Chapter Nine: In Memoriam

Author's Note: I apologize in advance for this chapter. Not due to quality but due to content.

You Know Who: There probably won't be any more Nephilim. Death has three siblings, Music, Might, and Free Will, but none of them will be around. As for other Angels and Demons, there will be. Nephilim as I write them are defined as any half Angelic or Demonic Human. And half basically means any mixture because the blood of angels is prevalent.

As for why Harry is being targeted, I revealed part of it, because he was fighting their men. But there more than that and I don't think anyone will see it coming.

Luna strolled into the Ministry around dawn; her usually vibrant gray eyes sagged under the weight of lack of sleep. But she had to help Daunte finish this furnace up and she was determined that it be done this morning. When she made her way to the lower echelons of the building where they had been working, she found Daunte wide awake and maneuvering large pieces of wood into place in the center of the structure they had built.

"Oh…it's almost ready?" Luna stopped in her tracks staring what looked to be a nearly functional furnace.

"Oh, Lovegood—I didn't see you there," he smiled. "Man you look a little worn out, you can get some more rest if you like," he said.

Luna shook her head and stepped up to his side, she was barely at his shoulder in height and she had to angle herself back to gaze up at him. "You did all of this…when did you have time?"

"I didn't go home, after I dropped you off I came back here and continued the work," he said. "I spurred the Americans on at the other end and even had the Floo network hooked up to this…we've got ourselves a giant transport system here. Something like this could actually come in handy if there were an emergency situation."

"What's…what's left to do?" asked Luna.

"Just the lighting and the transport, I thought you'd like to do the honors," Daunte was banishing the last logs into the furnace. He winked at her. "This whole thing was your idea, actually a pretty clever one at that…"

Luna pulled her wand, regarding him with some hesitation. Usually she didn't care but she found herself choosing her words very carefully and despite reviewing what she was about to say, it still spilled out. "Why don't we do it together?" she held her wand hand out as if for him to take the short Willow-Thestral-hair wand.

Daunte's brown eyes locked with hers and then he took hold of the wand. "On the count of three…"

"Three…" said Luna as suddenly as she could manage and they swung the wand together, said the incantation and sent a tumbling torrent of flames into the furnace. A burst of red-orange light filled the dimly lit room of the Ministry and Luna jerked her hand away as quickly as she could without arousing suspicion.

"Sadly, that was the easy part," Daunte said. "I'll need to contact them to tell them we're set up." He pulled out a small device that Luna had seen sometimes when she watched Muggle TV, though she couldn't place the name of it right away.

"That's a mobile, isn't it?"

He nodded. "Yeah, though it's not the kind the Muggle's use. This one's shielded against magic," he seemed to be typing something out on it. "I'm going to send them a text—this new thing we've been trying out lately."

"What will the text do?" she asked.

"It's words sent through the air, but its instant—or nearly instant—better than owls, faster than Portkeys or the Floo and definitely safer than trans-continental Apparation, heh."

Luna tucked her wand back behind her ear and sighed. "Well if the words are floating about like that with no owls to protect them, one would guess that Dabberblimps would get them," she said.

Daunte smiled. "I actually think they're protected against that kind of tampering," he closed the phone up. "Okay, it's done, now it'll be just a moment." He took Luna around the waist, his hand was so big and even before he explained himself, she felt somewhat compelled to comply. "I don't want you near the fire when this thing comes through; we need to be back as far as we can."

The fire flared and turned green, then it leaped higher and higher until it flattened out and was blue. The room was aglow as the flames made their shadows dance across the wall. The heat that had been previously projected out of the flames died off and something large burst through the fires and rolled out into the open floor.

The freighter crate sized cage was metallic and ragged from the thing inside's assaults on it. It slid out and the fire was extinguished behind it. Luna heard an artificial ding from Daunte's phone but in that instance she couldn't be bothered to ask what it meant or even look away from the creature housed in the cage.

It was a massive monstrosity, not the size of a Dragon yet but big enough to utterly crush a human with its arms. More than ever before, Luna found herself speechless in the face of something that seemed like an impossibility of a creature. The things face was long and almost reptilian, its eyes were like a cat's but blood red and darting here and there with an abrupt alertness. Bristly, wire like hair flanked the sides of its face and its teeth protruded off outside its mouth.

