Chapter 2: The Sword of Ravenclaw
It was almost 7 AM in the morning and time for the 5th year Gryffindors and Slytherins' first class: Care of Magical Creatures. Hermione and Ron had arrived just on time, because they had unsuccessfully searched for Harry before leaving the castle. When they arrived at Hagrid's hut, they saw their classmates were all conversing excitedly. Draco noticed them arrive and sneered at them. "Wonder where your precious Harry is?"
Before Ron or
Hermione could respond, they all heard a yell from the Forbidden Forest.
"Hagrid!" Ron and Hermione exclaimed, and without thinking they ran into
the forest. Eventually the rest of the class followed at some distance.
After Cho heard Harry say that the scream was Hagrid's, she bolted off towards the sound. She called back, "Follow me."
Harry watched, because his feet felt like they were stuck to the ground. He saw that Cho would have to run around a pond to get to Hagrid, and this could best be accomplished with a broom. Harry outstretched his wand hand and said, "Accio Firebolt." While waiting, Harry saw something that dumbfounded him: Cho was taking leaps across the water as if she was weightless. Harry dropped the invisibility cloak he had been holding in his left hand. I'll have to get it later, he thought, for his broom had arrived. After a few seconds, Harry had mounted his Firebolt and was flying as fast as he could in her direction to catch up with her.
As he approached her, he saw her jumping gracefully onto a large rock and then jumping to the top of the trees. She stood at the top of one and observed for a short time, looked back at him, and then pointed to the south. Harry rose up high from his broom and looked down in the direction in which she had pointed. Sure enough, there was Hagrid fighting off a dozen man dressed in black from head to toe except for their eyes. Behind them was the strangest creature Harry had ever seen: it appeared to be a man with bright wings on its back, a bird-like beak and a giant sword in its hand. The handle of the sword was simple and black, and the tip of the blade appeared to be an asymmetrical slant.
Cho had already dashed towards the clearing where Hagrid was being attacked and Harry soon followed her on his Firebolt. The attackers did not see Cho when she emerged into the clearing. She shouted at their backs something in Chinese. Harry guessed that it translated to, "Let him go. It's me you want."
Harry saw the men in black suits turn around and then the bird-like man smiled menacingly and said in English, "It is you, Cho. How foolish to think you could hide from us. Let the man go," he commanded, and the men obeyed immediately.
Hagrid slumped to the floor and looked around until he recognized Harry. "Harry," he managed. "Get out of here." He then saw Cho and vaguely recognized her as a student. "Get her out of here, too."
Harry did not respond but merely looked sadly at the fist-caused injuries to Hagrid's face and side.
"Harry," Cho's voice called out as the men and the creature approached them.
Harry surprised himself with his own calmness. "Yeah?"
"The creature is a tengu. Let me deal with him. Try to fight off some of the ninjas for me. Then we'll help Hagrid."
Harry was about to ask what a ninja was, but it dawned on him rather quickly that ninjas were the martial artists dressed in black. Hagrid didn't appear to be bleeding seriously, Harry thought. "Okay," he said.
The men and the
tengu charged towards Harry and Cho at the same time as Hagrid's class
arrived to watch the action.
Ron yelled as soon as he saw them. "Harry!"
Harry turned around. "Little help please!"
Ron and Hermione dashed to Harry's aid, and soon most of the class trickled after them.
The tengu dashed with blinding speed with sword raised. Cho blocked the strike at the last instant. She retaliated with her own blow, but the tengu blocked it deftly.
Harry, Ron, and
Hermione used every attacking spell they could think of against the ninjas,
but they seemed undeterred. Many of them dodged the attacks by jumping
so high in the air with such ease that they appeared to be defying gravity.
At this point, most of Hagrid's class was joining in the frenzy, but many of the Slytherins, including Draco, amused themselves by watching.
