Hi!
This is my first Harry Potter Fanfic! It's Death Eater Centric so if you don't like that sort of thing, feel free to stop reading now! Things aren't going to be canon here and some laws of Harry Potter will be twisted :)
I hope you enjoy and many thanks to my wonderful Beta that's probably the only reason this is getting published!
Visions Of Glory
Death was final, the end, an embrace so cold it was warm. There was no pain in death while strangely there was comfort in the feelings of ease that washed over a person's spirit as they passed into the afterlife. An afterlife filled with Wizards, where blood purity didn't exist; only there did they seem to realise that it didn't matter if you were Muggleborn or Pureblood you still ended up in the same place with the same status, dead.
Hermione Granger was dead, her death cold and lonely with no one there to see her final breath. Her last moments were alone in the dark with only a flash of green before the living world fell silent and the world of the dead sang it's welcoming tune. She had found herself lying on a warm beach with water lapping up to her knees as she stared into a fairy tale like sky.
"You shouldn't be here lass, you're what? Seventeen." A voice familiar but from a seemingly distant past. The living world just seemed so far away.
It took some effort to stand, as standing was understanding that she wasn't alive. That she had come to terms with the fact she'd never see the living world again or her parents and with any luck not Harry or any of her friends for a long time to come. Once on her feet she turned slowly and stared into the old but sorrowful eyes of Sirius Black.
"Children fighting a war, is that what the Order has come to?" He said with a shake of his head before he placed his hands on her shoulders. "How are you feeling lass?"
Hermione shrugged. "I died because I was expendable, according to an Order member, what sort of war let's children be expendable?"
Sirius sighed and shook his head. "Not the same one I died for. Would you like to tell me about it? It can take a while to come to terms with it all but I've been told it offers clarity."
Hermione offered a soft but tired smile. "You haven't found clarity yet?"
"I might have if it wasn't for the guilt. I gave Harry such hope to have a proper family again but I died before I could deliver and now… he doesn't have you either." Sirius sighed and offered a grim smile before reaching up to ruffle Hermione's locks.
"I was trapped in room in one of the safe houses." Hermione began.
She could hear movement beyond the door and from behind the wall just behind her. Her back was plastered against it as she tried to regulate her breathing and think of as many defensive spells as she aimed her wand at the door ready for anyone who came through. Hermione could hear Harry whispering through the wall, whispering comforting words and telling her he'd do everything in his power to save her.
Hermione knew she was alone and her chances were slim but it didn't stop a small smile on her face knowing at least one person in this world cared. It slowed her breathing, made her arm relax and her mind clearer. Harry was a friend like no other, and she would fight to her dying breath to keep him alive.
"I love you Hermione." His voice was muffled through the wall. "I'm not sure if it's as a friend, or more. If it's because I'm terrified one of us is going to die or because you're literally too fantastic your very existence confuses me."
"You can't say that Harry." Hermione whispered with a laugh. "You'll ruin my future plans to be a crazy cat witch who's practically married to her job."
Harry began to laugh softly but soon it fell to a quiet sob. "I'll save you Hermione, I won't let you die."
The noises just beyond the door grew louder and Hermione pressed even closer against the wall as Harry continued to make promises as he tried to hide the sound of his tears and sorrows.
"We have to go." A new voice said, a voice Hermione barely recognised. If she remembered rightly he was fairly high up the order but rarely ever there.
"Hermione is just in the room, we need to save her." Harry had said, she could hear him moving towards the door but then heard a yelp of pain as a body collided with the floor. "We can't leave her!"
"She's expendable, you're not. You'll win us the war." The voice said, almost with a laugh before the distinctive noise of the crack of Apparition echoed and then that was when the door was blasted open.
Then there was a flash of green.
Through tears the story was told as Hermione clung to Sirius and sobbed. She felt guilty for leaving Harry, angry because they'd left her to die and at loss because of how little that man viewed her.
