Harry Potter and the Spirit of Revenge
Chapter Six: Waiting to Know

Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).

St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries
Reception

"By Merlin! What happened?" Healer Richardson asked as soon as he saw the body of the teenager appear alongside two Aurors on high combat alert.

There were a couple of patients waiting for their turn, one of them almost fell from his chair at the sudden arrival of the three strangers. He had a set of dragonfly eyes instead of his original ones; the other wizard waiting for his turn whimpered while grabbing his belly, distended to four times the normal size. It made a very strange bubbling noise.

Auror Proudfoot grabbed Richardson by the shoulder, "We are not sure, but he was severely wounded. He needs blood replenishing potions, and who knows what else. His arm was cut to extract blood, and our field spells were not enough to close the wound." He turned around, and addressed the rest of the healer staff present, he showed his Auror shield, holding it high, "By order of the DMLE, everybody inside this room, be they patient, Healer or Nurse, is as of now subject to full non-disclosure until released by written order of Madam Bones. That means no communication to the outside. Every healer must give an oath of confidenciality…" Proudfoot saw the Healer in Chief taking breath, and interrupted him, "This is in addition to your regular Healer´s oaths, sir. This patient is not only in URGENT need of medical attention, he is also a possible witness to at least one crime, very probably more. The other patients will be attended to, but won´t be able to leave the building until further notice. This will be a long night, and I apologize for the inconvenient."

A moment later, the Healer in Chief nodded gravely, and at a gesture, two Healers and three nurses ran to get Harry into an examining room. Proudfoot followed them, "Dawlish, I´ll stay with the lad, get to the Ministry."

Dawlish saluted quickly, and ran to the floo.

Over the protests of the healing staff, Proudfoot dragged the most uncomfortable chair he could find into the healing room, and popped himself on it, watching every procedure like a hawk. He knew his words had not been wrong. This would be a long night.

Proudfoot didn´t had any way to know, but in a close room, another team of Healers and Nurses was trying desperately to save Cedric Diggory´s life, while his father paced around the waiting room, hoping against hope that his son could be saved.

Hogwarts, Hospital Wing

Hermione Granger occupied an equally hard wooden chair, just outside the actual Infirmary, Madame Pomfrey was there, busy attending to the people who had mysteriously fallen ill back on the Third Task site; but she fully expected her to put Harry on his usual bed as soon as he was found.

She had no idea of what was happening inside, there were very strong privacy charms on the door. Apart from her own breathing, there was an almost absolute silence.

The only sound was a set of light footsteps, coming closer and closer. She listened hard, in case it was Harry, arriving on his own. But no, that little hope was stomped by simple logic, why would Harry go there alone, if he was healthy enough to walk without problem?

Soon, another girl, a small blond, sat next to her. "Hi. I´m Luna Lovegood. Nice to meet you, although I had hoped it would be in a better moment." She sounded a bit… not completely there, Hermione thought, as if most of her attention was somewhere else.

The Griffyndor student furrowed her brow, it took her a moment to recognize the girl. Her silvery eyes were a bit red and puffy, as if she had been crying. The way her wand was carefully nestled behind her right ear, the butterbeer corks hanging from a thread around her neck, and the small radishes dangling from her ears. Even though she tried to stay away from the rumour mill, only one person in the castle would be using such accessories: "Loony" Lovegood.

"Hello, Luna. I´m sorry, I…" Hermione had to pause. "I´m waiting for Harry Potter."

The blonde smiled, tilting her head to the right, "Not the best place for a date, but who I´m I to say anything about anybody else´s tastes?" Luna smiled at her companion.

Hermione had to laugh at the idea, releasing a bit of the tension in her stomach. Luna continued. "I bring you an important message from the Blibbering Humdingers, I think. I am not too sure if were they or the Dabberblimp, but that´s not important now." She exhaled softly, gathering her courage. While Hermione looked at her without any idea of what to say, Luna brought out a wooden tablet, a piece of parchment and a few magical crayons from her school bag, and began to draw quickly.

"The important thing is that when Harry returns," she whispered, not pausing in her drawing except to change crayon, "he will need you at his side. He will return changed and not. He will be cold and lost, thinking he has nothing left." Her hand moved so fast Hermione barely saw the end of the crayon over the tablet of wood Luna used to support the parchment. "He will need a reason to go on on being himself. You can help him." Her slightly protuberant eyes fixed themselves on Hermione´s own, still her hand moved over the drawing.

