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Chapter 8: Dementor Warriors
Diagon Alley was pretty much the same as it had always been. People were going about shopping, browsing, eating, and just being people. It was always in the great commercial center of Magiterran that people were able to forget about their troubles outside and simply enjoy being people. Although the royal capitol of the Kingdom of Hufflepuff was Badger's Hand where the royal family lived, the true cultural and political as well as commercial center of the Kingdom was Diagon Alley.
It was on a sunny weekday where a number of Gryffindor Mage Knights could be seen with a number of children. They were sitting at a table at the entrance of Flourestean's Ice cream parlor.
"Well, I'll get you children some ice cream," Margaret said as she made her way over to the order stand. "What flavors do you want?"
"Rocky Road, with lots of chunks!" James shouted, the glee in his voice obvious.
"I would like two gallons of mint chocolate chip," said Lin.
James stared at Lin if as if she had gone mad. "Two gallons? How can you eat that much?"
"Its not for me, its for Nomie," said Lin as she petted the baby dragon sitting on the floor next to her. "I will have vanilla."
"Chocolate!" Virginia and Christopher chorused together.
"OK, I'll be back soon," Margaret said as she silently hoped the ice cream parlor actually had enough mint chocolate chip to feed a baby dragon.
Meanwhile, Hermione remained silent, fingering the rings newly added to her fingers.
"Knut for you thoughts?" Harry asked.
"Nothing really," said Hermione. "Just wondering how much longer all of this is going to take. Wondering if we're doomed to be fighting evil for the rest of our lives."
"It'll end Hermione," Harry said as he held Hermione's hand. "It can't continue on forever. It'll end someday."
Hermione nodded and sighed. "I just can't help but remember my childhood, everything so much more simpler back then. It was just wake up in the morning and help my parents out in the fields. Go read a book in my spare time or tell the younger children stories." She sighed once more and said, "I could've have possibly imagined how much and how quickly my life would change."
Harry frowned and said, "Hermione, do you regret..."
"No Harry, I don't regret meeting you or my life as it is now. It just, gets so overwhelming at times."
Harry started rubbing the back of Hermione's hand with his thumb. "We'll get through this," he said.
Hermione smiled and was about to lean in for a kiss when Ginny's voice broke in and said, "Hey, that isn't Fudge, is it?"
Harry groaned. "Oh no, please not Cornelius Fudge. Anybody but Cornelius Fudge."
"Sorry mate," said Ron with a grumble, "It's the bloody minister all right." The Gryffindor Mage Knights let out a collective sigh as a middle aged, pudgy man stepped up to them, a megawatt smile on his face.
Cornelius Fudge was the Minister of the Alliance, the supposed elected head, of the Four-Kingdom Alliance. In truth, he had no actual power. The true rulers of the Alliance were the four monarchs with their respective parliaments and the Guradian of Hogwarts, Dumbledore. However, on print at least, Cornelius Fudge was in charge though he was more concerned about his funding and his status in the polls than the affairs of the Alliance.
"Hello, Cornelius," Harry said, forcing a grin onto his face. Hermione smiled at him apologetically.
"Your majesties, how great to see you here?" Fudge chuckled. Twelve burly Hufflepuff soldiers whom were clearly his bodyguards surrounded him. "Whatever brings you out here, with so little security and services."
"We really didn't need them, Mister Fudge," Hermione said, a polite smile on her face.
"Surely you don't mean that?" exclaimed Fudge, looking like he had been scandalized. "What is the point of the monarchy going out if not to make sure the common folk pay their dues to their rulers."
""Sure, Minister," Ron snorted. Harry and Hermione meanwhile were starting to look a little worried. They had been browsing around Diagon Alley anonymously, hoping to avoid the reverence that came with monarchy. Now, Fudge was threatening to blow their cover and was suggesting Harry and Hermione do precisely what they had been hoping to avoid.
"Well I must go, have some potential voters to please," Fudge said. "And I'll make sure that everybody you pass will be groveling at your feet." He ruffled up the hair of the four children (much to their annoyance) and walked away.
Hermione groaned and buried her face in her hands. "Oh, I sure hope he doesn't blow our cover."
"Don't count on it," Harry muttered. "I suppose that ends our freedom of wandering around Diagon Alley. Maybe we should just head out to Diggory Manor right now."
The children did not seem to be too happy at this idea and were just about to start a round of protest when the screams came.
The Mage Knights sprang up on instinct. "Again?" Harry exclaimed.
"What is it this time? It better not be vampires again, they're such a pain in the neck?" shouted Ron. He turned toward his wife and said, "Margaret! Watch over the kids!" Margaret nodded and gathered the four children around her as the four Gryffindor Mage Knights dashed into the street.
There was an air of extreme gloom and depression in the air that hadn't been their just a few minutes earlier, as if the very joviality and cheerfulness of Diagon Alley was being sucked away. Hermione couldn't help but feel as if she had felt this sensation somewhere before, but she couldn't recall it.
