Title: Sign of the Necromancer
Author: Bethany June Evans
Beta, and uploader: Charlotte-May Ashley Evans (silver-sparklze)
Rating: G (for now)
Summary: Sirius' name has finally been cleared. It's the middle of the holidays before Harry's final year at Hogwarts, and everyone's partying like mad. Two girls about 19 turn up at the party. But nobody knows them. What is it that makes these two stand out from the crowd?
~*~
Harry stood in one corner, grinning so hard; he thought his face would crack. He, Hermione and Ron were standing in the Great Hall, partying for all they were worth. The reason behind this party in the middle of the summer holidays was to celebrate the Wizarding World's acknowledgment of Sirius' innocent. He'd been proved innocent the day before, and now everyone who had ever been friends with Sirius was here, celebrating with him. Harry looked around, and saw Sirius and Remus standing in one corner, goofy smiles on their faces. Harry snickered, wondering if either of them had any idea what they looked like. Just then, Sirius noticed him.
"Harry!" He called. "Come over here!" Harry walked over, followed by Ron and Hermione.
"Hi, Sirius." Harry said, grinning.
"Isn't it great? I'm finally free!" Sirius said excitedly. His eyes were shining with happiness, making him look more like the man in Harry's parent's wedding photo, but there was still a slightly shuttered look about them, a leftover reminder of Azkaban, that mightn't ever go away.
"Yeah, it's wonderful. Can I live with you now?" Harry asked.
"Of course. We'll all live together. You, me and Remus."
"Great, I've already got one overgrown teenager in the house, now I'm going to have another one." Remus said, smiling warmly at the trio. Just then, two identical girls came over. They had pale skin, gold hair cut to their chins, with a fringe, and sparkling deep blue eyes. They were wearing muggle jeans, and t-shirts. Both t-shirts were white, and one had a Z on it, the other an E.
"Hi." Said E.
"We just wanted to congratulate you on your innocence." Added Z.
"And to offer our condolences for Lily and James' deaths."
"We only heard about them three days ago."
"Yeah. We've been living in muggle Egypt for the past… how long has it been this time?" E asked.
"I thought we were in Greece." Z said in confusion.
"No, that was last time. This time we were hiding from Vol- sorry, the Dark Lord." E explained.
"Oh! Right. Well…we've been in hiding since the end of our fifth year at Hogwarts…" Z began,
"And that was…um…one, two, three…" E continued
"Screw it, we've been in hiding for over 20 years." Z said in frustration.
"Yeah." E agreed.
"Because of our Gift." Z said in a confidential tone.
"That's right." E concurred
"Hi, Remus." Z said shyly.
"Who are you guys?" Ron asked bluntly.
"Oh! I can't believe we forgot to introduce ourselves!" Z exclaimed.
"That was so rude of us!" E said.
"Yeah. We are such blondes sometimes." Said Z.
"My name is Eva, and this is my sister, Zoë." E introduced them.
"Hence the letters on the shirts." Zoë said with a smile.
"Yeah."
"Why are you in hiding because of a gift?" Hermione asked in confusion.
"Because, our Gift is Dark Magic." Zoë replied.
"How awful could it be? It's not like your gift could kill someone." Ron scorned.
"Our Gift," Eva began, pinning Ron with her unnerving gaze, "Has everything to do with Death."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked in a trembling voice.
"We're Necromancers." Zoë replied.
"And damned good ones too." Eva added cheerfully, before both girls were staring down Remus and Sirius' wands.
"Take it easy. If we wanted to kill you, we would have done it in the fifth year." Zoë said dryly.
"Yeah, we had plenty of chances." Eva said with a giggle.
"But there's another reason we're here tonight." Zoë said, brushing her fringe off her forehead casually. Everyone's gaze was immediately riveted to the silver lightning bolt they saw there.
"What's that?" Ron asked.
"The sign of a Necromancer. All Necromancers have one. They turn silver after you kill your dark counterpart. In our cases, the twins, Braeden and Daray. They were totally evil, and committed to the Dark Side. So, once we killed them, and banished them of course, our scars turned from red, to silver." Eva explained. "Also, we stopped getting visions, and headaches because of them. Now we only get visions when someone shouldn't have died, and we need to bring them back."
