A/N: thanks for the reviews, people! It felt so good to be welcomed back! :))
Myr Halcyon: nice to see you again! You wrote: "in a fic I was writing for my friends I did everythig in my power to kill Harry and do you know what? The little bastard wouldn't die." Lol, I was laughing soooo hard! :))) And thanks for the flame "Incendio", what a good idea! :) Did I really write that no fanfic author had the right to kill off Harry??? My, aren't I self-contradictory? :-))))))))
Moony Lover: unfortunately most of my classmates in the highschool were superficial, either, but now at college I've got a couple of real friends, so I'm happy. It was LIGHTSABRE you meant by "light-...thing, can't remember the name". Lightsaber, don't forget that, it's important! :))
PepsiAngel: am I really too talented for flames? Oh, thanks *big blush* So, did D and G remind you of Beauty and the Beast? Lol, I also love that movie. You know what? There will be another scene in this fic (around the end) that will remind you of that movie – I wonder whether you'll notice the resemblance :)
Magisch Machen: du schreibst die entzückendste Mischung von English und German... sehr süss, wirklich :)
X-Tow-Naga: why would Malfoy levitate the fox if he wanted to roast it? No, Anor did not call any evil creatures to himself. Durmstrang in my fic is about 1100 years old. You might be right about the runes, but I don't know, people might have used runes 1100 years ago. Correct me if I'm wrong. Your assumption about Anor was not that far-fetched, but wasn't totally correct. I'll tell every detail of it later. The Durmstrang caretaker (called Stahanov) is magic, but the old guy is a squib who used to work for Aberforth in the stalls, and even Krum mentioned in chapter... 6, I guess that there was a squib working there. Why didn't Mileta recognise him? Maybe because he spent most of his time at the stalls. Don't worry I won't make Harry come back in the last chapter without real explanation. I always explain things... sooner or later. Right in this chapter there will be a lot of explanation. About the laptops... I asked PC experts about how much a second-hand laptop costed, and they said it was 120.000 Forints (about 500 dollars), so in Hungary you cannot get a laptop for 100 dollars. And even if I got one, I couldn't get online with it, because I don't have a phone connection in our summer house (and you know: no phone connection, no Internet). Don't worry about the length of your review, it didn't bother me :) I don't mind occasional long reviews, but I wasn't too happy about people competing for the longest review.
Almah: don't worry, I'm going to get out of this one as well - I always get out of evil plots at the end :) No, Ginny cannot use the torch (even if she's Parselmouth), because the torch got closed into its chamber for another 1000 years and the chamber can't be opened now. You wrote: "Isn't that a bit strange of Malfoy, turning Ginny down? I think with him, he wouldn't care HOW he did it, as long as he got what he wanted." You're wrong. Draco himself will tell that you are wrong, in chapter... 35, I guess. Just be patient until then.
Katie Bell: answers to your questions - later. Sorry...
Nefertiri: yes, the chamber that contains the Green Flame Torch can't be opened for another 1000 years, so Ginny can't do anything.
star queen: summer's been okay so far. I've been writing my third fic for two months now (but I'm doing it very slow, since I have to write by hand :( I have started working on another fic as well (a H/G fic that has nothing to do with the 'greatest' trilogy). So I'm not bored. I haven't seen this Christian Coulson yet :( Do you have a pic of him? If yes, would you please send it to me to jagojade@axelero.hu ?
Cassandra Anthemyst: no, Ginny's ring can't tell whether Harry is dead or alive - since it's not glowing, because Harry had lost his powers. According to the ring he could either be 1. alive but without powers or 2. dead (dead persons don't have magic powers).
Arif: another very long review... I haven't read too much Shakespeare myself - I only read Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Midsummer night (or what is its English title?) and one more but I don't know its original title. Yoda related to house-elves? LOL! I have seen the CoS trailer, but I think Dobby looks terrible, yuck. A movie of my fics? Haha... what an idea :) All answers to your questions about magic-sucking are in this chapter. Good reasons too, just read it! WHAT???? Harry's penis is more magical? Ooooooh, you should have heard me laughing like a madman (madwoman:)! That was gross! My friend was visiting when I read that and she had no idea why I was rotfl :) Pigwarts school of Magecraft and Warlockery? LOL :) Yes, I know the Borg, I'll even mention them in this fic :) Yes, I like Star trek, especially the Voyager series. How did Lockhart end up in Great Whinging? Well, he was searching for memories all over England and happened to stumble into that village/town. Yes, the greatest shame is being turned into a squib. Don't worry, I won't write anything with the title 'Satanic verses'. I also think Rowling should actually write Hogwarts, a history, but only AFTER she's done with HP 7. What is SNL? Have fun in Bangladesh - and tell me about it when you come back!
