~A/N>All I can say is, here you go. And thanks for all of the wonderful reviews!!!
Harry stared up at what Lucius called 'the real Cerberus' and his mouth dropped open. This dog had red, glowing eyes and the same snake head covered body, but his tail seemed different. Not only was there a dragon there, but also a huge snake that looked to be an anaconda. When he looked at the heads again, all three were looking directly at him and they were all baring their teeth. He watched as a spot of drool fell from one of the mouths and hit the floor; the floor dissolved immediately. The dog's drool seemed acidic, which made him even more dangerous. If he even grazed Harry with his teeth, like what happened to Phoenix with the other dog, then he would surely be dead.
Harry made a very foolish mistake in that instant; he became overconfident. He raised his hand out in front of him, made a slashing motion and yelled "mutilo!" The jet of red light that left his hand shot up towards one of the dogs necks, and bounced off without doing any damage. "Bloody hell!" Harry said to himself as he watched the dog lift one of its legs and scratch the area he had just shot the spell at. It hadn't been affected by his fire magic at all. He ran over to the wall that was blocking his friends from him and sought out Phoenix.
"My fire magic didn't do anything" Harry said, sounding alarmed. "Do you know of any other fire spells that I can use?"
"No; this dog seems to have the protection of Hades on it. You're going to have to draw on all of your wizard abilities along with your fire abilities to be able to kill this beast" Phoenix explained.
Harry nodded his head in understanding and turned back to the dog. It was now starting to advance towards Harry with a very hungry look in it's eyes. Harry ran to his right so that he was a little further away from the animal, if you could call it that, and readied himself. This was going to take a lot of energy, and he was going to have to really concentrate so that he didn't drain himself too quickly.
As the dog sought him out once more, Harry turned towards it and held both of his hands out in front of him. "Mancus!" Harry yelled, hoping that his crippling curse worked. He groaned as he watched it bounce off of one of the four legs. Closing his eyes for a second and drawing on all of his magical and fire abilities, Harry shouted "MANCUS MAXIMUS!!"
This time when the curse connected, the beast collapsed onto its belly, howling in pain. 'Thank Merlin' Harry thought, his body feeling drained already. He sat thinking how he could do this without passing out from exhaustion again; he couldn't let that happen, his wife and son's lives depended on it. Gathering himself together again, he walked a little closer to Cerberus and held out both of his hands again. Drawing in a deep breath, Harry yelled "Mutilo Maximus!"
Harry watched as the head closest to him fell off of the body, only to have another head grow instantly in its place. "What the hell?" he exclaimed, feeling dread start to build inside of him.
"Oh no" said Pyrena, who was watching Harry's actions from behind the invisible barrier. "Phoenix, he's not going to be able to kill Cerberus by himself. We have to get in there and help him."
"And how do you propose we do that Pyrena?" asked Phoenix.
She stood there, examining the barrier and thinking of ways to break through it. Suddenly, it hit her; she had forgotten about the item she had brought with her. She reached into her pocket and drew out something that was no bigger than a knut. "Engorgio!" she said as she tapped it with her wand. Everyone in the group watched as the Scepter of Hera appeared in her hand, back to full size.
"What are you doing with that?" asked Ron, eyeing her suspiciously. "That belongs to Hermione."
"The Scepter of Hera belongs to no one" she said, eyeing him angrily "Hera allows Hermione to use it and that's all. Once its job is finished, it will be return to its rightful place."
"Um, ok" said Ron, a little frightened by her sudden change in character.
Pyrena held the scepter tightly in her right hand as she raised them both over her head and said "Oh mighty Hera, I ask that you bestow the mighty power of your Scepter within me, so that I may use it to save your descendant and my relation."
Everyone stood and watched as a shimmering image of Hera appeared in front of her. The specter of Hera looked at Pyrena and asked "what makes you worthy of my power child?"
