Harry Potter and the Wyvern's Crown

Chapter 23: A Black Cat

'A cat?' Draco shoved Harry again for good measure, 'You scream like a first-year witch because of a cat?'

'Shut up, Malfoy!' Harry growled, looking at the cat. By all means, it looked precisely like Miwa. But that was impossible, wasn't it? He squinted, then knelt beside the cat. It looked at him, then began to wash it's face.

'Miwa?' he asked softly. The cat gave him a look that read 'who else', and stood. It accepted a pat from Harry who shook his head. 'I have no idea, but this is a cat owned by a first year Gryffindor. I knew she was rather particular, but I had no idea how particular.'

Draco blew his hair from his eyes. 'Well, are we going to play with the cat, or are we going inside?'

Harry scooped the cat into his arms, and set his broom at the entrance. 'We go in, I suppose.'

Draco lit his wand as they walked into the chamber. They travelled up a set of marble stairs, finding themselves at one point of the six-sided diamond. The octagon-shaped table was in the center of the closer of the two squares. Draco reached it first and gasped as he caught sight of something.

'What is it?' Harry said, leaning over. The cat wiggled free of his arms, and ran away. He looked after it, but on seeing that the chamber was completely empty save for he and Draco, he ignored it. It would be a pain to find her later, but she wouldn't be able to get far. Harry inhaled in awe as well when he saw the table. It was made of a white stone, probably lime, if it wasn't a roughly cut marble. It sparkled in the light that Draco's wand emitted. Harry lit his as well, holding it out over the table.

'Names,' he murmured, looking at them. Each carved with a different hand, there were scores of them, starting with the four founders, and moving downwards, all the way to the last entries. Harry was looking at the Hufflepuff section, and saw Henry's name in crude block letters. Henry Finch. 'Look, Justin Finch-Fletchly's got Founder's blood.'

'If he's from that branch. He could well have the name from Muggle-ties as well.'

Harry had to concede to that. 'And yours, Raphael Hawksmoor.'

'Too bad, Potter,' Draco pointed at the Gryffindor entry, 'Gregory's last name was Gryffindor.'

'And what about Stephan?'

Draco tilted his wand. 'Slytherin, but there's an entry above it. Norman Goyle.'

Harry and Draco's eyes met, then they had a good laugh. Harry grinned, 'So, no Malfoys on the list?'

Draco sighed, 'No, but I always knew my father's family wasn't as old as my mother's. But look here!' He pointed and grinned. Harry read the name aloud. 'Michael Potter.' He smiled, and Draco raised an eyebrow. 'Of course, your name could as easily be muggle-.'

'Of course.' Harry allowed Draco the slight with a sly grin.

'And here,' Draco pointed at the outside edge, 'is the school motto. 'Draco Dormiens Numquam Titillandus'. Never tickle a sleeping dragon.' He smirked, 'Even if I was named after it, I still don't understand it.'

Harry chuckled, then blinked, 'But it continues, 'Ergo nulla quelle art feminie debe inter draco caput'.

'Therefore none who are women may enter the dragon's head?' Draco translated with a sneer. 'That makes no sense, either. Two of the founders were women.'

'Quite right, my boy,' a voice rang out across the Crown. 'And after they sealed this location, they swore they would never return. And that is why there was left such a fantastic loop hole.'

Harry and Draco turned as one, gasps on their lips. Before them, standing at the far corner of the second square, was a sick shadow, one that ate at the air that was tainted a sickly green around him. It raised it's head, the twisted and evil face of Voldemort himself. The light grew from him and pale torches lit around his corner of the Crown. His slim, wicked fingers stretched out. At first Harry was certain the resurrected dark wizard was about to cast a spell, when the man reached down and grabbed something from the ground.

He heard a cat yowl and he gasped. Voldemort wouldn't...but he was pure evil, and had killed a boy out of pure convenience, and sources of others while he was still alive, including Harry's own parents. One small cat would be less than nothing to him. He held the cat up by the scruff of her neck, dangling it enticingly with a cruel smile.

'You want this creature, don't you, Mr. Potter?' He laughed hideously, his raucous voice almost hacking out the sound. He waved the cat back and forth a few times, while it wiggled and attempted to claw its way free. Harry saw Draco clench his fists. Harry said nothing. He hated the fact that there would be little he could do for Ken's poor cat. But at the very least, he would be able to tell Ken the girl died fighting. That is, if Harry himself didn't die tonight.

