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 13: The Battle of Parselrock

"It ends here," said Hermione, her sword digging into the horrified Cassandra's throat. Holstered on her waist was Harry's ruby encrusted sword that had originally belonged to Godric Gryffindor.

"You?!" shouted Cassandra. "How did you get up here? There's no way you could've gotten up this mountain."

"Yes indeed, how did you get up here?" asked Voldemort. He only seemed mildly surprised and appeared to be very cool about the whole ordeal.

Wordlessly, Hermione pulled out the parchment that had been delivered to her during the council of war. On it was written the directions to the pinnacle of Parselrock that was only known to the Children of Tempest, in full detail.

"Curios," said Voldemort. "Only one of my followers could have written such directions in so much detail. Now, who could've done such a thing?" He stared pointedly at Draco as he said this.

Draco stood up and made his way over to Hermione. "Well, I suppose you should've known," he said to Voldemort and Cassandra who looked shocked. "My father taught me all the secret trades and techniques of being a double agent: never thought I'd actually have to use them some day."

Cassandra was absolutely furious. "You," she spat out with full loathing. "You dare betray me! After all I did for you! After I offered myself to you!"

Draco smirked and said, "Well, if I was going to play the spy game, I figured I could take any advantages I had and made sure I had the most fun possible playing this little game."

Hermione rolled her eyes in clear disapproval. "Do you always think in your pants?" she asked, obviously exasperated.

"Oh look who's speaking, Miss 'I got pregnant with my youngest daughter only weeks after the twins were born'," said Draco. Hermione at least had the decency to blush.

"Either way," said Voldemort, "you're not going to get away with this. I will have you both killed, and then we will see who's laughing."

"Give it your best shot," said Hermione. She raised her free hand into the air.

With a flash, swords were drawn in various parts of the stands, and hundreds of Mage Knights were revealed to be in the coliseum, all ready for battle.

"Impressive," said Voldemort. "But it's going to take a lot more to defeat me. Crucio!"

Dodging the curse, Hermione and Draco leapt into the arena. Other Mage Knights also fled into the arena. Hermione ran over to Harry and with one swipe of her sword, slashed his bonds off. She quickly drew out Harry's sword and tossed it to him.

"I knew you'd come," said Harry with a quick smile. He pulled Hermione into a brief, yet sweet kiss.

Hermione smiled and said, "I would go through fire for you." Harry grinned at her, causing her insides to melt.

"KILL THEM!" Cassandra screamed at the top of her lungs. Multitude upon multitude of Dementor Warriors swooped down into the arena that was packed with Mage Knights.

With a great cry, the Mage Knights charged at their opponents, wielding their swords over their heads. With a clash of blades, the foremost Dementor Warriors soon fell prey to the battling Mage Knights, and the one's right behind soon followed. Dementor Warriors may have been able to suck the fighting morale of their enemies, but the sheer ferocity of the Mage Knights was overwhelming them.

A number of Dementor Warriors were closing in on Draco, deeming him a traitor. Draco managed to keep them at bay using all of the sword techniques he knew but he was slowly being overwhelmed. Finally, one of the Dementor Warriors managed to butt its hilt into the back of Draco's head. Draco crumbled to the ground in pain. "Dammit!" he cursed as he waited for the end to come.

Before the Dementor Warriors could finish Draco though, Ron Weasley, leapt toward them with a cry. He spun around in the air, and kicked two of the Dementor Warriors away. He managed to fight off the remaining with expert sword techniques that the Dementor Warriors simply couldn't emulate. After he had dispatched his opponents, Ron turned to Draco.

"Weasley," said Draco as he pulled himself to his feet.

"I don't trust you Draoc," said Ron, his words dipping with disgust. "But you came through for us this time so I saved your arse. Besides," he suddenly grinned, "now you owe me your life."

Draco felt like he had just been sucker-punched. He had a life debt to Ron Weasley!

"Give him a break, Ron," said Ginny not too far away from them. She strung an arrow into her bow and shot a Dementor Warrior that was closing in on her. She shot another one when she felt a presence behind her. Drawing her sword, Ginny spun around only to come face to face with Harry."

"Ginny," he said.

Ginny said nothing. For a second, a tense silence passed between them. Finally, Ginny broke the silence and said, "Um, Harry. About what I said..."

"Ginny," said Harry as he beat off another Dementor Warrior. "Nothing you ever say is going to destroy the friendship between us. I admit that you took me by surprise but I really appreciate the fact that you finally came clean with me. And besides, now is not the right time!" Harry placed a swift kick into one of the Dementor Warriors and slashed into another one. Ginny couldn't help but smile at Harry, the tension between them completely dissolving away. She barely registered the fact that she had successfully stabbed another Dementor Warrior.