"There will be another Harry too." Luna stopped, and blew on the parchment. The colours began to move, almost like a magical portrait. "He´s different from Harry, but he is still Harry. He´s ancient, and he´s very, very angry." The Ravenclaw student put her drawing in Hermione´s hands.

The bushy-haired witch took the drawing, and gasped. The drawing represented a strange figure surrounded by what could have been Death Eaters. A thin man in green robes and a white tunic, the hood he wore hid most of his face in a deep shadow, but the mouth could be seen, snarling in anger. The figure raised his right arm, clenching his fist. Soon, he was surrounded by skeletons.

There was a sense of menace in the figure. It also seemed somewhat familiar… it took Hermione a long moment to remember. Two years before, there had been reports about a small Centro-European country, Valdava? No. Vlatava. Yes, that was the one. A chill crossed through Hermione´s spine.

A war correspondent had managed to broadcast about fifteen seconds of the event, although the sound of bombs and missiles dominated the scene. The image was blurry, and the man´s hands shook terribly; but it was clear enough to see what was happening. A giant figure in the distance, his body was white, and he wore a long, hooded, green cape.

He was holding something in his hands, and shouting unintelligible words at his fists. Then, he seemed to put whatever he had in his hands onto the top of two close hills. Then the giant turned around, and shouted again. At this point, images of half decomposed corpses rose in front of the camera, flying towards the giant. Finally, he crouched, striking his fists against the ground.

A wave of fire, dirt and small rocks surged around him; and in a moment, hit the place from where the reporter had been transmitting. The image was cut down in a blur of static noise.

Vlatava had been razed down to the bedrock. She had thought the reports had been exaggerated, but according to the scientific teams sent to investigate, not even bacteria had survived the scouring. The few living creatures found were close to the country borders, and could be explained as having simply meandered into the country. Close to the capital, there was nothing alive.

Only two survivors were found later, delirious, and almost dead of hunger and thirst. The notorious criminal, Count Vertigo, supposedly the last survivor of the Royal Family of Vlatava, and General Hafza, leader of the other army involved in a bloody civil war that made the Balkans look like Hogsmead between weekends.

Both men raved about having been unjustly punished by the Spectre, a disproportionate punishment that had cost the life of every woman, man, child, and living creature in the country. Since then, Vlatava had been quarantined by the UN, and only a few scientific teams were allowed into the sterile desert, and then only with heavily armed and armoured guards.

If that monster was after Harry, his friend wouldn´t have any chance!

Luna brought her out from her memories by the simple means of holding her hand. "He will need you more than any other time. Be his anchor. Be his tower. Be his friend. Don´t let him lose himself. The consequences for the world, and for his soul, could be terrible!"

Hermione looked into Luna´s eyes, not really understanding what was being asked of her.

Luna shook her head, as if trying to rid herself of an annoying insect. Her eyes focused on Hermione. "Oh, you should go to bed. He won´t come back today. Not here." She stood up, and rearranged her robes, spreading a few bits of crayon on them, forming colourful streaks over the cloth. "Nice talking to you. I´d like to do it again sometime. It was almost like having a friend." She turned around, and skipped away, still holding her tablet and crayons.

"Luna! Wait!" The blonde turned halfway around. "I… Thanks for coming to tell me. I´ll stay a while more. I´ll look for you tomorrow, and we can talk some more, okay?"

"I look forward to talking to you a bit more. Give my regards to Harry and tell him I won´t care either." The dazzling smile on Luna´s face lit the place, making Hermione forget for a moment that Harry was still missing.

Before Hermione could manage to ask what Luna had meant, the small blonde disappeared behind a corner.

Hermione sat on her chair again, and took the drawing Luna had left behind. A chill went up and down her back, watching the Death Eaters turn into skeletons, before the picture reset, and the cycle repeated every five seconds.

She would need to check the Hogwarts Library, looking for anything it might had about the Spectre.

And once she was back in the Muggle world, she would do the same in Crawley. Maybe her Aunt Marie, as a diplomatic attaché, might know something about the Spectre. She would have to owl her parents, asking for a way to contact Aunt Marie. Hopefully her uncle´s family were back in England.

Hermione hoped her cousin was in the country too. She was the most sensible person she knew. Not only in the Muggle world, she was the most sensible person she knew, period.

St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries
Emergency Room Nr 4

Healer Richardson wiped the sweat on his forehead with a clean piece of linen, and leaned back against the wall, utterly tired. "Well… That was harder than it should have. But we finally closed the wound in the arm. He will have a big, jagged scar, but he will recover." He turned back to Proudfoot, who stood immediately, the vertebrae on his back creaked ominously. "You guys brought him barely on time. I had never had to administer so many blood-replenishing potions to a single patient. It´s a miracle the poor boy was still alive when you got him here."

