Destiny Trilogy: The War

Chapter 10: Blood Ties

"Think of something!" Ron yelled in desperation at no one in particular.

In a true stroke of genius, Hermione had set the dry twigs and leaves surrounding the manticore on fire, sending it roaring away into forest in fury when its thick fur had caught fire as well. But none of them were particularly inclined to rejoice at the moment.

"Wiggenweld potion?" Ginny suggested tearfully, trying not to look at the way her hands were getting all red from Harry's blood. None of Hermione's simple healing spells had worked, and the wound was turning a horrid blackish colour, apparently due to the poison from the sting. His breathing was painfully rushed, laboured, and very shallow.

"Even if you can find a wiggentree somewhere in this forest, I doubt you have enough time to brew it," Draco sneered.

"Unicorn blood!" Ron remembered suddenly. "Firenze said it brings people back even if they are an inch from death."

"Don't be an idiot, Harry will be cursed for life," Hermione snapped impatiently, running her fingers through her hair in frustration.

"Or Fawkes! Fawkes healed Harry when we were in the Chamber of Secrets!" Ginny squealed.

"But how do we call him here?" Ron asked.

"Don't you think it would've come to save precious Potter by now if it could find its way here?" said Draco.

Ron glared at him. "If you aren't going to be of any help, just get lost, will ya?"

"I believe I already am, thanks to you lot," Draco retorted.

"Silverhorn blood," said Kera quietly.

"Wasn't that what I said?" Ron said irritably.

"Not unicorn. Dragon blood," Kera replied, her eyes meeting Hermione's.

Hermione frowned. "I think I've heard of it. It's a species of magical dragon, isn't it? But it's rare, and useless unless it's extracted from a live specimen." Hermione eyed her sceptically. "Are you trying to say that you somehow have a vial of it and you just couldn't have told us earlier?"

Kera did not answer her. Instead, she reached into her pocket and took out what looked like a silver thimble, except there was a wicked looking claw attached to it. Fitting it snugly on her thumb, she turned towards the unconscious form of Harry.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Ron said as he rushed forward protectively.

"Do you want me to save him or not?" Kera asked coldly, her eyes blazing.

"Hold his head up," she instructed Ginny, as she bent over Harry, removing the black wristband from her left wrist. Ginny gasped.

Embedded into the skin were rows of dark green scales, glowing faintly bronze in the weak light.

Kera lifted her exposed wrist until it almost touched Harry's parted lips. Steeling herself, she stabbed hard through the scales with the silver claw. A steady stream of what looked like molten gold gushed out as she gritted her teeth and pulled the wound open.

"Bloody hell," cursed Ron as the blood touched Harry's lips.

"If you feel squeamish don't look!" Kera snapped, her brow furrowed with pain.

Despite themselves, they looked on, half disgusted, half horribly fascinated. The effect was almost instant. The scratches on his face faded away. The grossly lacerated wound at Harry's side seemed to squeeze itself, forcing the sides together, and closed up. Harry seemed to be taking on a faint glow himself. At last, Kera stepped away from Harry, looking even paler than she usually was.

Harry shuddered and opened his eyes. There was a strange taste in his mouth that wasn't unpleasant, but seemed to make his tongue tingle like he had gotten a mild electric shock. Then he realised that the excruciating pain at his side was gone, and even the scratches on his knuckles were gone, although he still felt weak and light-headed from the loss of blood.

"But...nobody's ever survived a manticore attack before," Hermione whispered, hardly able to believe her eyes.

"Wh...what's going on?" Harry mumbled as Ginny hugged him with enough force to knock the breath out of him.

"Oh thank goodness, we were so worried..." Hermione cried as she and Ron rushed forward.

"Good to have you back, mate," Ron said as he bear-hugged Harry.

"You lied to me!" Malfoy suddenly bellowed at Kera, interrupting the little celebration. "You said your parents attended Hogwarts too! Why couldn't you tell me you weren't human?"

Harry looked questioningly at the rest. "Not human?"

"Why does it matter?" Hermione shouted at Malfoy, surprising them. "She saved Harry's life!"

"Who gives a damn about Potter?" he spat. "Filthy dragon."

"Stop it!" Ginny suddenly cried out. "There's something wrong with her!"

Indeed, Kera had been very quiet during Malfoy's outburst. She had turned so white she looked as if she had been carved out of marble. Or she would have if she hadn't been shaking so hard. Her pale eyes were wide-open and fixed straight-ahead, but she didn't seem to be seeing anything.

"Who cares about an over-sized lizard..." Malfoy muttered unconvincingly, trying to turn away from her but not managing very well.

Despite himself Draco rushed forward and caught her before she collapsed.

Kera seemed to be in great pain. Sweat rolled down her face and she was shuddering continuously. Her dark hair formed a stark contrast with the unnatural paleness of her face, and her eyes were blank and unseeing.

