The Crystal of Tempest

Chapter 9: Confessions of the Past

Diggory Manor was probably the most unique of the Hufflepuff cities. Aside from the fact that it was the home of the House of Diggory, the city was the only fortified city in the Kingdom of Hufflepuff. This was especially unique compared Gryffindor where virtually all of the cities, Godric's Hollow, the Burrow, Lupin Manor, Black Manor, Lion's Head, Mynestria, which were all fortified. Furthermore, Diggory Manor was the only Hufflepuff city not built along Unicorn Tail River. Rather, it was inland, at the very edge of the Wilderness of Creepers.

Gryffindor Mage Knights were of course welcomed here, but Harry generally tried to avoid the place. It reminded him too much about his first partner, Hufflepuff Mage Knight Sir Cedric Diggory. Hermione had only heard about the in small bits but had never pressed Harry to reveal the whole story to her since she knew it was too painful for him. She had still managed to figure out generally what had happened.

The Gryffindors were welcomed to the Mansion of the House of Diggory and were invited to dinner, much to the delight of the children.

"Food!" James shouted as they sat down at the table. "I need food! Give me food now!" He clanged his knife and fork together.

Lin slapped the back of James's head. "James, show some manners! We're visitors here. Look at the grown ups, they aren't making a scene."

As if on cue, Ron slammed his fist on the table and shouted, "I want food now!" Lin buried her face in her hands as Ginny and Margaret both slapped Ron. James started sniggering.

"Look who's making a scene now, sis."

"Shut up, James."

The food finally came and James and Ron started to stuff their mouths up like pigs. Lin and Margaret rolled their eyes and started helping themselves to some of the food. The others all started eating except for Harry who simply spent his time picking at his food. Hermione glanced at him sympathetically.

"Say, where's Lord Amos Diggory?" Ron asked between chewing on a piece of bread.

One of the maids sighed and said, "Lord Diggory rarely comes out in public these days. He took the death of his son very hard and despite all these years, he still spends most of his time moping in his chambers."

That was the last straw for Harry. He pushed his plate aside, stood up, and said, "I'm going outside for awhile."

"Are you all right?" Hermione asked, concerned.

Harry smiled at her and said, "I'm fine. I just need a little fresh air."

Hermione nodded as Harry walked out of the room.

Harry eventually made it to a graveyard right behind the manor house. He slowly walked passed the various tombstones until he stopped in front of one. Written on the tombstone was, "Sir Cedric Diggory, Mage Knight of Hogwarts from the Kingdom of Hufflepuff." The date of death was around ten years ago. Next to Sir Cedric's tombstone, was another tombstone with the following written on it: "Sir Cho Chang, Mage Knight of Hogwarts from the Kingdom of Ravenclaw." The date of death on this tombstone was six years ago. Harry sighed sadly as he stared at the two tombstones.

"Its still hard on you, isn't it?" came the voice of Ginny Weasley from behind him.

"It will always be hard on me," Harry said. "Like it or not, its something I have to carry with me for the rest of my life."

Although Harry had never told anyone about the details about Cedric's death, people had a general idea of what had happened.

10 years ago, Harry had just been become a Mage Knight after spending three years as a Hogwarts squire. For his first mission, Harry was partnered with Sir Cedric Diggory and was sent out to scout areas near the Hufflepuff-Gryffindor border for rumors about Death Eater activity. An anonymous tip had led them to a deserted graveyard, only to run into an ambush there. It was an assassination attempt on the heir of the throne of Gryffindor. Sir Cedric was killed outright in the fighting that followed and Harry barely escaped with his life. Since then, Harry had always lived with the guilt that Cedric had died in an assassination attempt on Harry while Harry had survived.

Ginny placed a hand on Cho's tombstone and said, "I suppose that's at least one thing we have in common."

Harry raised an eyebrow and asked, "Oh?"

"We both lost are partners on our first missions as Mage Knights." For Ginny's first mission, six years ago, she and Cho were assigned to Godric's Hollow Palace to protect Hermione and the newly born James and Lin while Harry was away at international negotioations. Unfortunately, that night Voldemort's minions attacked the palace. Cho was killed and James and Lin were abducted. Obviously things turned out for the better but Cho's death weighed heavily on Ginny's conscious.

Harry chuckled bitterly. "Yeah how about that? Something we have in common."

"I wish we had more in common," Ginny muttered.

"What?"

