Chapter 34. Resonance
Ron was still trying to process everything that had just happened, though regardless of how much he thought about it he'd no idea what had possessed him and pushed him to try and 'restrain' the woman, one who had just saved him, and not any woman: Rose Midori! One of the Roses! An Enchantress! And, for what he'd learnt recently, the reincarnation of one of the daughters of Morgana herself! His shock was broken, abruptly, by the coldness that announced a dementor had managed to get too close.
"E…Expecto Patronum!" He cried out in a rush.
What was surprising was that the figure that, in that moment, emerged from his wand wasn't the Jack Rusell Terrier it had always been, the form that had appeared upon the redhead's and his friends arrival to Azkaban island; no, instead the silver-white figure that emerged from his wand was tall, humanoid, it looked very much like the Queen piece of a chess-game, except for one particular characteristic, the hood covering her head…
The Queen was soon joined by a stag, an otter, a dragon, a huge dog and other patroni, which all together, instead of pushing the dementor away, surrounded it.
"Ron, are you alright?" Hermione rushed to him instantly.
"Fine Hermy." Ron assured him with a deep breath.
Truth is he was absolutely exhausted, all he wanted was to go back to Gryffindor Tower, his bed, and sleep for the rest of the night, and possibly the day as well. However, it seemed like he wouldn't be able to act on his wishes just yet…
"Why are the patroni surrounding the dementor like that?" Naoko asked, not understanding what was going on.
"Something's going on…" Long muttered.
"It's a soul!" Tomoyo gasped as she covered her mouth, drowning a scream. "There's a soul inside that dementor, one that somehow still exists as such, rather than having been annihilated after being sucked out of the body."
"What do you mean?" Harry was horrified, even if he didn't fully understand everything.
"It means that that dementor sucked a soul at one point, an innocent soul." Eriol explained grimly. "And while most of the time such souls break down after some time being inside a dementor, this one still exists as such…"
"Whoever's soul that is, their will must have indeed been great." Shaoran commented with a mix of awe and respect.
"It might still be." Sakura declared as she steeled herself to do something.
"You might be right." Eriol agreed. "For that soul to still exist in such circumstances, something must be anchoring it. I wonder how long it's existed like that…"
"However long, it ends tonight." Sakura announced suddenly, then before anyone could even contemplate what she meant she had a card on one hand and her key in the other. "Sakura Card under my command, I call upon your power, vanish the evil so the innocent may be released. Erase! Release and Dispel!"
The effect was instantaneous, as the magic of the card enveloped the dementor still being surrounded by the patroni, there was a loud blood-freezing soul-curling, heart-wrenching screech, followed by what sounded very much like an implosion.
Sakura's knees folded beneath her, the combination of the extraordinarily hard magic she'd used, along with everything she'd done already, and the backlash resulted from the dementor's destruction had been too much; however, before she could actually fall Shaoran had her in his arms, secure.
"Arigato…" She whispered softly to him, closing her eyes briefly in exhaustion.
In that moment they all turned to look at what remained where the dementor had once been, a totally white amorphous figure, non-corporeal, it almost seemed to not quite be there, and, strangely enough, it seemed to be pulsing.
"What's that?" Ron asked, confused.
"A resonance." Shaoran informed the others. "The soul is resonating with something, its anchor probably."
"Which means that the body probably still exists, somehow, somewhere." Eriol added.
"Does that means that…whoever that is, will pretty much be revived?" Hermione asked, not quite believing it.
"If the soul can rejoin the body, that's a very good possibility." Shaoran agreed.
"A…bunai!" Sakura's broken cry was all the warning they had.
They had battled for some time, and eventually had defeated their enemies, all but Voldemort, who had disappeared at one point. They never expected for the Dark Lord to return, for some of those the teens had downed to be restored, or for the sudden explosion of dark fire that was shot at them. There was only one thing they could do.
Eriol held Tomoyo tightly to himself as he called on all the power he could in a fraction of a second, making sure to focus, not just on himself, but all his friends, then he finally called:
"Teleport!"
.-.
When the somehow-bright midnight-blue light vanished, the nine teenagers in the white robes and silver masks appeared on the mainland, the port closest to Azkaban. They all stumbled slightly, the transportation had been so sudden that for a moment it had felt like they were falling, and the next there was land once again beneath their feet, only it was softer and somewhat muddier than the one they'd been standing on before.
"Eriol-koi!" Tomoyo cried out.
