Chapter 9: Replacement Keeper
"Tell me what's going on right now, Nadia," I hissed, pointing my wand at her. "I knew you had another plan, and if you're using Al in some way to-to-I dunno, spy on Harry Potter-" a relieved look washed over Nadia's face...if I didn't know any better, I'd think that it looked like she was relieved I didn't catch onto their true plan. Well, if she wasn't trying to spy on Uncle Harry, then what was she doing?
Maybe she actually likes Al, a tiny voice in the back of my mind said.
But maybe her plan is really just even worse than spying on Harry, another, more suspicious voice said.
But really, what did I have to go off of? Maybe they had stunned a few security wizards in the portkey port...but they didn't kill them, right?That was a plus...and that was months ago. There had to be some explanation. I wasn't a naturally suspicious person, it had been very out of character for me to hold such feelings of distrust toward Durmstrang right away.
And especially Nadia herself; I had no reason to dislike her at all. I squirmed as I realized I had been completely unfair, glaring at her in hallways whenever I saw her with Al.
I let out an exasperated breath. "You promise you're not going to brutally crush Al?" I asked grudgingly, and a small smile spread across her face.
"Why would I do that?" She scoffed. "I really like your cousin, Roxie," she said, and sounded sincere.
I shuddered. "Okay, please don't call me Roxie. No one calls me Roxie," I said very firmly.
"Sorry." She smirked a little, and I crossed my arms.
"Unless I can call you...Naddy?" I said uncertainly. "That doesn't really work with your name." A ghost of a smile passed of Stefan's sister's face.
"You know, you're not so bad as I thought, Weasley," Nadia said, holding her hand out. "Not enemies?"
I gave a reluctant grin, sticking my hand out. "Not enemies," I agreed.
"Weasley!" I looked up from my perch in the Ravenclaw common room couch, where I was sitting with Anna (she often camped out in the our common room as opposed to her Gryffindor one) and Su Chang. I was pretending to study, but really I was staring at the Marauder's map and trying not to glare at the two dots marked Nadia and Al, who were sitting together in the library.
Stefan was bursting in from the door, and I stood up to meet him. "How'd you get in?" I asked, putting my books down.
"Easy riddle. You'll be forever indebted to me once you see this," he promised, pulling a book out of the pockets of his robes. "Erm..." he looked around, realizing everyone was watching him. "Want to step out?"
"Sure." I nodded, stuffing the Marauder's map into my pocket and following him out.
"Alright," he said excitedly as soon as we were good and far away from the common room, standing in front of a window looking out over the grounds of Hogwarts. The book he held was small with not many pages; it was completely dwarfed in his large hand.
"Well, let's see it." I held out my hand. "Is this the result of your abrupt sprint to the library earlier today?"
"It's an explanation!" Stefan grinned. "It's the answer."
"For Fred?" I asked excitedly, and he nodded. We opened the book to the first page; the whole thing was highlighted, and there were notes everywhere in the margins.
"How did you get all these notes down so quickly?" I flipped through the book, which was all of about ten pages. It had only been a couple of hours ago that he had been in the library.
"I only just now finished, I've been in the library for hours" Stefan explained, and I squinted down hard at the notes. "Look, there are these shields called the "Anima Retibus," he said excitedly. "Know what that stands for?"
I shook my head.
"Soul nets!" Stefan was practically shouting with excitement, eyes aglow with the discovery. I wasn't quite sure where he was going with this.
"Anima Retibus shields are commonly used as protection spells against dark magic, however, they have another use. Over the years, the full meaning of this spell has been forgotten and turned to wizard lore. Only the minds of a scarce few wise wizards know these shields' true purpose: to keep the souls of those who died within the time the shields were erected in a state of limbo, waiting to be discovered."
"Okay..." I said. "So? What does this have to do with Fred?"
"Roxanne, think!" Stefan exclaimed. "What's happened over the last century that would cause Hogwarts to need to use all possible defenses, anything they could find?"
"The Battle of Hogwarts-they would have had to employ every possible protection against the Death Eaters," I said slowly. "Are you saying they used these shields?"
"We-er, I think so," Stefan coughed suddenly. "I'm sure they didn't realize what the true purpose was, though."