wood's secret lover: where did I go on my holidays? Just to the family's weekend-house - I spend most of the summer there, and I don't have a PC and phone connection there, so I cannot update :( In a couple of days I'll be off to a little village that has a nice lake – I hope the weather will be fine so that I'll be able to swim a lot!
Mage and teacherchez: read my answer to Almah.
dipstick: I KNOW that this is the worst cliffie ever, and I'm proud of it :))) *bad Agi*
Ronniekins's Sweetheart: there's a lot of romance in Star Wars episode two, but in my humble opinion the romance parts are not really good. George Lucas is very good at making up stories about interstellar battles, but he sucks in love stories. Either watch all the SW films, or don't watch any of them, but definitely DO NOT watch only episode two, because you won't understand everything.
Melinda Malfoy: sorry, but I'm NOT a D/G shipper, so you'll be disappointed...
Usagi's Oven: thanks a lot *blush* Are you Japanese?
SariMoon: I'm happy you aren't that bored anymore. At the beginning of this fic I told that there would be a lot of building-up before the interesting parts, but finally we've arrived to that part and the story is in full swing :)
Lemona Snicket: true, the Green Flame Torch won't be accessible for 1000 years. You are the only one of my reviewers who mentioned Tatyana rambling about 'the one' and that it had to be a male, not a female... strange, the others didn't really care for it, though it was important. It seems you are a keen oberserver :) Btw, thanks for reviewing twice!
Neverwhere: no, I'm not JKR, I can assure you of that. She'd never write about Harry impregnating his best friend's little sister, then sleeping with another woman (even under the effect of a spell)... JK isn't as perverse as I am :))
GinnyPotter387: thank you for reviewing so many chapters at once! I'm glad you like my Aberforth! :) You know, I also fail imagining a skinny Dudley, although I wrote him! :) You wrote for chapter 27: "Actually it took me a while to start writing a review for this chapter because I stared at the screen, with my mouth hanging open, not blinking, for quite awile." Lol, you poor one! :))
Cedric!Diggory!Fan: oh, you don't like cliffies? I LOVE them (but only if I write them :)) I also wanted Hugh Grant to play Gildie, and I'm mad at this Kenneth Brannagh! However, I heard that Grant was the one who turned down the role, so he's to be blamed! I still like him, of course and I'll watch his new movie as soon as it will be played in the Hungarian cinemas.
Also thanks to: jos8, Elfangor19, Kit Cloudkicker, Lady Python, C-chan/Sailro Capricorn, starheart, Lana Riddle, PrincezzShortie, Alexander Pheonix (twice), Hermione Weasley, Harrysgirl, sLyThErIn*4*eVeR, Vanilla, Jessica, Aimee, ladyyuy, Derkaun Zarion, zzxm, princesswitch, goldenstar555, McKenzie, The Face of Evil, caroline (even if you hate me), Afromonk, phoenix6545, megan, jeanine23dr, PadmeSkywalker, thebiggesthpfan, Crazycutee831, Lupin's Angel, Bucky, K.C. Hunter, Saphron, aurora riddle, Lavendar Brown, Notebook Girl, TaMara R, Tessa (of course I missed you!), Whit2005, Midnite Sunrise
Chapter 28 Surprise visitors"Bobby, answer the door!"
"Yes, master." the house-elf bowed and hurried out of the drawing room. Soon the master of the house heard footsteps of several people. He put down the journal he was reading in a chair facing the window, and tapped its armrest with his wand. The chair turned around and its occupant nearly fell out of it in surprise.
"Weasley!" he jumped up, outraged. "What are you doing in my house?"
"I can assure you, Malfoy, that we're not visiting you for fun." Arthur replied, leading his wife into the room. The twins and Ron followed them.
"What do you want, then?" Lucius growled.
