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So far... The reborn Hermione launched the secret Cathesis League to fight corruption. Now at Hogwarts, the young girl formed CREST from the trusted members of the old D.A. and somehow she managed to vanish a demon summoned by Daggard (the half-hag who was Harry's ex-bodyguard.) However, other vanished objects are now being mysteriously hurled back into existence, threatening everyone at the school. Now read on...
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Chapter 47
An Early Easter
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The Last Straw
"It's still alive, isn't it?" said Neville, as he and the other three sat down in Room 4J to discuss the day's events and the reappearance of the barricade table that Hermione had vanished. "The demon?"
Hermione gave a brief shake of her head. "Well, that's the thing, isn't it? A demon is not really a living being at all. We're dealing with two unknowns: animate dead, and how a vanished object can ever appear again; it's impossible."
"But it's happened," said Harry.
"And it wasn't real to begin with – your table, I mean," said Neville. "You conjured it out of nothing, vanished it into nothing, and now it's... well, I don't know what it is."
"Conjured objects generally only last as long as the magical power poured into the spell, otherwise everything we use would be permanently conjured. I put a lot into making that table really solid but I doubt it would have lasted more than a few days."
"But where'd it come from?" said Ron.
"Nowhere," said Neville. There was a hollowness to his tone.
Harry said, "And how'd the demon get to the Great Hall from the seventh floor if it was 'nowhere'?"
Hermione said, "Apart from warning the other Crestors to be extra alert, move around the castle in groups and run away from anything that threatens, I don't see what we can do."
Ron snorted. "I doubt they need a warning, Hermione. I think a ton of wood landing nearly on someone's head would be enough, don't you?"
Nevertheless, word was passed around but over the next few weeks very little transpired to alarm anybody. Filch grumbled about junk being left in one of the corridors. Seamus complained when he tumbled over a broken chair in Potions that he swore hadn't been there moments ago and that Snape had deducted house points for his causing a disturbance. Stale food occasionally was served amongst the fresh and the house-elves were severely chastised for this exceptional occurrence.
Easter was approaching before the next major catastrophe. The weather had been miserable all day with the rain never letting up, and the sombre sky had been visible in the magical ceiling right through to the end of the evening meal. The tiny form of Flitwick was departing up the marble staircase in the Entrance Hall, picking his way carefully between the kneecaps of the throngs of students heading back to their common rooms.
"Watch out, Stebbins," he cried, as he was almost trodden upon by one of his own fourth-years.
"Sorry, sir."
Those were the boy's last words for many a week. A badly-warped cauldron hit his jaw and only Flitwick's quick cushioning spell prevented Stebbins' neck being broken.
Madam Pomfrey, after being called, despatched the invalid directly to St. Mungo's 'for delicate reconstruction'. The Headmaster called a staff meeting.
"It is enough, I now believe," he addressed his teachers gravely, "for the Ministry to consider closing Hogwarts. We must find a solution promptly if we are to avert such a calamity."
"But who is behind these attacks?" queried Professor Sprout.
Quirrell said, "It's where they are operating from that puzzles me the most."
"The Auror Department will be conducting a more thorough investigation of the castle," said Dumbledore. "Our priority right now is to protect the students. I propose we ask those who are able that they depart early and take an extended Easter break while the matter is sorted out. "Minerva, if you and the other heads of house would organise a rapid consultation with the students to discover which of their parents are able to accept their return at this time we–"
"Well, all of them, I would hope!" cried McGonagall.
"One would think so, but there is always the possibility of incapacity, absence while travelling, business, and so on. We cannot simply send students back to possibly empty homes. Those who cannot be received at this time will need to be kept in the safest area we can think of."
"There is no safe area anywhere in the castle!" complained Snape. "Old furniture, equipment, and other material is being manifested randomly – so it would seem. Normally I would suspect Peeves, but his aim is far better."
"Then we must consider elsewhere," said the Headmaster.
Flitwick piped up. "May I remind you all that Rosmerta has a generously-sized meeting hall above the Three Broomsticks that would easily hold twenty or thirty, possibly a little more. Surely no more space than that would be required?"
McGonagall's face brightened. "And she has plenty of accommodation and can provide hot meals. Our own house-elves can supplement that if necessary."
"Ah, yes, we also tend to overlook the safety of the elves, don't we?" confessed Dumbledore. "The Hogs Head Inn can provide them with quarters, I'm sure, with possibly just a few returning here briefly as needed?"
The staff came to an agreement and set about implementing it. Students began packing their trunks. The Hogwarts Express was called into service for an especially-early trip. Minister Fudge insisted that the elongated holiday break be described as for 'extensive spring cleaning' and made it clear to Dumbledore that he had until the start of the next term to 'get his ship in order'.
