Unofficial Portkey Archive

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters. I make no money writing this nonsense… it's strictly for my own and others pleasure. Same goes for the lyric bits.

A/N: Again, another bittersweet chapter… In this one, Hermione learns more about the book's version of Necromancy, and then takes a stab at fixing Harry. I sorta like how this chapter turned out. It's a bit short, I know… but you'll find plenty of meat on this bone, to be sure! ^_^ We'll also look in on what the Weasley Twins are up to.

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Chapter 30: The Banishment

Spend your lazy, endless crazy, days inside my head.
You're so selfish, you're not the only one who thinks he's dead.
I'm paid to smile, now I'm on trial for what you think I said…
But I never said that everything would be okay,
and I never said that we would live to see another day.

Excerpt from the song, 'The Motivation Proclamation' by the very fine band, Good Charlotte.

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When Hermione first discovered that the field of magic that she would be most proficient at was Necromancy, the notion of it made her physically ill. All she had ever been told of the Necromantic arts by the wizards that she knew was second-hand warnings and vague, derogatory assumptions of its ability to corrupt anyone who dared practice them. It was common belief in the European Wizarding world that Necromancy was the darkest of the Dark Arts… all of the most dangerous spells, including the three Unforgivables, fell within its' realm. The subject wasn't mentioned, much less taught, within the walls of Hogwarts. Not that Hermione ever actively searched for books on Necromancy in the library, but finding any mention of it seemed just as difficult as finding information on horcruxes, which were undoubtedly Necromantic in nature themselves.

Even in the muggle world, all of the books and movies she had ever seen described Necromancy in less than socially acceptable terms. Frankenstein was a classic example of Necromancy… using parts of bodies to create what turned out to be a mockery of life. She had read fictional books about evil magicians raising armies of zombies and skeletons to perform villainous deeds, calling spirits back from the dead for nefarious purposes, and summoning imps and demons from the depths of Hell to wreak havoc upon the mortal world. Even back in her church-going years, she remembered a sermon that a priest, after hearing of a 'psychic medium' that had set up a business in St. Osyth, felt he needed to condemn the notion of contacting the spirits of the dead for divining one's future. The priest even went so far as to mention the fact that it was illegal, citing the all but forgotten Witchcraft Act of 1604, which proclaimed Necromancy as unlawful.

All of these experiences helped to form her preconceived idea of what Necromancy entailed, something loathsome and diabolical, and nothing that she would want to be a part of… until she actually read the Necromancer section of the Soul Magic book.

Hermione and Kotone spent the remainder of the weekend immersed in the book, studying what it meant to be a Necromancer and becoming familiar with the rituals and exercises. What Hermione discovered about this book's take on Necromancy was that it fell into a category between 'White Magic' and 'Black Magic.' The book explained the three basic spheres of magic, White Magic being characterized by healing and protective spellcasting, as well as transfiguration and charms. Black Magic spells are used to cause harm, pain, or for inflicting one's will upon another by using curses, hexes or jinxes. The third sphere of magic was the forte' of the Necromancer… Gray Magic, which utilizes a combination of White and Black Magicks to focus the witch or wizard's power into a state that makes 'Soul Magic' possible to control.

Another thing she discovered was that there wasn't much of a difference between a Necromancer and a Priestess, except that one dealt with spirits and the other with demons. Kotone had explained that her mother had been a Priestess of Kyuushuu, a guardian of the temple devoted to her natural Oni father. Her mother had known from a very young age that she was destined to bear the child of an Oni warrior, and spent her life tending to the temple, developing her Priestess abilities and learning the history of her family, and the 'curse' incurred by one of her foolish ancestors.

As Hermione read through the remainer of the book, the theory of the frequencies of magic, especially the idea of 'harmonic resonance' in magic became much clearer. She began to understand how two different types could be combined to amplify their effect beyond the sum of the two. She began wondering how the Western magical community remained ignorant that these theories existed, considering their obvious importance. Then she considered that even in the Eastern lands, this knowledge could have been lost centuries before, given the fact that the book was so ancient.

