The students heard the sounds of the attack starting and ran faster to the first floor. Owen was in the lead trying to sense a door leading down. He didn't find a door. The entire castle was more carved rather than built and the walls were smooth stone. It was because the walls were so seamless that he almost missed a door. He stopped in front of the opening and cancelled his spell only to see a wall in front of him.
Angela motioned them all to stand next to her and they all felt the floor fall away from them and slam back against their feet. The other three beamed at her before Owen led the way telling them in quiet whispers what lay ahead.
Chapter 16 Evanescent Truth
Harry walked down the hall to two sets of double doors that branched off to the right and left. His mind wasn't on where he was going as much as the prophecy the boy Mathew made. It was likely that if the prophesy was true; there was a high possibility it meant that he and his team would all die here. He shut out the thought and proceeded into the ante chamber that had opened up before him. A woman wearing red robes matching to the others in the room stood facing the window. A short ways from her spot at the window, a man and woman stood staring at the new guest. She turned and nodded to the man escorting Harry and he moved to take his position next to her.
"I am glad to finally meet the infamous Harry Potter. Welcome to the home of the Blood Knights." She moved from the window and walked to face Harry from a meter's distance. The flanking men stayed where they were when Cyan walked closer. "I suppose you already know this does not have anything to do with young Alice."
Harry snorted, "Should I bother to ask why me?"
Cyan smiled pleasantly. "We have come to an impasse because of you." Cyan turned and began to walk to the book shelf against the wall. "You see, we knew we would have to deal with you at some point in the future. However, we never thought you would appear now of all times." Harry listened patiently but guardedly. "Can you imagine how we felt after eight years of plotting, then an additional four years of positioning for our coup d'etat to be disrupted by one single man?"
Harry nodded. "Me just being in the magical world again changed your plans didn't it?"
Cyan smiled, "A man with scope," She nodded a yes then said lightly. "It's rare to see anyone with such insight Mr. Potter." She scanned through the book and found what she was looking for. "What I have here is a History of the Magical government from its inception two hundred years ago and for nearly a century before then when it was run by the hierarchy of Britain." She smiled at him when he raised an eyebrow. "Do you know that a pattern can be found of Britain's magical government? It happens when a stagnant government is over thrown only to be replaced by a new one. Do you know how often this happens?"
Harry who had listened patiently shook his head carefully not removing his gaze from her. "Every two hundred to two hundred and fifty years. Between three and five generations if you think about it. I think that is very sad." Cyan closed the book and placed it back in the shelf. "I think it is time for a government to be in place that will not stagnate or become over thrown and let the cycle continue."
Harry narrowed his eyes. He raised his arms preparing to fight. "You believe that you will make this new government, a government that will not fall or stagnate." He said as a fact.
Cyan nodded again. She truly enjoyed talking to this young man. He was patient when he needed to be and knew when to defend himself while exploring the possibilities. "I am a patriot Potter. I do this for my country, which is why I truly regret what I must do now." Cyan pulled a knife from the small of her back and pointed it at him. Cyan drew her wand and prepared to attack. The people surrounding her cast a spell that enveloped around the two.
"Do you think a barrier can hold me?" Asked Harry slightly amused.
"Not for long, but you would have to stop my attacks before you could break them." Cyan charged then.
Harry was caught off guard a moment before he dodged the knife and repelled the attacking woman with his magical aura. Cyan recovered from the buffering and pointed her wand at Harry and cast a loud explosion. Harry fell his mind reeling. He tried to stand up and barely managed not to fall back to the ground. His disorientation was real not an illusion. He felt something wet hit his neck and realized his ears were bleeding. He couldn't hear what Cyan said next. She looked at him sadly when she put away her wand and charged again with just her knife. Harry dodged and managed to fight using sensation while blocking out the rest of his disorientated senses.
0
Alice refused to ask the questions that had been risen by this woman. She tiredly slumped to the ground and sat against the wall. She had too much pride to sit on the chair they had conjured for her. The silence was only broken a half hour later when a man walked in and whispered a few words to Alice's captor. Jocelyn smiled and said to Alice. "It looks like your cavalry is here." Alice looked up at that hopeful that she would get out of here soon. The woman smirked. "Don't be too happy yet. There is a reason why he needs to be here."
