The Mage Knights

Chapter 14: The Two Rings
 
King Lucius Malfoy, the ruler of the Kingdom of Slytherin, was not having a good day.  Things had started going downhill when the Heir to the throne of Gryffindor had become a Mage Knight.  Then, his own son, Draco, had betrayed him and also become a Mage Knight.  Now it seemed to be only days before the Mage Knights would get a hold of the mysterious two Rings of the Lion and the Phoenix.  Though, nobody knew exactly how those two rings worked, everyone knew for certain that they would be the key to the downfall of the Death Eaters.
 
Lucius groaned and placed his face in his hands.  "I'm doomed," he muttered.  "The cursed knights are closing in on me and all I have on my side are a bunch of incompetent fools."
 
"Come now, surely not all of us are incompetent."  Lucius jumped when he heard the voice.  Icicle had entered the throne room with a malevolent smirk on her face.  "I see you are having a bad day," she said.
 
"What do you want?" snarled Lucius.
 
Icicle smirked.  "Oh, not going to use manners for the one who's going to hand you the rings to you on a silver platter?"
 
Lucius looked startled.  "You?  How?  We don't even know where they are," he snarled.
 
"Oh, but I do.  We've never had any use for the Mirror of Erised.  I've known all along."
 
"WHAT?!" Lucius leapt to his feet, his face red with fury.  "You've known all along and you've never told me?!  WHATEVER FOR?!"
 
"One reason," smirked Icicle.  "Because the rings will only accept one person and one person only to remove them from their resting place.  Dumbledore knew all along who this one person is.  We've only figured it out recently.  We simply decided that it wasn't necessary for you to know yet."
 
Lucius calmed down a little as he asked "And your plan is?"
 
"Simple, really.  I will let that person remove the rings, whereupon, I will steal them."
 
"Excellent," smirked Lucius.  "It looks like I'm in your debt, but what does that matter?  Go take the Rings.  Oh, and take Crabbe and Goyle with you, just in case."
 
Icicle bowed and strolled out of the room.  As she was about to exit, she caught sight of Riddle, who was leaning on the wall in a corner hidden by shadows.  He caught her eye and gave her a sinister grin.
 

* * * * *

 
Harry and Hermione were sitting in front of a rocky hillside that was the entrance of the Caverns of Power.  It was sealed shut with a large boulder, and they had been sitting on a grassy ledge in front of it for the past hour and a half.  It was already dark and the full moon was climbing.
 
They had been traveling for the past three days, mostly with an awkward silence between them.  They had no problems chatting with each other at first, but after a while, Hermione couldn't help but feel nervous around Harry.  If she hadn't been so intent on controlling her own feelings, she would have noticed that Harry also seemed a little nervous around her.
 
As they sat next to each other on the ledge, Hermione couldn't help but notice how close they were to each other.  She jumped a little when Harry suddenly spoke.
 
"Hermione, I probably shouldn't bring this up now but...I think...if I don't tell you this now..."
 
"What is it Harry?" she asked.  She finally noticed how nervous he looked.
 
"Well...uh...you remember what we talked about during Ginny's birthday.  About love and such?"
 
Hermione sadly thought, 'Yes, when I forgot about our social standings and kissed you.'   "I remember," she said.
 
"Well...I wanted to tell you that...I think...no, I've found the right person.  The woman I want to spend the rest of my life with."
 
Hermione felt her heart plummet.  She thanked God that it was dark as she fought back tears.  'He's met right noble woman for him,' she thought bitterly.  'Stop it, Hermione!  You've always known that the two of you would never be together.  All you can do is be his friend and wish him happiness.'  She forced a smile on her face but avoided his eyes.  "Well congratulations," she said.  "Now tell me, who's the lucky girl?"
 
Harry seemed to be contemplating something before he looked at her.  "Well, you see Hermione..." He never got to finish for at that moment the full moon rose high enough so that its light hit a boulder on the rocky hillside.  With a grinding sound, the boulder rolled away, revealing the entrance to the cave.
 
"Well, we better get this job done with," said Hermione.  She sprang to her feet and strolled into the cave.  Harry got up and followed after her.
 
After they walked down a long corridor, they entered a large room about the size of the Great Hall at Hogwarts.  The stone room was completely bare, except for a marble podium in the center of the room.  Placed on top of the podium were two rings: one was gold and the other was scarlet.  They were plain rings; the only decoration they had were pictures of animals.  The gold ring had a lion drawn on it while the scarlet ring had a phoenix.
 
"There they are" said Harry.  He made his way to the podium.  Unfortunately, when he was about a meter away, he walked into an invisible wall.  "Dammit!" he cursed.  "There's got to be some sort of trick here.  What could it be?"
 
Hermione made her way right next to Harry.  She looked at the rings for a moment before she said, "Let me try."  She raised her hands to the invisible wall, only that it wasn't there any more!  Instead, there was a brilliant flash of light and the rings disappeared!
 
Hermione started to panic.  "Oh no!  What did I do?!  Where did they go?!"
 
Harry however, was smiling at her.  "Look at you hands," he said.  Hermione looked down at her hands and gasped.  There they were: the Ring of the Lion was on the ring finger of her right hand and the Ring of the Phoenix was on the ring finger of her left hand.
 
