Disclaimer: All Harry Potter people, places, things, and ideas (all Harry Potter nouns) belong to J. K. Rowlings. All Elf-related topics, the Elvish language, references to staff magic, and any other Lord of the Rings nouns belong to J. R. R. Tolkien and the Elvish dictionary at Nevrast. The titles of the chapters were inspired by "Once Upon a December" from the cartoon movie Anastasia. Professor Heryn O'Sheen is mine.
Chapter 12: Dancing bears, painted wings.
"Tell me someone has a plan," Severus demanded flatly.
Heryn grabbed his sleeve. "I know how he made the Orcs. We can do the same thing and then the armies can fight each other."
He raised an eyebrow. "To what purpose?"
"If our army can distract his, then we can attack him directly once we locate him," she reminded.
Minerva cleared her throat to remind Severus and Heryn that she and Albus were still present. "Can you do that from here?"
Severus looked over at Heryn quizzically as she shook her head. "We do not have the means for creating an Orc army like that of the original Saruman. An army to match the one coming toward us must be procured on the ground level. If you'll give me a moment," she paused and quickly began thumbing through the book, "here it is. I've found the incantation," she informed him.
"So you are telling me that I cannot have you remain safely in this castle while I handle the problem outside?" he questioned. She nodded and he sighed with reluctance. "So be it."
From the Astronomy tower, though they could see the oncoming army, they could not see Hornet and he finally realized that their only choice was to leave the castle. She carried the book as he held the staff and they proceeded through the castle, out into the courtyard and out to the field of battle. "I need to see this through to the end and we both know it. I want to see that man finished!" she attempted to explain.
He suddenly stopped in front of the small door that would lead them outside. She raised an eyebrow and also stopped. Then he leaned toward her and kissed her soundly. "Before we go out there and face who knows what, I want you to know that I love you, with every fiber of my being," he confessed in a quiet tone.
"I know, and I love you too, my Severus. You will not have to grieve for me this time. I do not plan to let him get the best of me a second time," she conveyed with her usual assertive confidence.
Looking into her eyes, he hoped that his own expression relayed the depth of emotion he felt for her. "Good, now let's go," he said simply.
They headed out of the door and began making an Orc army by using soil, grass, illusion projections, and the ghosts of old loyalties of fallen Orcs that were tied to the black staff. Soon they had their own army to direct toward the approaching enemy. The armies looked almost identical with the exception of the skin colour. Hornet's army appeared in shades of green while the other army was brown.
"Why do the armies look different?" Severus asked Heryn.
She watched the approaching army in silence for a moment. Suddenly her eyes widened and she quickly faced him. "The elements that made his army are slightly different than ours. We may have a bit of a problem because the other army will last longer. Though I am not quite sure what he used, the green shades are linked to healthy plants."
"Then how do you suggest we defeat the oncoming foes?" he asked sharply.
"We will just have to keep maintaining them with magic, yes?" she recommended.
He sighed heavily and nodded. "I suppose that the only way this could possibly get any worse would be if it rained."
The two proceeded as planned, helping the army with magic. After watching the Orcs fight for a while, Heryn and Severus still had not seen Hornet. Abruptly a ray of orange light shot out from just beyond their sight. It hit the Astronomy tour and the roof burst into flames. "Of all the bloody things to happen, things just got worse," the Potions Master spat.
"The protection spells should have been stronger than that!" the Elvish woman relayed. Her face grew pale as she recalled a few details. "Albus and Minerva were there!"
"Then we just have to hope that they escaped," he responded stoically, attempting to mask his own worry.
Watching the battle from the tower, Minerva pulled Albus to the window and pointed to a wooded area just over a nearby hill. "Look! Along with the Orcs, there are eleven people coming to harm them, and one of them has a staff!" she exclaimed.
He nodded gravely. "We've got to warn them."
They were leaving the tower when the roof caught fire. Minerva jumped and faced Albus. "I thought that was not supposed to happen."
"My dear, it seems that we have assumed too much," he replied as he felt the heat from the fire.
After saying a quick spell to put out the fire, they decided to seek out the other two in their animagus forms. Severus and Heryn were still attempting to help their army, each trying to distract him or herself from the possibility of casualties in the Astronomy tower, not noticing that the fire had been extinguished. Heryn was reading off the last bit of an incantation when she noticed a tabby cat with green eyes at her feet. A moment later a snowy owl with blue eyes flew near her.
