The Wizard Returns
Chapter Eight
-dutchtulips-
Within the temple, near one the entryways, a black haired man bent over to pick up the Bracelet of Arana, which Jordan had carelessly tossed away. His eyes aglow, Snape snatched up the wristlet and turned around, dashing down a staircase leading into another chamber.
Elsewhere in the golden pyramid, Lord Jaakko was striding regally down the limestone staircase in an adjoining room. The lovely Cat-a-la-lina was at his side, the brass-hinged Book of the Dead tucked under her arm.
Reaching the bottom, the regenerated mummy did not see a large golden crest of a dragon at the base of the stairs, and therefore stepped right on it. Energy surged through him, crackling, seizing the copper-skinned man by a spasm.
Cat-a-la-lina, whom had not stepped on the crest, hopped to one side, watching in horror as Jaakko howled in rage, the blue bolts of energy pulsating through him.
And then, as if a switch had been turned off, the commotion abruptly ceased, leaving the regenerated mummy leaning against a nearby column. The paramour jumped forward. "What happened, my love?"
He raised his arms as if to lift the column he was leaning against, but it only wobbled and then completely refrained from moving altogether. He let out a breath. "It seems as if the great god Arana has taken my powers from me. I believe he wishes for the Dragon King and myself to fight as equals."
Cat-a-la-lina could only stare at her lord.
~*~
Ron kneeled to his son's level, and hugged Jordan tightly. They didn't exchange any words this time; both knowing what the other was thinking and feeling. When the youngster finally let go, his father looked at him for a moment, and said simply, "Stay here."
He got to his feet. Merely nodding curtly to Fred and George, Ron clutched his scimitar and started for the pyramid. As the twins watched, both of them had never seen before the cold fury in their younger brother's eyes. It was such a stone-hard expression that it made them almost feel sorry for who would be on the receiving end of Ron's vengeance.
Almost.
~*~
Jaakko and Cat-a-la-lina strode up a corridor and into a small clearing, where up ahead was an eerie, mist-shrouded doorway. He tossed off his cloak. "I must face the Dragon King alone!"
"No!" Cat-a-la-lina exclaimed. "Without your powers he might kill you!"
He plucked the obsidian book from her hands. "It matters not! It is our destiny!"
"NO!" She yelped, slamming the book on a pedestal behind her. Cat-a-la-lina flung herself into Jaakko's arms. "I don't want to lose you again."
They kissed deeply, she sealing it with desperation. He broke away suddenly and dashed through the doorway with the paramour yelling after him, "Niiiy!"
~*~
Snape, who was now wearing the Bracelet of Arana, was walking slowly through the golden chambers. Soon, he was in the key room itself, and a large bas-relief dragon was sculpted into the wall.
A large round hole was in the center - Snape could only guess. Without hesitating, he shoved his arm up through the hole and turned it, as if it truly were a key. And then suddenly a hissing sound emanated from within, washing the entire temple in flashing gold.
Not too far away, Ron was approaching, and he could see Snape with his arm up the hole in the center of the bas-relief dragon. Snape saw him as well, and yelled out, "You're too late, Weasley! I have released the Army of Arana! Lord Jaakko shall soon take command!"
Ron grimaced and pulled out his scimitar. "Not after I get through with him."
Suddenly, from within the keyhole, something grabbed Snape's arm hard, as if trying to suck it deeper into the hole. He screamed loudly, and a few moments later withdrew his arm to reveal nothing but some fragments of bone, which was what was left of his hand, and the bracelet gone.
Ron backed out of the key room, heading down another corridor, in search of just one particular regenerated mummy.
~*~
Fred, George, and Jordan were sitting in the sand; the twins on either side of the youngster, trying to restrain themselves, Jordan freely weeping quietly, face in his hands.
George, who had passed the Scepter of Ibis over to his brother, brushed the eight-year-old's shoulder. "Just try to think of it like this, Jordan. She's gone to a better place. You know, like it says in the Good Book, 'For He so loved the world -' "
Suddenly he bolted up. "The Book. . .that's it! Uncle Fred, Uncle George, that's it! The Book! The Book!" Jordan pulled them to their feet. "C'mon, get Mum!"
