Uninvited

Chapter 5: Pay the Reaper

"Looking for a savior in these dirty streets
Looking for a savior beneath these dirty sheets
I've been raising up my hands
Drive another nail in
Where are those angels
When you need them"-Tori Amos, Crucify

***

Ginny awoke with a pounding headache, her memory of the previous night coming back to her in flashes. As usual, Lux was already gone. She stood up shakily, thankful that Hermione wasn't there. Not that she had thought she would be.

As soon as she was standing, she knew she wouldn't make through the day. Not only did her head feel like it was going to explode, but she had cramps all the way from her ovaries to her shoulders, and they didn't feel like they were going to subside. She resigned herself to a quick shower before retreating back to bed, as her aches were far too horrible for her to climb up to Mme. Pomphrey's.

Within minutes of her return to bed, Lux greeted her with a usual, mischievous smile.

"Hey babe," she said to Ginny softly, "You don't look so good. Beautiful, but not good."

"I don't feel that wonderful, really. I guess I'll be fine once my mind has splattered itself all over the walls of this lovely chamber. A nice decorative piece, if you think about it."

"Poor baby," Lux walked over to her and lay beside her in the bed. "I could make you feel better for a while, but it might make it worse in the long run."

"Just...just stay here until I fall asleep. If you're not here when I wake up...well you won't be no matter what...so it doesn't matter..."

"I'd be here if I could, you know that."

"Yeah," she sighed heavily, "I do."

***

Lux of course continued her daily schedule. She left Hogwarts by flight and went to Lucius Malfoy's side; invisible as she always was when she "visited" him. He was of no interest to her, as he was always just doing Voldemort's bidding. She had enough of that on her own.

After an hour or so, she had stopped paying attention to time years ago, she flew off again, searching for some useless muggle she might be able to suck the life force from. Not that it killed, no, she never sucked enough to kill them. It just made them tired for a few weeks. Maybe in the long runshe had cut off a few hours of their life, but as long as her life had been, she saw no harm in it. In fact, she felt she was doing them a favor, however small. She herself would kill for a few hours less of life. Literally. Unfortunately, her curse made her unable to kill herself, and her human emotions made her unable to kill others.

She came across an empty, dirty alley, where she saw an interesting-looking body. All of the insides were on the outside and the head had been torn off, though that appeared to have happened after death. In fact, as she looked, Lux realized that the head was nowhere to be found. Horror struck her as she saw this, for only one creature attacked this way.

The Juggernaut.

***

"Blaise," Draco repeated for the third time, "You're making no sense."

"Draco, I saw her. I met her. And now she's here. She's HERE Draco!"

"Who the hell are you talking about?"

"The dead muggle girl!"

"You met a dead muggle?"

"Yes."

"Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm certainly convinced," he said sarcastically as he could. He wasn't entirely coherent himself.

"I met her before she died, idiot. And now she's dead. I only met her last night. She was fine then! And now she's all...torn up. Literally."

"So, first of all, how did you meet her?"

"The club Sara and I went to with some other girls, remember?"

"Yes, yes. Second, how did the body get to Hogwarts?"

"Snape said his niece, who's like this tracking-witch or something, brought it-her in."

"Okay, how do you know it's her?"

"Well, I don't really, I just have this feeling..."

"Does it look like her?"

"Well it might, the only thing is her head's gone."

"Okay Blaise, that's enough late night adventures for you now."

"Draco shut up! I'm trying to tell you something here! I saw this girl, just last night, and she was a muggle, and she wasn't important at all, she was like 15 and she had a baby, but something killed her. Not a normal something either, but a big something. A bad something. And it killed this worthless little dot in the universe, for no reason and all I'm saying is...all I'm saying is I think it's something more than what they say."

"Okay. And this would affect me, how?"

"You're so selfish Draco! I mean, even I'm not that selfish. And I invented the phrase "You mean it's not all about me?" I know what I'm saying here. Listen to me."

"Blaise, you saw a bloody thing and it scared you. It happens. You'll get over it and everything will be fine," he said, his annoyance beginning to show."

"You don't get it yet, do you Draco?"

"No, I'm afraid I don't."

"This could be a sign from The Lord-"

"God? You think God decapitated some piece of trash as some sort of sign?"

"No-The Dark lord Draco. I think it's a sign from him."

"Well you know what I think Blaise? I think this has carried on long enough. I have to put up with so much of your shit, and the sex isn't even that good. This, this fucking every once and a while and arguing the rest of the time, it has to stop. It's over Blaise." With that, he turned on one heel and walked out of the room, leaving her with her own thoughts, now more confused than ever.

