Au Revoir

So here\'s the next chapter! I\'m sorry it took a little longer than usual but my son was being unusually grumpy so I hadn\'t had time to work on it. Now that he\'s visiting his dad, I was able to finish this chapter and start the next so it\'ll be up soon.



In response to a review, I planned to separate the interludes from the main story, I just hadn\'t had time. It\'ll be called The Reaper\'s Snapshots and it\'ll be collection of the various interludes for Au Revoir and it\'s sequel, Of Gods and Monsters.



In response to two more reviews, no relationships start in Au Revoir. They may be hinted at but won\'t be acknowledged until the sequel. Aurèle will end up with Severus and Lucius will be with Rèmy but I won\'t reveal Harry or Sèraphin\'s other half until Of Gods & Monsters. But it won\'t be Draco for either them, sorry! Well, Sèraphin\'s Bond might become obvious before the last chapter but Harry\'s is a surprise many won\'t see coming!



By the way, there are 9 chapters in all for Au Revoir



Enjoy!

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Let\'s play a game,

Where all of the lives we lead,

Could change.

Let\'s play a game,

Where nothing that we can see,

The same.

~OneRepublic, Au Revoir



*****



Harry stared at Sèraphin incredulously. He wasn\'t the only one. All around the room the rest of their friends were gazing between the triplet and Harry, dumbfounded. Unsurprisingly, Rèmy and Aurèle seemed to have expected the request.



Harry had to ask for clarification just to be sure his ears weren\'t playing tricks on him. "You want me to do what?"



"Take us to the chamber." So his hearing was just fine.



Harry frowned at his friend. "Why?"



Sèra took a deep breath before letting it out slowly and flicked his fingers, throwing up a silencing spell. "It should be obvious I don\'t trust lightly. But for whatever reason, my instincts, and Rèmy, are telling me it\'s prudent you five know what I can do before the next Task. Since the walls are always listening, the safest place is the chamber."



"The walls are listening? What do you mean?" Draco asked Sèra, putting aside his homework with a scowl.



It was Luna who answered the scowling boy. "Hogwarts isn\'t just a castle. Thanks to centuries of magic from students and professors, she\'s become sentient. She always hears us and, if the Headmaster commands her, she can report back what we\'re saying. Silencing spells can\'t keep her out if she doesn\'t want them to."



"But only after four minutes or unless we put up strong enough wards. Which Dumbledore would notice," Sèra told them, pale grey eyes serious. "Drawing even more of his attention would be a big mistake. The chamber is the safest place."



"What do you mean more?"



Rèmy glanced at Harry apologetically before looking at Fred, who\'d asked the question. "He\'s always used the castle to keep an eye on Harry. After the ball, he hasn\'t stopped watching us or Harry, and since you hang around us now, he watches all of you."



"That sneaky fucker!" Harry fumed.



First, the bastard was reading his mind without his permission. Now, he finds out the old coot is spying on him and his friends. What next?



Wait a minute...



That meant Dumbledore had to know how much danger Harry was in every year and never helped him on purpose. He wished he could say he was surprised but he wasn\'t, not really. When the school first turned on him in second year, Harry started to suspect Dumbledore didn\'t truly care about him but didn\'t have any proof. This was all the proof he needed. But why would he put the rest of the school in danger? What was his goal?



"But the chamber is part of the school," George reminded Sera. "How would it be safer?" That was the question.



When Fawkes helped Harry against the basilisk, the dark haired teen had always assumed it was on Dumbledore\'s orders. But if that was the case, why didn\'t Dumbledore come himself instead of sending his familiar? Instead, he left a twelve year old boy who\'d never before wielded a sword and a phoenix against a basilisk controlled by a younger version of the Dark Lord.... Unless Dumbledore didn\'t know where the chamber was located?



"Parselmagic," Harry said in dawning comprehension.



But it didn\'t make any sense. Fawkes knew exactly where the chamber was hidden as seen by the phoenix\'s timely arrival. Surely his familiar would have no problem bringing him there. Unless Fawkes couldn\'t... or wouldn\'t.



But why?



Harry sighed. That was another question on a long list of things that didn\'t make sense.