Perhaps the book was handed down through Kotone's family from antiquity. Maybe it was a guarded secret, left in the hands of Kotone's Priestess mother to keep the potentially dangerous knowledge out of sinister hands. As that thought occurred to her, Hermione realized that Voldemort, to be able to create a horcrux, must have acquired knowledge similar to what was in the book. Of course, he would have had to go abroad to find that information, for virtually nothing was known of Tom Riddle's whereabouts from the time he left Borgin & Burke's until he returned to England as the Dark Lord Voldemort. Perhaps he had traveled to the Far East and discovered the secrets of Soul Magic? Is Soul Magic the reason that he became the most powerful dark wizard in living memory?

That particular train of thought led Hermione to the fear of her becoming evil herself… the Wizarding world's new Dark Lady… but then remembered Harry telling her of how Riddle was a multiple murderer well before he had ever left Britain. Perhaps it was true… that evil isn't defined what magic you use, but by what you do with the magic… your choices dictate who you are far more than your abilities. As long as she had the option of choice, she knew that she would always choose the Light.

By mid-afternoon on Sunday, Hermione had finished with the final chapter in the Soul Magic book, and it was time to delve into the book that had belonged to Kotone's mother. All of the spells and rituals listed there had to be performed while in a frame of mind that the book only described as 'the state.' Kotone had explained that the state was necessary to access both mind magic and soul magic, and 'the state' was how she could make the empathic connection with other people, and how Hermione could finally 'see' the complete image of the Yin-Yang.

The exercise seemed simple enough to Hermione. She had to touch her wand to her forehead, close her eyes and allow her mind's eye to see the image. The dark, tear-shaped blob and the spot came quickly into sight. She opened her eyes, but the shapes seemed to vanish. Kotone suggested that she face a blank surface, someplace without features that could distract her. She tried again, this time laying on her back so that she faced the ceiling.

Hermione opened her eyes, and this time the Yin-Yang appeared, clearer than ever before. She vaguely heard Kotone's voice in the back of her mind, urging her to follow the image. Hermione felt a floating sensation, as if she were immersed in water, and the entire room seemed to become shrouded in a white, foggy mist. An strange sensation washed over her, as if time was slowing down around her… or that she was moving more quickly through time.

She was surprised to find that she was looking down at herself lying on the floor. She could see Kotone sitting next to her body, but looking up to where she was 'seeing' from. It was an odd sensation, being separated from her body, but not frightening to her at all. With barely a thought, she felt herself descend back into her body. A moment later, her eyes blinked as the Yin-Yang image faded from her sight and time seemed to turn back to normal.

The lips on Kotone's mask displayed a bright smile as she said, "You learned that quickly! Very well done!"

Hermione asked Kotone about the ritual that she used to try to drive the fragment from Harry. while showing Hermione where that rite was in the book, Kotone explained that the ritual she used was a basic exorcism rite that was supposed to drive out demons or evil spirits from people or buildings. After studying the ritual, Hermione decided to try it out on Harry herself.

A short while later, Hermione, Ron, Luna and Kotone entered the bedroom where Harry was being held. Ron and Luna quietly sat on the spare bed to watch the ritual, while Kotone sat down next to Hermione, who had already opened the book and was preparing to perform the ritual. The silencing spell had long worn off from Harry, but he remained silent as he curiously watched Hermione prepare the rite.

Hermione had assumed that the soul fragment from the locket held the memories of the Tom Riddle from just after Hogwarts and before he became Voldemort. Unless it was reading Harry's thoughts, it probably didn't know who any of the people in the room were, or even the person it was now possessing. The only thing she was worried about was the original fragment, which was assumed to be created at the moment Voldemort's killing curse rebounded on himself.

As soon as she was done with the preparations, she addressed Harry, "Good afternoon, I suppose you're wondering what I'm about to do?"

Harry just smiled and said in the hissing, high-pitched voice, "It doesn't matter what you do. You have no idea who I am or what I am capable of doing. I know you won't hurt me. You care too deeply for this boy who is currently my host, albeit grudgingly. I must say, he was putting up quite the struggle… for a while, that is…"

"I know exactly who you are, what you have done, and how you came to be here. I also know how to get rid of you for good."

