Eurynome's Return
Ginny awoke abruptly. She sat bolt upright in her four-poster bed, panting with fright and looking around in confusion. The alarm clock read four in the morning. Her dorm-mates were all in various stages of alertness, some rubbing their eyes, others looking baffled. Daphne Geller, whose bed was closest to the window, was standing beside it, glancing out at the pre-dawn sky with a puzzled expression.
"Did anyone else hear that?" she asked, over the long, low rumble of thunder.
Ginny couldn't understand why she'd been ripped from her sleep, but it was apparent that whatever it was that woke her, had wakened her dorm-mates as well.
"Oh my," gasped Daphne, stumbling back from the large window as it started to tremble. Outside, a squall began to grow in great intensity, becoming so loud that it drowned out the girls' cries of fear. They scrambled from their beds and darted to the furthest spot away from the window.
It was faint at first, almost indiscernible from the howl of the wind, but it became clearer with each passing second. A scream arose from the winds, feminine, primal, and enraged. The dorm door burst open, causing the sixth-year girls to jump, their own yelps of fright muted by the fierce howls and screams of the wind, which was now pounding on the windows so hard that they would surely explode at any moment.
Hermione stood at the door with a hand on the latch, in her nightgown and dressing robe, her bushy hair sleep-tousled, her eyes wide in fear. Behind her, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil were rushing down the stairwell. Hermione appeared to be shouting something, and waving for the girls in the dorm to join her. Without pause, Ginny's roommates rushed forward as Hermione stepped aside. Ginny kicked off her covers and grabbed for her dressing gown, unable to stuff her feet into her slippers quickly enough. Hermione hurried forward, her wand out, and grabbed Ginny's arm.
"Come on!" Hermione's voice was almost a whisper in battle with the continuous scream of the wind.
Ginny took two steps towards the door and stopped; she rushed back to her night stand and grabbed her wand. Just then, the violent wind and feral screaming stopped. Ginny froze. Her eyes were wide as she glanced to the window, which stood whole and silent. Beyond it, the early morning sky was filled with dark, fat storm clouds that seemed to almost glow. Ginny could hear Hermione's quickened breaths; she stood stock still, appearing to strain her hearing. From below frightened voices filtered up to them.
"What was that?" Ginny whispered. Hermione shook her head in answer, her eyes narrowing and her jaw slightly clenching as she appeared to think.
"Ginny!"
Both girls' whipped around to look at the doorway. Will's voice echoed up the stairwell along with raised voices, sounding to be in argument.
"Come on," said Hermione, heading once more to the stairs.
The common room was packed to the point people could barely move. Professor McGonagall was nowhere to be seen. Fifth and sixth year prefects were doing their duty in attempting to calm the frightened-looking first and second years that were huddled in one area. On the stair landing, near the girls' entrance, stood Will. Directly behind him were Harry and Ron in their pajamas, both looking fierce, as if irritated that Will had beaten them to the stairs. Off a short distance away, Jack finished buckling the belt to his scabbard, otherwise fully clothed, as was Will.
"What was that?" said one student from the crowd.
"It was horrid," said another.
"Quiet!" Hermione shouted, pushing her way down the stairs, her Head Girl's badge gleaming on her robe in the light of the wall sconces.
Will stuck close to Ginny as she followed Hermione, his finger tips barely brushing the inside of her upper arm, causing her to shiver. The crowd of students quieted down considerably. Hermione stood on tip toes, looking around the room, as if doing a mental count of everyone.
"Where's McGonagall?" said Ron, coming to a stop beside Hermione.
Before anyone had a chance to answer, the floor beneath them began to vibrate. People screamed as the entire castle began to quake. Dust and bits of old plaster fell over the students' heads. The rumbling increased as another scream filled the air, the same feral scream from earlier, full of vengeful fury. Even Jack, being well used to the sea's unstable waters, staggered and stumbled his way over to where the others stood. Ginny fell sideways and Will's grip instantly tightened on her arm to catch her. Her shoulder hit someone, and another pair of hands grabbed her other arm. She looked up to see Harry next to her, his face set in determination and concern and he gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. Another violent jolt caused the castle to tremble again and Will pulled Ginny closer to him as she swayed.