All students were told to report to Professor McGonagall if they were not leaving, or else to Professor Flitwick if they were able to go home.
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Planning for Easter
"I'm staying," said Neville firmly as they discussed the matter in the boys' dorm. "I'm not going."
"What!" cried Ron, who was already fussing over his travel chest. "We get extra holidays and you're staying at school with a murderin' lunatic on the prowl?"
"It's a demon, Ron, I told you," said Hermione.
"Ah, that makes it alright then. Just a murderin' loony demon"
"They're giving leavers extra homework, Ron, masses of it," said Harry.
"Tell me you're joking!" spluttered Ron. He paused, looking ruefully at the pair of socks he'd been about to stow in his trunk.
Hermione said, "Yes, but there'll be improvised classwork for those that stay."
Ron dropped his socks into the trunk then sat on his bed.
After chewing her lower lip for a while, Hermione risked a question, "Why are you staying, Neville?"
He frowned before replying. "Listen, I've been thinking..." He went over to check no one was on the stairs outside then closed the door. "We know the demon was vanished, and we know it's obviously found a way to 'unvanish' stuff that's been previously vanished – and it can do magic spells, remember?"
The others nodded. "So what?" said Ron.
"Well, it must be somewhere to do that, even if it's uumm... nowhere, right?"
"Yeah, and this conversation is going nowhere for sure," grumbled Ron. He stared at his socks indecisively.
But Neville was showing some excitement now, and ploughed on. "What if we could see the demon where it is? What if we could even destroy it where it is?"
"How?" said Harry.
Neville looked back and forth between Harry and Hermione. He showed signs of nervousness. "Your magic mirrors."
Hermione blinked. Ron tried to laugh but failed. Harry gaped.
"In what way?" said Hermione at last, but she had a horrible feeling she knew what he was going to tell them.
"Hermione, you have to..." His voiced faded.
"I have to what?"
"You need to... vanish one of the mirrors."
"You're mad!" cried Ron, finding his voice at last.
Harry shook his head and glared at Neville. "Yeah, what Ron said. No way are we destroying either of our priceless mirrors."
"It won't work," said Hermione in a sing-song voice, certain of herself and Neville's ignorance.
Neville turned to his last hope. "Hermione, I doubt it's ever been done before. Two-way mirrors are expensive and hard to come by, and nobody has ever heard of a vanished object coming back either, so they don't even know there's anything there to come back from. But we do! It's knowledge, Hermione! New knowledge! Not in any books! Better than any book! You'd be a great discoverer! Think about it."
She chewed some more on her lip. "I don't think it will work."
"Why?" He sensed the beginnings of doubt in her tone.
"Conjuring is like the opposite of vanishing – they're all part of the group of Transfiguration spells. Gemino is also of that type."
"So?"
"You can duplicate or conjure a magical object but the result won't be magical. Even if it survived being vanished, the mirror would lose its magic."
"But someone like Dumbledore could conjure say... an animated suit of armour."
She shook her head even before he finished speaking. "No he can't. He'd conjure a suit of armour then he'd animate it." She saw the disbelief in his eyes. "Look, I'll show you. Hold out your wand."
"What? Why?"
"I'm not going to harm it, just copy it."
Neville hesitated.
"Look, do you believe in this or not?"
A look of resolve replaced the doubt in Neville's expression. He took out his wand and held it up.
"No, hover it away from you else I risk duplicating your fingers as well – not a pretty sight."
"I can't. I need the wand to hover it."
"Sure you can, Neville. Remember the simplest wandless training we've practised... focus."
Neville gulped and focused on the wand held out to one side by the very tips of his fingers. Sweat poured down his face.
Ron laughed but left his trunk and came over to watch.
Neville's hand trembled very slightly. So did the wand as it drifted free...
"Geminio," Hermione said quietly, plucking a duplicate of Neville's wand out of the air and handing it to Neville. His original fell on the floor as he lost control of his hover spell.
"Well, give it a wave. Cast a light."
Reluctantly, Neville did so. "Lumos... LUMOS!" Nothing happened.
"Told you." Hermione picked up his original wand and handed it to him.
"But you didn't try hard enough!" cried Neville. "You vanished a DEMON before, remember! Nothing more magical than a magical creature even if it was uuh... dead."
Hermione smiled patronisingly. "Of course I did, Neville. Anyone can vanish a magical object. That doesn't mean..." She tailed off, lost in thought.
