"Can you do it?" The words hung in the small room. Hermione stared intently at the small woman sitting in front of her. The woman closed her eyes, thinking deeply. Hermione had traveled far and conquered most of the magical word to find the answer to that question. Can you bring him back?
After the fall of Voldemort and the death of Harry Potter, Hermione made a vow to find a way to bring him back. She knew the knowledge existed in the world, she just had to find it and take it. The necomany of Europe at best only brought back shades or inferi. The musical magic in Africa held too much respect for the dead to try something like this. The blood ritual magic in Central America held promise, but ultimately fell short.
However, deep in the jungles of Central Asia, she had found a group of magic users known as Soulforgers. They were known for being able to rewrite one's spiritual identity and history. If anyone could recreate his soul, they could. So Hermione was sitting in a small one room hut in the middle of the jungle, talking with the best Soulforger known.
Shai sighed and opened her eyes. "Hypothetically it should be possible. Making changes to your own soul is possible, but making a whole soul forgery, it would be difficult. The knowledge you would need of the individual would need to be unparalleled. Their personality, their history, their likes and dislikes. But hypothetically, it could be done."
"Great!" Hermione said smiling, "You have one hundred days." Shai almost spit out her drink. "Excuse me? When did I say I would be willing to even try this for you. Besides, one hundred days is nowhere near enough. One would easily need three to four times that to even begin."
All emotion left Hermione's face and Shai felt a chill run down her spine. Hermione stood up from her stool and walked around the small room. She stopped in front of the workbench and opened the wooden box sitting on the bench. Inside were five stamps made of stone or ceramic.
"Your Essence Marks right? Soulstamps meant to Forge yourself? One to make you a warrior, one a scholar, one a thief. Your life's work." Shai's eyes widened just slightly before she caught herself. But it was enough for Hermione to know she was right.
"They're not all that. Just extremely useful tools." Hermione nodded. "So you wouldn't care if I did this." Hermione quickly threw one of the Essence Marks towards the fire. "No!" Shai yelled as she lunged towards the falling Mark.
Just before Shai could grab the Mark, Hermione caught it with her wand. Shai watched dejectedly as Hermione summoned the Mark back into her hand. "This is how our arrangement will work," Hermione said with no warmth or room for argument in her voice. "You have one hundred days to make a Stamp for the soul of Harry Potter. On day one hundred I will destroy one of your Marks. Every ten days after that I will destroy another. Once they're all gone, I will start punishing you directly. You will have access to everything you will need and will be compensated for your time and effort."
Shai nodded weakly, what else could she do. There was a reason the woman before her was known as the new Dark Lord. In a span of four years she had conquered all of magical Europe, Africa, and America. She was not one you crossed lightly.
So Shai began to work. To make an accurate Forgery, she needed to know everything about Harry. Luckly, she had the forefront expert on him with her, Hermione. They worked closely together, Shai learning everything she could about Harry and Hermione learning about Forgery.
In another life, Hermione could have been good at and really enjoyed Forgery. The research needed to understand the subject and the attention to detail needed to make the Soulstamp. Unfortunately that was not the hand fate dealt her. Instead she was the most feared and powerful being in the world.
Much to everyone's surprise, Shai finished the stamp on the ninety-eighth day. Hermione watched her carve the final symbol, which looked a bit like her home jungle, into the stamp. For the first time in almost two years Hermione felt fear. *What if it didn't work? Could she handle the disappointment?*
These thoughts filled her head as she led Shai to Harry's room. The room was the most secured in Hermione's headquarters. The wards rivaled Hogwart's old wards and blew away the blood protection Harry used to have. The room contained nothing beside a large bed in the center of the room.
A sole beam of light fell through a window right onto the occupant of the bed. He was a young man with coal black hair and a scar on his forehead. If not for the fact he was not breathing, you would think he was asleep. "His body has been in a status charm since he died," Hermione said quietly.
Shai slowly walked forwards towards the bed. She looked back at Hermione when she reached him. Hermione gave her a nod, neither daring to speak. Shai pulled out the Soulstamp and applied the ink. She slowly pulled back Harry's sleeve and pushed the Stamp into the underside of his arm. She held her breath, waiting to see if the Stamp would take. After a second the Stamp sunk into Harry's skin. Shai let out a sigh of relief. Now to see if it worked. Both women waited to see what would happen.
Without warning, Harry sat straight up and gasped for air. Hermione rushed forward and flung herself onto him. "Oh Harry," she said as she held him. "You're back. You're really back." Harry stroked her hair. "It's okay Hermione, It's okay." She pulled back from him to look him in the eye. Harry wiped a tear from her cheek. "No, no more crying. There's been too much crying." Hermione smiled at him and leaned forward and he met her lips with his.
How long they kissed, no one can tell. It was a kiss of longing and reunion and love. When they broke apart, Shai was gone. But that did not matter. Hermione had Harry back and nothing was going to separate them again.