Title: The Art of Necromancy
Author: Artemis Luna Diana
E-Mail: artemislunadiana@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Harry/Severus
Time: begins right after GoF
Summary: Harry returns to Hogwarts to spend the summer. Out of sheer boredom, he scours the library for books to read and stumbles across a book that will change his life…
Disclaimer: I own not a thing
WARNING!!!! THIS IS A SLASH STORY!!!! IF YOU DON'T LIKE SLASH OR THIS PARTICULAR PAIRING… LEAVE NOW!!!!
Chapter Three: Unexplained Disappearances
Harry opened his eyes to see the white mists of the Necromancer's Haven. He turned quickly when he heard Ylura shout his name.
"Harry!" she cried and appeared before him. "You must leave now! Get out of Hogwarts! Go into the Forbidden Forest!"
Harry was thrust back into his body in a painful rush. He opened his eyes and found Professor McGonagall leaning over him. "Harry, lie still. Madam Pomfrey is coming."
The room was spinning and Harry covered his eyes with his hands, pressing down slightly as if to compact the pain into one spot and crush it out. He removed his hands as the pain slipped away. He sat up, despite Professor McGonagall's protests. "I'm fine," he said hoarsely. His mouth was dry and a shudder racked his body. He stood and stumbled a bit. "I'm fine," he said again.
Madam Pomfrey entered the room. "What happened?" she asked briskly.
"He was eating lunch and then just passed out," Professor McGonagall replied.
"Leave me alone," Harry moaned, pulling away from the concerned medi-witch.
He stumbled out of the room. He ignored the shouts of 'Mr. Potter' and walked on. He walked out of the school and past Hagrid's hut. He ignored those still following him and cheerful call of his half-giant friend. He entered the Forbidden Forest without looking back.
***
Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall searched Harry's rooms for any clues about his disappearance. He'd been gone for three days now, and they still had no idea why he'd left, why he'd passed out in the Staff Lounge, or where he was going.
They found books on Quidditch, Charms, Hexes, and Curses from the library. They found a journal bound tightly with spells, which even now, Dumbledore was still trying to crack. Potions ingredients, clothes, his broom… everything they found seemed to say there had been nothing wrong.
"Aha!" Dumbledore cried. He finally cracked the spells on the journal. Snape and McGonagall walked over to him. He opened it and began thumbing through the pages. Apparently, Harry had been keeping a journal since he was in second year. He skipped over all of the entries, looking for the one the day before Harry vanished. "What in Merlin's name?" he uttered, confused.
"What?" Snape prompted.
"He's written his entries in some rune language I've never seen before." Dumbledore began flipping back, looking for the first entry written in the runes. "He started writing in runes… two weeks after the summer started." Dumbledore looked up. "Harry wasn't taking Ancient Runes. Where did he learn this?"
Snape took the book from him and studied the runes, then handed the book to McGonagall. "We need to find out what it says."
McGonagall stared at the runes. "I've never seen this language before either," she said and handed the journal back to Dumbledore. "Severus is right. We need to know what it says."
***
While the rest of the staff continued combing the Forbidden Forest for signs of Harry, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape were combing the library for anything on the runes Harry had been writing in.
Two weeks after Harry disappeared, the searches stopped. All they could was wait and see if the three professors found anything, because there was no sign of Harry, and no owl could find him.
***
When September 1st came, they still hadn't found any information on Harry. They would have to declare him missing. With Voldemort returned to his body, this information was crushing indeed. Dumbledore announced Harry's disappearance after the feast, though he left out that he had been staying at Hogwarts and disappeared into the Forbidden Forest. Ron and Hermione were in shock, after all they had just seen him a few weeks before start of term.
Dumbledore and McGonagall rarely had time to search the library once the term began, though they did when they had a chance. Snape, however, was in there at least once a day searching the shelves.
Voldemort stepped up his attacks and when two major ones fell through, he realized there was a spy among his Death Eaters. Malfoy soon convinced his Master that Snape was the spy, and the Potions Master barely managed to escape with his life. Dumbledore kept him at Hogwarts all the time now; he wasn't allowed to leave the school anymore. It wasn't safe for him. He didn't mind it so much; he was no longer forced to go against his conscious to prove his loyalty to an inhuman monster.
Hermione and Ron wandered the school like ghosts. The two rarely laughed, rarely smiled. The rest of Hogwarts occupants slinked around the school in fear. If the Boy-Who-Lived was gone, what hope did they have of winning? Dumbledore had lost his twinkling eyes, and McGonagall barely had the energy to be strict anymore. Snape was haunting the library.
It wasn't until the Easter holidays that Snape finally found a reference to the strange rune language Harry had written the last few weeks of his journal in. In the Restricted Section of the library was an old tome on powerful magical creatures that were extinct. The print was done in the elaborate style of the ages and the ink was fading. Whoever had charmed the book to prevent that was an idiot. He'd taken to reading every book in the library on the off-chance that they mentioned the language somewhere. It actually surprised him to finally find something.
Necromancers - The humans known as Necromancers passed out of existence nearly two thousand years ago. It is believed that they were possessed by dark spirits that gave them the ability to speak to and raise the dead. They would form armies of the undead to fight their wars. It is said they created Zombies. They were also said to speak a language that only another Necromancer could understand and write in runes only another Necromancer could read. Books filled with their writing were discovered nearly fifty years ago. The books were studied and partially translated before what they were was discovered. They were summarily burned. Though it is possible to translate the runes, one cannot remember the runes to read the text written in them. The only way to translate a text written in the Necromancer's Rune is to translate rune by rune. Each time, one must look at a key to identify the rune. The key developed to translate the runes is locked up at the British Ministry of Magic.
Snape stared at the passage wondering if this could be the language Harry Potter had written his journal in.
Dumbledore sent an owl to the Ministry requesting a copy of the key to the language of Necromancers. The reply contained the key as well as some questions regarding the request of such an object. While Dumbledore tried to convince the Ministry that there were no Necromancers running around Hogwarts, Snape was attempting to use the key to translate Potter's journal. In no time at all, he realized that Potter had indeed been writing in the Necromancer's Rune.
I was in the library trying to find something to occupy my time, I've been so bored! when I found, okay was hit on the head by this book. It really creeped me out when it started glowing and the runes formed words. It was written by this Necromancer named Fredrick. He was the last Necromancer before me. He wrote it in 492 though, so he's been dead awhile. I put the book under the mattress of my bed and put some wards on it in case anyone ever searches my room. I don't want anyone to find it. Fredrick says that Necromancers are greatly feared and when I was in the Necromancer's Haven, Ylura said that wizards and witches are so paranoid because the stories of Necromancers have become warped as they've been passed down. She said that wizards believe we're evil. I'm not evil. McGonagall is starting to train me to be an animagus! I hope that whatever animal I become isn't completely defenseless… or embarrassing!
- Harry
Snape stared at the entry. It had taken him two days, uninterrupted, to translate it… and it was one of Potter's shorter entries! He sighed and turned to the next entry; he'd go collect the book from Potter's rooms later.
***
TBC…