'Probably more then you realize...isn't that right, girl?' He shook the cat violently, and suddenly, with a flicker of purple light, the cat revealed her true nature. Raven, dressed in the robes she had worn earlier today, grabbed at Voldemort's claw-like fingers, trying to pry them from the handful of hair he was holding her off the ground with.

* * *

'Thou Fiend!' Gregory said from his placement within the Crown's playing field. 'She is not thine!'

Stephan grinned, the soulless Bethany standing at his side. Her head was tilted, her once bright blue eyes dark. It was the Impero curse, to be certain.

Raphael, to Gregory's left, shook his head, 'She is my kinsman, Slytherin. And not only that, but she has proclaimed her love for our friend, the Gryffindor, Gregory. And you should not have brought her here, of all places. This is no place for a woman, and you know why.'

'Indeed I do.' Stephan's wicked eyes turned on his once compatriot, the man who had been his second during the duel with Gregory, the one that had ended with Bethany throwing herself before the Gryffindor boy pleading with him not to have the duel on her behalf. She loved Gregory. No duel would change that. 'Indeed I do.'

* * *

'No!' both boys shouted, trying to push each other out of the way to get to the struggling girl. They were quite suddenly stopped by a bright barrier that sprung up from the ground. Draco gaped while Harry smashed his fists against the green field, making red sparks fly up in his frustration. Not only had he opened the path for Raven to follow in innocent curiosity, he'd also opened the way for Voldemort as well. And she was going to die because of his foolhardiness.

She screamed in anger, and Harry flew into a rage. Draco tried to pull at his arms, but Harry refused to heed him.

The dark wizard continued to speak. 'When I devised to make my way in here, I knew that I would need a person who access to the old records, to find out the path, and discover what locks had been placed over this place since it's inauguration. Therefore, by alerting the banners to my presence,' he indicated the four matching ones that flickered in the corners of the Crown, including the one of Stephan over his head, 'I made use of you, Mr. Potter. And you, Mr. Malfoy, have done your father and I proudly, even if you happen to have taken on the role of my predecessor's rival.'

Draco fell silent, as did Raven and Harry. Raven's soft panting and the thrum of the green field were the only sounds in the dim room.

'I'm glad,' Draco's harsh tenor cut the air. Harry looked at him in sudden grief, but Draco shook his head, his lips curling into a snarl of anger, 'that I'm your rival,' With sudden determination, he headed for the Ravenclaw's corner of the second, open, square. When he did, the green field fell. Harry looked at Draco, the knew what he was to do. He walked to the Gryffindor banner, and stood in his corner. And as soon as he did, the sudden rush of magic force within him made him understand quite suddenly, that Voldemort and he were equals. Here, they were on an even playing field. And here, Harry might be able to beat the sick and twisted wizard. He threw down his cloak and pushed his sleeves back. He was ready for this...for anything.

Except for, perhaps, what actually happened. A thunderous voice erupted from the doorway, one both powerful and frightening. Most frightening because the voice was so familiar. Professor Dumbledore stood there, his eyes filled with lightening and anger. Behind him were the other male teachers, Flitwick, Lupin, Hagrid and even Filch.

'You will stop this immediately, Thomas Riddle, or this will be your undoing!'

* * *

'Yes, dear friend.' Henry, standing in his corner to Gregory's right, held out his hands in entreaty. 'Do not let your rivalry with Gryffindor be your undoing.'

Gregory shook his head, half Harry for a moment, hearing the repetition.

'My undoing?' Stephan's voice was mocking them, 'How canst thou say that!? Have you any concept of what took place here with my forefather? Do you realize WHY all the Heirs to the Slytherin house have the gift of the serpent's tongue?'

* * *

Voldemort threw Raven to the ground, so hard, an audible crack echoed across the square playing-field of the Crown. She attempted to rise but briefly, and slumped to the floor with nary a whimper. 'My name is Voldemort, and soon, my dear Dumbledore, you will be whimpering it to save your pathetic life.'

'No one talks like that about...' Hagrid only had half the threat off before he was suddenly choked into silence. He crashed to his knees, clutching at his throat. Flitwick began work on a counter-curse immediately, dwarfed even more than usual by the enormous man.

Harry, still standing on the Gryffindor corner, almost frightened to step away from it, wasn't sure whether he ought to pleased at the arrival of his teachers, or simply fear for their lives. But he was certain that Dumbledore could end this. After all, Dumbledore was the one wizard Voldemort feared. Everyone knew that.

