The setup the coven had created was quite good, Hermione mused, examining it as she went around. Blaise had come through with the ritual components necessary, bringing an entire sack of small crystals for them to use to trace the ritual circle on the grass, with a small pile of moonstones going in the center. Around the ritual space were stained-glass cups with small holes cut into the glass, set upon sticks about five feet tall, that held flicking fire inside of them. Susan's mother used to use them, according to her aunt, and Hermione was happy to put them to good use once more.
The moon above them was full. Hermione and the others stood around the ritual circle, all of them in their special ritual robes; Blaise was eager, Harry nervous, Luna serene, Susan excited.
"We'll have to do it this way," Hermione told them. "I didn't want to alter a ritual I knew worked too much to account for casting it with a coven."
"How do you already know this works, Hermione?" Luna asked, but Hermione ignored her.
"Each of you will take a turn," Hermione continued. "Once I bind the elemental to you, it will enter you, you will have to subdue it in a fierce battle of will."
"A battle?" Harry looked alarmed. "Hermione, what do you mean?"
"Even a spirit has a will," Hermione told him, a fond smile coming to her face with a memory. "It is not strong, compared to a person, but exists, though without aim, without consciousness." She paused, facing Harry directly. "You will feel as if the air elemental is trying to take over your body. I won't lie to you – it will hurt, and you will feel the compulsion to do odd things that make no sense. Until you subdue the air elemental's will with your own, assimilating it into your magic, it will essentially be possessing your body, trying to take control."
Oddly enough, that seemed to calm Harry, who looked reassured. Hermione wondered if Harry had expected to have to duel a tornado.
"What if we fail?" Susan asked, her eyes widened. "Then what?"
"I've added a second circle around the ritual circle for additional protection," Hermione said, pointing to the line of crystals on the ground. "The other three of us will hold that circle while I work the ritual. If you fail, that circle will keep you trapped inside, so at least you can't go jump off a cliff or something."
"Jump off a cliff?" Susan looked worried. "Hermione, is this really safe?"
"Umm," Hermione said. She paused. "…probably not."
Blaise rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Right," he said. He clapped his hands. "Hermione, what's the worst that could happen?"
"You fail to subdue the elemental and it takes over your body," she said immediately.
"And if that happens, what happens next?" Blaise asked. "We just wait for the person to run out of energy, trapped in the circle?"
Hermione was indignant.
"I rather thought we'd cast a Sleep Charm and then move to an exorcism ritual," she said, annoyed. "I'm not about to let any of you suffer for hours."
"What's an exorcism ritual consist of?" Luna asked. "I've never seen one of those before."
"Me neither," Hermione admitted. "I brought the book with the ritual, though. I've never cast it before. But I'm certain we can do it if we have to."
Susan did not look reassured.
"So!" Hermione clapped her hands. "Who wants to go first?"
The others all exchanged wide-eyed looks, before Harry stepped forward.
"Me," he said, determined. "I'll go first."
"Go Harry!" Susan cheered. "You can do it!"
Harry looked embarrassed. Hermione grinned.
"Trust the Gryffindor to volunteer," she said, smiling. "Come on."
Following her, Harry carefully stepped over the crystals to stand at one of the points of the triangle in a circle. Hermione straddled the other two points, making sure she had a solid sense of balance despite her stance. She could see the others spread out as she did so, spacing themselves equidistant around the outer circle.
"Blaise, Susan, and Luna," Hermione said. "All you need do for your part is tap into your magic and connect to the circle. You can all hum if you like, to help reach a harmonious level. Being coven-bonded, though, I don't think that will be necessary."
The three each closed their eyes for a few moments, and the outer circle started to glow. Hermione grinned, turning to Harry.
"I'm going to summon the elemental," she told him seriously. "Once I bind it to you, it will try to take over your body. You need to be ready to fight."
Harry was determined. "I'm ready."
Hermione took a deep breath. "Then we will begin."
Snape's original ritual had been in Latin, and though Hermione had considered just using that ritual verbatim, it hadn't seemed safe. If something went wrong, she'd have no idea what part to change or what she messed up, and she'd be likely to mispronounce one of the words. Instead, she'd gone over the ritual in her mind, writing down what she remembered of his chants, and translating the Latin into English.
The resulting sentences had been tangled and messy, but their meaning and intent clear, and Hermione had created an alternative chant to use instead that kept that intent – but in English, instead.