"Don't you even offer us to have a seat?" Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"Sit down. But be quick and short, Weasley." Lucius replied, eyeing his guests suspiciously. "I see you have bought some new robes, Mrs. Weasley. They look really flashy on your family-members, but they reveal your lack of fashion-sense."
"Don't insult my mother, Mr. Malfoy!" Ron snapped, but Arthur waved him to shut up.
"All right, no insults." the master of the house replied with a wry face. "Tell me what you want, then leave!"
"Well, it's about Du…" Molly began when they heard the door creak.
A stunningly pretty blonde woman entered in flowing dark-blue dress that had several sparkling sequins on it, making the dress resemble the starry sky. She looked no older than thirty, though all the Weasleys knew that she had to be at least forty.
"What is it, Narcissa?" Lucius frowned.
"I heard the knocker and thought that I should come and greet the guests." she replied.
"These guests don't need greeting." her husband grunted.
She shot him a despising stare and turned to the Weasleys. "Welcome at Malfoy Manor. Would you like something to drink?"
"No way! They'd be serving us poison!" Fred replied.
"Fred!" Molly said indignantly. "I apologise for my son's behaviour, Mrs. Malfoy."
"No insult taken." the blonde woman smiled, seating herself on the sofa.
"You see, Weasley," Lucius sneered, "your family might have got some money, but your manners are still like that of a peasant!"
"We aren't here to discuss our manners… or yours." Arthur replied calmly, then turned to Narcissa. "Thank you, Mrs. Malfoy, but we mustn't drink. We're driving."
"All five of you?" Narcissa raised an eyebrow, looking really interested. "Does everyone in your family have a car now, Mr. Weasley?"
"Well, not exactly. My wife, for example will never be persuaded to learn to drive."
"Exactly." Molly nodded. "Dangerous, driving. My husband loves these Muggle cars, but I for one do not."
"At least someone has some brains in the family." Lucius commented.
The Weasley parents pretended not to have heard him. "Do you drive yourself, Mrs. Malfoy?" Arthur asked.
"Oh, no." she laughed. Lucius gave his wife a furious glance, indicating how much he disliked the idea of her staying here, but he didn't want to send her away – what would the Weasleys think of his manners, then?
"I prefer apparating." Narcissa replied. "That's the easiest way of travelling, and anyway, I'm not travelling too often… sometimes I visit my son at Devilsmoor - my family's old mansion – but that's all, I guess."
"I see." Molly nodded politely. "How long has your son been living separately from you, Mrs. Malfoy?"
"Oh, ever since he graduated from Hogwarts." she sighed. "I miss him so much."
"I wonder why." George whispered to Ron, who couldn't help giggling. Narcissa, however, didn't seem to hear the remark, she was way too absorbed in talking about her one and only son.
"You know," she said, "he wanted to have a life of his own and I decided to give him my father's house where he could be alone… but he has no idea how empty this manor is without him."
"Narcissa, please, don't go all emotional on our guests." Lucius told her. "Don't bore them with your grieving."
"Oh, I'm not bored at all." Molly replied with a smile – the smile was 'addressed' to the other woman, not to Lucius. "I myself know what it is like to see your children grow up and leave the house. My eldest son, Bill hardly ever comes home, I see Charlie even less than Bill. Percy also moved to his wife's house and the twins practically live in their shop at Diagon Alley. My youngest son, Ron, lives in Hogsmeade, and my only daughter…" her voice wavered.
"She lives with Harry Potter in Sirius Black's manor, doesn't she?" Mrs. Malfoy said, clearly aware of the relations and social lives of all important witches and wizards of Great Britain.
"Yes, she does." Arthur nodded with a sad smile. "But now she disappeared."
"Disappeared?" Narcissa gasped. "Kidnapped again? That poor little thing!"
"No, not kidnapped. She went to Durmstrang, I suppose."
"To Durmstrang?" Lucius looked surprised. "Why? And how does she know where it is?"
"From your son." George replied.
"From Draco?" Narcissa blinked.
"Yes." Arthur said. "She got to know that something terrible happened to her husband and she wanted to go to Durmstrang, so she visited your son, who, it seems told it to her… and even escorted my daughter there."
"What? Draco at Durmstrang?" the blonde woman clutched at her chest. "I never wanted him to go there! Never ever!"
"How do you know that my son is at Durmstrang?" Lucius asked with knitted eyebrows.
