The Crystal of Tempest

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series belongs to J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros. Inc., Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Raincoast, and any other affiliated party.

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Chapter 10: At the Cave of Creepers

"So, how long are we supposed to wait out here?" asked James, as he kicked a pebble around. The three Potter children were waiting in front of the entrance of a vast cave. Surrounding them, was the great forest none as the Wilderness of Creepers. At was a vast land, filled with creatures of great size and wonder, not to mention danger. People seldom ventured into this wilderness and even the Mage Knights generally avoided the area if possible. The Potter's however, especially James, could care less about the great dangers of the forest. To them, it was a grand adventure.

Harry and Hermione had ventured into the cave about forty minutes earlier to search for the Rings of the Badger and Unicorn. Leaving the children with Ron. Ron had noticed that things had gotten a little awkward between Ginny, Harry, and Hermione, but they had refused to explain what had happened between them to Ron. Therefore, Ginny had decided to stay behind at Diggory Manor with Ron's family.

At present time, Ron was dozing on some moss near the entrance while James was impatiently waiting for his parents to return. Lin and Virginia were busy feeding Nomie, whom was now as big as a horse, some carrots and potatoes.

"Give them some time, James," said Lin. She stroked Nomie's chin delicately as she fed him a carrot. Nomie purred with contentment.

"Easy for you to say," growled James. "You could probably have no problem waiting for the Hogwarts acceptance to come, so long as you have either a book or that dragon."

"Well I say that you need to learn to wait more, James," said Lin. "Patience is a virtue."

"Well I think waiting around is too chicken like. I need to get down to some hard action!"

"Well, maybe, if you can get something else other than trouble into that head of yours..."

"Will you two shut up?!" Virginia suddenly yelled. James and Lin instantly shut up and stared at their usually quiet little sister in shock.

Virginia continued and said, "Just drop to silly argument and wait for Mommy and Daddy to come out. If you want to pass time, just sit down and start playing a game or something. But no more arguing!"

With that, Virginia stomped her right foot on the ground and gave her older siblings a glare that Hermione often gave them when she was angry with them.

Still startled by Virginia's sudden outburst, James and Lin sat down, both of them with a slightly dazed look. Virginia smiled and went back to feeding Nomie.

It was only a few minutes later when it happened. Ron suddenly snapped up and looked around fully alert.

"What is it, Uncle Ron?" asked Lin.

"I felt something," said Ron. "Some kind of magical activity just took place in the cave."

James sprang up, clearly excited. "Maybe Mum and Dad found the rings!" he exclaimed.

"No," said Ron. "This felt slightly different. Like somebody had just apparated into the cave."

"But that can't be right," said Lin with a confused frown. "You yourself always complain about how there are these wards up in Magiterran that prevent anyone from apparating except..."

"Except the Death Eaters!" Ron exclaimed. "Or the Children of Tempest. Wichever way, Harry and Hermione are in trouble! Come on!" With that, Ron ran into the cave, the three children and their dragon following close behind him.

* * *

"How deep is this cave?" asked Hermione as she strolled down the dark path.

"Hopefully not too deep," said Harry as he suddenly picked up Hermione. Just as he did so, the area she had been previously been occupying burst into flame.

"Why thank you my handsome knight in shining armor," she giggled as he put her down.

"My pleasure my beautiful queen," said Harry with a grin. He gave her a brief kiss before he became serious again. "OK, that was the eighth fire trap we've encountered. How many more can there be?"

"I wouldn't know," sighed Hermione. "I just hope we can find those rings soon." She looked up and grinned. "And there they are."

Indeed she was right. The path led to a small hill about fifty meters away. On the top of that hill was a small table, and on that table were two rings, a yellow topaz ring with a picture of a badger on it, and a black onyx ring with a picture of a unicorn on it.

"There they are," said Hermione excitedly.

Harry nodded. "Remember, only you can pick them up."

"I remember. Just wait here for a second. I'll be right back."

Hermione started to make her way to the hill. However, when she had only taken about five steps, a wall of fire suddenly sprang up behind her, separating her and Harry. In fact, a ring of fire surrounded Harry now. Hermione spun around alarmed.

"Harry!"

"Go, Hermione!" Harry shouted. "Just get the rings. I'll take care of whatever's going on here."

Hermione only hesitated for a brief second before she turned and ran to the hill.

Harry turned around when he heard footsteps coming from behind. However, he received quite a surprise when he saw whom it was coming through the flames.

"Draco Malfoy?"

"Potter," said Draco with a smirk. "Fancy seeing you here."

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked. Despite the fact that Draco was one of his allies, Harry felt nervous about the way Draco was smirking at him.

"Oh you know," said Draco. "Sightseeing, shopping, just having a nice vacation, doing Lord Tempest's handiwork..." Suddenly, Draco pointed his sword at Harry and fired two curses at him! Caught by surprise, Harry barely managed to dodge the two curses.