~*~
Beyond the lushly green Yané Seek, the desolation of the desert waited, and below the Sahara sun also waited three thousand Auror warriors on hippogriffs. Their twelve commanders were perched in the front, lingered.
Residing among them was the Auror chieftain, Harry Potter. As he and the others drew their scimitars, there was a slow rumbling, and a second later, nearly a thousand dog-headed warriors spewed from the sands. With that, thousands of hippogriffs raced forward, ready for the battle ahead.
~*~
Moving down a tunnel-like golden corridor within the pyramid were Fred, who was carrying the Scepter of Ibis, George, who was carrying the lithe form of Hermione, and Jordan, holding his lit wand in front and leading the way.
"You realize this can only be performed by someone who can read in ancient Egyptian," Fred said softly.
Jordan didn't answer. When they reached a fork in the corridor, the youngster suddenly waved his wand above him, and then proclaimed, "We go right."
"How do you know?" George inquired.
The eight-year-old pointed to a set of hieroglyphics on the wall above. "See that there? Basically, it says 'This way to the Dragon King.' " He paused and glanced over at Hermione. "Mum taught me." Without hesitating, Jordan started down passageway.
Fred and George glanced at each for a moment, and said in unison, "This just might work."
~*~
Ron, scimitar at the ready, was now creeping into an anteroom, which was brilliantly gold as well. He could hear a loud gong from somewhere further in the chamber, and decided to chance his way in further. Jaakko was there, wherever 'there' was, and Ron was going to make him pay. Hermione was dead. . .and it was all that creature's fault.
The fury in him increased as he slipped into the next chamber. He could see Jaakko there, across a wide moat, banging a large mallet against a vast bronze gong. Ron made a run for it, taking a flying leap over the moat. Immediately when he landed, the limestone floor shook.
Jaakko directly halted from hitting the gong and stared directly at Ron. The redhead didn't waste any time; he dove forward, driving his scimitar forward. Jaakko immediately reacted; he swung the mallet up to block the blow.
Ron, sweat beading at his brow, viciously veered his scimitar back up again, straining to knock the mallet from his opponent's hands. A heartbeat later, both weapons went sailing from their owners hands and into the moat.
Ron simply looked back at the regenerated mummy and threw a right hook into his face. The force sent Jaakko sprawling into a statue. He reached up and drew a dirk from the statue's arms and started forward. The redhead jumped backward where another statue resided, and snatched its dirk as well. He swung it outward, catching the first of Jaakko's heavy blows.
~*~
Fred, George, and Jordan had just slipped from the passageway and crept into a small clearing, where a dark-haired woman stood, her back to them, standing in front of a creepy doorway, staring in. Quietly as a mouse, George lowered Hermione's lifeless form on the limestone floor some ways away, and rejoined Fred. Jordan hung back, waiting for the right moment.
"Hey, you wench! Come'ere and take your medicine!" Fred shouted at the woman.
Cat-a-la-lina twirled around, her black hair swinging behind her. She stared at the twins for a moment, who were slowly advancing on her. She stepped forward, away from the pedestal where she'd put The Book of the Dead, and a moment later, Jordan popped up from behind it and grabbed the obsidian volume, sneaking off with it.
The paramour suddenly lashed out with a roundhouse kick, taking both Fred and George down. The twins scrambled back up to their feet, but the expert warrior, from nowhere, swung a large spear at them. In a futile effort, Fred took out the Scepter of Ibis and veered it hard against Cat-a-la-lina's spear.
"Hurry up, Jordan!" George yelled out.
Across the room, sitting next to his mother, Jordan had The Book of the Dead opened wide and spread across his lap. His fingers traced over the hieroglyphics as he read words from the ancient tongue. "Hootash naraba oos Veesloo," the youngster read diligently. "Ahm kum ra. . .Ahm kum dei. . ."
Fred had managed to swat the spear from Cat-a-la-lina's hands, but not before she'd slashed both him and George across the chest, leaving a band of scarlet. Despite the pain, Fred grinned as he watched the spear spin out of sight.