"... it's magic wouldn't survive – that's what you were going to say, wasn't it, Hermione?" said Neville. A strange light burned in his eyes. "But now we know different, don't we? The demon's magic survived. Why not the mirror's?"
"My God..." murmured Hermione.
Neville pressed home his advantage. "You'll be the first person in history to look into the unknown. Think about it, Hermione."
"Now hang on a minute," said Harry. "We're not going to destroy one of our mirrors just to have a chat with a vanished demon... are we?"
"To behold Non-being," Neville said, looking closely at Hermione, and his voice was faintly hypnotic. "You'd be the first to see a new world. You'd be like the wizard Galileo discovering moons around other planets; it would change everything. Everything, Hermione."
She stared at him, feeling slightly intoxicated. "Hover your wand again, Neville."
His eyes widened with new expectation, then he did as she asked.
Hermione took out her wand – Neville was correct that she hadn't tried too hard before – and braced one leg against Harry's bed. "GEMINIO!" she roared fiercely, thrusting as much magic into the spell as she could.
Startled, Neville not only dropped his own wand again but stumbled back to sit on Ron's bed. Hermione, feeling slightly weakened by her effort, handed him the new duplicate. "Try it."
Tentatively, Neville lifted the new wand. "Lumos," said he, very firmly. A light blossomed. It was not quite as bright as he might have expected with his original wand, but still...
Legs trembling, Hermione fumbled blindly behind her for something solid then sat down gratefully on the bed she found there, Harry's bed, disturbed and even a little frightened. "Goodness," was all she could say.
"That's impossible," said Ron, gazing into the glow of Neville's illumination with a kind of reverent awe. "Downright impossible."
"Your magic's growing, Hermione," whispered Harry. It seemed a sacrilege to raise his voice any louder. "You said you had the accumulation of your previous life, didn't you – and now your new life's magic is still adding to it."
"Goodness," said Hermione again. "Gamp was wrong."
For a long time nobody spoke, each considering the magnitude of Neville's plan. The alternative was to walk away. Hogwarts might be closed permanently. Unthinkable.
"So, is everyone in?" said Neville, taking charge at last.
"Yes, if Harry is agreeable," said Hermione.
Harry frowned but nodded. "I'm in."
"Ron?" said Neville.
He shook his head grimly then said, "Okay, yes, but Mum'll be furious if we spend days on this and she's not sure whether I'm coming or going."
"Not necessarily," said Neville. "First, we all send an owl home saying the official line about the school closing for extended holidays and that they're moving everyone to the Three Broomsticks while they're rumoured to clear out... I dunno, an infestation of Doxys from the castle. Then..." He looked carefully at their expressions, "we don't report to McGonagall – if we're not on her list she'll assume we're leaving, if she thinks about us at all which she won't because she's rushed off her feet as it is."
"So we tell–" began Harry.
"No – we don't report to Flitwick either. He'll be dealing with hundreds of students and couldn't possibly think of everybody. Even if he did, he'd assume we're staying."
"So we're doing neither?"
"Well, we're not staying at the Three Broomsticks for sure. We stock up and stay here in the Room of Requirement. We'll have over three weeks to use the mirrors to learn everything we can."
"So no classwork and no homework either..." said Ron. "I like it."
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Lively Haste
"I'm not sure we should attempt the vanishing in here," said Hermione. "This room is entirely magical and unplottable; it probably doesn't exist in any real space. We don't know how it might affect things."
"What do you mean?" said Neville.
"Well, what if there is some correlation between Being and Non-being? I mean, the demon was somehow unvanishing things but in a haphazard way at first. If it intended to hit Harry with that oak table, it was wide of the mark, but the spoilt food was exactly on the dishes where it had probably been leftovers before and vanished by the elves. The creature is learning what it can and can't do somehow..."
Neville nodded, a little pocket quill and book in his hands. He seemed to be making notes. "Go on."
"Then the cauldron that hit Stebbins was bang on – assuming the demon had estimated there'd be a crowd of students on the grand stair at that time. Now it's probably trying to figure out where exactly Harry will be at a given time. I'm not saying it's possible, just that it's trying to figure out how to get back at us."
"So...?"
"So if there is some spatial relationship then let's go outside close to where I vanished the creature. Yes, it has moved about, but that's our best hope for spotting it through the mirror – though I wish we could move or turn the mirror about after I vanish it."
"Perhaps we can," said Neville. "Or rather, perhaps you can. Look, put one of the mirrors facing that table then try casting a hover charm on the table."
"What will that prove?" said Ron.
"He means through the other mirror, don't you, Neville?" She shook her head. "This is ridiculous."
"So why are you trying it then?" grinned Harry.
