Chapter 29
The Gathering of Souls
August twenty-fifth was a day of fasting and meditation for the Elves in preparation for the rituals that would take place that evening. Harry spent the day dividing his time between talking with his family and sitting in the branches of Eldartha, asking her for her wisdom. So many things could go wrong, and he knew that he would have to think quickly. In this, Eldartha was his source of strength for she would lend knowledge and wisdom to those who asked.
"I will be with you tonight," Mithrael told him. "I will not leave your side, my son. There is nothing to fear, for I will not allow harm to come to you." And that was the source of his courage. He knew that with his father beside him, he could do anything.
As the sun went down, Harry walked out of the Elven Realm into the Forbidden Forest. His parents, grandparents, godparents, cousins, and all the Elders followed him. Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, and the Minister of Magic were waiting for him, along with several aurors, including Shacklebolt, Moody, and Amelia Bones. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, with their three older sons, the Centaur Chief and his warriors, Ragnok and his goblins, and the Hogwarts House Elves were also there.
Harry could not imagine why so many were present at this ritual, but his father told him that they wanted to make sure that the Dark Wizard was gone. He wondered if they realized that the ritual would take more than the evening to complete.
The Elders surrounded Harry and his father—who insisted on being in the circle with him—with a ring of herbs, salt, and sage. They left a small space open in which they placed the Soul Glass and covered it with dirt. It was impossible for the souls to pass through the herbs to get to Harry, so they would have to pass over the soul glass, and when they did, they would be sucked into it.
Outside the circle of herbs, Dumbledore placed runes with his wand. Some were for protection; others were for what he called 'soul attraction.' Harry was not sure whether that was good or bad. He didn't want any souls other than Voldemort's trying to get in the circle. Dumbledore told him not to worry about it.
Harry sat cross-legged in the circle with Mithrael behind him. When the ritual started, his father would become invisible so the soul pieces would think that only a child sat in the circle. The box with Tom Riddle's diary had been brought out of the Realm of El and placed just outside the circle.
The other people who were watching surrounded themselves with herbs, salt, and sage so they would be in no danger of being possessed by any of the pieces of soul. The Elders would make the entire group invisible when the ritual started.
When everything was ready, one of the Elders began to beat out a heart-rhythm on the drum. Harry cleared his thoughts. Mithrael became invisible to all but the other Elves. When he was ready, Harry raised his hands, keeping his eyes closed, and began the ritual.
Elohanmi! Elmithmi! Elsethmi!
Give me control of the broken soul within me
Keep my own soul safe inside me
Let me speak through the soul of Tom Riddle
Elohanmi! Elmithmi! Elsethmi!
Harry continued the chant until he felt the scar burning on his forehead. The Elf stopped the drumbeat, and all was silent.
Satras thetus hothet
Hear me, Soul of Tom Riddle
Hear me, and obey my command
Souls lost in darkness
Hidden in man's creation
Broken pieces without life
Hear my call
Feel my desire
Come to me
Come, and be made whole
Satras thetus hothet
Come, Soul of Tom Riddle
Heed the calling of your soul
Feel your soul within me
Feel it reaching out to you
Feel your soul in a living body
Come, live again Tom Riddle
Come to me.
Come to be mended
Come, and be made whole
Satras thetus hothet
The box containing the diary began to shake, and suddenly the image of a young Tom Riddle appeared over the box.
"Who calls me?" he asked.
"Your soul calls, Tom Riddle. Come, join with me and live again."
"What is your name?"
"My name will be Tom Riddle when we are together again."
Cautiously, the spirit from the diary began to move toward the circle. Avoiding the herbs, it started through the open path and, before it could realize it was a trap, was immediately sucked into the mirror.
Harry let out a sigh of relief, and then continued the ritual, calling for the soul pieces of Tom Riddle.
Three hours later, six soul pieces were trapped in the Soul Glass. Only the one in Harry and the one that still roamed the Human Realm were left. Harry had to trap Voldemort's soul before he could perform the Ritual of Purification, but he was tired, hoarse, his scar was bleeding, and he needed to relieve himself.