Harry wore an amused expression, which faded into a hateful scowl as Hermione continued speaking.

"Your name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, a half-blood wizard who grew up in a London orphanage, and the last descendant of Salazar Slytherin. You murdered your muggle father and framed your uncle for the crime. You used the murder of your father and his family to create a horcrux in the form of a diary from your years at Hogwarts. You also forced a house elf to murder her mistress so that you could gain possession of two artifacts, the cup of Helga Hufflepuff and this," said Hermione as she dangled the locket from her fingers, "the locket of Salazar Slytherin. Did you know that this locket once belonged to your mother, Merope Gaunt?"

Upon seeing Harry's stunned expression, she asked, "Do you still think that I have no idea of who you are and what you are capable of doing?"

Without another word, Hermione tilted her head up to the ceiling, touched the tip of her wand to her forehead and then closed her eyes. The image came more quickly this time. She opened her eyes to see the complete Yin-Yang slowly spinning before her. She didn't follow the image, but remained firmly rooted to her body, but still feeling the sensation of time slightly accelerating. She could see the auras around the people in the room, Ron's in the form of a leopard, Luna's resembled a disturbingly large, white dove, and the soul before her that belonged to Harry… the proud lion that was bound within the coils of a pair of ethereal, smoky-black serpents. Hermione saw that the lion's image was faint and unmoving. She prayed that she was in time.

Hermione began chanting very slowly, but to the others in the room she appeared to be speaking normally, except with a higher pitch to her voice that sounded quite eerie, especially coming from her.

"Hear me, Brother… you have a Spirit of Judas within you, the spirit of a deceiver… one who wishes to cheat death… one who attempts dominion over your being, and this will not be allowed."

Hermione lifted the tip of her wand from her forehead, and as she did, a red, threadlike filament connected the tip back to the place above her brows. She began manipulating her wand in the air, the tip tracing a floating character that seemed to be dripping, as if it were made of blood.

A gasp was heard from both Luna and Ron when they realized that it was, indeed, Hermione's blood that was hovering in the air.

The floating character wasn't kanji, as Kotone had drawn when she attempted the same spell. Luna recognized it as one of the more powerful of the ancient runes. She wasn't completely sure, but it appeared to be a Rune of Protection.

The moment that Hermione completed the first rune, it burst into a red, dripping flame and was consumed. A sound, similar to the peal of a distant church bell, echoed through the room, startling the two people watching from the other bed. A faint pink glow, which was witnessed only by Hermione and Kotone, surrounded Harry's soul, effectively separating the larger of the two smoky serpents from the lion. The snake remained coiled around him, but didn't seem to be touching the lion.

Hermione continued the chant, while beginning to trace a second rune into the air, this time addressing the serpent, "You are a spirit of grief, and you are a spirit of discord, unnaturally born from murderous sin. Born from the consuming fear… fear of Death, but the death you desired to avoid is approaching, nearing his quest to claim thee. You have invaded the domain of the pure, but the pure will be delivered from thy evil."

The second rune, the Rune of Binding, was completed, consumed in fire as the first one was, and again accompanied by a single, reverberating peal of a bell. A blue glow surrounded the writhing serpent, which instantly stilled, as if it were encased in ice.

"Hear me, O spirit of grief. I command you, O spirit of discord, loosen your hold on the innocent one. Spirit of Destruction, Spirit of Discord, I bind thee with chains of Iron, the Holy Iron wrought in the forges of Heaven. Loosen thy hold and come out of him now! You have no right to him, you shall no longer hold dominion…"

Again, Hermione completed the third rune, the Rune of Freedom. The floating character pulsed with energy before it was consumed and the bell tolled. As the dripping flames vanished, the smoky serpent rose away from the lion and hung suspended above the bed, still frozen in place.