"But look..." I pointed to a paragraph on the next page. "They were outlawed because the inventors of these shields, whoever they were, couldn't figure out how to get to the souls back in bodily form without the help of..." I turned the page. "Without the help of a planetary alignment which happens every thousand years." Underneath, there was a diagram of a floating, spirit-looking person and in the background, several wizards were standing with their wands pointed, looking toward the sky, where it looked like the sun was being eclipsed.
"March 21st," I gasped, and everything began to fit into place. "March 21st, the Spring Equinox, where the day is perfectly balanced with the night and is coupled with a complete solar eclipse...Stefan, the shields were up during the Battle of Hogwarts! That means the souls, they haven't moved! They're still there! That means...that means Fred's still alive!" I shouted, jumping up and down.
"Some of the souls are still there," Stefan corrected.
"What do you mean some? The shields were up, weren't they?"
"But you're forgetting, the Death Eaters broke through them. They didn't obliterate them completely, but that means some of the souls likely escaped-"
"How do you know so much about this?" I blurted.
"I-" Stefan closed his mouth. For a moment, he looked troubled, like he was torn between decisions. Then his face smoothed over again and was back to normal. "The Battle of Hogwarts? We learned about it in school."
"Yeah, but now the whole theory about the voice maybe being a Death Eater actually makes sense now that I've seen this...and you suspected even before we read it."
"It was just an idea," he said.
"So this...this March 21st, what's it called?" I scanned the page showing a solar diagram much like the ones on sun maps we had to clean off. "Dies Humana Manes," I answered my own question. "Day of the human ghosts...it was a Roman holiday," I read in the subscripts. "Looks like there's some sort of complicated, elaborate ceremony..." something was nagging in the back of my mind, something I was forgetting. If Death Eaters and students who had died in the Battle could still be alive...who else had died in the Battle? Who else but the most evil person of all time?
"Voldemort," I gasped, and all daydreams of bringing Fred back home to the family vanished like a popped bubble. "Voldemort might still be there-" I said hysterically.
"No way," Stefan shook his head. "Not possible! Want to know why?" He didn't wait for an answer. "He split his soul seven times. The bits of him that died that night were small, and deformed, and there was no way they could hang onto the shields and stay behind. It's impossible...his soul would have just...disappeared. That's a fact we know-erm, I mean I know, for sure."
I looked at him quizzically. How did he know Voldemort split his soul? I guess it wasn't exactly a secret after he died, but I didn't know that it was common knowledge, either.
"You said we," I said slowly.
"What? I said I," Stefan protested.
"You said we first. Is there something you're not telling me?" I pressed, narrowing my eyes.
"...No."
The beginning of October flew by in a blur of crisp wind and fire-colored leaves. Winter was in the air, and Jack O' Lanterns grinned mysteriously from every corner at Hogwarts. Ghosts became more and more fond of scaring students as Halloween approached, and the voice confirmed his identity as Fred. Stefan was still suspicious, but I knew it really was my uncle.
Stefan dated about three more girls in the next two weeks, and grew increasingly irritated every time. We didn't talk much about the soul shields, but it was always in the back of my mind. The book was sitting locked at the floor of my trunk; I think we both knew, subconsciously, why it hadn't been mentioned. We both were perfectly aware that if we tried to do the spells and rescue Fred, there was a huge chance we'd let Death Eaters back as well.
Because, what was it that Fred had said to me? There are others, Roxie-kins. I'm not the only soul here...the others might not bother you. But just remember that I'm not the only one.
I stared at the Marauder's map, not looking up to see where I was going as I walked down the corridors. The castle was growing cold as November approached, but the torches on the walls burned just as bright as ever.
My eyes skimmed over the map, and I did a double take. Was that Rose and Scorpius together in the corridor across the school from where I was now? Were they officially dating?
Then my eyes flitted just down the hall from there where Anna and Lorcan were together in...a broom closet. That couldn't be right, the map must be reading the school wrong or something. I shook my head, and kept looking.
Professor Nikola was in Kingsley's office, but...not Kingsley. I frowned at the map, looking closer. Nikola was standing close to the wall, not moving. I closed my eyes, trying to remember what was on that side of the Headmaster's office. If I recalled correctly, portraits of previous headmasters occupied that space...
"Roxanne!" I turned around to see Melody barreling toward me, rushing down the corridor. "What are you doing? The Quidditch game is starting!" She called, grabbing my arm and pulling me along without slowing down.
"Are we running?" I groaned, but Melody just grinned in response. "We're running, aren't we? Merlin, this is starting to turn into a pattern," I grumbled, but flew down to the pitch with my best friend.
