Hello,hello!
So, let's get right down to business, and see what happens, eh?
Onwards, chapter 22!
***
Isis cursed the potency of Augury- it was the single only type of magic that would not be phased by anti-apparition wards or concealment charms. She had not expected that accursed Galanos able to find enough for his blasted charts to be able to find her in time- apparently either the Skeeter woman had not died, which was unlikely, or the other kid in that school Gryffindor and his buddies had been so proud of did not actually commit a decent suicide. Either the case, Isis nodded to herself, she would not make the same oversight again, nor would she underestimate her enemies.
Osiris was writhing on the floor, but he was relatively calm.
"Usat, need another," he croaked out, and Isis knew exactly what he meant. The Greek's curse had undone a very big part of her anchoring magic to keep her lover amongst the living. The blood in Hatnofer's Heart Scarab had become inactive, and Osiris would be reduced to mummified remains again if she was not quick.
She turned to Dolohov and smiled.
"Antonin, I need your services," she said in her smooth, velvety voice. "Come forward."
Dolohov obeyed, bowing. This was his chance to prove to Isis he was indispensable.
"Anything, my lady."
"Do you wish to live, Antonin? How high is your desire for survival?"
Dolohov's brow beaded with cold sweat. Was she threatening him?
"I will do anything to live, my lady," he said, trying not to let his voice waver. "That was our binding contract when you found me. My servitude for my life."
Isis smiled triumphantly.
"That is exactly what I needed to hear, my dear," she said. "Sensim Iuguolo!"
The deep purple lightning of the spell flew from her golden-tipped fingers and enshrouded Dolohov, who began to scream, eyes widening. His veins began to slit open, releasing his blood everywhere where his skin was exposed to the air, and as he breathed in to scream, more ruptured down his esophagus and in his lungs. It wasn't long before his carotids burst, and his life blood was pouring out- and Isis gently, very carefully approached the dying man, avoiding his shaking limbs in his throes of death, and gathered up a full vial of his blood. Not like that Skeeter had done with Aello's son.
She then returned to Osiris, pressed her splayed palm upon his chest until the bandages appeared again, and poured the new blood upon the Heart Scarab pulsating at a heart's beat underneath. Osiris immediately breathed in relief, and Isis stepped back to allow him to collect himself and stand.
"You know this is only a temporary remedy, Usat," Osiris said affectionately. "That rat's blood is not good enough for Ausar."
"I know, husband," Isis nodded. "Just as the swine hearts are not. But never worry; we will retrieve the ones that will grant you full power, before we leave this country."
Osiris seemed skeptical as he picked up his wand again, and made Dolohov's body disappear.
"You know the Galanos clan is very cautious; the bodies will have been incinerated."
"Ah, but there are margins for Dark Magic, my love," purred Isis as she retrieved a dark blue robe and affectionately draped it around Osiris' shoulders. "The hearts of the vanquishers of the former Dark Master are to be used for your forfeit in the Underworld; Voldemort was kind enough to be beaten by more than one wizard, if one looks at it the right way."
"Ah," Osiris said. "You must relate that man's story to me, Isis- the Underworld does not get much news. Who must we seek out?"
"Well, it appears that those that will have to be sent to the Underworld instead of you, my love, are Harry Potter and Minerva McGonagall- after all, she did lead everyone against old Tom Riddle…" chuckled Isis playfully. "Which is convenient, because Aello's son, who will donate his blood for you, is where they are, too."
Osiris smiled and stroked Isis' hair.
"That, then, is simply perfect, Usat."
***
Madame Pomfrey shrieked as she saw the door erupt and Nikos' body land at the other side of the corridor in a flurry of debris. Sybil Trelawney was the one to rush forward, muttering 'oh dear, oh dear, I had forseen this', and set to removing the heaviest pieces of the door off the crumpled man.
"Careful, Sybil! Don't pull any wood there might be in him," Pomfrey said as she found her own readiness and rushed forward as well. She inspected Nikos' form as she quickly moved her wand over him to see the list of injuries.
The auguror was not actually bleeding profusely. He was deathly pale and his eyes seemed sealed shut. His breathing was nearly non existent and for a moment Poppy was frightened that the man was dead. She went down on her knees next to him, and ensuring that he did not have a broken spine, she turned him over.
"He's been cursed," she said in a puzzled voice. "Diagnostics tell me he's sustained spell injuries. But how?"
"I'd foreseen this," Trelawney moaned unhelpfully. Poppy clicked her tongue.
"Why don't you foresee who's coming, and get me some help, Sybil?" she snapped, twirling her wand over Nikos. It amazed her that such a spectacular smashing through a heavy wooden door had not resulted in any broken bones- until she felt the quickly fading traces of a magical shield of some sort. Whatever had happened, the man had tried to protect himself.
Trelawney obeyed, with a readiness that never failed to surprise Poppy, shouting for help. Poppy conjured a stretcher for Nikos and put him on it very gently. It was when she moved him that she became truly frightened- the man's body shook and convulsed, and blood and bile began choking him. Poppy quickly turned him to the side and helped him spew the geyser of blood, berating herself for not checking for internal injuries like some sort of rookie. But you did check, her self objected, and what that implied about Nikos' state and the curse that had hit him made her gut freeze.
