“Bonkers!” Ron exclaimed, in complete rejection of Harry’s revelation.
“What other explanation can there be?” Harry appealed to Ron’s sense of logic.
“You’ve gone mad,” he replied in sheer amusement, “Lost you mind!”
“Excuse me,” Hermione attempted to interject.
“So they’ve dragged us down here for a lesson on Volcency, is that it?” Harry bit back.
“If you’ll just let me…” Hermione endeavored once more.
“You just listen to everything Hermione says,” Ron accused. “She’s poisoned your mind against Ginny because she’s jealous that Ginny’s been moved up and she hasn’t,” he bellowed, adequately shutting Hermione up.
“Takes one to know one,” Harry retorted scathingly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ron said in a menacing tone.
“You’ve spent your whole life jealous of those around you!” Harry charged.
Ron turned an alarming shade of purple before violently thrashing out of Hagrid’s cabin and making a rude hand gesture at Harry. They all sat in silence following his abrupt departure. Finally, Hermione spoke up.
“You shouldn’t have done that Harry.”
It was the wrong thing to say and the wrong time to say it. He felt the hackles rise along the back of his neck as he turned towards her, preparing to exchange blows with yet another of his so-called best friends.
“I can’t believe you, of all people, are standing up for that git!”
Before Hermione could conjure up a response Ginny said, “You go after Ron and I’ll handle this one.”
Hermione seemed torn; in the end she shot Harry a heartrending look and hurried out of the hut in search of Ron. Meanwhile, Harry and Ginny sat for what seemed to be an eternity before either of them spoke.
“He’s worried I’ll be killed,” Ginny said.
Startled, Harry wasn’t sure how to respond. Why should Ron be afraid of Ginny being killed? Being a Volcen meant she was always one step ahead of the rest…didn’t it?
“Voldemort massacred all the Volcen’s,” she continued.
“But Ron said there hasn’t been a Volcen in centuries,” Harry argued.
“It’s a common misconception,” Ginny told him. “Even in the wizarding community, Volcen’s have always been persecuted. You can understand why a Volcen wouldn’t announce their arrival into the world. The kindest of people would fear and stay away from them. The rest would either attempt to use them or kill them.”
Harry understood why a Volcen would be an object of fear. That much power, in the wrong hands, would be catastrophic.
“So Voldemort killed them when they wouldn’t join him,” Harry guessed.
“No,” Ginny said woefully, “He simply didn’t want anyone alive that could potentially challenge him.”
“A Volcen would know everything in his mind,” Harry ventured.
This time he was right and Ginny nodded grimly.
“But wouldn’t they know he was after them?” Harry asked, convinced that a real Volcen would be invincible from a surprise attack.
“There were three Volcen’s that were well-known, all from pure-blood families. Two of them were persuaded by their families that the safest thing to do was to join Voldemort. When they went to offer their services to him,” Ginny made a motion with her finger to signify a silt throat, “He murdered them.”
“Didn’t they know he was going to kill them?” Harry asked.
“I’m afraid not,” Ginny said solemnly, “A Volcen can only hear what’s going on in your mind in the moment. Voldemort already had plans to kill them in the works, so when they appeared before him, all he had to do was act.”
Harry let out a low whistle in surprise, then asked, “What happened to the third Volcen?”
“Voltara,” Ginny said gloomily.
“The one your father told you stories about?” Harry asked. Ginny nodded, looking paler than ever.
“She was nice,” Ginny told him, “She taught me a lot when I was little. She was my only friend for many years.”
Harry was reeling from shock. “How did you meet her?”
“She often came to visit me. I thought I dreamt her up for the longest time, that my fathers’ bedtime stories were affecting my dreams. Then one day, my father took me to the ministry. She was waiting in his office to meet me. We went to Fortescue’s for some ice cream and that’s where she told me I was a Volcen.”
“How old were you?” Harry interrupted.
“Seven,” Ginny smiled at the stunned look Harry wore.
“How old was she?” Harry asked.
“I’m not so sure,” Ginny considered the matter, “All I know is that she was in Dumbledore’s year when they attended Hogwarts.”
Harry’s eye widened at that news. He had never heard of anyone that had gone to school with Dumbledore.
“Voltara wasn’t her real name,” Ginny continued as though he had not interrupted, “That’s just the title reserved for the eldest Volcen.”
“What was her real name?” Harry cut in, enthralled by the tale Ginny was telling.
“Evalene Hufflepuff,” Ginny grinned, “I’ll bet you can’t guess what house she was in?”
“Hufflepuff,” Harry responded in astonishment. Ginny took that to be his answer and slowly clapped her hands.
“Just marvelous,” she teased, “I don’t know how you got so brilliant, Potter.”
“I’m just amazed that a seven-year-old could retain all this information,” Harry whispered in awe.
“I wasn’t seven when I learned this information,” Ginny confessed.
“How old were you?”
“Fifteen,” Ginny responded desolately.
“But that’s…now!” Harry did the math quickly in his mind.
“Well done,” she said sarcastically.
“So Voltara is still teaching you? How is she teaching you?” he looked around as though expecting Voltara to jump out at them.
“Voltara can’t teach anyone now.”
Harry saw the pain in Ginny’s eyes and asked the question that he already knew the answer to, “What happened to her?”
