Harry Potter and the Knights of the Roundtable
Chapter 9
Albert Murrow, a member of the Ministry of Magic security force, sighed as he sat at his post in the lobby of the Ministry of Magic building. Night shift was always the most boring time of day to be on duty and gave him plenty of opportunity to examine his life and brood about how it had turned out.
Albert had been one of the top students at Hogwarts ten years ago and had always dreamed of being an Auror. After graduation he had been accepted into the Auror Training program. Unfortunately for Albert, the training proved to be much more rigorous than he could handle and he washed out. It was then that he joined the security force that guarded the Ministry, whose training requirements were much lower than the Aurors. But even here he had had a mediocre career at best.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business." The magical voice boomed, bringing Albert out of his thoughts. His eyes widened as he turned towards the door and found himself face-to-face with ten figures, all wearing Death Eater masks. The only difference was their blood red cloaks. Albert reached for his wand, which was currently sitting in a holster attached to his right thigh. His fingers were almost on the tip of his wand when he was hit with a purple colored blast from one of the intruders' wands.
*****
Minster of Magic Cornelius Fudge stared at the Daily Prophet in disgust. The last few months the paper was filled with stories of casualties from the few Death Eater raids that had taken place, along with continuous editorials criticizing his administration for its handling of Lord Voldemort and the disappearance of Harry Potter. He had thought the return of Harry Potter to Hogwarts would have abated the criticism, but it was instead the opposite. The criticism only increased. Worse, his spies at Hogwarts had begun relaying some disturbing information to him. If it was true, it could mean the end of his career. The only saving grace was that the Potter boy seemed unaware of the complete meaning of his heritage.
The sound of an explosion brought him out of his thoughts. His face took upon a confused look as he felt the walls shake and a window shattered behind him and he was thrown to the floor. Pushing himself up, he made his way to where the window was and looked out. He gasped at what he saw. The area in front of the Ministry was filled with Death Eaters, Trolls, and Vampires. He began to tremble as the implications slowly sunk in. Hurriedly he spun around and grabbed his wand from the desk. Then he moved towards his office doors.
Just as he reached the door, it exploded, knocking him back into his desk. His head impacted the side of the desk. As he tried to shake the cobwebs from his head, he heard several pairs of footsteps come to the doorway.
"Well, if it isn't the chief fool himself." Severus Snape sneered. Fudge looked up at the figures dressed in red. The voice of the led figure sounded very familiar.
"Who are you!" he demanded, trying to put up a front of bravery. The figure laughed, and then removed his mask. Fudge gasped. "You!"
"Yes, Minister." Snape said. "I'm glad you remember me. I'd hate for you not to recognized the last face you are ever going to see. Crucio!"
*****
Harry and the Knights apparated three blocks from the Ministry. They immediately came under fire from the outer perimeter of Death Eaters that had been set up prevent reinforcements from reaching the Ministry.
"Okay Knights. This is what we've trained for." Harry said, as they took cover. "Remember, speed is your best ally. That and your swords. Don't waste time with your wands. Your swords are the only focus you need." The others nodded. Harry drew Excalibur.
"Let's go!" The Knights rushed from their positions and charged the outer perimeter of Death Eaters. Curses and hexes flew from every direction. Luckily, Harry had trained the others well; he had designed the torture circuit with just such a situation in mind.
"Slasio!" Hermione shouted, thrusting her sword towards a Death Eater ten feet to her right. The curse found its mark and ripped his chest open. He screamed and fell to the ground. She shifted to another target and fired off several more hexes.
To her left, Harry had closed with two Death Eaters and was in the process of cutting through one of them with Excalibur while backhanding the other with his fist. His first target let out a scream as the blade sliced through him and the second staggered backgrounds from the force of Harry's fist. Pulling his sword from the dying Death Eater, Harry turned to the other and fired a slashing spell at him. A moment later this opponent also fell to the ground.
Harry quickly glanced around at the battle around him and smiled. His Knights were doing an excellent job, despite being heavily outnumbered. Ron had just taken down two Death Eaters, while Ginny was finishing off her third. Neville and Cho were fighting with a group of five enemies, and were clearly holding their own. The same was true of the others.
Harry was brought out of his thoughts as he sense a spell coming towards him. He dived out of the way, the killing curse impacting harmlessly on the wall behind him. Standing up, he looked in the direction of the spell. Apparently the Knights' battle against the Death Eaters rear guard had attracted the attention of the rest of the assault force. Harry estimated approximately 100 more Death Eaters, 50 Vampires, and 12 Trolls had now turned their attention towards them and were making their way from the area outside of the Ministry.
"Looks like we've attracted some attention." Draco said as he, Moira, Eric, Jennifer and Jason came up near him. Nearby, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Cho and Neville were finishing off the remnants of the rear guard.