"Go Melody!" I was screaming myself hoarse from the Gryffindor spectator stands besides Anna and Lorcan. Oh yes, they were going out now. "Come one Melody, come on!"
Two of the Hufflepuff chasers were zooming towards Mel, tossing the Quaffle back and forth between them so Melody wouldn't know which one was going to throw.
Then without warning the second Chaser violently flung the Quaffle spinning in a wicked curve toward the furthest ring away from Melody. She turned her broom hard and swooped toward it, hand outstretched. Making it look easy she hit the ball and it spiraled toward the ground, too fast for the Hufflepuff Chasers to dive for.
The Ravenclaw stands erupted into cheers, and the Ravenclaw captain Jay Chang swooped by to clap Melody on the back, congratulating her on another saved goal.
Funny, just weeks ago he had been yelling about how horrible she was, and then just twenty minutes ago he'd been begging her to play.
Let's back up a bit.
Melody and I had just settled ourselves into the spectator stands with a few awkward hellos to Nadia. Not long after Jay Chang had come sprinting up the steps and telling his story without pausing to breath. It sounded something like-
"MarcusFinch'sthrowingupeverywherecanyouplayyouwerethesecondbestattryouts-"
"Slow down!" Melody cried, throwing her gloved hands up. But already a huge grin was threatening to spread over her face, so I knew she'd caught the general gist of it. "Slow down."
Jay took a deep breath. "Marcus Finch is sick, he's throwing up everywhere. And I need you to play. You were the second best at tryouts, oh please say you will, Porter, I'll even re-evaluate Keeper position if you do well in this game-"
"Yes!" Melody screamed excitedly, and with that they ran back down to get her in her robes.
Ivan, Melody's still 'not my boyfriend' Durmstrang friend walked up casually after that, whistling innocently as he showed me a glimpse of the Zonko's Instant Projectile Vomit gasser and winked. I threw back my head and laughed, and that was how we ended up screaming ourselves hoarse as Melody saved all but two Quaffles.
"Roxanne!" Laine gasped, grabbing my hand.
"What?" I shouted to be heard over the music. Anna, Lorcan and I were dancing in the Ravenclaw common room, in celebration of our Quidditch win. "Come with me-it's Melody!" The smile immediately dropped off my face and I left Lorcan and Anna swaying to the music. We hurried through the mass of talking, laughing people, bumping into most of them as we weaved through the dimly lit room. We burst out into the hallway, blinking at the sudden harsh light.
The lack of noise was sudden, and left my ears ringing. It was strangely calm out here.
"What's wrong?" I asked wildly, looking to Laine desperately.
"I was getting a bit of fresh air and I heard Melody crying, she's with Stefan," Laine whispered, her green eyes wide with fright. "I don't know what was wrong, I just came to get you because I never know what to say and-"
"Where is she?" I interrupted impatiently.
Laine gestured down the corridor and we hurried down the stairs and to the vacant classroom she gestured to.
I pushed open the door quietly into the dark room. We both crept silently down the space between the desks covered with inches of dust; this classroom hadn't been used in ages. A square of golden light was coming from the office in the back of the room and up the stairs meant for the professor. The door was wide open and Stefan and Melody's conversation floated right out.
"-did you find out?"
"I've known since you got that package from Hermione, I recognized what was in that vial."
"Melody!" I exclaimed, jumping in front of the door. "What's the matter?" She and Stefan were sitting against the back wall, and she was leaning against his shoulder, his arm around her. My heart tightened for a moment, and a wave of heat rushed to my head at the sight. Then I got control of my senses and knelt next to her.
"N-nothing," she lied, wiping her eyes and I pulled back my hands, slightly hurt. What would she tell Stefan but not me, her best friend? My insides felt funny as both Melody and Stefan looked at me.
"Oh," I said softly, sitting myself down next to her. She quickly wiped her teary blue eyes and attempted a smile at me.
"Chang's putting me on the Quidditch team," she said quietly.
"That's great!" I exclaimed, putting my arm around her. Stefan stood up, looking down with a very concerned expression on his face at Melody.
"I'm going to walk Laine back to the common room," he announced. "Are you two alright?" Melody nodded, but I didn't say anything. They turned to leave, Laine throwing one last look over her shoulder at me. We'll talk later, she mouthed, and I nodded.