"I am not worthy, Goddess, but I would be honored if you bestowed your gifts on me so that I may save Harry and Hermione, descendents of Prometheus and the Goddess herself" said Pyrena, bowing her head respectfully as she spoke.
Hera stood in front of her, staring at her as if sizing her up, and nodded once. "So shall it be; but the powers I am about to give you are not permanent. As soon as Hermione is out of this cave, you will not be able to use them anymore."
"I am honored Goddess, thank you. I won't let you down" replied Pyrena.
"Make sure that you don't; my scepter shall not be passed down for another twenty years and it needs Hermione's protection until then." Hera gave a small smile while bending down to place a phantom kiss on Pyrena's forehead. "Stay safe my child, and may you succeed in your quest." She stood up to her full height and waved her hand over Pyrena's heart and said "Fortunatus Potire Aetherium Herae".* Pyrena was enveloped in a golden glow for a split second and then was back to normal.
"Thank you Goddess" said Pyrena, bowing once more.
"You're welcome my child." Hera stepped back from Pyrena and looked at everyone that was standing around her. Putting both of her hands in front of her, palms up, she said "Bonum Animum Habera"** and vanished.
Phoenix looked at Pyrena and said "nice job Sis! Do you think you can get us out of here now?"
Pyrena smiled at him and said "I know I can." She turned toward the invisible barrier, held the scepter in her right hand once more, waved it back and forth in front of the wall and said "Evanescere Occaecare Saeptum!"***
Phoenix watched his sister and noticed that the whites of her eyes had turned gold after she said this, as did the barrier. The golden glow lasted for just a second, and then disappeared, along with the barrier. They were now free to help Harry and Hermione.
While all of this was going on, Harry had been continuously cutting off the three heads of Cerberus, only to watch them grow back immediately. He was becoming very tired and tried to think of what he could do next. Where he was now, by the heads, the beast's tails couldn't reach him. But if he were to go back towards the tails and try to get rid of them, the three heads could still easily reach him. So the fact remained, he had to take care of the heads first.
"Harry!" Ron shouted, running over to him.
"How did you get through the invisible wall?" Harry asked, very glad to see his best mate, but worrying for his safety.
"Pyrena had the Scepter of Hera, so she used it to summon Hera and asked for powers so that she could help you and Hermione." Ron turned to get his first close up view of Cerberus and said "Whoa, this thing is huge! Is this the same dog you and Phoenix killed in the other chamber?"
"No, this one is harder to kill" said Harry "every time I cut off one of the heads, a new one grows back in its place."
"Is there anything I can do?" Ron asked, as Phoenix and Pyrena walked up to them.
"Yeah, stay out of the way" answered Phoenix "that way you're safe."
"I have magical abilities too, you know" said Ron angrily "just because I don't have the fire magic that you and Harry have, doesn't mean I'm worthless!"
"I'll let you know if there's anything you can do to help me, ok?" asked Harry, trying to quell Ron's building anger. Ron just nodded once and walked away, shoving by Phoenix in the process.
"What are we waiting for?" asked Phoenix, eyeing the crippled body of Cerberus.
"Um, 'we' are waiting for a plan of action" said Harry, glaring at him. "Any suggestions?"
"You said that the heads just replace themselves?" Phoenix asked and Harry nodded. "What if one of us cuts off the head while the other burns the stump so that the new one can't grow back?"
Harry thought it over for a moment and said "You mean cauterise it? I guess it's worth a try."
"Make sure to say 'maximus' after the spell, ok?" Harry nodded once more in understanding.
"You do the cutting and I'll cauterise" he said, moving closer to the beast. Harry could hear Lucius laughing at him and quickly looked over to where Hermione was still hanging. "Pyrena, can you get Hermione down from there?" he asked, as he noticed that she was slowly being lowered down to the tank of scorpions. Pyrena nodded and quickly made her way over to Hermione. "Are you ready?" he asked, looking over at Phoenix.
