War Against Magiterran

Chapter 5: To Durmstrang

A few hours later, the company sprang out of the fireplace of Hogwarts castle, having used Floo Powder. They were greeted by the castle's guardian, Albus Dumbledore.

"Good morning," he said. "And what brings you three here so early in the day?"

Ron and Ginny explained all that had happened to Dumbledore. Harry simply remained quiet the whole time, simply holding the sleeping twins. After the Weasley's had finished explaining, Dumbledore turned to Harry, a grave look on his face.

"I assume you will be going to Durmstrang to find your wife," he said. "I must warn you, sending a Mage Knight to Durmstrang, even a lone one will constitute an act of war against Durmstrang."

"As far as I'm concerned, we're already at war with Durmstrang. At least Gryffindor is," hissed Harry. Dumbledore simply made a grave look.

"I need to ask you a favor," continued Harry. "While I am gone, I want Lily and James to be kept here at Hogwarts. This castle is the safest place in Magiterran. I'm not going to let my twins be kidnapped again."

Dumbledore looked down at the sleeping twins, his twinkle back in his eye. "I'm sure Hagrid would love to take care of them."

"I'm sure he would," said Harry. He finally let a small ghost of a smile cross his features.

Ron spoke up; "Ginny and I will go with you to Durmstrang."

"No! This is my fight. I'm not going to let anybody else get involved in my personal affairs."

"Must be one heck of a personal fight if your whole kingdom's going to war against Durmstrang," said Ron sarcastically. Harry simply stared at his best friend.

"But, if we are going to war, I need you here to command the military," argued Harry. "Who's going to take command if you're gone with me?"

"You have no need to worry about that," called a voice from the shadows. Harry was completely startled as Lords Sirius Black and Remus Lupin stepped out of the shadows. "We'll take full control. After all it used to be our job," said Sirius with a grin.

"But," said Harry. "You two are retired. I can't just let you two get back into working over this."

Remus started chuckling. "Harry, did you honestly we would just sit around in our manors while the Alliance goes to war again. I think I remember that the condition for our retirement was that we spring right back into active duty when duty calls."

Harry remained speechless for a couple of minutes looking absolutely stunned. Eventually however, he made a grin and allowed a tear to roll down his cheek. "Thank you, everyone," he said. "You don't know how much that means to me."

* * * * * * * * * *

Hermione woke up with a headache and only a vague recollection of what had happened. After a few moments of thinking, she recalled everything and sprang up. She found herself in an unfamiliar four-poster bed with purple sheets in an unfamiliar room. She also found herself dressed in purple, unfamiliar night robes. Hermione fingered the back of her ear and was relieved to find that her shrunken staff was still there. A second later, an unfamiliar man wearing purple kingly robes entered. He smiled and said, "Velcome Queen Hermio-ninny."

"Who are you? Where am I?" she demanded.

"I am Viktor Krum. You are in Durmstrang. I am sure zat you vill be very happy here."

"Take me home, now!"

"But Hermio-ninny, zis is your home."

"No its not!" yelled Hermione. "Take me back to my family, now!"

Krum simply sighed. "You vill hav to readjust," he said. "Zis is your home now. You vill just hav to deal vith it."

"GET OUT!"

"Hermio-ninny,"

"GET OUT! NOW!" Hermione threw a vase on her bedside table at Krum. He dodged it and the vase shattered on the wall.

Reluctantly, Krum left the room and shut the door behind him. Hermione climbed under the sheets on the bed, buried her face into the pillow and started crying.

* * * * * * * * * *

After Krum left Hermione's room, an old man wearing elegant looking scarlet and black robes approached him. He had gray hair and a twirled goatee. This was Igor Karkaroff, prime minister of Durmstrang.

"How did she take it, Viktor?" he asked.

"Not very vell," he answered. "But I believe zat she vill come to love it here."

"The sooner the better, Viktor," said Karkaroff. "Give her gifts, jewelery, things so beautiful that she won't look away. Give her servants that would obey her every need. Throw lavish feasts in her honor. The sooner she accepts Durmstrang as home the better it is for her."

