The Mage Knights

Chapter 12: Attack of the Basilisk

Hermione had never seen such a large gathering of people in her life. Seven thousand soldiers (swordsmen, spearmen, archers, cavalry) were marching towards Hogwarts. All of them wore shining, silver armor, red capes, and had a golden lion painted on their shields. There was a positive atmosphere in the air as all of the soldiers were clearly overjoyed to have finally returned to their beloved homeland after years of exile.

Sirius and Remus, now in red capes as well, were directing the soldiers and were keeping order by organizing ranks. They constantly trotted alongside the soldiers and made sure that nothing was out of hand. The Gryffindor soldiers treated them with high respect, since Lords Black and Lupin were there commanding generals. However, Hermione was amazed that the soldiers treated Harry with the same, possibly even more respect. It was almost like they deferred to Harry over Sirius and Remus.

Harry suddenly stopped Firebolt. "What's wrong?" asked Hermione, who was riding behind him.

"I heard a voice," answered Harry. He ordered for quiet and started listening. He seemed to be a little worried. After a while, he sighed. "It's gone, probably just some random snake. Don't worry about it."

Hermione was just about to ask what he meant by 'random snake' when she caught sight of a horseback rider, galloping towards them. She saw that it was Sir Draco Malfoy astride his black mustang, Nimbus.

"Oh look," said Ron. "Its Ferret boy."

"Nice to see you too, Weasel," sneered Draco. He turned to Harry. "I've got a message from Dumbledore. He wants you to set out and find the two rings, tonight."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "He wants me to go find the rings?"

"Not you, Potter." Draco pointed at Hermione. "Her."

Harry and Hermione's eyes went wide. "WHAT?! Why me?!"

Draco scowled. "You think I'm happy about this? I wanted to go look for the rings myself!"

"Then why aren't you?" smirked Ron. "Having second doubts about standing up to Daddy?"

Draco looked furious. "You know full well Weasley, that I no longer have any loyalties to my father!"

"Humph, well maybe I'm not convinced, Malfoy," growled Ron.

Remus and Sirius butted in. "All right you two," said Remus. "Lets settle this somewhere else..."

"What does it take to convince you, Weasley?" continued Draco.

"How about a new attitude?! Oh, now there's something you can't buy!"

"How would you know? You probably couldn't have afforded one."

"Oh, going to call Daddy for Help?"

"You keep Father out of this!" yelled Draco, clearly Furious. Hermione wondered why Draco was so touchy about his father.

"MAKE ME!" Ron yelled back.

Draco was about to retort when Harry suddenly shouted "QUIET!!!" Ron and Draco were completely stunned while Harry strained his ears, listening at something. "There's that voice again...'let me rip...tear...kill...I smell blood...I smell...' Oh My God." Hermione had never seen Harry so pale as he quietly said, "Run." Then he shouted, "RUN!" A second later, Hermione found out why!

A fifty foot long, poisonous green snake burst from forest and started snapping at the soldiers! Hermione only had a chance to glimpse at it before Harry turned her away. "Whatever you do," he shouted, "don't look into it's eyes!"

Hermione immediately understood. It was a basilisk! The king of serpents: arguably the most dangerous creature in existence. Sure it was poisonous, but its deadliest weapon was it's fatal stare: anybody who looked a basilisk directly in the eyes would be killed instantly. Hermione noticed that everyone who had visors were lowering them over their eyes. An indirect stare at a basilisk's eyes would cause petrification, but she figured that it would be better to be petrified rather than dead.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, Draco, Remus, and Sirius took cover behind some large trees. "I don't know how, but this is all your fault, Malfoy!" shouted Ron.

Draco glared at him. "You think that I lured the basilisk here?"

"Will you two stop arguing for a moment?!" shouted Harry. "I'm going to speak with the snake: try to convince it to go away."

Hermione thought Harry had gone mad. "Are you crazy?! How can you talk to that thing?"

Harry shrugged. "I'm a Parselmouth. I can speak to snakes."

Hermione was shocked by this revelation. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"You never asked."

Before Hermione could say anything more, Harry stepped away from the company and calmly walked towards the attacking basilisk! A number of soldiers had already been petrified. Hermione saw Harry open his mouth, but instead of words, she heard him hiss and spit. She heard the basilisk started hissing and spitting back at him. They exchanged hisses for a couple of moments when the giant snake became angry and started thrashing out. Harry darted back to the hiding place.

"What did you say?" hissed Hermione.

Harry actually looked embarrassed. "Er...well...I asked him what he wanted...he told me that he was under orders to destroy us...I asked him if he would leave us alone...he...er... he insulted me...I...um...I insulted him back...that...uh...made him angry...and...you know the rest."

"Smooth, Potter," drawled Draco.

"Well lets not just sit around and do nothing about it!" shouted Ron. "Attack!" Before anyone could stop him, Ron gave a war cry and charged at the basilisk, waving his sword over his head. A second later, the company heard a scream and a thud.