Alice stood up. "Why?"
"Do you really think that we could allow someone as strong as Potter to run around free?" The older woman asked.
Alice swallowed a lump in her throat. "He is the strongest wizard in the world, you can't kill him." She said confidently.
"We don't need to kill him girl. Just make him less of a threat." Jocelyn smiled. "Well, with our little army wiped out," Jocelyn leaned forward in her seat to simulate a shared secret. "We have to go on our contingencies. Like it really matters in the end anyway, they would have all died, by the ministries hand or ours. We just needed a reason to show Cyan in a new light, one where she stood in the place of a missing hero and a noble martyr."
Alice eyed the woman before what she said made sense. "Minister Grangers' assassination attempt…"
Jocelyn grinned. "With that witch out of the way, Cyan could have killed that little red army and become a heroine. It would have given her enough political backing to be the next minister." Jocelyn smiled at the idea.
"Then all of this is just a power play on politics?" Alice huffed indignantly.
Jocelyn laughed happily. "Of course! How else do you expect to change the world? Fools who want power die quickly. None of us want power for its sake. What we want is to change the world. Think of it Alice Niete… No more restrictions on magic… an open forum with the noble and lesser races… no more caste system... just a person and their own self worth. The muggles got one thing right and they had to find it through hundreds of years of blood shed. Cyan has enough scope to see that we don't have to."
Alice looked away from the woman. She had agreed there were many problems that needed to be fixed. Finally Alice asked, "What about me? Why was I treated that way if Cyan is so noble?" Alice felt a sting to her eyes when she asked this. Had her own suffering been something that could have been avoided? What about her parents? A sudden deluge of questions appeared in her mind and her impulsive demands were cut off quickly by a laughing Jocelyn.
"Well you have me to thank for that. I never did get along well with your mother and father." Jocelyn seemed to drift for a moment when she said, "How could they so easily be self-righteous one moment, and forget what they did the next. What kind of person so easily sees the wrongs of the world and never the wrongs in front of them?" Jocelyn looked to Alice who looked much more like her mother than Jocelyn realized. The older woman shuddered at Alice's glare. It truly was like Alice's mother. Jocelyn hardened against the glare. "When they finally died, for which I am glad they did," Alice held back a sniff. "I had Nan take care of you to make sure their spawn suffered as much as I did." Jocelyn smiled at the girl who had been glaring at her since the Blood Knight started her rant. "Sure Cyan was livid when she found out." Jocelyn gave a weak smile at that. Alice's glare faltered. It looked like a true face of regret. It was only a flash of a moment, but it was enough for Alice to catch it. Alice wondered what was done to this woman for the first time. Jocelyn must have seen the look in Alice's face. She immediately closed off her features. She glared back at the girl with so much hate it caught the girl off guard. "It hurt when she reacted that way, although I was not really surprised. You were the last surviving heir of the Niete. Even if you two were separated by mistakes and generations, she must still consider you some kind of family." Jocelyn looked away from the girl who was becoming confused with all the information she was getting. "We decided that you were too broken to be much use later, so we left you to your aunt. Since I wasn't able to be the one to kill Catherine and Norman Niete, revenge on their daughter would have to be enough. And oh you were." Jocelyn smiled evilly at the second year. "I was so looking forward to seeing you die in that house collapse. It's a pity that your daddy was there to save you. Cyan had a time with her rants about me that time. Naturally Cyan forgave me, but I am still stuck on lowly trust building assignments like this one."
Alice sank back to the floor in front of the woman who caused her so much pain. The woman just admitted to be the one who tried to kill her last fall. Alice lowered her head and began sobbing. The second year began to question her life. Was that the only reason why she was treated that way? It was not some cruel god…. not fate having one last joke… Just a bitter woman… Some fool who hated Alice's parents. A woman who demonstrated what hate could do. Alice gritted her teeth feeling her own humiliation complete. Alice sobbed now completely broken in front of the woman responsible for it all.
"I hate you."
Alice barely whispered it. Jocelyn got out of her seat and walked to and knelt in front of Alice. She moved her hand over Alice's forehead. Alice looked up from under her bangs. "What was that girl?" She asked with a smile.