"What happened, Poppy?" shouted Erna Frideswide, nearly stumbling over her own robes to get to the site. "What's the matter with him?"
"Erna, help me- I dare not move him, but I can't treat him here," Poppy said. "And I dare not use a spell on him while I am not sure what he got hit with."
Frideswide bit her lip, then she waved her wand at the pieces of the broken door, and transfigured around Nikos a muggle spine board and several medical straps and equipment designed to keep a patient completely immobile.
"There," she said. "We can now levitate him to the infirmary."
Poppy nodded and swished her wand, spelling the stretcher to float ahead of her. The corridors were empty when they got back down, and Poppy realized Minerva had cleared them of students, leaving only Rasmus and the Golden Trio present. Rasmus was silent as his eyes took in the state of his godfather, and he appeared extremely calm, except for the hand he brought to his mouth, watching the stretcher float past.
***
Once in the infirmary, Erna and Poppy set to working on Nikos. It was tedious work stemming the internal bleeding- it took them a while to realize that the point of the curse was to cause multiple internal bleeding sites that would end up in death by cerebral hemorrhage. But Poppy was extremely fast, stemming each and everyone of the sites the curse worked at, until it had run its circle and faded, leaving behind a devastated, but yet living, organism.
But the hard part came after- and not because of any curse that had been shot at Nikos, but because of the Apperception potion that began to fade as well, leaving Nikos with depleted energy and such a level of exhaustion that in itself was life-threatening. The man sank into extremely deep sleep, because Erna's potion to prevent coma had been absorbed in an extremely slow rate, exactly due to the extreme fatigue.
"What on earth were you thinking, giving him something illegal?" shrieked Poppy at Frideswide as soon as Nikos was stable. "That potion might be what ends up killing him!"
"It could also have been what saved his life," Erna said calmly. "You can't know what it was he dealt with. We both know he didn't shoot that curse at himself, and it is nothing you or I ever saw. No Death Eater ever used something so potent and so insidious."
Poppy was about to answer back, but then McGonagall, who had followed them to the infirmary with Rasmus and Harry, and watched them work on the man interrupted her by saying:
"I have here someone who probably does know. Isn't that right, Mr. Snape?"
Rasmus looked down at his still bruished and marked hands.
"Godfather used Augury to find out Dark Wizards following the cult of Isis," he said quietly. "And when he says 'to find out', he also means 'to stop'. So … so I guess that he found them, and…"
"…and nearly killed himself," groused Pomfrey.
"Poppy," Erna muttered, watching Rasmus flinch. "Mr. Snape, there's no use in hiding from you that indeed your godfather's condition is very serious; but I am optimistic that he will survive this, if we give him enough time to do it. I have seen worse in St. Mungo's, and they are still kicking now." Frideswide smiled encouragingly as Rasmus looked up at her, somewhat doubtfully.
"And in any case, Mr. Snape, please follow me," McGonagall said. "We definitely need to talk. You too, Mr. Potter."
And with those words, the Headmistress steered the two students from the room, leaving the two mediwitches alone with Nikos and Hodd. Poppy waited until certain the boy would be out of earshot to ask Frideswide:
"You don't really feel optimistic, do you?"
Frideswide turned and looked at the grayish-pale face of the man lying in the bed.
"If I still work to cure someone, I am still the optimist," she said, but her voice was heavy.
***
In the Headmistress' office, Rasmus sat down nervously next to Harry, who was next to Ron and Hermione- waiting for them quietly as Minerva had instructed. Minerva glanced at the walls as she went to take her seat. Both Albus and Severus were there, but they were both silent, watching. Rasmus seemed to be avoiding his father's glances.
"Now, Mr. Snape. Don't you feel it's time you told me fully what is going on, before more people get hurt?"
"Godfather is a strong wizard," Rasmus murmured. "He shouldn't have been hurt so easily."
"He bit off more than he could chew, obviously," Severus snorted.
"You speak for your own self!" Rasmus erupted, shaking his fist at his father's painting. "Nikos never walked in a battle to die, like you!"
"Nobody worth their salt walk into a battle anything less but ready to die, boy," Severus bit back, but his voice was far gentler in its anger than Minerva ever heard it. "Never forget that."
"Severus, you are not helping me," Minerva muttered. She turned to Rasmus, who had covered his eyes, but before she could speak, the teen breathed in and straightened up.
"That was out of line," he said in a harshly restrained voice. "I apologise. I will tell you anything you want."
"That's going to be interesting," Ron whispered to Hermione, who elbowed him, loathe to agree with her boyfriend.
Minerva nodded, and tapped her fingers on her desk. Hot cups of tea appeared before the young wizards opposite her, and one with a shot of brandy for her.
"Drink, all of you," she ordered rather than invited. "It will help. Mr. Snape, you may begin by telling me about Isis and her cult."
Rasmus nodded and sipped from the cup, then he shot a glare at his father's portrait.