Sèra nodded. "That\'s right. Salazar Slytherin used parselmagic to ward the chamber and hide it away from the rest of Hogwarts. You and Voldemort are the only Parselmouths left in the world meaning only you two can access the chamber. Its the only place we can escape Dumbledore\'s influence."



Harry thought about it. While he didn\'t have the best memories of the place, it wasn\'t crazy ass Tom almost killing Ginny that had frightened him at the time or given him nightmares after. No, it was going up against a psycho, sixty-foot basilisk. But he hasn\'t had any nightmares about the experience in over a year and he wouldn\'t be alone. Also, the basilisk was very, very dead so taking everyone down there shouldn\'t a big deal.



"Fine, I\'ll take everyone to the chamber. But it\'ll have to be tonight, after everyone\'s already in bed. Since tomorrow\'s Saturday it won\'t be seen as unusual if we sleep in."



"Where do we meet?"



Harry was about to speak when Sèra suddenly shook his head. Harry realized the four minute time limit must\'ve been up. He scribbled "Moaning Mrytle\'s bathroom" on a piece of parchment instead and the rest of them nodded, thoughtful expressions on their faces as they continued with their assignments.



*****



With his invisibility cloak and the Marauder\'s Map, it was easy enough to sneak down to the second floor girls bathroom. Thankfully, Moaning Myrtle was nowhere to be seen while the triplets and Draco were waiting around the sinks. Harry put his finger over his mouth when Draco opened his mouth to speak, whispering, "Myrtle", and the other boy nodded. No one wanted to deal with the ghost\'s blubbering by choice. A few minutes later Luna arrived, quickly followed by Fred and George. Harry quickly found the sink with the tiny snake scratched on top and hissed a quiet,"Open."



After a few moments, the sink receded and the dank, darkened pipe appeared. Harry gladly moved out of the way and pointed, saying "Slide" quietly. Draco stepped up and grimaced at the grime that was obvious even in the inky blackness. He cleaned the pipe with a double cast of scourgify then slid down. One by one, the others went down until only remained Harry. A hissed "Close" and Harry followed after his friends, whooping all the way. Harry stumbled onto his feet when he flew out the pipe, steadily ignoring the small bones crunching under his shoes. He looked around and noticed the underground passage was a lot cleaner than second year. Draco\'s handiwork probably.



It didn\'t come as a surprise when the boy poked his pointy nose into the air and said, "I hope this isn\'t the chamber."



Harry rolled his eyes while the triplets and twins laughed, and Luna continued to smile dreamily. "Of course it isn\'t, you stuck up git."



The Gryffindor led them further down the passageway, past the shed basilisk skin. It wasn\'t until they came to it that Harry remembered the blocked part of the tunnel. Luckily the twins knew the right spell repair it, which came as a shock to no one considering how much destruction the two caused on a daily basis. The group continued on for what seemed like forever until finally they were at the chamber.



The others paused in the archway and stood in awe of the temple-like room. It was exactly the same as two years ago with its giant pillars and various serpent carvings. The massive statue of Salazar Slytherin from the basilisk was summoned was on one side of the while. The dead basilisk was on the other, it\'s large serpentine body perfectly preserved and covered halfway by a pool of murky, red water. As long as The thing stayed dead, the reason why didn\'t matter to Harry.



"I thought you killing a basilisk was just a rumor," Draco said to Harry as he, the twins, and Luna headed straight for it in fascination.



Harry himself shrugged at Draco\'s comment and stayed far away from the creature. Just because he was okay with bringing his friends down here didn\'t mean he would go near it by choice. He remembered clearly of what the monster was capable.



The triplets were on the opposite side of the chamber and seemed to find Slytherin\'s statue as fascinating as the others found the basilisk. Harry could understand it a little. It wasn\'t everyday people got to stand in a room thought to be nothing more than a centuries old myth by the rest of the populace. It was created by not just a founder of Hogwarts but the founder of their house. Not only that but the basilisk was summoned from somewhere behind that statue. Just imagine what other secrets Slytherin had hidden here.



Speaking of secrets... Harry glanced over at his purpose for venturing down here again, Sèraphin.