Though it looked the most natural on all fours, it climbed up against the cage to stand and the sleek, dark, short fur that covered its body was not enough to hide the confusing under carriage of the creature. It had huge breasts that were all too human and peppered with boils and what appeared to be a penis that slumped off to one side without any testicles. Most of the body was covered in something slick and wet, like puss and despite the hair veins could be seen here and there jutting out of the skin.

The thing's tail swished side to side and it dropped back to all fours, as if its display was done. Luna thought she detected a smile on its face. She edged back slowly as the thing's eyes burrowed into her.

"Luna, you okay?"

"Where is Potter?" the thing's voice was deep masculine at the same time as there was a feminine undertone and something more monstrous there too. It was three voices mingled as one talking together. "This place tastes of him…he's been here…"

Daunte's eyes were wide. "This is the most it's ever said."

"The girl knows of him—knows where the Potter is, peel back the layers and take a peek. Promise it won't hurt," this thing wasn't to be trusted. In the male voice Luna could hear an almost perverse desire and though the female sounded sincere, the third voice, the primal one wanted to rip her apart.

She stumbled back, falling to the ground on her butt and scrambling against the floor to backpedal. At the edge of her thoughts she could feel something pulling at her thoughts and memories. Somehow this thing was projecting itself into her mind. Luna wished she could believe this thing wasn't real.

A monstrous yellow eyed figure thrashed Luna about on the floor. She went for her wand but couldn't get it and when she finally knocked if free and lost it in the scuffle she kicked and screamed and bit and clawed at the thing to get it away. He was holding her down, pinning her to the stony flood of the large Ministry room and there was no one else there to help her.

The inside of her head felt as if it was being drilled into, but it wasn't just a physical pain. While the yellow eyed figure restrained her, something was walking the corridors of her mind, flaying her open. She saw the boys she had liked…Harry and Ron and the others and their rejection. The Carrows and their tortures and at the end of somewhere she could feel the greatest loss ebbing in on her. Lonliness she thought she'd shed away washed back in on her and she was enveloped in darkness, the room and the yellow eyed man faded away into it.

And then there was her reflection—but no, it's back was to her and she was facing it, looking at her own back. The Other Luna turned around and shambled toward her with a slinky, almost mocking gait. "This is your center. This is what you try so badly to hide and protect from this world, it's quite pathetic really."

"How did you get in here?" Luna managed. This thing wasn't her, it was wearing her face but everything about it and its mannerisms were wrong. It wasn't her.

There was no answer to her question. "Let's open this, shall we?" asked the Other Luna pointing to a white door that was lined with red light and pressed firmly into the darkness.

Without hesitation, the Other Luna opened the door with a snap of the fingers and the red light spilled out. Red light flooded the area around them and Luna found herself watching her mother lay on the floor with blood leaking from the blown open lower half of her face and twitching feebly against the plush, blood soaked carpet. Her arm was out stretched in a plea, as it had been when little Luna stood there years before.

And that sight broke her. Luna heard the Other her laughing somewhere and everywhere. A rich metallic smell filled the air around her.

She blinked and found herself hugged up to someone—the yellow eyed man! For a moment she struggled but the faint hint of cologne told her she was wrong. Daunte was clutching her tight, holding her to the floor. He repeated her name. "Luna—Luna can you hear me…Lovegood, come on…"

Her reply came out as a gasp and she could feel something wet and warm running down her face. Daunte cradled her back in his laps to look down at her. "Shit—I'm sorry Luna, I'm so sorry. It's never done that before," he mopped the tears from under eyes and she saw on his hand, blood.

"What happened…" she managed.

"I don't know—you're crying blood and your nose…its bleeding too. We need to get you to a healer," Daunte said.

Though she stayed pressed to him and didn't refuse the help she shook her head. "I'm okay—I've had worse, but we need to alert Harry," even as the words came out, that she was okay she knew he didn't believe them because she was still shaking and crying.

Hermione was covered in her own blood and despite the time of morning, wide awake. Her mind brimmed with thoughts of Harry—of how she had gone wrong and how she could have helped him, forced him to come back to the Burrow with her or anything. She was to blame for Harry's death, if she had acted sooner, if she had been able to kill sooner this would have never happened.

Ron's arms were tight around her shoulders and his face was buried against her neck. Ginny, Lily and James hadn't emerged from the upstairs room since the body had been brought back. She couldn't stand to see Harry laying there on the bed like that, he seemed to be sleep but it was so different at the same time. And the thought of him never waking up or moving again stabbed at her with renewed vigor each time it entered her mind.