As the Mage Knights started to gather closer toward the source of the atmosphere, they couldn't help but notice what was happening to the people. They were starting to fall to their knees in pure terror, some trembling very hard while others started to sob. They even found Cornelius Fudge hiding in one of the dark corners, weeping like a baby. The four shared a glance, wondering what on earth could've caused this to happen.
It was right around then that it hit Hermione, a cold creeping chill that rattled through her bones, terrorizing every inch of her soul. Panting, Hermione sank to her knees, clutching her head in her hands. And before she could blink an eye, she was back in Azkaban, tortured by the Death Eater Icicle and believing Harry to be dead. "Oh, Harry..." she moaned.
She snapped out of her depression when she suddenly felt Harry's hand grip her own. Hermione glanced up at him and saw that he was also suffering: his eyes had tears welled up in them his body was shaking as he whispered, "Mum...Dad...Voldemort no..."
'Oh my God, he's reliving his parents' death," thought Hermione. She squeezed Harry's hand tighter, which caused Harry to snap back to his senses as well. He gritted his teeth and angrily swiped at his eyes before he pulled himself and Hermione up to his feet.
"Thanks, Love," he whispered. Hermione gave him a faint smile and turned toward the two Weasleys who seemed to be extremely worried.
"We're all right," she said.
"Are you sure?" Ginny asked.
"Yes," Hermione affirmed. With that, the Mage Knights turned to their adversaries. They already knew what they were after experiencing the terror of the effects on people: Dementors.
Or at least they looked like Dementors and had the same effect on people as Dementors. There were twelve of them crowded in the center of the street and being led around by one of the cultists known as The Children of Tempest. They were tall and wore black cloaks with their faces hidden within the shrouds of their dark hoods. But unlike most dementors, these ones had a pair of gauntlet wearing hands carrying swords protruding from their clocks and a pair of booted feet.
"Citizens of Magiterran!" the cultist proclaimed. "The time has come! Soon the Dark Lord shall return to us in the power and guise of Tempest and our time shall come! Join us now! Join us now!"
The cultist suddenly stopped his shouting when he spotted the Gryffindor Mage Knights standing near by. "A, Mage Knights of Gryffindor," he said. "For years you have stood in the way of Tempest, but no more!" He gestured toward the dementor like creatures behind him. "See our new weapons of the War, the Dementor Warriors. They can match a Mage Knight in battle any day and furthermore have the depressing powers of an ordinary Dementor, including the kiss."
The Four Mage Knights drew their swords. "Leave this city, right now!" Harry demanded.
The cultist threw his face back and laughed out loud. "And what position are you to make such a demand?" he said. "You are clearly in the disadvantage here. Can you not see how you are outnumbered by the Dementor Warriors?"
Ron grinned and said, "Actually, we're not the ones who are outnumbered. You are."
As if that were the cue, a hundred or so more figures crowded in and surrounded the Dementor Warriors, all with swords drawn and wearing armor with capes that were either red, blue, yellow, or green. The cultist realized that about a hundred Mage Knights now surrounded him and his Dementor Warriors.
"You should study espionage more," said Ginny. "You should've known that its virtual suicide to attack Diagon Alley in broad daylight. Any Mage Knight who wishes to have a time off comes here whenever they have a free time and believeme, none of them are happy about having their free time disrupted."
"You're right, we should study espionage more," the cultist said reluctantly. He glanced up at the various Mage Knights and saw how angry they looked, especially the Slytherin ones. The cultist took a deep breath and continued, "Whichever way, we didn't come here today to start a fight. We're here simply test how well these Dementor Warriors and I'll be pleased to announce to High Priestess Cassandra Frost, that they work perfectly."
With that, the cultists and the Dementor Warriors apparated away.
As the Mage Knights cleared out and went back to their own businesses, Ron slapped his forehead and said, "When the hell is Malfoy going to remove those bloody anti-apparation wards? Its so frustrating seeing your enemies apparate when you can't!"
"Who knows what goes on in the mind of Draco Malfoy," said Ginny. "We have worse things to worry about than Malfoy's mind though."
"And what may that be?" Ron said.
"Those Dementor Warriors," Harry said sullenly. "They have the same powers as demntors and yet they can fight like soldiers. That does not hold well if it culminates to war." He shared a glance with Hermione and saw their own worried and frightened faces reflected in each other's.
"We have no idea how many of those there are," said Hermione. "But we can be assured that there are a lot more than what we saw today." She shuddered, remembering the effect dementors had on her and Harry. "I just hope, we can live through this."
"We will," said Harry as he gripped Hermione's hand.
People around them them were waking up and starting to go back to their various occupations, though they were more silent and fearful. Cornelius Fudge was nowhere to be seen. 'Probably ran off to save face,' Hermione thought.
"Well, I suppose we've been here long enough," Ron said trying to cheer up the mood. "So lets pack our things and head off to Diggory Manor."
Hermione finally smiled and said, "Yes, lets go."
A/N I did not get enough reviews for chapter 7. So please, please when you review this chapter, please review chapter before this one as well unless you already have. Sorry that this chapter was a little short but it acts as a filler between this chapter and the next one. Next: Ginny has some confessions to make to Harry. Can you guess what they are?