Chapter 27 - For whom the bell tolls

She didn't have to look for long.

Iris had never thought about it, really, but if she had, she'd have guessed something very different. Some kind of magic creature, a spell, her housemates, hell, even the Dark Lord himself. But no.

It was a car. A stupid fucking car.

Not even fifty meters down from their house.

Salem had probably never even seen a car from the outside before. Had the driver even noticed? Whoever it had been, obviously hadn't stopped.

Iris wished she knew who it had been, who she could blame... except for herself. But there was a good chance that this wasn't an act of malice. That there was no one to blame.

What did it even matter now?

She had stood, motionlessly, just staring at the crumpled body of her pet. Her friend.

Just a moment ago she had been lying on her lap, and now, she was-

Iris closed her eyes, breathing deeply. Somehow, she couldn't even muster up the strength to cry.

At least, there was barely any blood. But her insides had probably been rearranged beyond repair. She had tried anyway, of course. Using as much Life aspect as she could, uncaring of the fact she was sitting in the middle of the road.

It had done absolutely nothing. No amount of magic tricks would trick the ferryman.

"Oh dear, you poor child."

Iris jumped at the voice. She hadn't even noticed anyone approach.

"It's no use, you need to stop, dear. It won't help, and people might see."

She blinked, as she recognized the speaker. "Mrs. Figg? What..."

"Was that your cat? Here, let me help..." the old lady muttered, then approached, placed down the basket she had been carrying, retrieved a wool blanket, and proceeded to carefully wrap Salem's body in it.

"Always a tragedy whenever one of my darlings strays too close to the road. They really ought to put down a speed-limit sign, I've been telling the municipal office for years..."

Iris watched the strange old lady wearily as she picked up the bundle, placed it in her basket and started to wander down the road, muttering to herself.

Then, she realized that she wasn't heading towards her house.

"Mrs. Figg? Where are you taking her?"

"Oh, just over to my shed. My son-in-law is coming by later, he can take her to the vet," she said, matter-of-factly.

To the vet? "To do what?" Iris exclaimed.

The old lady stopped and shot her a sympathetic look.

"Well, you can't just keep her, dear..."

Iris wasn't having any of it. This weird strange lady wasn't going to take her friend away from her!

"No... I- please. I'll do it myself."

She paused again and gave her a long look. "Are you sure, dear? This is not a task for a child..."

Iris nodded resolutely. Mrs. Figg's eyes jumped between her and her basket for a moment, but then she sighed.

"Well, if you're sure..." she muttered, and reluctantly put down the basket, and handed her the blanket.

Iris nodded in thanks, and bolted down the road towards number four.

Like hell she was going to take Salem to the vet to do god knows what. Faced with the possibility of finally losing her for good, her mind had come up with a final, crazy idea.

True, her magic using the Life aspect had done nothing, and as far as she knew, not even Madam Pomfrey could heal the dead. Otherwise, there'd be no dead wizards, right? So just historically, her chances didn't look too good.

But there was one type of magic that had yet to fail her.

She hadn't used it in a while; ever since she had figured out how to use multiple colors at once, there had been no need for it. But even as she was considering it, her mind was already putting together a plan. Of course. There were countless symbols and things that represented something coming back to life. There had to be a way, right?

~V~

The answer was a very definite maybe. She quickly had started looking for things, anything and everything she could think of in relation to healing or bringing something back to life. And while her instincts agreed with all of her choices, this was the first time they didn't agree on the result. She wasn't sure if this would work. But she was sure about one thing. No matter how many perfectly fitting symbols or objects she would gather, this would never work without an adequate sacrifice. Something that was of similar value. Whatever that meant.

Her first idea was that obviously, it would have to be another life. But just killing a chicken or something didn't seem right. To her, Salem meant a lot more than just some random animal. And she had a strong suspicion that with this kind of thing, it would matter a lot more what the sacrifice meant to her. She didn't want to bring back an animal, she wanted to bring back a friend.

