Chapter 25
Rituals and Snakes
After their actions at the Great 1977 Battle of Hogwarts, Katja and Williamson were granted Orders of Merlin, Second Class. The Minister attempted to give Dumbledore another medal, but he refused, stating that he was already famous enough without the fifth OM. Needless to say, the Minister was ticked. Fortunately, Katja thought, this Minister wasn't as stupid as Fudge, and therefore didn't try to interfere with things.
Malfoy hadn't been caught with the Death Eaters, so Katja guessed that he either didn't have the Mark or was able to somehow shield himself from the spell Williamson had used. Between Sirius, Williamson, and her, they were all very concerned about the possibility of the second option—the spell was supposed to be absolute. If a person in the area of the spell meets the criteria, that person would be subject to the next spell. In the Death Eaters case, Harry had used Morsmorde and Crucio to bring down the Death Eaters. Everybody liked the first option better.
Most of the students, it seemed, hadn't been caught in open wrongdoing. Malfoy and Snape were walking around the castle, just like another Malfoy that Katja knew. They thought that no-one knew their true alliance.
Katja thought that Snape was just acting for Malfoy's sake, as Snape was at this point a double agent, but in a few short years would turn around and become a triple. Snape just wanted the power—he didn't really want to kill Mudbloods or Muggles. That wasn't true—there was one Muggle that Snape wanted to kill more than anything—his Father. Tobias Snape had treated his wife and child so badly growing up that eventually Eileen Prince divorced the man.
A Hogsmeade trip was scheduled soon—this was good for Sirius and Katja, because there were a number of ingredients that they needed to buy to use in their New Moon Ritual.
The New Moon Ritual was an Ancient Ritual that Bonded a werewolf and its mate, causing the werewolf to retain some of its mind during the Full Moon. It required some potions ingredients that a person could order in Hogsmeade, and there were some ingredients that had to be Muggle. The creators of this potion must have either had a sense of humour, or didn't think that the Muggles would be so far apart from the Wizarding World, Katja thought.
She figured that Sirius and her would just do what they did last time—go to Hogsmeade and Apparate to a Muggle town before their time was up. The Muggle supplies that they needed were plants among other things. The instructions clearly stated that no magic was to be used on the plants at all.
Fortunately, the Hogsmeade trip was more than a week before the New Moon, which was going to be on 11 November. Katja put her whole self into her classes that week. Since the school didn't know who her guardian was, she had no need (yet) to take up the Headmaster's offer of private quarters.
While doing research for one of her classes, she found an interesting article in a very old book. The article stated that most werewolves have a comparable Animagus form, a less dangerous form that they could change into at will. For obvious reasons, most of the time, the Animagus form was a wolf or wolf hybrid. This ability required even more mental focus than a normal Animagus transformation, because of the powerful influence of the werewolf on the person's mind. The article said that only a very small minority of werewolves actually achieve the transformation, since it is so hard. Katja was glad that she had become an Animagus before she was bitten. Of course, she still wished that she hadn't been bitten at all, but she couldn't do anything about that.
It was soon Saturday 6 November—the day of the Hogsmeade trip. Katja got her signature handbag (that she modified magically) after breakfast and met with Sirius at the main doors. Just as she got to the main doors, a paper aeroplane flew to her. It was magically sealed, so she tapped it with her wand. The note said:
Occurret ad altiora educto pagus in 12h. Adducam tua canis cum te.
Dimidio sanguis principem
Quickly translating, she realised that it told her to meet at the foot of the mountains on the path leading out of Hogsmeade, and that it was signed "The Half-Blood Prince." There was only one person that she knew of that would use that name. Snape must need something for the potion, she thought. One curious thing was that the note said that she could bring her dog. That wasn't good! Thought Katja. Somehow he must know about Sirius. He could get the Ministry involved, and we'd be doomed!
When Katja met up with Sirius a couple of minutes later, she was still very preoccupied. Sirius could tell that she wasn't on top form, so he asked her about it. She showed him the note, and took a very similar interpretation of the message as she did. "We ought to tell your new Grandfather about this, Katja. He can set it up with the right people that it looks like we are in the process of registering. As the Chairwizard of the ICW, he can most likely do things like that."