'Any more of your men going to try something? The werewolf, or perhaps the squib? I recall making his life a misery when we attended class together. You cannot win in this place, Albus. You aren't an Heir to the Founders!'

* * *

Gregory then saw something Bethany had raised her head, though her heart was far away, she still seemed to recognise her one love. He held out his hands, beckoning, 'Beth. Please, do not look away. I am Gregory. Dost thou recall? I am thy love. Beth-anne...Beth-anne, look at me.'

Stephan turned, anger burning in his eyes. 'Yes, Bethany. Look at that fool. Calling to you as though he loved you. He is not for you my dear. His mother was muggleborn. And though you are of tainted blood, you still hold more old magic than he ever did. He must rely on mere physicality to defeat a wizard as great as I.'

'You are nothing, Slytherin! Nothing!' Gregory howled, 'if you are calling for another duel, you shall receive it in due course!'

* * *

Dumbledore smiled, 'You are quite correct, Tom. As I stand here, I can't actually be done with you. As long as you stand on the Slytherin's square, you have enough power to wave off even my most powerful of curses.'

Draco's eye met Harry's across the room. What were they going to do now? It was obvious that Voldemort had the upper hand. And though the two boys were holding Voldemort's magic at bay, who knew how long it would last, especially when he attempted to kill one or both of them? And Harry looked down at the fallen figure of Raven. When all was said and done, her own, highly potent magic hadn't helped her at all. But even as he thought so, she raised her eyes, looking directly at Harry. There was fight in her yet. She looked him up, then raised her head, her rosy lips carving out two words to him. 'Your sword'. Harry touched the pommel of it, not understanding, but nodding slightly to her. She shook her head no, then reached out her hand. She wanted it. And Harry understood. He looked at Draco, and mouthed 'do something'. Draco looked, and with fear on his face, nodded tightly. He gripped his wand, and the turned to Voldemort.

'Let's see if you can repel an Heir's magic, then! Reduco!'

Draco's magic right exploded from his wand in an explosion of blue fire, and the Dark Lord barely had the time to raise his wand arm to block. At Raven's nod, Harry unsheathed his sword, and threw it along the ground to Raven. She struggled to stand, but as she did so, her arms came up in an expert swing. The sword came down. Raven jammed forwards, her actions slowing. Then, neatly, she turned around and rested her weight on the fantastic weapon, a slick smile on her pretty face.

Voldemort roared, and finally managed to throw off Draco's attack. He put a clawed hand on the fair Raven's shoulder, who tilted her head.

'Thank you, Harry. This weapon was one of the few things that might have been able to stop the plan,' Raven chuckled.

* * *

'Why don't you tell these fools the truth, Bethany. Tell them.'

Bethany had a smile on her doll-like face, her eyes lifeless, her voice soft but powerful enough to carry to the ears of the three other heads of household.

'My one and only love is Stephan.'

'IT IS NOT TRUE!' Gregory all but screamed. But he could not afford to step from his place of power. If he did, any dark curse uttered by Stephan would be tripled in force by his own seat of power, and Gregory would be destroyed. 'Bethany, say it isn't true!'

'It is,' she said softly. She winced, and Gregory could see the fight in her. If he were able, he realized, if he could convince her to near him, she might be able to throw off the curse, and then Stephan's plan, whatever he had decided upon in his cruel mind, would be thwarted.

* * *

Harry couldn't believe what he was seeing. He couldn't. He began to shake his head in disbelief. Anything but this. Anyone but her. Raven's mocking smile bit at him. 'Come on, Harry. I'm the daughter of a Dark Fate. Where on earth did you think I learned the 'Hand-of-Fate'? Out of some textbook?' She snorted, 'Lord Voldemort, I believe you were saying something?'

'Indeed I was, my child,' The claw-like hand squeezed her shoulder gently. 'I believe I was wondering what Dumbledore intended on doing.'

Dumbledore looked from Raven to Voldemort and answered simply, 'I believe your little Fate there will do what is required.'

Voldemort reared his head back, 'indeed I believe she will.' With that, his jaw unhinged, and he headed for Raven's neck. He paused, twitched. The china-skinned girl smiled. Voldemort's hands flicked into the air. Raven stepped away, removing the golden blade from the Dark Wizard's chest. The newly resurrected man fell, mortally wounded.