"Mel, you've got to talk to me," I said softly, leaning my head forward as I tried to catch her eye. "You've been acting strange this whole year, you seemed more upset than usual about Quidditch and then that weird allergic reaction...I thought you were upset because you didn't make the team, but now after you do you're still sad...what's the matter, Mel? We're best friends, we tell each other everything," I pleaded, and a fresh wave of tears poured over her cheeks and her shoulders shook. She turned her face into my shoulder, sobbing in such a way that my heart felt like it was being wrung out.
"I-I-I can't t-tell you," she gasped, trying to get a hold of her breathing. She was practically hyperventilating.
"Mel, calm down, shhh," I said in a slightly panicky tone. I took out my wand and hurriedly cast a calming spell, and she almost immediately began to breathe slower. I let out a sigh of relief. "What did Stefan mean, he recognized what was in the vial Hermione sent you?" I asked gently. "Mel, what did Hermione send you? I know it wasn't for your acne...you haven't got a single spot."
Melody took a shuddering breath, looking at me with glassy eyes. A few strands of her wavy black hair were glued to her cheeks with tears.
"Nothing, Roxanne," she whispered, her voice growing firm. She took a deep breath, and rapidly began to get control of herself once more. "Please, stop asking me." She sounded wary, and sat up stiff as a board, looking ahead.
"I just want to help," I said, hurt.
"I know," she said, slightly snappishly. "And you can't, alright? No one can." Her shoulders sagged.
"Then why does Stefan know?" I struggled to keep my voice even.
"It was an accident, alright? He wasn't supposed to find out. I wish I could tell you, Roxanne. I wish I could..."
"How did we get duped into this?" I whispered to Stefan as the carriage jolted us down the jack-o'-lantern-lit path to Hogsmeade. Levitating candles hung in the brown and gnarled branches of the trees, casting eerie shadows across the path. The squeals of fright and laughter coming from the other carriages was a welcome sound on Halloween night, the students' only night trip to Hogwarts allowed in the whole year.
"I think you just really wanted to date me," Stefan whispered, smirking and nudging my shoulder. I rolled my eyes and bumped him back.
"In your dreams," I smiled, and my eyes fell on Anna and Lorcan, the other two occupants of our carriage and also the two who forced us to come with them on a "double date" which was completely platonic and somewhat reluctant on the half of Stefan and I, but I forced Stefan to come because I was really baffled about how Lorcan and Anna went from enemies to dating in less than a week.
"There's one good thing, though." He lowered his voice even more, putting his mouth right next to my ear. "You know the book with the shields and such? And how there has to be a certain planetary phenomenon in order to bring the souls back?"
I nodded.
"Well, guess when the next day is? March 21st of this school year!" He said excitedly, not waiting for me to answer. "Roxanne, we've got to get ready somehow-"
"What?" I exclaimed. "Stefan, we can't just jump straight into this because you know as well as I do that if we try to do this-well first of all, we don't even know what this is or how, but if we try to bring him back we might bring someone unwanted back as well-" I stopped abruptly as I realized Anna and Lorcan were looking at us blankly from across the carriage, candlelight dancing in their wide eyes. Maybe I had been speaking slightly louder than intended.
"We'll continue this at the castle," I hissed out of the corner of my mouth and smiled innocently at our baffled friends.
"March 21st?" Lorcan said excitedly, sitting forward in his seat. "My mother's been telling Lysander and me about that, and she says the Fanglepuffs have been speaking of dark magic lately and that it's all building up to March 21st!" Anna looked at him adoringly, like she was really starting to consider a cute habit of his the gibberish that had always gotten her so mad.
"Oh," I said weakly, nodding as my mind grasped for something to say. "Erm, I was just talking about one of my cousin's birthday. A prank," I continued. "I'm going to pull a prank on my cousin's birthday, on-er-March 21st," I finished awkwardly, twisting my hands in my lap.
"Just be careful." Lorcan's brow furrowed and he drew Anna close to his side.
"Yeah." I nodded, and couldn't help but think that the air grew a bit colder, and that Lorcan's words rang truer with a second meaning than he intended them to.
"Boo!" A low voice from the shadows screamed, and we all shrieked with fright in our tight little group, laughing with the thrill of being terrified. We were stumbling through the 'haunted maze' together, which was really a twisting path through the woods. Although it was rather scary; all sorts of things were jumping out at us, both students and spells, and it was nearly completely dark with the knotted branches of trees reaching up to obscure the light of the full moon. The cool wind whisked leaves through the trunks, and they whispered like malicious ghosts.