Meanwhile, the next wave of enemy forces was quickly closing. Harry, Draco, Moira, Eric, Jennifer and Jason immediately began firing curses at them. These found their marks, dropping several of the closest Death Eaters. The enemy kept coming. Curses flew as thick as fleas through the air. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Cho and Neville joined the fight a few moments later.
"Lumos Solarum!" Harry shouted, directing it at a group of vampires that were closing in on them. A burst of bright light erupted from Excalibur and engulfed them. Their shrieks filled the air as their flesh burned from the light, until there was nothing left but dust. Soon the Knights were engaged in an all-out-brawl with the enemy.
Through there training and skill, the Knights continued to inflict heavy causalities on the enemy but the fact of the matter was that despite this, they were heavily outnumbered and soon several of the enemy's spells were beginning to have an effect. Harry glanced around and saw more Death Eaters arriving. He privately cursed the slow response time of the Aurors; it had been nearly fifteen minutes since the battle began. Even more disturbing was the fact that the Order had not yet appeared.
Just as this thought entered his mind, he heard several curses shouted from behind his position. Turning, he saw Dumbledore and about three-dozen Order members rushing to the scene. Harry turned his attention back to the enemy, hitting another Death Eater with a slashing curse to the throat. The man let out a gurgled scream and fell to the ground.
"I am sorry we are late." Dumbledore said as he came up to stand next to Harry. "It appears Lord Voldemort has gotten better at tactical planning; shortly after you disapparated from Hogwarts an anti-apparation ward went up in a four block radius around the Ministry."
"Damn it!" Harry swore. "I should have thought about that!"
"Relax Harry, it took us all by surprise. Voldemort is not usually this well organized." Harry nodded and the two turned their attention back to the battle. With the arrival of the Order, Voldemort's forces were being decimated at an even greater rate. Suddenly Harry spotted about a dozen red cloaked and masked figures calmly making their way through the sea of battle. Something about their manner of dress triggered something he had learned during his time at Camelot.
"Blood Knights." Harry whispered. All the combatants soon noticed the arrival of these new entities. The fighting slowly died down as they made their way to the front ranks of the enemy. The lead figure turned back towards the Death Eaters and remaining dark allies and muttered something. In a flash they disappeared from the battlefield.
"Greetings Knights of the Roundtable." The leader spoke. Harry immediately recognized his voice, as did everyone present.
"Hello, Snape." Harry growled. "I see you're still kissing the robes of that half-breed maniac who calls himself a Lord."
"Come now, Potter. YOU of all people should know Lord Voldemort's true power." Snape sneered.
"You're right. I do." Harry replied. "But even being Mordred's descendant isn't going to help him. Neither are you and his so called Blood Knights. The Knights of the Roundtable defeated them before; we shall do so again." With that, Harry assumed his fighting position. The rest of the Knights followed suit.
"As much as I would enjoy killing you and your pathetic friends now, I'm afraid it will have to wait." Snape replied. "My Lord has something much more enjoyable in mind for you. Until we meet again, your Highness." Snape and the other Blood Knights disappeared.
"What did he me, calling you your Highness?" Hermione asked. Harry turned to Dumbledore and met his eyes. A silent conversation seemed to take place between the two. Dumbledore nodded. Harry sighed and turned back to Hermione.
"It means that Fudge is dead. And the Commission of Pendragon has now gone into effect."
*****
BET YOU THOUGHT I WAS GONNA LEAVE IT THERE, RIGHT?
******
"What exactly is the Commission of Pendragon?" Professor McGonnagall asked. She, Dumbledore, the rest of the Hogwarts staff, the Order of the Phoenix, and the Knights were all assembled in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, after having spent the last hour attempting repair the damage down to the Ministry building, as well as taking count of the ministry officials who were killed. Harry had been correct; Fudge's corpse had been discovered in his office. More alarming however, was the corpses of most of the department heads that were discovered in the Lobby. This was disturbing because it appeared they had actually been killed elsewhere and transported to the ministry.
Every head turned towards Harry and Dumbledore. Harry nodded to Dumbledore.
"The Commission of Pendragon is a very old and obscure law, passed by the first Wizagmot which convened over three thousand years ago. It stipulated that in the event of war, should the Minister and a majority of the upper levels of the Ministry be killed, complete control of the Ministry would be passed on to a champion. One who did not seek the position, but possessed the skill and courage to defeat the darkness. He or she would remain in power until they died." Dumbledore replied. "It is called the Commission of Pendragon, because an ancient seer foretold the name of the first person that would be given such authority. His name was…"
"Arthur Pendragon." Harry finished. "But the story doesn't stop there. The seer also went on to state that the next person who would such authority would be the heir to Arthur, though not by blood." Harry watched the reactions of those gathered as the realization finally set in. Several people gasped.
"You mean…" Hermione asked, wide-eyed. Harry nodded.
"Yes Hermione." He said. "Me."