A/N: The part with Sirius during the banshee attack was inspired by my sister, Cyra. Personally, I'm not satisfied with this chapter. It seemed filled with a dark beauty when I imagined it but I don't think I managed to capture it. Oh, well…
Chapter 13: The Ritual
Before he knew it, Harry was surrounded by banshees. He looked around and couldn't see a way out. He looked back to see Dumbledore, teachers and some students standing in front of the castle. They were running towards him. They wouldn't be able to get to him, the banshees had surrounded him in two wide circles. The first circle, turned to face him, the second facing outwards. Harry took out his wand and prepared to fight their assault.
As the crowd of students and teachers got closer to where Harry was standing, two of the banshees in the outer circle facing them, let out very shrill screams, causing every human within hearing distance to cover their ears in pain. Harry almost doubled over with pain. The moment the banshees stopped screaming, he straightened up and drawing a ragged breath, lifted his wand. Harry bellowed the incantation of the sound blocking spell and for a second a bubble shot out of is wand surrounding him before becoming invisible once the bubble completely enveloped him. One of the banshees in the inner circle facing him opened her mouth but Harry couldn't hear her scream. The others however did, and at once clapped their hands over their ears. Once the banshee scream ended, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Lupin stepped forward and after speaking to each other, all cast a spell together, a fluid blue shield emanated out of their wands and joined together to build an invisible barrier between the banshees and them. At that moment, a second banshee in the inner circle facing Harry began to scream but this time all humans were protected from it. Harry knew he would have to renew the sound block because it had begun to vibrate.
Once the second banshee's scream died, Harry quickly released the sound spell and began to recast it. But unlike the last time, there was no pause this time and another banshee began screaming. Harry still managed to cast the spell but he staggered once the spell was done and the scream blocked out. The few seconds that he had heard the scream, it had been as if something cold was trickling in through his ear. It was like cold blood flowing inwards and freezing everything it touched, sapping his energy. He saw Dumbledore's face carved in deep concern, close to despair. He saw Lupin nodding at him encouragingly as if willing him not to give up.
Harry looked at the banshees themselves. It was strange to be surrounded by so many white-haired figures. True to his lessons, they were dressed in flowing gray robes with the banshee necklace around their throats. Their robes had bits of gauzy flowing material everywhere that made it look as if the garment was torn in places. There were eight or nine banshees facing him and forming the inner circle. There were around twelve of them on the outer circle with their backs to Harry, looking out for any threats. Two of the banshees had three black stones studded on the necklace that looked like a gray strip of silk. One banshee had two stones on her necklace and two more had one stone each on their necklace. The banshee standing directly in front of Harry had long black nails but otherwise all their appearance was almost the same.
As one scream ended and another began, Harry's sound shield began to vibrate and waver again. Harry cursed the fates, the spell had such a short duration and needed to be recast. Since the new scream gave no signs of ending, Harry gathered his strength and released the spell. Instantly, his ears were subjected to the ear-splitting shriek. Once again he felt something cold trickling down his ear as if resuming its journey and he felt himself weaken. He managed to cast the spell with great difficulty and that cold trickling had already made a freezing path down his throat by then.
Harry felt cold inside, the pain of the past few days resurfacing within him. His spell began to waver even before the first scream ended. Harry raised his wand with a trembling hand. Odd, how he felt almost detached as he realized his strength was fading away.
This time he waited until the spell wavered and broke under the onslaught of the banshee's scream. As the sound assaulted his ears, he tried to focus on the incantation. He felt his vocal cords pronouncing the words but he couldn't hear anything expect the scream. The cold trickling was making its way down to his heart. He tried to shout the spell's words again but he knew his voice grew weaker even if he couldn't hear it. Unimaginable grief clouded his consciousness. He could feel all the misery and anguish of his Azkaban days welling up inside him. He shook his head, trying to clear it all away and focus on casting the spell but it didn't work. The cold trickling had reached his heart, taking it in a freezing grip. The pain intensified as the banshee's scream became more high pitched. Then the scream ended and Harry found himself on his knees. His wand arm felt too heavy to lift and a hopeless feeling was suffocating him, killing his will to fight on. The spell had failed, leaving Harry vulnerable to banshee magic.
The banshees looked at each other before focusing their full attention on him again. The banshee on Harry's left began to scream. This time it was different, even the teachers and students behind the barrier could feel it.
"Dumbledore, we have to do something!" Professor McGonagall tugged on Dumbledore's arm frantically.
"We can't, Minerva. There is no spell known to wizardkind that can stop the banshees. Even if we did interfere now, it could prove fatal to Harry."
"There must be something we can do."
