Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter 8

Basilisk's Revenge

Godric's Hollow was amazing in Harry's opinion. The town was surrounded in mist, which cloaked it. If someone where to pass by and had not been invited to the town, they would just pass by without seeing it. And they could only be invited by those who reside in the city. Both Wizards and Muggles alike lived in the town and got along fabulously, not that the alternative was pleasant or anything. Harry thought of what it would have been like to grow up in such an amazing place. Privet Drive didn't hold a touch against this place. Yet Godric's Hollow was still different. Instead of a place to just live in, it was converted over the year into a place to train Wizards, take in refugees, a safe haven from the war. The town could easily occupy a couple of thousand people.

Aeryn certainly felt the tension and hatred of the people they passed by. Some people came to greet Dumbledore and the rest of the group because they all heard of Voldemort's demise, but they were all caught off guard by Aeryn's presence. Yes she looked a little different from Jade, but they still thought it was her, as no one knew of Aeryn's existence. Aeryn kept her eyes forward, not looking at too many people. It also didn't sit well with her crossbow slug across her back.

Aeryn quickened her pace to meet Professor Dumbledore's. "Ah, Professor? I'm not exactly wanted company here."

Dumbledore saw the worry in her eyes as she glanced at some of the people in the streets. "We are just heading to your parents house, it won't take too long to get there. But I guess we will have to explain all this, tomorrow though."

They continued walking until they reached a house that was notably larger then all the others.

"I guess you don't remember this place," James asked his son, Harry shook his head, "Well we live here, but we also live with the Weasleys and the Malfoys. As well as the headquarters for the Order"

"We live with you guys," retorted Draco, "Never thought that was a possibility, not that it's bad place or anything. Malfoy Manor's load better mind you."

"No, no, no, Wyndam Manor is loads better then Malfoy Manor, but this place takes the cake," Aeryn said, her mood lightened by their inside joke of who mansion is bigger, "This place is home, no matter if none of us has really lived here before."

"Feels more home, then Hogwarts, I dare say, and we haven't even gone inside yet." Harry said catching a glace at Hermione, squeezing her hand a little as they walked linked together.

"This place was destroyed when Voldemort attacked," Sirius told James and Lily, "After sixteen years no one has had it in them to rebuild the place."

"Well you better make sure it gets built when you go back," James said, "This estate has been in the family for generations."

As they started up the stairs Aeryn dropped her bag and sat down on the steps with her eyes closed. Draco was immediately at her side.

"What wrong love?" he asked.

"I don't suppose Hagrid is close by?" she asked.

"He's probably waiting for us inside." Dumbledore said.

"I guess since what happened… I'm extra sensitive… I mean he's half blood." She was hardly making complete sentences and absently had one hand clutched around her throat.

"Concentrate," Draco told her, "Come on Kit Kat, it'll be better if you transform, you can do it." He tried to catch eye, she looked at him and with one deep breathe she transformed in to her usual white cat with her long reddish hairs on top. The cat, somewhat less affected, meowed at Draco as he picked her up.

"Bloody Magical Phobia." Harry said, "For something so rare amongst Wizards and Witches, it has become quiet an annoyance.

"Magical Phobia against what? Giants?" Lily asked. Harry nodded.

"It was how she died wasn't it?" Hermione said, "No wonder she extra sensitive."

"Can it kill…?" Lily started with alarm.

"No, no," Harry said, "Malfoy had a jar of Giants blood on him when he, when he slit her throat."

"That certainly explains why Voldemort had all the Giants killed off, and why they thought Hagrid was such a threat earlier." Dumbledore said, "I'll go see Hagrid makes it home." And he entered.

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With Dumbledore's arrival and Hagrid's departure, they all received a warm welcome from everyone in the house. Ron was knocked down by all of his siblings except Bill and both his parents.

"Oh, Ron you had us so worried," Molly said to her son, "Thank Merlin you are alright."

Two giggly girls, who wouldn't be caught dead together in the `normal' world, came around the corner and spotted their boyfriends.