"By Merlin's frilly underpants Hermione, did the bastard really say that?" Sirius said as he held the sobbing girl. "You were never expendable, and I know the only reason Harry got this far was because of you. Very much like his father he was, and well… he had his mother's eyes." Sirius offered with a slightly pained laugh.
There was never a day where the Malfoy Manor wasn't cold and dark, its bleak decorations did little to warm the place up and only seemed to add to its fearsome atmosphere. Perhaps once it had been warm and welcoming but those days were long gone.
The Dark Lord loved to sit upon his throne, Salazar Slytherin's throne apparently, and look down upon his followers who were shrouded in shadows as he spoke to them. Power clung to him and he demanded attention and respect, whether he deserved it or not was a question no one dared to even ponder.
"How do an Auror and a Healer become two rather successful Death Eaters?" Voldemort asked as he peered down at two men who were cloaked in darkness but knelt with their heads bowed. An arm across their chest, clenched fist at the heart as if they were greeting a king.
"We only live to serve My Lord." It was said by both men almost as if it was rehearsed but flowed naturally and seemed to please the Dark Lord.
Voldemort raised his hand as he motioned for them to rise, and almost like puppets they did in perfect unison between each other and the wishes of the Dark Lord. "How goes our… little quest?"
The first of the two men took a step forward into the dim light to reveal messy blonde hair pulled into a braid with dull brown eyes that suggested that any light inside of him was lost. "We used the Veil as a shortcut to break into the Realm, My Lord. We are in your debt for giving us access to the portal."
Then the second took his step into the light, looking identical to the first with the same dull look in his eyes. "Although probing the realm didn't come without consequence… the backlash from the defences of the realm killed our assistant." Despite the lack of emotion in his voice the shame was evident in his eyes.
To this the Dark Lord offered a cruel smile. "And that didn't break your Healer's Vow Leonidas?" His words almost sounded concerned, perhaps Leonidas would have been fooled if he hadn't known the ulterior motive beneath the surface.
Leonidas shook his head and offered a small but passive smile. "No my lord, he hadn't cast the necessary protection spells. Selwyn's have strong affinity with Defensive Magic, perhaps it is better we just continue this alone."
Both men glanced behind them to reveal a unrecognisable body being moved throughout the room by two grim faced Death Eaters who offered the twins cold looks as they went by. Even though most didn't know exactly what they were doing, they knew it had something to do with the dead. Necromancy was looked down upon by almost all.
Amusement laced the Dark Lord's voice as he spoke, his eyes following the dead body as it went by. "Agreed, pureblood shouldn't necessarily be lost. I'll speak to his family myself and make them understand his sacrifice was necessary. But defences… how interesting."
Cleophus nodded and glanced to his brother before speaking. "Whatever higher power there may be clearly doesn't want the living or the dead interfering with each other. What we're doing is unnatural, history making, but we're breaking laws of magic that seemed so certain before."
Leonidas nodded as if confirming his brother's words. "Through our family magic, various old spell books and some relics we've managed to devise ways to protect ourselves and hide us from the defences. We think we've created a way to pull the soul through the Veil but… that's not without it's problems." He offered a sigh and barely managed to hide the cringe. All feared the Dark Lord's disappointment as it could quickly turn to wrath.
Cleophus produced a sheet of paper from his jacket but didn't make a move until the Dark Lord summoned him forward. It took him three quick steps and a bow before he handed the paper over, only then to bow again and take three quick steps back. "Leonidas has found the bloodline, and as the person you want is the most recently dead of his family his soul appears the brightest."
Voldemort looked up from the sheet and nodded, before looking back down to quickly scan over the more detailed explanation with quickly drawn diagram's littering around the sides. If the Dark Lord could look excited this is what the brother's assumed he would look like with a slight upturn of his mouth and a gleam in his eye.
