AN: Thanks for the continued support. Y'all put a smile on this 'ole Tiger's muzzle with all the kind words. Thanks so much. ;D
THE TIES THAT BIND
Chapter 28
CAMLAAN PART 1
To say George Weasley was in a bad mood would be an understatement. The red haired man sat in an examination room at St. Mungo's fuming over an experiment gone bad.
He'd been working with muggle black powder and had been trying to incorporate it into his "Holiday Exploding Bang-Banger's". The volatile fireworks were very sensitive at best. Adding black powder had created an unstable chemical combination and the whole concoction had exploded. He'd been lucky he'd been in the supply room in the back of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes at the time or he might've been killed.
The store had been unaffected as he and Fred had warded the entire area when they first opened. No need to risk the business while experimenting and all that.
Unfortunately the concussion from the explosion had blown George into some shelving and had resulted in a broken arm. He'd immediately apparated to Hermione's practice but had found the office closed.
That had been odd.
Shrugging, he'd then apparated to the wizarding hospital where he now found himself wearing a wizarding cast over his forearm. The healer had told him that he'd only needed to wear it for a week or so. Wizarding casts were charmed with special healing attributes that continuously produced healing magic. They were also equipped with repelling charms to keep the wound from being unnecessarily jostled.
He looked up as a nurse entered the room with a sheaf of parchments. He smiled at the pretty blonde witch, "Too bad you don't have a computer. You wouldn't have to fuss with so much paperwork."
The young woman looked up at him, "What's a computer?"
"Never mind." He smirked. Hermione was way ahead of the times in the wizarding world.
The young woman handed him a prescription parchment saying, "This is for any pain you may experience as it heals. You can have it filled at the hospital's apothocary on the first floor." She then handed him another parchment, "You can hand this to the cashier as you leave." She patted his shoulder and added, "Be careful Mr. Weasley." With that she handed him his release parchment, along with the healer's instructions and exited the room.
"I really need to look into some wizarding health care insurance for the business." The ginger haired man grumbled as he looked at the charges. Sighing, he grabbed his jacket and left the examining room in search of the cashier.
As he was exiting, he heard the unmistakable tones of an excited Poppy Pomfrey.
"She's been crucified! He's been Imperio'd!"
Blue eyes wide, He saw Narcissa Malfoy being levitated into an operating theatre and Draco being levitated into an examining room similar to the one he'd just left.
Poppy turned as she handed off her charges and saw George, "What happened to you?"
He raised his plaster-encased arm, "Broken arm. What's going on?"
She stepped close to the younger man and whispered what had happened at Malfoy Manor. When he heard Candi's name mentioned, he exclaimed, "Blimey! I've got to get over there!" He turned and charged down the corridor completely forgetting about paying his bill.
Albus Dumbledore stood over the unconscious Candi Barr. Dawn had really given the young woman a good whack with her frying pan. There was a large lump on her temple that oozed a bit of blood and it was bruising in the most glorious shade of purple. He gingerly leaned down and touched his wand to her forehead saying, "Enervate!"
A tiny flash of pinkish light erupted from his wand and washed over the witch.
Dawn was watching them intently. She would've liked to have given Candi another good whack.
Bitch.
She looked up as someone came running up the main hall and burst into the dining room.
George Weasley.
"What happened to you?" She asked as Dumbledore helped the unsteady Candi to her feet.
The red haired man didn't answer right away, instead he stepped directly in front of Dumbledore and Candi and asked, "Why?"
The young woman had the good grace to blush and look away.
Dumbledore gently probed her mind seeing images he'd rather not. More specifically the torture of Narcissa Malfoy by Leta Pendragon. The elderly wizard reached out and cupped the young woman's chin. Gentle blue eyes gazed into remorseful ones. He didn't have to say a word as Candi burst into tears.
"You know that's all so sickening sweet and all but the crazy witch has my sister! Remember?" Dawn screeched waving the frying pan menacingly.
Dumbledore nodded, "Yes that's true and young Candi here is going to take us there. Aren't you?"
