The Crystal of Tempest

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 Draco," 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.

Chapter 14: Duels

Running as fast as her legs could carry her, Hermione soon made it to the opening that Draco had pointed out. It was about as tall end wide enough for a single person to enter, but it opened into a chamber about the size of the throne room in Godric´s Hollow Palace. It was dark inside, the only source of light aside from the entrance, was a small light illuminating a podium in the center of the chamber.

`I wonder," Hermione thought. She slowly walked over to the podium until she was close enough to see what was on it in detail. Sure enough, there were two rings on the podium, an emerald one with a picture of dragon on it and a silver one with a picture of serpent.

"There they are," Hermione whispered to herself. She broke out into a run, trying to get to the rings as fast as she could. However, her sharp ears just barely caught the words, "Crucio!" being called out. Hermione barely leapt out of the way as the curse struck her earlier position, leaving a crater.

Cassandra Frost emerged from the shadows, looking menacing. "Not so fast, your majesty," she hissed. "I will not let everything I worked for crumble to dust over this."

"Oh, give me a break," Hermione muttered. She drew her sword out and held it in a battle ready position.

"If you wish to have a break than I will provide you with one. Imperio!" Cassandra shot the Imperius at Hermione. Hermione however placed a protective charm on her blade, and deflected the curse with her sword.

"Impressive," said Cassandra. She fired another curse of lightning at Hermione as Hermione shouted "Stupefy!" The two spells met in midair, clashed at each other with force, and ultimately dissolved away.

"Hmm," said Cassandra. She started circling around Hermione. Hermione also started moving in a circular motion around Cassandra, her sword ever ready. With a swish of her arm, a thin rapier like sword appeared from no where in Cassandra´s right hand. She held her sword downwards in a 180 degree angle from her arm while Hermione held her sword in a ninety degree angle upwards. The two women continued to circle each other for another tense second.

Without warning, Cassandra pranced forward and struck at Hermione. Hermione however was ready, and with a few twirls of her sword, blocked and deflected each one of Cassandra´s blows. Catching Cassandra briefly off guard, Hermione spun around and swung her sword at Hermione. Cassandra blocked Hermione´s blow and the two blades started rubbing against each other, neither one relenting.

"I´m impressed, your majesty," said Cassandra. "The last I heard, you were abysmal at sword play."

"Well, I´m afraid your information is a few years out of date," replied Hermione. She abruptly sprang back and swung her sword downward. Cassandra stepped back and avoided the blow. Hermione started parrying toward Cassandra, twirling her sword as Cassandra blocked and deflected every one of her blows. Cassandra swung her sword upwards and managed to hit Hermione´s sword away, but Hermione hurriedly regained her balance and blocked another one of Cassandra´s blows.

"You´re quite good yourself," said Hermione, her neutral tone masking the fear and anxiety that was starting to build up. Hermione may have picked up a few sword skills during the years she was a Mage Knight, but she was no natural like Harry.

Cassandra smirked and said, "Oh, I could defeat a mudblood any time I wished."

Anger silently coursed through Hermione´s veins. "Don´t you dare call me that!" she hissed. She shoved Cassandra away with a burst of strength she never realized she had. Cassandra quickly regained her footing and the two women were once more parrying around, their swords hitting each other in a whirlwind of movement.

* * *

Outside, the battle was still raging on. "Where are the Alliance´s reinforcements?" Draco hissed.

"They´ll be here," Ron yelled. However, he was clearly starting to get a little anxious. There were uncountable multitudes of Dementor Warriors, and combined with the Children of Tempest, they were virtually unstoppable. The Griffin Riders, provided the ground Mage Knights with much needed support, but they were starting to get affected by the Dementor Warriors´ depressing powers. Unless the Alliance armies showed up some time soon, they would be in deep trouble. "Dog gone it, Dumbledore, Moody, when are you getting here?" he mumbled.

"Oh no," said Ginny right next to him. Ron looked up to realize that he, Ginny, and Draco were now completely surrounded by Dementor Warriors and cut off from the other Mage Knights.

"No," he muttered. Slowly, the soul sucking powers of the Dementor Warriors started taking effect. Ron slumped to the ground as every horrible thing he had ever experienced started rushing into his head. "No," he whispered again, tears pricking at his eyes.

"No! Not again! Cho! Please no! Harry!" Right next to Ron, Ginny was barely conscious, the tears falling freely from her eyes. Draco was clearly the least affected by the Dementor Warriors as he fought back, but the panic filled look in his eyes betrayed the fact that he was also being overwhelmed.