"…Spirit most vile, you have been denied thy prize, you are delivered from the host… You no longer hold my brother, you are a spirit of pain, grief and sin most evil… I cast you back, bound in the sacred Iron Bonds, back to the hell from whence you spawned…"

Again, a rune was completed and again, the magic pulsed and the bell tolled. The Rune of Judgement performed its' task flawlessly. The remnants of the bloody flame hung in the air between Hermione and the serpent. The blue glow suddenly disappeared from around the serpent, which began writing and spitting violently. The red, dripping flame elongated horizontally, then split in the middle, creating a sort of 'rip' in the air. Yellow, noxious smoke began pouring from the tear as rippling waves of heat distorted the air around the hole. Suddenly the snake flew towards the hole, as if someone had reached out of the rip and pulled it in.

With a final, resounding peal of the bell, the rip disappeared, and along with it, the fragment of Voldemort's soul.

Hermione fully reclaimed her body, and was immediately assaulted by the acrid smell of burning sulphur and brimstone.

"What the bloody hell is that?" exclaimed Ron. Hermione looked over to see him holding his nose and trying to keep from gagging.

"I… I banished the soul fragment," aid Hermione softly. A moment later, she turned away from her friends and vomited, not from the smell that was permeating the room, but from the realization of what exactly she had just done.

Kotone put her arms around Hermione, hugging her from behind while whispering, "Do not be ashamed. You did what you needed to do."

"Did it work?" asked Ron nervously as he looked at the unconscious Harry, "What did you do?"

Not turning to face him, she answered, "I… I banished Voldemort's soul… I… I sent it away…"

Ron's eyes widened as he asked, "Away? Where did you send it? Back to 'You Know Who?'"

"No," she said, and then mumbled something he couldn't quite hear."

"Hermione, where did you send it?"

She finally turned around and lifted her head. Ron's jaw fell when he saw the vacant, haunted look in her eyes as she repeated more clearly, "To Hell… I… sent his soul to Hell."

Ron just stood there with his mouth hanging open while Luna gasped, her features turning oddly agitated.

"The test you performed on Ron, the one that told us he was a Diviner…," asked Luna tenuously, "did you take that test yourself?"

Hermione just nodded, afraid to open her mouth for fear of being sick again.

"And…?" prodded Luna.

Hermione didn't answer. She turned away, spit out the remnants of sick from her mouth, and then vanished the vomit from the floor. After vanishing the bindings from around Harry, she gathered up the book, hugging it with both of her arms, and walked towards the door while saying, "Harry will be asleep for a while, he's been through a lot. If you can please watch him, I'd appreciate it. He'll be hungry when he wakes up."

Just as Hermione was stepping across the door's threshold, she heard Luna's voice, with absolutely none of her customary sereneness, "You're a Necromancer, aren't you? That's what you were upset about."

Hermione paused and her shoulders tensed. She didn't turn around, she just quickly nodded, and then disappeared into the hallway. Halfway down the hall, she heard Ron whispering harshly to Luna, but she couldn't hear what was said. She made directly for the library, where she quietly eased the door closed, curled herself into an overstuffed reading chair, and then, resting her eyes against her folded arms, she silently began crying.

Hermione wondered if what she had just done was worse than actually killing someone. Who was she to pass judgment on a soul, sending it into an eternity of suffering? What gave her the right to be the 'judge, jury, and executioner' of a disembodied soul, even if that soul was an evil, corrupted fragment from an evil and corrupted man?

She knew that if soul fragment from the locket remained much longer, the chance to save Harry's soul would have been lost, and she knew of no other way to save him. If she allowed Voldemort's soul to consume Harry, he would probably have to be killed anyway, but at least the fate of the soul wouldn't have been on her own head.

It was a moot point that Hermione was pondering… she knew that she could never willingly let the horcrux destroy Harry when she had the means to stop it, no matter what those means were. She would do it again, if necessary… and it probably would be necessary, for he still had that smaller, older fragment inside of him. She would give him enough time to recover, and then attempt to remove that one, also.

Just then, Hermione realized that she was the only way to safely deal with all of Voldemort's horcruxes. She would send each twisted abomination to hell, and leave the last bit… the one still inside of Voldemort… for Harry to deal with. If she had to be the judge of Voldemort's mortal soul, then so be it.

