defiantly.

***

Willow was just finishing up reading the spell when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," she called. The door shook a little, but it didn't open. "Um," she mumbled to herself. She heard a clicking sound and the door opened.

"It was locked," Hermione explained.

"Oh. Sorry." Willow snapped her book shut.

"That's okay. Good things are supposed to be worth the wait. Even if it's only two extra seconds..." Ron trailed off in mock thoughtfulness.

Willow smiled. "What is it?"

"Well, I had this dream..." And for the third time in nine hours, Harry retold his dream.

***

"Yes, I know."

"You do?"

"Yes."

Harry was finished telling his dream, and Willow knew exactly what he was talking about. Except for the person he'd said something about. Who was there that she knew who'd died in England? Well, Giles had returned to England yet again -- did he die?

No, she'd know somehow. And besides, Giles did not have long, dark hair. So who was there? Spike never said anything about where he was when he saw the room with the veil... She, along with everyone else, had figured that there was a veil in America and that's where Spike went --

"How do you know?" Harry's voice yanked Willow from her thoughts. "Did you have the same dream?"

"No. No, but I -- I saw something like it... I was concentrating, and I closed my eyes to think better, and I saw something like that. Not exactly, but I saw people sitting in a circle made from white and black candles."

"So you just..."

"I recognized the spell."

"There's only one spell with white and black candles?"

"No."

"Then --"

"I also saw the page of the book I was reading from. I recognized that."

Harry nodded. "So... what spell is it?"

"It's a simple resurrection spell. I'll definitely need your help in performing it." She looked at the three teenagers. "Can I count on you?"

They all nodded. "Good. I'll handle everything -- there really isn't much to this spell."

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Weeks later, Willow decided they'd better do the spell soon. It was just a month or two until school got out for summer, and she was intent on doing the spell before the year ended.

It was Friday, and Defense Against the Dark Arts had just ended. "Harry, Ron, can I see you please?"

The two boys walked over to her. "Yeah?" Willow could sense Harry's excitement. She could practically see it, he was so excited.

"I'm ready to do the spell. We should do it soon, because I don't want to take away too much time from your studying for exams."

"This weekend works," Harry said automatically.

"Okay, good. Meet me in my office at six, then."

"In the evening?" Ron inquired.

Willow shook her head.

"In the morning?"

"Well Ron, that's generally the other six o'clock in a day," Harry said. The way Ron and Harry were sarcastic but so serious-sounding reminded Willow a little of Oz, and of Xander.

Ron made a sound somewhat like a squeak, for lack of a better word.

"There's something I'll need to tell you for that day. Do you want to do it another time?"

Harry and Ron shook their heads.

"Good. Six o'clock tomorrow, then. My office. See you then."

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Willow woke up at five on Saturday. There was much to do -- from normal every-day things girls do in the morning to preparation for the spell she, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were going to use in a few hours.

She read over the incantation once more, making sure not to miss a single syllable. After that, she had to make sure her few ingredients were packed safely in her bag.

Looking around, Willow made sure nothing was missing. Nothing was, which was a good thing.

***

It took Harry a full ten minutes to finally heave himself out of bed. It was only five thirty, for goodness sakes! Rarely had he woken up so early.

Harry was just pulling on his left sock when Ron got up.

His words were slurred with sleep when he said, "Morning Harry." Ron stumbled rather than walked across the room to his wardrobe.

"Look mate, I'm gonna go wait in the Common Room."

Too tired to speak, Ron simply nodded to acknowledge Harry's words.

***

Hermione had been reading for a while, having woken up at five o'clock. She sighed and got up to go down to the Common Room. Hopefully, Harry and Ron would be up by now.

Placing her book carefully down on her bedside table, Hermione stood and stretched.

When she quietly plodded down the stairs, she found Harry putting on his sneakers.

"Figured it'd be quieter to put them on down here," he said.

"Good morning to you, too," Hermione said.

The first thing Ron said when he emerged from his dormitory was, "You suppose Willow'll have any food for us?"

"Most likely. Come on."

***

There was a soft knock on Willow's door right at six. She opened the door with a wave of her hand.

"Hey. Ron, I know it's really short notice, but do you think you could handle a simple Wiccan move?"

Ron gulped. "It depends..."

"It's really simple. All I need you to do is to be able to re-light a candle with you hands. If Harry's dream was a hundred percent accurate, the spell ought to get kind of windy."

"Oh... Kay," Ron stammered. Willow could feel nervousness in all of them, but now Ron's was bordering on terror.

"There's really nothing to it. All you have to do is picture the fire and wave your hand over the candle..." Willow demonstrated for him.

"Um..." Ron tried it but nothing happened.

"Picture the fire..." Ron closed his eyes and tried again.

"Don't close your eyes. There's no need to. Just think about the fire being there."

After about ten minutes, Hermione said, "Here, Ron," and grabbed his hand and waved it over the candle. It lit up.

"Did... Did I..."

"Yes," Hermione said. Though Willow was sure it had been Hermione, she realized what the young Wiccan was doing -- she was trying to boost Ron's confidence.

"Try it again."

Ron waved his hand over the candle and --

"I did it!" he exclaimed. "I did it again!"

"See, easy," Willow said.

"Will I need to do that?" Harry asked.

"No. All you're really needed for is to make sure they send forth the right person, because you're the closest thing to a relative of Sirius."

"I don't get it."

"It's really just a precaution. Normally I wouldn't do this, but I figured it could only help." She shrugged. "Okay, now let's go over what we're going to do..."