But the battle wasn't over yet. From a nearby statue, Cat-a-la-lina withdrew two hand tridents and charged forward, ready to open the twins' wounds wider. Fred still had the scepter, and he jumped forward to try and bat her new weapons away as well. George, however, was unarmed and leapt back in desperation.
Jordan's voice suddenly could be heard. "Efday Shokran. . .Efday Shokran. . ." He sighed in disgust. "Uncle Fred! Uncle George! I don't know what this last symbol is!"
George had managed to find the lost spear, and had dived forward alongside Fred. He yelled out, adding a blow to the paramour's trident, "What does it look like?"
The eight-year-old stared at it a moment. "It's a big bird - you know, like a stork!"
Cat-a-la-lina, who had been winning the fight, suddenly fell short as her wide swing missed, allowing Fred to yell out, "Ahmenophus!"
Jordan looked back at the hieroglyphics and his eyes lit up. "That's it! Efday Shokran Ahmenophus!" He glanced up from the book and down at his mother, and the boy's eyes grew wider as a golden glow emitted from Hermione.
Meanwhile, the paramour had knocked George's spear away and was just diving forward towards both he and Fred, ready to spill their blood from her tridents, but abruptly someone snatched her arms and yanked her backwards, pulling Fred and George out of harm's way.
The twins got to their feet and looked to see who had saved them, and was shocked when their eyes landed on - Hermione! Her silk white robes were torn here and there and her hair was somewhat askew, but the wound in her stomach was gone - and there she was, alive as day!
Sneering at Cat-a-la-lina, Hermione said, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
The paramour, shocked to see her alive, bent over to retrieve her weapons as Hermione turned to the twins and Jordan. "Fred, George. Take Jordan - go and help Ron."
"But -"
"No. Do as I say." Hermione reached over to another statue and plucked a pair of tridents for herself. Staring at Cat-a-la-lina, she said firmly, "I'll be just fine."
The trio trotted off into the gloomy doorway ahead, leading into the next cavern, with Jordan exclaiming, "We did it! We did it!"
"Jolly good show!" Fred said with a grin. "Now let's go help your dad!"
~*~
Ron felt winded but knew he couldn't give up. With every blow he struck against Jaakko, he thought of how glad he'd be when it was all over, and felt renewed determination. But Ron was lastly starting to wear down. Mind over matter was beginning to feel futile.
Jaakko crashed his dirk against Ron's, and the force sent the redhead backwards and against a column. He groaned from the pain, but as the regenerated mummy strode towards him, Ron jumped up and, pain forgotten, swung his dirk viciously foward, this time knocking Jaakko backwards.
The battle raged on. At one point, Jaakko hopped backwards, avoiding a blow of Ron's, and said, in ancient Egyptian, "So you wish to kill me? You wish to take control of Arana's army and sent them back to the Underworld? This I cannot allow." He swung his weapon hard.
Ron caught it, using all of his strength to force the mummy back again. Locked in grapple, dirks pressed against each others, the battle continued to commence, but not for long. . .as the wooden doors ahead burst themselves open, and a cloud of black vapor emitted from within. . .
. . .And a dark hued warrior suddenly appeared, its top half the look of a regular man, but the lower half revealed the scaly, immense body of an extremely grotesque reptile, and alas, the Dragon King really was a dragon.
Ron and Jaakko, their battle forgotten, dropped their dirks at the sight of this two-bodied beast, as it lunged forward, overseeing all that was before him.
~*~
Out beyond the oasis, the battle between the Auror warriors and Arana's troops was raging continuously. Harry, still atop his hippogriff, galloped forward, slicing his scimitar through the air and taking down Arana combatant after Arana combatant, all while the thousands of his fellow Auror knights swarmed around him, defeating the evil warriors as well.
Before long, the grim combat had lastly finished, Harry himself, taking off the head of the last Arana warrior. All around, the Auror warriors began cheering, hopping down from their hippogriffs.
Harry stooped to catch his breath, and wiped some blood from his face. He looked out among the sands, his mind still racing. It seemed to have ended earlier than he would have believed. Surely the Dragon King had something else up his sleeve. . .
