In His Memory

by WeasleyTwin2

This is a story set one year after Final Confrontation ends. Draco Malfoy discovers things he never knew about himself and a new and powerful enemy arises. An After Hogwarts Tale. ~Final two chapters uploaded~.

12. Default Chapter Title

In His Memory

Part Eleven: Set(h) vs. Osiri(u)s

By: WeasleyTwin2

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find me, unafraid:

Invictus
William Ernest Henley

'tis true we are in Great Danger;

The greater therefore should our courage be.

Henry V

William Shakespeare

"Here begins the story of Osiris and his great battle against Set Beloved of Ra," I slowly translated from the first panel of the mural that towered several feet over our heads.

The pictures in the mural moved as all wizard-crafted pictures did. This panel of the mural depicted an army of Darkness, surrounded by a dark glowing nimbus, being lead toward a gleaming city of Light. Luckily for us the words, written in hieroglyphics and shimmering golden in the light of the surrounding torches, were located at the bottom of each mural rather then near the top. If they had been at the top we could never have read them at all. I felt weak again and swayed on the spot, my head suddenly pounding and my scar suddenly flaring with pain. I tried desperately to shield my mind from the whispered demands that were assailing it. Seth-Ra was gaining power rapidly, I could feel it and we tried not to think of how this might be occurring, tried not to think of how many people had already died. He was trying to turn me and it was becoming more and more difficult for me to resist his demands. Only by holding on to my promise was I able to resist at all. The memory of Harry's pain filled eyes as they bore into my own as he uttered his last word…"Promise…" was still strong enough to hold me to the promise I'd made to myself the night of his death. Between Seth-Ra's hissing voice and the chanting that was coming from all around us, I'd begun to feel as if I was standing on the edge of a precipice and that, with one flick of his finger, Seth-Ra could send me careening into the Darkness I had so recently escaped and that still threatened to swallow me.

Seth-Ra's minions had by now surrounded Castle Gryffindor's ruins and they had erected a magical barrier that none of us had been able to break through, not even with our combined power. They prowled about outside it, chanting their song of death and doom, which echoed weirdly off the castle's walls. Remus and Sirius were looking for possible secret exits that might allow us to leave unseen. We had said goodbye to them several hours ago after they had discovered a hidden passageway in the wall opposite the entrance to the Mural Room. Ron, Hermione and I were busy translating the writing on the murals. Remus had said it would be best if we three stayed together and I secretly agreed, mainly because I was feeling to weak and dizzy to walk very far. Curiously I, who had never before shown any capacity for runes or ancient languages of any sort, was able to read the symbols with ease and accuracy, almost as if I'd been able to do so all my life. This surprised my companions but they agreed to write down what I read to them. I somehow knew, without understanding how I knew, that these murals and the story they told held the key to our salvation. They would tell us how to defeat Seth-Ra, not just temporarily, but for all time. The answer was here somewhere but, as much as I wanted to skip to the end of the story, I somehow knew that we should not skip a panel. There could be a clue, a piece of this puzzle hidden anywhere along this wall of moving pictures and shimmering symbols. I reached out my hand and willed the chanting and the distant voices in my head to stop. I closed my eyes and concentrated. Soon every sound around me fell silent. I found myself in a trance-like state and then… it happened. Almost a soon as my hand touched the mural, I felt it begin to tingle and hard upon this tingling came a vision. I could hear myself speaking to the others but it was not my own voice that was speaking, but one that was deeper and more powerful then my own. I then became so wrapped in the vision I was seeing that I could no longer hear what I was saying to the others and the circular room vanished. I had become a part of the vision before me.

