snape and skull

33

Revenant
D

eep in the bowels of the castle, beneath the dungeons, was a maze of tunnels and catacombs. These catacombs had been built as a last line of defense should invaders from without lay siege to the castle, and offered the wizards a final refuge. Or so it had been once, in the days of the Founders and their children, when Muggles were witch hunters and persecuted magic-wielders without mercy. There were storerooms which contained enough provisions to last a hundred years-food, blankets, pillows, lanterns, and candles. There was a deep cistern of pure water to use for washing and cooking. There were even toilets, and rooms that seemed endless. But the existence of the catacombs had long been forgotten save by a few. One of those was the Headmaster, whose job it was to know the layout of the castle down to the last stone. The Founder ghosts knew of the catacombs and so did the librarians, who had access to the building plans of the castle itself. But other than that, no one else now living remembered they were there.
T

he revenant used that knowledge to its own advantage, slipping through the walls and the floor to take shelter in the dark depths, where it could rest undisturbed until the time was right to strike and eliminate all those who opposed it. Once it had been a vengeful spirit, summoned by Marlene McKinnon to do her bidding, but it had become much more than that now. After it had devoured Quirrell's spirit and magical energy, it became stronger, faster, and it had merged its awareness with another, far greater, soul. It was this merging that gave it a power beyond the one it had inherited in death, as the dominant spirit had been a magic wielder of great power.
As it hung in the half-life on the border between the living and the dead, the revenant chuckled darkly to itself. In life it had been a master manipulator, quick to anger and quicker to harm those who opposed it. With its untimely death, it became a receptacle of rage and hatred against the living, and had been willing to work with McKinnon to create havoc and fear among the wizards who had wronged her. Her naked ambition and misguided beliefs in her own superiority caused her to misjudge the revenant, and believe that because she had the Codex Magicka, the revenant was hers to command.
In reality, she had little control over what the spirit did. It had obeyed because her goals ran parallel to its own, and it was always happy to cause pain and suffering to living. Now it had a deeper ambition . . . to kill certain people and then to rule over the world with the living as its slaves. It also wanted to revenge itself on those who had betrayed it . . . an old man with a white beard, a witch bearing the sigil of the Society of Ravens, a black-robed wizard who had tricked it into believing he could be trusted, and last but not least, a young boy with green eyes and a powerful magical gift. All of these must die, or else its ambition would never be fulfilled. It had no fear of death itself, as a mostly corporeal spirit, it was practically immortal.
There was one way it could be unbound and destroyed, but it required mastery of a discipline none of his enemies had.
All it had to do was wait for the right opportunity, and take down its enemies one at a time. It drifted in the air, a tattered remnant of a lost soul, waiting for night to fall again.

