The Mage Knights

Chapter 4: Days of Training

"Hey, wait up!"

Hermione turned around and so Sir Harry Potter running toward her. It was the day after she had accepted the offer to be trained for battle and she had just been wandering around the halls in a melancholy state, thinking about her family.

"Oh, hello." She offered him a weak smile.

"I just wanted to say that I admire you for the way that you are handling what's happened to you. I mean with your losses and all. And I also wanted to say that if you ever want to talk about it, I'm all ears. I mean, I know what its like to have no parents..."

"You do?"

Harry nodded. "My father and mother died when I was a year old. I spent ten miserable years after that living with my mother's sister's family. They were horrible to me; I think my aunt resented my mother or something. Anyway, it came as such a relief when I turned eleven and became a squire here at Hogwarts."

Hermione beamed and said, "Thank you Sir knight. I am thankful for your kindness..."

"Didn't I ask you to drop those formalities?" Harry smiled. "Anyway, good luck on your training. And if there's anything you need, just ask me or Ron."

Hermione thought for a moment and then grinned. "Does this place have a library?"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

During the following two months Hermione was trained in all forms of combat and magic. Being the naturally studious type, she excelled at magic, as she was able to read up on how to perform tricky spells, charms, hexes, and curses. Within a span of weeks, Hermione's magical powers rivaled and sometimes surpassed those of the Mage Knights. Unfortunately, she was not as fortunate in physical combat. It turned out that she was very good in defending herself with a staff, but there was no hope for her when it came to swords, spears, bows and arrows, or any kind of weapon for that matter. However, it didn't really matter since her abilities with magic and the staff made up for all her shortcomings with other weapons. If there was one thing that she was absolutely horrible at however, that would have to be riding a horse. She learned this the hard way by falling off three times before finally giving up.

Hermione pursued a number of activities during her free time. As it turned out, Hogwarts had one of the largest libraries in Magiterran, she spent hours in there simply absorbing the information the books provided. Sometimes, on bright sunny days, Hermione would be reading on a rock by the edge of the forest that surrounded the castle when she would be approached by a unicorn. She absolutely adored the beautifully pure creatures and would feel a little honored whenever they came to her since they only approached virgin maidens. Hermione also spent time with Hagrid who was as kind and gentle as anyone could get. She learned not to trust his cooking however, when she nearly broke her teeth on one of his rock cakes.

Hermione also spent time with the Mage Knights. As she grew more comfortable around them, she eventually managed to drop the formalities that had been grounded into her since childhood. In no time at all, she grew to become extremely close friends with Harry and Ron. Ron had a sarcastic attitude and a short temper that could explode with the slightest offenses. After the awkwardness of formalities had been dropped, he discovered that Hermione had a streak of bossiness and was a bit of a know-it-all; in other words, their personalities were bound to conflict, and it wasn't uncommon to hear the two arguing in a friendly squabble. Although on the surface, they seemed to be arguing all the time, they were actually very fond of each other and enjoyed the other's company.

Harry was another matter all together. He was kind and compassionate and always looked at Hermione with concern and sympathy in his green eyes. Hermione always felt the most safe and secure whenever she was with Harry and Harry was happy to be around Hermione. If there was one Mage Knight that Hermione could've stayed with at all times, that knight would have had to be Harry. Harry, for his part, formed a special friendship with her and allowed her into a part of his heart that previously he had only let Ron into. Whenever she looked into his green eyes, Hermione saw a boy that had grown up deprived of love and had seen much sorrow and pain during his life. Sometimes, it took her all the will power she had to keep herself from holding him in her arms and comforting him.

One day, two months after Hermione had come to Hogwarts, there was a meeting in the Great Hall. After the initial chatter had died down, Dumbledore spoke up.

"Many of us here know that for years, we have been searching for the three magical talismans that will aid us in the defeat of the Death Eaters. I am pleased to announce that the first of these three talismans, The Mirror of Erised, has been discovered in the Cave of Reflections within the borders of the Kingdom of Ravenclaw. Unfortunately, the Death Eaters have also discovered the whereabouts of the mirror. Therefore, I ask for volunteers to go and seek out the mirror and bring it back to Hogwarts before the Death Eaters find it."

Hermione, realizing that this could be her chance to prove herself, jumped up immediately. "I volunteer!" she shouted.

Dumbledore beamed. "I thought you might, Miss Granger."