"I hate you!" A large silver arm reached out from over Alice's head and gripped Jocelyn's throat. The men that stood against the walls pulled out their wands only to drop them to cover their ears from a piercing roar.
Alice simply glared at Jocelyn. The silver arm moved and threw her towards the guards where they all crumpled against the wall. Jocelyn slowly rose with her wand in hand. Alice stood up and looked to the silver arm. It was floating bodiless there. Alice looked to the woman and understood. Alice sniffed one more time before she screamed, "I HATE YOU!" Another ear splitting roar followed her declaration. Alice's eyes turned solid violet and black hard angled lines spread down the silver arm before it moved forward with the rest of the body appearing behind it. Both fists pressed against the floor and her summon growled at the three on the other side of the room. Alice didn't look at her summon but knew exactly was it was and what its name was. "Rin." The silver, seven foot gorilla looked at Alice expectantly. Alice snarled, "Make them feel pain."
"Yes mistress." It responded in a deep male voice. Another growl left the Gorilla's mouth before it pounded the floor making the walls behind the enemy turn into hands that tried to grab a hold of Jocelyn and the two accompanying Blood Knights. Jocelyn escaped the stone hands and quickly cast reducto on the hands that held her team. Her free teammates flanked her quickly surprised that this girl was able to perform such an advanced and unknown spell.
"That's a new trick." Jocelyn noted aloud. The group charged Alice. The gorilla named Rin moved between them and fired a powerful beam hex that Alice only recognized from a book of dark magic. The light was a dark green hue sizzled through the air. It is not as painful as the cructicus although it came close, leaving the bones the hex hit crushed. The Blood Knights dodged and split around the gorilla.
Rin growled again before sweeping his arm in a wide arc towards Alice. A silver dome encircled her. He looked over to his enemy and growled at their attempt to surround him. The gorilla took several hexes that seemed to affect him for a moment before the damaged part of the body healed itself.
The gorilla ran up to the closest wizard and physically punched him. The Blood Knight flew across the room and near the door. He skidded against the floor and slowly stood up. Jocelyn shouted, "Ryan! Get help!" He nodded and exited through the door. Alice turned her head to the door and Rin cast a locking spell to it. Jocelyn looked over to the small girl.
Alice smiled and said, "That is one less idiot to think about." Rin moved his fists to the ceiling and threw his arms to the ground. The ceiling above Jocelyn began to crumble.
Jocelyn transfigured the rubble into feathers and looked to Jon who was kneeling to her left. His leg was scraped badly and was unable to walk. He murmured quietly to her. "Give me a free shot of the girl." Jocelyn ran forward and began casting spells at the silver ape. Rin absorbed the attacks and returned the spells in turn. Jocelyn managed to barely avoid a spell thrown by the gorilla before she was hit hard with a giant fist. She landed on her feet a few meters away from the summon. She stood unsteadily trying to keep consciousness. She was quickly revived by the sounds of fists meeting stone from the ape then spells pounding against the sealed door. "MOVE IT RYAN!" Jocelyn shouted.
The silver ape cast a burning hex towards Jocelyn before moving over the door to ensure it would stay locked. There was a sudden explosion and Rin turned in time to see the shield dome collapse. The second wizard he had ignored cast a breaking hex at Alice that buckled the shield. Rin didn't notice it in time to repair it before Jocelyn threw another hex to break the shield. Alice looked over to the two attackers and Rin appeared in-between them with blinding speed. Jocelyn was hit by a heavy swung arm and hit the wall. She took deep breaths trying to stay conscious again when the wall next to the door exploded.
Jocelyn smiled, relieved reinforcements were here. Ryan burst through the hole along with two witches. Their hoods were down and their faces and hair were identical. Jocelyn nodded to Ryan before allowing herself to lose consciousness. They didn't need her now that the twins were there.
Ryan looked to the only other wizard in the room and shouted after dodging a silver fist, "Jon, move already!" The other wizard grimaced trying to move with his injured leg. He gave up on it and pointed his wand at the ape. Jon moved his wand in a slow series of movements until they sped up to flicks his wrist made. "äschern Sie ein!" A ball of fire burst from his wand flying towards the ape.
Rin raised his hands to block the fire and was thrown across the room. He roared in pain.
