The Mage Knights

Chapter 1: A Story in History

It was a dark time in the lands of Magiterran. The Kingdom of Gryffindor had been conquered by the Kingdom of Slytherin 15 years ago. The Alliance of the Kingdoms of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were still holding out in the war against Slytherin, but it was quite clear that it would only be a matter of time before they too would fall. Indeed, the fall of Gryffindor, once the greatest of the four kingdoms, had changed the balance of power, and it was obvious that all of Magiterran would eventually be controlled by the Slytherin kingdom.

The people of the former Kingdom of Gryffindor lived in terror as they were violently oppressed by Slytherin warriors on a daily basis. Everyday there were rumors of villages that had been destroyed or people being tortured to death simply for their oppressors' entertainment. Freedom had simply ceased to exist the day the Gryffindor Royal Family was assassinated. However, there were those who still clung to the hope that things would eventually turn better again. One of those was a 16 year girl who lived in a village near the Northeastern borderlands of the former Gryffindor kingdom. Her name was Hermione Granger.

Hermione was a farmer's daughter. She was not necessarily stunningly beautiful but she had a sense of prettiness that radiated in a form of inner beauty. She had bushy brown hair that fell just below her shoulders and her brown eyes sparkled with a sense of warmth and intelligence. 'Intelligent' would probably be an understatement when describing her, for she had taught herself how to read at an early age. Books were her passion and it was quite common that she would spend a good deal of the day reading books that she found in the village library or church when she should have been helping her family in the fields. It was not considered 'proper' for a farmer's daughter to read, but Hermione could have cared less about what was 'proper'. She often used what she learned in the books to tell the village children stories about the days when they were still residents of the Kingdom of Gryffindor and ruled by good King James and fair Queen Lily.

"Queen Lily was a champion of the common folk," she would say while sitting on the on a bench in the middle of the village square surrounded by children. "She devoted her life to happiness of those who were less fortunate in terms of wealth and worked hard at helping the poor. The people loved the Queen with all their hearts since she identified with the commoners. She considered herself as one of us and always came to meet the common folk in person."

"Did you ever meet her?" asked a girl of about seven.

"I was only thirteen months old when the King and Queen died," answered Hermione. "But there are many grown ups in this very village who have. I've heard them tell stories of how loving and kind she was and how much they loved her in return."

"People also loved King James. He was a wise ruler and a brave soldier who would have sacrificed his own life for the sake of his people. He always personally led his armies into battle and always identified himself as one of the soldiers. I could tell you about the hundreds of stories about them. But without the leadership of the royal family, the armies soon crumbled and the Slytherin armies were able to storm into our lands and..." At this point, Hermione was no longer able to continue. There was a brief silence as the children waited for her to continue with her stories. When it became clear that she wasn't going to continue, the audience slowly got up and returned home. After the last child had left the village square, Hermione got up and started walking back to her own home.

As she walked back she looked up toward the stars. She had only been a year old when King James and Queen Lily had been killed. She had never known a life of freedom and happiness, but she knew that any life would be better than the one of fear and sadness that they lived in. "There is always hope," she whispered to herself. "We must never lose hope."

Chapter 2: The Knight with the Lightning Bolt Scar

It was only a week later that Hermione's life changed forever. It was mid summer, and Hermione had ventured into the woods to look for mushrooms as she usually did on such days. She hadn't been to lucky however, and before she knew it, it was quite late. "I should really get back to the village before it gets too dark." she sighed.

However, she noticed that something was dreadfully wrong when she was still a quite a distance away from the edge of the woods; there was a reddish glow in the night sky, toward the general vicinity of the village. Fearing the worse, Hermione hurried toward the edge of the woods. When she finally got there, she gasped.

The village was under attack! Houses were on fire and Slytherin warriors were running all of the place along with dark creatures that appeared to be under their control! Orcs, trolls, veela, goblins, werewolves, manticores, and chimaeras were tearing down buildings and killing every living thing in sight that was not a Slytherin or a dark creature! Hermione stared in shock as she saw many people she knew personally being murdered right before her eyes! Then, before anyone saw her, she turned around and ran! Hermione ran as fast as her legs could carry her away from the massacre: away from the only life that she knew that had been taken from her in one attack.