A distant hum alerted Harry, and without another thought, he raced through the warriors, ahead of the procession, to see what was could be coming next. . .and his thoughts were proven correct as his sharp green eyes shot across the landscape, nearly a mile off, was another band of Arana's army careening towards them, perhaps at least six thousand combatants of the undead army.
Now it was the Aurors whom were outnumbered, and it hardly seemed to Harry that they could win this war. . .but his bravery and determination was boiled inside of him, and he raised his scimitar, yelling, as his fellow warriors roared in agreement, " 'Til death!"
~*~
Hermione and Cat-a-la-lina, like two cats, were slowly circling each other, tridents clasped in their grips. They were both waiting for the other's attack, and, seeing that this was the case, the paramour stopped, saying regally, "Maricarmen."
Hermione expertly twirled her tridents about her wrists, and held them at her hips. In the same tone, "Cat-a-la-lina."
"Good." The paramour thrashed forward, and the two continued a duel that had began over three thousand years ago. No masks, this time around, it was much more vicious. Expert blows were thrown back and forth, clangs of metal against metal from their tridents, punches, kicks, and expert dives even winding their way in. Relentlessly they fought, no prowess, nor smidgen of hatred for the other having been lost over the centuries.
Finally Cat-a-la-lina saw an opening, and shoved Hermione back against a column, tridents dimpling her throat, and smirked, saying in ancient Egyptian, "I see you have remembered the old ways."
Hermione surged up a burst of strength and head-butted the paramour. Diving forward, she exclaimed in the same language, "That's a little something new!"
A loud slam and the clang of metal sent both of Cat-a-la-lina's tridents skittering across the limestone floor, and she was left with a scarlet slash on the side of her face, courtesy of Hermione's trident.
That was when Cat-a-la-lina sprinted off and through the mist-shrouded doorway, knowing she'd been defeated. But Hermione clutched her tridents and took off after the paramour, chasing her up through the corridor and into the cavern beyond.
~*~
The Dragon King continued to sweep his vile gaze over the room, his eyes finally resting on Jaakko. But the regenerated mummy had already dashed off and, as the Dragon King advanced on him, he tossed his dirk away and sank to his knees. "I am your disciple!"
The beast stopped in his tracks, snapping his claws. Smoke drifted from his nostrils and he growled, "We shall see."
Jaakko looked over at Ron. "But he was sent to kill you!"
The Dragon King opened his mouth and a ball of red fire shot from his throat, and he took off after Ron. The redhead dropped his dirk and dashed off, as the beast was hot on his heals.
Stumbling into the cavern, almost out of nowhere, appeared Snape, moaning and clutching the remnants of his hand. He stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing Ron being chased by the immense half-dragon, half-man. The redhead dropped down from sight, leaving Snape with the Dragon King.
Without thinking twice, the beast gathered Snape into his vast claw, and crawled away up onto the wall. The black-haired man was yelling for Jaakko to save him, but the regenerated mummy didn't seem to hear. . .or care?. . .and a second later, the Dragon King was sending fragments of the Snape's corpse across the chamber.
Meanwhile, where Ron had slipped away, he had stumbled onto an obsidian wall, revealing a life sized cartouche of an Egyptian warrior, bearing the same tattoo on his wrist as Ron's!
As the redhead continued to study the mural, it showed the tattooed warrior hefting a weapon, one that Ron recognized as the Scepter of Ibis, although instead of looking like just a staff, it had been revealed as a long and sharp golden spear! As the cartouche continued, the warrior was hurling the weapon into a massive beast - whom, strangely enough, resembled the Dragon King! In the final part, the monster was hunched over on the ground, dead.
Ron's eyes were wide. "Okay. . .now I'm a believer."
"Ron!"
He dove out from the obsidian wall and immediately saw Fred, George, and Jordan, coming up fast. Yelling out to them, "Hey! That gold stick thing! You guys, it's a spear!"
Fred, who was toting the Scepter of Ibis, looked down, examining it for a moment, and shouted back, "It doesn't look like a spear!"
"That's because it opens up into one!" Ron yelled. He looked back, seeing that the Dragon King was getting closer. "Fred! It opens up. . .into. . .a spear!"
The Dragon King's claw came swiftly down, hitting Ron and sending him into some rocks. He groaned for a moment from the pain, seeing Fred and George, who were struggling to open the scepter into the spear.