Harry started laughing.  "So that's why Dumbledore wanted you on this mission," he said.  "He probably knew all along that you were the only one who could take the rings from here!  Tricky that man, really.  Gee whiz.  And to think that I thought that it would be my royal blood that would..."
 
Hermione's mind suddenly went blank as soon as Harry said "my royal blood".  A number of past incidents filled her head.  How King James and Queen Lily had been assassinated sixteen years ago.  How Harry had said that his parents died when he was only a year old.  The name Godric Gryffindor written on Harry's sword.  The way he was close to Lords Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, Lily and James's best friends.  How Sirius and Remus mentioned that they were close friends with Harry's father, Prongs.  The way the Gryffindor soldiers respected Harry.  How she had never heard of the House of Potter amongst the Gryffindor nobility.  And Harry's emerald green eyes.  How everyone said he had his mother's eyes.  When Hermione had looked at the portrait of Queen Lily, she had thought the eyes looked familiar.  Of course they looked familiar: they were identical to Harry's!
 
Tears suddenly started falling down her face.  Harry noticed the tears and took a step towards her.  "Hermione, what's wrong?" he asked, concern shining in his emerald eyes.
 
"You're a prince," whispered Hermione.  "You're King James and Queen Lily's son.  You're the heir to the throne of Gryffindor.  Why didn't you tell me?"
 
Harry was surprised.  "I thought you knew," he said.  "It wasn't a secret.  I thought everybody knew that the House of Potter was the Gryffindor royal family."
 
Hermione remain silent for a moment as she stared into Harry's green eyes.  She finally whispered, "I love you, Harry."  Then, before he could stop her, she turned around and ran out of the room.
 
'Idiot!' she thought to herself as she ran, tears streaming down her cheeks.  'Why did you break down again?!  Why did you tell him that?!  He loves another woman!  Now your friendship with him is ruined!'  But there was no way that she could have kept it within herself any longer.  It was bad enough that he was a knight and she was a farm girl.  But now, she knew that he was actually a prince and whatever slight hope she had of being with him had crumbled away.  Giving into despair, she had broken down completely.
 
Hermione continued running until she exited the Caverns of Power.  She stopped short right at the mouth of the cave.  A woman was waiting for her: a beautiful woman, with long golden blond hair and icy blue eyes.  She was wearing tight, revealing, black robes and was carrying a dark staff, decorated with dragon claws.  It was Icicle!
 
Chapter 15: Enter Icicle
 
Icicle smirked at the young girl whom had just emerged from the cave.  "Hello my dear, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, my little Mudblood."  Her gaze went down to the two rings on Hermione's fingers.  "My, what pretty little rings you have.  I would like to take them for myself."
 
Hermione felt a chill run down her spine.  She raised her staff, spread her legs, and lowered her hips, thus placing herself in a battle ready stance.  "Are you a..."
 
"Death Eater?  I most certainly am.  But I would like it if you called me Icicle.  And what may your name be, my little Mudblood?"
 
Hermione gritted her teeth.  "Hermione Granger."
 
"Pleased to meet you."  Icicle smirked and took a step towards Hermione.  "You wouldn't mind if you just hand me those rings could you."  Hermione didn't move at all and just continued glaring at Icicle.  "I guess not.  It looks like I'm going to have to hurt you a little after all.  Crucio!"
 
With lightning fast reflexes, Hermione dodged the Cruciatus Curse, leaving behind a smoldering crater.  She raised her staff and shouted "Expelliarmus!"  Icicle blocked the disarming spell.  She grinned at Hermione and said, "You're good, but not good enough I'm afraid."  She sent another Cruciatus Curse at Hermione who once again dodged the curse.
 
Hermione shouted, "Stupefy!"  Icicle smirked as she blocked the spell.  She was startled however, when she suddenly found Hermione right in front of her, swinging her staff down!  Icicle raised her own staff in a defensive posture and the two staffs met with a dull sound.  Hermione wasn't finished yet as she shouted, "Incendio!"
 
Icicle screamed as she caught on fire.  She rolled on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames while dodging Hermione's stunning curse at the same time.  She glared at Hermione, malice shining from her eyes.  The time for games was over.
 
"Avada Kedavra!" she shouted.  Hermione dodged the green light and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"  Icicle blocked the curse again but was forced to dodge Hermione's stunning curse.  It didn't take a genius to figure out who was winning the duel.
 
Trying to slow Hermione down, Icicle shouted, "Impedimenta!"  Hermione blocked the curse with a shield charm.  Hermione shouted, "Stupefy!" and sent another stunning spell at Icicle who rolled out of the way.  Seething with anger, Icicle fired the killing curse at Hermione again.  Hermione rolled out of the way of the Avada Kedavra curse and shouted, "Furnunculus!"
 
Icicle gasped in horror as boils started breaking out all over her body.  She quickly did a spell that got rid of them.  During this time, Hermione had closed in on Icicle and swung her staff towards her opponent's left side.  Icicle quickly blocked the blow with her own staff, but Hermione didn't give her a moments rest as she shouted, "Reducto!"  The small explosion, blasted Icicle away.  She hit the ground with a thud.
 