"WHAT!" There was a sudden scream of outrage from across the Hall. Hermione saw that it had come from Sir Draco Malfoy. During the past two months, he had generally avoided her. "I protest! The peasant girl mustn't go on this quest! She's too weak! She will jeopardize the whole mission! She'll put us all at doom!"

Dumbledore spoke over all of Sir Draco's screams, "Sir Draco, I believe that Miss Granger is more than capable of going on this quest."

"I'm not comfortable about her going alone though," said Harry. "I also volunteer for this quest."

"As do I," said Ron.

Dumbledore beamed towards them. "Now that that has been taken care of, I wish you three good luck when you leave tomorrow. Meeting adjourned."

As the Mage Knights prepared to leave, Sir Draco walked up to Hermione. He spoke in a sinister hiss as he said, "I hope you're happy, Mudblood!"

Ron launched himself at Draco in fury but was held back by Harry whom looked ready to murder Draco himself. "Watch your language, Malfoy," he growled. Draco smirked and strolled away.

Hermione was confused. "'Mudblood'?"

"The most insulting word he could possibly use!" said Ron. "'Mudblood' is a term that some magical nobles use against commoners, or muggles as we call them, who have been trained in the arts of magic. They think that it should only be kept in the nobility. I mean most of us don't care: we believe that everybody has a right to be and pursue what they want. Its just, guys like Malfoy...well never mind."

"Just forget about it, OK?" said Harry. "We've got a long day tomorrow and I think we should all get some well deserved rest." With that, they all said their good byes and went to their respective rooms.

That night, as Hermione lay in bed that night, a great many things crossed her mind ranging from Sir Draco, the quest she was going on, and Harry. She sighed as she drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 5: A Dragon in Hogsmeade

The small company left Hogwarts early the next morning. Hermione was wearing clothing that was explicitly designed for her. She wore a white under-robe and an open navy blue outer-robe over that. The under-robe had short sleeves that flared out from underneath the outer-robe that had no sleeves at all. She wore a red sash around her waist that made her robes fit her figure perfectly. Her white shoes went up to her ankles where they curled downward. They also had pointy ends. She was carrying a five-foot long, oak staff that contained unicorn hair as its core. It was from this staff that she was able to wield her magic powers: it also made a rather formidable weapon to wield.

Since she couldn't ride on a horse on her own, Hermione rode behind Harry on his magnificent white stallion, Firebolt. Ron's horse, Comet, though in perfect health, was a little too old to be carrying two people.

"Our first stop will be the village of Hogsmeade," said Harry. "Its the closest village to Hogwarts, takes less than a day to get there."

That turned out to be an understatement as they arrived at Hogsmeade in only a few hours, and they were going at a considerably slow pace.

Hogsmeade was a lovely sight. It was built entirely around a single main street and consisted of many artistic looking buildings. A large number of these were shops and it was clear that merchants flocked to the town on a regular basis. The marketplace was one of the largest Hermione had ever seen in her life. It was the perfect picture of a cheerful village lifestyle, except for one problem: it was a gloomy and melancholy atmosphere that they encountered. Curious, Hermione questioned one of the villagers about what was wrong.

"What is wrong?!" exclaimed the old man. "I'll tell you what's wrong! A month ago the village was attacked by a dragon! That's right, a dragon!"

Harry and Ron were shocked by this news. "Why didn't anyone send any news about this to Hogwarts?" shouted Ron.

"I'll tell you why," continued the old man. "The dragon struck a deal with us. If we fed him a virgin maiden once a month on the new moon, then he would spare our village. If we had sent for help to Hogwarts or to anywhere else, the dragon would've destroyed the village!" With this he sighed and pointed to an especially tearful looking man down the street. "See there? Tonight is the first New Moon since the deal was struck, and it's his daughter that we're sacrificing. The poor bloke's has been killing himself with grief."

Hermione was doing some quick thinking before finally speaking up, "I fit the descriptions, I'll take the girl's place tonight."

"WHAT?!" exclaimed the others present.

"We can't just leave them alone."

"Oh that's just bloody fantastic, Hermione," said Ron. "We'll just let you be killed tonight and then wait another month for the dragon to take the next girl."

"No, Ron!" hissed Hermione. "We're going to kill the Dragon."

"Its too dangerous for you, Hermione."

"I don't care, Harry. We are not leaving this village without helping these people out!"

Harry sighed and asked, "What kind of dragon is it?"

"I'm not entirely sure," answered the old man. "I think its a Ridgeback."

Harry mumbled something like; "It would've been a lot easier if it were a Vipertooth or a Short-Snout." He sighed and said, "Well, you've got yourself a couple of dragon slayers."