"Harry!" Cho Chang hurried across the room and before Harry could stop her she was hugging him. When Harry backed away slightly in this awkward situation she leaned in for what she thought was the usual kiss, but Harry defiantly stopped her there, "What's wrong with you?" She saw Hermione and backed away with an automatic angry expressions, "Oh, I see, let's have it then!"

Meanwhile Pansy Parkinson headed towards Draco who was still holding Kit Kat.

"Oh, how sweet, you got me a kitty," she made for the cat, who started hissing as she neared. Pansy backed away, "You could at least get me a cat that would actually like me, Draco."

"And someone could have bloody well told me I had a girlfriend as well." Draco said to the others.

Ron was laughing at the situation, "I think you getting too close to her territory Parkinson."

"I believe an explanation is order for most of you," Dumbledore said, "Aeryn?"

The cat calmed down and looked at Dumbledore and meowed, she jumped to the floor and as she landed she transformed causing quiet a few to shriek with fright.

"Why the bloody hell did you bring that murdering witch here for?" An angry Charlie cried out, he was very close to Bill. Pansy started to move to get to Draco but Aeryn blocked her way. Then Aeryn looked to Charlie.

"I'm not Jade, and I've never killed anyone." Aeryn still received cold stares from the Weasley's. Aeryn remembered that Jade had killed Bill herself not two months ago.

"It seems that these six people, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Sirius and Aeryn are not who we think them to be. They are not as we know them." Dumbledore explained.

"We are from a different time line." Hermione said, "One where there is no war."

"How is that possible?" Arthur Weasley asked.

"I believe I can answer that." A voice came from the top of the stairs; both Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy ascended the stairs. Aeryn nearly jumped out of her skin causing a vase full of flowers on one of the tables to explode, which caused more panic.

"I suggest that you don't sneak up on us like that." Draco told his father.

"Or what happened to the vase will happen to a vital part of your anatomy." Aeryn warned. Lucius made a note that his son's red headed girlfriend never looked at him, he knew he could not understand what she was going through. Part of him was glad he changed his ways and didn't become the monster she was afraid of.

"I apologize; I didn't mean to scare anyone. I will be more careful." She still didn't look at him but he turned to the others, "This all basically has to do with why I joined the Order and not stay with Voldemort. There was another Lucius Malfoy who came from the future, the same one they are from," he referred to the young ones, "He was able to give Voldemort vital information to prevent his demise."

"He also made the mistake of telling me that he was going to do that when he killed me. When I died I became a Guardian Angle of sorts. We are not supposed to interfere with the on goings of earth, only the Elders have that sort of power. But because I have such a strong bond with Harry I was able to keep my power."

"What strong bond?" Somebody asked.

"We never told anyone, except for the Marauders of course," James explained, "Harry has a twin sister, after all this time we thought she was dead."

"Yeah instead she was one of you worst nightmares." Aeryn said, "Anyway, cliff notes say I kept our minds intact so we know what the hell is happening where as if I didn't this world would have no chance on getting back to normal."

"And what exactly is normal?" Molly asked.

"In our world Voldemort is gone and still live at the Burrow and Ginny and I go to Hogwarts." Ron told his mother. Then the front door opened behind them and closed, in came a girl with long black hair tied back in a pony tail and glasses about the age of eleven.

"Mom, Dad, HARRY you're back!" the girl ran to Harry who received a bone crushing hug from her.

"Ah, this is MacKenzie, you're younger sister," Lily said to Harry and Aeryn.

"My god Harry, she's the girl version of you." Aeryn said with a laugh.

"Look what I got while you were gone." MacKenzie said pulling out her very own wand, "Willow with a Unicorn hair, 10 inches. Maybe now you could teach me some spells."

"Kenzie, why don't you go to the kitchens to get yourself a snack?" Lily told her ushering her off.

"But Mum…"

"No but we are talking about very important thing, much too important for your young ears to hear." Kenzie did as she was told.