He's really dead…

Part of her had worried about this before but then she didn't think it was possible. This was a man who as a baby had rebounded a killing curse like it was just a simple thing and as a boy had fought one of the darkest wizards in history. To be killed by some lackey, to be brought down by this wandless wizard…it was unfathomable.

She had vomited recently, sick with the grief over Harry. He was her best friend, Ron and her were something else all together and while she loved Ginny and Luna, Harry had always been there in some capacity. He was like the pillar they all leaned on, and she had grown too used to that.

"They have to come down and eat—this is going to be harder to get through if no one's going to eat," Molly's voice sounded empty, the tone was hers but there was no inflection there was no personality. "You can't all just starve yourselves."

"You're not eating either," Ron bit back bitterly.

"I'm—well no not yet," Molly said.

"Are we going to alert the other Weasleys? His other friends?" Snape asked, his voice seemed different too, and he made eye contact with no one. "People are going to want to know…"

"Bugger that," Ginny's voice came from the steps, her wand was out and her eyes were rimmed with red puffy skin. "No one leaves this bloody house, and no one tells ANYONE!" she screamed.

"Ginny, dear…"

"No, Harry's coming back. Something she said told me that, he's coming back because I know at least part of our future. She let me know that much and she had to have done it for a reason."

Hermione knew Ginny to be talking about Death—Dee—but even she didn't seem sure of the finality of time when it came to what the Angel of Death said. Any number of actions could change the future if time was in constant flux. Hermione had seen time travel at work and even then she didn't understand the true ramifications of it. And that's not to say that what Death could do was anywhere close to the low level power of Time Turners.

Of course Ginny had told Hermione right off the bat that this was a test. This was something Death knew would happen. Hermione was feared for when the realization hit Ginny, not because it would devastate Ginny, though it would.

But it would put out that last little spark of hope that existed between them.

Molly passed plates out to them. "It's horrible, it's just I'm sorry," she was crying again. "The foods cold, I didn't have the sense to warm it back up…"

Hermione looked up at her and tried to flash a smile, to give her a small gesture to help her out. But she knew she had failed before she even tried.

"You don't know what I know," Ginny said to no one at all as she took a bite of cold bacon. "You don't…"

There was a sudden pair of explosive sounds outside the door.

CA-CRACK!

Someone knocked at the door. "It's me, Luna—I'm trying to find Harry."

Ginny glared at everyone and propelled herself to the door, wand still in hand. She opened it to find Luna standing there with a tall dark skinned man dressed in a Muggle maroon button down shirt with a black tie. "Not right now Luna…just—we can't."

"What's the matter? What's happened? You're crying, is it Harry?" Hermione could hear Luna's voice and Ginny didn't have the heart to stop her from plowing her way through the door. The man that was with Luna waited, a confused look on his face.

Luna's pale face was stained with something red and her eyes looked worn out, blood shot. "Luna dear—sit down and have some breakfast," Molly said in as normal a tone as she could muster.

"You're all grieving, you're all…where's Harry?" Luna asked. "Where is he?" she demanded and suddenly Hermione wondered why she seemed so high strung, so un-Luna-like.

"You're Lovegood's daughter, right?" came the familiar voice that she had heard only a hand full of times. Sirius Black emerged from the shadows and walked toward her. "I remember you…" he looked much older and pale and sick since the news of Harry's death.

Hermione could tell by the look on Ginny's face she regretted trying to hide Harry's loss from everyone else. But she didn't have the heart to tell Luna and she lowered her head in shame. "There were stories in the Quibbler, about dead people turning up again…I never thought for a second…Sirius Black…you'll tell me where Harry is."

It was suspect how she demanded the news, Hermione had half a mind to think Luna already knew. Sirius turned away and it was Snape who finally stepped forward. "Miss Lovegood—forgive the abruptness and lack of explanation, I fear I don't possess one, but Harry Potter has…passed on…"

Luna was silent for a long time and everyone else in the room watched her. Snape continued. "His parents and Black and I were brought back and…he died this morning in a fight with a dark wizard. Said wizard was killed by Granger and…"

"Harry's not dead!" Ginny yelled.

The man who had come with Luna stood in the doorway, his face a mixture of confusion and grief, he seemed to not know what to do. But Ginny pulled him inside. "Nothing's changed, no one leaves here—no one can know about this, they just can't because he's going to be back."

Hermione shook her head, unable to manage a convincing tone. "Yeah Ginny, you're right," she said.