Looking up into the beast's face, Ron twisted, its claw stabbing the limestone between his legs. His breath was growing ragged, he didn't know how much longer he could go on. . .
"Ron!"
His neck snapped up and he saw, in the rocky corridor, Hermione standing there.
" 'Mione?" He shouted back, hope, relief, and happiness flooding into him. She's alive, Hermione's alive! His brain screamed at him.
Feeling renewed determination, Ron leapt to his feet and dodged the Dragon King's assault, right when Jordan reached up inbetween his uncles' hands, twisted one end of the scepter to the right, and out shot a long sharp tip from both ends. The twins stared, while Jordan just looked proud of himself.
"Fred, George! Kill the Dragon King! Sent his army back to the Underworld!" Hermione exclaimed. Cat-a-la-lina took advantage of the distraction and pushed her back against the wall, Hermione's tridents slipping from her grasp.
"Stand back, Jordan!" George said, hefting the weapon, "I'm a professional!" He lobbed it forward, aiming straight for the Dragon King, but a hand deftly snatched it from the air.
Jaakko clutched the weapon, roaring in triumph. "And now the Army of Arana shall be mine!" He shouted, hurling the Scepter of Ibis directly for the Dragon King.
He and Ron were still struggling across the moat, and as Hermione screamed out for him, Ron saw the scepter flying straight for the beast. Summoning a burst of strength he didn't know he had, Ron made a fantastic leap, snatching the scepter out of the air, leaving Jaakko bellowing in rage.
The Dragon King started for Ron again, but now he had the Scepter of Ibis, and now felt as if nothing could stop him. As the beast advanced on him, backing him closer to the moat, Ron swung his arm back and sent the scepter straight up through the Dragon King, piercing his heart.
"Go to hell and take your army with you!" The redhead shouted, pushing the weapon in deeper.
Jaakko hung on the other side of the moat, screaming in fury, and did so even louder as the Dragon King exploded into a thick black vapor.
~*~
Back on the desert, where the three thousand Auror warriors and their chieftain Harry Potter waited for the onrushing army, stared on as, a second before contact with the combatants, the six thousand of them exploded into a black haze, drifting over the warriors and lastly disappearing.
The thousands of them were all quiet for a long moment, contemplating what had happened, but Harry had already erupted into a triumphant cry, happy and amazed to be alive, and even more happy and amazed that the Army of Arana was gone at last.
~*~
All at once, in the cavern below were the party was residing, the whole place began quaking violently, throwing gigantic boulders from the ceiling and bringing down statues that were against the walls.
Two hands suddenly slapped against the rock at the edge of the moat, struggling to pull the rest of its body up. Jaakko's head emerged, and he yanked himself up desperately to try and get out of the moat, fighting against the awful quaking.
A moment later, a second pair of hands appeared - this one different, this one bearing a wedding ring on its left hand - and was doing the same as Jaakko. He strained his muscles and pulled harder, and then his head surfaced.
"Ron!" Hermione yelled as she affixed herself against the shaking wall.
Ron caught sight of her. " 'Mione! Go! Just get out of here! Take Jordan and go while you can!"
She shook her head violently. No, no! "No, Ron, no!"
"Just go!" He yelled again, and then his hand slipped.
"Hold on, Little Brother!" Fred shouted nearby.
Hermione looked over at Cat-a-la-lina, who was also looking terrified for the man she loved, Jaakko, and didn't have to think twice. She bolted from her spot on the floor, dodging massive boulders with every step and every turn, until finally, she flung her body forward and landed on her stomach, and latched onto Ron's arm, pulling him up.
When she'd finally got him to his feet, Ron grabbed Hermione quickly and pulled the two of them back against a tall column support, just nearby where the twins and Jordan stood.
Jaakko's eyes shot toward Cat-a-la-lina, who was still in the rocky crevice, and yelled out desperately, "Cat-a-la-lina! Save me, please! Please help me!"
She stared at him for a long moment as he continued with his pleas, made a move towards him, but changed her mind at the last moment and ran back up the corridor, screaming, "Niiiiy!"