Viktor nodded. "I vill get on it right away." He walked away leaving Karkaroff behind.

Karkaroff stared at Krum's retreating figure before he lifted his left arm to his mouth. After looking around and making sure that no one else was there, Karkaroff whispered, "Everything is going as planned, master."

A high-pitched voice hissed back, "Good, good."

* * * * * * * * * *

It took a few days to prepare a portkey that would take the Mage Knights to Durmstrang. Furthermore, they also had to locate an area of the continent where the Mage Knights could enter from without being detected. After studying all of the available maps, they decided on a peninsula in the southern most part of the continent. It was quite far from the royal capitol way up in the north but it was the most sparsely populated part of Durmstrang and the least likely place where they would run into any people.

Harry was highly impatient about the amount of time it was taking to prepare. Of course, in his present state, he probably would've charged right into the royal palace astride a dragon if anybody hadn't held him back. He wasn't involved much in the planning, electing to spend time with his children before rushing off to save their mother.

Finally, the day arrived. Although Harry wanted to get to Hermione as fast as possible, he was very reluctant of leaving James and Lily behind.

"Don' worry abou' it, Harry," said Hagrid as Harry passed him the babies. "Dumbledore and I'll protect them with our lives if we 'ave to." Hagrid had taken an immediate liking of the twins as he rocked them back and forth in his huge arms. He chuckled when Lily pulled at his beard.

"Your majesty." Harry whipped around to face three Gryffindor Mage Knights: Sir Angelina Johnson, Sir Katie Bell, and Sir Alicia Spinnet. "We will be personally protecting the prince and princess," said Sir Alicia.

Harry smiled. "Thank you," he said. "I suppose I owe you three in that case."

Sir Angelina grinned. "Anything to serve the royal family."

"Actually," said Sir Katie. "Its not us you should thank. Sir Ronald was the one who asked us." Harry glanced at Ron who looked away looking sheepish.

"Well, are we ready to go?" asked Ginny.

Harry kissed Lily and James on their heads once more before walking up to the Weasleys.

"We'll take care of 'em, Harry," said Hagrid. "That's a promise."

"Good luck," said Dumbledore.

Without, a word, Harry, Ron, and Ginny took hold of the portkey and disappeared.

Chapter 6: Into the Dragons' Nest

Harry, Ron, and Ginny landed with a thud on rocky ground. Ron seemed to have hit his rear end quite hard.

"Owe," he said. "Portkeys, the best way to travel. Yeesh." He stood up and looked around. He eventually located what appeared to be a large blue log and sat down on it. "Good thing they got these logs here," he said with a grin. Harry and Ginny, however, looked skeptical.

"Blue logs?" said Ginny. "Do such a thing actually exist?"

"Well, if they don't exist than how can I be sitting on one?" said Ron sarcastically.

Harry suddenly realized something. "Er, Ron, I don't think that's a log."

Ron snorted. "Well, Harry. If it's not a log, than what am I sitting on?" Suddenly, the log started moving! With a swish, Ron was flung off whatever it was he was sitting on and smashed into a rock wall, face first. He silently slid down.

What had appeared to be a log was in fact the tail of a blue dragon with large shiny eyes. It seemed to be quite angry for having been disturbed from its sleep. It breathed a burst of fire that nearly singed the Mage Knights. With a scream, the three dashed behind the rock wall.

"Way to go, Ron," said Harry.

"Oh, like I knew it was a dragon," said Ron. "And I also suppose I knew it would get that angry."

Ginny snorted. "Ron, you remember the Hogwarts motto, 'Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus', right?"

"What?" asked Ron, looking confused.

"Never tickle a sleeping dragon," supplied Ginny.

Ron snorted, "Yeah, sure I knew that."

"Quiet," hissed Harry. He looked out from behind the rock to see if the dragon had gone back to sleep. "Its an opaleye, they're one of the most docile of dragons but still quite dangerous if aggravated like this one is. Its just a juvenile though so I suppose..."

"Uh, Harry," said Ron, as he tapped Harry on the shoulder.

"Not now, Ron."

"Uh, Harry, you should really turn around."

