Children of the Night Part 2: The Book of Nocta Lunaria
Chapter 6: Raising the Dead
by Polydicta
Summary:
Harry seeks revenge after Hermione is killed, but finds that they have both undergone a life-changing event. Violence, blood, character death, normal marital relations, necromantic themes. ON HIATUS.
This story is on PERMANENT HIATUS - that is, until I feel inspired to add anything more to it. I know where I want it to go but lack the inspiration or the drive to get there. I'm hoping that the guilt of leaving everyone hanging will motivate me … or something.
Disclaimer:
All fiction is derivative and fan fiction doubly so. I make no claim to own any part of any of the following, all I have done is an attempt to put together the elements in a novel fashion, using words and ideas like Lego ™ bricks.
There is no money involved – all I do is to share what I do for my own amusement.
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Children of the Night Part 2: The Book of Nocta Lunaria
Chapter 6: Raising the Dead
There was a sound like a groan which was answered by another.
"Harry?"
"Ugh! Hermione? Are you alright, Love?"
"Yah. This feels …"
"Dreadful?"
"Precisely."
There was the creak of Harry lifting the lid of his coffin. He felt the life returning to him, his heart gradually reaching a normal rhythm and his breathing resuming it's normal pace.
He sat up and levered himself from his casket. Stiffly he rose and went to release his wife from her own personal prison.
"You okay, Love?"
He kissed her.
"Better now thanks."
He helped her to sit and then to clamber out of the box.
Harry handed her a pint mug of blood, removing the stasis charm as he did, and kept one for himself. The hunger was almost unbearable. She un-sealed the crypt door and they emerged into their apartment.
"Dobby? Are you there?"
"Master!"
Harry looked at his friend sharply.
"Um, sorry, Harry, Hermione. It's just that, well …"
Hermione raised an eyebrow. The elf looked embarrassed.
"It's just that you … slept through last night as well. I was afraid."
"I'm sorry, Dobby. I'm not sure what that was all about."
Hermione's face fell. "We missed the full moon then."
Harry asked, "is Remus alright?"
Dobby nodded. "He was a bit upset, but if you were … dormant, then what else could you do?"
"We'll come on up as soon as we're safe to be in company, Dobby."
The elf looked worried.
"It's alright, it's just that … well, I know that I'm hungry as anything, and I'm sure Hermione is."
.
Their breakfast was larger than usual, but still they were unsatisfied.
"Harry …" Her voice was husky with … desire.
He stood and easily lifted her to her feet. Bending, he kissed her lips. He broke the kiss and offered his neck to her.
Giggling, she turned and led him to sit on the sofa. She sat on his lap and started kissing him lustfully.
Soon, she was kissing his jaw and then his neck, biting him and drinking, absorbing his fire, his spirit. Sated, she gently offered him her own neck, shuddering blissfully as he took her blood.
Now satisfied, they simply sat and cuddled for a minute before heading upstairs.
.
"Remus?"
Lupin's eyes were dull.
"Remus, old friend?"
He looked at them with deep sadness.
"Dobby told you?"
He shook his head. "Told me what?"
"Remus? Harry and I … last night … we …"
She started crying bitter tears, hot tears full of pain and loss. Mourning all that was now denied them. Harry lifted her onto his lap and comforted her, shedding his own tears.
Sirius entered the kitchen. "Harry?"
He looked at his godfather with eyes that spoke of the loss of all things bright and good in the world.
"Harry? What is it?"
He shook his head, still cradling his wife's sobbing form.
"Last night. Oh, Goddess …"
His voice caught.
"… Last night, we … we didn't wake. T-there was … nothing …"
Silence reigned, broken by Hermione's sobs and Harry's occasional quiet murmured words.
At last, she was still. Harry tried again.
"When we went down, the morning before last, we were both consumed by a terrible fear. Hermione said it was like … before. That's why I sealed the doors. We slept in our …"
His voice caught on the word.
