Chapter 24
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, 28th November 2011
The Great Hall was filled with chatter. Dean and Sam sat in their seats at the Head Table.
"The owls are late today," Minerva noted as she looked at her silver pocket watch.
"Weird," Sam replied. He rubbed at his eyes with a yawn.
"Are they usually late?" Dean frowned over his coffee.
"Sometimes, but not often," Minerva replied as she drank her tea.
"Huh…." Dean frowned. As if on cue, the owls began to fly in. Jess swooped into the Great Hall towards Sam and Dean. She perched on Sam's shoulder
"Thanks, Jess," Sam smiled as she dropped the Daily Prophet in his lap.
"Are you still reading this crap?" Dean asked.
"Know your enemy Dean."
"Guess you have a point," the elder Winchester replied as he shoved some waffles in his mouth.
"Would you at least eat a grapefruit or something?" Sam asked, grabbing a piece of toast and putting jam on it.
"Where's the fun in that?"
"There are natural sugars. Not just processed crap."
"Yeah," Dean rolled his eyes, "they suck."
"At least I'm not going to keel over from a heart attack by the time I'm fifty," Sam shot back.
"Hey, my plan is to go naked, tied up in some sex dungeon. And I'd be happy with that," Dean muttered back.
"You are disgusting," Sam frowned.
"And you're a nerd…." Dean matched his tone. "But you don't hear me complaining."
"That's all you do!"
"Details, Sammy." He saw Snape looking over at them and Dean nodded with a smug look on his face.
"Crap, Dean, look," Sam said after a few moments. Dean looked at what he was pointing to. In bold letters were the words 'WANDMAKER FOUND DEAD' in the corner of the front page.
"Shit…" He looks up to see the students and the other staff looking at each other worriedly. Some of the students were talking amongst themselves, reading the article. Albus stood up and walked out of the Great Hall. Sam scanned over the article.
Sources from an anonymous source reported the finding of Garrick Ollivander this morning. Ministry officials upon investigation, found the famous world-renowned wandmaker's body just after three o'clock this morning. The investigation is still ongoing.
Garrick Ollivander was a master of his craft, made wands for witches and wizards across the world. He was the last proprietor of Ollivander's Wand Shop, established in 382 BC in Diagon Alley. Originally a stall set up by an ancestor of the Ollivander family, the stall, which became a shop, remained in the family since, producing the finest family of wandmakers Britain has ever known. He is preceded in death by his daughter, and he leaves behind his wife and son. The future of the famous wand shop is still unknown.
"What's that, the third death in the paper this week?" Dean frowned. "He's really starting to pick people off…" Earlier in the week, Dean and Sam's Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw class was interrupted by Pomona, who pulled Hannah Abbott from the lesson. Only later did they find out that her mother died that morning. Murdered by Death Eaters, Aurors suspected. Hannah left, understandably inconsolable and did not return. Pomona later told them that she had been pulled out of school and would not return this year.
Minerva wiped her eyes with a small white cloth, "It won't be long before they try to come here."
"That won't happen."
"Perhaps it would be best for us to call a meeting of the Houses in their dormitories?" Snape looked at Minerva pointedly.
"That's a good idea, Severus," Minerva replied. "I'll talk with the Gryffindors after breakfast."
The chatter died down after the papers were delivered to the students. Most of the kids there got their wands from Ollivanders. His shop was a comfort in the few shops that were still open in Diagon Alley. Without it there it would be another dark reminder of Voldemort's handiwork.
Breakfast was a quiet affair, and the students went to their classes sluggishly.
"Hey guys," Sam greeted the class when the time came. Dean gave a casual wave of his hand and a smile. Out of the corner of his eye, Sam noticed Hermione walking away from Harry and Ron, sitting with Parvati. Sam didn't think much of it at first because Parvati was Hermione's partner, but then he remembered Dean telling him about talking to Ron about Hermione. Sam wondered if Dean shouldn't have meddled, but he supposed Ron deserved it. He looked to where the young boy was sitting, his red hair a dead giveaway. Ron was looking down, twiddling his quill between his thumb and forefinger.
"Today we're going to study Ghosts," Dean said. There was a little murmuring among the class. A Slytherin put up his hand.
"We know about Ghosts."
"The Ghosts you and I have met are very different," Sam told the students. "We know they are harmless. They also cannot affect the living world."