Every once and a while the moon's silvery light broke through, but instead of making it easier to see, it only made the shadows darker. My heart was thumping and my grin was wide; all four of us were very jumpy, our nerves stretched to their breaking points. We screamed and startled at anything, even the snap of a twig.
"Come and stay with me forever," moaned the Bloody Baron as he floated through us, making my hair stand on end and a chill run through my body. He was glowing silver in the night as he continued on to scare the next group of students.
"That was so scary!" Anna half-whimpered, half-laughed as she ducker her head into Lorcan's arm. He positively beamed as he pulled her closer. Stefan had his arm linked tightly through mine, and we walked shoulder to shoulder behind Anna and Lorcan on the small path.
"Bloody hell!" Stefan jumped with fright as a torrent of rat-sized spiders scuttled across our feet. They looked so real I wasn't sure they were a spell. When I looked to Stefan his face was drained of all blood, paler than the Bloody Baron.
"Stefan!" I exclaimed, holding even tighter to his arm. "Are you scared of spiders?"
"No," he protested adamantly, but his trembling form said otherwise. "Let's just-just keep going, shall we?"
"I'm not scared," Anna sang from in front of us. Bloody Gryffindor. I wished Melody was here, but a distant relative of hers had passed away a week ago and she had left just two days ago on the train to go back for the funeral; she wouldn't be back for two more days.
"Me either!" I protested, jumping as a finger of a fake Dementor brushed against my shoulder from out of the shadows, and my heart began to pound once more. Adrenaline was pumping fast through my veins, and I was dangerously close to bolting. The woods felt sinister, and even though I knew it was all pretend, stories of Voldemort and real terrors were fresh in my mind.
A wail cut through the air, and I whipped my head toward the sound. Here, the path broke off into two directions; one lead to an even darker downhill path and the ground of the other was coated with a substance looking suspiciously like blood.
"Gross!" Lorcan announced, ducking down and sticking his finger in it as Anna groaned, her face looking green as she tried to pull her boyfriend back up. Lorcan brought his finger back up to his nose as if to smell, and his face instantly became one of shock and horror. He quickly looked up and locked eyes with me; no one else had noticed. Lorcan quickly wiped the blood on his pants and stood back up, taking out his wand.
"Let's be on guard, alright?" His voice had changed, and we all noticed the subtle shift in the atmosphere. The woods grew darker, and the shadows that had earlier looked like branches now appeared very much like leering, twisted faces.
"Ow-oooooooooooooo!" A wailing, mournful howl pierced the air, and travelled straight down to my heart, grabbing it and stopping it momentarily. A strangled gasp tore out of my throat, and a wave of shock violently ripped through my body.
"Werewolf!" I screamed, holding my wand out and leaping towards Stefan, grabbing his hand in mine in a crushing grip. That sound haunted my nightmares; earlier in the year when Melody and I had accidentally flown into a werewolves den...even though we'd both come out un-bitten and unhurt, it had rattled me more than I cared to admit. That howl had haunted my nightmares. I looked to the full moon with a racing heart, legs shaking. I took my hand out of Stefan's and stepped forward, eyes wild. For the second time tonight I wished my best friend were here. She'd understand, because she had been in the same werewolf den as me.
Now all three of my friends were looking at me, baffled.
"Roxanne, it's just a student or a spell pulling a prank," Stefan said gently, pulling me close to him and whispering into my hair. One of his arms came up and wrapped tightly around my shoulder, and the other took the hand that was clenched tightly around my wand. He lowered my arm and continued to whisper soothingly to me, his warm chest pressed against my back.
"Roxanne, none of this is real," he whispered, and I began to shake. What was wrong with me? Was the maze getting to me more than I had thought. My eyes burned with unshed tears, and I struggled to pull myself together. Stefan's body heat made me realize how frigid the air had turned, and I let out a huge breath.
"I'm sorry, I was just being silly," I whispered, and shut my eyes tight.
When I opened them again, I heard a very familiar groan coming from the shadows.
"Who's there?" Anna gasped, her arm shaking as she held out her wand.
"What is it?" Lorcan spun around, lighting his wand as well.
"Fred!" I screamed as their wand light fell on the limp form of my little brother, lying on the ground, small body still and unmoving.