"She looks up to her big brother a lot." James said. Harry smiled sheepishly.

"Well are there any other surprises?" Aeryn asked hoping there where none.

`Where's my master…I can smell him…'

"Professor, what did you do with Voldemort?" Both Harry and Aeryn craned their necks listening to the hissing voice no one else could hear.

"He a performed a spell that truly made him immortal, I shrunk and put a permanent freezing charm on him and placed him a this bottle." Dumbledore told them pulling out the bottle causing Harry to slap his hand on his scar.

"Put it away!" Harry said, Dumbledore complied, "It seems that we where followed here."

Aeryn was already at her bag, glad she brought some weapons with her including the sorting hat. She took out the hat and tossed it to Harry. Harry gave her a puzzled looks.

"The sword." She told him. Someone came in the door.

"Dumbledore sir, there's a Basilisk surrounding the Hollow, the watch guards are dead. It can't get past the mist."

The twins were already plotting their plan in their heads as Harry was trying to figure out how to get the sword out and Aeryn got her own sword out.

"Hermione what spell can blind a creature?" Harry asked her.

"Harry, you are not going out there by your self. I won't allow it!" Hermione told.

"I won't be alone, Aeryn's coming."

"No she's not!" Draco said.

"Yes I am!" Aeryn said, she then turned to Harry, "A spell won't work, Magic won't work against that thing. What we need is..."

They heard the magical song of the Phoenix as it flew in from upstairs and out the door.

"Good old Fawkes." Harry said, "Should be no problem now." Then the hilt of Godric's sword appeared and Harry grabbed it and pulled it out. Harry and Aeryn started for the door, Hermione grabbed his arm.

"Hermione no one else has the kind of advantage that we do." Harry looked into her eyes, "I will be back, no worries."

"Harry," this time it was a mother's call, "Aeryn, what are you planning on doing, that no one else could?" Harry tuned to his mother and unknowingly gave her the `don't worry, it's me' look she received from James. Then Aeryn added.

"It's not that he hasn't done this before." Harry and Aeryn grabbed two brooms that were standing near the door; the whole company of the room followed them both to see the show and help.

Outside was in panic, people rushing to get indoors, other then screaming the only other sound was a terrible hiss.

`My master is missing…forcibly taken from his fortress…he is here…'

The blinded Basilisk emerged from the mist slowly entering the town starting for Main Street. Every able body brave enough to fight was sending curses and jinxes at the Basilisk. Harry and Aeryn came running down the street followed closely be Hermione, Draco, Ron, James, Lily, Sirius and Dumbledore. Charmed with the Sonorus Charm they began.

`The Dark Lord is not here' Aeryn told the snake.

`I can smell him'

`You have been blinded, leave now before worse is done' Harry warned.

`My only concern is my Master, where is he?'

`He is not here.'

`Liar' the snake lashed out snapping its jaws. Both Harry and Aeryn backed away and then mounted their brooms.

"We'll at least we warned him." Aeryn said to Harry.

"Aren't you the least bit scared?" Harry asked her.

"Terrified. How `bout you?"

"It's only my second time facing this thing. But hey, we've face Voldemort this should be no problem." Aeryn could tell he was a little scared himself. Aeryn then got off her broom and tossed it aside.

"You attack from the air, I'll distract it from down here." She told him. Harry took to the air. When Aeryn turned around and almost ran smack dab into Draco, with his own sword in hand. "You should get out of here." Aeryn told him.

"And you two should stop trying to be the hero all the time and except a little help." Aeryn couldn't arguer with that.

`Hey, how about some distraction.' Harry thought. Aeryn looked up into the sky to see the Basilisk snapping at the flying Harry.

"Sorry," she muttered, `Hey snake head,' she called out, the Basilisk reverted it's attention to the ground at the sound of the voice, `You want you Master you'll have to go through me.'

`My pleasure'

"Get ready, he's going to attack." She told Draco. The Basilisk struck at the ground and hit the pavement a mere 5 feet away from Aeryn and Draco. They froze in shock of how close that was. "Holy shi…" Draco shoved her out of the way as the Basilisk kept pecking at the ground like a chicken, their swords long lost leaving them unarmed.