Thinking that Icicle was knocked out, Hermione made her way over to where Icicle lay.  She was startled when Icicle sprang to her feet and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"  Hermione's staff flew out of her hands and landed about three meters away.  She wasn't defeated yet however as she balled her right hand into a fist and punched Icicle in the face!  As Icicle reeled back, Hermione scrambled towards her staff.  Just as she was about to grab it, Icicle shouted, "Crucio!"  This time, she wasn't able to dodge.
 
It was pain that Hermione had never felt before.  It felt like a thousand knives were stabbing her and her insides were being ripped to shreds.  Hermione started screaming in agony in ways that she had never screamed before.  Tears started falling out of her eyes as more screams issued out of her lips.  Icicle advanced on the girl who was screaming on the ground.  "You bitch!" she hissed.  "You Mudblood!  How dare you humiliate me like that!  You are going to suffer for that, my little Mudblood!"
 
Hermione continued screaming in agony.  'Somebody...anybody...help me!  Anyone... help...Harry...where are you?....Help me Harry!...Please!'  Suddenly, Hermione heard an angry voice call out, "Expelliarmus!"  At that moment, the voice sounded like the most beautiful, heavenly voice she had ever heard.  Abruptly, the pain stopped.  Weakly, Hermione looked up.
 
Standing at the mouth of the cave, his sword drawn and his green eyes blazing with rage was Sir Harry Potter.
 
Icicle glanced up at the Mage Knight whom had just disarmed her and smirked.  "Sir Harry Potter!  How nice of you to join us!"
 
Harry had never been angrier in his life.  "You dare...you dare to hurt her!  How dare you!"
 
"Going to save your Mudblood friend?" sneered Icicle.  "Well now, I can't have you spoiling my fun.  Crabbe!  Goyle!  Take care of Potter!"
 
Two, thick set Death Eaters apparated on either side of Harry.  On his right side was Crabbe, with a pudding bowl hair cut and a large broad sword.  On his left side was Goyle with short, wiry dark hair and a monstrous battleaxe.  They charged at Harry, but Harry simply ducked out of the way, causing the two large Death Eaters to collide into each other.
 
Crabbe and Goyle grunted and turned on Harry.  Crabbe swung his sword towards Harry's left side.  The sound of metal hitting metal rang through the air as Harry raised his sword to block Crabbe's attack.  Crabbe swung his sword again, only to have his blow once again deflected by Harry's blade.  After deflecting a third strike, Harry spun around Crabbe and rammed his hilt on the backside of Crabbe's neck.  Crabbe sprawled out on the ground.
 
Goyle suddenly charged at Harry, brandishing his axe over his head.  He swung the axe downwards with one powerful blow.  Harry, however, simply stepped back and let the axe hit the ground in front of him.  As Goyle struggled to pull the axe out of the ground, Harry placed a well-aimed kick on his chin.  Goyle keeled over.
 
Crabbe took this opportunity to attack Harry from behind.  Harry, however, flicked his sword behind his back and deflected Crabbe's blow without even turning around.  Harry swung around and slashed his sword at Crabbe who blocked it with his own sword.  This left his face wide open, however, as Harry flung his left fist into Crabbe's nose.
 
Goyle lunged at Harry and swung his axe at him.  Harry simply ducked and let the axe fly over his head.  Before Goyle could even react, Harry shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!"  Goyle's body suddenly went rigid and he fell over backwards.
 
Crabbe slashed at Harry again.  Their blades met a number of times before Harry caught Crabbe off guard and shouted, "Impedimenta!"  Crabbe froze in mid lunge.  Harry shouted, "Stupefy!" and stunned Crabbe, who was still frozen.
 
Having won the battle, Harry turned on Icicle and froze in horror.  Icicle was holding up the barely conscious Hermione and had her staff pointed at Hermione's head!  "One move and the Mudblood gets it!" she snarled.
 
Harry stopped in his tracks and glared at Icicle.  He was so angry that sparks were actually flying from his eyes.
 
Icicle smirked.  "My congratulations for taking care of Crabbe and Goyle!  But you are quiet foolish to have forgotten about me!"  She then grinned at him.  "I'll make you a deal, Potter.  If you surrender, then I promise to let her live!"
 
Harry continued to glare at Icicle.  Hermione tried to shake her head.  "Don't do it, Harry!" she said.  "Please, don't throw your life away for me!"  Tears were streaming down her face.
 
"You, shut up!" snarled Icicle.  She turned back to Harry.  "It's your choice, Potter.  Either she gets the Avada Kedavra in her head or you do!"
 
Harry was still glaring at Icicle, but his expression suddenly softened.  Hermione stared at him, horrified as He gave her a weak smile and threw down his sword!  What he said after that shocked her even more: "I love you, Hermione."
 
"Oh, how sweet.  Too bad those had to be your last words, Potter," said Icicle with a smirk.  She raised her staff and shouted, "Avada Kedavra!"
 
Hermione screamed.  "Harry!  Please!  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"  The last thing she saw before she blacked out was Harry crumble lifeless to the ground.