"In the interests of science," said Hermione, rather primly. "There... Wingardium Leviosa!"
The table lifted into the air.
"It might have somehow received the spell directly," she said thoughtfully. "Intention is often more important than focusing direction. We can't be sure the spell went through the mirrors."
"We won't know till we try it for real then," said Neville, snapping shut his notebook. "Come on, let's do it."
"What, n-now?" stuttered Harry.
"You seem in an awful hurry," said Hermione. "Let's think about it some more."
"What's to think about?" said Neville. "Either it works or it doesn't."
"Yeah, but it's my mirror we're talking about," grumbled Harry. He held it up.
"I thought we were using mine?" said Hermione.
"I inherited mine – to do with as I wish – answerable to nobody. My first Dad's portrait won't even know. Yours was a direct gift from Sirius to protect me. How'd you explain it when you lose it?" He waggled his mirror at her to emphasise his point.
"That makes no sense. The result's the same," said Hermione.
Neville plucked Harry's mirror from his hand.
Harry jumped up. "Where're you going with that?"
"Outside. Come when you're ready."
He closed the door after himself.
"What has gotten into him?" said Ron. "He's been moping for weeks and now there's something real to worry about he's the happiest I've seen him – well, not happy exactly, but you know what I mean."
"Lively," said Harry.
"Yeah," said Ron. "As lively as a mad march hare."
When they followed Neville out, Hermione lagged behind a few steps, wondering...
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So Final
Neville was sat on the floor against the corridor wall when Ron and Harry emerged; clearly he'd expected them to take longer. "All set? Where's Hermione?"
"Coming," said Ron.
"Right." He walked over to the middle of the passageway and looked around. "I was about on this spot when the demon jumped at me and vanished... here." He held out Harry's mirror then, seeing Hermione was joining them, he hovered the mirror just clear of his hand.
"Hold your horses, Nev," said Harry, feeling he was being rushed. "Let's consider this a bit more."
"What's to consider!" cried Neville impatiently. "Let's get on with it."
The others all stared at him.
"Remember, use all your power, Hermione to make sure the mirror's magic is transferred in full as well."
She looked at the others askance and sighed. There could only be one outcome even if she delayed. They were unlikely to remain all through the extended Easter and do nothing after all.
Neville seemed to read her thoughts, "Otherwise, why are we here?"
Again she hesitated.
"Go for it!" cried Neville, "My wand arm's aching hovering this ruddy–"
"EVANESCO!" shouted Hermione, pointing her wand and heaving all her magic into the spell – just as Neville moved sideways directly into its path – and vanished.
Silence.
Hermione was transfixed for several long moments then collapsed, weeping heavily.
"We killed him!" wailed Harry. "We killed Neville!" He sank down beside Hermione and put an arm around her shoulder. "We should have waited ... knew we should but I ... given it more thought... Oh, Hermione, please don't cry – it wasn't your fault."
Ron stared at the place where their companion had been. One moment he'd been with them, the next, he no longer existed. It was all so final. And he himself had just stood there and let it happen. Affected by Hermione's deep emotion, Ron too lowered himself to his knees to cling to his remaining friends – they seemed suddenly much more precious. He could not hold back his own tears.
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The Dancing Horror
After the loss of Neville to Hermione's vanishing spell, she rose first from her knees and went to the window at the end of the corridor. The glass was heavily stained and grubby, seeming to match her low spirits, yet it had enough brightness to blind her for a few moments to the scene of the awful crime. No true relief came however. "I should have seen this coming," she murmured.
"You knew?" said Harry, getting up from the floor with Ron.
Hermione shook her head. "I half suspected that if we vanished the mirror he might beg me to go after it on some pretext when really..."
"But why?" said Ron. "Why would he do that? Why would anyone?"
"He was desperately unhappy." She felt a pressure in her heart, the weight of her guilt. "That was all my fault."
"He no longer wanted to exist? He wanted it that badly?" said Harry, approaching her more closely.
"I thought he'd get over it," she said despondently. "I was sure he would."
"Get over what?" said Ron.
"I can't say. Don't ask."
"Thing is, I'm completely empty inside – gutted," said Harry. "I keep thinking he's still here with us – almost see his face and hear him saying stuff like he does."
"Merlin! Me as well!" Ron's mouth fell wide open and his hands went to his ears. "I'm imagining things too! Hear that?"
The sound was faint – and it came from Hermione's beaded bag. Astonishment suffused her features, paralysing the girl for a moment, numbing her fingers as she fumbled to open the bag.
"Hey, guys! This is great! Wheeeeeee! I can almost fly!"
