Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Nope, not me.
A/N: Well, I don't have a whole lot to say today, except that this part is substantially longer than the first three have been, and Part V, which I will post in a few days, is longer yet... This would have been posted yesterday, but ff.net decided it would be fun to crash...
I only had nine lines of TS Eliot's The Wasteland to work with this time - Death By Water is by far the shortest section in the poem! - but I think I did all right. No particular favourite sections this time, though I am enjoying writing Remus and Aemilia.
Some of the poems from The Space Between The Stars make a return today - the chant to banish unseelie wights and Helena's claim to the status of High Priestess. I wrote the latter but not the former, which I found in Cecilia Dart-Thornton's Bitterbynde trilogy, though I think she nicked it from somewhere older.
Someone asked about what Harry's role is now that Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Cho and Luna have formed the coterie. My answer is this: Harry has an even more important part to play in bringing the dead back. The coterie are a kind of power source - Harry works the magic. Throughout this chapter, you'll see him referred to as the Necromancer - Harry does the actual magic, he just sources it in the coterie.
So much for me not having much to say! Reviews are very nice, so let's have lots, and I will shut up now.
Part IV - Death By Water
Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.
- TS Eliot, The Wasteland, Part IV, Death By Water
Telae Domus, May, 1998
Helena was the first to arrive at Telae Domus.
Valerius started to cry in her arms. He hated it when she Apparated with him more than anything in the world. "Shhh, shhh, shhh," she said soothingly.
It always made her depressed whenever she came back here. Depressed first, and then despairing - so much destruction! so much death! - but this time, she vowed she would not despair.
Bill Apparated in next to her. "What do we need to do?"
She handed him Valerius. "Just keep him happy," she said. "I will do the rest."
Telae Domus. The Home of the Spider. Place of a thousand dreams. Dreams that had been trapped like flies in Voldemort's sticky web. He had eaten Diana, Lily, Regina, Aralinda...
...but she would not let him eat death.
She clapped her hands once, twice, three times to ward off evil spirits. Three times was magic, after all. Then she began to chant.
"Hypericum, salt and bread,
"Iron cold and berry red,
"Self-bored stone and daisy bright,
"Save me from unseelie wight."
"Red verbena, amber, bell,
"Turned-out raiment, ash as well,
"Whistle tunes and rowan-tree,
"Running water, succour me."
"Rooster with your cock-a-doo,
"Banish wights and darkness too."
No unseelie wight would come here. She hoped.
Helena wondered if she could have done what Regina did. Torn a hank out of the Tapestry, knowing she would die, knowing she would have to lose all the people she loved - for the second time, no less - and yet doing it anyway.
I gave up my sister, she thought, but I do not think I could not give up myself. That would be... giving up everyone.
Valerius. Bill. Even Severus, in his own way, was dear to her.
"Are you finished?" Bill asked, rocking Valerius. "Do you need me to put up wards, or anything?"
Helena shook her head. "No wards. Not at Telae Domus."
"But -"
"We do not need them here."
She closed her eyes. Come to me, come to me, come to me...
"Come then, and meet me
"In the Land Upon the Waves
"And we shall harvest the apples
"That are under the sea
"I am Telae Domus of the blood, dark battle host
"I am the people of free companions
"I am the torc of gold, brighter than the sun
"I am the hero's light, the flame of courage on the brow
"I am fír flámethon, lady's truth
"Through me
"Darkness yields to light
"Sorrow to joy
"I am a breaker threatening doom
"The boar-champion, ruthless and red
"I am the tomb of your hope
"I am the daughter of Arachne, lady of weavers
"I am Helena, High Priestess!"
"Lady."
She opened her eyes. She heard Bill's swift intake of breath. "What is your name?"
The eldritch dark haired man bowed his head to her in acknowledgement. He was Sirius Black and Severus Snape rolled into one and made divine. "I am Arawn," he answered. "I am the Lord of Annwn, the Otherworld. I am the King of Seelie Wights. I am the Protector of Telae Domus."
She could not help it. She had to ask. "Why did you let them die? Why did you let Telae Domus fall?"
"So the Arachniae could be reborn from the ashes," he answered. "Stronger. Better."
Phoenix.
"This is fír flámethon, lady's truth," Helena said.
"What do you desire?"
"Your protection, and your blessing. Necromancy will be performed here this day."
"You would call back the dead?"
"There is no other way."
"And what will you give me, for this blessing?"
She bowed her head.
Forget the cry of gulls.
There was always a price to pay.
Forget the deep sea swells.
She looked up. "I will give you whatever you desire."
Forget the profit and the loss.
"Would you give me your husband?"
She drew a deep breath. "Yes."
"Would you give me your son?"
"Yes."
"Would you give me yourself?"
Helena closed her eyes. "Yes," she whispered.
She felt fingers on her face as Arawn forced her to look at him. "Then none of these shall you have to give," he told her gently, "and my protection and my blessing will be yours."
She had passed the test.
§ § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § §
Helena Weasley was talking to a dark haired man, her red haired husband standing some distance away, when Niamh and Severus Apparated into Telae Domus. "What's going on?" she whispered.
Severus was staring at Helena and the man. "That's a wight," he replied.
Niamh shifted closer to him. She was an academic, a translator. The notion of wights - creatures animated by magic instead of life - terrified her beyond belief. My mother dealt with them, she thought, and look where that got her. Dead. She blinked back a tear. The death was too recent, too near, her heart still bleeding.