***

Hermione walked alone the edge of the water, toward the forest, where Harry had told her he loved her last year. It was a beautiful spot, under a willow tree (a non-whomping one). It had been a lot like how she had dreamed it would be. The boy bringing her their, pulling her by the hand, to a place he had hand picked and telling her everything she had ever wanted to hear. But it was all marred by circumstance. He had been dating Cho and she had just broken up with Ron. Not to mention, the Dark Lord had been gaining strength and a war was on the verge of beginning. Of course, she thought to herself, that's not entirely true, as the war still hasn't begun.

She sat underneath the tree, blocked from view by the branches that fell like cataracts about her. Yes, it was beautiful. Yes, he'd been romantic and wonderful. But it didn't work. Not then, not now, she thought, reminding herself not to let him kiss her again. The one time had been fine enough, for she had had no part in it. But letting it happen again would be cheating on Dean, which she would not do. After all, she didn't want Molly Weasley calling her a "scarlet woman" again.

Harry came up behind her, along with Remus. She didn't greet them, nor they her, she merely stood up and looked for an answer in their eyes, although there was no question.

"Hermione," Remus said, nodding, "I believe you understand what dire circumstances we're in."

"The body does indicate..." she trailed off.

"I've been doing some research, and it wasn't You-Know-Who directly, but it was a warning from him. As if to say, 'Keep Off.'"

"Hell of a nice warning," Harry muttered.

"Well it's not uncommon really," Hermione stated matter of factly, "When I lived with my parents, there was a man down the street who killed a cat one day. He took it into his house and mangled it, cutting it open and everything. Then he laid it out on his lawn, and right behind it put up a sign the said "Private Property, No Trespassing." And the Puritans, especially a muggle named Oliver Cromwell, used to take the head of a defeated opponent and place it atop a pole, as a warning."

"Hermione," Harry said slowly, "This is one of those pieces of information that is unnecessary."

"Actually, it's quite interesting that Voldemort's methods are so like those of muggle Dictators and military leaders," Remus said.

"You both read to much," Harry said dismissively, "The point is, that's just a small thing. The warning is saying that he's coming, and obviously he's not very far off."

"Ah yes," Remus stated, "That's another thing. My research suggests that the creature who did this is called The Juggernaut. A legendary animal, he's said to be descended from fire itself."

"What this now?" Harry said. Obviously Remus hadn't told him everything.

"Yes, The Juggernaut is a destructive force born from fire itself. It can take a human form, and is referred to sometimes as 'Snake'. But until now, it's existence has been believed entirely mythological." He paused, remembering. "There are others that go along with it. It's an entire line of beings. You might call them Gods, really. The first one to ever come into existence is an entity known as Jorean. He's called a vampire because he feeds off life energy. Although most vampires can be killed by decapitation or a simple stake through the heart, Jorean cannot be killed unless he is somehow lowered to a different plane of existence, through elongated torture or something like that. Most of the information I have is on Jorean, but it's supposed to be the same for all of this...race of people."

"Are they people?" Hermione asked.

"They are to some extent. One of them, named Morrigan, she was born in an orphanage. She's the only one who appears to have been born at all. The rest just appeared. But I only know of a few."

"Tell me what you know. I might be able to learn more," Hermione said, her interest evoked.

"After Jorean, there was one without a name. She's simply referred to as "the necromancer" most of the time. The one after her is known as Octavia, and she merely serves as Jorean's puppet. He created her for his purposes. Her only specialty is the ability to breath fire."

"Oh well that's nothing," Harry commented sarcastically.

"And I believe that The Juggernaut was created after her, and then Morrigan, although I may be mistaken."

"Do you know how they were all created?" Hermione prodded.

"No, only Morrigan. But I can't even be sure about her. Well, and The Juggernaut, though I don't trust that that was how he truly was created."

"Alright, well it's obvious what I have to do then."

"No it's not," Harry said, "What do you have to do?"

"Go to the library. What else?"

***

Ron was sitting with her, sifting through the books. They'd gotten Dumbledore's permission to enter the restricted section, with his express apology that he had not the time to look himself.

"Ron," Hermione said, "What have you found out so far?"

"Uh...well, the heart of a dragon can help to raise apparitions of the dead, and um...serious love potions can often have side affects such as "irrational behavior, inability to perform sexually with an undesired person, emotional stress, unaccountable desires, splitting headaches, and abdominal pains." And you?"

"Just about the same, only instead of abdominal pain, sudden death." She looked ill. "And I've seen some pictures I'd rather not have."

"Nothing then. Well. We're screwed."

After several minutes of silence, Hermione said, "What are you thinking Ron?"

"I'm thinking about how long it's been since I've had sex and how much I miss it." He looked up, surprised at himself. "I just said that, didn't I?"

"Ron, we're looking at books that are filled with death and gore, and you're thinking that you want to have sex?"

"I'm seventeen. Looking at linoleum makes me wanna have sex."

"Just get back to work."

***