"Malfoy, what..." Harry didn't have time to complete his questioning as Draco suddenly pounced on him, thrashing his sword. Not having time to draw his own sword, Harry blocked Draco's blade with his scabbard.

Now that Draco had attacked Harry, Harry's battle instincts suddenly kicked in. Balling his hand into a fist, Harry took a swing and clobbered Draco in the face. He drew his sword out as Draco staggered back in pain.

"How much did it take for you to betray us?" Harry hissed. He made a swing with sword. Draco, blocked Harry's blade and took a swing himself which Harry also blocked.

"Would you believe me if I said all it took was an invigorating tryst with a beautiful woman in bed?" said Draco with a smirk. He thrust his sword at Harry. Harry swung his sword upward and knocked the blade away.

"With you, somehow that makes perfect sense," sneered Harry. He spun around and slashed at Draco. Draco blocked the blow and rammed his left fist into Harry's cheek. Reeling back a little, Harry managed to knee Draco in the abdomen.

"It was really a perfect deal," said Draco with a smirk. He parried forward slashed at Harry who successfully blocked each of Draco' blows. "You get power, a good amount of recognition from Tempest, plus sex. You should give it a try."

"Sorry, but I'm spoken for," said Harry. Saying that suddenly reminded Harry of Hermione. Harry stole a quick glance behind himself a saw that Hermione was nearly at the top of the hill.

Draco did not miss this chance. He leaped forward and rammed his left fist into Harry's face. With his right hand, Draco swung his sword around as fast as he could knocked Harry's sword out of his hand! It flew away and landed on the other side of the ring of fire.

The sound of the sword hitting the ground caught Hermione's attention. Worriedly, she spun around called out, "Harry!"

"Just get the rings!" Harry yelled. Reluctantly Hermione turned around and started to make her way up the hill again.

"Surrender Potter, I have you beaten," hissed Draco.

"Yeah right!" said Harry. He suddenly swung wide and hit Draco in the jaw. As Draco stepped back, Harry leapt forward and landed a flying kick into Draco's chest. Her then swung an uppercut into Draco's chin, causing Draco to fly back. To round off the deal, Harry blasted a burst of magic into Draco while he was still in the air, causing him to fly even further back. He landed on the ground with a painful thud.

Draco groaned in pain as he pulled himself back up on his feet. He knew full well that although he could possibly best Harry in a sword fight, he was absolutely no match against him in terms of sheer magical power.

Harry was advancing on Draco, looking very menacing. Thinking quickly, Draco shot a curse toward Hermione whom had nearly reached the rings. The curse grazed Hermione's left shoulder and she yelped in pain.

"Hermione!" Harry shouted as he spun around to see if she was all right. Draco did not miss this chance as he incanted another spell.

Twelve, thick steel chains sprang out of the ground and wounded around Harry's body, effectively trapping him on his feet.

"What the?"

"You're coming with me, Potter," hissed Draco. He staggered his way over to the trapped Harry and grabbed his right shoulder.

* * *

Hermione had finally reached the two rings on the top of the hill. Ignoring the stinging pain in her shoulder from Draco's curse, she placed her hands over the rings. In a flash, the rings disappeared. A split second later, they had joined the other three rings on her fingers.

Now that she had claimed the rings, Hermione was ready to help Harry. Just as she turned around however, she saw Harry and Draco disappear with a pop, the sign of apparation.

"Harry!" Hermione ran down the hill toward the place where Harry had just been. The flames had died and there was nothing lighting the cave now. All alone, Hermione hesitantly stepped up to where Harry had been only minutes ago.

"Harry?" she whispered hopefully. There was no answer.

* * *

Ron hadn't bothered to count how many traps he had passed as he raced down the cave's path. His mind registered the fact that Harry and Hermione's children were following him but he trusted them enough to follow him directly, thus avoiding all the traps. All that really mattered to him now was that he get to Harry and Hermione as fast as he could.

Ron suddenly stopped when he saw Hermione slowly walking toward him. Her head was bent down and she looked close to crying.

"Hermione?" he asked. "What happened?"

Hermione said nothing. She simply walked passed Ron and knelt down in front of her three children. She pulled them into a tight hug as if her very life depended on it. James, Lin and Virginia looked at each other confused as their mother held them tighter.

It was finally Virginia who spoke, "Mommy? What happened? Where's Daddy?"

Fighting back tears, Hermione simply said two words, "He's gone."

A/N Draco Malfoy fans, please do not do anything to me (gets on knees and begs). I've told you guys earlier that there is more to what Draco is doing then I am letting on. So please, please, PLEASE, keep that in mind. Anyway, please R/R. Next: Hermione reminisces, and Harry finally sees the Crystal of Tempest.