At noon, they arrived at the designated place, where they saw that, indeed, Severus Snape was standing, waiting for them. "Good," he said. "You're on time. I didn't want to have to wait for Gryffindors. Good afternoon, Black. You can tell Potter that everything is on schedule, and that you should have the required potion by the 25th. You can also tell Potter that he will owe me approximately 30 Galleons, 10 Sickles by the end of the month. And tell Evans that if it weren't for her, I wouldn't be doing this—no matter what Potter," he spit out the name again, "was paying me. Have a," he hesitated, like he was struggling to say something. "Nice Day," he finished. "I know that you want to be around me as much as I want to be around you, so see you in class."
Sirius and Katja then went back to the village, where they immediately went to the Apothecary to get the rest of the ingredients for the ritual. Soon, they were finished with the magical portion of the shopping, so they went to the Shrieking Shack and Apparated to the nearest Muggle town, where they sneaked into the local Greenhouse and got the necessary materials. They then went to a Supermarket, where they bought the rest of the materials. Back when the ritual was introduced, these items would have been found in the wild, but now could be found in various forms at Muggle Supermarkets.
Soon, they had all of the ingredients for the potion that was required for the ritual. The magical ingredients needed to go into the cauldron first, and needed to simmer at exactly 150 degrees for thirty-two minutes. The mixture needed to be taken off the heat and let sit overnight, and then needed to be heated up to 300 degrees Centigrade for another 32 minutes. Then, the Muggle plants (oranges, apples, willow bark) needed to be boiled in a separate pot for 47 minutes, after which they could be put in with the magical ingredients.
This potion was to be poured on the ground where the ritual was to take place at least 48 hours before the actual ritual. This would cause the ground to be purified before the ritual started—everything had to be pure in order to compensate for the inherent 'darkness' of a werewolf.
The Ritual Ceremony
At 20:30 on the day of the New Moon, Sirius, Katja, Williamson, and Dumbledore were in the Room of Requirement, starting the ritual.
"By Fire and By Air, By Water and by Earth, by the Lady and the Lord, I conjure thee to purify our circle this night" chanted Sirius as he spread the potion over the area again.
"By fire and air, By water and by earth, Let us purify the Northern Quarter of our circle" responded Katja, waving her wand in the Protego Charm.
"By the fire and air, let all those who come within the circle be Purified! By water and by earth, let all evil be destroyed!" Dumbledore chanted in response.
As Katja and Sirius entered the inside of the circle facing what was indicated by their wands to be North, they chanted together, "Great Guardians of the North, holder of the element of earth, join me here in this circle for the observance of the crux of the dark to the new moon. Be the keeper of this, the first quarter of my circle on this night! I welcome you with open arms, and open mind, and an open heart. I thank you! Welcome and Blessed Be."
Williamson and Dumbledore entered the circle, blessing it with another chant. "Great Guardians of the South, holder of the element of fire, join me here in this circle for the observance of the crux of the dark to the new moon. Be the keeper of this, the third quarter of my circle on this night! I welcome you with open arms, and open mind, and an open heart. I thank you! Welcome and Blessed Be."
Turning to face the east, they chanted, "Great Guardians of the East, holder of the life-giving sun, join me in this circle for the observance of the crux of the dark to the new moon. Be the keeper of this, the final quarter of my circle on this night! I welcome you with open arms, and open mind, and an open heart. I thank you! Welcome and Blessed Be."
The couple then transformed into their Animagus forms. Before they did so, there was a role-call of sorts.
"I am the Hunter and the Guide—I am the Wolf!" said Katja.
"I am the Grim—deadly but loyal and true—I am Canis Lupus Familiarus!" continued Sirius.
"I am the Light with a burning heart of Fire! I am the Phoenix!" shouted Dumbledore.
Finishing up, Williamson said, "The ability to transform! I am ...Multimagus!"
It was not the full moon, Katja would have more control of Ruige, her werewolf self. It was tempting for her to attack the Dog that looked so much like the Grim, but Katja held back. She knew that the Phoenixes would stop her if she did anything. Now was the time they would be able to tell whether the ritual worked or not. It was the Time of the Bite.
