Return from the Shadows
The war was over. The dead were buried. The tombs were sealed. The mourning continued and the anger simmered just below the surface of the country. Life went on, but a cloud was hanging over Everest Gardens, a large cemetery. This was not the one in the churchyard at Godric's Hollow where so many war heroes and their families for generations past were buried. No, this other cemetery was in the southwest of the county. Everest Gardens is the cemetery where many of the pureblood families had been buried when they had not been rich enough to be buried in family cemeteries. The cemetery held an air of disrepair following the downfall of many of the newer generation of the families interred here. The gates hung askew on rusty hinges. The grounds were overgrown with wild flowers and weeds in the summer and now in the fall were long strands of dried grass intermingled with the withered blooms of the summer past. A pall hung over the place because it was a dying place. Nobody cared whether or not the Death Eaters were given a place to rest. There had been burials here after the war, just months ago, but it did not look like it.
From the first of October nightly a dark shrouded figure moved silently among the broken tombstones carefully picking the way around following an unmarked path, stopping here and there lighting a grave marker to read the name, then moving on. Once in a while the figure would return and make a mark on a grave, then move stealthily to the next. When the sun rose, the figure would disappear into the hedgerows surrounding this resting place of so many.
The presence of the figure was discovered by accident by an unlikely person. Neville Longbottom came to pay homage to his great-grand father, Harfang Longbottom on the 50th anniversary of his death. He had promised his grandmother, Augusta that he would visit her father-in-law's grave and to see what needed to be done. Augusta had promised her mother-in-law, the former Callidora Black that they would care for this final resting place, but she was ailing since the war and unable to keep the promise.
The first thing that Neville noticed, beyond the unkempt condition of the cemetery, was a rune etched in the corner of the tombstone. It had not been there the last time he had visited with his Gran. He knelt to clear the dead grass, wilted flowers and gravel from the grave and noticed a golden coin. It looked like the galleons that the DA had used to communicate during the fifth through seventh years of school, but he was suspicious. Why would this be here? He knew enough about rogue portkeys that he daren't touch it. One couldn't be too careful after the war, even though the "Light" had won. The day was drawing to a close and the shadows were deepening and he decided that he should talk to his Gran about the findings. As he turned to leave he caught a movement at the hedgerow, which decided for him that NOW was time to leave. Neville apparated home.
Landing just outside the wards of the house, he ran all the way home and breathlessly entered through the kitchen. "Gran, GRAN," he called, then shouted as he entered.
"Slow down, Neville. Breathe," August replied as she continued preparing the meatloaf for dinner.
"In the cemetery, there was someone there!" a frightened Neville exclaimed. "There is a rune on Granddad's tombstone. Things are in terrible shape. I don't want to go back alone and I think we should move the family. Gran, it is so sad and run down. I would just die if I had to be there for eternity."
"Let's just calm down, Neville," Augusta soothed. "Now let's think about this logically."
"There's no logic to it, Gran."
"Do you want to tell me about it? What does the rune look like and where was it?"
"In the upper right corner of the stone just above the last letter of Granddad's name was a rune carved or burned or chipped into the stone." Neville continued, "It is about a centimeter deep. The amazing thing is that there is a perfectly round circle around the shape of an acorn. It is kind of like the cartouche that surrounds the name of Egyptian Kings except it isn't oval and there aren't those feet-like things. You know like when you draw and you start and stop outside the shape. Why is it an acorn? The whole place is in disrepair and stones have been upturned. Gran, I was scared when I saw the shape moving in the shadows of the hedgerow that surrounds the cemetery."
"I have thought for a long time we should move the family from that place. There are so many of the death eaters from the war that have their roots in the pureblood ancestry of the nation." Then Augusta added, "I think that we should inform the Ministry. After all, that is desecration of a grave."
Augusta floo called the Ministry of Magic and was transferred to the Aurors' Office. "Potter here, how may I help you?"
"Mr. Potter, Augusta Longbottom here. It seems that there is a problem in the old pureblood cemetery. It is coming up on the 50th anniversary of Harfang Longbottom's death and I sent Neville to clear and decorate his grave. You know that Harfang was my late husband's father? Anyway there is someone marking the gravestones with a rune. Neville says that someone has been trashing the place. This just isn't right. Why can't people just be left to rest in peace?"
"Mrs. Longbottom, can you please open your floo and I will come through and visit with Neville. We will get to the bottom of this."
No sooner than the floo call ended, did Harry step through. Brushing off his robes he greeted his former classmate and his classmate's grandmother. "Mrs. Longbottom. Hello, Neville. It is good to see you again, though under less than perfect circumstances. Can you tell me what happened?"
"Welcome, Mr. Potter. Would you like a cup of tea while we talk?" Augusta asked. "Come on through to the kitchen where we will be more comfortable."
"No, thank you, for the tea, Mrs. Longbottom," Harry answered as he followed her into the kitchen and was seated at the table where she indicated. Neville sat on his right and she sat on his left and Harry stared out the window while Neville gathered his thoughts. Harry pulled out a muggle pocket-sized, spiral-bound notebook and a mechanical pencil. Neville was reminded of the detectives in muggle movies as he watched Harry and gave a light chuckle. Augusta was curious, but too polite to ask what Harry was doing. "Now, Neville," Harry prodded, "describe as clearly as you can what happened and you saw."
Harry jotted down the story, then asked, "Does the acorn have any significance to either one of you?" They shook their heads. "No. You don't have a very good description of the figure, but we can try to go out there in the morning and look around. Was there anything else that you remember?"