"The Ghosts we meet are deadly," Dean continued. "There are a lot of different types, some of which we're covering today."
"So, does anyone have a definition for a Ghost?" Sam asked. Harry put up his hand.
"Yes Mr Potter?" he asked.
"It's an imprint of a person after they die. They were either afraid to die or they had some connection to the location they haunt," Harry answered.
"Pretty much," Dean smiled. "Ten points to Gryffindor."
"A Ghost is the spirit of a deceased person that, for some reason or another, was unable to pass on to the next life, or whose rest had been disturbed. Ghosts are neither good nor evil, as their behaviour is ultimately dictated by who they were in life and how they died. There are many types of Ghosts," Sam read from Supernatural Beasts and Defence.
"When people die, they are met by Reapers, which we will tell you about later. Reapers essentially touch a dying person, causing death. Sometimes, a person doesn't want to go to the afterlife and wants to stay on Earth. So, they stay, or that person has unfinished business." Dean said.
"This is where the differences start to come in, there are a lot of beings that could be put under the umbrella term of Ghost," Sam explained. He moved to the chalkboard and began to write the word GHOST. Underneath, he wrote two headings 'Harmless' and 'Harmful'. Under the left, he wrote, 'Death Echo, Death Omen and Revenants' in a list. On the Harmful side, he wrote 'Vengeful Spirits, Poltergeists and Buruburu.'
"We're going to start with the harmful side. It seems like a lot, but some of these are not complicated. We're gonna start with Vengeful Spirits."
"Just going to add something here," Dean spoke up. "The majority of these ghosts have the same weaknesses and are killed in a similar fashion. In the hunting community, they are known as pretty easy hunts, more or less a milk run."
"Vengeful Spirits are ghosts, who have had something wrong done to them in their lives. It's usually what killed them. It causes them to remain after death, to try and avenge themselves. Over time, they slowly become obsessed and act violently, harming innocent people. They can also be summoned to hurt people. Sometimes their vengeance can spread on to others, who had nothing to do with them, but have, or are doing something that is similar to their death," Sam explained. The students begin to scribble down notes.
"To kill a Vengeful Spirit, you must find the body, salt, and burn it. If the body is already burned, then the Spirit is possessing an object. Once you know what object it is possessing then you salt and burn that," Dean continued. "You can use several things to protect yourself. They can be repelled by salt and iron. If you put a line of salt across a doorway entrance, they can't cross it, like Demons."
"Poltergeists are spirits, but they seek recognition and attention. Much like our resident headache Peeves. It would just want chaos for the sake of it. They're not human spirits. So, you can't burn the remains, in most cases anyway. If a Spirit turns into a Poltergeist, you can. Some houses are haunted by Poltergeists, and you can purify the house using a ritual to destroy it. Ghosts can also destroy a Poltergeist by cancelling themselves out. It destroys both," Dean frowned.
"An example of this is our mother," Sam told the class. "She was murdered when we were young. Her spirit lingered in the house until a Poltergeist started haunting it, terrifying the new family. We went to investigate, and our mother appeared to us when we were doing the purification ritual. She confronted the Poltergeist and sacrificed herself to destroy it."
There was a silence in the room and Dean moved quickly on, not wanting to linger on that fact. "The third type is the Buruburu. It's Japanese in origin, and is a Ghost born of fear," Dean told the class. "It's rare, but if someone dies in a terrifying manner, they can infect others with that fear when they become a Buruburu. The people experience intense fear themselves and develop what's known as 'Ghost Sickness'. It makes a person scared of everything. Eventually, the fear is what kills you."
"Now moving onto the harmless Ghosts," Sam moved on. "The first is a Death Echo."
"This is a Ghost that is trapped. The spirit is stuck re-enacting its own death in a loop. They're harmless. Why it happens is because the person is trapped in a painful cycle of their own death, usually in the place they died. You can shock this out of them and calm them enough to move on."
"Next we have Death Omens. These ghosts are harmless. Usually, they stick around to warn the living. For example, we were on a case in which a woman was murdered by a corrupt police officer. She manifested and tried to warn other people. We eventually figured it out."
"The last one we're gonna cover is Revenants. They are very rare. They are created when a person is in denial about their death to such an extent, they almost seem alive again. Revenants can affect the world around them, be touched and touch people. Unlike normal ghosts who can only do it with great concentration or intense emotion. They are sort of like zombies in a way. Like Death Omens, if you prove their death to them, they can move on."