Harry whipped around angrily as he said, "Well, what is i..." Harry stopped short when he came face to face with an even larger opaleye dragon. The dragon gave off a mighty roar and flames as the three Mage Knights scrambled away, looking panicked. After running for a while, the three made into a large clearing, surrounded by more rock walls.

"Well, I guess we shook off those dragons," said Ron. He couldn't have been more wrong when another dozen opaleye dragons crawled into the clearing from behind the rock walls, effectively surrounding the three. The Mage Knights froze as the dragons all burst out a gust of flame! Having nowhere to escape, Harry, Ron, and Ginny used a blast of magic to escape upwards.

After flying through the air for a few minutes, screaming all the while, the three Mage Knights landed in a heap on one of the rock walls.

"Isn't life fantastic?" said Ron. "We come all the way to Durmstrang only to end up as dragons' dinner."

"We must be in a dragons' nest," said Ginny.

Ron snorted. "Oh, like that wasn't obvious."

"Well we have to figure out some way to get out of this mess," said Harry. After some quick thinking, the three decided to sneak past the dragons as secretly as possible.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny silently crept past the rock walls trying to make as little sound as possible. After crawling a couple of meters, the three were almost out of the nest when Ron stepped on a twig. Immediately, the dragons were upon them and the Mage Knights were forced to run back into the nest as they avoided claws, teeth, and fire. Soon, the knights found themselves cornered.

"What do we do now?" shouted Ginny.

"What do you think we do?" said Harry. He drew out his sword. "We fight!"

"Are you crazy?" yelled Ron. "Why not just serve ourselves to them on a silver platter?!"

"We've fought a dragon before, Ron."

"That was just one horntail. And my emphasis is on the word 'one'!"

Harry ignored Ron as he leapt forward. With a boost of magic, Harry leapt some twenty feet into the air and swung his sword sideways at one of the opaleyes! Although, the blade was unable to pierce the tough dragon scales, Harry still managed to knock the dragon off of its feet.

Ron and Ginny also drew their swords reluctantly. "I've always thought he was a little crazy," mumbled Ron. "But I didn't think it would run that deep."

"Ron, just shut up and work on getting out of here!" yelled Ginny. She leapt forward and rolled beneath another dragon's leg. Not taking any chances, Ginny even managed place a blow on the dragon's left hind leg as she rolled away. The dragon howled in pain.

This left Ron in the dragons' mercy. As the dragons' charged at him, Ron suddenly remembered something Hermione had once told him. "The eyes!" Ron fired a Conjunctivitus curse at the dragons' blinding them. The opaleyes started thrashing about, but Ron managed to sneak his way around them. 'Guess I ought to thank Hermione when I see her,' he thought.

The three knights had once again made it to the edge of the nest when the last opaleye swooped down in front of them.

"Scatter!" yelled Harry. The Mage Knights darted in three directions, temporarily confusing the dragons. However, it soon let the dragon instinct of targeting virgin maidens take over and chased after Ginny. Ginny rolled back and forth avoiding the flames issued by the dragons. Eventually, she managed to get her footing and shout "Reducto!" The blast caught the dragon in the eyes and it hollered in pain. Not missing their chance, Harry, Ron, and Ginny leapt into the air and swung their swords at the opaleyes head! The combined blow knocked the young dragon unconscious.

Overcoming the final obstacle, Harry, Ron, and Ginny made it out of the dragons' nest. Harry turned to his two friends and asked, "You two OK?"

Ron was burned black and he actually had smoke issuing from his body, but he grinned and said, "Never better."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Really? You look you've just gone through a volcano."

"Oh, and I suppose you look any better," said Ron. Ginny also had steam coming off her armor and she was filthy due to all of the rolling she had done.

Ginny turned back to Harry and said, "At least we now know why this part of Durmstrang is sparsely populated."

"Yeah," said Harry with a smile. "We may have ended up in an opaleye nest but it would have been a lot worse if we had landed in the middle of a village."

"Yeah, we'd be less burned," said Ron. Harry couldn't help but grin.

"Well, come on boys," said Ginny. "We need to get to the royal capitol as fast as we can and we aren't getting any closer just standing around here."