"Are you saying…when you need to bring someone back to life, you can?" Harry asked.
"Oh, yes. I had a nice chat with Joan de Arc the other day, and a cup of tea." Zoë smirked.
"Wh-what?" Sirius gasped.
"The other reason we're here," Eva began, ignoring Sirius, "Is to tell you something. There are two nights in a year, where it is especially easy for Necromancers to bring people back. On these two nights, you can bring them back, permanently. As in, they won't die the next day. They'll live to the end of their natural lives. These days are midsummer, and midwinter. Do you understand what I'm saying, Harry?" She looked at him.
"You can bring back my parents?" He gasped.
"Yes. We can bring back Lily and James. All we need is something that belonged to them." Zoë said.
"Which we already have." Eva added, drawing out the gold chain, which hung into her low-necked t-shirt, and showing them all the vial with one red hair, and one black hair. "Now, the only way they'll live properly is if we do it on midsummer or midwinter."
"When's midwinter?" Harry asked eagerly. Zoë shook her head.
"Alas, Harry, midwinter or Yule has already been. It was the 25th of January. The shortest day, and the longest night."
"What we're waiting for is midsummer. Beltaine. And, Harry, what is the date?"
"Today's the 25th of July." Harry answered without thinking.
"Exactly. That's why we came today, not yesterday, and not tomorrow. Because today, at midnight, the veil between this world and the next grows thin, and spirits are allowed to see into this one. In three hours, Eva and I need to bring your parents back, or you will have to wait six months before we have another chance. Today is the longest day, and the shortest night of the whole year, and we have to make the most of it." Zoë said.
"So, Harry, we want to know. Do you want us to bring back Lily and James?" Eva asked.
"Of course! They're my parents!" Harry said.
"Very well. We'll see you in three hours and…" Eva checked her watch. "Forty-five minutes." The twins left, leaving all five people in shock.
~*~
"But can we do it, Eva?" Zoë asked.
"Of course we can." Eva said, but she didn't sound convinced.
"Eva, we're getting old. We've been at this for over 10,000 years. And we've never tried to bring back someone that we have personal attachments to."
"This is why Voldemort wants us, Zo. Because we can bring people back from the dead, or banish them, so no Necromancer can ever retrieve their soul, not even us. We're the only Good Necromancers in over 10,000 years, and if we have no children, there'll be none left." Eva replied.
"But there must be a Chosen One out there somewhere!" Zoë exclaimed. "We felt them being born. Almost 17 years ago!"
"I know. But I doubt we'll ever find them. And without a Necromancer to help them learn to use their powers, they'll never be more than an extremely strong witch or wizard."
"Why didn't you tell them that Necromancers can survive Avada Kedavra if they have Godric's blood running through their veins?" Zoë asked.
"Because there's no reason for them to know that if they're your husband's child, they can live for a long time. They don't need to know about the immortality you passed down to your descendants. If only you hadn't lost track of the damned timeline. I thought James would have been it, too. He even had Mother's eyes. And Father's looks. And a bit of Godric thrown in to the mix. Damn it, Zoë, why couldn't you be responsible for once?"
"I'm sorry, ok? Look, it's bad enough that I couldn't save Godric, do you always have to harp on to me about how I managed to lose track of my children?" Tears sprang to Zoë's eyes.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Zo. This is just so stressful. This is the first time we've ever tried to bring back someone we know. And I hate it. I especially hate the loss of magic. I hate being a muggle when I've still got my powers, being a muggle without them is even worse."
"Maybe it won't be as bad as you think." Zoë said hopefully.
"It'll be worse. Zo, we're usually without our magic for a few hours after bringing back muggles. Imagine what it's going to be like this time, bringing back people with magic."
"But what else can we do?" Zoë asked in frustration. "We should have come back when we felt the call 16 years ago. We knew that there were people who shouldn't have died!"
"I know. And we're just lucky that there haven't been any more. Tiger and Prongs should have lived, no doubt about that. But how were we to know that Voldemort was left without his body…" Eva's eyes widened. "Zoë, go and get me that book, the one called Rise And Fall Of The Dark Arts in the Twentieth Century."