The crowd of students surged forward towards the portrait exit, despite Hermione's cries for order. Magically, as if preset for such emergency conditions, the portrait slid out of the way, and the opening rapidly widened enough to allow for a large number students to pass through all at once.
There was a set of massive explosions that further rocked the castle, barely heard over all the other chaos along with even more screams of fright as the Gryffindors pushed their way out of the common room and down the stairs.
"We have to get out of here!" Harry shouted.
"C'mon!" shouted Ron, grabbing a hold of Hermione's hand and tugging her towards the portrait.
Jack and Will stared at each other for a dark moment, both silently giving the barest of nod to the other. Jack handed Will his scabbard belt, which Will donned as they hurried to the exit.
They were the last to leave the Gryffindor tower, rushing down the grand staircase. Ghosts flew past at a blurring rate, armor turned their heads this way and that, trying to see what was going on. As they rounded the stairs to the front entrance, Peeves came rushing past, still in his pirate garb, his hands slapped together against his face as he screamed at the top of his lungs and went crashing through a wall. Ravenclaws, Slytherins, Hufflepuffs, and Gryffindors, alike, flocked to massive front doors of Hogwarts castle and spilled out onto the front lawn.
Harry led the group of six, pushing through the pandemonium. Once they reached out beyond the doors to the front of the eerily silent crowd, the reason for the silence was clear.
Professors raced around to the lake's edge. On the ground, next to a toppled cauldron and gutted fire, was a prone form. But that was to be registered by hardly anyone, with all eyes drawn to what was beyond it. A massive, churning wall of water rose high into the air from the center of the lake, glowing a sinister shade of pale green, its wavering light casting everything into strange, flickering shadows.
Harry's head jerked back, his eyes bulging.
Hermione gasped, her hand coming to her mouth.
Ron's jaw dropped; instinctively he stepped closer to Hermione as he stared up.
Ginny felt a weight of dread hit her so hard he knees almost gave way.
Jack and Will, both, staggered backwards.
All eyes were upwards.
A powerful, deep, and resounding voice came through just below the water's scream. Professor Dumbledore stood at the lake's edge, his wand pointing out. Professor McGonagall and Madam Pince knelt beside the fallen person. Professors, just inside the doors, attempted to keep the frantic students under control.
Ginny felt Will's grip on her arm again, his fingers digging into her flesh.
As one, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Will, and Jack rushed forward towards the lake. It seemed to have broken the sudden spell over the students that quickly followed. They were several feet away from the lake when the tremors and howling wind died down. Professor Dumbledore turned, seeming to register them, but moved his attention to the ground. Professor McGonagall and Madam Pince gently rolled the person over.
Professor Snape, his greasy hair half-covering his pale face and hooked nose, lay unconscious before them. His forehead was bleeding from the deep, long gash across it. The front of his robes was splashed with a thick, bluish white potion. More of the same potion lay spilled out of the cauldron and covered the ground.
The wall of water remained still and silent save for the strong, gusting wind.
"What was he thinking?" asked Professor McGonagall, pulling a tartan kerchief from her pocket and firmly pressing it against Snape's wound.
Professor Dumbledore knelt beside the cauldron and reached down. When he held up his hand again, he revealed two empty vials on his open palm.
It was Ginny's turn to gasp, looking between Will and Jack. Jack's brows rose, looking down at Dumbledore's palm. Will's face blanched.
"Please move!" demanded Madam Pomfrey, pushing past the crowd of students who remained a few feet back, just barely contained by the other professors. She dropped down to Snape's side and instantly began tending to him. After looking at his wound, Madam Pomfrey ripped opened a doctor's case that she had brought with her. She uncorked a wide mouthed jar and pulled out a thick, brown, gelatinous blob that she then placed onto his forehead. It instantly molded over the wound. She glanced at the two vials in Dumbledore's hand and then to the cauldron. "I need him brought to the hospital wing."
Professor Dumbledore flicked his wand, and a gurney magically appeared. Madams Pince and Pomfrey levitated Professor Snape onto the gurney, and hurried after him as it floated rapidly towards the castle, their dressing gowns whipping in the wind.
Professor McGongall moved to Dumbledore's side as he calmly stood studying the water. She looked at his palm, taking one of the empty vials. "What is all this, Albus?"
Those within ear shot hushed and strained to listen.
