Disclaimer~ J.K Rowling owns the entire Harry Potter universe, which
leaves the rest of us in awe of her and with the only comfort of borrowing
them from time to time to entertain ourselves whilst we toil endlessly for
no reason at all................ :)
Chapter 2
Ancient Creatures
"Pay attention, children." Professor Habermehl commanded gruffly from the front of the classroom. The short man reminded Hermione very vividly of Professor Flitwick. He was short and very squarely built, looking as though someone had taken a block of wood and simply set it on top of two undersized, boxy legs.
The class settled and he stumped forward, stroking his luxuriously red beard that flowed over his round stomach like a small ruby waterfall. He smiled. "Your homework..." there were a few groans from around the room, two of which had come from both Ron and Harry. "...is to research and discuss a magical creature."
He stopped and looked around the room, fixing his green eyes on several students. "However...it can't be anything that we have covered so far."
Hermoine sat forward in eager anticipation of the assignment as her two companions groaned again.
"It has to be done on an ancient creature." he looked at the two girls sitting near the front of the room. "Unicorns and dragons are acceptable...but not very challenging. Lavender...Parvati...."
The two girls smiled. "There can be no duplicates of any paper. Each student must write three scrolls on one creature. In other words...Parvati, if you write about dragons, Lavender, you'll have to write about something else. I suggest talking to your classmates and finding out who is interested in what creature." he stumped towards the blackboard and grabbed a small piece of chalk. "I've prepared a list for those of you with questions...." he looked over his shoulder at Hermione, who already had her hand in the air. She lowered it sheepishly with a slight blush as Professor Habermehl began to write.
After he finished scrawling the names of various creatures across the blackboard, he wiped his hands off on his stumpy pants legs and returned to running his hands lovingly down his beard. "As you can see here..." he indicated the board with a stubby finger. "...there are more than enough creatures to go around."
Hermione hastily began to write the list down. The bell sounded ended of class and the professor dismissed them.
The trio left the class, beginning down the halls. "Can you believe all of that?" Ron gasped in exasperation. "Honestly, just because he's the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher doesn't mean that he has to flood us with home work right off. We've only been back two days!"
Hermoine regarded Ron with an imperious glare. "Ron, you have to accept that we need to know this stuff." he rolled his eyes at Harry as she continued in her speech. "What if we were to run across one of those creatures some day? It would be useful to know what to expect. Besides, it's only three scrolls."
"Hermione's right, Ron." Harry replied, receiving a beaming smile from Hermione and a look of betrayal from Ron. "You never know what kinds of things are out there any more."
"Other than dragons or unicorns, name one thing on that board that we will ever run into." Ron argued. "These are all ancient creatures, 'mione!"
"That's not the point, Ron!" Hermione argued. Ron shook his head and Hermione frowned. "You're impossible sometimes! Well, I'm going to the library to research the creature that I've chosen. Are you coming or not?"
"I'll come." Harry stated and Ron shot him a dirty look. Harry suspected that this meant Ron would not be attending. "Which one have you chosen?" he asked her.
She frowned in thought for a moment. "I think that the Shield Guardian sounded pretty interesting. I remember reading something somewhere that mentioned them..."
"Gah!" Ron waved his arms in disgust. "I'm going back to the dorms!"
Harry and Hermione looked at each other in puzzlement and continued on to the library. When they arrived, Hermione and Harry were pleased to notice that it was not very crowded, which would leave them the majority of books in which to choose from.
Harry decided to do his on Golems, which had been thought to have been used as servants at one time. After locating a particularly large, and rather dusty, tome on the subject...he joined Hermione at the large table. Harry laid the book down as carefully as he could on the table and began to leaf through the contents page.
He located the chapter and flipped through the book until he came to the page. There were a few artists' renderings on the page, but he didn't page any attention to them as he went down the list, naming them off.
"Stone...earth...iron...flesh...bone..." he paused and looked back at the picture of a towering mechanical wreck. It looked like a badly wrecked muggle car standing on its end. "Could you imagine a flesh golem?" he grimaced, looking down at the picture.
She looked over at the picture that Harry pointed to indicating the iron monster. "If that picture is any indication of how it would turn out, then no." she wrinkled her nose in disgust and continued to flip through the pages in her book until she found what she had been searching for.
She scanned down through the page and frowned. "It doesn't really mention anything specific about them, just looks like general information." she remarked, running through the sparse paragraphs on the subject.
"What does it say?" Harry asked, glad to take his mind off of a flesh golem lurching awkwardly at him and having to think of a spell that could possibly banish it. He shook his head slightly to clear the thought.