"What? Why?"
"Just do it. Trust me." Zoë hurried over to the bookshelf, and grabbed it.
"On a totally unrelated topic, why are we in the DADA classroom?" She asked.
"Because I thought it was ironic." Eva said, smiling slightly. "Defence Against the Dark Arts. Basically, Defence Against people like us. Seems fitting that we'd use this room."
"I suppose." She handed Eva the book.
"Thank you, sister dear." Eva flipped through it. "Ah ha! Here it is. One-year-old Harry Potter, on Halloween, 1981, vanquished You-Know-Who. No one knows what happened; James and Lily Potter were killed. Harry was left with only a lightning bolt scar on his forehead, to show that he'd been hit by a dark curse. The Dark Lord's body was never found." She looked up at Zoë. "Do you know what this means?"
"That we can have pizza for tea?" Zoë asked hopefully.
"No! It's 9 o'clock, and we had dinner two hours ago. It means; Harry Potter is a Necromancer." Zoë clapped her hands together.
"You're right!" She exclaimed. "But…if we've had dinner, does that mean I can have dessert?"
"You're hopeless!" Eva said in frustration.
~*~
"What do you think about their claim?" Remus asked Sirius privately.
"I think they're lying, and that they're bitches, for doing this to Harry. It's going to break his heart, when he realises that they can't bring Lily and James back." Sirius said.
"I dunno, Padfoot, there's something familiar about them. I think they may have been with us in the fifth year." Remus mused.
"I doubt it. They only look about 19." Sirius retorted.
"Yeah, but do you remember those odd, blonde twins? Blonde in every sense of the word, too. Their names were…Mandi and Candi. Total Hufflepuffs, yet they were in Slytherin. They never once bitched about Gryffindors either." Remus reminded him.
"Y'know, Moony, I do believe I remember the girls you're talking about. We turned their hair green at least three times, didn't we?"
"Actually, it was four. Well, for me it was. Eva got hit far more times, because she frequented the Library, where Prongs and Tiger often went. Even when James was making gaga eyes at Lily, he never missed a chance to turn Eva's hair green, or some other interesting shade." An amused voice said. Upon turning around, the two remaining good Marauders found an amused Zoë, with her arms full of herbs.
"What are those for?" Remus asked. He'd seen some of these herbs before, but he didn't know what the Necromancers could be doing with them.
"They're to enhance our powers, so we won't be muggles for too long, hopefully. Eva hates it. We may be well-versed in muggle defence, but it's not going to do us much good to be able to break someone's neck using only our hands, if we're immobilised by a spell, is it? Then, there's some to give to them, to help them regain their memories. They're going to find it hard enough as it is, suddenly being almost 17 years older, and remembering their deaths. I'd hate for it to happen to me, but, well, until my sister and I find a Necromancer to take over from us, we're immortal, and aren't allowed to age. Life sucks, right?" She walked off, leaving both Moony and Padfoot stunned.
~*~
"Got it." Zoë announced, coming back into the room. Eva simply blew on another candle, lighting it.
"Good." She said. "Put them over there." She pointed to the two cauldrons. "You know which plants go where."
"Yes, I do. Eva, have you ever thought about what might happen, should Harry refuse to become a Necromancer?"
"We'll have to find another one. Oh, and by the way, he's your heir. But he's not immortal, just immune to the killing curse."
"Of course he wouldn't be. Too far down the line." Zoë said calmly, as though they were discussing the weather. "And how do you know?"
"I asked Amar. How else?" Eva said, referring to their Oracle, who told them things, should they need the information badly enough.
"Good point, although you could have tried scrying."
"No way, I'm trying to save up as much power as possible." Eva said.
"Tell me about it." Zoë pushed her fringe off her sweaty face. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to climb the top of that tree for the citranca flowers?"
"You know we need them to help give us the proper power surge." Eva reminded her.
"I know. Ev, when's this all going to be over? I hate being immortal, and I have been ever since I accepted my damned fate!"