Harry sobered up and nodded. "Hermione's there. I need to get there as fast as I can. God knows what they're doing to her as we stand around." He shuddered at the thought and tried to ignore the lump in his throat as he thought of Hermione's predicament. Within seconds, the Mage Knights had started the long journey to their destination on foot.

Chapter 7: Neo Death Eaters

Hermione couldn't think of a time when she had ever been more miserable, with the exception of her brief stint in Azkaban. Durmstarng Palace was nothing like the hell- hole of the dementor-infested fortress but she still longed for Harry and her children. Unlike Azkaban, where at one point she had been left hanging in shackles naked, Hermione was treated like the queen that she was. She was given plenty of food, was able to bathe freely, was free to walk around the palace so long as she didn't leave its grounds, and had plenty of servants waiting on her.

But perhaps the number one difference between Durmstrang and Azkaban was that here, she had hope. When Hermione was in Azkaban, she had just witnessed the apparent murder of Harry and that coupled with the dementors' ability to suck away all positive thoughts had brought her to the edge of despair. This time, there were no dementors and she knew that Harry would never give up on his search for her. She and Harry were connected to each other with a bond that was harder than diamond. Still, she ached horribly for being away from him and their children and she often cried herself to sleep. At least she was able to be with them in her dreams.

Viktor Krum presented her with the most splendid of jewelry and the most elegant of dresses in attempts to convince her to accept her new "home". Hermione refused to even give an eye to the gifts. She was also disappointed that the palace didn't have a library; it turned out that Durmstrang didn't think education as important as the Alliance did. However, when she pointed this out to Krum, he ordered that a library be built and he managed to get a hold of as many books as he could (though it was still only a fraction of the book stock in Hogwarts or Godric's Hollow). Reading was Hermione's favorite pass time and it also provided her with an escape from her misery.

Hermione also spent much of her time exploring the castle. Her excuse was that she wanted to get to know it better. The truth was that she was looking for possible routes where she could escape if the need ever rose. Within a few days, she knew all of the passages within the palace backwards and forwards. She had also studied some history and geography books that had been supplied so that she could possibly escape from the continent and maybe even stow away on a ship for Magiterran. However, she decided to first wait and see how the Alliance was going to react to the chain of events.

One day, while Hermione was exploring the palace, she chanced upon a conference room. It was a plain room with gray walls and a single large round oak table in the middle with chairs all around it. While Hermione was examining the table, she was startled by the sound of many feet walking toward the room. Hermione jumped into a nearby broom closet just as the doors opened.

Karkaroff entered leading a number of people into the room. They each sat in a chair and circled around the table. Peering through the keyhole, Hermione shuddered as she recognized two of the company: Flame and Edward Lingilam.

Karkaroff caught everyone's attention. "I hereby call this secret meeting of the order of Neo Death Eaters."

Hermione had to cover her mouth to keep herself from gasping. 'Death Eaters?' she thought. 'They should've all been killed in the war. Are these survivors? Or are they another following of the legacy of Voldemort?' Hermione held her breath as she listened to the conversation.

"So Igor, tell me. Are the rumors true?" asked one of the Neo Death Eaters.

Karkaroff nodded solemnly. "It is true, Harry Potter has come to Durmstrang." Hermione could barely keep herself from jumping with joy. The Neo Death Eaters seemed to be some where between pleased and furious.

"Mage Knights in Durmstrang? That is an act of war!" yelled another Death Eater. Flame snickered.

"But this was what we wanted in the first place," she said. "To lure Potter here right into our clutches. He will come to the palace where he will face all of our available forces. The whole point is to capture him. Besides, it gives us a legitimate excuse for us to go to war against Magiterran."

"But why do we need him here?" asked the same Death Eater.

Karkaroff shrugged. "It is the master's wish," he said. "He will not explain his wishes. We simply carry them out."

Lingilam laughed. "Ah but why should we listen to the master's orders at all?" Karkaroff glared at him while Lingilam smirked. He continued, "Potter will eventually cross the Lestranges. Why not let them capture him."

Karkaroff pondered this for a moment until he said, "I will take it up with the master."