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Something very unusual was happening in the middle of Diagon Alley. There was a large crowd of people, which was unusual in itself in recent years, milling about in the street in front of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, listening raptly to one of the shop's proprietors, George Weasley, who was perched upon a large box and barking out to the gathered throng.

"Step right up, witches and wizards, don't be shy!" he called above the heads of the crowd, "You'll not want to miss this display of our newest fireworks! Before I begin, I'd like to remind everyone, that no matter what you may see, you are all perfectly safe!"

He bent down to a bag settled on the box beside his feet, and withdrew a small orb. When he stood erect, his eyes glanced at an alley further down the street and gave an almost imperceptible nod. With true showman's flair, he held the orb aloft, announced to the gathering, "Alright, keep your eyes on the ball!", and then smiled broadly as he tossed the orb high into the air. Similar to what happened in front of Grimmauld Place, a large, gray cloud appeared from nowhere above the alley. After a few moments, it coalesced into a swarm of screaming mongbats, small, flying gargoyle-like creatures, which began swooping and diving at the heads of the people in the crowd.

Sounds of mass panic swept through the crowd before they all realized that the mongbats were nothing but an illusion. Soon, the mass of people were laughing and cheering. A second sphere produced a twenty-five-foot clown, who was riding a massive unicycle while juggling balls roughly the size of horses.

Meanwhile, a disillusioned figure was slowly moving through the alley beside the defunct Ollivander's wand shop. He was inching along the wall with a small device in his hand that was similar in size and shape to a portable sneakoscope. As he made it to the back wall of the alley, all he had discovered on ground level was a barrel of wood scraps, various types of improperly cured wand cores, and a variety of melted, burned and broken wands. However, he did find a concealed escape ladder leading up to the small flat above the shop where Ollivander used to live.

Fred knew that his brother couldn't keep the denizens of the Diagon Ally distracted for too much longer. He shrugged, deciding that his mission was to gather information on the wards and protections of the place, so that's what he was going to do. Keeping the device firmly in hand, he scaled the old, worm-eaten ladder.

When he reached the small balcony on the second floor, the device began to emit a faint, low-pitched hum. Fred froze, his eyes scanning the balcony for anything obvious. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, he crooked his legs around the rungs to free his right hand and carefully drew his wand. He thought for a moment before a smile crossed his lips. He began tapping along the outside of the balcony railing, each time whispering various detection charms. On one of the taps, a shimmering yellow curtain, resembling a large sheet of coloured cellophane, briefly flashed into existence around the balcony.

"Got'cha!" he quietly said with a grin. He was about to cast a counter-ward, but something niggled at the back of his mind that made him pause. A that moment, he saw, high above the alley, a huge, sparkling banner unfurling from the floating gray cloud that read, 'Custom made Illuso-works - available at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes - Pre-order yours today!'

That was the signal. He hastily pocketed his wand and slid down the ladder, reaching the floor of the ally in less than a moment. Making sure he was still disillusioned, he made his way out of the alley, skirted around the cheering and applauding crowd and slipped undetected back into his own shop.

Once the public demonstration was over, George entered the shop, followed by about three-quarters of the people who had witnessed the Illuso-works in action.

"Form a line, everyone, and Verity here will be happy to take your orders! I'll be back in a few moments to answer any questions you may have!"

Once said, he went into the back room to meet up with Fred.

"Well, what did you find?"

"The shop has all of the standard protections, anti-burglary, anti-intent, fire suppression and the like… What I did find that was unusual was a displacement curse around the balcony to the flat above the shop. It's a right nasty surprise to any would-be burglar, to say the least."

George grinned at the brilliance of that particular curse being used in a security ward, "Too right! I never would have thought to use displacement… Imagine the surprise when he tries to Apparate away, only to discover he's left half of him behind! Did you find out what spell he used to force the Apparition?"

"I dunno… I didn't have time to check, but I wasn't about to rush in to test it out myself. I know why Harry wants to talk to Bill, now. If that level of protection is on the upper flat, just imaging what's guarding the bottom."

George nodded in agreement, saying, "Right, then… you send the letter off to Harry telling him of what we found, I'll be the one to ruin Bill's honeymoon… he's had two weeks to play with his new toy… time for him to get back on the job!"