"Well, it does say that Shield Guardians were created by the original Heads of House in order to provide their family with a means of protection to be used as a last resort against attack." she read down further, continuing. "It also says that Guardians were completely loyal to the entire family, through the generations and would answer whenever summoned by the means of a 'token'...whatever that is."
She read straight from the text, Harry leaning over the table to see as well. The Guardians seemed a whole lot more interesting, and a whole lot less disgusting, that the golems did.
"Shield Guardians are said to have the marking of their House somewhere on their person so as to identify who they are. Guardians were often used to defend against infractions of honor..."
"Malfoy's would have had a hard time with that one..." Hary remarked quietly.
"...and sometimes assassination of Houses. Shield Guardians are created and circumstances regarding and surrounding the creation of each Guardian is different, varying from House to House." she repeated the words of the text, her words becoming more excited as she read. "The more common varieties of Guardians were often knights or depicted the House Crest, or Animal. It is important to remember that Guardians are created and have a high tolerance to magical spells. It is thought that many Guardians were only banishable by their masters, the Head of House. More common varieties of Guardians included, but were not limited to...Vikings, horses, knights, dragons, griffons...." she paused for a moment, reading down the list. "There's more here...Guardians are summoned forth from either a pendant, or other similar item of jewelry, that normally bears an insignia or symbol of the House Crest. That must be the 'token'. Guardians are considered extremely dangerous when confronted and are not to be dealt with lightly. The last known sighting of a Guardian was over three-hundred years ago when the House of Remsberg challenged the House of Dunston, by which both Houses suffered an irreparable loss."
Harry was intrigued. He wondered suddenly if his House had a Shield Guardian at one time. He mused over this thinking that if so, it must have been a stag....
"Listen to this..." Hermione said in excitement, pulling Harry from his revelry with a start. "The destruction of a House does not imply the loss of the Guardian. It is not known what exactly happens to the Guardian, other than it is released from servitude. Let it be noted while this has not been known to have occurred, that a Guardian that has been released from servitude in this manner would be considered extremely dangerous as there is no one to control it."
Hermoine and Harry looked at each other and she smiled. "Do you think it's possible that they still exist?" Harry asked, craning his head to see if an illustration had been left on the page.
"Harry, this was centuries ago." Harry still looked doubtful. "If even they did still exist, they would be forgotten about. It states here that Guardians have not even been seen in centuries."
Harry shrugged in indifference. "Stranger things gave happened."
no reason at all................ :)
Chapter 2
Ancient Creatures
"Pay attention, children." Professor Habermehl commanded gruffly from the front of the classroom. The short man reminded Hermione very vividly of Professor Flitwick. He was short and very squarely built, looking as though someone had taken a block of wood and simply set it on top of two undersized, boxy legs.
The class settled and he stumped forward, stroking his luxuriously red beard that flowed over his round stomach like a small ruby waterfall. He smiled. "Your homework..." there were a few groans from around the room, two of which had come from both Ron and Harry. "...is to research and discuss a magical creature."
He stopped and looked around the room, fixing his green eyes on several students. "However...it can't be anything that we have covered so far."
Hermoine sat forward in eager anticipation of the assignment as her two companions groaned again.
"It has to be done on an ancient creature." he looked at the two girls sitting near the front of the room. "Unicorns and dragons are acceptable...but not very challenging. Lavender...Parvati...."
The two girls smiled. "There can be no duplicates of any paper. Each student must write three scrolls on one creature. In other words...Parvati, if you write about dragons, Lavender, you'll have to write about something else. I suggest talking to your classmates and finding out who is interested in what creature." he stumped towards the blackboard and grabbed a small piece of chalk. "I've prepared a list for those of you with questions...." he looked over his shoulder at Hermione, who already had her hand in the air. She lowered it sheepishly with a slight blush as Professor Habermehl began to write.
After he finished scrawling the names of various creatures across the blackboard, he wiped his hands off on his stumpy pants legs and returned to running his hands lovingly down his beard. "As you can see here..." he indicated the board with a stubby finger. "...there are more than enough creatures to go around."
Hermione hastily began to write the list down. The bell sounded ended of class and the professor dismissed them.
The trio left the class, beginning down the halls. "Can you believe all of that?" Ron gasped in exasperation. "Honestly, just because he's the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher doesn't mean that he has to flood us with home work right off. We've only been back two days!"
Hermoine regarded Ron with an imperious glare. "Ron, you have to accept that we need to know this stuff." he rolled his eyes at Harry as she continued in her speech. "What if we were to run across one of those creatures some day? It would be useful to know what to expect. Besides, it's only three scrolls."