"We summon and call upon the element of air," Hermione chanted, pulling on her magic and pushing it into the circle. "There is a body to battle for, if you so dare."
The circle around them and the moonstones began to glow, the moonstones giving off a bright, unearthly light. Hermione traced the sigil for will o' the wisp in the air with her hands.
"Wind in the trees, we call and challenge you," she called. "Come fight for Harry's body for you to imbue!"
She repeated the incantation again, and then again. On the third iteration, she saw a glow begin to manifest inside of the circle, directly above the moonstones. Harry's eyes went wide as she continued to chant.
"—fight for Harry's body for you to imbue!"
As Hermione finished the incantation the third time, there was a crack of lightning across the sky, and the will o' the wisp vanished – and a moment later, Harry screamed.
It was a terrible scream, echoing over the plains and sending chills down Hermione's spine. Harry was clawing at his face, nails scraping over his cheeks, and to her horror, Harry's eyes were glowing a pale whitish-blue, neither pupils nor irises in sight. A tangled, gurgling noise came from his throat as Harry stumbled around, gasping, and he bumped up against an invisible wall as he staggered toward the outside circle, the wall of power holding strong.
Hermione held her place, watching wide-eyed in terror. Though she had a backup plan in case any of them failed, she really didn't want to have to attempt it. She didn't even know if it would work.
Harry set his jaw and grit his teeth, struggling as he staggered, and Hermione felt a flush of pleasure as he fought it back, his eyes slowly returning to green, before they snapped open wide and Harry took a huge breath of air, falling forward to the ground. Hermione rushed forward to catch him, but instead she was knocked down too, at least managing to cushion Harry as he fell. She'd rather not have him break his glasses or his nose.
"That was terrible," Harry groaned, sitting up and rubbing his head.
"You did it, though!" Hermione was glowing with pride. "You did it!"
"Did I?" Harry wondered. "It stopped fighting, but it's not like I—"
"Reach down into your power," Hermione instructed. "You should be able to feel it."
Harry concentrated, his eyes rolling back slightly, before his eyes snapped back to Hermione, wide.
"I—I can feel it," he said, awed. "Hermione, I can feel it!"
Hermione beamed. "Exactly."
She got to her feet and helped Harry to his. Harry moved a little more steadily now, but he was clearly exhausted. The other three who had watched as she led him outside of the circle and over to a tree. They looked impressed and proud.
"Who's next?" Hermione asked.
"I'll go," Susan volunteered. She glanced at Harry. "If you're ready to cast again already, Hermione."
"I'm ready," Hermione assured her. "It doesn't drain much power from me."
This time, with Harry exhausted and collapsed against tree, Blaise and Luna spread out across the circle from each other. They hummed to gather their power, and Hermione straddled the triangle once more, meeting Susan's wide eyes, and began her chant, tracing the sigil through the air.
"We summon and call upon the element of air.
There is a body to battle for, if you so dare
Wind in the trees, we call and challenge you
Come fight for Susan's body for you to imbue!"
On the third iteration, the will o' the wisp manifested, and when lightning flashed and the elemental vanished, Susan gasped and fell to her knees, her eyes going wide, utterly unable to scream.
It was very different watching Susan than it was Harry. Whereas Harry had staggered around, fighting with the elemental for control of his body, Susan's battle seemed entirely internal as she fought with the elemental, her eyes closed tightly. Hermione wasn't sure she was breathing, which was mildly alarming, and she started counting the seconds off in her mind, just in case…
A few long moments later, Susan's eyes snapped open and she sucked in a huge breath of air, nearly toppling over.
"That was…" She shook her head in disbelief. "Merlin, Hermione. I know you warned me, but I don't think I was prepared for that."
"You did it, though," Hermione said, proud. She offered her a hand to pull her to her feet. "And how else would you have warned yourself? It's hard to describe, if you've never felt it before."
Susan grudgingly acknowledged the truth of that with an exasperated sigh and grumble. "Fair enough."
Hermione helped Susan over to a tree near Harry's. Harry turned to look over as Susan, who he gave an exhausted, proud grin, and Susan shared a fatigued but triumphant smile back. Hermione smiled at the both of them before going back to the circle, incredibly pleased with how well her coven was doing.
"They both seem exhausted," Blaise said, looking over at them. He glanced at Hermione. "Did you know it would be so tiring?"