The twin girls saw the Alice was unprotected and moved their wands in unison. Their tips touched each other when they shouted, "Stupefy!" The spell illuminated the room for a moment before it broke through the shields around Alice. Alice was knocked unconscious from the spell and flew into a rolling lump that stopped short of the wall. The twin girls sighed in relief when they saw the silver ape disappear.
Ryan looked to the two girls and nodded to them, "Kelly, check Jocelyn. Gwen, check Jon." The two girls nodded and ran to help their friends. Ryan sighed at the mess. "We are going to have to move out of this room." He looked at the crumbling ceiling and winced. He will have to fix that. "First things first..." Ryan walked up to Alice and checked to make sure she was not seriously injured. When he saw she wasn't, he re-stunned her and cast a blinding, hearing and silence charm on her. From what Cyan had studied of Potter, he would need at least two of these senses to perform a summoning. While Alice was not Potter she was using a skill that only he would know. Hopefully the same limitations apply.
Ryan levitated Alice's unconscious body and looked over to his friends. Jocelyn smiled sheepishly. "I guess I had that coming didn't I?"
Ryan shook his head and began leaving the room. "Idiot."
0
Neville saw another one of the enemy Blood Knights fall. He knew exactly who they were and what they must have planned. The Blood Knights were an elite group of dark witches and wizards that had more influence in France and Germany than in Great Britain. While many of their moves were not publicly known, Cho had a few good spies that were able to observe their movements for the past three years. Cho had shared her speculation on what they might have done, but it was still a surprise they would make such a bold move after years of being so careful. He dodged two more hexes and several vines grew along his arm. Thorns hardened along his forearm and he cast several shielding charms. Neville saw three hexes fly towards Susan and he stood in front of them and used his thorn guard arm to deflect the spells towards the second floor and away from the others. He smiled slightly as Susan began to forget the rest of the world and moved on her own accord.
"Defense point!" He and George Weasley, the only other conscious team member took opposite sides of Susan and began to fire hexes to anyone who dared fire at her. A group that nearly killed Fleur advanced on them and began to concentrate their efforts on attacking Susan after she healed George's twin. Neville looked to his left on the opposite side of the room and saw his wife, Cho, handling a group of three attackers alone. Her team was all on the ground with five Blood Knights with them. "Fred back up Cho. When you win, flank our position." Fred charged passed a witch who was fighting against Severus and threw a small bubble at the woman. She promptly turned into a kitten and he jumped over her to get to Cho.
0
Susan dodged another spell not liking this turn of events. After several of her team mates fell to injuries, she healed them. It was the reason why she was being deliberately targeted now. Shen threw webs that turned into walls around Susan to protect her. They would only last a hex before they fell. She looked around the haze and saw the group protecting her. When she was hit with the first deliberate hex that was to try and kill her, she was surrounded by a few of the Raiders on the first floor. It was still not easy to dodge and deflect so many spells going towards her direction.
She silently thanked Harry for all those damn drills from hell he had her go through. It was the only thing that kept her alive. It was so ingrained into her to simply act on instinct she allowed her body to move where it needed to. She no longer was able to attack or think of healing others. Stay alive a little longer. Susan closed her eyes, knowing that using them would make her delay her instinctual impulses. She had long ago used sensation to feel what direction the hex's were coming from. She would move her hips one way, arms in another, bend her body around hexes that would surely kill her. Shen was the last defense she had. He spun web from her shoulder to create walls strong enough to block the powerful spells aimed at her. When Susan ran out of room to dodge he would shoot a string of web to the floor and pull him and her to it, effectively pulling her out of the dangerous area. Susan allowed her body to move around the forces of her instinct, sense of magic, and the trust in her summon to live a moment longer. She had a smile on her face and was at peace with trust she laid on the Raiders and on herself.
For those who did not know Susan Bones, they would have wondered why she was dancing in the middle of a full blown battle and question if she really was. Those who did know her understood that she was indeed dancing; it was something she did to instinctually gather herself. Susan needed to stay alive. It was hard to accept that her life was more valuable than the rest. Susan was the healer. Susan danced not to stay alive longer for herself. She danced and moved to avoid dieing so that others, who may die, might get a second chance if she helped them. The calming peace of acceptance is what the smile on her lips meant. Every single member of the Raiders knew that if Susan could have it any other way, she would never have wanted to be the most important person in the group. She was more important than the team leaders and even more important than Harry. This small amount of empathy Susan gained was the reason she could understand some of the strain Harry was under for most of his life. It was only during this time that she could truly be at peace with how unfair Harry's life had been and how she may take a small bit with her.