Although the Mage Knights had initially held the upper hand, the armies of Dementor Warriors simply kept on coming continuously, and the Mage Knights were starting to get overwhelmed. "We need reinforcements," said Harry as he blocked the blow of one of the Dementor Warriors.

Hermione slashed another Dementor Warrior and said, "They should be coming very soon. Don't worry." It was a minute later when they came.

Griffin Riders. The Mage Knight Griffin Riders of the Kingdom of Griffindor swooped down into the arena from the air, hundreds upon hundreds. The Gryffindor Mage Knights started to blast the Dementor Warriors away from atop their airborne beasts. "Well now, this is a good sight," called out the familiar voice of Lord Sirius Black as he landed his griffin right next to Harry and Hermione.

"Sirius." Harry quickly gave his godfather a brief hug.

"It's great to see that you're al right, Harry," said Sirius. Lord Remus Lupin also landed his griffin right next to them.

"Harry! Thank the One Deity you're all right," he said.

"I've never been better now that the people I love are here," Harry said. He took Hermione's hand and laced they laced their fingers together.

"Well, we're not the only ones," said Remus. "Dumbledore should be showing any minute with the Alliance armies. He's even got veteran Mage Knight Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody out of retirement to lead it this time."

"Excellent," said Harry. However, his smile instantly vanished when he saw something flying with the griffins. "Uh, Sirius, Remus, why is there a dragon with the griffins?"

"Dragon?" Sirius, Remus, and Hermione looked up into the air. There was indeed, a small dragon flying with the Griffin Riders, firing bursts of flame at the Dementor Warriors. A second later, the dragon landed right next to Harry and Hermione, and to their shock, it was carrying two small children.

"Ta-da!" proclaimed James, as he struck a heroic pose on the dragon's back. In front of him, Lin simply rolled her eyes as she pulled the reins on the dragon to bring it to a halt. The next moment, the twins leapt out a gleeful cry of "Dad!" and leapt onto Harry hugging him close.

Harry didn't know whether to be ecstatic or furious, so he opted for the former and hugged the twins close. Hermione chose to be furious.

"James! Lily! What are you two doing here?! This is war zone!" she said, putting on a very stern look.

"We just wanted to see Daddy," said Lin rather sheepishly. "It was James's idea, but he needed me because I'm the only one who can make Nomie listen."

"Look," said Harry. "I'm really happy to see you two again, but your mother is right. This is a war zone, its too dangerous for you two." He picked them up and placed them on Nomie's back. "Stay in the air and stay out of the way. At the first sign of trouble, fly back to Hogwarts as fast as you can."

James and Lin nodded and Nomie flew away. Soon, he was but a speck amongst the griffins. "Those children," Hermione spluttered. "I can't believe they'd actually do a stunt like that."

"What would you have expected from James?" said Harry. "So long as they stay in the air, they'll be safe. I just hope they have the sense to stay there." Hermione nodded and wistfully stared into the air.

The battle was still raging around them. Cultists had now joined the fight alongside the Dementor Warriors and were firing curses at the Griffin Riders. Harry and Hermione returned to the front of the battle as quick as they could go and started hacking at their enemies once more.

"This isn't going to work," hissed Harry. He glanced up at the balcony where Voldemort was seated, coolly looking over the battle. "The real enemy here is Voldemort, and that bloody Crystal of Tempest of his. Fighting his servants isn't going to end the war."

"Well, the answer to that is quite simply," said Draco from nearby. "Get the last two rings you need to destroy him. They're in that passway over there," he said, pointing to an opening in the stands.

Harry and Hermione stared at Draco. "Why didn't you tell us sooner," Hermione hissed.

"Draco shrugged and said, "You didn't ask." He turned back to the Dementor Warrior he was facing and slashed at its arm.

Hermione quickly glanced back at Harry and their eyes met. "Go!" shouted Harry. Without a second thought, Hermione took off, running as fast as her legs could carry her to the place where the last two rings needed to defeat Voldemort were hidden.

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A/N Did you like it? Did you really like it? Well review and tell me so. Also, you can read the first chapter of "Different Paths" on my Yahoo Group and on Schnoogle. The url to the story in Schnoogle is http://www.schnoogle.com/authorLinks/E_C_R_Potter/Different_Paths/. Read, review and tell me what you think. Next: Hermione and Cassandra are going to duel for possession of the rings.