Chapter 62

Lady Grindelwald's instructions hadn't reassured her in the slightest and she found herself unable to stop searching Gellert's every action for signs of what he would someday become. There were signs, of course, she watched with a deep seated unease as he easily convinced their peers that the soul ritual she chose to perform for Berg's family wasn't dark, even though it most certainly toed the line.

He was passionate, powerful and charismatic, all traits which he must have carried through to his darker persona. Yet he was so caring and supportive, standing by her without ever asking what had her so unsettled. He loved his beast and his mother and he shared powerful bonds of friendship with his peers, both muggleborn and pureblood.

So she eventually ended up doing what his mother had suggested. Clearly, something significant must happen in the future, something that changed him so fundamentally that he lost every one of his powerful morals and values. Until she knew what that event was, there was no sense in distancing herself from him over something that hadn't even happened yet.

There was also, a small part of her that hoped that by being the best friend and companion she could possibly be, he wouldn't follow the path he was set out to follow. Perhaps, just maybe, his mother was wrong.

The ritual for Berg's family was set to take place at midnight on a full moon which conveniently occurred on a Sunday. Hermione had persuaded Atalanta to help them make appropriate clothing, modifying dresses and shirts so that they all wore black long black cloaks that covered their every feature with the appropriate protective embroidery along the hemlines. Anneken found the masks they would need from her family storerooms - bone white animal skulls with sharp, jagged planes. Gellert and Berg managed to obtain the necessary materials whilst the elves, believing the children were planning a midnight feast, provided the food.

At ten, the four of them snuck out of their rooms and retrieved the food that had been left out for them and saddled their beasts in silence. Anneken cast silencing spells on hooves and talons alike and they rode out like a host of wraiths. They were, Hermione decided, a terrifying ensemble. Bone masks gleamed in the moonlight, casting deep shadows in the empty eye sockets and hollow cheeks. Horns and antlers curled out of the shadow of deep cowls, hooked beaks and savage teeth gleamed darkly. Their hands were pale and ghostly on their reins and their mounts snorted and huffed in the silence of the charms.

They rode for an hour, passing just beyond the boundary of Lintzen property and into a dense thicket. Already, several mounts were tethered and Hermione instantly recognised the Hawdon twin's sleipnir and Petrovna's thestral along with two more that suggested the Russian witch had brought other children from her parent's coven.

They tied up their mounts next to the others and continued on foot, cloaks rippling across the ground with whispers. It wasn't long before they came across the much larger clearing that Anneken had promised they would find, already busy with activity.

She knew Atalanta by her height, far shorter than the others and wearing a dog's skull beneath her scrappy cloak. The Hawdon twins were also unmistakable with the heavy hippogriff skulls that they'd insisted on wearing. She could hear Petrovna issuing instructions in Russian to a pair of tall, willowy children as they placed torches. All three Russians wore deer skulls, and two more children wore dogs - Jori and Veli, if she remembered correctly were classmates of Gellert at school.

There were older children too whom she didn't recognise. Dominick Wach would be here somewhere, also mourning his father. Neele Fleiss probably hadn't arrived yet as she would have been impossible to miss with her bouncy persona and although Petrovna had said her betrothed; Rowland Yaxley would be present, Hermione had only met him once or twice and couldn't yet pick him by sight. Mareike too was probably running late as she had been planning to arrive with her older brother whom had yet to organise his mask and cloak last Hermione had heard. There was a huddle of other taller figures near where they'd decided to set out the altar, working as a team to resize a massive slab of stone. They were Anneken's classmates, and Hermione had met none of them.

She set to work with Gellert and Berg quickly, laying out blankets on the grass near the edge of the clearing and loading them up with the feast. Other children of with elves added their own contributions until the blankets were weighed down with dishes of all kinds, dotted with unlit candelabra that had been temporarily pilfered form family estates where they wouldn't be missed.

With the feast laid out, Hermione, Gellert and Berg crossed the clearing to the completed altar. A bright white chicken snoozed in a gilded owl cage, unaware of the fate that was about to befall it as the three of them laid out the athame, a series of white crystals and a bowl of crushed peppermint leaves. The sharp, fresh aroma drifted through the clearing as the last people arrived.

'Did you bring Mordred?' Berg confirmed, fidgeting nervously as he pulled out a pair of crystal chess pieces that he had decided would be the ritual vessel for his mother and father.

'Of course she did.' Mordred replied, shimmering into existence beside them. She could understand why they had made the mistake. With the voluminous cloak she wore, one could easily miss the shape of the sword strapped to her back. He too wore black, looking for the first time like the dark wizard he was said to be. He wore a dark cloak which fell in luxurious folds over his darkly gleaming armour. Black metal shoulder plates were worn over the cloak and a draconian mask covered his face. He leaned on a long, dark staff with a jagged crystal at the top.