Meanwhile Harry was trying to avoid being hit by the snake when it came up, finding the right time to jump. Aeryn hurled some rocks from some ruble at the snake using her TK which caused the Basilisk to stop. Harry choose that moment to jump off his broom, he landed on the top of its head and drove his sword into it. The snake jerked back tossing Harry off but not before bursting in flames.

"Accio Broom!" Harry called and the broom obeyed, he grabbed the handle as he climbed back on. The Basilisk plummeted towards the ground.

Aeryn and Draco watched as the snake burst into flames. Aeryn smiled at the fact that Harry unlocked his power of fire. The smile was short lived as the snake was coming down on them; there was no time to get out of the way. Aeryn pushed Draco out of the way with the extra boost of TK and flung her clock over top of her as the snake landed.

(A/N: Should I leave it here with a cliffie?? Ok, ok I wouldn't do that you ya now!!)

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Harry landed near the tail of the flaming snake and with a wave of the hand the flames froze in place. He saw Draco standing at the head.

"Where's Aeryn?" Harry called out to him. Draco just looked at the snake. Harry ran to him, "She wasn't…"

At first they thought the snake was somehow still alive because it slowly was rising. But then they heard a strained voice from underneath.

"A little help please." They both breathed a sigh of relief. Draco crawled under and grabbed her by the cloak and dragged her out. Her hands were in front of her as if she were pushing something and as she dropped her hand so did the Basilisk. She had a few minor burns on her arms from the fire; Draco saw them and was about to ask Harry to heal them but Aeryn shook her head as Harry hadn't seen them and covered them up behind her cloak. Draco gave her a questioning look.

"Harry concentrate," Aeryn told his as she sat up, "will the flames to go away, you created them in the first place."

"You mean, I did that."

"Yeah, I told you, you were able to do something like this back at the castle remember." Aeryn explained, "now that you know you can do it, believe you can do it."

Harry gazed at the frozen flames and suddenly he felt Hermione slip her hand into his. He looked at her.

"Don't you ever do something like that to me again." She told him quietly. Harry looked back at the flames and they disappeared leaving a charred snake corpse.

"You know I had to." He told her.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"After all this is over we will have an eventless seventh year, the most chaotic thing that will happen will be your frantic studying." Hermione playfully punched him in the arm.

"That was brilliant flying son!"

"James!"

"What? It was!" James said innocently.

"You almost gave me a heart attack when that thing flung you back." Lily exclaimed.

"Well thank Merlin for wandless magic." Harry said as they started back for the house.

Draco and Aeryn still lingered behind. Almost as if they were forgotten. Aeryn was still sitting on the ground, she knew she would not be able to walk well, her ankle was sprained. Her arms, which she used to lift the snake off of her causing them not to be protected by her Dragon Hyde cloak, were aching. She knew what she was feeling at that moment, looking as Harry and the others walked off, jealousy. In this world, no matter what, Jade's deeds still lingered on her.

"Why didn't you want Harry to heal those?" Draco said about her arms.

"I don't know. Having him give me the automatic fixer-upper seemed a bit too easy. I won't allow him to fix everything for me. I've been doing things for myself, you know that." Aeryn studied her arms, "It feels so good just to feel sometimes."

"Well if you won't let your brother heal you, we'd best get you to a healer." Draco said.

"It's ok, I can do it myself."

"No, you are going to see a healer," he told her, "Even the best healers need to see other healers for their ailments."

~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~

A/N: Ok, if I don't stop here I am never going to stop. Just to explain that little tid bit a few sentences up, Aeryn's chosen career was in healing, except she never told anyone, except Draco of course. Just goes to show that there is a lot to Aeryn that we don't know about.

I would have written a lot more for this Chapter, but as a good author, I didn't want to keep you waiting as long as I have already.

Lots more to happen in the next chap!

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