"See that you do," said Lingilam. Karkaroff raised his arm to his mouth and started whispering into it. A few minutes later, Hermione felt as if her heart had stopped when a cold, high-pitched, yet strangely familiar voice called out into the room.

"Edward, Edward, Edward," said the voice. "Igor here tells me of your little proposition. That you suggested that the Lestranges could be used to capture Potter."

"I have suggested it," smirked Lingilam. The voice laughed.

"You appear to have a lot of confidence in the Lestranges," said the voice. So much that I am now interested in your plan. Why not give it a try?" The Neo Death Eaters murmured their agreement with their unseen master. Lingilam grinned.

"What else are your orders master?" asked Karkaroff.

"Mobilize the fleets," said the voice. "Gather every war ship and transport in Durmstrang and prepare an invasion of Magiterran. It is essential that we take them by surprise. Our troops will land on the coast of the Kingdom of Hufflepuff and from there, we will sweep into the Alliance."

"Why all the surprise?" asked Flame. "It should be a piece of cake." All of the Neo Death Eaters laughed. The master, however, did not seem pleased.

"Don't underestimate the Alliance, Flame," hissed the voice. "Especially the Mage Knights. Otherwise you'll end up the same way as your sister." Flame shuddered and became quiet.

"It will take two weeks to prepare an invasion, master," said Karkaroff.

"Do it as quick as you can. Speed is absolutely essential in this operation."

"Yes master."

"If there is nothing more," continued the voice. "I will have this meeting adjourned." The voice disappeared. One by one, the Neo Death Eaters stood up and left the room. After the room was deserted for a few minutes, Hermione crept out of the closet she was hiding in, visibly shaken. She had to warn her homeland of the invasion within the next two weeks.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Harry. I'm hungry. I'm so starved I could eat a whole hippogriff," moaned Ron. The three Mage Knights were walking through a foot of snow in a thick coniferous forest.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Ron, we just ate a hour ago."

"I don't want some transfigured gravel," moaned Ron. Since the three were traveling light, they had been transfiguring natural stuff (rocks, pieces of wood) into meals. "I want real food! Something hot off the oven freshly cooked and prepared by house elves..."

Harry sighed sadly. Ron noticed. "What's wrong Harry?" he asked.

"Oh, its just that I can imagine how Hermione would react if she heard you say that. Probably start lecturing about the unfair treatment of house elves, saying it was slavery or something like that." Harry couldn't help but make a weak grin. "You know, she's got a good number of the house elves working in Godric's Hollow palace working under a salary?"

"She what?!" Ron actually looked horrified.

Harry couldn't help but laugh. "Her goal is to eventually get people to treat house elves with equality. She's spent a good deal of her royal activities organizing it: spew or something, I don't know."

"Doesn't she realize that house elves love being enslaved?" asked Ron, still looking scandalized.

"I once pointed it out to her and received a death glare so harsh I haven't tried it again," said Harry. "She spent a good deal of her time just trying to get the house elves who work for us to accept a salary, and some of them finally agreed for one galleon a month so I guess its not exactly a hopeless cause."

Ron snorted. "I still think she's crazy."

Harry sighed. "Look Ron, when we find her, please do me a favor and don't bring it up."

"OK, I won't." Somehow, however, Harry couldn't help but think that Ron would bring it up eventually.

Harry sighed sadly. Talking about Hermione made him miss her even more. This made him even more determined to rescue her from whatever clutches she was in. He hoped that they were drawing close to their destination.

It was around then that Ginny came back to them: she had gone ahead to scout the road ahead of them.

"Hey boys," she said. There's a mansion ahead of us. I think we can ask for lodging."

Ron looked absolutely ecstatic about the prospect of a proper meal. Harry however, looked skeptical.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked. "You do realize that the presence of Mage Knights in Durmstrang is an act of war and who knows if the people of this mansion will give us lodging rather than turn us in."

"Oh come on, Harry," said Ron, looking a good deal more happier. "How often do you run into good lodgings in the middle of the forest?" He and Ginny made their way to the mansion, Ron practically skipping.

Harry was a little worried but he shook his head and went after the two Weasleys.