'Good, we've got everything right?' Hermione watched as Gellert pulled out the list of ingredients.

'I think so.' Mordred eventually said after surveying the busy clearing.

The air was thick with nervous excitement and nobody could quite stand still as Hermione called them all together. Rows and rows of skulls stared up at her with empty eyes and Hermione resisted the urge to shiver. Berg stepped up beside her and a tall, slender figure that she assumed to be Dominick took her other side.

'Good evening, everyone.' Berg called. The excited muttering faded into the near silence of occasional shuffling. 'We are here because the High Priestess of Gorlois has offered to assist us in performing the rites for three wixen who passed without trace.'

'We shall summon their lost magical remains and inter them in three tokens, until such a time as they can be laid in their final resting place with the traditional rites.' Dominick spoke in a deep voice with an almost Bulgarian accent.

'Take your places.' Hermione commanded. There was a great stirring of excited chatter as the gathered witchlings scattered across the clearing to take their designated spots, lighting rows of torches with their wands along the way. Before long the clearing glowed with flickering flames and those gathered took on a demonic appearance.

'We remembered the muggle repelling charm, right?' Berg muttered nervously to Anneken who stood behind him.

'Yes.' The older witch confirmed. 'Now shut up.'

Silence fell as everyone reached their positions and Hermione looked out over the glowing clearing in front of them. From the slightly raised position stood on the altar, Hermione could see the image that had been marked out with torches. The five pointed star stretched out around them, someone seated at every intersection and angle between lines. Gellert had supervised the placement of everyone so that the denser intersections contained a more powerful wicca and the weaker or less experienced were out at the distant points of the star. Inside the pentagram was the summoning circle which surrounded the altar. Hermione stood inside a second circle, drawn in salt on the altar whilst Gellert, Berg, Dominick, Anneken and Mordred linked hands to surround her, facing outwards.

She took a deep breath to steady herself, then reached out with her magic. The family magic jumped to alertness, flowing up and through her along with her own. The difference between this and every other ritual she had taken part in quickly became apparent. She could feel the youth in their magic - a kind of sparkling energy that zipped around without the rigid control instilled during years of schooling.

Her family magic seemed unconcerned, taking that all in stride as it reached out along the lines, sending the flames of each torch roaring up past head height as it imbued them with magic. At each person it passed, the family magic swept their magic in along with hers. The slow procession continued around the circle, the seated children settling into an eerie stillness as their magic was guided into line. Some magics went willingly, others assisted her own and some fought, trying to create mischief. She felt Anneken's magic wrapping smoothly around the silvery sparking bundle that was Neele, forcing it to follow the current whilst Berg's walled off the errant winds of Mareike's. It was hard work for those with experience, but before long Hermione had succeeded in imbuing the entire symbol.

'Those who are lost, I call upon thee.' She said, her voice ringing across the clearing, echoing with the voices of her Sect whose magic she channelled. 'You are adrift, trapped in your mortal remains far from the seat of your descendants.'

'Eleanor Eidel Tunninger, Daughter of Alice Manse, I call to you. Be released from the prison of your flesh and join us here. I offer to you this construct of stone.'

Her vision turned grey even as she heard the other members of the ritual chanting the name of Berg's mother continuously. As she watched, a shimmering silver rope formed in front of her and she reached out with their joined magic and tugged on it. It resisted, heaving and writhing sharply as she reeled it in. Slowly, out of the greyness a figure formed, pulled by the silver rope which fused with her chest.

'Hermione?' The figure asked in surprise.

'I offer to you this construct of stone.' Hermione offered again, not daring to say anything but the ritual words. 'That I may bear you forth to the family seat.'

'Oh.' The figure said, sounding surprised. It leaned forwards as if inspecting something at their feet. 'I've never heard of this before. Fascinating. Well yes, I suppose, seeing as you've gone to all this trouble. Tell Berg I love him, and tell Alice I'd haunt her if I could.'

Hermione's vision cleared abruptly as light shot out of the crystals that surrounded the crystal queen that Berg had chosen to host his mother's magical remains. The beams focused through the crystals, the chess piece glowing brighter and brighter as the torches flared higher and higher around them.

Suddenly, abruptly, the light cut off. The afterimage faded from her eyesight as she blinked rapidly. The queen glowed with a soft, eerie light.

'Did it work?' Someone asked from the outskirts of the circle, suggesting that Hermione had been the only one privy to image of the rope and the conversation with Frau Tunninger.

'Yes.' Hermione answered. 'That's Lady Tunninger. Let us repeat the ritual for Herr Tunninger now.'

