Concurrent Existences

Chapter 20: And the Doomsayer has Come

Hidden deep, hidden in sight.

Plot unseen, covered in light.

To the light, blinded are they.

Keep your eyes closed, listen to what I say.

It would at least have a name.

"I am Volana."

The whole situation being a dream seemed to not be plausible the more time passed. Luna was pretty sure that this was real and that the doppelganger in front of her wasn't a figment of her imagination. She was absolutely sure she hadn't eaten any random fauna this week either.

Her brain quickly assumed that it could be another type of Boggart or a new type of mythical creatures she had yet to meet. Looking at things that way would explain most of the current situation. Mythical creatures always did have unknown abilities.

The doppelganger that still held her hand looked upon her with a cold stare as if it didn't have emotion or possibly didn't know how to emulate emotion just yet. There have been other creatures that tend to imitate other things, but usually it wouldn't be able to use all the proper functions of what it copied just yet.

There was only one way to find out more.

"So, Volana, I'm just a little curious, just a little... What are you?" Perhaps it was a bit on the blunt side, but the darkness around her was beginning to get unnerving.

If the creature was actually devouring her then...

...well, that would be a tad bit on the bad side.

Luna would always give any creature a chance though. It was one of the things she had vowed to herself. Never take a life for granted.

The doppelganger seemed to be in thought to how to reply, as if it was still getting used to the body it currently has. It let go of her hand and began to move and stretch around to see the limitations of the current mold or vessel it had.

"I..." It seemed to debate on Luna's question. As if the being in question did not truly understand what it was or didn't know how to explain itself. Patience was one of Luna's strong points, and there wasn't much else she could really do at the moment anyway.

If only Helena were here. Helena would have probably been able to shed some light on what was happening, but so far it looked as if she was going to have to undertake this alone.

Oh bother.

"I... am a Dementor."

Okaaay. Well, Luna wasn't that surprised since the last thing she remembered seeing was a Dementor barreling towards her. It seemed like a Dementor at the time anyway, what else would an inky cloak-like moving darkness be?

Confusion was the most prevalent feeling that Luna currently had. She had no doubt that the entity speaking to her was telling the truth, or what it knew to be the truth. Luna had always a sixth sense with non-human beings, and it wasn't much different with this one.

But, how could a Dementor be speaking to her like this? Dementors existed to feed on happiness and souls alone, nothing more, nothing less.

This though? This was something more. She needed more information with what she was dealing with. Especially if it could be a future threat.

"Could you elaborate on that, please?"

The Dementor looked a bit troubled trying to find an answer, but no one else could really answer the questions she had aside from the anomaly in front of her.

This was definitely going into the research book that she and Helena were going to compile.

"I am a Dementor, yet not."

Well, that didn't help. Maybe a Boggart had an offspring with a Dementor? Luna's face scrunched at the horrific image that passed her mind.

"A Dementor, yet not?" This direction of questioning wasn't working.

"A Dementor, yet not." The being slowly nodded, possibly feeling that its explanation was spot on. It was spot on, but still too general.

For the first time in a while, Luna was at a loss of words. The weirdness of the situation and the creeping darkness weren't helping either. It really did look like the darkness around them was trying to slowly creep towards her.

"..."

"..."

"..." Luna was starting to feel a bit awkward.

"I have enough to manifest. My apologies, but we are being beckoned."

"Beckoned?" Luna asked before she started to feel her returned vision being taken away again. The creeping darkness seemed to smother her further, trying to suffocate her as she lost her vision. Just before it seemed like the darkness would completely envelop her, the entity, Volana, reached out to her hand and pulled her up.

"You will not succumb."

"Bella!"

"What?!"

"I told you not to slap her!" Hermione was aghast as Bellatrix gave Luna one good smack on the cheek.

"It's not like your spell worked!" Hermione had been trying a few spells, but none have worked so far. Hermione's spell repertoire was vast, but trying to take out an unknown being that is trying to possess a friend? Well, her repertoire wasn't that specialized.