The spell had drained the Sorcerer so much, not just because he'd transported so many of them, but because of the suddenness of it, that suddenly he could no longer hold himself up, and Tomoyo wasn't strong enough to hold him up either.
Harry and Long, realizing the situation, immediately went to aid Tomoyo, Shaoran still holding his half-unconscious wife, while Ron stared in a mix of horror and shock in the direction they'd come from.
"Guys…" He muttered in a low voice.
For some seconds there was no answer.
Until suddenly the echo of an explosion reached them, it was enough that some ways crashed on the rocks near them, and the earth rumbled slightly beneath their feet.
Azkaban was on fire. And not just any fire. The fiendfyre Voldemort had cast against them had expanded, taking over the small fires DEs had begun before, and the whole island was covered in flames.
Screams could be heard suddenly, as people began noticing what was going on, either because they'd heard the explosion, sensed the dark magic in the air, or they could simply see the fire…in any case, it was absolute chaos.
"We need to get out of here." Naoko announced.
It wouldn't be a good idea for anyone to find them there: nine teenagers, robed and masked, in the middle of the night, two of them nearly unconscious and drained, the others with some wounds, some rips on their clothes and a lot of ash covering the white of their robes, and then there was the fact of the disaster taking place in Azkaban…not, things would not go well if anyone found them.
"I can take care of that." Harry informed them from where he held Eriol by one of his arms. "Just give me a moment."
Ron went to take his place, allowing Harry to go to Hermione, who'd just broken a considerably long branch off a nearby tree and handed it to Harry, who turned it into a portkey straight to Potter Manor.
"I cannot take us directly to Hogwarts grounds, and I doubt we would be able to walk from Hogsmeade." Harry answered the unasked question. "This way we can go to the manor, sleep, recover, and we'll get back to Hogwarts tomorrow. Even if anyone notices our absence, it's spring break so it's unlikely there'll be any trouble."
Everyone agreed, or at least they were too tired to disagree. All of those who could held onto the portkey, while holding at the same time onto those who couldn't; Harry activated it and then they were gone.
.-.
The following afternoon Sirius, Severus and Sonomi were standing at Hogwarts' gates when the nine teenagers appeared, courtesy of yet another portkey. While Sakura and Eriol were both awake and mostly recovered, Shaoran and Tomoyo had refused to allow them to use any particularly strong magic for the next few days.
While Hermione had had the presence of mind to send a letter to the adults waiting for their return before they all went to sleep, that didn't mean they had stopped worrying, if anything they might have been worse.
Still, while the teens had already been expecting there to be a welcome committee…they hadn't expected Sirius to be a part of it.
"Dad?!" Naoko was absolutely shocked at his presence.
And considering Sirius had spent the weeks since his miraculous return and almost-as-miraculous recovery carefully staying as far away from Albus Dumbledore and any place he might frequent (which was almost everywhere), seeing him in that moment in plain sight was quite surprising.
At least they all knew he wouldn't be persecuted. One of the few things the Ministry had done right was admitting to Sirius Black's unfair incarceration and his innocence, shortly after he had 'died'. So, while most people might think him a ghost if they were to see him, they wouldn't believe him a criminal…
"I'm glad to see you're alright." Sonomi declared after looking up and down at all the teens.
"We're fine, just tired." Sakura qualified. "Some more than others…"
If she was honest, at least with herself, she hadn't felt that exhausted since the time she'd had to change Light and Dark from Clow Cards into Sakura Cards. She knew that while she could easily Erase inanimate objects, living beings were much harder, and a magical one…and it wasn't only that, but to specify that she wanted to erase the dementor but save the Soul, it had been too much magic, and then to have used it without her staff released…it was a miracle she hadn't ended up in a magical comma for at least several days.
"We told you we were alright Dad." Naoko said softly, she liked having family, but didn't want her dad being overprotective. "You need not come to get us."
"Even with the letters, we were worried." Severus admitted. "Particularly after what appeared on the paper this morning."
All the teens nodded solemnly at that. Nakuru had laid the paper for them when they'd finally woken and made their way for some food near mid-afternoon. There, first page, was the news of the fire that had razed Azkaban to the ground. The article went to explain how the Dark Lord, some DEs and many, many dementors had attacked the facilities, killed a considerable number of guards, before trapping the rest in their barracks and beginning a magical fire. No one knew exactly how those who had survived had gotten out, but still, the part that caught the attention was the fiendfyre that had completely destroyed the prison. Many people had died, most of them actual prisoners; however, there was still the risk that some might have managed to escape before the explosion happened…
The Sorcerers had no doubt that at least Voldemort and some DEs had gotten away, they had no idea how many, but still, it couldn't be good.