"Hermione's right, Ron." Harry replied, receiving a beaming smile from Hermione and a look of betrayal from Ron. "You never know what kinds of things are out there any more."
"Other than dragons or unicorns, name one thing on that board that we will ever run into." Ron argued. "These are all ancient creatures, 'mione!"
"That's not the point, Ron!" Hermione argued. Ron shook his head and Hermione frowned. "You're impossible sometimes! Well, I'm going to the library to research the creature that I've chosen. Are you coming or not?"
"I'll come." Harry stated and Ron shot him a dirty look. Harry suspected that this meant Ron would not be attending. "Which one have you chosen?" he asked her.
She frowned in thought for a moment. "I think that the Shield Guardian sounded pretty interesting. I remember reading something somewhere that mentioned them..."
"Gah!" Ron waved his arms in disgust. "I'm going back to the dorms!"
Harry and Hermione looked at each other in puzzlement and continued on to the library. When they arrived, Hermione and Harry were pleased to notice that it was not very crowded, which would leave them the majority of books in which to choose from.
Harry decided to do his on Golems, which had been thought to have been used as servants at one time. After locating a particularly large, and rather dusty, tome on the subject...he joined Hermione at the large table. Harry laid the book down as carefully as he could on the table and began to leaf through the contents page.
He located the chapter and flipped through the book until he came to the page. There were a few artists' renderings on the page, but he didn't page any attention to them as he went down the list, naming them off.
"Stone...earth...iron...flesh...bone..." he paused and looked back at the picture of a towering mechanical wreck. It looked like a badly wrecked muggle car standing on its end. "Could you imagine a flesh golem?" he grimaced, looking down at the picture.
She looked over at the picture that Harry pointed to indicating the iron monster. "If that picture is any indication of how it would turn out, then no." she wrinkled her nose in disgust and continued to flip through the pages in her book until she found what she had been searching for.
She scanned down through the page and frowned. "It doesn't really mention anything specific about them, just looks like general information." she remarked, running through the sparse paragraphs on the subject.
"What does it say?" Harry asked, glad to take his mind off of a flesh golem lurching awkwardly at him and having to think of a spell that could possibly banish it. He shook his head slightly to clear the thought.
"Well, it does say that Shield Guardians were created by the original Heads of House in order to provide their family with a means of protection to be used as a last resort against attack." she read down further, continuing. "It also says that Guardians were completely loyal to the entire family, through the generations and would answer whenever summoned by the means of a 'token'...whatever that is."
She read straight from the text, Harry leaning over the table to see as well. The Guardians seemed a whole lot more interesting, and a whole lot less disgusting, that the golems did.
"Shield Guardians are said to have the marking of their House somewhere on their person so as to identify who they are. Guardians were often used to defend against infractions of honor..."
"Malfoy's would have had a hard time with that one..." Hary remarked quietly.
"...and sometimes assassination of Houses. Shield Guardians are created and circumstances regarding and surrounding the creation of each Guardian is different, varying from House to House." she repeated the words of the text, her words becoming more excited as she read. "The more common varieties of Guardians were often knights or depicted the House Crest, or Animal. It is important to remember that Guardians are created and have a high tolerance to magical spells. It is thought that many Guardians were only banishable by their masters, the Head of House. More common varieties of Guardians included, but were not limited to...Vikings, horses, knights, dragons, griffons...." she paused for a moment, reading down the list. "There's more here...Guardians are summoned forth from either a pendant, or other similar item of jewelry, that normally bears an insignia or symbol of the House Crest. That must be the 'token'. Guardians are considered extremely dangerous when confronted and are not to be dealt with lightly. The last known sighting of a Guardian was over three-hundred years ago when the House of Remsberg challenged the House of Dunston, by which both Houses suffered an irreparable loss."
Harry was intrigued. He wondered suddenly if his House had a Shield Guardian at one time. He mused over this thinking that if so, it must have been a stag....
"Listen to this..." Hermione said in excitement, pulling Harry from his revelry with a start. "The destruction of a House does not imply the loss of the Guardian. It is not known what exactly happens to the Guardian, other than it is released from servitude. Let it be noted while this has not been known to have occurred, that a Guardian that has been released from servitude in this manner would be considered extremely dangerous as there is no one to control it."
Hermoine and Harry looked at each other and she smiled. "Do you think it's possible that they still exist?" Harry asked, craning his head to see if an illustration had been left on the page.
"Harry, this was centuries ago." Harry still looked doubtful. "If even they did still exist, they would be forgotten about. It states here that Guardians have not even been seen in centuries."
Harry shrugged in indifference. "Stranger things gave happened."