She hadn't told Harry, of course. Not that he could help anyway. He could barely leave his bed most of the time, much less his room. And what she wanted to do, she couldn't do at home. Especially when it seemed that someone was watching them. Whatever had been going on, it seemed clear that they could somehow tell where a spell had been performed, but not by whom, apparently. Her hope was that if she made it far enough from home, they wouldn't be able to tie it to her.

Iris had hidden Salem in her old cupboard, and had started to comb the house for anything useful. Only when looking through Petunia's old jewelry case she found something suitable. Pocketing her loot, she then went up to her room to put it in her backpack, along with some paint and a few trinkets just in case she couldn't get her hands onto the main focus she had planned. But to be sure, she'd have to go and check it out first.

Also, she wanted to check out the location for the ritual she had in mind. It was more of a cliché, really, but it was probably the place that most people would think of in association with something coming back to life that shouldn't. And with rituals, all that mattered for symbolism was the meaning of things in the eyes of the world at large.

Pocketing her wand just in case, she made her way down the stairs, over towards the door, pulled it open, and stepped-

A meaty hand closed around her wrist and yanked her back.

"Where do you think you're going, girl?" the angry voice of Uncle Vernon growled as she whirled around to face him.

"I'm just heading out for a bit, I'll be back for dinner at the latest, I promise!" she replied hastily.

"Do you think that just because your brother is sick, the two of you can do whatever the hell you want around here?"

"I... But I-"

"No buts! You'll be doing your chores," her uncle cut in.

Iris grew desperate. "I just need to-"

She was cut off as her uncle yanked on her wrist again, dragging her all the way through the hallway. Finally, he tossed her into the washroom, and squared himself in the doorframe. "I don't want to hear anything about this until the laundry is done. You hear me? Not a single peep!"

Iris was palming her wand underneath her robes. She was both scared, and furious. She had to go out there, she had to prepare! But there was no way past him, no way except to use her wand. Except that she couldn't. If she did, not only would she get expelled, but Harry might get expelled along with her. And there was no way she'd condemn him to living in this place for eternity. So, grinding her teeth, she let go of her wand, and turned towards the finished dryer. Vernon shot her another long look, then slammed the door shut, causing her to jump. She could hear his footsteps as he made his way to the living room. Damn it. It looked like she wouldn't be sneaking out, either. Well, there was nothing for it.

After two hours of painstakingly ironing, sorting and folding clothes, and placing them in their respective cupboards, she finally took the last batch containing the worst of the lot up to their room. From there, she grabbed her backpack, and headed out to finally scout the streets for what she needed, only returning in the evening when she had finally found something.

Harry was shooting her worried looks, but he hadn't asked. He probably assumed that she was still fruitlessly looking for Salem. If only. Finally, once the clock struck eleven, and everyone was soundly asleep, she retrieved the final ingredient and snuck out of the room and down the stairs, careful not to wake Harry. Or worse, the Dursleys.

Shouldering her heavy backpack, she retrieved the rolled-up blanket from her cupboard, left the house, and set off down the dark and empty pavement of privet drive. Her first stop was the nearby local branch of the Barclays Bank. It was a small building, barely big enough to warrant its existence at all. But it was this place that would contain her central focus. Iris just hoped that it was still operational. She had never seen anyone use these things outside of tv shows, who knew if they'd actually work?

Approaching the front of the building, she spotted the green symbol above a small box to the side of the entrance. She guessed she could count herself lucky they had one in Little Whinging at all. Iris stepped closer, and carefully tried the handle. It was locked. What? How were people supposed to use these things?

Staring at the offending box, she noticed the sign advising her to call 999. Her frown deepened. Well, there was nothing for it, she just hoped that she was far enough away from her home already.

"Alohomora."

With a sharp click, the box came open and revealed the orange device. It was a lot smaller than she had imagined. She reached out a hand, yanked it out of the box and stuffed it into her backpack. Right. Step one, success.

