Disclaimer: What could I possibly do to convince you that J.K. Rowling owns this stuff?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 19: The Battle Starts
Three weeks had past, and the hour of climax had finally come. Twenty nine thousand soldiers and eight hundred Mage Knights, from all four kingdoms, were marching through the mountainous lands of the Kingdom of Slytherin. Their destination: Malfoy Manor, the capitol of the Kingdom of Slytherin. Within days, the mighty land armada laid siege to the capitol city that housed the Death Eaters. However, the Death Eaters were not giving in without a fight. Thousands of dark creatures and Death Eater warriors were crowded within the city, all fully prepared for the inevitable Alliance attack.
Hermione had completely recovered from her ordeal in Azkaban. Although she was anxious about the coming battle, she couldn't help feeling happy about how she and Harry loved each other. The night before the attack, she was sitting in her tent, calming her anxious nerves.
"I am glad to see that you are well." Hermione looked up to see Dumbledore enter her tent, his eyes twinkling.
"I could not possibly feel more better than I do now," said Hermione with a smile on her face. "Harry and I love each other. Whenever I think about that, I can't help but feel cheerful."
Dumbledore softly chuckled. He suddenly became serious however and said, "We must talk about those rings on your fingers."
Hermione looked down at the two rings and sighed. "Yes, we must."
Dumbledore sat down on a stool facing Hermione whom was sitting on her bed. "Miss Granger, I am sure that you are aware that the rings have chosen you to bear them into battle. You will be key to victory: those rings contain the sole power that can seal the source of the Death Eaters' dark powers. Without the source, they will be easily defeated, but if they do fight with their source, it shall be a devastating defeat for the Alliance."
Hermione sighed and looked down at her hands. This was a lot of pressure on her, she literally held the outcome of the battle in her fingers! Dumbledore placed his hand on her shoulder. "I am sorry that you have to go through this, Hermione. If it were at all possible, I would wish this burden off of you."
"No, I chose this for myself. I will go through with it." Hermione looked up at Dumbledore and smiled. "I promise sir, I will not let everyone down."
Dumbledore smiled at her and left her tent. After a few moments of silent thinking, Hermione stood up and walked outside. She went to a clearing where some of the Mage Knights were preparing for battle. She made her way to Harry and kissed him passionately.
"Not that I'm complaining, but what was that for?" asked Harry.
Hermione smiled at him. "For loving me." Harry grinned and they kissed again. They continued kissing for a couple of minutes until Ron came and dragged Harry away.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The attack started at dawn.
"Catapults. Fire!" commanded Remus. Five hundred catapults fired five hundred burning rocks at Malfoy Manor, knocking down key walls and setting the city on fire.
"Reload...Fire!" commanded Remus. The catapults succeeded in firing another volley before Death Eaters and their dark creatures came streaming out of the city, waving their weapons and letting out a war cry.
"Charge!!!!" yelled Remus. The Alliance soldiers let out their own war cry and charged at the city and the warriors that were emerging from it. Soon, foot soldiers were battling giving their all out strength in trying to best whoever it was their opponent happened to be. Behind them, Archers let their arrows rain on enemy soldiers. Cavalry charged through the battle field, attacking all opponents with swift blows.
The battle was fierce, for although Alliance soldiers far outnumbered the Death Eaters, the Death Eaters had a powerful arsenal of dark creatures on their side: demons, goblins, trolls, vampires (although these became less prominent as the sun climbed higher), veela, chimaeras, manticores, dementors, even dragons (fireballs and ridgebacks being their favorites). These creatures proved hard to kill and many an Alliance soldier fell while battling such creatures. The Mage Knights used magic to aid the Alliance soldiers the best they could while they themselves participated in the battle.
Slowly but surely, the Alliance forces made their way to Malfoy Manor. Soon, the fighting was taking place not only in the streets of the city, but even within the palace grounds. Many Death Eaters had barricaded themselves within the buildings of the city, and fighting proved to be taxing to the Alliance soldiers.