Before anyone could say anything else Naoko suddenly froze in place.
"Naoko?" Sirius asked, worried as he noticed her blank stare. "Honey?"
"Flower?" Long asked, taking a hold of her arm.
"I'm sensing…" Naoko muttered, not quite paying attention to her father and boyfriend. "Soul…I can sense…"
Unexpectedly, they could all sense the echo of something as it went straight through Naoko, and then through Sirius as well. The two shivered and held tightly onto each other.
"What the hell was that?" Long asked.
While he hadn't been directly affected by it, he could sense it somewhat through his touch of Naoko, and only because it had been so indirect he was even able to question it.
"Look!" Hermione cried out unexpectedly.
And then they could see it, though it could barely be seen, with the harsh light of the late afternoon, a half-translucent whitish smoky-like form floating away from them.
"Oh Lord…" Sakura was in absolute shock as she realized what they were looking at.
"It's the soul from last night!" Tomoyo declared as she noticed the same thing as Sakura.
"Is it going in the direction of Hogwarts?" Ron asked, not quite understanding what that particular detail could mean.
"The anchor…" Shaoran muttered, mostly to himself.
"She lies…in silks…hidden…waiting…" Sakura's empty tone of voice instantly called almost everyone's attention.
"Again?!" Tomoyo cried out shocked.
She'd rarely ever known Sakura to lose control of her own premonitory powers, never actually witnessed it since she'd become the Card Mistress; and yet it had happened to her twice in less than twenty-four hours.
There was no reply to that comment, but unexpectedly both Naoko and Sirius began walking faster in the direction of the castle.
"I have a feeling we must follow." Eriol commented, mostly unnecessarily.
And really, by that point Long, Tomoyo and Harry were already following the two Blacks, with the others beginning to follow them.
"You go ahead." Severus told them. "Sonomi and I will catch up."
"Severus, I'll have you know I'm perfectly capable of keeping up with the teens." Sonomi informed him in a clipped tone. "I'm pregnant, not crippled."
"Still, it's better if you don't overexert yourself." Severus bravely insisted on the matter.
Sonomi sighed, she had known Severus would be overprotective of her, probably even worse than Daniel had been almost two decades before; still, nothing could lessen in the slightest the happiness she felt being pregnant again, and from a man she loved with everything she was. And it wasn't like she actually needed to get to wherever that unknown soul was going, wherever the teens insisted on following, as fast as them. She would get there, in time, and find out what was going on.
.-.
The group of teens rushed after the unknown soul, through the halls and stairs of Hogwarts. At times a staircase would move away from where they needed to get and the teens would simply jump off it and to the next level, sometimes using some magic to aid them and make sure they would actually make it to the next landing. It was a good thing quite a good number of students had left on break, and those left weren't around, spirits know what they would think of the nine teens rushing after what looked almost like a patronus, doing feats no human (wizard or no) should be capable of.
Eventually they made it to what looked like a sublevel of the castle, in the very center of it. The soul went straight through the statue of what looked like an angel and disappeared behind it, into another room.
"Where are we?" Long asked, looking around, confused.
At one point he'd thought they were headed in the direction of Slytherin's quarters, since they were in the area of the dungeons, but not anymore.
"If my calculations are correct, we must be in the very middle of the castle." Ron commented with a brow furrowed. "The first level beneath the main floor."
"It's not only that." Harry added. "If memory serves…we must be about two or three levels beneath the gargoyle that gives access to the Headmaster's office…"
That actually called some attention.
"Think we will need a password to get past that statue?" Tomoyo asked, signaling to the stone angel before them.
"Likely." Eriol nodded.
"We will." Hermione announced, wand out, she had just tested the statue, learning it was, indeed, the entrance 'somewhere'.
"Great, just great." Long muttered. "How are we supposed to even begin guessing the password when we don't have even the slightest idea of where this leads?"
"Maybe we could just get through it…" Sakura suggested softly.
"No way." Shaoran refused instantly. "We already told you, you aren't doing any serious magic for at least three days."
"But Shaoran-kun…" Sakura began.
However, before she could say anything else, the echo of stone moving made everyone snap to attention: the stone-angel had just moved aside, allowing them entrance. After staring at the statue for a few seconds, everyone turned to the one standing at the very entrance of the now-revealed passage:
"Naoko-chan?" Sakura and Tomoyo asked at the same time, completely flabbergasted.
"What did you do?" Sirius inquired, not understanding anything.