"It appears Severus was onto something and in a bit of a rush to see it to its completion." Professor Dumbledore indicated to the cauldron.
Students began to cry out in shock and horror. Ginny looked up at the same time that Professor Dumbledore turned around to face the lake.
Eyes appeared in the towering wall of water. Beautiful eyes that looked out over all, surveying them. A face soon followed, it was delicate and stunning to behold. The face frowned and its eyes narrowed.
"Eurynome." Hermione's frightened whisper came out in a rush of air, as if the very breath pulled from her lungs.
"It was my blood? My blood that caused this?" Will demanded, stepping forward looking back and forth between the massive wall of glowing water, and Dumbledore's hand. His face cast in flickering shadows of pale green light.
"The blood of a pirate – or pirates, as it were," said Jack, ironically, and frowned. His dark eyes watched the water as if weighing a decision.
"Return." The voice that surged forth from the great wall of water washed over the crowd and reverberated off of the castle to echo back like a tide returning to the sea.
Flocks of birds burst from the tree tops of the Forbidden Forest and took flight to find refuge. Students moved as one lump, taking several retreating steps back to the castle, and the professors made to regain a semblance of order. The wall steadily moved closer to the edge of the churning lake. Students were in a panic, some pushing closer to see, while others scrambled to move as far away as possible. Professors, caught between trying to control the students and stare, horror-struck, at the wall of water, were at a loss for control.
Ginny's heart pounded hard in her chest, standing with her fists clenched around her wand, feeling useless. She absently took a few steps away from the crowd, closer to Will, her mind was humming to the point she had difficulty with clear thoughts.
"Return!" Eurynome spoke again. This time, the ground violently quaked beneath their feet.
Professor Dumbledore raised his wand high, and began to chant a spell in a language Ginny did not recognize.
A sequence of events happened simultaneously with the first half of the spell uttered from Dumbledore's mouth.
Will spun on his heels, grasping Ginny's hand. "Ginny."
A shockwave shot forth from the wall, knocking Professor Dumbledore back through the air. His body doubled and his arms cast out as he crashed back to the earth, several feet away. Professor McGonagall, along with the other students, staggered, some falling. She quickly got to her feet and rushed to his side.
The face had disappeared from the shimmering wall of water. At the base, a large opening appeared. Where all around Hogwarts was the dark of a stormy pre-dawn with a churning green lake, beyond the massive portal, the sky was bright, blue, and calm. There, on the peaceful oceans, was a vast ship with black sails.
"The Black Pearl," Jack breathed out in awe, stepping forward to stand beside Will and Ginny.
The water between the lake's edge and the opening to Eurynome's wall was as smooth as glass.
"Ginny!" shouted Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
All of Hogwarts watched the chaos and confusion. Professor Dumbledore stirred slightly while McGonagall bent over him. Harry and Ron, with Hermione a step behind, rushed forward, only to come crashing into an invisible barrier a several feet away from where Ginny stood.
The squall picked once more. Trees bent from the force of the winds. Thunder crashed from the clouds above. Students ran for the shelter of Hogwarts. But, within the small area between the lakes edge and the invisible barrier, all was calm.
"Ginny," said Will again, his voice tender, his eyes were hopeful, bearing his soul. He grasped her hand in both his, gently stroking the back of it with his thumb.
Beyond Jack, Will, and Ginny, Harry and Ron pounded uselessly against the barrier; throwing curses at it that bounced back lamely. Hermione stood back, tears streaming down her face, a hand over her mouth; her shoulders shook with her sobs.
"Ginny!" Ron shrieked, almost hysterically, kicking and clawing at the unyielding barrier.
"Ginny – No!" Harry's voice was pain filled panic as he punched the barrier furiously.
Will gently took Ginny's chin, turning her back to look at him. Her eyes were wide and her breathing came in short, shallow bursts. She stood, rooted in fear, her heart pounding wildly in her chest, holding her wand in a white knuckled grip.
"We have to go, lad!" said Jack as the ground trembled beneath their feet.
"I should have – what I mean is --" Will began.
"Return . . ." Eurynome's beguiling voice whispered like a gentle breeze.
"I love you, Ginny," said Will.
Ginny sucked in a sharp breath. Her heart lurched in her chest and her mind spun.
"Come back with me. Return with me to the Black Pearl."