Ginny took a deep breath and said, "Harry, I have something to confess to you." She took another deep breath and blurted out, "Harry, I love you!"

Hermione, whom had just been coming out to join them heard Ginny's words and froze in shock.

Harry blinked. "Um, sorry Ginny but for a second I thought you said..."

"I said I love you, Harry."

Harry was absolutely speechless. "Ginny...I...I..."

"Love Hermione, I know. I have no intention of coming between the two of you. The love you and Hermione share is something I can't even touch, and that's what hurts me the most."

Harry still didn't say anything and simply stayed rooted in his spot. Hermione remained where she stood where she was still hidden from the two but could hear everything that was being said.

Ginny continued, "You no, maybe I'm not really not in love with you and it's just an infatuation. But I definitely have feelings for you. For years now, ever since you first came to the Burrow to visit Ron back when you were eleven." She sighed. "For years, I tried to attract your attention. But you never even batted an eyelash toward me. To you I was always just Ron's little sister, but I figured if I kept trying, maybe you'd finally notice. Then, low and behold on my 16^th birthday you show up at the Burrow with this farm girl, and before either one of you realized what had happened you both completely wrapped up in each other."

Hermione, listening in the conversation didn't even know what to think. Harry was still speechless.

Ginny chuckled. "I might sound bitter, but I'm not really. When I first met Hermione, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Here was this muggle-born farm girl, completely clueless about everything and yet through no fault of her own had been caught up in events far beyond her control. I instantly realized how she felt about you but I couldn't help liking her despite that. After all, all's fair in love and war. But when she kissed you that night at the dance, and you had that dazed yet ecstatic look on your face as if you had suddenly realized the greatest mystery in the world." She took a breath and asked, "How did you meet her by the way? You've never told me the story."

The question about Hermione instantly snapped Harry out of his stupor. "Oh, well that's actually quite a story," he said. "It goes back to about nine years ago, back when most of Gryffindor was still under Death Eater control. Ron and I were patrolling the northern Gryffindor forests not too far from the Burrow. I was in a weird mood that day since Trelawney had just made a prediction that my life was going to forever change that day.

"Anyway, traveling around Gryffindor was dangerous those days, as you know, since the lands were controlled by the Death Eaters. So we were just going on a quick patrol when we noticed the smoke in a distance, the result of a Death Eater attack on another innocent village. By the time Ron and I made it there, all that was left was some smothered ruins and bodies. From what we were able to scrape up, Ron concluded that there were no survivors but I just couldn't get the nagging feeling that we were missing something. So I left Ron behind and took off into the forest where I encountered a farm girl whom had been captured by a troll. Long story short, a knocked the troll out and saved the girl who promptly passed out in my arms. Ron and I took her back to Hogwarts."

"Really," said Ginny. Harry nodded.

"Once at Hogwarts, Dumbledore discovered that Hermione was a magical prodigy, like my mother was. If the Gryffindor Kingdom wasn't under Death Eater control, she would've been identified years earlier and taken to Hogwarts as a potential Mage Knight. Dumbledore figured never late than never and offered training to her, which she accepted. Ron and I helped her adjust to life at Hogwarts and we just grew closer." Harry suddenly looked alarmed at Ginny's sad face. "I'm sorry Ginny, I didn't consider how our story might affect you."

"No, I'm glad you told me," said Ginny. "There was never anything I could've done to bring myself in and now I truly no that. For years, I used to think up all of these 'what if's, but now, I no there never were any 'what if's."

With that, Ginny kissed Harry on the cheek and walked away. On the way back to the manor, she passed a sad looking Hermione.

Hermione started to stutter, "Ginny, I..."

"Don't say anything, Hermione. I just wanted to tell you, that you're probably the luckiest person I know."

Hermione closed her eyes and looked down at her feet. "I know," she whispered.

Ginny smiled at her and squeezed Hermione's shoulder before she strolled back into the manor house.

Hermione felt her eyes tearing up and took a few calming breathes. She made her way over to Harry whom was sitting on the ground looking a little gloomy. Without saying a word, Hermione sat down next to him. She laid her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her. For the next few hours, they just sat like that, saying absolutely nothing, just absorbing the comfort and love they radiated from each other.

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 this 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."

To be continued...

A/N Draco Malfoy fans, please do not kill me. There is a lot more to Draco's actions than I am letting on here. Just keep that in mind as you R/R.