hormentor

 Ministry of Magic Classification: XXXXX (Known wizard-killer / impossible to train or domesticate)

Description

The Hormentor is a wraithlike entity believed to have originated when a Dementor, in its quest for permanence, learned the darkest of magical arts: the creation of Horcruxes. By splitting and anchoring its own soul into hidden vessels, the Hormentor has achieved a form of unholy immortality. Unlike ordinary Dementors, which can be banished or controlled to some degree, a Hormentor reforms again and again so long as even one Horcrux remains intact.

It glides in the same way as a Dementor, cloaked in rotting robes, but its presence is heavier, colder, and more suffocating. Victims describe not merely despair but a gradual erosion of their very sense of self, as though their identities are being siphoned away in slow fragments.

Powers

Soul Drain: A Hormentor can perform the Kiss, sucking out a victim’s soul. The stolen essence does not dissipate but is imprisoned within one of the Horcrux vessels, magnifying the creature’s power.

Immortal Persistence: Destruction of its physical form is temporary. Unless its Horcruxes are tracked down and obliterated with basilisk venom, fiendfyre, or similarly destructive magic, the Hormentor will return.

Aura of Erosion: The despair it radiates extends beyond hopelessness. Long exposure may cause memory loss, madness, or the sensation of one’s soul leaking away drop by drop.

Defenses Against It

Patronus Charm: Can repel its immediate form but offers no permanent safety. The Hormentor inevitably returns unless its Horcruxes are destroyed.

Horcrux Destruction: The only true method of eradication. Each vessel must be found and utterly destroyed. As with Voldemort, these may be concealed in powerful magical artifacts or even living beings.

Collective Resistance: Prolonged exposure to its aura often overwhelms individuals, but groups of strong witches and wizards, casting Patronuses together, can push it back.

Habitat and Habits

Hormentors are mercifully rare—perhaps unique. They are drawn to places of great suffering: abandoned battlefields, prisons, and cursed ruins. Scholars speculate that a Hormentor may seek to create more of its kind by feeding on enough souls to empower new Horcruxes, though no record confirms this. There are unconfirmed reports that Hormentors are on the ascent in global politics.

Warnings

A Hormentor cannot be bargained with. It exists solely to consume, imprison, and endure. Encountering one is considered a death sentence for any wizard unprepared with advanced magical knowledge and immense courage.