I saw the golden sands of a desert, stretching as far as I could see in all directions. The heat caused the air all around me to shimmer yet I, myself, felt no heat rising from it. Marching across these sands, with rapid strides, came Seth-Ra at the head of an army of the same creatures, Serpens-Animus, that I had seen surrounding us at Castle Gryffindor. I looked around me and saw some nomads laying as if in wait for an ambush. The sun was blazing hot overhead although I felt nothing: no heat, no weakness, no pain. The nomads suddenly leapt from their places of concealment, discovering too late that it was an entire army, cloaked in shadow that was before them, not the usual drunken soldier or stray merchant. They attempted to flee the army but even I knew it would be no use. Seth-Ra pointed a finger at them and they froze where they stood, fear shining in their eyes. Then he clenched his fist and they tumbled to the ground, writhing in agony. For several minutes their screams echoed into the desert air then, with a slashing movement from Seth-Ra, their screams were cut off and they lay motionless on the sand in front of me. I stumbled backward and cried out unable to help myself. The bodies before me had changed…were no longer human. They had changed in a matter of seconds into more of Seth-Ra's twisted creatures.

They joined the army of Darkness as it passed them, marching toward a city I could just make out in the distance. The city glowed with a bright magical light that seemed to be calling to me, drawing me to it like a moth to a flame. I moved toward it, floating and invisible, in the wake of Seth-Ra's army. Finally I reached its stone walls, bright white in the sun's light. Looking back I could see Seth-Ra's army moving across the desert, like a dark stain. There was a nimbus of dark light glowing around it that seemed to swallow the sun's light. It radiated from the chariot, driven be two shining black creatures with red glowing eyes, in which Seth-Ra rode. I watched the Army move closer and closer to the walled city. The sunlight began to dim and I looked up to see an impenetrable patch of Darkness, like a dark cloud, moving across the sky at the edge of the Army. Soon it was black as night, though it was only a little past noon. I heard people within the walled city scream in fear as the Darkness descended upon them. I couldn't help shivering myself. It looked all too familiar to me. I heard a chant rising and falling around me in low tones. It sang of Darkness and Despair…there was no answering chant from within the city.

Seth-Ra's army marched until they reached the city's front gates, a pair of bronze and wood doors, engraved with a crest: a rampant lion, surmounted by a falcon with a sunburst behind it. Though the crest was more stylized and though the sunburst was no longer a part of the one I had recently seen, I had no trouble recognizing the Potter family crest.

"So this is where it all began…" I thought in awe.

Not even my own family's lineage went back this far. The Malfoy's may have been an old wizarding family but the Potters….it was hard to comprehend. My grief returned as I remembered that in my own time the family that had existed for centuries in unbroken succession was now gone forever. I tried to push this thought and the images it called up aside but somehow I couldn't. I floated there, staring at the symbols on the gate as if transfixed, with tears running down my face. I reached out a hand to touch the crest on the gate and the gate suddenly swung open of its own accord. Through the gate marched an army clad in scarlet and gold. At the head of this army was a chariot of purest silver studded with rubies pulled by two blazing white horses that had wings. File upon file passed through the gate, then the gates were closed with a resounding boom that echoed into the spell-enforced night and I heard a bolt slide home. The two armies now stood facing each other with several feet separating them. They glared at one another but a profound silence seemed to hang in the air. Several minutes passed in almost absolute silence, except for the rattle of harness.

It was the wizard in scarlet and gold that spoke first in a melodious and deep voice.

"YOU CANNOT COME FARTHER. I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO PASS!" he said in a voice that was calm.

I floated closer to the silver chariot to get a better look at the wizard who was speaking. He was a young man…very young, with a thatch of dark hair and bright hazel eyes. His magic glowed, creating a halo of bright light around him. He was very powerful. Though he looked much younger then his portrait, I recognized him as one of the four Hogwarts founders: Godric Gryffindor.

"WHO ARE YOU TO STOP ME! YOU DARE TO DEFY MY WILL. YOU AND YOURS WILL PAY FOR THIS INSOLENCE!"

Seth-Ra's army began to throw taunts and insults at the army before them, who stood calmly not saying a word in response to the taunts that were thrown. I was amazed at their calmness and at their ability not to retort. I had thought of several things to shout back at them but Osiris's army remained impassive. Seth-Ra waited expectantly, unmoving on his chariot and shrouded in Darkness. The taunts and jeers stopped as soon as his creatures realized that the enemy before them was not going to respond in the way their other foes had.