Eventually, she grew exhausted and collapsed underneath an old oak tree. As she sat there, the reality of what she had just witnessed settled in, and she burst into tears. 'My family is dead,' she thought. 'My friends, my home, my whole life is gone. What more can possibly happen?' At this, she started crying even harder. It was only after her tears had subsided a little when she noticed a large shadow over her. Slowly, Hermione looked up into the face of one of the trolls from the village.

The troll was a horrible sight to look upon. It was twelve feet tall, had grey skin and was carrying a large wooden club. Hermione was to paralyzed with fear to even scream as the troll grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her up. "No....please...." was all she could say as more tears flowed down her cheeks. She anticipated the worse as the troll slowly started lumbering back towards the village, carrying the sobbing girl in its hand.

It was then that it happened. A pure white horse, with a knight on its back, jumped out in front of the troll, startling both the troll and Hermione. The knight was a most magnificent sight to behold. He was about Hermione's age and was quite tall and handsome. He was dressed in shiny silver armor with red and gold highlights that consisted of breastplate, waistguard, boots, shoulder coverings, and gauntlets. From beneath his shoulder coverings flowed a brilliant red cape and in his right hand he carried a silver sword with gleaming rubies adorning the handle. His headgear was more like a head band with a drawn up visor that was decorated with metallic bird's wings. Messy raven black hair stuck out all around his head gear, but the most striking aspect of the knight were his emerald green eyes and a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead.

"Put the girl down," he ordered in a clear, even tone.

At first, the troll simply stared at the knight. Then, without warning, the troll let out a huge roar and swung its club toward the knight! There was a sound of metal hitting wood as the knight blocked the club with his sword. He then sent his horse jumping behind the troll. The troll turned around and swung his club again, only to have it once again deflected by the sword. Angrily, the troll swung club down with the all the strength he could muster! This time, the knight had his horse jump out of the way as the club came crashing down.

All of a sudden, the knight pointed his sword at the troll and shouted "Expelliarmus!"

Hermione's eyes went wide as a red light shot out of the sword and hit the troll, sending its club flying out of its hand into a bush about ten feet away. The troll looked confused as the knight next shouted "Accio!"

Hermione screamed as she flew out of the troll's grasp and went flying through the air. A second afterwards, however, she found herself in the arms of the knight. The knight shouted "Stupefy!" causing the troll to fall unconscious. Hermione looked into the brilliant green eyes of her rescuer and promptly fainted.

Chapter 3: The Mage Knights of Hogwarts

When Hermione woke up, the first thing she saw were a pair of twinkling blue eyes behind a pair of half moon spectacles. As her vision came in focus, she saw that they belonged to a kindly looking old man. He had long silver hair and a beard that went down to his waist. He also had a crooked nose and elegant purple robes.

"Ah, I see that you have woken, Miss Hermione Granger."

Hermione looked around. She was lying in a bed in the middle of a small room with stone walls. Sunlight was streaming through the windows behind her and there was a wooden door not to far away in front of her bed. The old man was sitting on a stool right next to the bed.

Hermione stared at the old man in bewilderment. "Wh..who are you? Where am I? H..how do you know my n..name?"

The old man chuckled. "Ah, yes. In answer to your first question, I am Albus Dumbledore, Guardian of Hogwarts. In answer to your second question, you are in a guest room of Hogwarts Castle. In answer to your third question...well let's just say that I have ways of finding things out."

Hermione was about to ask more questions when the door opened and two knights walked in. Hermione recognized one of them (with his raven black hair, green eyes, and lightning bolt shaped scar) as the knight whom had saved her from the troll. The other knight was a little taller. He had fiery red hair and freckles plastered all over his face. He wore armor that was similar to the armor of the black haired knight, only that his was old, battered, and rusty though still in good condition. His headgear had two small horns sticking out on opposite sides of his visor. He too wore a red cape.

"Ah, most excellent timing," Dumbledore gestured toward the redheaded knight. "This is Sir Ronald Weasley."

Hermione gaped at the knight when she heard this. "The House of Weasley?" she asked. The House of Weasley was one of the oldest aristocratic families of the Gryffindor nobility.

Sir Ronald grinned. "Nope, the House of rats and mice." Apparently, sarcasm seemed to be second nature to him.

Dumbledore chuckled and gestured toward the other knight. "I believe you have already met Sir Harry Potter."

Sir Harry smiled. "Are you all right?" he asked with concern in his green eyes.

Hermione bowed her head. You have saved my life, Sir knight," she said. "I am forever in your grace's debt..."