"I just asked the angel if she could let us pass." Naoko replied as if it should be obvious.
Several of the teens face-faulted, they had never considered something like that. And then again, why should they? A statue guarding the entrance of a room, or a passage, should have asked for a password, then why hadn`t it? Something was going on and neither of them had the slightest idea of what it might be.
Sirius insisted on going first, if there was anything at all wrong or dangerous wherever the passage led to, he wanted to be able to protect the teens, particularly his daughter and godson, the other teens thought he was exaggerating, but still allowed him to go first, closely followed by Naoko, Long, Harry, Hermione and then everyone else.
The passage soon lead to a set of stairs, then a rather narrow hall, which eventually ended up in a rather spacious stone-room.
"Guys, am I the only one who finds this place kind'a creepy?" Ron asked as he looked around.
"If I didn't know better I would say this place looks and 'feels' very much like a…well, like a mausoleum." Long admitted in a low voice.
That admittance suddenly reminded everyone of the words pronounced by Sakura before they had all taken off after the unknown soul, as possibilities began going through their minds. However, before any of them could express one, Sirius suddenly froze in place, causing Naoko and Harry to practically crash against his back.
"Hey!" Long himself had trouble stopping. "Whatever did you stop for?"
There was no answer, instead Sirius, Naoko and Harry all looked as if they'd been frozen in place, as they stared straight forward, at whatever it was the room contained.
It took some effort, but eventually Hermione and Long managed to look beyond the three frozen figures, the first standing on the tips of her toes, while the second looked over his girlfriend's head; what they saw was enough to nearly leave them in the same state the other three were in.
"Oh Spirits…" Hermione gasped as she stepped back.
And it was that there, in the very middle of the room, laying on a stone table, over silks, and surrounded by a gossamer-like veil laid a woman, she looked young, so very young…golden-brown straight hair formed what looked almost like a halo around her hair and the pillow she laid on, her body was covered by a beautiful cream colored dress, long enough that only the very end of her feet could be seen beneath them; though her arms, skin so very pale, very still visible through the semi-transparent sleeves, hands set over her chest, clasped together, a golden band on the third ring of her left hand…
She was such a beautiful woman, laying there, like a princess in some fairy tale…
The three were still completely fixated over the woman laying on the stone table, when suddenly the rustle of fabric called everyone's attention to a side.
There, standing against a column on the limits of the room, stood none other than Albus Dumbledore, he too watching the sleeping woman as attentively as Sirius, Naoko and Harry seemed to, though in his case there was a tiredness, and a sadness in his eyes, deep enough to drown anyone.
Harry couldn't help it, he gasped when he became aware of the presence of the presence of the aged wizard in the unknown chamber. It was a low noise, but in the enclosed space, it still echoed enough to call the older wizard's attention to them.
"Harry?" Albus asked when he became aware of him, and then the rest of them. "What are you doing here? How did you all even get here…?"
He was about to say something else when he noticed the presence of the one among the group who was most definitely not a teenager…
"Sirius?!" Albus was clearly overwhelmed.
There was no answer, the blue-gray eyed man's attention seemed to be fully on the sleeping woman still.
"We're sorry if we intruded on anything Headmaster." Hermione spoke from slightly behind Harry. "We had no idea what this place was, or anything…"
"I would really like to know how exactly you got here Miss Granger." Albus declared as seriously as he could. "This is a private chamber."
"We really are sorry sir." Harry assured him. "We were just following a soul, got to the angel-statue, and when Naoko asked her if we could go through, the statue just moved…"
That seemed to catch the aged wizard's attention who just sighed and closed his eyes briefly, as if those words somehow explained everything; at least until he noticed something else Harry had just said.
"You were following a soul?" Albus repeated, absolutely confused.
"Yes…" Harry began, not quite knowing how to explain that part, or anything of what had happened at Azkaban the previous night.
"There it is!" Long announced right then.
They all turned to look as the semi-translucent silver-white amorphous being somewhat-floated around the stone table and the sleeping woman a few times before going straight through the gossamer-like veil.
For a few second not a sound was heard, it seemed like they were all holding their breaths in waiting, and then…
A deep breath…followed by another, and another…hands that moved slightly, fingers opening and closing as if attempting to hold onto something that wasn't there…and a pair of the clearest blue eyes opening to the world for the first time in what would seem like forever.
Three words then followed, breaking the silence more definitely than any thunder could have, and sending everyone in the chamber into chaos yet again:
"Alyssa…"
"Naty…"
"Mama!"