"… we slept in our coffins. T-there was a noise like a forest fire and … nothing. No dreams, nothing until tonight. Waking from that sleep is the most dreadful thing…"
Tears slid down his cheeks. "Oh, Merlin! To feel your heart start beating after lying dead, to … suddenly find yourself breathing, exhaling a breath held for two days. To feel the life seeping back to your cells … the fear … t-the … h-horror …"
He fell silent, the only sound the whispered muttering of Hermione as she tried to comfort her husband as silent tears flowed into her hair.
Remus looked up. "Harry, Hermione, I'm sorry. All I could feel was the … melancholy … emanating from your … apartment. I … I spent the w-whole night h-howling."
At length, the four of them were able to chat normally, sitting , nursing mugs of tea, coffee and hot chocolate.
"Anyone fancy going out for something to eat? I could murder a steak."
Remus looked at his watch. "Nym'll be back in a while, why don't we all go out. Where to?"
"Harry and I have been using that restaurant around the corner. The Regent's Park Steakhouse?"
"You're on."
.
Half an hour later the five of them were sat in the restaurant waiting for their meal to arrive.
"Alyssa?"
"Oh, good evening Lord and Lady Potter."
"Alyssa, what did we say to you about that?"
The young woman looked abashed. "Sorry. Harry and Hermione."
She gave them an embarrassed smile.
"We'd like to introduce you to our … family, for want of a better word. My Dogfather Sirius. Uncle Remus and his intended Nym …"
Harry's voice trailed off as Alyssa had locked eyes with Sirius.
"Ah, um, yes, well, hi …"
"Did you actually hear any of the introductions, Alyssa?"
"Yes, yes, all of them, I got as far as Sirius …"
"And Remus and Nym?"
"Oh, yes, Hi."
"Alyssa, do you want to join us? My treat?"
She looked embarrassed.
"Ah, you don't … partake, do you?"
She shook her head. "Not often and not much."
"Then sit, help us with the wine and perhaps pinch a forkful from Sirius' plate?"
"Oh … I'd …. "
She drifted off again, suddenly catching herself. "Yeah, I'd love to."
The food arrived, with Harry and Hermione having blue steaks with a side salad, Remus and Sirius eating theirs rare and Tonks having a Shepherd's Pie, wondering vaguely if it was made with real shepherd. At no point did Alyssa seem to be able to take her eyes from Sirius for more than a second or two.
At length, Hermione headed off to the ladies, taking Alyssa and Tonks with her.
.
"Sirius?"
"Hmm, Moony?"
"She's the one, isn't she?"
"I dunno what you mean, old friend."
"Yes you do. You've fallen for a vampire."
"Who says?"
"The look in your eye says, and I'd put a hundred galleons on it, too."
"Moony?"
"Harry?"
"How do you feel around her?"
Remus lifted an eyebrow. "Umm, not bad, actually. She's a nice girl."
"She's true vampire, you know."
Remus looked confused.
"We'll sort it out."
.
While this conversation was going on, Hermione had cornered Alyssa.
"He's the one, isn't he?"
The goofy smile and the glazed expression was actually answer enough.
"Are you working tonight?"
She shook her head. "I was just going clubbing."
"Why don't you take some company. Heck, why don't we all go? I'm sure we can convince Moony, and Sirius'll follow your lead, Alyssa."
She nodded and the women headed back to the table.
"Right, we're going clubbing, the lot of us."
Sirius looked confused, thinking of knobbly sticks.
"Night clubbing? Go get on down on the dance floor?"
Six figures arrived at Grimmauld Place. The night sky was beginning to lose its blackness.
"I need to get back…"
"We have a spare room down in our apartment, if you want?"
"Really? With proper beds?"
Harry chuckled as Hermione said, "a couple of good coffins, actually."
Alyssa smiled. "I'll leave dad a message on the answerphone then."
.