The young American was right about to refuse out of some twisted sense of loyalty to her mother but her eyes caught the sad gaze of George. Oh how she had wronged that man! Tears rolled freely down her face, "I'm sorry." Her voice a mere broken whisper.
"Why?" George asked again.
"I was supposed to get close to you in order to get close to McGonagall."
Dumbledore's blue eyes darkened a bit.
"I should just slam you again dammit!" Dawn growled stomping over to the group.
"Leave her be!" George rasped, wiping suspicious looking wetness from his eyes with his good hand. He looked into Candi Barr's eyes, "Take us to Hermione dammit. For once in your life have the courage to do the right thing!"
Izer and Minerva apparated to a secluded spot a good distance from the actual battlefield of Camlaan. Gigantic oaks reached lushly leafed limbs into the sky as if raising their hands in supplication. Acknowledging the useless horror of a thousand years ago.
The Headmistress gazed narrowed emerald eyes at her surroundings in appreciation. Izer would never simply drop her into the middle of an expected fight. He, like her, was an excellent tactician. The witch's heightened animagus senses picked up a familiar scent on the spring breeze. She recognized it immediately. Nostrils flaring, sharp eyes darted about... searching for her mate.
"Tis Lady-Miss."
Minerva had nearly forgotten her elf. She looked down to see him gazing up at her expectantly. His great golden eyes bearing a deeply serious expression.
Grimly, Minerva said, "I must fight."
Izer nodded, "Yes Mistress."
She raised an eyebrow as a thought crossed her mind, "Find Doodleberry. Use your magic to protect my wife."
"Yes Mistress." The tiny creature commented as his body slowly faded to the faintest shimmer. The older witch heard a soft pop and knew her elf had gone to protect Hermione. She took a deep breath and tried to center herself. A tear slipped down her cheek as the thought of possibly loosing the great love of her life manifested itself in her mind.
"I will not let that happen!" The ebony haired witch growled as she moved out of her vantage point. Closing her eyes, she transformed into her cat form and crept stealthily towards where she knew her wife to be.
Izer's shimmer appeared beside the granite slab that bore the slumbering body of his Lady-Miss. Another shimmer rapidly appeared from the other side of the great platform. Izer felt the burn of angry elf magic emanating from the shimmer. Realizing that the transparent squiggle was his son, he whispered, "Tis me my's son."
"Papa?" Came the quivering voice of Hermione's brave but very frightened young elf. He began to materialize,
"Stays hid!" Izer commanded in the universal tone that all children understand when their parents mean business.
"Yes Papa." The small elf answered gently reaching out a clawed hand to touch Izer's. Seeking reassurance.
Izer's golden eyes softened for a moment at the gesture of his youngest. Squeezing gently, the older elf whispered, "Mistress commands we's protects Lady-Miss."
There was deep anger in the young one's squeaky voice as he replied, "Evil-Bads witch says Mistress must pays for the sins of the greats one."
Izer sighed, "The greats one did much goods buts justs as much bads. Evil-Bads has the mind sickness." He took a few steps to the edge of the granite slab and peeked around.
Grimly he focused his magic, pulling his son close. "It begins."
Leta Pendragon's glazed grey eyes spied the silver tabby as it emerged from some tall grass at the edge of the field. It was slowly picking it's way to the slab where Hermione McGonagall lay. A cackle escaped her thin lips, "You come at last!"
She watched with maddened glee as the small tabby transformed into the emerald robed Minerva McGonagall. The ebony haired witch had her wand drawn and was staring at the golden armor Leta had clad herself in.
The mad witch looked down at herself and giggled, "Quite fitting don't you think?" She took several steps, goose stepping as she looked at her golden metal clad legs, "This is Mordred's battle garb McGonagall."
Minerva shook her head with a resigned sigh, "Is there no way to work this out peacefully?"
Leta grinned maniacally, "Are you afraid?"
"Not for myself."
Pendragon glanced at Hermione's very pregnant slumbering body, "Ah yes. Your mudblood whore." She was purposely goading the Headmistress. Pushing the right buttons to set her off.
She was succeeding.