"Well, we thought that if there was someone who knew where that castle was, then it must be a Malfoy. So we went to Devilsmoor…"
"But Devilsmoor is a well-hidden place!" Narcissa said. "How did you know where to find it?"
"From Pansy Parkinson." Ron replied.
"I always told my son to forget that girl!" Mrs. Malfoy shook her beautiful head. "And what happened when you got there?"
"Well, we found a house-elf called… Kinky, I guess, who told us that her master had had a visitor in the person of a red-haired woman. Kinky wasn't at home when my daughter arrived, but she saw Ginny and Draco when she finally got back to Draco's house." Arthur replied. "And then they both disappeared. Kinky didn't know more. So we decided to come here and ask you where Durmstrang was."
"And you expect me to tell you?" Lucius let out a shrill laugh. "You're really stupid, then, Weasley."
"Take that back!" Fred burst out, but Ron kicked him in the ankle. Before Fred could protest, Molly started to speak:
"I turn to you as mother to the mother." she told Narcissa quietly. "Our children are… might be… in danger there. We need to know where they are so that we can help them."
"Narcissa…" Lucius gave his wife an admonishing glare.
"We've got to help Draco, Lucius." she reasoned. "He's our only son. The only Malfoy-heir."
"Oh, yes, because you weren't willing to give me another." her husband grunted. "Look at the Weasleys… at least they don't need to fear that their family-line will break if one of their children dies."
At Lucius' remark of the death of one Weasley child, Molly gasped, placing her hands on her heart. Tears welled up in her eyes. "That's right, Mr. Malfoy." she said. "We have lots of children. But you have only one. Do you want to lose that one or are you willing to help us so that we can help him?"
"Hah!" Lucius leapt to his feet. "I can imagine how much a Weasley would want to help a Malfoy! Don't be ridiculous!" he stepped to the cocktail cabinet, taking out bottles, one after the other. His hands were shaking with rage as he poured himself a brandy.
'Lucius, tell them.'
Suddenly the Weasleys and Narcissa jumped, hearing the clatter of breaking glass. Malfoy had dropped the glass he had been holding. His face revealed utter horror and he seemed not to be there in spirit.
"Lucius!" Narcissa ran up to him. "Are you all right? What happened?"
Her husband stared at the floor and the broken glass, his eyes bulging, his breath ragged. "Lucius!" she patted his back. "What happened to you?"
He suddenly shook his head, his vision clearing. "Such a thing has never happened to me… I… dropped the glass." he looked around nervously, then straightened himself. "But I'm fine." he turned to the Weasleys, who looked rather intrigued by the events. "All right. I'm telling you. But only for my son's sake. Only for Draco."
* * * * *
Hermione was dreaming again… letters were dancing in her dream… letters that arranged themselves into a paragraph of Beautiful Bill's Biography, third volume…
EXSUGO VIUM MAGICAE
highly advanced dark magic
This charm was invented by a witch called Aditi in East-India in the ninth century. At that time there were only a few dozen of magic people in whole India, and these people were fighting with each other for power. Some of them managed to kill each other (at that time they used another curse for killing, not Avada Kedavra), others trapped each other, again others conspired against each other.
Aditi, one of the most talented witches, though, made up a new method of gaining more power: she sucked the magic powers out of her fellow wizards by sleeping with them for three times in a row, uttering the incantation 'exsugo vium magicae' (to suck the magic power out of somebody) when the wizards reached their climaxes. This charm (or rather curse?) is one of the few charms that can be performed without the use of a wand – you only need two things for it: the incantation and a magic person to sleep with.
The inventor of Exsugo vium magicae was a very beautiful and cunning witch, so it wasn't a problem for her to make the chosen wizards fall in love with her. She deprived several wizards of their powers this way. So that the wizards wouldn't understand her incantation and would be willing to sleep with her again and again, she used Latin words - she had spent a couple of years in Europe where she had learnt that language.
However cunning Aditi was, she finally got caught. The irony of life was that she didn't get caught when leeching the powers out of a wizard – no, she got caught when killing her husband, a Muggle maharajah. It were the wizards she had deprived of their magic powers, who caught her. Before handing her over to the maharajah's guards, they tortured her, this way hoping to make her give them their powers back. However, Aditi was unable to return it to them.