"And slapping her worked? Why don't you give her true love's kiss then?" The brunette couldn't help the sarcastic tone that came out, she was already irritated that none of her spells were working. The only good thing was that Luna was still stabilized and that it was a Saturday.

"Great idea!" Bellatrix immediately placed her face above Luna, keeping her back to Hermione to further make the rouse look true.

"No!" Horrified that her dark girlfriend was actually going to try to kiss Luna, Hermione did the first thought that came to her mind.

Tackle her. A Wingardium Leviosa would have been more appropriate, but sadly it didn't come to mind.

Bellatrix had her back to Hermione, so the dark witch didn't see the brunette jump towards her. With the Hermione's added momentum and weight, Bella couldn't help herself from falling towards Luna, smacking both their foreheads together.

"FUCK!" Both witches were now on the floor, while Luna was still laying down, albeit now having a slightly swollen cheek and forehead.

"I wasn't actually going to kiss her, you jealous little witch! Merlin!" Bellatrix quickly put her hand on her throbbing forehead. Her girlfriend could be such an idiot sometimes. A cute jealous little idiot.

Before the two witches could bicker more, a groan came from the pale blonde on the table.

"My idea worked!"

The small victory was soon forgotten as both witches got into a defensive position. The Dementor that entered Luna was still an unknown that they did not remove. If the Dementor was able to possess Luna, then everything was going to be way more complicated.

Hermione quickly channeled more magical energy in all the surrounding magical fields and wards. The otter and crow Patronus began to release slow pulsing waves of light.

The Dementor was an unknown, but it hasn't really shown itself to be hostile just yet. Hermione had seen the intelligence in the silvery orbs before it had fled from her. If it had sentience, then it could be reason with, if not, well, it would be plan B.

Bellatrix already had a stunning spell and a Protego ready. An Avada was also channeled within her earring, but masked the energy so that Hermione would not detect it. Hermione may have lived a long time, but she was still naive.

If worse came to worst, Bellatrix would destroy Luna, budding friendship or not.

Nothing was worth Hermione's life. Hermione's life was worth everything and everything would pay if something happens to Hermione.

Nothing will be worth her life.

Bellatrix would keep Hermione's hands clean as much as she could. Her hands were already soaked in blood, a bit more drops wouldn't change a thing.

The prone form of Luna slowly begin to sit up. The layer of darkness that seemed to act like a second layer of skin a while ago seemed to have fully dispersed. Either the darkness had dispersed as it lost power or it was able to fully integrate itself within Luna.

Luna slowly opened her eyes and her gray orbs quickly met the two witches that were ready to fire off spells.

"Um, I come in peace?" Luna slightly raised both arms up to try to lighten the mood, but it seemed as if the two witches were being cautious. She would probably be too, if an unknown entity had entered another person's body.

"Luna, how are you feeling?" Hermione continued to run diagnostic spells. Everything was coming up empty aside from Luna missing a bit of magical energy. Did the Dementor really just disperse? It seemed impossible for that to just happen.

"Well, now that both of you are here, I can actually believe that this isn't a dream. I actually thought a Dreamisite was the perpetrator for a bit.

"What was the dream?" Hermione lowered the wand she held slightly, Luna didn't know about her other foci yet, so the appearance of using a wand was still a must to avoid questions right now. Bella, however, still had her full guard up.

"That there's a Dementor, yet not a Dementor, living inside of me, kind of, I think." Luna realized her statement sounded kind of dumb, but that was the reality of the situation right now.

Hermione and Bella both wanted to face palm at how casually Luna was taking the whole situation. At least, they were out of immediate danger for now.

Luna retold them the events that happened that morning, from when she woke up from the Room of Requirement, went towards Ravenclaw Tower and how she stopped to watch the sunrise. It was surprising how Hermione and Luna just missed each other as the brunette went into the Room of Requirement for her own usage.

The topic shifted to the events that evidently happened within Luna's head. How she saw the Dementor's original cloak-sphere-like form and how it copied her form while siphoning off some of her magical energy.