Minerva's emerald eyes flashed, "My wife is no whore." She took a step towards her opponent adding, "And has more honour and integrity in her little finger than you have in your entire body." Her voice was deadly calm, but her eyes were shooting daggers at the blonde witch.
Leta grinned and raised her wand, "As it was a thousand years ago... so it is now. We cross swords!" With a flash, her wand transformed into a sword.
Not just any sword mind you. A weapon that could only be called forth from it's resting place by the blood of a Pendragon. Arthur's sword.
Excalibur.
Glinting in the light of the slowly sinking sun, the magnificent weapon held itself tall. Clasped in a death grip by both of Leta's sweaty hands.
Minerva McGonagall stared at Arthur's sword mentally cursing Merlin for every thoughtless action wrought by the father of modern wizardry. She stood tall knowing that she would have to battle the maddened Pendragon once and for all. She also noticed something about the way Leta was moving.
Armor was bulky and offered limited movement.
Hmmmmm....
Izer frowned as his concentration wavered. Doodleberry had disconnected from the link with his father, "What are you's doing?" The elf hissed, gritting his teeth as he doubled his efforts at projecting a shield over Hermione.
Doodleberry squeaked in excitement, "Sister-Miss is here's with others!"
Izer opened his eyes for a moment to see Dumbledore, Dawn, George Weasley and Candi Barr flash onto the fields of Camlaan.
"Help is come!" Doodleberry squealed with joy.
"Hush! We's still must protects!" Izer scolded his son, beckoning him back to join his effort at protecting Hermione. Doodleberry did has his father bid, stretching his magic deep into his Lady-Miss's womb. The elf magic causing a tickling effect in the unborn children.
Children's laughter echoed across the verdant fields of the legendary place.
Leta heard the sound and hissed, "There will be no laughter!" She sent a bolt of crackling energy towards Hermione.
"No!" Minerva roared in anger. She thrust her wand towards the heavens and rumbled, "Into my hands I ask for the strength of my clan!"
A massive thunder clap shook the earth as a flash of golden light enveloped the Headmistress.
Squinting Leta peered at her adversary and laughed, "Alas the mudblood has rubbed off!"
Gone were Minerva's classic emerald robes and in their place the garb of a highland warrior appeared on the older witch's athletic body with an obvious exception. Minerva found herself clad in a sleeveless black leather jerkin laced down the center with her tartan, black leather knee boots, black greaves at her wrists and...
Jeans.
Denim Jeans.
Muggle Denim Jeans.
In her strong hand, her wand disappeared and was replaced with the McGonagall family sword. A sword bearing the family motto.
"Strength through knowledge"
That knowledge channeled down the beautifully wrought weapon erupting from the tip as a dazzling emerald bolt of energy that slid through the shot Leta fired at Hermione like a knife through butter.
Leta growled as her spell vanished. She began chanting under her breath an ancient incantation of the dark peoples of the Caribbean and of old New Orleans.
A dark magic.
A forbidden magic.
Voodoo.
Dawn's mocha eyes widened as she realized that perhaps she shouldn't have grabbed Dumbledore as Candi apparated them. Especially after seeing what Leta was conjuring.
The blonde witch reached into her pocket and pulled out something...
An ear.
Grinning, her maddened eyes focused on her daughter, "At least David served a purpose... oaf that he was."
Horrified. Candi realized who's ear that belonged to.
The man she thought had been her father. A simple man, but a man who'd loved his children. Now he was dead and his ear was going to serve a dark purpose.
Not if she could help it.
Dumbledore had given her wand back after she'd agreed to help them. He'd knowingly not taken it back.
Candi raised her wand against her mother and screamed, "Expelliamus!" She shot the ear out of her mother's hand.
"You dare!" Leta hissed at her offspring.
"I won't let you use daddy like that!" She screamed hysterically, aiming her wand at her mother.
Leta shook her head, "Then you are dead to me."
She reached into another pocket and pulled out a wad of matted platinum blonde hair saying, "Do you know how hard it was getting this off of my father's rotting body?" She looked at her fingers and added, "I got grave dirt under my nails." Grinning madly, she murmured a few more words under her breath and tossed the hair on the ground.