"That must mean he's been petrified," muttered Sirius.

At that moment, the king of serpents lashed at the trees that were hiding the company and knocked them down. The Mage Knights scattered as wood and snake fangs started flying their way. Harry and Hermione took refuge behind a small boulder.

"We can't keep this up much longer!" shouted Harry. "At this rate we're all going to end up as a bunch of stiffs!" He didn't elaborate on whether he meant as dead or as stone.

Hermione, however, was doing some quick thinking. "Harry. What animal is a basilisk's natural enemy?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "That's easy: griffins. But we don't have any griffins here with us."

"I was thinking about something smaller than a griffin," said Hermione. She picked up a small rock and placed it on top of the boulder. She muttered a couple of well-chosen words and transfigured the rock into...a rooster? Harry was about comment when the rooster crowed. As soon as the giant snake heard the rooster crow, it shrieked in pain and keeled over. It was dead!

Needless to say, everyone was shocked. "Wh...what? H...how?" spluttered Harry.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly, don't you read? A rooster's crow is fatal to basilisks."

Sirius, Remus, and Draco, were prodding the snake's corpse to make sure that it was indeed dead. Harry beamed at Hermione, causing her to blush. "You know, Hermione," he said. "You are absolutely brilliant. What would I ever do without you?" Hermione smiled back at him.

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

Not too far from there, Tom Marvolo Riddle was surveying the scene with interest. Despite the fact that his basilisk had just been killed he actually seemed pleased with the outcome.

"Intelligent...very intelligent," muttered Riddle to no one in particular. "That mudblood seems to possess a level of intelligence that it is quite rare. She definitely is an added bonus to the Mage Knights. I wonder, if it's all really a coincidence." He became silent before he said "Perhaps she is the one to be feared most of all. She and Potter."

Riddle looked closer at Hermione and noticed the way that she was looking at Harry. He also noticed the way that Harry was looking at Hermione. A malevolent grin came to Riddle's face. "Interesting."

Chapter 13: The Potions Master

"Well, things could've been worse," said Remus as he examined the scene. Luckily, none of the Gryffindor soldiers had been killed in the basilisk attack. However, around fifty soldiers, including Ron, had been petrified.

"Yeah," grinned Sirius. "Every single one of us could've been petrified. Then some merchants would've come and sold us off at some statue auction."

Remus ignored him as he helped move petrified soldiers around. He laughed at Ron's expression, which was set on a combination of astonishment, horror, and adrenaline rush. "I'd hate to be wearing that expression for the rest of my life."

"The cure for petrification is mandrake draught," said Hermione with a matter of fact tone. She looked up at Remus. "Do you know where we can get enough mandrake draught to cure fifty petrified people?"

Remus started stroking his chin. "Actually, if I recall right, there is a potion master who lives near here. He'd be perfectly capable of brewing us some mandrake draught."

"Really? Who is he?" asked Sirius.

Remus looked at Harry and Sirius and grinned. "Actually, you two know him. Quite well if I remember."

Harry and Sirius looked quite confused at first. Their looks of confusion suddenly changed to utmost horror as understanding dawned on them. Draco, however, looked delighted. Harry started shaking his head. "Oh no. Uh uh. Not going to happen. No way. Nope, sorry. There is absolutely no way I'm going to go crawling to HIM and beg for help!" Sirius followed suit.

Remus scowled at them. "Fine then! I just hope Ron enjoys living as a statue with a horrible expression on his face forever."

Harry sighed. "OK, OK. We'll just throw away our dignity and go beg HIM for help." Sirius continued to complain, but a glare from Harry and Remus shut him up.

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

About thirty minutes later, Hermione found herself outside a dark apothecary. Harry sighed and said, "Well, here goes nothing." He walked inside followed by Hermione, Remus, and Sirius who had transformed into a dog. Draco remained outside.

Hermione found the inside of the Apothecary a little creepy. It was a dungeon that was lined up with shelves and a number of tables. The shelves were covered with jars that were filled all manners of strange things: eyeballs, pieces of liver, animal claws, beetle wings, snake skin, and more horrid stuff that made her want to vomit. There were cauldrons on the tables, and they were filled with disgusting, boiling potions that also made her feel sick.

"May I help you?" came a sharp voice from across the room. Harry visibly stiffened next to Hermione. The voice belonged to a pale man in black robes and a crooked nose. He had very, VERY greasy hair. He looked at Harry and sneered. "Oh, Potter, its only you."

Harry scowled and turned to Hermione. "Hermione Granger...Severus Snape."

"Um...pleased to meet you," said Hermione as she stuck out her hand.

"Charmed," said Snape. He ignored Hermione's hand and turned to Remus. "Lupin, I see you've returned. I hope this isn't a request for Wolfsbane. Tis a shame that you would need some in about three days, isn't it?"

Remus frowned. "No Severus, I've already got some stored up."

"And where is Black?" said Snape with slight smirk on his face. "It would be a shame if that idiot were lost, but of course, he's probably had it long coming."