"Sure am" Phoenix replied, moving to where he thought he should be. He put both hands out in front of him and yelled "Mutilo Maximus!"
As soon as Harry saw the red streams of light cut through the neck once again, he raised both of his hands with the palms facing away from him, and yelled "Incendium Maximus!" Two jets of fire flowed from Harry's palms up to the beast's neck, setting it on fire and closing the wound. He and Phoenix waited to see if another head took its place, but thankfully their plan had worked.
Unfortunately, the continuing pain had incensed Cerberus and he started thrashing around. Tonks, Remus, Mr. Weasley and their three guides were all shooting stunners at it, but they were just bouncing off of the beast. Harry watched in horror as one of the huge paws came down on top of Ron. "Ron!" he yelled, running over to his best friend. Harry threw his hand out and yelled "Flammo Grandis!" and set the paw on fire so that Cerberus yelped in pain and drew it away. Harry skidded to the ground next to Ron at the same time Mr. Weasley got to him. Mr. Weasley felt for a pulse while Tonks came over and started muttering medical spells, trying to see what kind of damage had been done to his body.
"He's got a lot of broken bones, more than I can heal, and possibly some internal bleeding" she said "we need to get him to a hospital."
"Owen!" Harry called and watched as his guide hurried over to him. "Can you take the Weasley's to the closest hospital?"
"Absolutely" Owen replied. "Why don't we body bind him so that we don't cause any more damage to his broken body?"
"Good idea" said Tonks, who then cast the spell.
Owen levitated Ron and Mr. Weasley put his arm around Ginny. "Be careful Harry" he said "I will be back as soon as possible."
"No Mr. Weasley, you should stay with Ron. There's not much you can do right now anyway; it seems only our fire magic works on Cerberus." Mr. Weasley nodded his head slightly and turned to exit the cave with Ginny by his side. Harry watched them leave and turned his attention back to where Lucius and his cronies stood on the ledge above, watching the events as if it were a carnival. Deciding not to do anything to them until Hermione was safe, he turned his attention back to Cerberus.
Phoenix had just incinerated the head they had cut off and was ready to go again. "Ready Potter?" he asked.
"Yeah" said Harry. They repeated their actions two more times and got rid of the heads; now they turned to the tails.
"This should be simple" said Phoenix "we just do the same thing we did to the heads."
"We can't" said Harry "the minute we severe the anaconda and dragon from the body, their going to come at us. These are separate animals; remember when the snakes detached from the other dog's body and came at you?"
"You're right" said Phoenix, mumbling the words. "What do you propose we do?"
"What if we hit them with two fire spells, and while they're burning, we cut them away from the body? Once they're detached, we cauterise the place they were cut from to stop any new 'tails' from growing" Harry suggested.
"Alright, let's do it" said Phoenix, and they both set to work.
Meanwhile, Pyrena had made her way over to where Hermione was hanging over the tank. Pyrena held the scepter out and said "ennervate!" She watched as Hermione's eyes fluttered open and looked around in confusion. When she noticed the tank of scorpions underneath her, she started to struggle against her binds. "Hermione, don't move" ordered Pyrena. Hermione finally noticed her there and calmed slightly. She noticed the scepter in Pyrena's hand and looked at her confused.
"I am only using it until you are able to connect with it again; Hera gave me permission" Pyrena explained.
"Please just get me down" Hermione said quietly. She looked around and saw Harry standing with Phoenix by the big three headed dog and then she saw Lucius standing above them all. She couldn't remember much of what happened the night before, but she did remember Lucius taking her out of the restaurant and that Zeno was a Death Eater who helped Lucius kidnap her.
"Hermione, I'm going to levitate you and then use the difindo spell to cut you down, ok?" Hermione thought this over for a moment and then said "alright, that sounds like it should work."
Just as Pyrena raised the scepter to levitate Hermione, a voice from behind her said "Crucio!"