Aditi, though she was very powerful – having the powers of several magic people in her – still couldn't prevent her death. She was forced to undergo the suttee. (The Flame Freezing Charm had not been invented at that time and she could not use any other charm to defend herself because she had been deprived of her wand. Apparition was also unknown at those times, thus she couldn't even apparate away from the funeral pyre of her husband.)
After her destruction, the remaining wizards and witches of India founded the Indian Magical Treaty Organisation with the main principle of creating peace and understanding within India's magic community. They agreed to forbid and forget that particular curse Aditi had used. They also agreed not to write down anything about it, so that the magic descendants would never find out about this cruel curse.
However, somehow the 'legend' of the curse lived on within the Indian wizarding community. Allegedly the Indian wizards kept silent about it - they kept it a secret for a millennium, until one of them got a bit chatty after seven glasses of arrak (rice brandy) and told me about it.
I have been contemplating whether to mention this curse in my dissertation on India, but I decided that it was my task to arm my readers against such evil curses (you may never know whom the secret-keepers of the Exsugo vium magicae curse spilled the beans, after all).
My main principle is: better safe than sorry! I do not suggest you to try this curse on anyone if you do not want to get into Azkaban - just keep your eyes open, and in case you notice that you cannot accomplish certain charms you could do before, do not exclude the possibility that someone has been exercising Exsugo vium magicae on you! Should you notice any sign that refers to this, keep in mind: it has to happen three times before you lose all your magic powers! Make sure that it doesn't happen for the third time, and everything will be all right!
Hermione, during that terrible night she realised what was happening to Harry, read this paragraph through for a dozen times, hoping that she had read it wrong, hoping that it wasn't true at all. The words of Beautiful Bill had burnt themselves into her memory.
*No wonder that the third volume of Beautiful Bill's Biography was kept in the Restricted Section of Hogwarts.* Hermione thought, slowly opening her eyes.
She woke in a dimly lit room. She felt her head extremely heavy, as though it had been hit by a rock. She sat up slowly, taking in the surroundings: she was lying on some kind of a cot that was only covered with a dirty sack. She reached into her robe-pocket for her wand, but it wasn't there. *Ooooh, of course… why would your kidnappers let you keep your wand?* she thought sourly, looking around and saw Viktor Krum lying on the cot next to hers, and there were two other forms at the other end of the room, sitting on a bench, huddling. Aberforth and McGonagall.
They didn't seem to notice her sit up – Minerva's head was bent on the old man's shoulder – maybe she was asleep.
Hermione glanced at Krum, who either was sleeping, or was still unconscious. Her mind raced, trying to find out what happened, but the last thing she could remember was a whirlwind, then everything went blank.
What happened before that? There was the second task, of course, the malfunctioning screen and Harry…
"Oh, heavens!" she breathed. "Harry's lost his powers! That devil of a woman succeeded!" she punched the rocky wall in anger and helplessness. *But why? Why on Earth did she want to take his powers?* Hermione propped her chin on her knees, trying to think, but she simply couldn't. She felt too weak, hungry and desperate. A single tear coursed down her cheek as she placed her hands on her belly. "My sweet ones… mummy's here for you… and come what may, I won't let anyone take you from me."
Suddenly she felt a hand on her arm and looked up to see Viktor awake, gazing ever so gently at her.
"Herm-own-ninny…" he said, and she flung herself into his embrace.
"Hold me tight… just hold me tight…" she whispered into his chest as he kept caressing her back.
"What… what happened, Herm-own-ninny?" he asked. "Do you know?"
"I'm not sure, Viktor… but I think it has something to do with that Fiodrovna woman."
"Tatyana?" he blinked in surprise. "What did she do?"
"She… she was playing a very cruel game with Harry… and I don't know… don't know where he is now… maybe he's… dead."
Krum shook his head. "No. Harry must be alive. He is not the type who gives up easily."
"That's right." Aberforth joined in. "Where on Earth are we, kids? A bit creepy this room, isn't it? I've tried to apparate out, but it's impossible."
McGonagall stirred and opened her eyes, looking slowly around. When she saw that she had been held by Dumbledore, she immediately jumped and sat as far from him as possible.
"Where are we?" she asked, adjusting her rectangular glasses.
"No idea, Minerva." Hermione sighed. "If only I knew where Harry is!"
"He isn't here?" McGonagall looked around nervously. "Oh… only the four of us? But where are the others? The other teachers and students?"