"Please call me Harry," interrupted the knight. "And call him Ron. We really hate those ridiculous formalities that people use with us. And you can forget about that 'life debt'. I was only doing what any Mage Knight would have done so don't bother."

"Mage Knight?" asked Hermione.

"That's what we are," said Harry. "The Mage Knights are an order of knights with magical powers. Are mission is to protect the innocent and weak from evil and to uphold justice within the four kingdoms. Are current goal however, is the destruction of the Death Eaters."

"Death Eaters?"

"The rulers of the Kingdom of Slytherin," answered Ron.

Harry continued, "Years ago the Kingdom of Slytherin was a peaceful kingdom. However all of that changed when King Lucius inherited the throne about 25 years ago. He turned the entire kingdom around and brought in a cult known as the Death Eaters, of which he himself is a member of, into power. The Death Eaters live to either enslave or destroy those whom they consider inferior. They rule the Kingdom of Slytherin in a reign of terror. However, they weren't happy with just Slytherin and set about waging war on the other three kingdoms. Gryffindor was conquered 15 years ago and..." At this point, Harry stopped and closed his eyes. Apparently, he had recalled something painful.

"Anyways, we've been fighting Death Eaters ever since," finished Ron.

Hermione looked around. "Where is this place?"

"Hogwarts Castle is our Headquarters," said Ron. "Its located at the point where the borders of the four kingdoms meet. Furthermore, its unplottable so the Death Eaters can't find it unless all four kingdoms are under their control."

"Now I am sure that you would all like to continue conversing but I believe that Miss Granger deserves some rest," said Dumbledore. "There will be a meeting tomorrow and I would like for her to attend."

The three said their good byes and left. As the door closed, Hermione wondered about what she had gotten herself into.

The next day, Hermione answered a knocking on her door to see an amazing sight. Outside of her door was a giant of a man about two times larger than the average human. He had shaggy black hair and a thick beard. He wore a huge moleskin coat and his beetle black eyes shone with kindness and warmth.

"'ello there," he said. "The name's Rubeus Hagrid. People call me Hagrid. I'm ter show yeh ter the Great Hall."

Hermione nodded dumbly, overwhelmed by the sheer size of the man. As Hagrid led her down the corridors she tried to strike up a conversation. "What do you do hear Hagrid?" she asked.

"I'm the keeper of the keys and game keeper 'ere. Namely, I look a'ter the animals that live aroun' Hogwarts and I make sure tha' they're treated righ'."

"Do you like it here?"

"I wouldn' trade fer anythin' at all. Ah we're 'ere now."

Hermione gasped at the sure size of the Great Hall. The ceiling appeared to be bewitched to show the sunny blue skies outside. Tapestries of many different colors were floating above four long tables. Seated around those tables were hundreds of Mage Knights all talking amongst themselves. As Hagrid led her down the Hall, Hermione was introduced to a number of the Mage Knights. There were Sir Justin Finch-Fletchley and Sir Ernie Macmilan, both with yellow capes. She was also introduced to a sad looking black haired woman, Sir Cho Chang. She had a blue cape. As Hermione was going through these introductions she felt an icy chill creep along her spine. She whipped around and saw that she was being glared at by a platinum blonde haired knight with cold greyish blue eyes. He wore a green cape and his visor was adorned with dragon wings. He had a nasty sneer and was glaring at her with the utmost malice. Hermione shivered and pointed him out to Hagrid.

"Oh, tha' would be Sir Draco Malfoy. Nasty bugger if yeh ask me," whispered Hagrid.

Hermione noticed Harry and Ron as they beamed at her when she took a seat at the high table next to Dumbledore. Dumbledore smiled at her before he stood up to make an announcement.

"Knights of the Order," he spoke. "To my left is Miss Hermione Granger. Three days ago, Miss Granger lost her home and family in a Death Eater attack. Therefore, she shall be staying at Hogwarts for the time being. However, I am positive that she would not want her time here to be wasted. Therefore, though she is not of noble birth, I extend to her an invitation to be trained in the arts of combat and magic so that she may join us in the war against the Death Eaters. That is, of course, if she accepts."

Hermione was speechless. She spent a few minutes thinking about the offer but she could only come to one conclusion. The Death Eaters had taken everything from her and now she was being given the chance to strike back at them. Furthermore, she was being given a shot at a new life after her old one had been crushed. After a few moments, Hermione looked up and simply replied, "I accept."