The dirt, grasses and leaves beneath the wad of hair began churning. A pile began to build and bubble. Growing taller. Taking a humanoid shape. Sprouting clumps of long white-blonde hair on it's head. Deadened grey eyes formed from the undulating face and peered at the group.
To say it was like looking into the eyes of the devil wouldn't be far from the truth.
The creature formed the shape of a man. Leaves, twigs, dirt and grasses made up it's body. Long blonde hair fell in scraggly clumps on it's mis-shapened shoulders. An unearthly stench abruptly filled the group's nostrils.
Dawn gagged, "That thing stinks like shite!"
Dumbledore's eyes watered at the odor, "It's a Funkiphyle!" He couldn't say any more as the creature began to hiss and hurl fire bolts of reddish-gold energy at them.
Hellfire.
The elderly wizard shot defensive spells in return as he saw another creature forming from the same muck that birthed the first.
"Daddy!" Candi screamed as the other creature took shape.
Leta grinned, "Do you think I only took just one ear?" She fired a shot at her daughter, "Traitor child!"
The energy whirled and writhed as it sped towards the young woman. Candi felt her body pushed aside as George Weasley muttered, "Not this time bitch!"
He raised his casted arm along with his wand, "Protego!" A burst of magic shot from the tip of his wand as Leta's spell hit his cast and bounced off.
"Gotta love St. Mungo's repelling charms," The red haired man said with a smirk at Candi. Giving her a wink, he fired another spell at the blond Funkiphyle who had taken on the appearance of Abraxus Malfoy.
Minerva watched in horror as Leta conjured two Funkiphyles. "This must end!" She whispered knowing that if she failed, her wife and children would perish along with her dearest friend, her new little sister and the son of one of the most loyal wizarding families in the world.
She didn't give a rat's arse what happened to Candi Barr.
Apparently George Weasley did, as she watched as he fired shot after shot at the attacking creatures with courage and determination.
"Now you and I can get down to business."
Minerva saw that she was being glared at by glassy, insane grey eyes. Leta whirled Excalibur in a high arc and fired red energy at the Headmistress.
The ebony haired witch employed her animagus skills and agility as she swung the sword in a circle to her left, whirled to the right in a pirouette, bringing her sword to slice through the magic. An emerald colored bolt of lightening spat out of the tip of her sword back towards Leta. Minerva didn't wait to see if she hit anything.
Raising her sword, she took a running charge at her enemy and leaped into the air. She let out a ferocious battle roar which reverberated across the fields as she neared Leta and swung downwards.
"RROOWWWLLLLLL!"
CLANG!
Both swords connected causing a crackle of energy to hiss and spit about the two warring witches.
The Abraxus Malfoy Funkiphyle seemed much more malicious than the David Barr creature.
"It figures." George thought as he fired yet another shot at the odorific creature, "You really stink you God awful bugger!"
Dawn watched as two spells were fired at George. One from the blonde mud monster and the other from the daddy creature. She could hear Candi sobbing hysterically. She really didn't think Candi was a threat as much as a confused young woman obeying a mad witch simply because that witch was her mother. Still, she couldn't wait to give her another good whack.
Both spells hit George at the same time. He managed to dissipate the blonde creature's spell, but not the daddy creature's spell. It careened off George's protective charm and headed straight for Hermione.
"No!" Dawn Granger screeched raising the frying pan and somehow breaking through the elf magic. She leaned her body across Hermione's as the spell hit the backside of the pan and reflected back at the daddy creature; blowing one of it's arms off.
Dumbledore raised a bushy eyebrow as he fired a shot at the wounded daddy Funkiphyle and blew it to pieces, "Who else but the Malfoys would ward even their cookware."
Dawn panted as she lay across her sister. She would not let anything harm Hermione or the babies! She could feel a tingling along her spine, not recognizing the feeling of Izer and Doodleberry adjusting their link to include the overwhelming protective love Dawn felt.
"You's has magic!" Doodleberry squeaked, his great golden eyes blinking up at the young woman.