Picking the blanket back up, she continued down the road towards the large looming building at the end of it. Another whispered spell took care of the locked massive oak double doors as well. She slipped inside and the door closed behind her with a sharp clack, which resonated throughout the large empty stone building. The only source of light was the Eternal Flame suspended from the ceiling atop the altar. Which wasn't very useful at all.

She raised her hand and called her trusty orb of iridescent light. Looking around the illuminated main hall of the Little Whinging church, she tried to take stock of the situation. She had only been here once or twice before, and that had been years ago, back when Petunia had had her religious phase.

Iris took a moment to marvel at the stained-glass windows depicting various people and landscapes, as her colorful light reflected in them. This room would definitely be suitable, especially the altar, but...

She remembered there being a cemetery behind the church, and if there was any sort of altar there...

Her eyes fell onto the double doors leading in the opposite direction she had come from. It couldn't hurt to check. She drew yellow light again, twisted forty-five degrees, and the door clicked open. Her eyes widened. Before her stretched the large dark expanse of a graveyard, eerily illuminated by the full moon. Hundreds of little burning candles illuminated individual graves, giving the place an almost peaceful look. Front and center stood a single barren altar. Perfect.

Taking a deep breath, she set to work.

~V~

Time was running short. Everything else she had done was to play up every cliché about raising the dead to its maximum extent. So naturally, she would have to do the ritual at midnight. And according to the large clock atop the church tower, she had only five minutes left until the bell struck. Iris frowned. But would it? Now that she thought about it, she had never heard the bell during the night before. Was it on a timer or something? What if she- No. She had come this far, there had to be a way. Everything would have to be perfect.

Dashing back inside, she started looking through the rest of the church. She had no idea how to get up there, so charming the bell was not an option. Iris kept looking until in a small room to the side, she found a large electric panel. A number of switches were labeled with various things, most of them appeared to be lights. Deciding she didn't have the time to check them all, she just turned everything on in a hurry. Sadly, the church bell remained silent. Iris frowned and checked the small panel next to it. One switch was labeled Organ.

Huh. Wait, those things were electric? So that was why it didn't work! Flipping the switch on, she checked the rest of them. One was labeled Automatic, which was already on, and the other one Communion in scratchy handwriting. Could that be it? With a shrug, she flicked on the one labeled Communion.

Iris jumped as a heavy gong announced that she had indeed found the correct switch. This was way louder than she had expected, she hoped that she'd be done before anyone came to check. She quickly made her way back outside, but then stopped in front of the church organ. Casting the spell she had inadvertently learned from Quirrell again, she was this time rewarded with the instrument beginning to play a deep and mysterious song she didn't recognize. Perfect. On her way outside through the ajar double doors she was greeted by a breathtaking sight. The pentagram she had drawn around the altar seemed to glimmer in the light of the candles she had placed at its tips.

With heavy steps she approached the altar, carefully stepping over the markings on the ground, until she reached the stone, her friend laid out atop. She swished her wand wreathed in orange light, and a muttered "Incendio" set the wooden contents of the bowl next to the cat ablaze. And so, it began.

"First, a symbol," she whispered, and retrieved a small metallic chain she had liberated from Petunia's jewelry case. She unlatched the chain, drew it around Salem's neck, and closed it, so that the small metallic cross was facing to her front.

"Next, the sacrifice." Iris took a breath and swallowed. She hoped the order wouldn't matter too much here, but with what she had planned, she had to do the sacrifice before its conclusion. Even if she really didn't want to. But this was the only thing she could think of.

A friend for a friend.

Closing her eyes for a second, she reached for the altar and produced the journal. Iris opened her eyes and looked down at it for what felt like an eternity. Why was this so hard? It was just a stupid book! The deep sound of the church bell shook her out of her thoughts and she turned and threw a look up at the clock. Three minutes. Oh well. Just as she was about to let go, she hesitated again.