From nearby, Harry looked up to see Ron, Ginny, and Draco being surrounded by the Dementor Warriors. "Ron? Ginny? No!" Harry didn´t have the time to conjure up a patronus and besides, he had no idea if one would work on a Dementor Warrior as well as it could work on a regular Dementor.

Desperately, Harry looked up into the air at the Griffin Riders. Sirius and Remus were too preoccupied fighting off curses fired by the cultists as were most of the other Griffin Riders. However, another flying creature caught his eye. "James! Lin!" he shouted.

Harry´s two children looked toward Harry off of their dragon, Nomie´s back.

"Can you make Nomie breathe flame?" he yelled.

"Of course, we can," said Lin. "Just stroke the Nomie´s chin with an upward motion and he´ll burst out fire. I´ve read all about dragons you know."

"Just tell us what you want to do, Dad!" shouted James.

Harry gestured toward the Ron, Ginny, and Draco. Getting the idea, James stroked Nomie´s chin, causing the dragon to breathe a burst of flame toward the Dementor Warriors surrounding the three Mage Knights. At the same time, Harry shouted, "Reducto!" The combined fire and Reductor curse caused an explosion that blasted the Dementor Warriors away. Harry made it over to the three to find that they were barely conscious, but very much alive.

"Thanks," Ron whispered right before he passed out. Ginny and Draco soon followed.

Satisfied that his friends were OK, Harry stood up and turned around, only to come face to face with Voldemort. Silently, Harry drew his sword forward and placed it in a battle ready position. Voldemort already had his sword out and continued to glare at Harry, as their surroundings seemingly vanished. As far as they were concerned, at that moment all who existed were the Dark Lord and The Gryffindor King.

Voldemort was the first to strike, flailing his sword out. Harry blocked the first blow and deflected another one. He parried forward and made three downward swings at the Dark Lord, each one deflected. Voldemort caught the fourth one on his blade and the two swords started rubbing against each other.

"So it comes to this doesn´t it, Potter?" said Voldemort. "At the end it always comes down to you and me." He pushed Harry back and struck at him with a few twirls of his sword. Harry deflected all the blows with a twirl of his own.

"This time, it´s going to be the last time, Voldemort," said Harry. He spun around and tried to land a blow on the Dark Lord only to have it blocked. He tried a few more times, all of them deflected. "This is going to be the last duel between us!" said Harry.

"What makes you so sure," said Voldemort with a smirk. "Use those rings against me again and I will simply return, more powerful then before. The power of Tempest resides in me, I cannot be defeated." He struck at Harry a few more times and eventually pinned him to the wall.

"The One Deity is more powerful than Tempest can ever be," hissed Harry. "Hermione is going to find the last of the rings, and with them, we´ll destroy the Crystal of Tempest once and for all!" He landed a swift kick on the Dark Lord´s groin. Voldemort reeled back as Harry sprung away from the wall, swinging his sword around. Voldemort blocked every one of Harry´s attacks.

"Don´t be so sure," replied the Dark Lord. "Your mudblood wife isn´t going to get the rings so easily!" He struck back at Harry with more fierceness. Harry barely managed to block every one of Voldemort´s blocks. He then managed to ram the hilt of his sword into Voldemort´s chin, causing him to rile back a little. The two parried around each other, the twirls of their swords getting faster and fiercer with every clang of metal.

* * *

Hermione meanwhile was starting to be worn out by Cassandra. "You´re growing tired, aren´t you mudblood?" taunted Cassandra. She twirled her sword around in a few more blows which Hermione barely managed to block.

"Now, whatever makes you think that, Miss Frost?" said Hermione as she deflected another one of Cassandra´s blows. However, she was afraid that her face betrayed the true panic she was starting to feel. Cassandra was clearly a better sword fighter than she was and Hermione couldn´t last much longer.

Cassandra smirked and parried toward Hermione, her sword twirling around a lot more viciously. Hermione just managed to deflect every one of the blows, but she was clearly on the defensive now. One of Cassandra´s attacks, deflected Hermione´s sword away a little too widely. Not missing her chance, Cassandra struck at Hermione´s right arm!

Hermione screamed in pain as the blade slashed through her arm. She lost her grip on her sword and it flew away with one "Expelliarmus!" from Cassandra. Fighting tears back, Hermione slumped to the floor as she clutched her bloody, wounded arm. With a nauseating jolt, Hermione realized that if it hadn´t been for her armor, she could have very well have lost her arm.

Cassandra walked behind Hermione who was still on the arm, clutching her throbbing arm. Cassandra swept Hermione´s long bushy, brown hair out of the way, leaving her neck exposed. With a sinister grin, Cassandra placed the blade of her sword on Hermione´s exposed neck.

"Goodbye my mudblood Queen," she said. "Give my regards to your mudblood mother in law."