"YOU CANNOT PASS, SET BELOVED OF RA. I WILL NOT ALLOW IT. YOU HAVE SLAIN TO MANY ALREADY. IT ENDS HERE AND NOW, MY BROTHER WHO HAS BEEN BANISHED FOREVER FROM THE SUN'S LIGHT."

"YOU SHALL REGRET THE DAY YOU STOOD AGAINST ME…BROTHER!"

Seth-Ra lifted his hand and I saw within it a serpent wand glowing with Dark magic. He pointed this wand at Osiris. A jet of Darkness flowed from the wand and propelled itself through the still air straight at Osiris' heart. Osiris stood within his chariot, calmly surveying the bolt of dark energy that would surely mean his death. I wanted to shout out a warning, wanted to leap in front of the dark bolt but, as I watched the bolt streak closer, I noticed that it was growing weaker and weaker until it dissolved in a shower of green sparks and smoke mere inches from Osiris' heart.

"MY LIGHT SHALL FOREVER BE STRONGER THEN YOUR DARKNESS."

Osiris held up a silver amulet covered with many runes and symbols that were unfamiliar to me. It was shaped like the Egyptian symbol for life: an ankh. It glowed with Light magic and I felt the power within me vibrate in response to the power, which pulsed from the amulet. I looked out across the space between the two armies and saw, by the power that glowed around it, that Seth-Ra also carried an amulet. His glowed with a Dark power I recognized at once. The amulet pulled at me, called to me as if it had a physical voice. It sang a song of death and painful suffering. It was a song I knew well, for I had heard it in my own time. The chant was being sung when and where my body was. I could still make out its faint echo as the sound of it traveled across time. I willed my mind to block out the chant and its faint but unmistakable echo. I shivered as the chant washed over where the army of Osiris waited. They stood, unmoving and silent while the wave washed over them. Seth-Ra glared across the space between the two armies but he too remained unmoving. His amulet pulsed once, twice, and thrice and several of Osiris' soldiers fell screaming before turning to piles of ash as they did so. The amulet was a powerful relic of Dark magic.

"Very powerful…" I thought to myself as I studied it from a distance. "I wonder if he still carries it…"

As I studied it, the amulet pulsed with Dark energy again and more of Osiris' soldiers fell. I shuddered and tried not to listen to the screams I heard. I narrowed my eyes and took a closer look at the amulet.

There were many spells woven into it, though from this distance I was unsure of exactly how many. All I could tell for sure was that they were all Dark magic meant to kill, destroy and subvert. The spell Seth-Ra was using at the moment was a variation on the Avada Kadavra Curse that I knew from my own time. I tried desperately to discern any of the other spells that were stored in the amulet, thinking that if I could figure out what the spells were maybe we'd have a hope of defending against them. I was unable to discover any more of the spells…there were to many layers and they were too different from Dark spells familiar to me.

I nearly cried out in frustration but then I noticed that a bright glow was beginning to surround Osiris and his army. It was coming from the silver amulet that was around his neck. I studied the amulet and the light coming from it, transfixed by the light. This amulet was easily the single most powerful magical artifact I had ever seen, more powerful even then Gryffindor's sword…and the Light that was streaming from it in broad bands was purer then any light I had ever seen and blinding in its intensity. I could feel it pulsing to time with my heartbeat and Harry's powers rang in response. For a moment the powers within me and the power held within the amulet vibrated like twin poles of power and I could hear a faint chanting…singing of hope and Light. After that moment, I snapped back into the present and I could hear shouts coming from the direction of Seth-Ra's army and then, over the shouting and screams of an invisible battle around me I could hear the chanting again though I could no longer understand the words. The light grew brighter and stronger until I was completely blinded by it. The last thing I remember hearing was a female voice

"Seek out the Chamber within…that glows with living Light… the map and the book shall guide you there…"