0
Liam Delphnik was irritated. He knew that these people would be exceptionally good at fighting but did not think they would have held against his own small army. The one who irritated him the most was their healer who had done nothing after her initial attack than heal her team and dodge his attacks. "I need fire!" Liam said to his left. Another wizard with brown shaggy hair fired an incindio spell in front of Liam.
Liam waved his wand quickly in several quick slashes and flicks and the fire pooled into a sphere. With one final slash, the fire ball hit the ground and snaked around the healer. The fire turned into a blazing wall that forced the girl to open her eyes. Liam smiled glad to see she was taking this attack seriously. She looked strait at him and pointed her wand at Liam. The spider on her shoulder disappeared and Liam turned his head to look for it. He stopped when he saw the fire wall disappear only to reappear around him. He saw the fire about to expand to fill the whole area and cast an ice wall around him to protect himself from the inferno. It held enough for him not to be scorched. He wiped sweat off his forehead and blocked an attack spell that was aimed at him absently. He looked at the woman again and the spider was at her side. The healer smiled slightly before her wand flicked directly up. Liam lost his footing as the floor directly beneath him began to quake. He saw the rocks from the floor he stood on fly with bone breaking velocity towards the ceiling. He dodged a few in the first few moments only to have his arms and knee hit hard by the large pieces of stone seconds later. He could no longer move as well as when he started the fight and surveyed his body quickly. Liam raised his wand to the woman again. She smiled and did a wide cutting off wave with her wand. Liam only now remembered the stones were still suspended above him when he felt the first on hit his neck and shoulder knocking him out for the duration of the fight.
0
Susan cast one final hex towards the downed enemy to ensure he stayed there. She turned and saw that each team had someone down on her floor. "Tonks, Severus, back up Luna, I'll attend the injured here." They immediately broke off their attack and Susan covered them as they ran to the entrance. Neville moved to block two pursuers that started towards the double doors.
Fred and George were able to corner four Blood Knights using a portable blizzard. Cho stayed towards the back nursing a slashed wand arm. She provided support for the twins when they needed it with her left arm. Susan had Shen move towards the twins to cast and maintain shields around them. Susan began to heal Cho's arm then moved to the others who lay on the ground. A few of them had not moved and Susan began to worry if they had died. She was relieved to see that Fleur, Ron and Katie were all just unconscious and she quickly healed Ron and Katie. Fleur was another situation. She was fully transformed into her avian form. Her wings were burnt and could not transform back without seriously hurting herself. She sported several hexes that became nasty when they were mixed. Susan immediately set a port key to St. Mungos. Fleur grabbed Susan's arm. "Tell Harry I am sorry." Fleur was unable to repress the tears of disappointment out of her eyes. Susan nodded and sent her on her way. When Susan looked up she was surprised to see that the fighting had finally stopped. With Ron and Katie back into the fighting it ended quickly with the Blood Knights outnumbered and out powered. All of the knights were wrapped tightly in vines and cuffed with Auror manacles. Susan smiled at the group who were relieved that no one was killed on either side.
Ron eyed the floor above them. There was fighting still. "We need to get up there, they shouldn't have taken this long." The group whole heartedly agreed.
0
Harry had no time to heal his ear drums. It took more energy and concentration than he thought to maintain balance using sight when his physical body was telling him to ignore the magic and simply topple over. He saw the knives were no ordinary knives that Cyan wielded. It was obvious by her attacks that whatever they would do; she only needed to scratch him. He made sure each attack cleared with inches of room to spare. He managed to throw Cyan over his shoulder and against the shield. Her slow recovery allowed him to finally heal his ears. The bleeding had stopped a time ago but Harry knew he lost a lot of blood since his head was still spinning slowly. He was finally able to catch his breath.
Harry felt fatigue grip him from the strain of maintaining sensation, dodging and staying balanced and awake at the same time. It was a huge burden that was lifted when he was able to heal is ears and restore his balance. "Is this all you have Cyan?" He asked humorlessly.