"...I didn't mean what I said...Kera..." Malfoy mumbled, helplessly holding on to her.

"Oh in the name of Merlin, surely one little wound like that shouldn't hurt this much," muttered Hermione as she took hold of Kera's left wrist and flipped it over. But there was no wound. There wasn't even a scar or scab to show where she had stabbed the claw through. But her other hand was clasped to her side so tightly that the knuckles were even whiter than the rest of her. The same side, Harry noticed, where he had gotten injured.

"What's wrong with her?" Harry asked anxiously, holding to Ginny for support and trying to get up.

"Shut up!" Malfoy suddenly turned towards him, eyes blazing with anger and hatred--the kind of hate Harry himself might have felt towards anyone who had hurt Sirius, Hermione or Ron.

"It's all your fault, Potter! If she hadn't tried to heal you--"

Kera let out a great shuddering gasp, and went still.

"KERA!"

"...I'm...okay, Draco," she managed as her eyes regained focus.

"Did you have to go all Gryffindor on me?" Malfoy glowered, calming down slightly.

"I'm afraid I will be doing so again, in a while," Kera said with a mirthless smile.

"What do you mean?" Hermione frowned.

"The healing comes with its price," Kera finally replied. "I have gone against the Laws of my magic. As punishment, and to restore the balance, for the next seven hours I will have to bear all the pain Harry has ever felt, but tripled in strength."

Harry swallowed hard as he remembered the Cruciatus curse he had suffered from Voldemort. Nobody could withstand three-fold of something like that and remain sane...or alive.

"But Fawkes--" Ginny began.

"I resent being categorised with a beast, Weasley," Kera said, some of her usual curtness returning. She grimaced as she leant against a nearby tree for support and pushed Malfoy away.

"Go. Before that manticore comes back. Now."

"We can't leave you here alone!" Ron protested.

"Yes you can," Kera snapped. "I need to be conscious to maintain my human form. If you don't leave before I lose control..."

There was a tense silence.

"They can go. I'm staying," Malfoy said with surprising determination, their eyes locking in a battle of wills. Pale grey against pale green.

"We're not leaving anyone behind," Harry said resolutely. "Ron, give her a hand."

Kera glared at the five of them then sighed and got up with some difficulty, leaning heavily on Malfoy and Ron.

"Then I hope you have a plan."

*~*~~*~**~*~*~~*

"We've just been going around in circles!" Ginny cried helplessly.

"Oh shush," Hermione chided, hoping Kera hadn't heard Ginny. But then again, she probably needn't have worried.

Kera was beginning to become too heavy for the two boys. She had collapsed twice along the way, and each time her transformation had become more marked. While she hardly reached Ron's shoulder normally, her limbs had lengthened and she was almost taller than him now, towering over Malfoy, who struggled to steady her. Her nails had since grown long and sharp, making her hands more claw-like. The scales that had been at her wrists had spread up to her neck and were already covering her hands completely. Harry also noticed a growing lump at her back, which seemed to be wings. But the scariest were her eyes. They had starting to roll about almost as crazily as Mad-eyed Moody's magical eye, and they were steadily becoming more reptilian.

"Can't...hold..." she hissed.

"No, Kera, you can make it, hold on!" Harry told her encouragingly, aware that she was speaking in Parseltongue and vaguely registering what her accent meant now.

Harry could almost physically feel the waves of weariness coming off the group, now bogged down by two near-invalids. Malfoy and Ron had (thankfully) stopped shooting death-glares at each other at importunate moments, and Ginny and Hermione were starting to stumble more frequently even though they supported him without complaint. At this rate they weren't going to make it back to the castle before sundown, and they were going to be easy prey to the creatures lurking in this strange forest.

"She's here," Kera suddenly hissed.

"Who?" Harry asked, feeling as if there was an icy fist clenching his stomach.

"Kendra."

Harry wracked his brains, trying to think of anyone or anything he knew by that name, but came up with a blank.

"Who's Kendra?" he asked, scanning the rapidly darkening forest.

There was a plaintive mew from somewhere to the left of them as if in answer, and something small and grey leapt out at them.

"It's Kera's cat!" Ginny said, recognising the big green eyes.

A second larger orange creature crept out of the underbrush.

"Crookshanks?"

"And is that a runespoor on his back?" Ron asked in amazement.

It was a full grown adult, patterned with brilliant orange and black stripes, with its heavy six-foot-long body coiled loosely around Crookshanks's body. The tomcat didn't seem to mind, meowing proudly at Hermione for having found them.

"They sssaid their missstressessss were losst," The middle head hissed to Harry.

"Is Kera okay?" The left head interrupted anxiously, trying in vain to lift the rest of its body up to have a better look at her.