During the confusion of battle, Hermione, accompanied by Harry, Ron, and surprisingly Draco, managed to sneak into the palace. This was part of the plan, as Hermione, with the rings, was to face Lucius whom was believed to have the keys to the Death Eaters' source.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Remus managed to bring down another opponent when he noticed a lone Death Eater attempting to run away. The first thing he noticed was the Death Eater's gleaming silver right hand! Remus immediately made his way up to the Death Eater.
"Why hello, Peter," said Remus with mock friendliness.
"R....Remus!" stuttered Wormtail. His right hand conjured up a blade as Remus drew his sword. The two blades connected as Remus swung down his sword at Wormtail. Remus spun around and sent his sword at his opponent again who barely deflected it with his own blade.
"How does it feel, Wormtail?" snarled Remus. "How does it feel to be responsible for the fall of an entire kingdom? How does feel to betray your friends? This is for Lily and James!"
Wormtail started panicking as Remus continued slashing at him. He barely managed to bloke each of Remus's attacks, but he was being worn out by the far more powerful werewolf.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Father," muttered Draco as Hermione and the Mage Knights barged into the throne room.
Lucius glanced at Draco and snarled "You are no son of mine!" Draco tensed a little but kept his cool.
"Why, so my little mudblood has decided to return," smirked Icicle. It was only she, Lucius, and Crouch in the throne room. "Going to use those rings against us now? Don't bother, I've kept your cell at Azkaban clean for your return there."
Hermione shivered at the mention of Azkaban. Harry placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as he and Ron drew their swords. "Let's finish this right here, right now!" yelled Ron.
Crouch glanced at Icicle. "I'll take care of Weasley and the traitor," he said, "if you take care of Potter and the mudblood!" He waved his hand at the Mage Knights. Ron and Draco were flung out of the throne room, into the corridor outside. Crouch followed them and the doors swung shut.
"Now," said Icicle. "Prepare to meet your dooms!" She raised her staff and yelled, "Avada Kedavra!"
Harry and Hermione dodged the curse, Harry to the right and Hermione to the left. Deciding to kill Hermione first, Icicle shot another killing curse towards her. Just as she dodged it however, Harry yelled, "Expelliarmus!" from behind. Icicle was caught off guard and barely managed to dodge the red light.
She decided to turn her attention to Harry and shot the Avada Kedavra curse at him. However, this time Hermione shouted, "Stupefy!" just as Harry dodged the killing curse. Icicle was just barely able to dodge the stunning curse. With horror, she realized that she had no chance of winning against Harry and Hermione this time.
"Stupefy!" shouted Harry and Hermione at the same time. With a scream, Icicle slumped to the floor.
"You fool!" screamed Lucius, "How could you let yourself..." Lucius suddenly stopped when he noticed that Harry was standing right in front of him with a huge grin on his face. Harry punched Lucius in the gut and the ruler of the Kingdom of Slytherin slumped down to the floor.
Harry dusted off his hands. "Well Hermione, lets finish what we came here to do in the first place." Hermione grinned as she placed her hands over Lucius's form. She concentrated all of her magic into the rings, willing them to shut down the Death Eaters' source.
Nothing happened.
"What's going on?!" exclaimed Harry. "Why isn't anything happening?!"
"I...I don't know!" said Hermione. "The rings were supposed to seal the source!"
Suddenly, cold, high pitched laughter echoed through the room. Harry and Hermione whipped around to see Tom Marvolo Riddle walking towards them.
"Isn't it obvious?" laughed Riddle. "Lucius isn't the source! I can't believe that you thought a fool like Lucius could actually have the keys to the source!"
"What did you expect us to believe, Riddle?" snarled Harry. "Lucius is the ruler of the Death Eaters, why wouldn't he be the source?"
Riddle grinned and his red eyes gleamed with malice. "Do you honestly believe that?"
Lucius managed to lift up his head. As soon as he saw Riddle, his face turned pale and his eyes widened with horror.
"M...m...master!"