He stood up and started toward the opening. "Can I leave the circle this way?"
Suddenly, his father grabbed him from behind. "If you walk across the Soul Glass, the piece of Voldemort's soul inside you will be ripped out and sucked into the mirror, and you will be dead."
Harry's face paled as he realized how close he had come to dying. "But Daka," he whispered. "I have to pee!"
His father chuckled. "Then you must do it in the circle."
Harry glanced over at the crowd of onlookers. "I can't do it in front of them," he whispered.
His father went to the edge of the circle and dug out a hole, piling the dirt to the side, then stood up and turned to the audience. "Could my son have a bit of privacy for a few moments?" he asked.
Since the audience could not leave their circle, they turned their heads or closed their eyes. Embarrassed, but in dire need, Harry relieved himself in the hole his father had dug, and then brushed the dirt on top of it. "Thanks, Daka," he said. "I feel much better now."
His father gave him a drink of water from the canteen on his belt. "Rest a moment, then you can start again," he said. Mithrael poured some of the water into his hand and cleaned the blood from his son's forehead. Harry rested for a short time, and then began the ritual to bring Voldemort to him.
Satras thetus hothet
Hear me, Soul of Lord Voldemort
Hear me, and follow my voice
I have your soul within me
The broken piece of soul you gave me
The power you left me
The power to be as great as you
The power to talk to snakes
The power to see into your thoughts
Hear my call
Feel my desire
Come to me
Come and join with me
And we will be one
And we will be strong
And we will be powerful
And we will rule the world
Come, Soul of Lord Voldemort
Heed the calling of your soul
Feel your soul within me
Feel it reaching out to you
Feel your soul in a living body
Come, live again Lord Voldemort
Come and live forever
Come to me.
Satras thetus hothet
"If you desire to join with me, why do you protect yourself in the circle of herbs?" the soul of Lord Voldemort asked.
"I do not desire to join with you, Lord Voldemort. I desire to rule with your power. Come and give me the rest of it. You will have a body, and I will have the power."
The Dark Lord laughed. "Do you think you could control me, little boy?"
"I am powerful. I have the magic you gave me."
"You have only a small piece of my power. You know nothing of what I am. You will never have the power that I have."
"I have the same power as you, but I am younger and stronger. I will be able to control you."
"You're a fool, boy. You know that I can't possess you because of the blood ritual performed by your mother."
Harry frowned. "You can't possess my body?" He looked thoughtful for a moment, and then grinned as if realization had just struck. "Then I am more powerful than you."
Voldemort laughed again. "You think you are protected because of the herbs. You think I cannot come inside the circle, but you are wrong. Like a fool, you have broken the circle."
Harry looked down at the opening of the circle as if he were seeing it for the first time, and then shrugged. "So? You can't hurt me. You can't possess me, so what does it matter if you can enter the circle?" He gave Voldemort a haughty look. "What could you possibly do to me? I am the Child of Prophecy, and you're nothing but a tiny piece of disembodied spirit."
"Child of Prophecy!" he spat. "You're a foolish child."
"Go away," Harry said, waving his hands as if shooing an animal. "If you can't make me more powerful, then leave. Go haunt a house or something, stupid ghost." He laughed. "I doubt you can even rattle a chain like a proper ghost."
In a rage, Voldemort's soul flew to the opening of the circle and, with a scream of horror, was immediately sucked into the Soul Glass with the other soul pieces.
Harry stood pale and trembling in the circle, blood running from his scar down his face. His father wrapped his arms around him and held him close while the Elders broke the circles. Elder Sareth picked up the Soul Glass and wrapped it in a silk cloth.
"It is time for the Ritual of Purification," she said.
Together, the group walked to the portal to take them into the Elven Realm. The House Elves could not enter, for they were bound by Wizards to be unable to enter the Realm that was once their home. They stopped at the portal and sat down to wait.
Queen Elsbeth stopped before the portal and turned to speak to the group. "The next ritual is a private ritual for Sethrael and his family. We will need a few Wizards with wands to help control the Soul Glass, but the final ritual will not be until tomorrow evening. You are all welcome to stay in our Realm, but if you wish to meet by the portal tomorrow at dusk, we will open the portal to allow you in to witness the final ritual."