"Cleophus looked into some other Bloodlines and it doesn't matter how long they've been dead, just the order of death. It's… odd but it could be because of living memory." Leonidas said after the Dark Lord looked up and stayed with his eyes carefully trained on both men.
"And the problem?"
Cleophus sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "We need to see if the Veil accepts bodies, fair enough it was used to kill people in ancient Wizarding Britain but they were alive. It's also that this now really does border on necromancy."
Voldemort nodded as if understanding the man's troubled mind over brushing with a magic forbidden as long as law's had ruled over Wizarding Britain and even before then often ended in death. "What you are doing is for our greater good. People will celebrate you both for doing the impossible, not hate you for breaking a few dusty rules."
Leonidas looked over to Cleophus and offered a reassuring smile. "To elaborate on the previous point we can't just create a body, the soul needs a vessel it connects with."
"And we can't use his bones because he needs a well body. But even if we did manage to secure one there still is the problem of the veil accepting it." Cleophus added.
Voldemort didn't miss a beat. "Use the Mudblood's body, we were just going to use it as werewolf feed. But I must ask, wouldn't that risk bringing her back?"
Leonidas shook his head. "No, we're using pure blood. Even if she had some faint magical blood from way back when, it wouldn't be enough, if she was from a recent squib she'd show family traits. As always My Lord, your help is invaluable."
"She has hair resembling the Black's."
Leonidas offered a grim smile. "The House of Black has killed their squibs since long before living memory. I think they used to believe sacrificing squibs gained them more power."
"We still need a body, and short of asking one of them to die I'm not sure there's a solution to this problem." Cleophus said before adding a sigh and a wary glance over to his brother.
Leonidas offered a reassuring smile. "We'll think of something."
Voldemort coughed, drawing the attention back to him. "You may be pleased to know that a member of this family came back last night critically injured and it looks like he may succumb. It appears one of the 'Order of the Phoenix' cast the Killing Curse but managed to somehow mess it up."
"So much for them being the light side." Cleophus said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll have to offer my apologies for the loss when he dies and then beg. You think he'd do the trade off? His cousin for his father?"
Voldemort didn't respond for a few seconds as he looked over both men. "I will ask myself, I am their lord and they can deny me little. Nor do I trust either of you to be tactful enough. I'll have the Mudblood's body brought to you."
Both men nodded.
"We'll be back tomorrow with our results my lord." Cleophus said with a bow.
*0*0*0*0*0*
Handling dead bodies was something the Selwyn twin's were unfortunately used to with Leonidas being a Healer and Cleophus an ex-Auror. Neither liked it and certainly neither of them wanted to do it as they looked upon the unbreathing body of the girl who had been deemed the brightest witch of her age and if she had been given the chance she could have proved herself to be on par with Dumbledore. A waste of life Leonidas had murmured as he prepped the body like he had done so many times before.
"Want to offer her funeral rites while we're at it?" Cleophus asked in a tired tone as he watched the veil pulse and waver. "What happened to her isn't our fault and certainly isn't our problem."
Leonidas offered a dirty look before he took a step back. "We used to help the community, I healed people and you protected them, it was our dream." He spoke as his brother moved over to lift the Muggleborn's lifeless body and took the steps towards the veil.
It was a swift movement, easing the body into the veil as it throbbed with power and hunger, and as quickly as the body was there it was gone. It only took seconds before the veil returned to it's normal state and the Selwyn twin's took vigil to see if anything was to happen. It remained passive, the body never returning so the twins took their findings to Voldemort who then gave them the recently deceased Avery.
Success or death, the usual choice Voldemort gave his followers. Ruling by fear and outrageous ideals. Perhaps the Purebloods believed that once Voldemort won the war he would change or that this tyranny was worth ridding the world of those they believed beneath them. Although only one thing was certain, none of them wanted to die.
"Let's begin, once we've done the foundations for the ritual we can place the body inside the veil." Leonidas said to Cleophus who nodded in return as he knelt on the floor and in white chalk began to draw the ritual circle.