"So, we are going to show you some memories now," Dean said. "The first is a case we worked on that some of you may know as the myth of Bloody Mary. Every culture has a myth about her, apparently, there isn't much truth to them, but it turns out, this one was real. Mary Worthington was a woman who was murdered, and her eyes were cut out. She haunted the mirror she died in front of. People who said the name 'Bloody Mary' three times would summon her. She would then kill someone nearby that had kept a horrible secret. Their eyes would liquify and they would die."
"Sounds charming…." Parvati frowned.
"The second memory involves the Poltergeist we told you about in our old home," Sam continued. "Along with our mother's appearance. The final memory we will be showing you is our encounter with a Buruburu."
The students gathered as usual around the Pensieve.
Sam was standing in an antique shop, surrounded by mirrors. He was holding a crowbar. Bloody Mary was in a mirror. Sam spotted her and smashed the mirror. She moved to a different one, and he smashed that too. She moved again. Sam turned and looked into another mirror.
"Come on. Come into this one," Sam muttered. His reflection changed. Sam started gasping for breath, blood trickling from his eyes. He clutched his chest, dropping the crowbar.
"It's your fault. You killed her. You killed Jessica," Sam's reflection was still standing, glaring down at him. "You never told her the truth—who you really were." Sam fell to his knees.
"But it's more than that, isn't it? Those nightmares you've been having of Jessica dying, screaming, burning—You had them for days before she died. Didn't you!? You were so desperate to ignore them, to believe they were just dreams. How could you ignore them like that? How could you leave her alone to die!? You dreamt it would happen!" Sam's reflection yelled.
"So, the ghost makes you confess to lies when someone has died?" A Gryffindor looked to Sam who nodded in response.
Suddenly Dean's crowbar smashed the mirror. Dean dropped down to Sam's level.
"Sam? Sammy!"
"It's Sam," Sam gasped back.
"God, are you okay?" Dean said as he saw the blood coming from Sam's eyes.
"Uh, yeah"
"Come on, come on." He helped Sam up and put his arm around his neck. Bloody Mary appeared in the mirror and emerged from it. She was crawling toward them. She got up and walked toward them. Dean and Sam started bleeding from their eyes. Dean grabbed a mirror and turned it to face her. Bloody Mary stopped in her tracks.
"You killed them! All those people! You killed them!" the reflection accused. Bloody Mary started gasping. She suddenly melted into a pile of blood. Dean smashed the mirror on the ground.
"Hey, Sam?" Dean asked.
"Yeah?" Sam replied.
"This has got to be like…what? 600 years of bad luck?"
Sam laughed breathlessly.
The memory blurred and reformed. The students were standing in a normal suburban kitchen, although things were scattered everywhere.
"This is our family home," Dean explained with a note of sadness in his voice.
Inside the kitchen, Sam was flung into a set of cabinets. He stood up and was pinned against the wall by an invisible force. A figure engulfed in flame made its way towards Sam. Dean rushed into the room.
"Sam? Sam!" Dean yelled as he found him. He saw the figure and raised his gun.
"No, don't! Don't!" Sam exclaimed.
"What, why?! Dean looked at his brother incredulously,
"Because I know who it is. I can see her now."
Suddenly, the fire vanished. Instead, standing in front of them was Mary Winchester, exactly as she was the night she died. Dean's eyes widened and he lowered his gun.
"Mom?" he said softly. Mary smiled and stepped closer.
Hermione looked sympathetic to the brothers. I don't know what I'd do without my Mum and Dad, she thought.
"Dean." Dean had tears in his eyes as she said his name. Mary walked away from him and went to Sam. "Sam."
Sam's eyes were filled with tears. Mary's expression turned sad. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Sam gasped. His mother said nothing, looking at him sadly. She turned away and walked a few paces away. She stared upward.
"You get out of my house," she commanded. "And let go of my son." Her spirit burst into flames. The flame engulfed her and vanished. The force holding Sam to the wall was released. He walked over to Dean, and the two of them looked at each other, stunned.
"Now it's over," Sam stated.
Dean and Sam's throats were tight with grief. Once again, the memory faded. Now everyone was standing outside an old, abandoned mill, observing Bobby and Sam talking.
"That's our friend Bobby Singer, I'm sure we've mentioned him before." Sam pointed to the older man.
"This is a terrible plan," Bobby frowned.
"Yeah, tell me about it," Sam agreed.
