Lesson 1: Funerals
September to October 1996
In the end, Harry decided taking a look at Professor Totengräber's necromancy lessons couldn't hurt. He could always find an excuse and stop coming if he thought they did more harm than good.
The classroom looked the same as it had during his Defence lessons – even the two Inferi were still there, in their little corner.
He had expected to find himself surrounded by Slytherins, but found only Nott present when he came for his first private lesson. Harry hadn't forgotten that Nott's father was a Death Eater and Nott likely hadn't forgotten that Harry had gotten said Death Eater sent to Azkaban at the end of their last school year. So by mutual agreement, Harry and Nott ignored each other completely.
Apparently, Professor Totengräber was giving them extra lessons, because neither knew a thing about necromancy – or, well, Harry didn't know a thing and Nott only a bit. They wouldn't be able to do much during the other lessons and simply observe Lémure and Fawley for the time being.
"How are you faring with the homework I set?" Professor Totengräber asked.
"It is going well," Nott promptly answered. "Lyn has taught me a bit over the years, so I am familiar with the concept."
"Good." The old woman nodded. "Very good. And you, Harry dear?"
"Er – I – I'm having a bit of trouble," Harry replied honestly.
He wasn't the only one. Professor Totengräber had explained various methods to them, but none of his friends had managed to 'sense magic' so far, not even Hermione.
"That's the issue with your lot's teaching methods. First, it was laziness. Now, none of you even know the Old Arts, anymore." Professor Totengräber shook her head. "What's the point of having tools for better focus, if you can't do anything at all without them?"
Harry frowned. "What – May I ask what you mean by that?"
"The Old Magics are inherently wandless and non-verbal," Nott said quietly. "They are the oldest form of magic."
"Not the oldest, perhaps," Professor Totengräber said with a smile full of teeth. "But certainly old. Most of you have forgotten, but there are communities out there that still remember how it was before wands and silly little Latin words were created to aid in focussing." She tilted her head. "It should be the first thing you learn at school before being allowed to handle a wand. I do believe Uagadou still teaches the Old Arts, but most schools neglected to follow their example. In fact, most schools don't know the first thing about teaching magic at all! Let me tell you –
"I observed some of my colleagues' classes in hopes of gaining a better understanding of what is expected from a teacher at such a famously prestigious school as Hogwarts – and their methods are atrocious! No explanations! No proper theory to help you understand how magic works! How are you supposed to invent new spells, if you don't understand what makes a spell? How are you supposed to invent new potions – or even save misshapen ones – if you don't know what each ingredient contributes, how they interact, how each step affects the outcome?"
The old woman threw her hands in the air.
"It is horrendous, I say! No wonder your community barely functions as it is. If your basic education is already such a mess, one cannot expect you to function in any sensible capacity. Realistically, your community should have broken down decades ago."
Harry gulped. "Is it better where you come from, Professor?"
"Of course not!" She huffed. "Be that as it may, it is not my responsibility to change things for the better. It does make my work here quite difficult, though. Now, until both of you have grasped at least the fundamentals of magic, we will use our time together to help you understand the ways of necromancy. Simply teaching you how to raise the dead won't do – you'll end up with a feral corpse no matter what you do, for He will not aid you if you do not show him proper respect."
Harry didn't know who 'he' was, but didn't ask in fear of appearing ignorant. (He still didn't understand what necromancy was, either. Asking Hermione and Ron had only confused him further.)
"For starters, let us give this poor woman the funeral she deserves." Professor Totengräber gestured for the decaying corpse to stand up and come closer.
Harry instinctively took a step back and grabbed his wand when the Inferius stepped right past him to – undress and lie down on a table? (Harry hastily averted his eyes.)
Professor Totengräber made another gesture and several tools appeared out of nowhere on the table next to where the Inferius was lying.
"I will now dismantle the magic keeping her animated – follow along, if you can."
Harry glanced at Nott, then tried to concentrate and sense Professor Totengräber's magic as the Slytherin seemed to be doing. He couldn't feel a thing. He could, however, see the results. The corpse seemed to collapse in on itself, all movement ceasing – if Harry had been able to see magic, he was sure he could have watched it leave the body entirely, only a lifeless pile of flesh and bones remaining.
"For an appropriate funeral," Professor Totengräber continued, "it is important that you know the person you are to bury – and that is true for a human just as much as it is true for any other living being, sentient or not. This woman was named Katharina. She was quite young, studying to become a nurse when she fell ill. You can see the signs here and here. If we were to cut her open, I could show you how far the necrosis affected her internal organs as well.