"There isn't. There isn't anything expect the unforgivables that can put a stop to it. And killing all those banshee would be difficult even if all the other teachers were willing to do it. And any interruption might result in Harry's death. The best that we can hope for now is that Harry comes out of this alive." In all her years of knowing him, Minerva McGonagall had never seen or heard Dumbledore in such despair.
As the first strange scream echoed on the school grounds, unheard by the other students, Harry's eyes focused on Dumbledore. The freezing cold in his heart increased as he remembered every memory linked to Dumbledore. Harry had come to depend on Dumbledore's all-knowing, comforting presence in his life over the years at Hogwarts. How Dumbledore or his help had always been there for him whenever he faced a challenge. How Dumbledore always knew everything without ever being told and he had a solution for every unsolvable problems.
Then Harry's memory turned to the night of the Third Task. He saw everything again, Dumbledore breaking his wand, Dumbledore watching silently as he was thrown out of Hogwarts. He remembered the days of his trail when Dumbledore sat there in the court, watching him with disappointment in his eyes, watching as his sentence was read out and he was led out by the Aurors.
A single tear escaped Harry's eyes as the memories ended, his unblinking gaze still on Dumbledore. As the scream ended, the banshee who had screamed stepped forward near Harry. To those watching from afar, it seemed as if she collected the single tear into the palm of her hand.
Once she reclaimed her place in the circle, there was silence for a minute before the banshee next to her began the strange scream. Harry raised his face sharply as if in pain and after a moment his gaze fixed on the tear-stained face of Hermione who was huddled close to Ron. As the high-pitched scream tore through the surroundings, Harry's thoughts were centered on Hermione. His know-it-all best friend who was always ready to find out the answer to every question, the girl who stayed by his side no matter what anyone else said. She helped him through so much, even when she was lying petrified in the Hospital wing, she always managed to be sensible and see the truth. Except when it came to seeing the truth about Harry. She hadn't been there for him then. She had not seen the truth then. She didn't listen to his problem or offer him any help then.
Another tear escaped from Harry's eyes. The second banshee came forward to claim it. When she retreated, it was the banshee to Harry's far right that took up what was becoming clear as a ritual of sorts. As the next scream echoed, Harry's mind went to Ron, his best friend from day one. Ron had always been ready to join Harry for every dangerous, life-threatening adventure that came along. Ron who was always ready to jump to his defense when Malfoy insulted him. Ron who had been jealous of him when he was chosen Champion. Ron who had hated him whole-heartedly since the moment everyone had accused him of mass-murder.
The tear that escaped his eyes was once again collected by the banshee. As she returned to her place, the banshees looked at each other.
"Why are they looking like that?" someone in the crowd voiced what everyone was thinking.
"They look almost like…almost like…they're surprised about something" Professor Vector said.
Harry's head was bowed again. The banshee with the black nails tilted her head to a side, looking at the banshee beside her. At this the other banshee stood taller and screamed. Ron felt the tears stinging his eyes as Harry's gaze returned to him once again and then shifted to Ginny who was standing beside him. Harry remembered the times he had spent with the Weasleys. They had been his family, sitting at their breakfast table in their little house, he had felt at home, like he belonged. Then they had been there at his trial. They were there as a family, only he was no longer even a small part of that family. The tear that was shed for his almost-family was collected by the banshee.
He was still down kneeling on his knees. Everyone else was still paralyzed, watching him surrounded by the banshees. It was then that the banshee in front of him began to scream.
"Severus, cast another sound barrier on this one. Quickly before the scream breaks through." Dumbledore's instructions were carried out hurriedly.
Dumbledore turned to ask Sirius to add his spell too but found Sirius in no condition to help them. He was being restrained by two teachers as he tried to break free of them and rush out to Harry. When he turned back to the banshee circles, he saw Harry looking straight at Sirius.
From the moment Harry had learnt that Sirius was innocent, Harry had seen him more as a father rather than a godfather. During the Tournament, he had seen Sirius risk his life to come and see him. When he had been accused of the crime, he had been beyond sure that Sirius would believe him. After all Sirius had been accused of something so similar himself. What he hadn't expected was to find Sirius blaming him, telling him he was exactly like Pettigrew, saying he couldn't believe that Harry was James and Lily's son. As the pain caused solely by Sirius seared through his frozen heart, his eyes stung until two tears overflowed. The banshee with the black nails came forward and collected them. Harry felt all the pain crowding in on him, eating away at his heart, making him feel as if he was shattering into a million pieces.