Jaakko's eyes filled with despair and disbelief. "Cat-a-la-lina?" He said tearfully. Looking over at Ron and Hermione, who were still huddled together against the column, he merely let go of the crevice and plunged down into the moat.
The party of five then bolted up through the rocky corridor and flung themselves around a corner, where lush foliage and even an occasional pygmy were being sucked up through the corridors of the golden pyramid.
~*~
Meanwhile, Cat-a-la-lina - or was she Pansy now? - had bolted back up through the antechamber, taking a different route than the Weasleys. She found herself tittering at the edge of a winding moat, filled with some sort of black bog. She tried to catch herself, but it was no use. The next minute, she'd tumbled into the black pitch, and it slowly sucked her underneath its surface.
~*~
The Weasleys, who were now racing up a staircase, abruptly found themselves standing on the outside ledges of the pyramid, where they could, below them, see that The Oasis of Yané Seek was being pulled underneath the desert.
"This whole place is going to get sucked up!" Ron exclaimed. "C'mon, let's move up!"
Ron, Hermione, Jordan, Fred, and George all began to scale the tall golden outcroppings of the pyramid, climbing higher and higher as the oasis was being pulled underneath quicker and quicker.
Finally they'd reached the top, where the statue of the dragon holding the largest dimaond known to humanity in its claws, and realized that hadn't anywhere else to go.
Hermione grabbed onto her husband and her son. "Ron, we're trapped!"
The redhead, trying to catch his breath, was at a loss for words. He just hugged his family tight and prayed inside of his head.
"Oi, there, need a lift?"
Ron's neck snapped up, along with everyone else's, and saw, floating above them, Seamus in his blue dirigible.
"Hurry up, hurry up!" Seamus snapped. "I haven't got all day!"
The next moment, Ron was boosting Jordan up into the battered trawler, and then giving Hermione a hand next. He started to climb up last, alongside Fred and George, and had just gotten onboard when George accidently slipped off the side, missing the lip of the trawler, but luckily catching his ankle in the fishing net.
"Pull me up, pull me up!" He shouted to Fred, but then noticed below him, the diamond sparkling in the sunlight. "No, wait! Let me down!"
"It's not worth your life, you stupid git!" Ron yelled, helping Fred yank George back on the trawler.
"Yes, it is!" George stretched with everything he had, and finally managed to crack to diamond of its perch, just as Seamus kicked the throttle, sending the dirigible up, up, and out.
From his upside-down position, George could see the pyramid and the rest of the oasis being overwhelmed by the desert, and the next second it was completely sucked underneath the sand, and was gone.
"What, no burp?" He said facetiously.
Fred and Ron had Geroge back on the trawler a moment later, and twins went and hung at the bow, to relish in the ownership of the largest diamond in the world.
"Weasley!" Seamus shouted. "You almost got me killed!"
Ron shrugged. "At least you didn't get hexed."
The pilot didn't answer, for he was already being overwhelmed by a large hug from Hermione. "Oh, Seamus, thank you! Thank you!" She hugged him a moment longer, and then dropped off the captain's cabin to embrace Jordan.
"What have you been up to, anyways?" Seamus wanted to know.
"Oh, you know. Mummies, pygmies, big nasty dragon guy," Ron replied. He looked over the lip of the trawler, smiled, and motioned for Hermione. "Look."
Below, out on the sands, Harry was there, atop a hippogriff, smiling up at them. He clutched his heart and regally bowed his head.
Ron returned the gesture, smiling at his tattoo as he drew his hand away. Rejoining Hermione, he said, "I thought I almost lost you there."
She stared into his eyes. "For a moment, you had." She smiled as his arm went around her. "Would you like to know what Heaven looks like?"
"I already know," he whispered, leaning forward to catch her in a deep, passionate kiss.
Jordan, Fred and George all groaned, saying in unison, "Oh, please. . ."
At the wheel, Seamus throttled up, sending the blimp off into the sunset. "Half that diamond's mine you know. You took my golden staff."
Fred and George looked up. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
As they drew out a long argument, Ron and Hermione merely wrapped their arms around each other tighter, blocking out everyone else. They were indeed heroes after all.
el fin