"I know I said, "scare the ghost to death" but this?"
"Hey, you got a better idea, I'm listening," Sam scowled.
Bobby and Sam split up, using walkie-talkies.
"Any luck?" he asked through the device.
"I don't know what's wrong, Bobby. Last time he came right at us. It's almost like he's, uh…like he's scared," he said, lowering his shotgun.
"So now what?" Bobby asked.
"I guess I got to make him angry. Hey, Luther!" Sam started to tear up drawings. Machines whirred to life. "Come on, Luther! Where the hell are you? What are you waiting for?"
Luther appeared behind him and threw him into the wall. They continued to fight, and Sam managed to wrap a chain around his neck.
"Bobby, punch it!" Sam yelled. Bobby, outside in the Impala, floored it. Luther's spirit was dragged across the gravel until it vanished.
"Nice." A large Slytherin boy grinned.
The students exited the Pensieve. There was mostly silence as Sam and Dean collected the homework from the previous lesson and handed out a new task. The students left.
⸸
Harry slipped into bed, absolutely exhausted, although he doubted, he could sleep with his thoughts whizzing around in his head. Over the last month, Harry had only one lesson with Dumbledore before tonight. Initially disappointed that Harry couldn't persuade Slughorn to give up the memory, the headmaster showed him two more memories.
One from a woman named Hepzibah Smith's house-elf, Hokey. Riddle visited Hepzibah, now an employee at Borgin and Burke's. She showed him two relics she collected. A locket that Harry recognized as once belonging to the Gaunts. Merope stole this locket, originally Salazar Slytherin's and sold it while heavily pregnant. The other was a cup that once belonged to Helga Hufflepuff. She asked Hokey to put them away. Voldemort realized that it belonged to his family. Hepzibah was found dead two days later, and her house-elf was blamed after her memory was altered. It was soon noticed that the heirlooms had gone missing, and Voldemort disappeared.
The second memory involved Voldemort returning to Hogwarts soon after he graduated. He spoke to Dumbledore and asked him for a position in the school. Voldemort revealed he approached Armando Dippet with the Same request almost 20 years before. Dumbledore confronted him about his true reason for coming, as it was not to teach. He didn't know exactly what Voldemort truly wanted, but he did know that several Death Eaters were waiting for their master in Hogsmeade. He pointed this out and Voldemort left, furious.
Then came the issue of the memory. Harry made one attempt, in which Slughorn kicked Harry out of his office, very angry at the mere mention of the word 'Horcrux'. Harry realized eventually that he could use Felix Felicis. The potion led him to Hagrid's hut. On the way, he met up with Slughorn. They both attended the funeral of Hagrid's Acromantula friend, Aragog. During the night, Slughorn became quite drunk, and eventually with some persuasion, gave Harry the memory he sought.
Immediately after getting back to the castle, Harry rushed to Dumbledore's office. Upon viewing the memory, it revealed that Slughorn in reality, told Voldemort all about Horcruxes. He revealed to him that a Horcrux was the term for an object in which a person has concealed part of their soul and that one ripped the soul apart by committing murder and then hiding the piece of soul in the preferred object. Therefore, the person was protected should their body be destroyed because they had a piece of their soul hidden safely elsewhere. Voldemort seemed very interested in if it was possible to split the soul more than once, and what would happen if he created multiple Horcruxes, stating seven. Slughorn was horrified at the idea. Voldemort left after assuring Slughorn that he wouldn't tell anyone.
This confirmed a theory Dumbledore had been working on. Harry realized that this was why Voldemort didn't die that Halloween night. The Headmaster revealed that they had both destroyed one each, Harry, the diary, and himself; Marvolo Gaunt's ring. He told Harry that these two pieces were destroyed, leaving four pieces to be found, and the last being Voldemort himself. He told Harry that Voldemort would not have made Horcruxes out of random, useless objects, but trophies with a powerful magical history worthy of the honour.
Not only that, but he believed that the locket and the cup were made into Horcruxes, and possibly something of Rowena Ravenclaw's, also telling Harry of his theory that Nagini, Voldemort's snake, had been turned into a Horcrux. Dumbledore also informed Harry that on the night of his parent's murder, he believed that Voldemort went to Harry's house with the intention of killing him to make his final Horcrux and circumvent the prophecy all at once.
Harry rolled over in bed and tried to clear his head of the whirlwind of thoughts.