This was much easier with two Phoenixes (as Williamson was in Phoenix mode), since this part of the ritual involved Katja biting one of the other participants. In the best case scenario, she would bite her lover in an intimate place. The tears of the Phoenix would help to heal some of the wounds. Now Katja knew why no-one had been able to heal Bill after the Headmaster had died (back in her original time-line)—it was because no-one had a phoenix to heal with.
The Biting went by smoothly. On her first try, she bit Sirius right under the back left leg. She enjoyed the taste of the flesh—no, she didn't—the wolf did. The red and gold phoenix walked over to the bitten animal (limping around in pain), and started to cry on it. The tears hit the bite mark, and it slowly healed. The mark was still there, but caused no more pain for the Dog. The Black and Gold Phoenix (a lightning Phoenix) came over to Katja, and tears flowed.
The wolf reared and started chasing the Red Fire Phoenix. This was her Grandfather; one of the most powerful wizards on Earth, maybe even more powerful than Merlin himself. This was essential to the ritual—she needed to bite Wizards with Power, and People close to her. Since it wasn't the full moon, there was no chance of the volunteers being Turned. The Lightning Phoenix cried again on both the Fire Phoenix and the wolf.
Soon, the Fire Phoenix turned back into Albus Dumbledore. It was now more dangerous for him than before, as he was a human going up against a full wolf. As the most powerful wizard in the group, he started to sing in a strange language.
Diana, banríon na hoíche, I do áilleacht ar fad geal, Shine ar orainn anseo, Agus le do bhíoma airgid Díghlasáil an geata d'aisling; Éirigh geal agus soiléir.
Ar domhan agus spéir agus farraige, Do rúndiamhair draíochta Beidh a litrithe a chaitheamh, Nuair is féidir duille ag fás, Nuair is féidir taoide sruth, Go dtí go léir a bheith caite.
O rún banríon na cumhachta, Ag an uair draíochta
Iarraimid ar do chabhair.
Titim bhfabhar Bealtaine fhortún ar Ar sióga fíor go léir, O bhean Gealach!"
He then finished by chanting, "Holy Moon, of which we seek our power! Hear our pleas! Give this wolf the Power that we have so willingly given up! Grant her the love which the Earth will never forget. Moon, hear our call!"
Sirius then transformed back into his human form. "Great Merlin, most powerful of all, hear our call! Give this wolf the Love that we have so willingly given her! Grant her the Power of which shall rid the Earth of all that follow the Dark Path! Merlin, grant our call!"
Katja then transformed into her human form. "May we all see the Power that has been given. May the most Powerful magick of them all (Love) keep and protect us all!"
The ritual was nearly done. All that remained was the final anointing by the most powerful, i.e. Albus Dumbledore. He used his wand to conjure water, which he sprinkled on the participants, saying, "May Merlin keep and Protect You, and may the Earth grant you Her Power."
The ritual was over, so everyone dispersed back to their respective rooms. It was already 2300, so Katja went right to bed. She had no idea what was going to happen to her the next day.
Walking down to breakfast with Lily, Katja heard a voice behind her. It was obviously concealed magically, because it didn't sound like a human voice. She felt something hit her, and she collapsed.
A/N: This will become even more different than the original by Cararox, because the source material is drying up, and there aren't a lot of chapters that I can adapt. I may also get back to my original ideas for the story. I figure that this story will end at about 75-80 thousand words.
I didn't want to get too specific with the ritual ingredients—I'm not good with that sort of thing. 150 degrees=302 degrees Fahrenheit . Hope you don't mind that I made a slight Dr Who reference. The ritual is basically taken from many Wicca/Witchcraft ceremonies. The spell in the foreign language is an Invocation of the Moon translated into Irish
A Multimagus can change basically into any non-human/humanoid creature. Most have a limit of two or three forms, but Williamson is Harry Potter , remember. A lightning Phoenix has some of the same abilities as a regular Phoenix, except with lightning instead of fire
55,867 words total (2234.68 words per chapter) 55000th word: crux