But today was a day of necromancy, and maybe she would see her mother, after all.
There were more pops behind them as more and more of the Order and the DA began to Apparate into the clearing. Niamh shut it out and clung to Severus's hand. He did not seem to notice. He was staring at Helena.
Jealousy.
A needle - so red hot with envy she could almost physically feel it - pierced her heart. Helena. Helena. Helena.
He... did he...?
She let go of his hand and walked away from him. He did not appear to notice.
"Hello, Bill," she said softly.
He startled slightly, but smiled at her. "Hello, Niamh."
He had the child in his arms. She held out her hands.
"Might I... hold him?"
Bill cast her a strange look, but nodded. "Why not?"
Valerius Weasley. Child of Helena Seraphim and Severus Snape. No, she thought. Helena Weasley. Weasley.
Valerius had Severus's black eyes, but his hair was golden. She smiled at Bill. "He looks like Helena," she said softly.
A current under sea picked his bones in whispers.
Bill's eyes were full of some indescribable emotion. "Not enough," he murmured. "Not enough."
§ § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § §
Remus was already there when Aemilia arrived.
She did not go to him.
She never knew what to say to him any more. Never knew what he was thinking. Once, he had been an open book. She had been able to see him torture himself, could understand it, could help him.
Now...
I never know what you are thinking!
Think!
She had thought and thought, but there was no answer.
She knew how much the Order of the Phoenix meant to him. Knew how much the final downfall of Voldemort meant. Knew much Harry meant to him, all that was left of James and Lily.
She had all the pieces, but she could not put the puzzle together.
She had been with him as he rose and fell, passing the stages of his age and youth. As a friend, as a lover, as an acquaintance, and now, as a wife. And never before had she felt so alone.
People were always surprised when they met Remus and Aemilia, because they seemed so incompatible. Remus had a well ordered mind. He was rational, he was logical. He ought to have married someone like that, Aemilia thought, watching him. He was talking to Sirius Black, and they both looked very sombre. Someone like... Helena Weasley, or Niamh Virdis. Not me. Not me.
She was Aemilia, a lawyer with the most untidy desk in London. Aemilia, who never planned anything. Aemilia, who let life happen to her. Aemilia, who would rush out as she was and walk the street with her hair down.
Aemilia, who was pregnant, and did not know how to tell her husband because she did not understand him any more.
§ § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § §
They were all wearing white.
Ginny thought, for one, that it looked rather stupid on Ron, particularly considering he looked like he was wearing a toga, but she didn't like to say anything. Now was not the time to tease her big brother. Not when he was scared out of his wits.
She wasn't particularly happy herself.
One month of hasty training for the five of them, the coterie, under a motley group of teachers. Sirius had taught them a bit of group defence, Snape some Occlumency and Legilimency, and Helena elemental magic, but Ginny did not think it was enough.
They were all wearing white.
Lambs to the slaughter.
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.
"Are you ready?" Helena asked them. A strange man was standing beside her, and Ginny realised with a shiver that he was eldritch. A wight. A king of wights.
"I am ready," she replied bravely.
"I am ready." Hermione.
"I am ready." Luna.
"I am ready." Cho.
The four girls who, in his life, had meant the most to Harry Potter. Ginny, Hermione, Luna, Cho. Fire, earth, air, water.
Helena cast her eyes on Ron. Ginny saw her brother gulp. "I am ready."
"Who is the Necromancer?"
"I am the Necromancer."
Harry.
They were all wearing white.
All except for Harry Potter, who wore black.
§ § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § §
The elements. Four points, spirit in the centre. Passive resistance.
And Harry, the Necromancer.
Harry, Ginny thought, be careful.
She remembered the day that he had proposed to her at the Ministry of Magic. He had been joking, of course - Remus had just proposed to Aemilia and Sirius to Regina in quick succession - but both of them had been floating on a cloud that day with elation.
It had been the best moment of her life.
"Who would you call back?" the king of the seelie wights asked.
"Lily and James Potter," Harry said.
"Albus Dumbledore." Remus and Severus together.
"Aberforth Dumbledore."
"Alicia Spinnet."
"Dedalus Diggle."
"Emmeline Vance."
"Charlie Weasley." That was her parents. Ginny felt tears prick at her eyelids and forced them back. Fire could not cry.
"Marlene McKinnon."
"Benjy Fenwick."
"Edgar Bones."
"Caradoc Dearborn."
"Gideon Prewett."
"Fabian Prewett."
"Dorcas Meadowes."
The list went on and on. So many dead to be recalled. So many had died... for them.
Ginny dimly heard Helena list off a whole lot of priestesses and looked around her. Telae Domus was quiet and green, but it was all too easy to imagine it full of screaming and blood and death.
Beside Ginny, Cho spoke up. "Cedric Diggory."
Sirius was last. "Regina Lupin," he said.
Peace before war.
"So shall it be done," Harry said. Ginny saw him take a deep breath. She braced herself.
"Denicalis!"
Fire erupted in Ginny. The djinn awoke.
Thou shalt not be a bystander.
We are here to fight.
And fight they would.
Fire, water, earth and air.
Djinn, undine, dryad and sylph.
And spirit.
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.
The dead returned.
Those are pearls that were his eyes.
And together, they stepped into the whirlpool.
§ § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § §
REVIEW!
Part V, What The Thunder Said, should be out in a couple of days.
Arawn (pronounced Ah-rah-oon) is the King of the Seelie Wights and the Otherworld.