Suddenly, Sirius transformed back into a man looking absolutely furious. Snape didn't bother to hide his disappointment. "Oh, so you're alive."

"Yeah, too bad. I would've been honored if you'd had given my eulogy," snarled Sirius. Both men showed equal amounts of loathing on their faces.

Snape turned back to Harry. "So, what do you want?"

Harry straitened up. "We need mandrake draught for fifty people."

"Still going around causing trouble now are we, Potter?" smirked Snape. "If this were a few years ago at Hogwarts, I would've made sure that you had the proper punishment."

"We were attacked by a basilisk, dammit!" hissed Harry.

Snape walked towards one of the shelves and started digging through the contents. "Very well, I will make your precious mandrake draught, on one condition." He tossed Harry an object he had just taken from the shelf. It was a simple pendant in the form of a silver cross. "Wear that."

"What?!" Harry couldn't understand what Snape was getting at.

Snape smirked at Harry's confusion. "Wear it. And don't take it off. I've designed it so that it will alert me if you ever take it off. Mandrake draught takes a couple of days to brew and it would be most unfortunate if I decide to postpone my potions work for a while."

"What is it?"

"An experimental protection charm I've been working on for some time. It needs testing."

Harry narrowed eyes as he said, "So I'm the guinea pig, eh?"

Snape smirked. "If you want to put it that way."

"Fine," Harry grumbled. He tied the pendant around his neck and put it under his armor.

"Now if you would step out of my workplace," said Snape. "I have some potions I need to brew."

With that, they walked out of the Apothecary. "Is it just me or is that man a complete slimy git?" asked Hermione.

"He was one of my trainers at Hogwarts," said Harry. "His favorite hobby was making my life a living hell. He also got his training at the same time as my Dad, Sirius, and Remus. They despised each other."

"Brilliant Potions master, though," said Remus.

"Yeah," agreed Sirius. "But he always takes extra time with us to add some of his 'extra flavors', slimy git. Bet his hair has more grease than the Slytherin tar pits."

The company laughed as they rejoined Draco. He immediately got down to business. "The Ring of the lion and the Ring of the Phoenix are located in a cave called the Caverns of Power. It can only be entered during the full moon which will be in three days," he said.

Harry sighed as he said, "There's no way that I'm letting Hermione go alone. I'm going with her. Anybody else? Remus?"

"Harry, its the full moon. I'll be totally invalid then."

"Oh yeah, forgot. Sorry about that."

Hermione's eyes suddenly brightened as she remembered what Snape had said about Wolfsbane. She turned to Remus. "You're a werewolf?"

Remus groaned. "I'm really not happy about people knowing that fact."

"It's OK," said Hermione. "I don't care if you're a werewolf. You've been very kind to me and that's what matters."

"Thank you," said Remus as he smiled. The gratitude in his eyes was obvious.

Harry continued. "Well, since Remus is out of the picture, Sirius?"

"Sorry Harry," said Sirius. "Remus is going to be ill for a couple of days which means that I'll have to take full command of the armies."

Harry nodded and turned to Draco. "Malfoy?"

Draco snarled. "Do you really think I would degrade myself to escort a mud..."

"Don't you dare call her a 'mudblood'," cut off Harry. His eyes were blazing with rage. "If you really want to cut off ties with your father, then you have to drop the prejudices that he installed in you. If you can't do that, then you are no different from him."

"How dare you talk to me that way, Potter," hissed Draco. His cold gray eyes were narrowed to slits. "I am Sir Draco Malfoy. I deserve the respect of the name Malfoy. I am the heir to the throne of Slytherin!"

This news came as a complete shock to Hermione, but at the same time it made sense. So Sir Draco was King Lucius's son. That was why he was so touchy about the subject of his father. In Lucius's eyes, he was seen as a traitor. She knew King Lucius well enough that he would have no qualms in executing his own flesh and blood for treason.

"You're a fool, Malfoy!" declared Harry. "You fail to realize that it doesn't matter what a person is! What matters is who a person is! Its not a person's name, or title, or power, that defines a person but rather the person's actions and heart! Your overemphasis on the so-called 'purity of blood' makes you no different from the Death Eaters! Remember, that's their philosophy!"

Draco glared at Harry but remained quiet. Finally he said, "Dumbledore's words."

"More or less," said Harry.

Draco glared at Harry again before climbed onto Nimbus and rode away. Harry sighed again and turned to Hermione. "Well, I guess it's just the two of us then." He smiled at her.

Hermione smiled back, but she realized that she was going to be alone with Harry for three days. She trusted Harry but she wasn't so sure if she trusted herself around the man she secretly loved. 'What will I do?' she thought. 'I've already broken down and kissed him once. What would I possibly end up doing with only the two of us? What if I break down again.' She decided that she would restrain herself from doing anything. After all, they weren't meant to be: she was a farm girl, and he was a knight. But at the same time, she decided to treasure all of the moments she would be spending with Sir Harry Potter.