“The eldest Volcen teaches the rest of the Volcen’s how to harness their powers,” Ginny began lecturing once more, “She is the only one that knows when a new Volcen has been born. So as you may have already guessed, she is the only one that knows how many Volcen’s there are and who they are.”
Harry nodded in affirmation, although he had not made that connection.
“So,” Ginny continued, “Voldemort tracked her down to a muggle village where she had gone into hiding.”
Harry felt a queasy knot forming in his stomach; he could guess where the story was headed.
“He tortured her until he got the names of all the Volcen’s.”
“Then he killed her,” Harry speculated.
Ginny have him a bemused look, “How would she have been able to teach me if he had killed her? Really, Harry, you have to keep up.”
Harry felt ashamed for having gotten ahead of himself. “So what happened to her?”
“She escaped him,” Ginny continued, “My understanding is that her body is hidden in a muggle insane asylum.”
“What do you mean ‘her body’?” Harry asked.
“Well,” Ginny began, “As Ron told you, Volcen’s can vessel voyage…”
“…travel into other people’s bodies,” Harry supplied to show that he had indeed been paying attention.
“That’s right,” Ginny smiled in approval. “The way to do that is to move your soul out of your body,” Ginny explained.
“Can your body survive without a soul?” Harry couldn’t help but ask.
“It’s like someone whose experienced the dementors kiss,” Ginny clarified, “Your body continues to function, there’s just no sense of self…you’re lower than an animal.”
“But a Volcen can go back into their body?”
“Yes, they can,” Ginny looked dismayed beyond belief as tears stung her eyes, “If you stay out of your body for too long however, you may be lost.”
“What does that mean?” Harry asked as he handed her one of Hagrid’s oversized handkerchiefs.
“If you keep vessel-voyaging, you began to lose your identity. You may even forget who you are. You’re too deeply connected to your vessel to remember where you come from.”
“Is that what happened to Voltara?” Harry wondered aloud.
“I’m not sure,” Ginny confided in Harry, “She’s been out of her body at least twenty years.”
The numbers were simply not adding up in Harry’s mind. Finally, he pointed this out, “Didn’t you say you met her when you were seven-years-old?”
Ginny nodded but said nothing in response so Harry pressed on.
“How can that be if she didn’t have a body?”
Ginny continued to sit in silence as though unsure of how to answer, or whether to answer. He held his breath, silently hoping that she would trust him enough to tell him.
“She did something…unspeakable,” Ginny choked out in the barest whisper.
“What did she do?” he asked.
“She possessed Tonks.”
Harry was thrown; he didn’t know what to think.
“Is possession like putting someone under the Imperius Curse?”
“No,” she whispered.
“What is it?” he asked persistently.
“She took over Tonks’ body…” she looked him in the eyes, “…Completely.”
Harry jumped up so suddenly that he sent the table sliding a foot or so.
“She’s not still possessing Tonks,” Ginny hurriedly reassured him, “She only did that so that she could meet me in human form.”
“Did she hurt Tonks?” Harry asked, concerned and afraid.
“Not at all,” Ginny signaled him to sit back down, “Tonks allowed her to do it, she gave her explicit permission to Voltara.”
“How could she?” Harry questioned.
“Voltara babysat Tonks when she was a little girl, so she knew that Tonks was a Metamorphmagus.”
Harry thought back to Mrs. Figg, his own babysitter who he had assumed for the longest time to be an ordinary muggle.
“Tonks was pretty shrewd herself and guessed that there was something odd about Voltara. When Voltara was forced into hiding she often vessel-voyaged to visit Tonks.”
“So Tonks let her use her body…Voltara morphed into a likeness of herself…and came to tell you that you are a Volcen?” Harry said, trying to get all the facts straight.
“Exactly,” Ginny told him in a relieved tone.
“Wait a minute,” Harry scrunched up his face and did some quick thinking. “How did you find all of this information out if Voltara hasn’t been in contact with you? I’ll bet it was Tonks!”
“I’d take that bet,” Ginny said attempting to put on a brave face.
“If it wasn’t Tonks…than who was it?”
“Gaia,” Ginny supplied the name he was looking for.
“Huh?” Harry said his confusion compounding, “Who’s Gaia?”
“Let’s make a deal,” Ginny said, “I’ll tell this story if you promise not to interrupt.”
Harry held up his hands in surrender and said, “No interruptions.”
“Alright Potter, you’d better keep your word,” she warned.
He mimed zipping his mouth shut in a very serious manner and she laughed at his goofiness. Then she started a different story.
“Two months ago while we were at the Burrow I sensed…something. It was a familiar feeling that I had felt before, whenever Voltara came to visit me. I assumed that Voltara had come to see me and ran to my room where I could have some privacy. When I got to my room, I realized that it was not Voltara. A new Volcen named Gaia introduced herself to me. She told me that she tracked Voltara down about a year ago. Voltara gave her news of my existence and told her to contact me for help. You see, Voltara was unable to offer Gaia any help…we’re unsure of why that is, but we were all rather relieved to know that Voltara was not lost.”
Harry was curious about the ‘we’ Ginny kept referring to, but he kept silent.
“By ‘we’ I mean Tonks, Gaia and myself,” Ginny answered his unasked question. He had chills down his spine as he realized that she must be able to read, or rather, ‘hear’ his thoughts. Nevertheless, he nodded for her to go on. He wanted to know who this ‘Gaia’ was, why she was contacting Ginny for help, and whether or not she was trustworthy.