"Just a few more tricks, if that is alright with you." She charged low and from the right making deliberate and slowly calculated slashes and thrusts.
Harry dodged the knives and said, "You said you were sorry for what you had to do." Cyan did not let his voice disrupt her while he spoke but Cyan recognized honesty when she heard it. "I am sorry too. If things were different, I might have supported you." Harry thought of his curse. Cyan nodded her head in acknowledgement. Harry dodged several more close combat moves then started returning hexes to her knife thrusts. "But it is too late now. The government may not be perfect and a few corrupt politicians may have entered into the system. But that doesn't mean that both statements are true for the entire government. Besides..." Harry thought of Hermione, Cho and Tonks and people he knew these women trusted that worked in the Ministry. "I have a vested interest in the success of this administration." Harry raised his right hand to Cyan who was finally hit with a weak impedemente. Cyan was moving slowly and in her time was raising her wand to fire on Harry immediately. Harry used the time to move his hand in several quick motions. He raised his fast moving hand towards Cyan who was knocked through the shattered dome. "Your desire to better this country will only seek to weaken it more than it is now!"
Cyan got up and her wand flew to her grasp ready for another attack. The knives were uselessly a distance away on the floor. "I am sorry neither of us can convince the other Harry." Said Cyan. Harry noticed the change from Potter to Harry. "I just know that there is only so much peace time the people can benefit from before the people stagnate again. I want to break this cycle of life style and see a new country where self worth is more important than what the mob decides on whim." Cyan's group began their attack again inviting Harry to spread his attention between the individuals who were attacking him.
"I hope some day Cyan that we can both agree on this matter." Harry said solemnly. He fired several hexes towards the people in the room who had done nothing earlier but were now attacking him.
"I am glad we came to this understanding." Cyan recovered her knives and began to get closer to him to use them.
0
Owen waved for his friends to come up. They had heard the explosions and started moving towards them a few minutes ago. The lower floors were a labyrinth. It was only thanks to Owens' wide range of Sensation that they were able to navigate the halls. They cautiously looked at the room that had a whole next to the door. The group relaxed slightly when no one was there. "What do you suppose happened here?" asked Bruce. They all shook their heads.
Owen continued to look ahead. "Another hall down, I actually see some people." The group approached in a single file wands raised.
They heard whispering and stood next to the room and listened.
"What do we do with the girl?" A man's voice chuckled out. "We can't just leave her sensory deprived."
"This isn't funny Ryan. We can remove the hearing and vision charms. She just won't be able to yell at us. From what I saw, she needed to verbally tell the ape instructions." There were a few grunts at that.
Owen Pam Bruce and Angela looked at each other in surprise. Pam's turtle stood next to them and immediately integrated with Pam. The four teens became invisible. They all nodded and the others performed sensation to see each other and where the wizards who kept Alice were in the room. They silently chose a target and they moved out.
"I don't want to revive her. Let's let her wake up on her own." The group of blood Knights head several shouts of 'stupefy'. They all scattered and looked around for attackers.
Alice had lain unconscious the whole time and slowly began to wake up. She saw the group of Blood Knights and wondered weakly what they were doing. Alice felt a small shake of her shoulder and tried to scream in surprise only to find she couldn't speak. Panic gripped her before she forced her self to think and cast Sight. She looked up and was relieved and horrified at the same time to see Owen was standing over her. The Blood Knights were too busy looking for the invisible attackers to notice Alice. Owen hugged her tightly and Alice turned crimson when she felt a pair of lips touch her forehead. "Don't scare me like that again Alice." He said quietly. She only nodded.
Owen waved to Angela and Pam. They both walked over while Bruce kept the Blood knight busy by casting quick spells then rolling out of the way to avoid being hit by the illegal hexes that had been fired his way.
Pam stood next to Alice and smiled. Alice felt something flutter through her and realized that Pam had made her invisible as well. Angela immediately transported them to the door and waved for Bruce to follow. He started after them. "The girl is gone!" Bruce made a sprint for the girls. They raised their hands to reach for him.
The twin Blood Knights waved their wands in unison and cast, "Labi Magnus!" The five students recognized the falling magical snow.
Bruce dived to reach the group. They were all asleep before he hit the floor.