The golden-skinned boy stared at the statue before him without blinking, head slightly tilted to the side, piercings winking dimly under the low glow of the torches against the walls. A deceptively fragile air surrounded him, as chilled, dark, and beautiful as the chamber itself. While he was like his brothers in many ways, that barely noticeable air always set him apart. He seemed so harmless at times with his pale grey eyes, soft features, and slim build. But if you let yourself feel it, the lie in assumption was obvious.



His magic was kept under a tight lid, but every once in a while, it would leak out and Harry would feel that tantalizing magic reach out and stroke against his own. It teased and beckoned so hypnotically, coming from everywhere and nowhere. Harry would want nothing more than to let himself drown in it. Sèraphin was coldness, shadows, danger.... death.



Harry gasped as the final piece finally fell into place. He\'d observed and analyzed Sèraphin for weeks, attempting to figure out the older teen\'s gift with no success. There were too many possibilities, and while some ideas were too far fetched, others didn\'t seem to be far enough.

But death...



It made sense. It was the reason Sera\'s magic felt so familiar to the younger wizard. Harry had brushed the cold embrace of that never-ending darkness more times than he (willingly) remembered. It almost felt like home.



"He knows." It was nothing more than a whisper.



Harry\'s emerald eyes went to Rèmy. The smirk on his face was obnoxious as he stared at his brother. He bounced on the soles of his feet in unmistakable excitement, the metal beads in his braids jingling loudly in the stillness of the room.



"He worked it out for himself like I said he would. Now you have to show him. There are no other options. Not anymore."



Sèra sighed as resplendent eyes fell upon Harry, the sound gut wrenchingly sad compared to Rèmy\'s elation. "I know."



Rèmy shot a look towards his brother before his movements stilled suddenly. Sharp eyes glazed over as he stared beyond himself and voice deeper and utterly empty when he spoke next. "No time left for hiding. Questions will be answered, the truth will be revealed, and decisions will be made. The ripples will spread and nothing can stop it, for any of you."



The foretelling words reverberated heavily within the space, the hairs on the back of Harry\'s neck stood at attention. He barely breathed as the those three sentences thundered across his mind again and again. Whatever happened next would without a shadow of a doubt change his future. He glanced at Draco, Fred, and George who were frozen in shock as they gazed at Rèmy in disbelief. Certainly, they felt the weight of Rèmy\'s words as profoundly as Harry.



Luna, though... The pale haired girl simply shared a secretive smile with Rèmy. All those odd, little quirks and knowing smiles-- they the same as another person he knew and that\'s when Harry let his palm connect with his face.



How could I have been so blind, he admonished himself with a shake of his head, the ends of his hair tickling his neck.



"Luna, you\'re a Seer."



The dreamy eyed girl nodded and beamed at Harry radiantly. "I\'m a little surprised it took this long for you to figure it out Harry. All the signs were right there."



Harry slapped a pale hand over his face, blushing brightly. "I know, I know. It\'s embarrassing."



"What in Merlin\'s name is going on?" Draco snapped impatiently, grey-blue glaring at the triplets, Luna, and Harry. "What do you mean Lovegood\'s a Seer?" The twins, while not irritated as Draco, were just as impatient to understand what was happening.



Harry looked questioningly at the twins with an eyebrow raised. This close friendship the group had was still in the beginning stages, even if all of them acted as if they\'d been friends for years. Undoubtedly, Luna knew about them. But did the triplets trust George, Fred, and Draco enough to let them in on everything?



The Leroche brothers shared one of those split-second communicating glances he witnessed often enough with multiples. Rèl took out his wand and conjured up eight cream, plushy overly-large chairs and smiled at everyone kindly. "Come sit and we\'ll explain."



The twins, Harry, Draco, and Luna\'s chairs formed a semicircle around the triplets, and briefly the dark haired teen wondered if that was on purpose. Everyone sat and arranged themselves comfortably in the seats that were more firm than they appeared to be, Draco grumbling under his breath all the while. All of them looked at the pale-haired wizard oddly when Draco sprawled across the seat in an surprisingly undignified manner.



"I don\'t always have to be dignified, you know," he sniffed imperiously when he noticed their stares. "Besides, it\'s only you people here. Nobody important."



Those "unimportant" people all shared a grin, aware of what the bastard was saying in his own douchey way.