"I feared it would be too late. I hope he recovers." Proudfoot admitted, with a sigh. "Now, I will need to keep watch over him. Dawlish should be back soon with another two Aurors. Can the patient be moved to a private room?"

"Yes. I already have instructed my staff. Just give him about half an hour to stabilize, and we will move him."

Either noticed a red-clad ghost sitting Indian style over a platter full of empty potion vials. The ghost paid close attention to their conversation. "Damn, Spec. You should get an Oscar for that performance." The ghost commented, shaking his head. "Yo! Spec! Everything went well on my side. How about yours?".

A ghostly image of the new Spectre coalesced next to Deadman, as invisible and inaudible as the former acrobat´s spirit. From the dark depths of his hood, the otherworldly voice answered. "It went well. The DMLE is now investigating."

Ministry of Magic
Department of Mysteries
Hall of Prophecies

A crystalline sphere containing a prophecy made over ten years before rested on a tripod. A dusty card hung from a cord tied to the tripod, declaring to the world that the prophecy had been made by Sybil Trelawney, to Albus Dumbledore; concerning Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter.

The sphere misted until it was completely opaque, and with a noise like the stone of a forge cooling during the night, cracked in two.

It wouldn´t be long before somebody came looking for it.

Author Notes:

I´ve been reading several fics inspired by Reptillia28's 'Don't Fear the Reaper' challenge, where Harry is returned to life again and again by Death, his memories erased, to correct his repeated tendency to die without fulfilling his destiny. One of the guidelines in the challenge involves pairing Harry with "…some Granger girl…" Now, my default shipping happens to be Harry/Hermione, but… although this is not an answer to that particular challenge, I will be taking this bit to see what happens.

Being a long time fan of the DCU, I´ve been trying to find a way to introduce "…some Granger girl…" into the HPverse. Readers with long memories (or Google…) will know who I am talking about. (first review or PM to tell me who she is will get a shout-out).

The often mentioned scouring of Vlatava was depicted in The Spectre issue 13 (Dec 1993), though I´m retconning it to 1992.

To WearyCurmudgeon (chapter 4)

- Power

About Sodom and Gomorrah. You´re right, it was the Spectre who destroyed both cities; but before he was bound to a human soul. Back then, the Spectre-Force acted more or less independently. It was also charged with the Plagues of Egypt, among other things.

- Mixture

I am not really well versed with the Marvel side of the Heaven/Hell dynamics. So, no Ghost Rider at the moment.

Hermione will fulfil a role very similar to the one Amy Beitterman had in Corrigan´s life. Not exactly a damsel in distress, but won´t be kicking ass by herself, unless it is against low level enemies. No bike yet, until she´s at least 17!

Etrigan will be certainly interested in meeting Harry. So will his Alter Ego, Jason Blood. Who, BTW, isn´t really popular with the wand wielders. On account of several things.

Confrontation

You are quite close to what I have planned.

- Musing

Death does have a mostly hands-off policy about the Spectre, at least, I don´t remember she meeting Corrigan. She knows the 'immortals' are just deceiving themselves. They will meet her eventually. As I am using the Pre-Flashpoint continuity, Vandal Savage will last until the events in DC 1,000,000, Ra´s al Ghul will be dealt with by the Legion of Superheroes. I am not sure what happens to Morgana LeFey, but she and her bratty kid will have to make an appearance. I only know Wotan from some off-hand references.

The JLA and the JSA will keep an eye on England, just in case the new Spectre will go spare. Both teams have some high level magic-users, who could visit Hogwarts to chat with Harry.

Chapter 5 .

Corrections:

Tonks wasn't really familiar with Pettigrew´s face. To her, he was just a guy who died when she was little.

- Mistakes

Nope, the Unspeakables won´t do that. What the Spectre does, no man can undo (no woman either…)

Plus, being turned into a peacock isn´t even the last of Lucius' problems..!

- Viewpoints

Thanks! I used the various POV to release some info, check on several characters, and to plant some seeds for later.

Harry has now the means to argue effectively with Hermione about quite a number of things.

On a personal not, I want to thank everybody who has added any of my stories to their Alerts or Favorites, or been so kind to leave a Review.

Thanks, Everybody!

Lexarius

Extra note:

to WearyCurmudgeon

You are completely right, the other Granger girl is in fact, Dawn Granger, the second Dove. she will appear during the holidays.