Chains of bloody bone with bits of fleck flesh stuck in them jutted right in and out of Harry's body to hold him in place. The walls were alive, with faces and mouths open to let out tormented moans. The air was heavy with blood and sulfur and smoke and all around him the floor, walls and ceilings ebbed in and out like they were taking shallow breaths.

Harry was in a living, breathing prison.

He was nude, though he didn't know how and why. In fact, he didn't know how he had even arrived here. His glassed were gone, but he could see clearly enough. Off in the distance someone would scream every once in a while. He couldn't see them or even tell in which direction they were. This place was cavernous and huge.

And then Harry realized, it was Hell.

"I don't belong here," he screamed out. "Someone help!" he paused, the smoke burning at his throat. "Help."

He looked to his side to see Ginny standing there, her nude form glistening in the low red light of this place. She lumbered forward with a seductive cadence. "Oh Harry…but you do belong here—think of all the people you tortured. All the love you turned away and turned down for so long. You sicken me, I don't know what I saw in someone as selfish and introverted as you!"

A sharp, sickle like blade sliced up through the bottom of Ginny's chin and out the top of her head, lifting her nude form into the air. She struggled against the weapon, which Harry could clearly see was a scythe, kicking and jostling her body about. "That's enough from Bitch-Ginny, don't you think?" asked Dee who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. "Now let's see which one you are," Dee held her hand up, projecting a whitish glow over Ginny's face.

She was revealed to be a boil covered, monstrous faced woman. Harry recoiled back and found himself to be suddenly free from the restraints that bound him before, but he was still naked.

"Someone you know?" Dee said wheeling the creature about on her scythe so he could see. And then she ripped the weapon through its head and pulled out something shimmering, black and oily. A split second later there was a horrid cry and she cleaved the black, oily mist in two. "There, that's better. Been a while since we've been here, seems like you're due to die every few years, huh?" Dee was dusting her hands off on her skirt, for some reason she was dressed like a Catholic School girl, Harry wasn't going to question it.

"I've met you like this before?" he asked.

"When you died and went to the King's Cross, I pulled you out and as a baby I was there ready to pull you back," she said.

"Why did—why am I in Hell," Harry asked.

Dee had an awkward smirk and she seemed to be staring into his eyes with a suspicious air about her. Every few moments her eyes would flick down and back up quickly. "Safest place to talk right now, what with the walls coming down between your world and Heaven…anyone could be listening," her eyes dropped down again and back up again. Her smile grew.

Suddenly Harry realized what she was looking at and clambered backward, slapping his hands in on his crotch to cover himself. "Jeeze, why are you—what's wrong with you?" he screamed.

"You never did take well to admiration, Harry," Dee snickered. "Ginny's a lucky girl, they should be calling you Tripod-Potter."

Harry clasped his junk up under himself, he thought it might hide itself out of sheer embarrassment. "Gah, what are we doing here. Why do we need secrecy?"

"Because I'm trying to teach you a lesson, you can't fight these battles they way you did before. You're not a kid. You want to protect your friends and family, its admirable. But you need to learn that sometimes that means letting them help you protect them and sometimes that means you're going to have to kill or do things that you might not think are all that savory."

"The killing curse is illegal, if that's what you mean," Harry said, her eyes reminded him too much of that curse, the one that had killed him again now.

Dee shook her head. "Illegal is a human construct. It's nothing to do with natural law. You can kill and you will have to. You can lay waste to these people because they've lost what little they had in them that made them people. Basically if you think what you went through down here was torturous, wait till you send them to me, they're going to get a trillion times worse," she said.

"I don't know if I can…kill I mean, like that," Harry said.

"Hermione did it, she did it for you and she did it to take someone down who was threatening to kill her and Ginny and Ron and everyone else you love. And do you think Ron wouldn't kill to protect, or Ginny? You're the one who fights this so hard, they're able to accept what they did, but you beat yourself up over it," Dee said. "Is it because you've seen what death does to people?"

"I've killed, you know it. Why does it matter how I feel?"

"Because that beating yourself up like that…will lead straight to you being back here…in Hell for real. That's one of the easiest ways to slip into the state that leads back to here," Dee said.

"You're taking me back then?" asked Harry.

"Not exactly, but I left them the means to do it themselves, they're figure it out. Shouldn't be too much longer now."

Author's Note: An apology to Luna fans, don't worry, Luna is one of my favorites too. But there's a lot that is going on in this and everyone is kind of getting messed over and Luna will have her shining moments later on too.