The House Elves, the Centaurs, and the Goblins decided to come back the next evening at dusk. All of the Wizards wanted to help with the Ritual of Purification, so they entered the Elven Realm with the Elves.
The older children had prepared the domed tent, and Draco had been selected to be the Fire-Keeper. He heated the lava rocks in the pit while the Wizards were taken into the Realm of El. Their duty was to stand on the bridge and wait for the soul of Voldemort to leave Harry when he was in the River of Purification. If those in the river did not capture the soul, they would then levitate the Soul Glass in its path to trap it in the mirror. It would be a difficult thing to accomplish because there was no way to contain the soul piece in a small area, and it would try to get as far away from the River of Purification as possible.
The four Weasley men, Dumbledore, Moody, Shacklebolt, Draco and Sirius were the Wizards to stand on the bridge. Sirius was upset that he could not go through the river with Harry, but the Elders said that only those who had recently fought the battle of darkness in their own souls would be able to enter the water. So, to Sirius's disappointment, only Remus, Snape, Lucius, and Mithrael would accompany Harry on his journey.
Because they needed their strength, the four who would swim the waters with him could not go into the tent. However, his mother left Coriel with Mrs. Weasley and entered with her son. When the rocks were in place and the flap was closed, Elsbeth sprinkled water over the hot rocks and scattered sage across it. When the tent got too hot to sit up, Harry laid his head on his mother's lap. Elsbeth had not undressed as her son had, so her clothes were sticking to her body, but she ignored the heat and ran her fingers through her son's wet hair until the flap was opened and they could leave.
Harry crawled out of the tent, and the sage water was poured over him. His father helped him through the portal into the Realm of El.
Severus carried the mirror, still covered with the silk cloth. Neither the cloth nor the mirror could get wet or the waters from the River of Purification would cause the souls in the glass to escape. He could not uncover it until the soul had withdrawn from Harry's body, so he had to keep it covered and dry even while wading through the deep waters.
Before Harry had reached the middle of the river, he began to scream. The soul piece inside him seemed to be in a panic, and the pain was unbearable. The soul did not know whether to leave or stay, so Mithrael grabbed Harry and dunked him beneath the water, causing the soul piece to flee. Severus, who had been ready, ripped off the silk and held the mirror in the path of the soul, but the wraith changed course and flew upwards, then toward the valley leading to the portal.
Snape held up the Soul Glass, and Dumbledore levitated it with his wand. The mirror flew toward the ghost, but again the soul changed course.
In the river, Harry had passed out. Mithrael and Remus were trying to get him to the shore. Severus held up the silk cloth, and Sirius levitated it to the bridge so, when the soul was captured, it could be covered once more.
"Professor," Draco said. "Let me try. I think that my skills as a seeker could come in handy right now."
Dumbledore allowed Draco to take over the levitation. He turned the mirror on its side and whipped it around. It flew like a surfboard behind the spirit, then dove underneath it in an arch and rose directly in front of it. Before the spirit could change direction, it was sucked into the Soul Glass.
The Wizards on the bridge cheered as Draco gently levitated the mirror to the bridge. From the river, his father grinned and gave him a thumbs-up. Sirius grabbed it when it was within reach and wrapped it in the silk cloth. He looked up at Draco and grinned, "Good job, Cousin. I couldn't have done better myself."
Lily stood on the shore of the island, waiting for her son. When Severus saw her, he almost turned back, but she smiled and waved to him, so he continued forward. When they reached the shore, Mithrael and Remus carried Harry to his mother, laying him at her feet. She knelt down beside him and began to stroke his face and speak softly to him.
After a few moments, Harry opened his eyes and looked up at his mother. He raised his hand to his scar. There was no more pain. He smiled at her. "Did I make it?"
She laughed. "You made it," she said. "Come, Sweetheart. Let me wrap you in this cloak. You're shivering."
Mithrael helped his son to stand, then backed away so he could be with his mother. They waited a moment before following them to the cove.