"No," Hermione admitted. She bit her lip. "I wasn't exhausted afterward, myself. I'm not sure why – my ritual might not be as good as the one used originally, perhaps."
"It's still working, though," Luna reassured her. "And it's after midnight. Exhaustion during the night is not exactly an odd thing, Hermione."
Hermione laughed. "Fair enough."
Blaise wanted to go next, which left Luna to hold the protection circle herself. She seemed unbothered by this, though Hermione was somewhat concerned. Blaise set his jaw, his eyes fierce and determined, and Hermione began the chant.
On the third go 'round, his will o' the wisp appeared, there was a crack of lightning, and it vanished. Instead of screaming or gasping, Blaise groaned, falling to his knees and clutching his throat like he was choking. Heavy groans and low notes escaped Blaise's mouth, and his eyes were still open, showing only a ghostly pale blueish-white fog that creeped Hermione out.
It seemed to take too long, in Hermione's mind, for Blaise to finally groan and fall forward, breathing heavily, but it finally happened. He glanced up at her with a tired smile, and Hermione smiled back.
"You okay?" she asked.
"I'm still me, if that's the worry," Blaise assured her. His voice was fond, though exhausted. "Merlin. They weren't kidding, were they? That was hard."
She helped him over to join the other two outside of the circle to recover, before coming back to the circle. Luna looked up at her, and Hermione bit her lip, worrying.
"I'll have to hold both the outer circle and the inner," she said finally, "but we can still do this. It'll just take more detail, though. Hang on."
It was lucky Blaise had gotten so many crystals. Hermione put another triangle inside the outer circle, connecting the lines to the circumference of the inner circle. The new channels would help connect her power to the outer circle, Hermione figured. She'd need to use more magic to fuel both the ritual and the protection circle, but this was exactly what Hermione had trained her magic for – to have enough power to pull off such feats.
When she was done, she set the crystals aside, dusting off her hands and knees. "Luna, are you ready?"
"If you are," Luna said, her blue eyes alight. "Shall we?"
Hermione took a deep breath. "We shall."
Luna stood at her point, and Hermione straddled her own. Closing her eyes, she called on her magic, channeling as much of it as she could out into the protection circle to help it hold strong. Only once she could feel the lines of the ritual practically humming with magic, and she was reassured Luna would be safe and the protection circle wouldn't break, did Hermione begin her chant.
"We summon and call upon the element of air…"
Something felt different this time, though. The call of the magic upon the air still made Hermione shiver, and she could feel the magic of the ritual building. Maybe it was because she was holding two circles simultaneously, bracing herself on her knees to stay upright as she did.
"Wind in the trees, we call and challenge you…"
Hermione went through the incantation once. As she began to chant the second time, something began to manifest above the moonstones, and her eyes went wide as she continued the chant.
The air spirit was big – much bigger than the others. As she finished the second iteration, the spirit had begun to take on an almost human form, a faceless form with wings that stared at Luna, its featureless expression terrifying. Luna's eyes had gone very wide.
This was not a will o' the wisp, a light air spirit, Hermione realized dimly. She'd been bracing herself while channeling magic – she hadn't made the sigil in the air for a will o' the wisp. Instead, she'd just called upon the air. And she'd been channeling her full magic, ostensibly to fuel the protection circle, but the circles were connected – she'd ended up pouring all that power into the ritual as well.
It wasn't safe to stop, though, Hermione knew, continuing the last incantation with wide eyes. Stopping a ritual in the middle was dangerous – far more dangerous than Luna facing (and likely being possessed) by this spooky thing.
"—fight for Luna's body for you to imbue!"
The crack of lightning above was deafening, and Hermione could see the creepy air figure zoom into Luna, forcing her to inhale itself through her nose and throat, and Luna's eyes fogged over as she gagged.
Hermione watched on in worry, determinedly holding the protection circle strong. If this was going to be as bad as she expected it would, she would need to make sure Luna stayed safe.
"Hermione! Hermione!"
Hermione glanced up to see her friends running over. Susan looked horrified.
"Was that a sylph?" she asked, anxious. "Hermione, how did you summon a sylph for Luna to face? And why?"
"It was an accident!" Hermione defended, watching with growing anxiety as Luna thrashed around on the ground gasping, as if having a seizure. "I was holding both circles, and I didn't trace the sigil in the air…"
Blaise was shaking his head, his eyes wide.