A slow rush of energy and calmness began to fill Luna all of a sudden.

I can explain more. Please ask them to not activate their Patronus. The thoughts came into Luna's head and immediately relayed them to the other two witches.

"She can actually speak. She asked me to tell you to please stop the waves of Patronus energy." Both looked at ease now since Luna was fine, but Bellatrix knew better than to let her guard down against an unknown. The otter and crow Patronus began to ease up in releasing their positive energy waves, but were still on the lookout for any possible attack on their owners.

"Volana." Luna called, and dark energy began to leak out of Luna. The dark energy somehow lacked malice and terror that usual dark energy or a Dementor's presence carried. The two Patronus immediately got ready for anything.

The form began to build up and eventually full coalesced. The form undoubtedly held Luna's exact appearance aside from the silvery eyes and the paleness of the skin, but aside from that, she could pass off as Luna's twin. The only part that could actually have been terrifying was that the Dementor had the dark fluttering robes that regular Dementors had, only having the hood taken off.

The Dementor aura that usually put Bellatrix on edge was truly missing, only a feeling of cold and calm permeated the air, but the dark robes of the Dementor were enough to put her on edge. The calmness of the aura did nothing to placate the dark witch.

It was enough to make her remember a little bit of Azkaban.

Even if the memories were dulled, the vision of those robes before all emotion was sucked out from her still lingered. Some traumas just weren't easy to get rid of. To Bella, it was only a few weeks ago that a Dementor had absorbed her emotions over and over, and that wasn't enough time to cope with this.

Bellatrix wasn't ready to face a Dementor.

No, no, no! Bella's inner turmoil began to rise. The scars the Dementors left on her psyche all coming to mind.

This is why Hermione didn't want to involve Bellatrix with this experiment.

"Avada!" Bellatrix stood up faster than both witches could even twist their heads towards her. The sentient Dementor had not moved from levitating to the side of Luna.

"Bellatrix!"

Bellatrix had her finger directly aimed at the Dementor, not even using the dummy wand to hide their wandless capabilities.

An Avada Kedavra might not work on a Dementor, but Bellatrix wasn't thinking straight. There was also the possibility it would affect this particular Dementor since it was actually alive. The effects were unknown, but no one had the time to ponder over it as the spell was in mid-cast.

"Kedavra!" The green bolt of energy fired straight at the Dementor, but instead of wailing in pain or anything of the sort, the Dementor merely had a hand extended that absorbed the jet of green light. The green jet of light all but fizzled away as it seemed to dispersed at contact with the Dementor's hand.

The dark witch looked like she was about to fire another volley of spells when Hermione's arms quickly encircled the panicking witch and began to drain the power from the synchronized artifacts. The Dementor also lent a hand by intensifying the aura of calm it was giving off.

Bellatrix quickly collapsed into Hermione's arms, knowing that there really wasn't any danger present. A few moments were taken to calm down. As soon as Bellatrix fully calmed down, the discussion recommenced though the fifteen year old Bellatrix was still within Hermione's arms.

The dark witch needed the comfort of Hermione to get through this.

For now at least.

"So, what are you exactly?" Hermione began. The being in question was indeed created by Hermione, but it might know something since it gained sentience. The Resurrection Stone must have held some type of residual power or something from the original creator.

"I am a Dementor, yet not." There was no inflection in tone.

"Yes, you are the product of... a test I was doing. You absorbed the Resurrection Stone fragments while you were a Dementor and somehow developed a magical core along with a sentient mind." Hermione's mind began to process everything. All the future possibilities of study and knowledge this could actually hold... More knowledge she could gain... until she was pinched by the dark witch.

"Luv, I know what you're thinking. No more Dementor experiments. Not for a while at least. I mean, look at the bollocks you created. You have a baby Dementor now." Bellatrix sighed at how stupid this all was. She also sighed at herself for jumping the gun. "Well, here's your mummy." Bella threw towards Volana, in a way it was true. Hermione was technically the Dementor's mother.