"Neville?" croaked Hermione, finally fishing out her own mirror. "You're alive?"
"The vanished are real! At least to me they are. And I've found a way to search!" came the voice again. "Don't try to stop me!"
"Neville!" Hermione cried, staring into the mirror but seeing only a whirl of pale greys. "What are you doing!"
But the boy wasn't listening. "I'll leave the mirror here so you can see!"
The reflection steadied, though only a jumble of pallid surfaces was to be seen.
Harry, who'd taken longer than Hermione to get over his shock, shouted, "He's going after the demon on his own? Has it driven him mad?"
"No, Harry," Hermione said, and her voice was shaking, "it's not the demon he's looking for."
"What then?" said Ron. "There won't be any treasure, not even in a world full of rubbish. Nobody vanishes anything valuable. ... Do they?" His tone had turned wistful with curiosity at the end.
Harry paid him no attention. "Where's Nev off to then? Why didn't he take the mirror with him? How can you unvanish him out again, Hermione, if you can't even see him?"
"There's no way I can conjure him out through the mirror, Harry. You saw the new wand I copied. Even pouring in all my magic, the copied wand didn't work as well as the original."
"How then? We can't leave him there."
Hermione screwed up her face and turned away, a new burden now pressing down upon her. "I'd have to join him myself. Send him back from there."
"But..."
"Vanishing myself – even if it's possible – would utterly drain me." She held up her wand as if thinking it through.
"NO, Hermione!" yelled Harry. "You'd be helpless! What if that thing came back and saw you lying there? It's not going to go far if it's after me, is it?"
"This is just... sick," said Ron. "Vanishing people out of existence is insane. Even for treasure."
"We can't just abandon Neville if there's a chance," said Hermione.
The sound of far-off voices alerted them there were still a few other people left in the castle – Aurors, Disposal personnel, Dumbledore. They retreated into the Room where they remained silent for a while, fretting and worrying about Neville.
"I'll go," Harry said at last. "It's mostly my fault anyway since I let him have my mirror. And you've already vanished Neville so we know now that you can do it to me as well. It seems strange to us at the moment, but Floo travel and Portkeys would seem odd if you didn't know about them already. Or travelling in an underground electric train! How weird is that?"
Ron gaped at him, his thoughts racing.
Hermione shook her head. "NO. WAY. Harry! It's YOU the demon is after."
"If you go, Harry..." Ron said very slowly, "then... I'd go with you."
"RON!" cried Hermione.
"Look," said Ron, me and Harry together can suss the place out, hide if necessary, report back to you properly – not go gallivanting off on some wild goose chase like Neville."
Harry joined in, "And we could tell the Room to leave this door open long enough for you to get back in, Hermione – even if you have to crawl. You'd be safe here even if takes you hours to recover. Then, when you vanish yourself, we two will already be there to protect and hide you until you are strong again."
"No," Hermione said quite firmly.
"You'd leave Neville to die?"
"Or worse?" added Ron.
Hermione considered that. She'd already visualised Neville's fate and the young girl shuddered visibly.
"What, you reckon the demon'll get him?" said Harry.
"Worse."
"What's worse than that?" said Ron.
Hermione was unable to answer them. She understood now Neville's recent growing excitement after so long being in the doldrums. He must have had only one thing on his mind. 'The vanished are real!' he'd cried. But how could she convey her inner vision of Neville's new life playing midst heaps of garbage? Grinning insanely and dancing with a two-dimensional horror made only of paint: a half-alive-half-dead abnormality named Princess Etherea? Hermione made up her mind.
"Give me half an hour to recover all my strength," she said.
Relief showed on Harry's face, but in Ron's eyes something else glinted. Was it greed?
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—oOo—
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Author's Notes
The spelling of Gemino and Geminio bugs me a bit. One is the spell name, the other is the incantation, but I can't help wonder if JKR meant both to be Gemino (which means double whereas Geminio has no meaning and is similar to Gemini – the twin.) Anyway, I've stuck with canon so don't assume it's a spelling mistake in my fic.
Also, I don't know that Gamp had stated any law concerning conjuring or duplicating magical items but it sounds like it would have been one of his claims that everyone would accept because no one had ever done it. To magical society it might be as sacrilegious to say Gamp was wrong as to claim the Earth wasn't flat.
I'm several chapters ahead now, so trying to post every 7 to 10 days again. No promises though, but it's looking good. :)
Many thanks for all comments and reviews. These are most welcome and very encouraging. Let me know of any weaknesses or faults – I'm always trying to improve my writing so feedback is really useful. :)
– Hippothestrowl
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