Draco was a Malfoy. That meant frigid looks, subtly condescending remarks, and an emotionless mask. But no matter how he snarled and growled, Draco never dropped his guard with anyone else the way he did with them. Probably not even with his own parents. He still hung around his usual crowd, scathing and condescending to all those he deemed beneath him-- a lot of whom were apart of that same group.



The reason why was obvious even to those who had the tiniest smidge of Slytherin in them. Never alienate potential allies, and never turn your back on potential enemies. Especially when your allies and enemies were one and the same. Just because a person isn\'t useful one day doesn\'t mean they won\'t be the next. Just like your closest friend will always be your enemy in disguise. Everyone in the chamber understood that logic because they were cut from the same cutthroat cloth.



But those were rules for the rest of the world. Not for their circle.



With each other, Harry didn\'t have to be a foolish, courageous savior; Draco had no need for those pureblood facades; Fred and George were more than their idiotic prankster images; Luna wasn\'t just an airheaded, ditzy blonde; And the triplets were more than the true definition of snakes in sheep\'s clothing. They were safe to be their apathetic (Harry), spoiled (Draco), vindictive (the twins), spiteful (Luna), and morally ambiguous (the triplets) selves without fear of repercussions.



"Now what have you been hiding?"



It took Rèmy and Aurèle less than ten minutes to fill the trio in and answer all resulting questions. Harry tapped his foot impatiently as they did, more than ready for Sera\'s turn and a possible explanation concerning Rèmy\'s message. By time all was said and done, the twins and Draco were paler than normal, wide-eyed, and their mouths hung open, flabbergasted. Harry and others remained quiet, giving them a chance to collect their thoughts.



"I\'m stumped to be honest. I thought you were three were just stronger than average muggleborns," Draco finally said to break the silence. Harry was surprised to see there was no calculation in his blue-grey eyes. "I never would\'ve thought for a moment... it\'s amazing what you can do."



"Definitely-" George said with a nod.



"But dangerous too-" Fred continued flawlessly.



"-so it\'s imperative-"



"-no one else discovers-"



"-what you can do or-"



"-you\'ll become a weapon-"



"-until you\'ve outlasted-"



"-your usefulness-"



"-especially for someone-"



"-like Dumbledore."



"Dumbledore?" Harry asked as a confused frown crossed his face.



The old wizard was manipulative, sure, but he wouldn\'t use Rèmy or Aurèle for his own agenda. He was the leader of the Light for Merlin\'s sake. Then again, how could Harry be sure of that given all the new and significant information he\'d learned about Dumbledore over the past few months?



No one answered him. The other seven shared a heavy look and it made Harry\'s jaw clench. He hated being kept out of the loop, especially when it concerned himself, and they all knew it. He often blew up at the other party when they continued to keep him in the dark. But after fourteen years of lies and half-truths, he thought his reaction was justifiable. That was one weakness he readily admitted.



Aurèle smiled at Harry like he knew exactly what Harry was thinking. The younger wizard wouldn\'t be surprised if he did. "Patience, Harry."



"I\'ve been patient long enough," Harry snapped back, instantly full of guilt. It wasn\'t like it was the other boy\'s fault.



Rel\'s next smile was nothing but rueful. "True."



In that moment, Harry decided there was something about Aurèle that sadness should never be allowed anywhere near him.



Sèra cleared his throat, drawing everyone\'s attention. "I said I would show you what I can do but let me explain first." He took a deep breath before he began.



"Since I was young, colors have always been beautiful to me. The more vibrant the better. The fiery passion of reds, excitability of yellows, the calmness of blues, the flirtatiousness of pink-- I loved it all. When I woke up on our ninth birthday, I knew right away something was wrong. Where there were once beautiful, vivid colors, there were only shades of white, grey, and black. Our healer came but I was perfectly healthy. There was nothing to explain my sudden color blindness. I was violently angry for months and hated my new grey world. No one understand how much colors connected me to our mother, who was already dead by then. Daddy was away on business a lot, and these two were dealing with the sudden development of their own gifts. We have no other family so I had no one to turn to. I couldn\'t the purpose for the last connection to my mother to be snatched away.