"Don't worry, they are all here… expect for poor Harry Potter." a voice said.
The four of them were surprised to see a human form materialise in front of them. The visitor was wearing purple robes, and her long, black hair came cascading down onto her shoulders. She was fingering her wand nonchalantly.
"You bitch!" Hermione jumped up, lunging at the woman, who simply swished with her wand, disappeared a milli-second before the collision and appeared two metres to the left again.
"Searching for me, Weasley?" she laughed.
"Not only searching!" Hermione instinctively stuck her hand into her robes for her wand, having forgot that it had been taken away. Krum did the same at the same time, but his wand was also missing.
"Lost something?" Tatyana smirked at them maliciously, holding out her wand to keep the four wandless people in check.
"What do you want?" Hermione burst out. "And where's Harry? What did you do to him?"
"I thought you knew what I did to him." Tatyana shrugged. "I accomplished the charm Exsugo vium magicae on him."
"I know that much." Hermione growled. "And I wish I could have prevented it! But I couldn't, because…"
"…because you fainted, dear." Fiodrovna gave her a malicious grin. "And why did you faint?"
"Because of the babies…" Hermione began, then suddenly went as white as a sheet. "…or was it you?"
"Bingo." Tatyana nodded. "I cast Imperio on a house-elf, gave her a mild poison and made her hand slip over your drink…"
Hermione gasped.
"Oh, don't worry, it didn't harm your kids. It only made you faint… in the proper time, so I could accomplish the charm."
"What charm?" Minerva asked, knitting her eyebrows.
"Exsugo vium magicae." Hermione sighed. "This tramp here…" she gave Tatyana a murderous stare, "leeched Harry's magic power out of him by… forcing him to sleep with her."
McGonagall, Aberforth and Krum gasped. Krum was the first to recover his voice: "But… why did you do that?"
"How could you be so cruel to him?" Aberforth gaped. "Why?"
"Why? Because I'm in love." the Potions professor replied calmly.
"Hah! Don't expect me to believe that you love Harry!" Hermione retorted.
"Harry?" Tatyana cackled. "That's gross. Really. No, Weasley, I have never felt anything for your Harry. Well… his abilities in bed are really remarkable, but that's all. He was good for the purpose I used him for, I don't need him anymore."
"But… why did you do it?" Hermione practically beseeched her to reveal it.
"I told you: I did it out of love. Out of love for the greatest Viking wizard ever."
"Viking?" McGonagall breathed. "But the Vikings ceased to exist hundreds of years ago!"
"That's right." Tatyana nodded. "My love is exactly 1125 years old. I am 1121."
"So it's true, then." Hermione said. "You have been reincarnating for centuries to… to do what, exactly?"
"To revive my lover from the eternal sleep he had been sent into by his own father." she replied.
"Aaron and Anor!" Hermione breathed. "The legend I read about!"
"No legend. History." Fiodrovna replied. Krum gazed at her, his mouth open in surprise. He remembered having told Hermione not to read such foolish stuff because they all were fairy tales, nothing else. "It happened exactly the way it was written in the books."
"Anor is awake again, then?"
"Yes, he is. And we are going to rule over the wizarding world together!" she started to laugh again, madly.
"But why did you have to take Harry's powers away?" Hermione growled.
"Because I needed his powers to be able to wake my lover."
"But… why Harry?" Hermione inquired. "Why couldn't you choose someone else? Anyone? Anyone during those centuries you were being reborn again and again?"
"Because I never found the right one." Tatyana shrugged. "The only way I could wake up Anor, was by combining my own powers with that of a wizard who had already been in the netherworld and came back from there alive. There wasn't anyone like that during the last eleven centuries. Not a single person... But when the Hogwarts people came to Durmstrang, I immediately knew that one of them had to be my saviour."
"How did you know?" Aberforth interjected.
"My Sphaera Inferi started to glow." the Potions professor said. "It is an orb that indicates it if someone turns up with the required qualities. At first I didn't know that it was Harry. All I knew was that the person came from Hogwarts. It wasn't difficult to find out who it was, though." she gave Hermione a grim smile, "I managed to get near the Creevey boy. I gained his sympathy and trust by helping him with the first task… he told me about Potter's journey to the netherworld. So I knew it. He also told me that Potter couldn't be affected by Imperio… so I had to do something else to make him sleep with me for three times… I needed to get to know how I could make him have sex with me." she started pacing the cell, as if deep in her thoughts. "I used the Mileta girl."