As soon as Pam fell asleep, the spell surrounded her friends was cancelled. The group of adults were amazed that such young children were able to perform so well. They looked at each other uncertainly. "What do we do now Jocelyn?"
"First lets get them bound and wake them up, we need some answers." The two men quickly bound them to the wall. Jocelyn enervated the children and they all found them selves unable to move. "So may I ask who you are, and how you got down here?"
Bruce smiled, "You can ask all day but you won't be getting an answer." Ryan and Jon smiled, but the girls scowled.
"Legilimens!" Gwen pointed her wand at Bruce only to find that he was able to repel her. She looked over to the others, "He is a skilled Occlumens. I think the others may be the same."
Jon walked over to the others. He looked at the girl who was close to his age. Her short black hair was in more random spikes than usual and he ran his hand through her hair. She shuddered, "What the hell do you think your doing?"
"Just fixing your hair. I like short hair, but it needs to be less messy."
She sneered at him. "Get away from me you perv." She tried to hit him and couldn't move her arms or legs.
The other Blood Knights chuckled. "Don't get too attached Jon, we need to interrogate them. If they got down here we need to find out what they know. Any suggestions?" Asked Jocelyn.
"Let's avoid the unforgivable. We need them to be able to function if Cyan wants to try and break their minds later." Ryan suggested.
"Noted, anything else?" No one answered. "Let's begin with illusions." The twin girls raised their wands and began to enchant the younger girl.
Angela blinked. One moment she was in the dungeon and another she was sitting with a guy she had a crush on for a long time. He smiled at her and said in a deep voice. "So tell me, how did you get into that dungeon? I can't imagine what you would do when you got there."
Angela blushed. She never had the courage to ask this guy anything and here he was interested in what she did. She smiled at him and looked into his eyes. Her smile faded. This man would never be here. Not with her. Angela knew that none of this fit. Even the sky looked fake. She felt sad that this would be the only time she would ever get this chance. She looked over to the man of her dreams and smiled. "I am sorry Harry, but this isn't real." She leaned in and kissed him before she felt herself break from the illusion. She slumped forward panting hard. She looked up to her captors with a bright blush and a smile on her face. "Sorry but you are going to have to try harder than that."
"We were trying to be kind." At that moment there was a stir on the floor. Alice was slowly waking up. "Hello Alice I trust that you slept well?" Alice just glared at Jocelyn. She was still unable to speak and slowly tried to stand up.
Ryan pushed her back to the floor. "Why don't we just keep you here?" He said half nervously.
Alice looked over to her friends sadly. They all smiled at her. "Don't worry; we'll be getting out of here."
"Not if we have anything to say about it." Jocelyn waved for Ryan to guard her while the other Blood Knights stood in front of a different child. "Nothing that is physically painful. We need them to still think after this. Anything else is fine." Each Blood Knight raised their wand to a students head and started their own illusion attack.
Alice struggle to get up and try something to help them but she was gently pushed to the ground by Ryan. "Sorry Miss Niete, but we need to know how they got here. I don't know what will become of them after this, but I can ensure you they won't die here."
Suddenly there were screams from Bruce and Pam. Alice tried to get up again but was pressed back down. A few moments later Owen and Angela joined them. Alice tried to think of anything she could do but she was unable to summon Rin without saying a word. The skill was just too new for her. She began crying while struggling against the Blood Knights grip on her shoulder. She was too small to gain much progress. Alice turned to look over to Owen who was crying. She had heard them trying to beg for things, or scream in anguish. Alice felt helpless. Owen breathed raggedly, "Not Alice! She is all I have!"
Alice began crying again. Tears streamed down her face. Neither she nor Ryan noticed that the tears did not fall off her cheek, they pooled just below her chin. Slowly an outline formed around her face. She looked over to Ryan and glared at him.
Ryan looked over to the girl who snapped her head towards him and was hit by a large fist. He stood up and shouted, "Guys break off now! I need help." He pointed his wand at the silver gorilla. The eight foot ape stood over Alice and leaned onto his fists. Alice sat underneath his body. Rin roared and the other Blood Knights broke their spells. Alice's friends slowly came to and realized that they were trapped in illusions. They all looked over at each other in relief and then to Alice. She looked over to the Blood Knights and opened her mouth in a silent scream. Rin matched it causing everyone in the room to flinch. Rin's image flickered and everyone noticed the thin outline something around Alice's face.