He couldn't take the pain anymore. He had tried to bottle it up. He had tried to bury it deep down inside. He had tried to pretend it wasn't there. But it was all flowing out now, he couldn't hold it in any longer. It was a moment before Harry realized that he was screaming. His scream was nothing like the other banshee screams. It wasn't shrill or high-pitched but it was every bit as painful. He screamed and screamed and it was as if all the sorrow and anguish within him had finally come out. The wind was blowing harshly, throwing strands of hair in his face, making most of it flow behind him. As his scream died away, he lowered his head to see his clothes had changed. As he got up, he saw that what was once his school robes was now a flowing robe with gauzy flyaway bits like the other banshees only his were black in colour. Harry looked around to see the circle breaking as the banshees neared him, a sadly welcoming smile on their features.
"NO! I won't let this happen. I failed him once, I won't fail him again. HARRY, Harry, look at me" Sirius shouted straining against the others. There was a mad glint in his eyes.
Catching a glimpse of movement, Harry raised his bowed head and saw Sirius fighting madly against the two teachers holding him back. Sirius managed to break free and ran out of the shield that protected the others, wand in hand. A banshee who had been watching the crowd saw him and screamed. As the impact of the scream hit him, he faltered, covering his ears with his hands but continued to stride forward. As Harry watched, Sirius ran forward and two banshees fixed their gaze on him. When he came within a threatening distance of the banshees, they screamed together. Everyone saw Sirius fall to his feet, attacked by the banshee magic. The screams continued and Harry watched emotionlessly.
But Sirius wasn't ready to give up. He removed his wand hand from his ear and through the pain focused on the banshees stunning the two who were screaming. The two banshees fell, their screams unfinished and immediately the others stepped forward. Three banshees came much closer to Sirius and screamed a long scream together. The magical attack hit Sirius full force and he swayed even as he was kneeling. He tried to shut the sound out with his hands but it didn't help. The screams continued and Sirius' strength began to diminish. The banshees only ended the scream when Sirius collapsed in the grass, tear-filled eyes closing shut. Dumbledore broke the barrier and all the teachers and some students rushed forward, wands at the ready. Seeing the wizards running towards them, the head of the banshees screeched and Harry was amazed when he found himself understanding the screech as a command to retreat. Two banshees glided forward and lifted their fallen companions. As one the banshees rose in the air and floated upwards. In that moment, the crowd noticed the two tigercat cubs that belonged to Harry running out from amongst them and stopping when they reached near Harry, watching him. They were standing there silently, unmoving as if they realized something important was happening.
Harry was still rooted to the spot, staring at Sirius who lay motionless on the ground. No one could read the expression on his face as he continued to stare at Sirius. Then, the leader of the banshees circled the air and screeched down at him. He looked up at her.
The others were standing near Sirius. He looked at Sirius again. Then he looked at the rest of them. Then he looked up at the banshees. For one insane moment even those who knew his fate with certainty hoped that he would choose them over the banshees. But their hopes were dashed as Harry rose gently in the air, hovering gracefully a few feet above the ground, giving Hogwarts a final look before gliding up, up until he reached the other banshees. Together, they began to glide away on wings of air. Everyone stood there and watched as many gray figures and one black figure became smaller and smaller until they disappeared into the gray morning clouds.
The two tigercats sat with their backs to the crowd, watching as their master flew away. They growled and jumped, pawing the air. They were trying to call their human back. But he was too far away. The cubs stood silently for a moment. Just when everyone thought they had given up on Harry, something happened. Suddenly, two black, leathery wings sprouted out of their backs. The cubs opened their wings experimentally flapping a few times. Then, without a moment's delay, they beat their wings hard. Tawreek rose from the ground and flew up as if he had been doing it forever but Siyaa was still struggling a little clumsily with his left wing. Tawreek circled Siyaa in the air and growled at him. It must have helped because then Siyaa was flying too and together the tigercat brothers flew after their human.
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A/N: Sorry about the mess-up of the last chapter being posted twice. I guess I'll never know whether I got around a hundred reviews for the last chapter because it was so good or because everyone wanted to point out the error that happened on ffnet when I tried to upload it.
I'm taking the majority's advice and cutting off most of the romance from this fic. If I keep any bits and pieces they will be posted under a different name altogether.
That reminds me, since I'm deleting the romance, the title no longer applies does it? Think I'm gonna change the title. You're welcome to make suggestions, just remember I'm very stubborn and will do what I like in the end.
Answer to some questions: No, I'm not Chinese but all my friends are either Chinese, Indians or Malays. White hair not inspired by Inuyasha, don't like his ears much. Harry has to sign the guardianship papers coz a reviewer pointed out the law to me that in guardianship issues, children above 12 are asked their views before court makes decision.