"I know, Zo. I know. Do you think I like it any better than you? After all, I have to deal with the fact that not only did my love die; he hated me for what I was. At least Godric accepted you." She choked back a sob. Zoë bit her lip, worried over her usually happy sister's sudden depression.
"It's ok, hon." She said soothingly. "Let's not worry about any of that. After all, we've got to find Tiger and Prongs." Eva wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Alright." She said. She looked at her watch. "Ten minutes. Let's start preparing those stupid potions."
***
"Three, two, one." Eva counted down. Both she and Zoë linked hands, and focused their magic inwards, as they both felt the subtle shift in the world around them. The Veil had been drawn back again, and there were two people who needed to be saved. Eva took the hairs out of the vial, and poured them, into the potion. It hissed, and the potion turned a molten gold. Eva smiled. The colour of life. She thought in approval. She and her twin stood on either side of the cauldron, both closing their eyes.
"We invita la energía de Isis, diosa de la vida. Ayúdenos a traer detrás los alcoholes, que han ido antes de su tiempo." Eva murmured.
"Nosotros a la derecha los males, se han hecho que. Ayúdenos a curar el mal, que ha pasado." Zoë continued.
"Help nosotros para traer detrás a nuestros amigos, nuestros amó unos, nuestra familia." They chanted together.
The cauldron began show glow, a gentle throb of golden colour. Both of them opened their eyes, and smiled cautiously. The glow suddenly shot out, and illuminated the space in front of them. Two figures began to form, one a woman, the other a man. Quickly, both threw the other potion into the cauldron, the one that would help Lil and James Potter regain their memories, and make sure they were wearing clothing. (After an embarrassing encounter with William Shakespeare, neither wanted to risk this particular procedure again.) Also, they threw in the potion that would update them on the world's affairs. Both would know they had been dead, but both would also know what had been going on. (Eva and Zoë had found it a lot less stressful and awkward that way.) Slowly, oh so slowly, the two faint, ghostly forms began to become more solid, until, they were complete black and white images of the two spirits Eva and Zoë were trying to bring back. Then, the colour began to bleed into the pair, making them alive again. Soon, they were perfect statues, standing there, in colour. All that was left was to bring the spirits. Eva took the manna leaves, and lit them, spreading the sweet smoke around the room. The bodies standing in front of them suddenly came alive, and Lily Marie Evans-Potter, and James Harold Potter stood before them, looking slightly disorientated, before comprehension spread across their features.
***
"Hello, Tiger." Eva said softly. Lily's eyes lit up, and she launched herself at Eva with a strangled cry.
"Luna! It's been so long!" She said, giving Eva a huge hug. Zoë however grinned at James.
"'Lo Prongsie boy." She said teasingly. He grinned back at her.
"Hi, Raven." He ruffled her hair fondly, like he did in the fifth year, when she and Eva had been like little sisters to him. He'd been the one to introduce them to Lily in the first place, wanting to get them off his hands. They'd been annoying little blondes to him, and Slytherins to boot, so he'd taken no time to offload them onto his girlfriend, who'd become close friends with the Twins.
It'd been her who'd discovered their secret, and promised, albeit reluctantly not to tell. Then, when James and his friends had become animagi, Zoë and Eva had stolen the potions ingredients, and method, and helped Lily become one too. They'd formed the Moonlight Unicorns, or the Unicorns for short. Of course, Remus, Sirius and James hadn't realised that it was the two blondes, and James' own girlfriend that had been responsible for the pranks on them; they'd dyed the Twins' hair different colours simply because it had been fun. Oh, and the rotten eggs, paper wads, and other strange magical objects that had been thrown at them had all been a matter of fun. If they'd realised who was behind the pranks, their payback would have been a lot worse.
"You know why you're here?" Eva asked, disentangling herself from Lily.
"You brought us back from the dead." Lily said quietly. James suddenly looked solemn.
"Evangeline?" He croaked. Eva looked up in surprise. No one ever called her that anymore.
"Yes, James?" She said.
"What happened to Harry?" Lily began to cry.
"I tried to save him, James." She wept. James went pale, and sat down.