Dawn frowned grimly and replied, "Yeah, it's called "Frying Pan Magic." She nonchalantly backhanded another spell that was headed her way.
CLANG!
Excalibur and the McGonagall family sword connected once again. The magic arched and twisted. Colors swirling about the two witches.
Minerva discovered that wearing jeans was, in fact, an advantage. She could move quicker than her opponent. Her natural grace being quite the asset as she connected her sword with Leta's once again.
Great gouges in the earth bear testament to the final battle between the line of Merlin and that of the Pendragon's. A feud perpetuated by lies and half truths. By hurt feelings and bruised egos.
Trees uprooted by blasts of ferocious magic lay across the once beautiful fields of Camlaan like the many casualties of a thousand years ago.
Flashes of light and the crash of thunder painted a grim picture of the desperate battle of good versus evil.
CLANG!
Leta staggered back at the force in Minerva's powerful sword thrusts. She could see the impressive biceps on the Headmistress's toned arms as the regal witch wielded her family's sword with skill and determination.
Gathering her strength, Leta feinted to the right, then swung to the left slicing Minerva across the front of her jerkin. A tear in the leather revealed a thin laceration across her abdomen that began to leak blood.
"Ha!" Leta gloated as she drew first blood.
Minerva refused to allow her concentration to waver in spite of the sting that her wound was producing. As her opponent was gloating, it left the blond witch off guard. Taking advantage of that lapse in concentration, Minerva heaved a mighty upper thrust. Her sword slicing Leta's chin open.
The mad witch howled in pain swinging Excalibur in blind rage.
CLANG!
Minerva trembled as her sword once again connected with Excalibur. She stepped back as Leta swung again. As the deadly sword hurtled towards her, she dropped down, ducking her head. She felt the sword swish overhead. The force causing her bun to unravel.
Instead of swinging with her sword, the dark haired witch took a step closer to Leta and let loose a mighty punch to the side of the blonde witch's head.
THWACK!
Dawn grinned maliciously as she witnessed Minerva's punch to Leta's head, "You go Stick! Kick her arse!" The young woman felt the heat of another spell shot towards her by the Malfoy Funkiphyle, "Damn that thing stinks like..."
She didn't finish as another bolt was deflected by Dumbledore who winked at her saying, "I believe the word you are looking for is s-h-i-t."
George Weasley blocked yet another bolt of energy with his cast, "I have got to learn that repelling charm!"
Another spell hit him. The force knocking him to the ground. The Malfoy creature formed a grotesque grin on it's horrific face, hissing as it began firing rapid shots, one after the other at the red haired man.
Candi looked up to see George valiantly trying to block, but he kept getting hit anyway. Welts and slices opening up on various parts of his body. She raised her wand and fired a bolt of blazing magma at the Funkiphyle, enveloping it in flames.
An unearthly wail erupted from the creature as it thrashed about. The flames consuming the grasses and twigs that made up a good part of it's body. The smell of burning flesh stung her nostrils as the young blonde witch fired another shot, igniting the creature's hair.
CLANG!
Minerva was tiring. She knew that she must find a way to end this soon or all of them would perish. Leta Pendragon had to be stopped!
The death cry of the burning Funkiphyle broke her focus for a moment.
A moment was all Leta needed to blast Minerva. The Headmistress was hit with a shot that knocked her backwards through the air. She landed in one of the huge pits formed in the earth by deflected bolts of energy.
Landing in that hole saved her life as the green magic of an avada kadavra whooshed by. Dirt, stones and broken bits of trees peppered the Headmistress as she crouched in the hole.
Leta realized that this must end now. Knowing that Minerva's greatest weakness was her love for Hermione and her unborn children, she growled, "If I can't have them, then no one shall!"
Hearing this, Minerva's emerald eyes widened in horror as she saw Leta aiming Excalibur at the others. Including the slumbering Hermione. She scrambled desperately out of the great gouge in the earth, "NO!"
Grinning maniacally, Leta fired blood red fire at the future of the McGonagall clan.
Her Hermione.
-to be continued
AN: Thank you dear Tan for your endless patience when dealing with American spelling versus English spelling. ;D