"What?!" shouted Ron. "We don't have time for this, Harry. Its not part of the mission, unless our mission is to allow the mirror to fall into Death Eater hands while we become a Ridgeback's midnight snack!"

"Look, Ron," said Harry. "Hermione's right. We're Mage Knights: we can't just walk away while innocent people suffer."

Ron grumbled, but in his heart, he agreed wholeheartedly with Harry and Hermione.

"That's settled then," said Hermione. "Well, we'd better start preparing."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

That night, at around 11 o'clock, the villagers led Hermione out to the top of a hill right outside of Hogsmeade where they tied her up to a post. Hermione wondered why that was necessary since she wouldn't have run away, but didn't question the villagers about it. It was clear from the expressions on the villagers' faces that they only thought they were buying an extra month till one of their own daughters would be tied up on the post.

Harry and Ron were hidden amongst the trees just a couple of yards away.

"I just hope this works," said Harry.

"Oh I dunno," said Ron. "Maybe we should just let the dragon eat her and that would be doing us a favor."

"This is no time to joke, Ron!"

"Sorry."

The minutes were dragging by slowly, and Hermione couldn't help but feel a sense of doom coming over her. She had volunteered to become the "sacrifice" in a sudden outburst of bravery, but it was only now sinking in that this could be the last hour of her life. She felt very frightened as she started shivering. However, she completely trusted Harry and Ron and knew in her heart that they would pull through for her.

Finally, midnight rolled by and the silence was broken by the sound of monstrous wings beating through the night air. Then, it was upon them. A huge black dragon with yellow eyes, bronze horns, and bronze spikes on its tail landed in front of Hermione with a roar! Hermione couldn't help it: she screamed out in terror!

"Ridgeback my eye!" shouted Ron. "That's a Horntail!"

"Great. The worst possible scenario," mumbled Harry. With that, he and Ron darted out of their hiding place to face the most dangerous of dragon breeds.

At first, the Horntail was startled to find knights there when it had only been expecting the girl. Harry used this to his advantage as he closed in on the dragon and swung his sword into its right hind leg. The dragon roared in pain as it flung Harry off, sending him sprawling through the air. He landed with a horrible thud. The Horntail then breathed a burst of fire toward Ron. Ron dodged this by rolling to the side. However, before he could attack, the dragon sent him flying through the air with a swing of its paw. Thinking that it had gotten rid of the knights, the dragon closed in on Hermione who was screaming again.

"Ron! Get Hermione untied!" shouted Harry as he leapt onto the dragon's tail. He made his way up the tail onto the dragon's back where he started hacking at it with his sword. The Horntail thrashed and managed to throw Harry off of its back, before shooting another burst of flame toward Ron who was making his way to Hermione. Ron dropped to the ground, thus avoiding the fire. He then scrambled his way to Hermione. With one swipe of his sword, Hermione was free. He then tossed her staff (which he had been carrying) to her.

Hermione immediately readied herself for battle. She held her staff up and shouted "Stupefy!" Unfortunately, the curse didn't seem to have much effect on the dragon. Harry and Ron were once again hacking at it with their swords while avoiding the claws and flames while Hermione continued firing curses and hexes at the dragon.

As all of her curses simply glanced off the dragon's scales, Hermione tried to remember what she had read about dragons. "Dragons...dragons...powerful magical creatures...near invulnerable scales...vulnerable eyes...THE EYES!!!" Hermione pointed her staff and shouted "Reducto!" The explosion caught the Horntail in its left eye! The dragon roared in pain as it thrashed about. Ron tried to take advantage of the dragon's pain by attempting to severe the dragon's left fore arm. Unfortunately, the dragon got the better of him slapped him hard onto the ground, knocking him unconscious.

"Ron! No!" shouted Harry. He tried to make his way to his fallen best friend, but the dragon's flames engulfed him before he could get close enough. The dragon, then, swung its tail at him, sending him flying across the field. He had dropped his sword as the Horntail closed in on him.

Hermione screamed, "Harry!" She threw down her staff and made a mad dash for his sword. As soon as she picked it up, she ran in between Harry and the dragon. Then, before she could think twice, Hermione charged and drove the sword into the dragon's chest.

The dragon gave a scream of pain before it collapsed and died: Hermione had stabbed it in the heart!

As soon as Hermione realized that the dragon was dead, she ran to Harry and threw her arms around him, catching him by surprise. "Are you ok?" she asked.