"My sister?" Viktor gasped.
"Yeah." Tatyana nodded. "I knew that she was head over heals in love with Potter. Knowing her I was sure that she'd try anything to seduce him… all I needed to do was to watch her. I kept an eye on every move she made. I followed her everywhere she went… One night, right before Potter returned to England for Christmas, Mileta visited him in his room." seeing the appalled expression on Krum's face, her lips tucked into a smirk. "Don't worry, headmaster, Harry was too much of a gentleman to do anything to your sister. He turned her down. Poor little Mileta ran out of his room crying. I pretended to be on a night-time stroll and invited her into my room for a drink. She was grateful to me for consoling her… I pretended to be a perfect friend… a friend who listened to her problems. She, however, refused to reveal why she had been crying. So I gave her the promised drink… into which I 'accidentally' spilled a bit of Veritaserum."
Hermione paled, Viktor clenched his fists and Tatyana carried on with her tale.
"Mileta drank it, believing it to be pure butter-beer. And then I only needed to ask her what had transpired between her and Potter and she told me everything. She told me that Potter had almost given into her… because for a second he believed her to be his wife. I cast an Obliviator curse on Mileta afterwards and she didn't remember our discussion… didn't remember having revealed me the key to Harry: his wife."
"Ginny?" Minerva gasped.
"Yes, Ginny." Tatyana nodded. "All I needed to do was to make Harry believe that I was Ginny – and do it in a way that he wouldn't be surprised to see her… he had to think I was his wife… under some kind of hypnosis. For this purpose I used a potion containing a very strong aphrodisiac that practically forced him to have sex… how very convenient for a Potions teacher isn't it?" she let out a short, mirthless laugh. "It was still difficult to get him to drink my potion… so I created opportunities for it… for example the Valentine Day's hype or the pogrebins…" seeing the surprise on Hermione's face, she carried on. "Yes, the pogrebins… I let them into the castle in March, I set them on Harry. But you thwarted me, dear. A big mistake, Weasley, a big mistake. I couldn't get him then, but a couple of days later I managed to. After you fainted thanks to my potion, I saw to it that he'd come to me."
"How?" Hermione knitted her eyebrows. "He didn't go to you of his own free will, did he?"
"Oh, no, my dear, of course not." Tatyana laughed. "Our Harry got lost… because I made him get lost. Have you heard of the porta vecturarius charm before?"
Everyone looked at her with confused expressions.
"No? Well, it allows you to place an invisible gate to somewhere. If someone goes through that gate, he'll get to a certain place the magic gate is opened to. It is a bit like a portkey, just invisible and it transports you to somewhere – unbeknown to you. Dark magic, of course. I placed such a gate on a corner Harry used to turn left on his way up to his room. I didn't need to worry that someone else would go through the gate because it was already past bedtime and all students were in their bedrooms – so were the teachers. I knew that Potter went down to the kitchens and I placed the gate there so that he'd pass through it by all means after his little food-nicking journey. And so he did. Coming up from the kitchen, he turned left at the usual place and found himself in my corridor. The poor one thought he was lost again… I invited him for a drink, and he was so endearingly innocent and unsuspecting that he drank it…"
Aberforth's eyes were sending lightning bolts at the Potions teacher. "Yeah, that's his problem: his innocence! I told him back in November that you were up to no good!"
Tatyana/Natasha didn't care for him, just continued her tale: "…he drank it, so I slept with him for the third time as well… and he never remembered having slept with me… I leeched his powers out of him… neatly, gradually…" she saw Hermione's eyes narrow with hate and disgust, but she carried on. "Of course he felt something of it right after our first night together… he felt weaker. After the second one he started to fail in certain charms. And after the third one he didn't have any powers left. Cruel, is it not?"
"You're sick." Hermione spat. "Only mentally ill people would do such a thing!"
"Have it your way, Weasley." Tatyana grinned. "Call me sick. Call me abnormal. I don't care. All I care for is that I have Anor back now. That compensates me for the trials of eleven centuries, for the futile waiting and craving… it makes up for everything!"
Hermione looked into her eyes and saw the madness in them, but she also saw intelligence and cunning. Suddenly she realised who this woman reminded her of: the statue in the Durmstrang entrance hall.