Page~*~*~*~*~Break
H

eadmaster's Office:
Severus paced up and down Albus' office, too agitated to sit down in the chair he'd been offered. Quirrell's death had shaken him, though he hated to admit it.
"Severus, do try and calm down," the Headmaster began soothingly. "You remind me of a caged panther."
Severus whirled on him, his black cloak billowing. "Calm down?" he repeated incredulously. "A colleague of mine has been murdered and you want me to calm down?" He fixed Dumbledore with a hard obsidian gaze. "What are you planning on doing about this, Albus? Burying your head in the sand like an ostrich? Do you not comprehend the danger we are all in? Especially the students?"
"Of course, Severus. But going off half-cocked will not help anything," Dumbledore began.
Severus' jaw clenched until a vein throbbed in it. "Albus, I am ready to go off fully cocked unless you tell me that you are going to take what happened seriously. Quirrell was drained of his life force, and I know of only one type of creature that could do that. A revenant. A creature that is practically immortal and well nigh impossible to kill. It is here in the castle, Albus. And it hunts us. Or it will soon." Severus declared menacingly. "We have only a few defenses against it, and if we fail to stop it, there will be more deaths. Now, I ask you again, what will you do? If it were up to me, I would close the school, and send the children home, get them as far away as possible."
Albus looked rather alarmed. "Severus, surely the revenant can be contained?"
"No, Albus. With what could we contain it? It can become incorporeal at will, walk through walls. Some wards will stop it, but even injuries to its body shall heal in time."
"Can we banish it then?"
"I do not know. I know only that it was summoned by McKinnon, but at her death, when it should have returned from whence it came, it stayed. Now it is bound to no wizard's command. Now it is free, and it hates us with a singular hatred of the undead for the living. When it returns from whatever dark hole it is hiding in, it will come to slay innocents. It lives for such destruction, Albus. You need to act now, Headmaster, and save the children. Before it's too late."
The Headmaster looked suddenly weary and old. "The school has not been closed down in over fifty years. Not since the Chamber of Secrets was last opened. I feel as though I have failed, Severus."
Severus placed his hands on the desk and looked the old man right in the eyes. "You shall feel even worse if students die because you dithered instead of acting. Close the school, Albus. Then we can try and combat this thing as best we can. What did you do with Quirrell's body?"
Albus blinked at the abrupt change of subject. "Err . . . we were going to have a service and bury him on the grounds. Why?"
"Burn the body and scatter the ashes," Severus ordered.
"Burn the—"
"He was drained by a revenant. Those who are killed that way may rise again, under the revenant's control, or so say the legends. Burn his body and scatter the ashes. And do it quickly. You can still hold the service without a body."
Albus nodded. "I shall make sure it is done. How do you know so much about these creatures?"
Severus snorted. "That should be obvious. As a spy I studied them, in case I ever needed to fight one. I know as much as anyone about what it is capable of. There is little we can do to protect the students, save for locking them in their common rooms and warding them. That is how Lena escaped it. I shall ask Irma and her to help me ward the common rooms."
"And the Hall too," Albus urged. "While you are doing that, I shall arrange the memorial service and contact the parents."
"What will you tell them? The truth?"
"I don't want to risk a panic. So I will tell them a half-truth."
Severus shook his head. "And when the truth finally does come out, you shall look like a duplicitous fool."
The Headmaster chuckled slightly. "There are worse things I could be, Severus. A lying fool is the least of them. I shall make an announcement in the hall tonight that all the students are to stay in their common rooms once you have warded them. Classes will be canceled and the Hogwarts Express will be ready to transport them home within two days."
"Good. I shall send Harry home with the Weasleys and then return to help you fight the revenant. Since the Codex Magicka summoned it, perhaps it has the magic needed to defeat it as well. I will ask Lena to research it."
"Very good, Severus. Well, I shall leave you to your tasks. Angels and ministers of grace defend us."
"And may fortune favor the foolish," Severus returned, quirking an eyebrow. Then he spun on his heel and left the office, going to the library first to ask Irma and Lena for help with the wards. Afterwards he would see how Harry was doing. He walked briskly up the stairs and strode down the corridor to the library, his boots tapping out an ominous rhythm on the floor. He felt the back of his neck prickle in warning and though he could see nothing, he had the feeling he was being watched.
He glanced cautiously behind him, but nothing was there. Yet all his instincts warned of danger.
When he crossed the library threshold, however, he felt the wards activate, and a feeling of peace and warmth steal over him. He saw Irma and Lena over near the Restricted Section, talking softly. He made his way over to them, his boots treading soundlessly on the carpet.
"Forgive me for interrupting, ladies, but I need to speak with you privately. Is there somewhere we can go that we won't be overheard?"
"Severus, great Ceridwen!" Lena squeaked. "You scared me half to death." She put a hand on her heart.
"Sorry, but this can't wait, Lena."
"Over here, in the Restricted Section," Irma said. She opened the door with her key and led the way inside.
The door locked behind them and it had Anti-Eavesdropping charms on it. "What's been happening? Has Dumbledore decided what we should do?" Irma asked.
"He has decided to close the school."
"Thank Merlin! We need to get these children home safe and sound. Then we can deal with this bloody walking corpse!" Irma declared.
Severus nodded. "There are, however, things we must do to protect the children while they are still here. Lena, I know you cast rune magic on the library. Can you teach me how so that I may ward my Slytherins' common room entrance? And teach the other House Heads as well? The students need somewhere to go where the revenant cannot follow."
"I can. And Aunt Irma knows the runes too." Lena agreed.
"I shall work with Minerva and Filius," Irma said.
"And I will help Pomona as well as Severus," Lena told her. "Is there anything else we may do to help?"
"Yes. I need you to do some research on revenants. Specifically, their weaknesses. Can you use the Codex Magicka? Albus and I thought perhaps it may have some information to banish or fight a revenant, as it has spells in there to summon one."
"I shall get to work on it as soon as the wards are up," the librarian assured him.
"Thank you, Lena." Severus exhaled a sigh of relief. "I am sorry for not asking sooner, but how are you?"
The blond woman grimaced. "I'm not hurt physically. The castle and the runes protected me from the revenant's attack. But it scared me, Severus. I have never known such terror before and I pray I never will again. I thought I was going to die." She shuddered. "I know I shall have nightmares from it."
"Anyone would. Come to me if you need Dreamless Sleep," he patted her shoulder lightly. "You were fortunate, not many survive an attack like that. Your ingenuity and resourcefulness saved you."
"The teachings of the Society saved me," Lena answered quietly. "Otherwise I would be a corpse."
"Merlin and Ceridwen forbid!" Irma said fervently. She hugged her niece.
Lena hugged her back. Then she followed Severus out of the library. Time was of the essence.