Berg quickly replaced the figurine inside the ring of crystals whilst everyone else lit the torches around them again. The calming influence of their shared magical purpose still affected them all, so it was in solemn silence and with considerably less fight that they formed the ritual a second time.

'Those who are lost, I call upon thee.' Hermione intoned again. 'You are adrift, you are adrift, trapped in your mortal remains far from the seat of your descendants.'

'Albert Herman Tunninger, Son of Wilhelm Tunninger, I call to you. Be released from the prison of your flesh and join us here. I offer to you this construct of stone.'

This time she was more aware of how precarious her position was. Her vision darkened as her magic and soul detached from the physical plane. She could feel the tether creates for her by the continuous chanting of those involved in the ritual, remembering Mordred's instructions that she should always check for the tether before passing to another plane. Oops. Once more the glowing rope formed in front of her and she tugged on it. Herr Tunninger came much quicker than his wife, his much larger form glowing brighter than hers had.

'Oh ho, Miss Granger. I bet Katerina doesn't know about this.' He spoke before Hermione had a chance to present her offer. She shook her head in reply and opened her mouth to speak the next line.

'All children? My my, what a generation we have here. Berg too... he's grown since I last saw him. Such a shame we had to go so soon.'

'I offer to you this construct of stone.' Hermione butted in when he paused between remarks. 'That I may bear you forth to the family seat.'

'Alright, alright.' Herr Tunninger huffed. 'Make sure you curse Alice for me - get her really good and send my love to Berg.'

Then he too was light, focused in the crystals before convalescing in the king.

'We need to hurry. We're almost through the witching hour.' Mordred prompted as soon as the light faded. The wixen around him obediently relit their torches and readied themselves for the third time. There was a weariness to the magic this time; even though some like Anneken and Gellert still burned strong others who weren't as gifted were beginning to flag.

This time, Hermione remembered to check her tether which had grown noticeably weaker. Nervous, she tugged quickly on the silvery rope and she called out her offer before the spirit had even had a chance to make an opening comment. Herr Wach seemed to notice her urgency because he said very little, merely sending his wishes to his son.

Not a moment too soon, Hermione blinked back up to the world of the living. Several around the circle were swaying and looking somewhat dazed and Gellert's outstretched hands gleamed with sweat.

'Thank Merlin!' Dominick Wach heaved as soon as the light faded in the marble lion figurine he'd chosen for his father. 'I thought we'd lose you there.'

'Now, in honour of those who have departed, let us feast!' Hermione declared. Exhaustion was rapidly replaced by jubilation as they all made their way over to the blankets spread across the grass where they'd laid out food. Bone masks were shrugged off quickly and cast aside revealing flushed, excited faces. A warm swell of pride and achievement swept through the clearing as the three figurines were given pride of place at the head of the table.

Brought up by the aristocracy, most of the children sat and waited in silence without touching the food for the host's speech. Those who did not yet know otherwise hesitated and returned food to their plates.

Berg stood up first, telling them all that they may as well tuck in whilst he spoke because they'd all earned their dinner. This earned a round of applause and he paused to let everyone grab something to eat. When attention was returned to him, Berg thanked the all for coming. He then launched into a quick eulogy for his parents. Hermione followed him by standing and telling a quick story of how Herr Tunninger had whispered tips to her in her first harvest horse race, then Gellert stood on her left to tell everyone how as a child, he'd been taught to properly tie his tie by Herr Tunninger. Around the circle, everyone stood to tell a story about one of Berg's parents, then Berg stood and announced that they would be missed. The same followed for Dominick and Herr Wach. This was part of the more traditional funeral celebration but Hermione had thought it would be important to both boys, so they'd amalgamated it into their feast.

With that done, they tucked in to the feast. It was a chaotic meal with a mad mixture of desserts, sandwiches, snacks and fancy little aperitifs that Hermione was certain contained caviar. She wonder who on earth had brought them. They all enjoyed it never-the-less and after the meal they played silly games - hide and seek, ball and something called jinx-a-tail where they ran around trying to curse each other with tails.

Two hours later, Anneken reminded them that they all needed to head home before anyone realised they were missing. They got together one last time, Gellert reminding them all to keep the night and their ritual a secret, then they all split up to head home on their various mounts. Anneken's friends were apparating those without mounts and within moments it was just Berg, Gellert, Anneken, Mordred and Hermione left.

'We did it.' Hermione commented as Mordred gave her a leg up onto Katana's back.

'Yes. Thank you, everyone.' Berg agreed.

'Shh, or they'll hear us.' Anneken hissed, 'and take off those masks, I'll shrink them down so that if we get caught we can just say we were having our midnight feast in the woods.'

They did get caught, and they all got assigned housework as punishment. Their ritual however remained a secret.