Alice knelt on the ground still crying. The silver beast at her side disappeared and a mask formed over her face. She stood up slowly while Jocelyn's team regrouped. Owen, Angela, Pam and Bruce struggled against the wall that they were pinned to. "Alice!" Alice ignored the calls of her name. The white mask floated over her face and three lines of black ink stood over where her eyes and mouth were. The eyes opened and black ink slid from the eyes in tears.
Jocelyn ordered her team, "Put her down! Now!" Four men and women behind her charged. Alice's mask opened its mouth in a circle before the mouth grew into jagged teeth. Alice reached out to the hexes that were fired at her. They all flew into her hands and pooled there like water. She tossed the substance aside where it fizzled out. One of the men charged the girl to physically restrain her only to be pinned to the ground right next to her.
"Ryan!" Gwen shouted. The attackers stopped and only looked at each other when their friend Ryan was under the girls grasp. The teeth of the mask grew. Alice breathed heavily before the sound changed. Ryan screamed in pain while his body was slowly being crushed into the floor. Ryan managed to look over to the girl who he had restrained earlier. The girl giggled in a childish voice, "Let's play."
Alice's friends tried to get off the wall but were still stuck to it. They all looked to each other helplessly. Alice summoned another Blood Knight whom she remembered as Jon to lay next to the first one. He began to feel pain through his body. The girls were firing hex after hex only to have those spells flicker into sparks as they neared the girl.
"What is she doing? Is that her integration?" Bruce said in an awed voice.
Angela shook her head. "No, integration is when the summon enters and shares the same body. Whatever she is doing isn't integration."
One of the twin Blood Knights was flown to sit next to the two laying men. The twin was resisting far better than the two men could. She was finally slammed to the floor where she felt a sickening crack from her arm. Alice giggled when she heard the scream from the twin. "This is fun."
Authors Note: Finally satisfied with this chapter after weeks of milling around and not doing it and to write some and rewrite most of it these past two evenings. The next chapter only has a little written so I am not sure when the next update will be. On the other hand I am almost done with midterms leaving me a few extra days to finish up the story. Hopefully I can get it wrapped up by the end of March! Well here's hoping.
DarkHuntess: Thank you for the review.
atlantis-rob: lol I am sure you were waiting to catch up to that teaser too. The next one won't be at the very end. I think. hee
zero-skillz: Thanks for the support, i am in the middle of mid terms right now, and finally got over the hard writing block that was this chapter. The last few chapters should hopefully be done by the end of the month.
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spoiler space.
Preview Chapter 17 Magnum Opus
"Your plan comes at too high a price Cyan." Harry felt the magic of the castle fall apart. He was only vaguely aware that Alice had something to do with it. "I can't let it end like this." He stepped away from her and raised his arms to his sides. Spikes of stone circled him. A loud crack followed and Harry was encased in a stone spike.
Susan recognized the spell. "Oh god... Raiders your portkeys!" All the Raiders left with out question except for her. She looked over to the unconscious Angela who was being carried on Bruce's back. "My portkey can only care four people."
Pam looked at her friends and then to Alice. Alice didn't look away from Susan. "I am staying with you."
Pam and Owen began to argue when Alice stunned her friends. Bruce caught Pam before she hit the floor and found himself carrying two women. Alice smiled to her stunned boyfriend. She kissed him before she moved him to lean against Bruce. Susan placed the necklace portkey around the only conscious boy's neck. "This will take you to Hogwarts." She then looked to Alice. "You sure about this?" Alice nodded. Susan activated the portkey and the four friends left with out her.
The castle began shake and a black dome encircled the whole cliff. "Susan, what is this?"
Susan smiled weakly. Cyan had her men gather from around the castle and started to attack the rock spike that protected Harry. "This is Ender. Harry's spell that massacred the people of Clavis."
Alice sighed weakly. She took her surrogate mothers hand. "He doesn't know that we are here does he?"
"When Harry enters that spike column he can't even use sensation to see we are here. He won't know until after he kills us."
A voice came from stone spike. "MAGNUM OPUS!"