"I'm fine. Are you OK?"

"I'm alright." She pulled back and examined his face for injuries. Her brown eyes locked onto his green ones. As she stared into his emerald pools, she felt an odd flip in her stomach and her heart rate climbed a little. She also began to notice how close they were and she barely registered that they were drawing even closer...

"Hey! Thanks for forgetting about me!" Harry and Hermione immediately sprang apart as the recovered Ron dragged himself to their side.

"Um...Er...we should get back to Hogsmeade and tell the villagers that the...Er...dragon is dead...Yeah," said Harry. He seemed to be nervous about something and his face was red. Hermione felt her face go red as well.

As they made their way back to the village, Hermione couldn't help but wonder about the sensation she felt, 'Am I falling for Harry? How could I let that happen? How can a farm girl ever fall for a noble knight?'

Chapter 6: The Cave of Reflections

Darkness. The throne room was filled with darkness. Not just any sort of darkness: the sort of darkness that sucked away all light. It was the sort of darkness that spawned despair and drove away hope. On the throne at the end of the room sat a man with platinum blonde hair, cold grayish blue eyes, and majestic black robes. He was none other than King Lucius, ruler of the Kingdom of Slytherin. Circling him, were his comrades, the Death Eaters.

"What of the news of the Mage Knights?" asked Lucius.

A small, skinny man stepped forward. The most unusual aspect about him was his silver right hand. "Sir Harry Potter has set out to retrieve the Mirror of Erised. He is being accompanied by one of the Weasleys and a Mudblood."

"Remember your place, Wormtail," hissed Lucius. Wormtail cowered and stepped back.

"Oh come now, Lucius. Why not be a little more gentle on Wormtail?" said another younger man. He had scruffy blond hair, wore dark armor and chain mail, a black cape, and had two swords holstered on his belt. His name was Bartemius Crouch II. "After all, it is because of him that James and Lily of Gryffindor are gone."

"But their son lives," said another man. He was well built and had a bristly mustache and wiry dark hair. His name was Walden McNair. "So long as their son is still alive, the Kingdom of Gryffindor could be reestablished."

"True," said Crouch II.

"What are we to do in the mean time?" asked a woman in dark, revealing robes. She was an exotic beauty with long, golden blonde hair, icy blue eyes, and olive skin.

"For the time being, Icicle, we should alert Quirrell about Potter's progress," said Lucius. "If no one has anymore to discuss than you are all dismissed."

As the Death Eaters exited the throne room, Icicle noticed a lone figure leaning on a pillar towards the back of the room. His arms were crossed and he was wearing a smirk on his face. He was very tall, had raven black hair, and was exceedingly handsome. He appeared to be around sixteen, but somehow, it was clear that he was really much older. He wore light silver armor and black robes and boots that gave him a shadowy look. He wore a black cape and had a sword holstered on his back. But the most striking feature about him was his glaring red eyes.

"Whatever are you doing here, sir?" asked Icicle in a tone that could only be described as reverence.

"Oh, I just wanted to see how Lucius was running the party," said the red-eyed man. "A most excellent job he is doing." The sarcasm in his voice was unmistakable.

"He is doing his job. Nothing more."

"Great to know he's still running things. I suppose he's good enough." The red-eyed man looked at Icicle. "Just remember to do your job as well. I'll check on you later." With that, the red eyed man Disapparated.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

After three days of being treated as heroes in Hogsmeade, Harry, Ron, and Hermione finally left for their mission. Ron had been ecstatic about the treatment they had received, but Harry and Hermione had had enough. "Wasn't he the one who was complaining about staying to fight the dragon?" mumbled Hermione as they dragged Ron away from the village.

As the days passed, Hermione spent a good deal of the time wondering about her feelings. Every time she sat behind Harry on Firebolt, she felt her legs turn into jelly and her stomach would start to flip. At the same time, she felt incredibly safe and secure whenever she was with Harry. 'Am I falling for him?' she often wondered. 'How could I? Its just not supposed to happen.'

After journeying through the Ravenclaw hills for about a week and a half, the company finally came across the entrance to the Cave of Reflections. It was built into a mountain near the sea and its entrance was only about as large as a door. It could have been missed easily if they weren't being careful.

When they entered, the first thing they noticed were four large mirrors that blocked their way. "Oh that's bloody fantastic," muttered Ron. "We come all this way only to groom ourselves."