"About six months after I became color blind, I started to hear whispers. I thought it was my imagination at first. But louder and louder they would get until I didn\'t know my own thoughts anymore. No matter what I did, no matter where I went, they followed me. I had no relief even in my sleep. Regardless of what my father told me, I was sure I was losing my mind." There Sèraphin paused and frowned as his tilted to the side.



Listening, Harry realized. Eyes the color of pale slate rolled and he snorted, amused. Harry had pretty good idea of what Sèra was going to say but waited for him to finish.



"One day, I was in my room when I noticed a witch standing by my window, watching me. I\'d never seen her before in my life and the door to my room never opened so all I could think was, how did she get in? I was confused and frightened and ran, yelling, for my life." Rèmy and Aurèle quickly smothered quiet laughs in their hands and laughed even harder when their brother smacked their arms. "Anyway, I ran directly to my Daddy\'s study to tell him there was an intruder in the manor. When I get there, the same lady is standing right by his chair. Needles to say I flipped and had a panic attack. When Daddy finally managed to calm me down, he had figured out what\'s been happening over the past few months and explained it to me.



"Did you know death magic is hereditary? It doesn\'t show up in every child and often skips a generation or two before popping up again. It\'s common on both sides of our family. The witch I could see was my dead grandmother on my mother\'s side. The whispers I heard weren\'t my imagination but the spirits of those beyond the Veil. So in short, I was a burgeoning necromancer."



Draco and the twins eyes were impossibly wide and Harry was right along beside them. A necromancer? Sèraphin was a necromancer.



No wonder he\'d been adamant he would only show his secret in the chamber. Death magic was highly illegal and considered one of the worst forms of the Dark Arts by the British Ministry and all Light wizards. It had been that way for centuries and it was only made worse by the hordes of Inferi Voldemort used to terrify the populace during the first wizarding war in the eighties and nineties. Even owning a book on any form of death magic would get you at least ten years in Azkaban. A confirmed necromancer got the Kiss, no questions or hesitation.



It explained so much about the strange feel of his magic. But Sèra being a necromancer didn\'t scare Harry. In fact, it was fascinating and somewhat awe-inspiring. Then again, Sèraphin could raise an army of inferi to take over the world and Harry would be right along beside him. Draco, Fred, and George seemed to think the same if the excitement on their faces were any indication. They were weird like that.



Sèra jumped and blinked in shock as the trio shot off question after question, each louder than the one before as they tried to speak over each other. The necromancer\'s eyes shimmered with the faintest trace of tears as he laughed and clapped joyfully at their obvious acceptance of what was considered a vile craft. Harry didn\'t begrudge his happiness.



If anyone discovered what Sèra was, there would be a witch hunt.(Get it?) Death magic was spit upon by those who didn\'t understand it. Evil, monsters, and unnatural were some of the nicer terms used to describe necromancers. Harry didn\'t and would never agree when Magic herself gifted it to those individuals and their families. But unless the English wizarding society changed, Sèra would always have to watch his back for fear of Azkaban. Harry didn\'t foresee that happening within the distant future.



"Calm down!"



Draco and the twins finally settled back down at Aurèle\'s shout. Luna and Rèmy giggled at their sheepish looks while Harry shook his head with a smile at their craziness. It occurred to him as it often did in moments like this that he wouldn\'t give any of them up for anyone, no matter how recent their friendship.



"To answer the questions I heard clearly," Sèra chuckled, "Yes, I can call spirits. Yes, I hear them constantly. No, I cannot bring a soul back from the afterlife. Yes, I can bring a person back from the dead if their death was fresh, but only once. Yes, I can create inferi and other types of undead. No, I haven\'t done it. I haven\'t had a need to. And yes, ghosts can be irritating bastards if they come around often enough."



The inquisitive trio grew quiet and the rest of them left them to their thoughts. Sèra looked at Harry. Within that gaze, there was a serious gleam that told Harry to brace himself for the oldest triplet\'s next words. But there was no stopping the way Harry\'s world careened on its axis.



"Your father would like to talk to you, Harry."



******



There came a time when your entire world would explode. You could see the collision coming and try to brace yourself for impact but there was no stopping how utterly it would shatter your entire universe. For Harry, this was one of those times and one he would remember with vivid clarity until the day he died.

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Cliffhanger! Sorry! :)