True, it was just a diary. It was childish, really. But for a long time, Sabrina had been her first and only friend. And something about sacrificing her like this really didn't sit right with her. But that was also why she was sure this had to work. Logically she knew, Salem was an actual living being. But so was Sabrina. At least she had been, in her mind, back then.

With another look at the clock, she instead threw open the book, retrieved a pen from her bag, and flipped to the last page.

Dear Sabrina,

Please forgive me.

Iris.

A single teardrop fell onto the page, blotching her own name. She couldn't do this anymore. And she was running out of time. Scrunching her eyes shut, she tossed the pen to the ground, slammed the book shut, and unceremoniously dumped it into the flames.

"Finally, the focus," Iris continued, blinking back tears, and retrieved the orange device. Flipping open the case caused some plastic pads attached to cables to come tumbling out, and the device turned on by itself, and started talking at her. "Apply pads to patient's bare chest."

What? Why was it speaking? Also, bare? Already things were going pear shaped, and she hadn't even really started yet.

But, she supposed, it was the symbolism that counted, even if she didn't do everything one hundred percent correctly. She tore off the adhesive strip and glued the pads onto Salem's body. She had no idea where she was supposed to put them, but she hoped it wouldn't matter too much. The plastic female voice came sounding yet again. "Plug in pads' connector next to flashing light."

That seemed easy enough. She fumbled with the connector for a moment, until it clicked and the lights went out.

The voice returned to announce "Analyzing heart rhythm. Do not touch the patient."

This was it. She readied herself, bracing for impact and looked up at the clock. Less than a minute was remaining. She'd have to time this perfectly. With the deep sound of the church bells ringing in her ear, and the ominous tunes of the organ underneath, she held the device with both her hands, fingers poised above the great orange button.

"No pulse detected. Begin CPR."

"What? No!" Iris exclaimed. Desperately, she jumped the gun and tried the button, only to yield no result either. She couldn't just do CPR. The Defibrillator was what brought everyone back from the dead in the movies, it was the perfect representation! Why wasn't it working?

"Place hands on the center of the chest."

Her fingers fruitlessly mashing on the button, she slammed the device down onto the altar, but the piece of junk seemed unimpressed by her efforts.

"Push hard and fast."

She had probably only seconds remaining. What could she do? There weren't any spells to make technology do anything- Well that wasn't quite true, she had done it earlier today, hadn't she?

"Continue CPR until further instructions."

She had no idea what spell to use here, but she knew what magic to use. Her hands lit up in the bright yellow glow of the Control aspect.

"Work damnit!" she yelled in frustration, slamming the device against the stone. "I need a Defibrillator, not a doctor!"

With a final slam, the device gave two sharp high-pitched beeps, and started to blink.

"Shock advised. Charging."

"Yes!"

She carefully set the device back down, scared that any further touch could disturb whatever it was she had done to make it work. A high-pitched hum was emitted from the device, and slowly started to climb even further. Along with it, it seemed like the ritual was finally catching on. She could feel the ground shake with a deep hum, the pentagram was glowing an angry red now, drowning out all the light except for the fire at the altar, and the blinking red LED on the device.

Iris felt a shiver run down her spine. Somehow, all her hairs were standing on end, and she didn't think it was from the disconcerting noise. There was an energy of sorts around her. Somehow, this was even more terrifying than the ritual Draco had done. What on earth was going to happen?

She looked up and realized that the stones on the ground around her had started floating. As had some of the candles. Could she really do this?

But she had already gone too far, she had to see this through to the end. With one final look at Salem, her eyes fell back down onto the button. Fingers poised and ready, she held her breath.

"Stay clear of patient. Deliver shock now."

The button underneath her fingers lit up in a bright orange glow and started blinking. It seemed like the whole cemetery was filled with magic, it was singing to her tune, just waiting for her to give that final nudge. Iris took a breath, squinted and pushed.

As if it had been a light switch, she was plunged into utter darkness. The only noise she could hear was the gentle click of the button, and the heavy thrumming of her own heart in her chest. Iris blinked. She couldn't see! What was going on?