The party continued at Grimmauld Place until the sky was becoming pale. Alyssa got herself comfortable in the Potters' spare bedroom and Harry and Hermione headed off to bed themselves.
"Night Hermione. Love you."
"Love you too, Mr Potter."
Snuggled together, without the sudden fear they had felt the last time they had come down to rest, they slipped into a deep and dreamless sleep.
The next night, when the Potters woke, there was a singular lack of movement from Alyssa's coffin.
"Do you think she's alright?"
Harry was worried. They went in and opened the coffin to find the desiccated remains of someone long, long dead.
"No! No! Nononono!"
Harry found himself weeping for their friend. His tears fell on the long dead flesh, and there was a sizzling noise. Where his tears had fallen was what could only be living flesh.
"Harry, what did you do to waken me?"
Harry looked at his wife.
"I cried. I kissed your lips and … of course, the breath of life!"
He bent over the coffin and kissed the mummified lips, feeling them soften and become living flesh. He exhaled past the parted lips and there was a sound like a very quiet shifting of sand.
He stood and looked down. The woman was becoming flushed. She took a shuddering breath and her eyes flew open.
"What!"
"Welcome back to the land of the living."
The young couple helped the girl from her coffin.
She was pale, but the pale of living flesh, not the greyish, unnatural-seeming pallor of the undead.
In the kitchen Harry gave her a pint mug.
"Drink."
She did, and then they sat together, she drinking a second cup, Harry and Hermione drinking their first.
"What happened? I can feel my heart beating and the life flowing in my veins, a thing I've missed these past fifteen years."
"You had truly died when we came to wake you this evening. Harry brought you back."
"b-but … vampires don't simply … die."
"I assure you they do. You have a sprinkle of earth in your coffin, don't you?"
The girl nodded.
"We forgot that little detail, but for what it's worth, you probably won't need it again."
"Wha … how?"
"We're upir, living dead, not undead. Well, we say upir, but that's just an approximation. Harry brought me back, and now he's brought you back. How do you feel?"
"Still … hungry?"
Harry took his wand and pointed it at his hand.
"Exsanguinarius."
He allowed his blood to half-fill her empty mug, and casting a finite, he bid her drink.
Her eyes grew wide. "Wow! That's like nothing I've ever tried! Thank you, Lord."
Her colour returned to that of a young woman in the prime of her life.
"Right, shower's in there, if you leave your clothes out we'll clean them using magic."
When Alyssa emerged, she found Harry and Hermione chatting to Sirius and a couple of small creatures.
"Alyssa? These are Dobby and Winky. They're house elves and are powerfully magical creatures, as well as being adopted members of our family."
The girl was evidently suffering culture shock.
"Oh, and I should explain. Sirius is a wizard and a dog-animagus. Remus, if you hadn't guessed, is a werewolf and Nym is a metamorphmagus, a shape-shifter. This is a bit of an unconventional family, you see."
The girl shook her head.
Sirius looked at Alyssa. "Something's changed with you. I can see it."
She smiled. "I died last night. Really died, and Harry brought me back. I'm warm, I have a pulse and I'm alive again."
Hermione smiled. "And what of your original sire?"
The girl's eyes widened. "I can't feel him in my mind any more. He's gone from me. His word is no longer my command. I can, however, feel Harry's presence … but it's like … it's more like … a … deep … abiding love. It's more like the feeling I have with my own father.
"Hecate and Hera, is this how you both feel all the time? Deeply loved and … protected?"
Hermione nodded. "It's how I feel, at least most of the time. Oh, and after tomorrow, you may not need to sleep in a coffin, at least not always, anyway."
"Really? I can sleep in a bed?"
Hermione nodded. "And you can even be woken up if the motive is there."
Alyssa blushed prettily, causing Sirius to stare. She looked at him and he blushed.
"Look stop beating around the bush. Alyssa, Sirius, just kiss and go find out. Oh, and Alyssa, you're welcome to sleep down here tomorrow if you want."