"Oh no." He whispered, "Oh no, oh no, oh no."
Suddenly, the door slammed open, and figures came running in. Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, and Severus Snape. They stared at the two Necromancers for a moment, at the silver lightning bolts showing clearly through the fringes, still glowing from the magic. Then, they looked towards the two people lost in utter depression standing in the middle of the room. Minerva uttered a small scream, and fainted. Severus looked as though he was about to follow suit. Only Albus looked slightly calm.
"What is the meaning of this?" He asked.
"Hello, Albus. Remember us?" Eva said sweetly, eyes flashing. She'd never forgiven the headmaster for kicking them out of the school, when there came a small rumour that they had joined the Dark side. She knew, of course, that he had to protect the students, but she also knew that, if any time, they had chosen the Dark side, no petty expulsion would have kept them away. Not with their advanced powers.
"Evangeline, Zoëlin." He acknowledged.
"That's right. The Death Eaters. Or don't you remember how you kicked us out, to face the Wizarding World alone." Zoë said bitterly.
"Well, Zoëlin, I doubt you would have been in any danger. You were nearly 10,000 years old at the time."
"On the contrary, Albus, we were in immense danger. We weren't the only Necromancers you know. We had to kill Riana, just so that the Light side, which turned its back on us, would prevail. Otherwise, many of you wouldn't be alive. After all, a Necromancer doesn't have to be near someone to be able to kill them. You were lucky we managed to trace her down before we went to Egypt." Eva hissed. The shocked expression on Albus' face was enough to say that he hadn't known about the rogue Necromancer. "But, back to the task at hand. Why are you here?"
"The wards put up to detect dark activity went off." Severus said curtly. Eva sighed, and went over to Minerva. She waved a hand over her face.
"Enervate. Of course they did. Necromancy is Dark Magic, whether we like it or not. But, Darkness is merely the absence of Light. Our Magic is only evil, if we choose to do evil things with it. Which we don't." She said firmly, eye lingering over the crook in Severus' left arm. "We've never needed any second chances. Not in our 10,000 years. Anyway, I'd like you all to meet Lily and James Potter." She gestured to the two distraught parents. "Tiger, Prongs, why so sad?" She asked softly.
"Because of Harry." Lily choked.
"He was so young." James said.
"Ah, yes, Harry." Eva sighed sadly. "Zo, if you would bring in the five people waiting outside?" Zoë walked out, and came back in with Ron, Hermione, Remus, Sirius and Harry. "Lily, James, Tiger, Prongs, I'd like you to meet, Remus Lupin, aka Moony, your best friend. Sirius Black, aka Padfoot, another friend. Hermione aka the smartest witch in the school, and our resident heroe's best friend. Ron Weasley, aka one of the best chess players ever known, and our resident heroe's other best friend. And Harry James Potter, your son, defeater of the Dark Lord, sexiest man alive, etc, etc, etc." There was a hint of amusement in her tone.
"That's not something to joke about, Eva. Harry died that night. He must have. How could my baby hold up against that murderer?" Lily said between sobs. Harry's eyes were wide open in amazement.
"Mum?" He whispered. She looked up, and her own green eyes widened.
"Harry?" She said, skin pale.
"Yeah." Harry said slowly.
"You look just like James." She said. "Just like him."
"Harry, I'd like you to meet, your parents." Zoë said with a smile.
"And now, we'll leave you lot, the Marauders, and the Marauders, Next Generation, to get to know each other. Maybe we'll meet again." Zoë said.
"Oh, we'll definitely meet again. After all, you, Harry, need to be trained." Eva added with a grin. With a faint 'ping' ((I hate all those stories where everything happens with a 'pop'. 'Pings' are so much cooler.)) They disappeared.
~What did you think? I must say, I think my little cousin did a pretty good job on this story. She's only 11 too.
Translation for the spell.
(("We call upon the power of Isis, Goddess of Life. Help us bring back the spirits, whom have gone before their time." Eva murmured.
"Help us to right the wrongs, which have been made. Help us to cure the evil, which has passed." Zoë continued.
"Help us to bring back our friends, our loved ones, our family." They chanted together.))~