Well, that wasn't quite right. She could see. Right in front of her, a faint orange glow, right beneath her fingers.

It seemed the entire world had been reduced to her, and the button she had pressed. Tensing, she let go of the button, resounding in another click. She looked dumbfounded at the now softly glowing orange button labeled with a small lightning bolt.

Where was she? Looking around revealed absolutely nothing, she couldn't see, hear or feel anything else. She couldn't even see the rest of the device, it was just the button, still bathing her in a soft orange glow.

As she kept looking, she felt that description didn't quite do it justice. Somehow, it appeared like the darkness was even less than nothing. Like it was missing colors that had been there even in total darkness, hell, even in the shadow realm.

Looking around this timeless void trying to make out anything else, she suddenly got a strange feeling. A creeping certainty, a deep and primal knowledge, that she was not alone.

She could hear a faint sound, like the intake of a breath, except it didn't stop. It kept going, getting closer, louder, longer, until at last, it cut off.

A gigantic singular purple eye opened right in front of her, and its slitted pupil narrowed.

The church bell struck a resounding gong and her eyes snapped open. What on earth? Iris was breathing fast, panic still clinging to her chest. She looked around and realized she was on the ground, several meters away from the altar. How had she gotten here?

As she beheld the scene in front of her, it quickly became clear that she had gotten off easy. Gravestones were cracked, broken and mostly toppled over away from her, all the way around the altar. All the candles were gone, the only light remaining was that of the full moon. Blinking, she realized that even the church bell and the organ had stopped. She heaved herself onto her feet, turned to look at the altar, and froze.

A black cat was perched atop the altar.

No way. Unable to believe her eyes, Iris took a careful step forward. It was just sitting there, motionlessly, staring up at the full moon, away from her.

"S-Salem?" Iris whispered.

There was no reaction. Not the lazy flick of the ear that her name usually was accompanied by. Not even a twitch of the tail.

Hesitantly, she took a step closer. As she approached, the feline remained as unmoving as it had ever been. Swallowing, she took the final steps and at last, got a good look. It was definitely Salem. But something was off.

The cat sat there, completely frozen still like a statue, except now that she looked closer, that wasn't quite true. It did seem to be breathing.

The cat slowly turned its head and came to a stop looking right at her, the metallic cross still glinting around its neck. Her breath caught in her throat as she met its eyes. Its very purple eyes. Salem didn't have purple eyes.

Somehow, she found herself unable to move, caught in its gaze. Whatever it was. Iris wasn't breathing, and couldn't even feel her heart beat in her chest. She was just existing in the moment, unbound by silly constraints like reason.

It looked like she had managed to bring back the body, but whatever was now living inside it, definitely wasn't Salem.

Motionlessly it kept staring at her, not even moving so much as a whisker. It hadn't even blinked yet. How long had she been standing there? Seconds? Hours? Iris had no idea. The single moment kept stretching and stretching like honey, a terrifying second that s̸i̷m̸p̴l̴y̶ r̸̖̋ȅ̴̗f̷̳̂u̶̡̔ṡ̴̩ẽ̸͈ḋ̴̮ t̵̳̊o̶͈̿ è̷̖͚̉̅͠ņ̶̙̽̔d̸̫͆̈́̏͜͜.

Suddenly, the thing broke the gaze, turned away from her, and with a single smooth motion, jumped off the altar, and disappeared into the shadows. Iris kept staring at the now empty graveyard for what felt like minutes. It didn't return.

What had she done? What was that thing? Where had it gone? Would it come back?

Questions among questions, but answers eluded her. Not that she was in much of a state to try thinking of them right now. Still shivering, she walked back up to the altar. Only molten plastic remained of her Defibrillator. She took a deep breath, grabbed her backpack, and decided to cut her losses before anyone would come to check what was going on. Hopefully Harry hadn't noticed that she was gone. She would have no idea what to tell him.