"No, wait," said Hermione. "There must be some kind of trick." She studied each of the mirrors carefully. She eventually found something strange about the mirror on the furthest left; while it appeared to be a regular mirror, its reflection was missing the entrance to the cave! "Hey guys, come here." Hermione promptly took a step forward and simply walked through the mirror. Harry and Ron followed.

After walking for some time, the company came upon a huge chasm with a thin stone bridge. In her eagerness to get to their goal, Hermione dashed to the bridge.

"Hermione, wait!" shouted Harry as he ran after her. It was too late. When Hermione put her foot on the bridge, she stepped through thin air! With a scream she started falling into the chasm. But, before she could fall into the depths of darkness, a hand reached out and grabbed her by the wrist. Hermione looked up and so that she was clinging to Harry's wrist for dear life. She felt herself go red as he pulled her back up onto the ledge. "Be more careful, OK?" he said. Hermione nodded mutely as she tried to hide her blush and calm her beating heart down.

'Oh dear Lord, I've really fallen for him' she thought.

The bridge was an illusion created by a clever use of mirrors and their reflections that were place all around the chasm. After a couple of minutes, the company was able to work out where the bridge really was and were able cross with no problem.

They soon entered the last chamber, only to find someone already there. He was a young man with dark robes and a large purple turban on his head. "Welcome," he said. "I was waiting for you three to show up. It was becoming rather boring just waiting."

"And who may you be?" asked Ron.

"Quirrell," answered the man. "I would've taken the mirror and delivered it to my master all ready if I hadn't been eager to meet you. I figure that the deaths of two Mage Knights and a Mudblood would be good for my reputation amongst the Death Eaters."

Upon saying this, Quirrell snapped his fingers and twelve trolls burst in. "Kill them!"

The trolls raised their clubs and sprang onto them. Harry and Ron drew their swords and started deflecting the clubs. Hermione also started to do the same with her staff. She twirled it around with a certain gracefulness that completely conflicted with the way the trolls swung their clubs. Ron used carefully calculated moves to deflect the blows that were being thrown at him. He eventually caught the troll he was fighting off balance and shouted "Wingardium Leviosa!" The troll lifted about twenty feet into the air. He then dropped it onto another troll, knocking the two out.

Harry used the trolls' attacks by using their momentum to swing himself behind them, whereupon he would bash them behind the head with the hilt of his sword. If that wasn't enough to knock them out, a good "Stupefy!" would do the job. As he knocked another troll out, Harry chanced to notice another troll creeping up behind Hermione who was busy knocking out the one she was fighting. Harry shouted "Expelliarmus!" disarming the troll, just when it was about to attack Hermione. Hearing the spell, Hermione swung her staff around and hit the troll right in it's throat, knocking it out. In a matter of minutes, all of the trolls were out cold.

"Why don't you fight yourself, you filthy coward!" shouted Harry.

"Very well then," said Quirrell. He shouted, "Avada Kedavra!"

Caught by surprise, Harry barely dodged the green light that issued from Quirrell. Quirrell wasn't finished. He again shouted, "Avada Kedavra!" before anybody had a chance to retaliate.

Quirrell laughed at the sight of Harry, Hermione, and Ron running from the bolts of green light issued from him. "You can't win, Sir Harry Potter. There is no way you can avoid the killing curse forever. Avada Kedavra!"

Harry knew that they couldn't keep up dodging the curses forever. Fortunately, he had already come up with a plan, though it was a bit of a risk.

"Avada Kedavra!"

This time, Harry didn't dodge the curse. Instead, he jumped right in front of it holding up a piece of a mirror! The green light hit the mirror and rebounded onto a shocked Quirrell!

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" screamed Quirrell as he fell down dead.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The company finally came up upon the Mirror of Erised. It was as high as the ceiling with a gold frame. Hermione read the inscription written on top of the tall mirror:

Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi

She was able to figure out what it said fairly quickly:

I show not your face but your hearts desire

'So this mirror shows your heart's desire ' she thought.

She looked toward her side and saw Harry gazing at the mirror with a sad look on his face.

"Harry, what do you see?" she asked.

"I see my parents," he said. She remembered his explaining to her that he was an orphan. "I see my father, he looks just like me, only that his eyes are different and he has no scar. My mother, she has long red hair and the same green eyes as mine."

Hermione felt like comforting him but decided against it. She then looked into the mirror and saw herself and Harry...'wait a minute? Me and Harry? Side by side? This...this is my heart's desire?!' Hermione was shocked by the reflection, and with a pang to her heart, she realized the truth.

'I'm in love with Harry!'