Then everything around me receded into darkness and I felt as if I was falling…

* * *

My head was pounding as if a thousand people were hammering inside my skull. I was lying on the floor with a pillow under my head. I winced and opened my eyes, moaning softly. I looked up and saw that we had reached the very last panel in the room opposite from the one where we'd begun. In the wavering light cast by the nearby candles, I saw Osiris in battle with Seth-Ra. I watched with rapt attention, realizing that Osiris was trying to show me something. I watched but did not touch the mural. I had no strength with which to make the journey to the past again, though I suddenly longed to be able to. As if from a great distance, I could hear the soft chanting again and a faint female voice saying: "the Source…power within…the Heirs…"

I had no idea what the voice meant and wasn't entirely sure I had heard correctly. I blinked and saw Osiris vanquishing Seth-Ra in a flash of brilliant light and color. The light blinded me and made it impossible for me to see exactly how it had been done. The panel repeated the performance several times. By watching it closely, I discovered that Osiris had performed a very advanced form of the banishing spell I knew but I was unable to see the words he had spoken. Whatever they were, they sent Seth-Ra away…entombing him until my own time. The spell should have lead to his demise but…

I sat watching the mural's final panel again.

"What went wrong with the spell? It should have killed Seth-Ra?"

I sat deep in thought for several minutes, trying to figure out why the spell had failed. I was watching the mural without really seeing it, concentrating on my thoughts. Then I remembered something Harry had told me when we were searching for clues in the library. The Avada Kadavra Curse that had rebounded upon Voldemort had failed to kill him, though it should have, because he used so many anti-death spells to guard him…

"Could Seth-Ra have used similar spells in ancient times?" I wondered.

Something in the mural drew my attention away from my musings. I noticed, for the first time, that a shadowy figure was hovering a few feet above Seth-Ra for the entire sequence of events on the mural's last panel. Watching carefully, my whole attention focusing on this shadowy form, I saw Seth-Ra's spirit leave his body seconds before it was blasted by the spell that banished it. That body died the moment Seth-Ra's spirit left it and his spirit joined with that coiled, shadowy form. It moved away from the battle to a tomb in the distance which was then sealed by Osiris with ritual and ceremony…for he had seen what Seth-Ra did and had followed. The Greatest Evil the world had known was imprisoned forever.

"Until the seals were broken…"

I lay on my pallet, staring up at the ceiling, watching the stars twinkle above me (for the first time noticing that this ceiling, like the one in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, was enchanted to look like the sky outside). A new sense of urgency flooded through me and I wondered how the others faired at Hogwarts. Was the castle still besieged? Had Bill and the twins made it to Hogwarts in safety? Would Lupin and Sirius find a way out of here? When would they return? I was just beginning to drift off again when I heard the voice from the vision again.

"Only through the Heirs and the Amulet can the Greatest Evil be vanquished. It is time to reveal that which has been hidden for centuries…"

My eyes snapped open and I sat up and saw a spirit floating before me. She was lovely and had long, dark hair. She was dressed as an Egyptian witch…in a long white pleated robe, and she had an amulet around her neck. She stretched out a hand to me.

"Come…"

I found myself lifted to my feet. She smiled at me and pointed to my pack.

"What you need is there…the Amulet of Osiris, now called Gryffindor, must be restored to his Heirs…You must find it…now… before it is too late…"

The spirit began to fade away and the voice to falter.

"How will I know when I've found it…?" I asked not wanting her to leave me.

"Power will call to power…you will know…"

She began to fade away still more.

"Wait…" I called softly.

"Dark times…ahead…but in the darkness shines the Light…great sorrow and great happiness…a willing sacrifice…a new life…"

The spirit faded completely then. I stood staring at the spot where she had floated moments before. Finally I sat back down and rummaged through my pack coming up with the book and the piece of parchment I had taken for Harry's room. Scrawling a hasty note on another piece of parchment, I shouldered my pack and left the Mural Room, hoping that I would be able to locate the Amulet before Lupin and Sirius returned.

A/N: Well, you've finished Part 11… Sorry this took so long but I had a really bad case of writer's block and couldn't seem to write anything good. Part 12 will be called Mischief Managed and will feature Remus and Sirius. It ties in with the plot I promise. Anyway…the usual disclaimers apply and I only own Seth-Ra and the plot. Please R/R. Thank You.

WeasleyTwin2