"Obviously not," The right head snapped. "Stop asking stupid questions."

"Seth, Sam and Sebastian?" Harry asked in disbelief. "How...what are you doing here?"

"I believe Sam just told you," Sebastian hissed with annoyance.

"We came to find you," Seth replied, with a quelling look at Sebastian.

"Can you get us back?" Harry asked, hope leaping up in his heart.

"We know a short-cut," Seth told Harry.

"Just follow us," Sebastian hissed.

"What is it?" Hermione asked impatiently.

"They said they'll lead us back," Harry translated in a daze.

"You mean all this time we've been in the Forbidden Forest?" Malfoy exclaimed.

They ignored him and followed the sprinting felines as quickly as they could.

*~*~~*~**~*~*~~*

They had been travelling for over an hour and had by now found a well-worn forest path when Kendra stopped short, seeming to sniff the air. There was a silent communication between the cats and the three-headed serpent.

"She says there's something up ahead," Seth informed Harry.

"What is it?"

"We don't know. But we are near the school now."

Sam stuck out his forked tongue to smell the humid air.

"I sssmell danger."

They had made their way to the edge of the forest when a blaze of distant fire caught their eye.

"It's not the manticore, is it?" Ginny whispered.

"Too big," Ron said.

"Damn!" Malfoy cursed. "It's a Balrog."

"Look, there's another one!"

"What the..."

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"Over there...a troll on the back of some weird animal," Harry pointed out.

"That's a graphorn," Hermione said worriedly.

"There's a whole army of them!" Ginny whispered.

Hogwarts was under siege. The Balrogs were waving their fiery arms and setting everything around them on fire; the mountain trolls welded clubs or axes, and tried to smash rocks and chains against the sturdy school walls. The graphorns were trying to gore everything that moved, sometimes unseating its riders. From their cover in the thick shrubbery of the forest, they spotted a few other creatures; nundus, quintapeds and some forest trolls. Harry realised that this was the menagerie of fearsome magical creatures he had seen standing in the mist in Voldemort's command. Most of the professors were now on the grounds, shooting an array of curses and hexes at the on-coming creatures to drive them back, but Dumbledore and McGonagall were nowhere to be seen.

"What are we going to do?"

"Make a run for it?" Ron suggested weakly.

There was a great explosion as someone (probably Snape) threw a vial of potions at one of the Balrogs.

"I'll try to get the attention of one of the professors," Harry said, emerging from their cover before anyone could stop him, forgetting that he had been fatally injured only hours ago. He swayed a little unsteadily on his feet.

"Harry!" Ginny squealed.

"Harry!" came another deep voice from further away.

"Look! Over there!" Ron suddenly said, his face brightening up. "It's Hagrid!"

"Harry!" the half-giant shouted enthusiastically as he moved towards them.

"Trust the bumbling oaf to be so happy when he's fighting in a war," Malfoy muttered, earning him glares from all the Gryffindors.

"Outta my way, yeh stupid thing!" Hagrid growled as he knocked out a graphorn, which had apparently lost its troll rider, with a hard swipe of a huge broadsword.

"What are yeh all doin' 'ere?

"Hagrid, we need to get her to Dumbledore, fast!" Harry said, indicating Kera.

Before Hagrid had a chance to answer, there was a sudden commotion and confusion among the attacking beasts.

"Giants!" Ginny shrieked, pointing.

"Mom!" Hagrid hollered.

"Mom?!" Malfoy exclaimed, his face a mixture of fear and astonishment.

From the tribe of giants that had advanced onto the school grounds, one giantess, who was obviously the leader of the group, came towards them, the ground trembling beneath her enormous feet.

"Harry Potter. We meet at last," The giantess said, her low voice like rolling thunder.

She turned one beady eye to look at the half-reptilian creature that was Kera and frowned.

"Little 'uns said they need ter get it ter Professor Dumbledore," Hagrid told her.

Towering above them all at twenty feet, she lifted Kera easily in her arms and went off in huge strides towards the castle, sending foolish trolls flying into the Lake and into tentacles of the giant squid for blocking her way, while Hagrid herded the teens in her wake. She held up a fist the size of a small car and tapped a knuckle on the huge oak doors. For a moment Harry was worried that the entire doorway would cave in from the tremors. The great doors swung open to reveal the familiar tall figures of Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall.

"Oh, you children," Professor McGonagall scolded in relief, dragging the five of them in, her eyes suspiciously red.

"Thank you, Fridwulfa. Excuse my haste, but..."

"You are welcome, Dumbledore," The giantess replied in her deep booming voice. "This is not the time and place for pleasantries." The giantess lowered her burden down carefully, and then turned away with her son to join the battle.

Dumbledore's eyes grew grave at the sight of Kera's limp form.

"Minerva...I'm afraid we will need Charlie and Miss Delacour."