"Such harm must be repaired first – for the purpose of a funeral as well as for the creation of a proper Inferius. The latter needs slightly different procedures, as an Inferius shall need to move around like any living being, whereas a person sent to their funeral only needs to appear as they were in life to aid the mourning in finding closure and processing their grief. Some believe an unharmed body is needed for the soul to reincarnate, but we necromancers know better. The soul is harmed by different means than the body and by the time you bury the dead, their souls have already long departed."
As she spoke, Professor Totengräber slid her hands over the body and all the blemishes she had pointed out earlier disappeared under her careful touch, the skin slowly returning to a healthy, rosy complexion.
"It is intricate work – the Muggles use much cruder methods, but they, too, generally try their best to return the dead to their former glory. Unfortunately for them, they do not possess magic and so their job is indefinitely more difficult and … unsavoury." Professor Totengräber gave them a grin. "Upon death, your body relaxes and empties its bowels. It is rarely the smell of decay that you need to look out for."
The corpse lying on the table didn't smell like anything at all. It was probably something Professor Totengräber had done, likely some spell. Harry didn't know at which point bodies started to smell – apart from the point where they apparently shit themselves after death? – but this corpse, he was fairly sure, had been dead for a long time, long enough to rot and decay were it an ordinary corpse.
"In a funeral parlour, this step is the embalming," Professor Totengräber continued, moving on to – sculpt? the face of the body. "We are restoring a person's appearance, putting them into a relaxed pose with a peaceful facial expression. Magic makes such things much easier than the tools Muggles have to use. Now, while I put everything away so we can move outside for the funeral rituals, I want you two to dress Katharina in the robes I have prepared."
Harry's stomach turned at the thought of having to touch a dead body. This was decidedly not what he had been expecting out of these lessons.
Nott seemed to have no qualms whatsoever, taking the robes from Professor Totengräber and looking at the body contemplatively, as if wondering how best to put them on.
He turned to Harry. "You will have to help me lift her."
Harry swallowed, still fighting the urge to throw up. "Right, I – Er –" He looked at their teacher. "Can I just – touch her?"
Professor Totengräber gave him a bewildered look. "Why, yes. But whatever for? Do they not teach you how to levitate things here?"
Harry blinked. He had forgotten about that.
With Nott doing the actual dressing and Harry having to merely maintain the levitating spell and turn the body this way and that way, it wasn't as bad. Still, he knew he would have to get used to the idea – and to the act, itself – of touching a corpse if he were to continue these lessons. He didn't know how Nott did it.
Once the former Inferius had been dressed and all the tools cleaned and put away, Professor Totengräber led them out of the classroom, through the castle and outside over the grounds towards the Forbidden Forest. Harry had to be very careful not to let the body bump into anything, all the while looking over his shoulder, anxious about being seen.
To his relief, they did not run across a single person. Harry only wondered about this later, when his thoughts weren't filled with a hovering corpse and funerals, but it was rather odd that there was no one around the school on an ordinary weekend.
The funeral entailed none of the things Harry had expected – not that he had ever actually attended one, only heard about them or seen one on the Dursleys' television – and quite a lot of runic circles and weirdly phrased … chanting? He wasn't sure how to describe it.
They had found a nice spot away from places the students would frequent, near the treeline but not too close, because corpses apparently could harm a tree's roots if buried too close. Professor Totengräber had waved her hands and the earth had dug a pit seemingly of its own accord into which the old woman had hopped to draw what looked like magical summoning circles into the dirt. Harry had only seen those in one of the video games Dudley liked to play and never once in the magical world. They didn't glow. At least not visibly – Harry still could not perceive magic the way he was supposed to learn, after all.
The chanting was … not exactly 'chanting' and more of a … solemn recital.
When asked afterwards, Professor Totengräber explained that the ritual was to prevent reanimation and to ask Death for a peaceful journey of the deceased's soul. The latter was rather unnecessary at this point and more suited for a more recent death, but still tradition.
"If everyone were buried properly as per our customs then you vol de mort would not be able to create any Inferi for his little army."
"What about cremation?" Harry asked curiously.
"Well, that would certainly work against him, but not a necromancer such as myself. Then again, unlike your vol de mort, we ask the dead for consent, so there shouldn't be any issue."
Harry frowned. "Aren't there any – er – black sheep among your people? Necromancers who go against rules and traditions?"
Professor Totengräber's face twisted. "It is rare, but there are always exceptions. One of my grandchildren – Lynea's grandfather – was the latest." An odd smile crossed her face. "He went to join Gellert Grindelwald's cause against the Lémures' insistence on staying neutral. He paid the price. Occasionally, I wonder how things would have turned out had my son-in-law married into our family instead …" She trailed off.
Shaking her head, she continued, "But even Veiovis never disrespected the dead. It is simply not in our nature to go against Death. You cannot work Death's magic if you do not understand Death. And you cannot understand Death if you do not pay Him the respect He is due."
This, at least, Harry thought, he could understand. Even without being a necromancer.