"A will o' the wisp was bad enough," he said. "I don't envy her, facing off against a sylph."
"Luna's strong," Harry said, stubborn. "She'll be okay."
Blaise glanced over at him.
"Do you even realize the different in caliber between a will o' the wisp and a sylph, Potter?" he asked dryly. "It's like dueling a second year versus dueling a N.E.W.T. student."
Harry made a face.
"Still," he said stubbornly. "She's naturally attuned to air, isn't she? As a Ravenclaw? She can beat this."
A piercing scream rang through the air as Luna rolled around the ground, her eyes glowing as she screamed. Hermione watched on in worry.
"How is she still fighting it?" Susan breathed. "My fight was intense. I wouldn't have lasted as long as she is."
"Luna's strong," Hermione said, echoing Harry's words. She gnawed on her lip. "If she falters, we might all have to cast Somnium together – I don't know how strong a sylph will be in her body."
Luna continued to roll around, approaching the second entire minute of fighting the spirit. To Hermione's astonishment, instead of screaming again, when her mouth opened this time, it was to sing – an eerie, creepy, wordless song echoing into the nothingness of the wide-open sky.
"What is this?" Blaise wanted to know, unnerved. "I've got shivers down my spine."
"I don't like it," Harry said, eyes darting around. "This sounds unnatural. What is she doing?"
"She's fighting," said Susan, kneeling at the edge of the protection circle. She looked into Luna's empty eyes, only a few inches away, but separated by an invisible wall of power. "She's singing to help herself remember who she is, I think."
"Did she have to choose this tune?" Blaise wanted to know, but Luna's eyes were changing, fading, and her irises and pupil faintly came into view.
"She's doing it!" Hermione exclaimed, relief nearly overwhelming her. "Come on, Luna! You can do it!"
"You can do it, Luna!" Susan encouraged. "You've got this!"
Slowly, agonizingly, Luna's eyes came back into focus, and abruptly she sucked in a huge breath of air, collapsing onto her back in the center of the circle, the moonstones pressing into her back. She panted heavily for breath, before moaning and turning her head to look at Hermione.
"I think," she said, still short of breath, "that you might have messed up that time."
Hermione gnawed on her lip.
"I know," she admitted. "Are you okay?"
"Never better," Luna said, closing her eyes. "We had to come to a bit of an agreement, but it's all okay now."
"You had to bargain with your elemental?" Susan asked, eyes wide. "What was that like?"
"Well, it was not good," Luna said. "Very painful, actually. A lot of it was it demanding to take over my body. It was only when I managed to start fighting it back were we able to compromise."
"You compromised with a sylph?" Blaise asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It agreed to assimilate to my magic if I let it keep its identity," Luna said. She shrugged, exhausted. "So it's still there, but I guess if I died, it'd be free again? Instead of dissipating?" She sighed, very obviously tired. "I'll figure it out in the morning," she mumbled. "I don't really want to do anything else tonight."
Hermione, who hadn't realized that subduing elementals would exhaust her coven members so completely, nodded in agreement, not mentioning she'd brought everything needed to repeat the snake speaking ritual in her bag.
"Let's help everyone get home safely," Hermione said. She glanced at Blaise and Susan. "I'm not sure you're fit to Floo."
In the end, it was decided that Blaise would spend the night in the Burrow with Harry, and Susan with Luna in her house. Hermione watched as the boys staggered across the field to the Burrow, wands dimly lighting their way, while Hermione helped Luna and Susan into Luna's house. They both collapsed onto Luna's bed as soon as they reached it, still in their ritual robes, and Hermione looked down on them as they slept heavily, fond.
As hard as it had been, they'd all managed it, Hermione thought with a certain pride. It wasn't like everyone could set their will against an air elemental and win. Ron Weasley would have certainly lost, she thought, as would Draco Malfoy, probably. As would most of her classmates, she suspected. She wondered if having a coven bond had helped each of them strengthen their resolve as they battled for their bodies.
Somehow as she managed to Floo home, thinking proudly over her friends, and her thoughts avoided the obvious question that had come up during the ritual – How it was that her friends had been so exhausted afterward, while she had felt as strong as ever after she'd beaten her own air elemental? When she'd been over a year younger than them at the time? Instead, her mind focused on her coven's triumph and success, not dwelling on any inconsistencies in the results of the ritual.
Such things were worrying to consider, and Hermione's mind instinctively shied away from such thoughts as she fell asleep.