"If I'm the mummy, wouldn't that make you the mom? And Luna the sister?" Hermione grinned as she shot the comeback to Bella.

Bellatrix seemed to be a bit stunned at the quick comeback.

"Well, shite. This is one fucked up family." Maybe getting over a trauma wouldn't be too hard after all.

There wasn't much that Volana could answer as she didn't exactly have solid memories. Her abilities were a mystery even to herself.

Absorbing the Avada Kedavra had given them a slight idea of one of her abilities though. A regular Dementor is able to sustain itself using positive memories and even the soul energy of living things. Volana, however, had a magical core and thus making it possible to absorb magical energy as some type of sustenance, just like she was doing with Luna's energy. Foreign energy was harder to process though, making her absorption of magic limited.

Volana was also able to hide herself within Luna, making herself undetectable even to Bellatrix and Hermione.

The three witches decided to call Volana a "Shade". It was a work in progress, but sentient Dementor was too much of a mouthful. Volana was inherently darkness, but Luna had already declared Volana to be a friend and friends protect each other.

The thought of darkness protecting someone from the light coined the term "Shade". Volana accepted the term until she found out what she truly was.

Well, everything about Volana was based on assumption currently.

The conversation turned light as they realized that Volana was not a threat. Although, the two witches were not going to get out of this easily.

"So... Bellatrix? Wandless magic? The Resurrection Stone? Didn't Harry destroy that?" Luna chimed towards the two witches.

Both witches froze as they realized their mistakes. Hermione shouted out Bellatrix's name as she was casting the Avada and Bellatrix had used a wandless forbidden spell.

There was no point in hiding anything from Luna anymore. Hermione had eventually planned to tell Luna about everything, but apparently it was happening this early. The universe decided to include Luna into the madness that was beginning to unfold.

And so, Hermione began the tale from the start; the very start, which was over fifteen years ago. She hadn't told Luna everything, since that would take too long, but a quick run through of what Hermione went through as well as Bellatrix's circumstances. Her experiments, especially with the unfortunate bunny was better unsaid to Luna.

She might take offense since her Patronus is a bunny. Or hare, whichever one she had.

Luna and Volana quietly listened to the tale. Luna wasn't afraid of Bellatrix, well, not anymore. Knowing about the multitudes of compulsion spells and other things that were placed upon her made Luna's decision easy. She would treat Bellatrix as a new person, as Isabella Crescent Black, as one of her newest kind-of-maybe friends. Her stance towards Ron though had a turn for the worst. Luna hadn't really liked Ron before since he really never had anything good to say to her most of the time. They had established some sort of neutral ground, but now? She would have to re-evaluate that. She would judge when the time came, she wouldn't condemn anyone without a giving them a chance.

Volana just took in the story. The Shade understood everything about the story since her knowledge was all copied from Luna. She had no opinion on anything since the knowledge from Luna, was just that, it was just knowledge that didn't have emotion accompanying it. Volana would have to exist and live to be able to further experience being alive and emotion, if she was capable of it.

The three witches debated whether or not to tell Ginny, but decided that it wasn't time, it may never be time to tell her. If Ginny ever found out, then Harry would, vice versa.

Hours had passed with all the happenings, the birth of Volana and Luna learning everything. Lunch time was close and all of them were getting hungry after skipping breakfast, Luna especially after Volana sapped a lot of her magical energy.

Volana had decided to just hide within Luna for now. Learning to change what she was wearing was harder than she thought. The Dementor-esque appearance of her clothing was hard to miss.

The three decided to go to Rosmerta's Three Broomsticks pub to have a bit of lunch and some butterbeer.

The stress of the events that morning finally began to lessen as the three witches engaged into small talk, well, more Hermione and Luna engaging in small talk and Bellatrix adding sarcastic comments in between.