"Severus, they are out here with us!" Heryn told him with an elated smile.
He turned and watched as the tabby cat and snowy owl changed into Albus and Minerva. "We came to warn you about the eleven people coming from that direction," the Transfiguration professor explained, pointing over a hill.
"One of them has a sky-blue staff also," Albus added.
"He has finally decided to show himself then? Severus, this man has caused enough trouble and the matter needs to be resolved now," Heryn asserted in a calm tone.
A beam of light shot forth from over the hill, but it missed the four. They were all on alert, ready to stand and do battle with these other wizards. The Orcs no longer needed as much help, allowing Severus and Heryn to devote more attention to the new threats. Curses were fired and blocked on both sides, a bluish haze beginning to rise around them. Colourful beams of light shot from both sides began to look like a prism's rainbow, though these colours were far more deadly. Heryn spotted Hornet for an instant, but then he seemed to dart off in another direction.
After blocking a few curses and managing to stop two of their assailants, Heryn turned to warn Severus, but a curse brought down a nearby tree between them and caused it to burst into flames, separating the two. More smoke began to rise and the Elvish woman had lost sight of everyone. She dashed toward what seemed like a clearing in an attempt to see around the smoke.
However, suddenly she found herself surrounded by burning wood and a hot dense smoke she could not see through at all. A small hole tripped her and a loose branch crashed into her left leg as she fell. As she stood, she knew it was not broke, but the leg did hurt. The only thing she knew regarding her location was that the Forbidden Forest was not far away. She gasped and coughed as a figure clad in black holding a blue staff emerged from the dense smoke. He pointed the staff directly at her and shot the wand out of her hand.
"I don't expect that you would remember me, but I remember this, you and me in a duel. It's pathetic how we find ourselves back here again," the man said snidely.
She glanced over her shoulder to see where the wand had landed. "Mr. Hornet, I would suggest that you stop pointing that weapon at a professor before you face the man with a far superior staff in battle."
Having expected her comment to provoke him, she was not surprised when he used the staff to throw her a few feet away, not into the fire though. She quickly picked up her wand before he noticed. "It would seem that you've finally gotten rid of my memory charm," he spat.
"Why did you use a memory charm instead of killing me?" she interrogated, summoning all her strength to use against the man that had stolen eight years of her life.
He sneered at her. "That would have been too easy. I wanted you to suffer for a while for your incompetence at not being able to reverse this," he gestured to the purple discoloration on his face.
She tried to cast a body-biding spell, but it was quickly deflected. "It was not my incompetence that prevented the reversal. Side effects from dark magic leave marks that cannot be removed. It was your own doing, not mine." She sounded rational, despite her temper rising.
He did not see a means of escape for her and decided to gloat before finishing her off. "I wanted revenge, against you and against this school for not allowing me to pursue the dark arts. It's too bad that my deatheater friends couldn't have done the job for me. They needed something to do after hiding since the war. Once again I find you in my way, Professor O'Sheen. I suppose there really is only one way to end this."
The smoke made searching for an escape difficult. I know I cannot beat him because of the power the staff gives him, but if only there was less smoke… wait. I can use and old muggle magic trick, she thought to herself. "No, you will not get the best of me twice," she stated sternly. Just as he moved to aim the staff, a cloud of smoke floated in front of her and she seemed to disappear.
Heryn had managed to crawl out from under the smoke. Noticing that the other staff members had joined the battle, she tried to stand and walk toward them. But she only succeeded in a stagger before falling again. Rolanda Hooch spotted her and wanted to take her back to the castle and up to the infirmary.
"No, Severus needs me! I am the only one who can read the wizards' incantations for him!" she protested.
Rolanda sighed. "You won't be much help to anyone in the condition you're in. He has all of us to help him and I know he would appreciate it more if you went to the infirmary," she coaxed.
Severus noticed the other staff members joining in the battle and looked around for the Elvish woman. "Minerva, where is Heryn? I won't lose her again!" Severus exclaimed harshly.
The Transfiguration professor grabbed his shoulders. "She will be fine. I saw her being taken to the infirmary. Things will be different this time, but Severus-" she cut herself off and gripped his collar, attempting to pull him down. "Severus duck!"
(I apologize for not posting sooner, I was on vacation and the Internet was dodgy; my thanks to excessivelyperky, S.S.S.570, Leta McGotor, and Lady Jolly for reviewing :D)