"I'm going to tell you about it, Headmistress," he said, retaining angry eye contact with Severus. "And everything there is to know, if you wish it."
Severus nearly left the frame, but stalled in the last moment, as Rasmus began to narrate.
"The cult of Isis is several millennia old," the young man said. "The Mediterranean has its own wizarding history, Headmistress, and somehow it was contained there for an extremely longtime, while whatever was going on in northern Europe and Britain or even Asia was thought of as irrelevant. Anyway, the cult of Isis was originally part of the religion of Ancient Egypt. Isis and Osiris were its founders- they are wizards; what we call Prime Wizards."
"Mr. Snape, Prime Wizards died out," McGonagall said with a worried frown.
"Two survived, apparently," drawled Severus from his frame, where he sat with his arms crossed.
"Excuse me, but aren't Prime Wizards those who can do magic without need of a wand at all?" Hermione asked.
"Precisely, Miss Granger," McGonagall nodded impatiently, not interested in teaching at the moment. "They are supposed to be the ones from which modern wizards are descended."
Rasmus sighed, passing his hand through his hair, then wrapping his fingers around the cup again. Though the heat was scorching, it couldn't make his hands warm at all.
"Yes; so, these two, they didn't want to ever die. So they devoted all their time to finding ways to keep themselves alive, even though they are mortal like everyone else. That's where all the mythology around them came from. They invented Anchors. Those kept them going for a few Dynasties until Seth collaborated with Herpo, who was unfortunately Greek, and tried to destroy their Anchors to create the first Horcrux. They failed, and Isis made a deal with Herpo, who killed Seth and made his Horcrux- and he was part of her cult, too, and brought it over to Greece."
Minerva frowned, feeling growingly uneasy.
"But all this is ancient, isn't it?"
"That's the origin," Rasmus nodded, "but the cult survived to modernity- like your Death Eaters, but with much more history and experience, and two Dark Lords. Isis and Osiris had no problem using Dark or White magic interchangeably to suit their purposes."
"You skipped the important bit, Rasmus," sneered Snape from his portrait. "After all, you did say you'd tell them everything."
"Fine," Rasmus glared at his father. He then turned to Minerva. He consistently avoided looking at Harry and the others. "Isis and Osiris wanted to rule Nature. To do that, they needed five Keys, four that were artifacts that could tap upon the four Natural elements, and one that bound them all and made whoever had them all into the master of all Nature: the Omphalos."
Hermione gasped again, making Ron jump and Harry arch an eyebrow.
"You mean Delphi's Omphalos? The one in the fissure under Pythia?"
"Yeah," Rasmus said weakly. "That's the one. Because they wanted to be such masters, many other Prime Wizards opposed them, such as Horus, and Bastet, and Zeus and Athena, and Apollo, who was the one who had power over the Omphalos because he defeated the great snake that originally had it, Python."
"Let me get this straight," Harry said, forgetting that McGonagall was the one conducting the discussion, "are you saying that all the ancient gods were Prime Wizards?"
"Eh, well, most of them, yeah," Rasmus nodded. "And they sort of sided with Isis or against her. Isis is one of the most powerful ones."
"So, Mr. Snape, this cult is what you and your godfather came after here," McGonagall said. "Why are they even here?"
"My godfather would know how to answer that best, Headmistress," Rasmus said uncomfortably. "Isis got killed before I was born, but he was certain her cult was still active, and they were here to retrieve one or more of the Keys."
"And why would any of them be here, since all of this concerned the Mediterranean region only?" McGonagall frowned.
"Because Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor hid one of them from Isis before they came here," Rasmus Snape said, and quickly sipped at his tea.
***
And that's that! We're not done, but this is a fairly big chunk that explains some of the happenings and premises in this story. I hope it was not quite an unpleasant infodump though. XD
If ANYTHING sounds confusing, please feel free to ask me. I don't have the time to read this over and I may not have clarified something. Tomorrow there will be both action and more background info (we still haven't gotten to Aello and Severus) as well as how Voldemort ties into the cult. I hope I haven't swamped y'all… but if I have tell me, and it shall be fixed.
Zoe Bright: Eleni was 'Eleni Gerakas', the Head of Athens School. Yes, we'll be seeing her. As for the British Museum, well, virtually all big museums hold artifacts from civilizations like the Greek, Egyptian or Chinese one, legitimately or illegitimately acquired. Greek stuff and Egyptian ones that I know more about have mostly been looted to Britain during the occupation of Greece by the Turks for 400 years, from 1452 to 1821. The Turkish sultan giften many antiquities to British (and French and others) officials to garner their support, and these furnished private collections and/or museums. You are not far from hitting the hammer on the nail ;) [and I'm a natural teaser…]
Sindie: Yay! Thoughts on this one??
Very Small Prophet: I admit that it was not a correct question to ask. Evil is an absolute value, like good or night or day or pregnancy (you can't be a little pregnant…) and so either a character is evil (with everything that means) or they aren't. Maybe the better question would be how dramatic the manifestations would be… and maybe not even that, either.