As the ritual circle was completed they began to place various objects around it to draw power from and to aid them in their task. An ancient Spell Shield, from the house of Selwyn, to protect the soul on their way back to the living. A wand from the house of Black said to be stained with the lifeforce of many to fuel the ritual. A magical key from the house of Malfoy rumoured to be able to unlock any lock. Various other items were dotted about but the most crucial was the blood, the very item that would lock the spell in place and guide them to glory.
"Let's hope you live up to your namesake." Leonidas said as they both lifted the heavy set male body towards the Veil.
"Visions of Glory doesn't mean success." Cleophus said as they carefully moved their way through the ritual being careful not to knock anything out of place. If they did and did not notice the effects could have been catastrophic. "It suggests delusion more than anything."
Leonidas offered a small laugh as they readied themselves to enter the body into the veil. "Let's hope we're delusional enough to be successful. I love you Cleo."
"And I you Leo, don't worry baby brother I'll protect you." And with that they let the body fall into the Veil and proceeded to begin.
Latin words were spoken in tangent as they lit candles with rehearsed movements. Every word was carefully pronounced as they spoke of death and life, made promises and offerings as they invoked ancient magic. Power swelled around them and moved as they moved, almost seeming to breath as they breathed.
"Surgens autem de terra." From dust they rose.
"Morte ad vitam." Death to life.
The rest was lost upon any who may have been listening, spoken in a language long forgotten to the magical world. A rough translate came as 'We invoke the powers of the lost and gone. We return what has been lost and breathe life into what has gone. A shield to protect you, a wand to fuel your magic and a key to unlock the door.'
"Blood to find you, candles to guide you and a knife to pierce the veil."
Then the Veil exploded.
When the dust began to settle the portal was gone but two men were protected by a powerful shield and a body lay on the cold hard ground with the Selwyn family shield partially disintegrated above them. Despite being protected the brothers were still thrown to the ground.
"That wasn't part of the plan." Cleophus said as he tried to move the dust away from his vicinity and rise from the cold hard ground. As he made sure his brother was up and okay he lead the way and focused on guiding his brother towards the body.
"I think we revived them just to kill them again." Leonidas said with a tense laugh as they drew close enough, he reached down to check for life signs. "There's a pulse and they are breathing but there's a slight issue."
Cleophus didn't even turn to look as he stared at where the Veil once stood. "He's bleeding out?"
"She's perfectly fine, I'll have to do some diagnostic tests but as far as I can tell she's probably never been in better health." Leonidas said just before he began to mutter spells to check upon the girl.
It was then that Cleophus turned around, rather alarmed. "It's the Muggleborn, isn't it? I swear to Merlin, unless she's secretly pureblood we're dead. We destroyed our only way of getting through to the realm of the dead. He's going to kill us. I'm too pretty to die."
"Die young and leave a pretty corpse." Leonidas muttered as he made a small incision in the Muggleborn's wrist, moments later he spoke again. "She's not pureblood."
"You can't tell by looking at the blood." Cleophus responded sharply, almost looking offended by the implication.
"No, but you can by blood magic spells, and I my dear brother was told to study them before we got moved onto this task." Leonidas said as he carefully lifted the girl up into his arms. "She has two Squib Maternal grandparents."
"So? The Dark Lord doesn't care if Muggleborns have squibs in their background. We're fucked Leo, fucked."
Leonidas offered a small smile. "It would also seem Avery has some explaining to do."
"That git. Are you serious? He acted like me marrying a half-blood was social suicide."
"Who married a half-blood?" A tired and broken voice asked.
Leonidas swallowed audibly before offering a gentle smile. "Welcome back to the world of the living little Avery. Hermione, we brought you back from the dead."
With that Hermione proceeded to faint.
I hope you enjoyed, feel free to leave a review.
Thanks again,
Visions Of Glory