Neville Longbottom
watched with fear as the ninjas closed in on Harry and the others. However,
he saw that the oriental girl appeared to be holding her own. The girl
and the creature were now fighting in front of a small group of tall, thin
trees. The creature could not connect with a successful blow, but neither
could Cho. Ninjas frequently interfered with Cho and the tengu's battle,
but the tengu appeared to be annoyed with the interruptions. He instinctively
knocked them out of the way with a well-placed kick or he would stab them
himself if they ever got really annoying. Cho tried to take advantage of
the tengu when it was distracted, but she still could not injure it. The
two appeared to grow frustrated, because they started moving so quickly
that they were almost a blur. The tengu took a swipe at Cho that she barely
ducked, and then a few seconds later the tree that had been behind her
fell to the ground with a thud. Then Neville started running out of the
forest towards Hogwarts castle.
Professor Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office reading a letter from a disgruntled parent who always seemed to be complaining when Neville burst through the door.
Through pants he managed, "Professor . . Dumbledore . . McGonagall let me in . . the Forbidden Forest . . warriors in black . . attacked Hagrid . . bird-man creature . . attacking Harry and the others." He now had his hands on his knees and was trying to catch his breath.
Dumbledore acted
quickly. "Take me to them," he said. Neville left and Dumbledore followed.
Shortly after entering the hallway outside his office, Dumbledore saw Professor Severus Snape talking with Professor Minerva McGonagall. "We have an emergency," he called out to them. They followed him wordlessly.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were now uttering spells as rapidly as they could and pointing randomly at different approaching ninjas. Ron gave a ninja jelly legs, but then that ninjas started crawling with his arms towards them. Hermione said, "Accio" while pointing at a large rock lying between her and a ninja who was facing her. The rock surprised the ninja when it collided with the back of his head and rendered him unconscious.
"This is just like the movies. Right down to the funky swords," said Ron.
"Katanas," Hermione corrected.
"Well, excuse me," Ron said. He looked at her and his face went white. "Hermione, watch out!"
Small metal stars
flew from the hand of a ninja towards Hermione, and she barely dodged them
in time.
Harry had already turned his attention elsewhere. He mounted his Firebolt and rose up into the air, eyeing Hagrid. Suddenly, he dived over the heads of the ninjas to get to Hagrid, who was all alone and who could only watch.
"Hagrid, are you okay?" Harry had a concerned expression on his face.
"This is about the girl," Hagrid said solemnly. "They asked me if I knew where Cho Chang was, but I told them I didn't know. They didn't believe me, as you can see."
"Okay, Hagrid. I'm going to get you out of here. I don't think I can fit you and me on the Firebolt, but do you think you can ride it to safety?"
"I can't even get up Harry," he said. "And I haven't rode a broomstick in decades.'
"I was afraid of that," said Harry.
He glanced at his friends and Cho and then he saw Neville approaching with Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, and several students who must have somehow heard about the battle.
"Harry watch out!" Hagrid's voice surprised Harry. He turned around and was then immediately punched in the stomach by a ninja. Harry fell to the ground in pain. He looked up at the ninja, who had a solemn expression on his face while waiting for Harry to get up and fight back. Harry got up quickly and started flailing his arms as best as he could. The ninja mocked him by deftly blocking every move without trying to attack. In the middle of this battle, Harry smiled. "Gotcha," he said simply.
The ninja turned around and received a big punch in the jaw from Hagrid. The ninja slumped to the ground unconscious.
"Ah'm more use
to ya here, anyway," he said with a smile.
Cho finally hit
the tengo with a deft kick to the stomach. She then kicked him again with
a kick that resembled a cartwheel. The tengu reeled back, seething with
anger. He then retaliated with a combination which included a whirlwind
of sword slashes and feints and then he swiftly ducked and tripped Cho
with a powerful sweep kick. Cho fell down to the ground. The tengu raised
his sword with two hands and prepared to take Cho's life.
In chapter 3, the tengu goes for the kill and we learn more about the tengu and the ninjas.
Info on tengus from: http://members.dencity.com/MythicalCreatures/frames/creatures/index.html.
This is a great resource for mythical creature information.