Pyrena dropped to the ground, her knees buckling under the intense pain that was coursing through her body. Hermione watched helplessly as Nott kept the curse on her for what seemed to be a long time. Finally he released her and she slumped onto the ground. "You're not going anywhere" Nott growled, looking at Hermione. He apparated with a soft "pop" and Hermione said "Pyrena?"
She watched as Pyrena slowly sat up on the ground and then stood shakily. "Are you ok?" Hermione asked.
"I'll be fine in just a minute" she replied. She placed the scepter against her chest and said "Sanatio!" Once more Pyrena was surrounded by a golden glow which lasted just a couple of seconds, and then disappeared.
"What did you just do?" Hermione asked.
"I used the scepter to cast a healing spell on myself" she explained. Hermione looked at her surprised.
"How did you know how to do that?" she asked.
"I am also a descendent of Hera and I belong to the Order of Hera" Pyrena explained.
"The Order of Hera?" Hermione asked "I've never heard of it." She looked at Pyrena and asked "Will you please get me down now?"
"Right, sorry." Pyrena walked closer to her and held the scepter out once more. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Hermione felt her body become light and then heard Pyrena say "Diffindo!" Hermione bobbed up and down a couple of times and then Pyrena guided her back to the ground. It felt good to be standing again.
The two of them made their way over to the rest of the group and watched as Harry and Phoenix continued to battle with Cerberus. It seemed the tails were putting up quite a fight; the dragon kept breathing fire at Harry and the anaconda kept wrapping itself around his legs, tripping him. Phoenix wasn't really helping, he thought it was funny that they were attacking Harry and not him.
"AAHHH, enough!" yelled Harry after being burned for the third time. He pulled his wand out and yelled "Engorgio Maximus!"
"Harry, no!" yelled Hermione, but it was too late. The dragons body began expanding quickly and then exploded, all over them.
"Ewww!" cried Pyrena and Hermione, who were covered with dragon parts. Pyrena used the scepter to cast scourgifying charms on everyone and they watched as Harry cauterised the part of the body where the dragon had been attached.
"One down" he said, turning towards Phoenix, who was being squeezed to death by the serpent. "Serpentis Evanesco!" he yelled once more and everyone watched as the humongous snake disappeared in a flash of fire and smoke. Phoenix dropped to the floor, gasping for breath.
"Thank you" he gasped out.
"You're welcome; next time you decide not to help me, I'll let you die" said Harry, who then turned to the body. With his hands held out in front of him once more, he said "Occido!" which sent a reddish-orange colored wave over the body covered with snake heads, killing all of them instantly. Next he said "Glubo Corpus!" and watched as the skin of snakes detached from the body. Finally, waving his hands over both the skin and body, yelled "Incendio!" and watched as they burst into flames. Now that the fight was over, Harry breathed a sigh of relief and turned to his friends, exhausted. Harry saw Hermione standing next to Pyrena and ran over to her, wrapping her in a fierce hug. "Are you all right luv?" he asked.
"I'm fine" she said, holding on to him tightly. Harry pulled back from her and kissed her fiercely, putting all of his feelings into it. They started to get lost in their reunion when they heard someone clear their throat behind them.
"Well, that was an interesting...display" said Lucius, glaring down at Harry and Hermione. "You may have gotten past Cerberus, but I can guarantee you won't get past me."
"That's what you think, Lucius, or should I call you Voldemort?" Harry asked, glaring back at him.
"Tut, tut Potter, didn't Dumbledore teach you to respect your elders? That's Lord Voldemort to you, unless of course you want to call me Master." Lucius grinned evilly at him and Harry went to take a step towards him.
"Now Potter, attacking me is really not a smart thing to do" Lucius sneered while his eyes took on the usual red glow.
"Oh really, and why is that?" Harry asked, advancing on him slowly.
An evil smile once more appeared on his face as he reached into his cloak pocket and said "because I have this."
Harry and everyone else looked at the item in Lucius's hand and gasped; he was holding the Scepter of Zeus.