"Looney. Why weren't you more surprised to learn who I am? Regular people would be quaking in their boots! Running to the Aurors! Calling the Ministry and their armies!" Bellatrix knew for a fact that Luna wasn't just any regular person, but still, people should be afraid of her!

"Help! Bellatrix the Awesome is back!" The dark witch made in squeaky voice that nearly made Hermione spit all her food out.

Luna just smiled. "Well, the Darklings I always see around you were one of the giveaways. The Silixies around you and Hermione had shown me how close you two were and therefore decided that you had changed... Somewhat at least."

"What the shite are Silixies again?" Bellatrix's forehead scrunched up. She heard the term before somewhere, but was probably half asleep or half listening.

"Sex Pixies."

"Sex Pixies, huh. On the topic of sex, I saw you eyeing Helena's ass the other day. Not so goody-goody anymore are you, goody-goody? That's some kinky shite though." Bellatrix began to tease Luna. Luna began to go beet red, but was saved as someone approached their table.

Hermione was grateful that she always put up Muffliato field up. Hearing Bellatrix's name, Dementors, Sex Pixies and mythical creatures weren't good for the public.

The topic of Bellatrix especially wouldn't be good with the person who just approached them.

"Harry!" Both Luna and Hermione immediately stood up to give Harry a hug.

Bellatrix didn't care to be polite, since it wasn't really in her dictionary. Seeing the Boy-who-wouldn't-fucking-die was still annoying. Unfortunately, Harry's eyes immediately wandered over to her after the pleasantries with Luna and Hermione.

Harry smiled, but Bellatrix could see the slight harden of his eyes. "Hello, you must be Isabella Crescent Black. There's been a lot of talk around the Ministry lately." It was obvious that Harry held some suspicion in his eyes. Harry probably didn't think she was Bellatrix Lestrange, but Harry most likely did not trust any person from the Black family aside from Sirius. The fact that Isabella looked too much like Bellatrix was hard for Harry to take, but he knew that the girl was the daughter of Sirius too.

Harry didn't actually know how to react to the girl. She was petite and undeniably beautiful, but something about her set his senses on high alert.

"Potter." The voice made Harry shiver as it brought chills up his spine. It reminded him of the girl's mother. The one witch he was glad he didn't face. He decided to focus on the news he brought instead.

Harry sat down as soon as Hermione and Luna took their places again. Harry's smile quickly turned slightly grim.

"This actually isn't a social call. I have news."

"News?" Hermione was curious. What possible news could be important to them? Unless Ron, the goblins or some other group was trying to sue her for something.

"Bad news." Harry nodded again, creating a gloomy aura.

A small silence permeated through the group before Bella got impatient.

"Stop dawdling and spit it out, boy!" Harry looked at the fifteen year old girl weirdly. He decided to ignore what she said and just assumed it was because of her high class upbringing that made her talk down to people. Calling him a boy when she was barely into puberty. He decided to keep that to himself.

Harry eyes connected with Hermione's. "Ron failed his Auror trials."

Hermione let a breath out. How was that bad news?

"Weasel boy failed? Hah! Thank Morgana!" Bellatrix laughed. The weasel got what was coming to him. Maybe now he'd learn his place.

Harry gulped. The three witches knew that was a bad sign.

"He's failed and has to take his last year at Hogwarts."

"Fuck Morgana!"

Darlixels - Tiny Shadow Beings, these gather around beings that have dark thoughts and use dark magics.

Dreamisite - Dream Parasite that gives the host weird dreams. Very common creature that is relatively harmless.

AN: Volana is now currently termed a "Shade". It might not be permanent, but even Volana doesn't know what she is and will therefore use a temporary term.

I might put a small list of the skills each of them gained throughout the story sometime if people want it. Their repertoire of skills right now is pretty large and diverse.

Luna's reaction wasn't so severe since she already had an inkling. All the mythical creatures Luna could see around Bellatrix was a slight giveaway. Luna isn't an airhead, not in this story anyway.

Well, looks like Hogwarts is getting a bit... cramped?

Feedback and reviews appreciated! :)