"Oh, I forgot," Neville answered. "There was a gold galleon on the grave. I didn't pick it up because I was afraid it might be a portkey and I would not know where I would end up. It was like the ones we had to communicate when we were in DA in fifth year."
"Did you touch it? Is it still there?" Harry asked"
"No, with all the rubbish lying around after the war, I don't pick up anything I am not sure of. It was there when I left. I just apparated home."
"You are safer not to touch discarded elements right now. There are incidents of people touching them and ending up in random places. We are not certain who is doing it or why, but Mrs. Figg, my former neighbor was cleaning up her yard and picked up a discarded candy wrapper and ended up in the middle of Stonehenge. I do wonder why a galleon," Harry continued his thought, "maybe to lure someone to pick it up."
Harry had no sooner finished taking their statement, than he was floo called to return to the office immediately. Upon returning to the office, Harry was greeted by a handful of messages that had been delivered by owl during the 30 minutes he had been gone. All were from families that had were considered blood-traitors during the last war and had pureblood family members buried in Everest Cemetery. All had a similar rune over the last letter of the surname of the person who was interred in the grave and all had a single galleon on the grave. One person was missing. The rogue portkey was definitely a possibility. Molly Weasley had gone to Everest Gardens to spruce up her brother's graves in preparation for Halloween. In her diligence, she had completely cleaned the grave and was observed picking up the galleon and remarking about it just as she was swept away in a flash of green. Her scream could be heard as she disappeared.
Harry sat at his desk playing with the galleon that Hermione had made for DA, tossing it up into the air and catching it, time after time. He wondered whether someone was trying to communicate with the dead with old DA coins. This could be like a séance or the gathering of the righteous dead.
The next morning, he took a small contingent of aurors to the cemetery. After showing them what they were looking for on the gravestones, he reminded them not to touch the coins. Molly Weasley still had not been found. "Who will survive and what will be left of them?" Harry mused when he was told that Andromeda Tonks had disappeared under similar conditions. Harry thought that the pattern had been broken because as far as he knew all of Andromeda's pureblood ancestors had been buried in the private cemetery in the country on the grounds of the Black ancestral estate on the moors and they were sympathizers of the dark side.
All in all forty-seven graves had been marked with the acorn in a circle rune, and forty-five of them had a single galleon on the grave. The shadowy figure watched and waited. The aurors were interrupting the important work that needed to be done before the thirty-first of October at sunset. They just were in the way of progress. Two more golden galleons had to be inscribed and charmed and put back onto the graves. Also, Molly and Andromeda had to be returned, unharmed before the actual meeting. They were cooling their heels, literally, because they were sitting, unharmed in the cellars of a large manor. Food, water, cots and blankets had been provided, but they needed to be held until just before the congregation was called together. They couldn't be freed now or all of the careful planning would be wasted.
While going over the lists of names and allegances, Harry noticed that the grave where Andromeda was taken away from was the empty grave of Sirius and Regulus Black. They shared one headstone and one grave plot because neither had a body to bury. That is why Andromeda had been there, to prepare the site for the memorial on Halloween! That is also why the marker was not in the Black family cemetery. Sirius was known to be a blood-traitor, but somebody must have decided that Regulus was also a traitor to have his marker here.
One week before Halloween somebody noticed that the runes were now on graves all over the wizarding world. Nobody could explain it but guards had to be posted to remind everyone to avoid touching the galleons. All members of DA received a message to owl a notice of receipt of message to the Shrieking Shack. Those who did not owl back and all members of the Order of the Phoenix received only a galleon and a message that a gathering was eminent.
One day before Halloween, the Daily Prophet was going wild with rumors about what was happening. It was preparation for the second coming some said. Others said it was the zombie apocalypse. The wizarding community was abuzz with gossip.
The students of Hogwarts were being entertained in the Great Hall on Halloween evening rather than chance abduction or curiosity allowing someone else to touch a portkey. Two hours before midnight the shadowy figure climbed the stairs to the astronomy tower. Upon reaching the point near where Dumbledore had been killed, it spread a white cloth on the floor, white candles for purity of heart, red candles for love, and green candles for immortality in each corner of the cloth. The center of the cloth had embroidered in gold the rune that had been etched on the graves representing the rebirth, from the small acorn a mighty oak will grow. The figure removed the black cloak and was dressed totally in white for purity of heart and raised her wand into the air. With the incantation and the waving of the wand in an intricate pattern a rainbow of colors flowed from the end and flowed into the acorn the figure stood on. Across the land the acorns on the gravestones glowed in the colors that were sent from the wand of the figure at the top of the astronomy tower of Hogwarts. Ghostlike figures rose from the graves and went from transparent to translucent to opaque. Each picked up the golden galleon and was transported to a larger acorn in the circle figure that was on the Quidditch Pitch of Hogwarts. Shortly after the resurrected persons arrived, the galleons of the DA members and Order glowed and became portkeys and all were transported to join the gathering. Mothers were reunited with children, men were reunited with their wives, brothers and sisters were reunited. Everyone held onto those most dear to them. Molly and Andromeda were reunited with their families as well. Nobody knew how or why this reunion had occurred, nor how long it would last, but all made the most of it. The galleons then gave a message that this reunion would occur in this place annually and the dead would be returned to their resting places at sunrise on All Saints' Day.
Now nobody knows who found the ancient spell. Nobody knows how it works, but a new tradition began and all subsequent burials from the group included a galleon in the hand of the body. An acorn in the circle rune on the gravestone above the last letter of the surname. Nobody wants to miss the Halloween party at Hogwarts.