"You are the one who founded the school, aren't you?" she asked.
"Exactly." Tatyana nodded. "Strange that you recognised me… since this is another body."
"Your eyes are the same as that of the statue." Hermione replied. "A wonder why no one noticed it before."
The Potions professor shrugged. "My Anor managed to recognise me at once, even in this body."
Aberforth gave Tatyana a despising look. "You must have been pretty stuck-up to raise such a monument to yourself, you know."
"Stuck-up? Me? Well, maybe… after all, I was a princess." she replied. "In my first life I was called Aouda. Yes, that's an Indian name. I came from India. My father was a maharajah there. A Muggle maharajah." she spat the word 'Muggle' with just as much hate as a Malfoy would. "My mother, though, was a witch. She was the one who invented the Exsugo vium magicae charm. She used it to gain more power and be able to overtake the country and become a maharani. She killed my father but couldn't accomplish her plan."
"Why?" Aberforth crossed his arms. "Did she die of too much sex?"
Tatyana didn't react upon the sarcasm in the old wizard's voice. "No." she replied. "My mother got caught. People got to know that she was a witch and killed her. I was a ten-year-old child then. My mother had taught me a lot about magic in my childhood…" for a minute Tatyana looked immersed in her thoughts, as if taking a journey back in time. "My mother even taught me Exsugo vium magicae and told me what the powers taken from someone can be used for. One of its several uses was to awaken people from curse-sleeps."
"Curse sleeps?" Krum knitted his bushy eyebrows.
"Yes, my Anor was in such a curse-sleep, very close to death, thus he could only be awakened by the powers of someone who had been to the world of the dead. My dear mother taught me this and so many other things… but she was killed." suddenly Tatyana's eyes seemed to water. She blinked back her tears. "She was killed, but I was alive. The people of India feared to kill me. They believed that they'd be cursed if they killed a child. But they also feared to keep me there, so they got rid of me. They sold me to slavers who took me to Russia where a Viking couple bought me. Swedish Vikings had a great part in founding the first Russian state, did you know? Well, never mind. I got here and grew up here, and with the help of my magic abilities, I got my slavers to set me free. I chose myself a new name: Natasha Yanska…"
"And that was the name you were using when you founded the school, right?" Minerva interjected.
"Yes, of course. But that happened years and years after I got to know my love. I was twenty when I met Anor and fell in love with him. He told me about his intentions of murdering his family, who – back then – were the most powerful wizards in the country. He wanted to rule over the wizarding world and I agreed to help him. However, he got thwarted… sent into the eternal sleep. I built a castle over the chamber he was resting in and started the wizard school. I always reincarnated in the bodies of witches who were destined to teach at the school, so that I could always stay near my love. And now we are going to stay together till the end of times!"
Tatyana's – Natasha's – vicious laughter filled the room, reverberating off the walls.
"Before you laugh your head off," Hermione said, "tell us what happened to Harry! What did you do to him after he collapsed into the snow? Where is he?"
"Harry?" Tatyana waved nonchalantly. "Forget him."
"Why? Because he's no wizard anymore?" McGonagall cut in. "He might have lost his powers, but he's still able to come and save us… and have revenge on you!"
"Revenge?" the Potions teacher cackled. "Come on! The Boy Who Lived, who had done away with Voldemort cannot revenge anyone anymore!"
"Why?" Aberforth scowled at her.
"Because Harry Potter, the great wizard, is dead." Tatyana said quietly, almost whispering. Then she swished with her wand and vanished with a pop.
Hermione fell into Viktor's arms, unconscious.
A/N2: a little bit of reminder: you surely don't remember Hermione reading about the 'legend' of Aaron and Anor, but it happened in chapter 8 – Krum even told her not to believe in such foolish stuff. (sorry, I'm doing this all the time: throwing in little pieces of information that don't seem to be important, but they turn out to be important later. Bear with me, please...)
Latin explanations: porta vecturarius = transporting gate, sphaera inferi = orb of the netherworld
Suttee (for those who don't know) was a cruel ritual exercised in India in the old times. If a man died, then his widow was burnt along with him on his funeral pyre (the woman was still alive!) If you have seen/read Round the world in eighty days, then you must know about this. (If you haven't read that book yet, go on and read it! It's cool! I usually don't like Verne's books, but this one is really great.)