Giggling and laughing like school children Alyssa and Sirius headed off upstairs.
There was a mood permeated Grimmauld Place that made Harry and Hermione want to just sit, snuggled together in front of their fire for a couple of hours.
.
At one in the morning, a flushed and rumpled Alyssa arrived in the apartment.
"Sirius wants to know if you fancy coming out for a meal at the restaurant."
She blushed. "I never knew all that physical activity could make me feel so hungry for … food."
Harry grinned. "Did Sirius show you how he got his nickname?"
She giggled. "That was weird, seeing him turn into a dog. Is it a common skill?"
Hermione smiled ferally. "Not common at all. It tends to run in families, but both Harry and I have animal forms."
She looked at her husband. They nodded and changed.
In front of Alyssa were two smilodons, sabre-toothed tigers. Both sporting the short manes of their species, and both deep brown with black markings. The two retained their own startling eye colours. Harry, slightly larger, also sported a silvery lightning bolt marking over his left eye. They both had other pale marks on arms and torso from their many battle scars.
They shifted back.
"Impressive, but what are they?"
"Sabre-tooth tigers. It's certainly an unusual form to have. Most animagi have forms like dogs, cats, birds and so on. My dad had a stag form."
"Wow, again."
"Now, food calls."
.
The restaurant was busier than usual when they arrived. They sat down to three large, blue steaks and Sirius ate his rare as usual. Afterward, Alyssa went to talk to her father.
.
"Alyssa tells me that you have changed her, somehow. Certainly, I seem to have my daughter back. For the past fifteen years she has been aloof … distant and emotionless like the rest of her kind, but now …"
He paused, taking a deep breath.
"She tells me that she feels loved, a family love. She also tells me that she has met the one."
He shook his head.
"We think she has … Sirius, here, is unlikely to admit it, though."
Sirius shook his head, dog like. "Admit what?"
"That Alyssa is the one. That she is the one to have captured your heart."
"Is it that obvious?"
Three heads nodded vigorously.
.
Alyssa, finding she still had the fear of daylight, slept in her coffin at Grimmauld Place that night. Just as Hermione had, she became dormant but woke the following night still with a heartbeat.
After their shared breakfast, Alyssa asked them about magic. Especially how it felt.
"Why do you ask?"
"I feel something I never felt before … a stirring of some sort."
Harry handed her his wand and they were surprised to see a small shower of ozone-smelling sparks.
"Interesting … it seems as though you have inherited some of Harry's magic. I guess we'll have to arrange an appointment with Mr Ollivander."
A blank look.
"Ollivander is a wand maker. He makes the best wands for general use in Britain. I'll send him an owl in the morning."
"Harry? What is that stuff in the bottle that you drank last night? I see you've taken another bottle."
"It's a blood-replenishing potion. Because I gave you my blood last night, and Hermione tonight, I need a top-up. It's like a muggle blood transfusion, but with your own blood."
"Oh … I think I see."
Sirius arrived soon after. After being told that Alyssa needed to visit Ollivander's, she was whisked away by Sirius.
.
Harry moved a double bed down from one of the spare rooms upstairs so that Alyssa could use a bed while she stayed.
As morning was approaching, Sirius and Alyssa arrived in the apartment. Harry noticed the bite mark on Sirius's neck.
"So it's forever?"
They nodded mutely, both blushing.
"I-I g-got a b-bit …"
Hermione finished her sentence, "excited?"
Alyssa nodded. "It's never been like that before … I've never wanted to … mark my mate before."
She sighed, making Harry and Hermione smile.
"And are you going to turn him?"
She shook her head. "I don't think it's necessary. From what I learned, once marked a vampire's mate enjoys the same … immortality as the vampire who marked them."
"Well, in Sirius' case, immorality, more like."
When dawn came, she slept fearlessly in Sirius's arms in the Potters' spare bedroom.