Chapter 10.- Flower and Snake.

It was Transfiguration Class with Slytherin and Gryffindor and both Hermione and Harry seemed to be half-asleep. Ron was quite curious at this, because as far as he could recall Harry had gone to bed even earlier than he had. And Hermione, well, she had never in all her life acted like she was dozing, not even in the boring 'History of Magic' class.

When Class had just finished McGonagall called:

"You can all leave, except Potter, Granger, Yanagisawa, Daidouji, Kinomoto and Li, I would like a word with you." McGonagall said.

Ron would have liked to stay and listen what they were talking, but they had Potions next, and he didn't like the idea of having Professor Snape mad at him.

"I would like to know what's happening to you two." McGonagall explained signaling to Harry and Hermione. "And as I suspect it's something that involves the rest of you I asked all to stay back. It's been only two weeks since the school year began, and no teacher has given too much work for you to have stayed up all night."

"With all due respect Professor McGonagall." Tomoyo spoke. "Schoolwork isn't the only kind of work we must do."

"Tomoyo-chan is right." Sakura added. "Being who we are it is our responsibility to make sure there are no problems out there. And believe me, with all those disasters the DE are trying to cause, there all a lot of problems, more than we handle."

"But why you?" McGonagall asked. "A group of teenagers. Why not let the Aurors take care."

"Because, as the gals said already, it is our duty." Shaoran said seriously. "We, as Supreme Sorcerers, were given this task since a long time ago. To always use our powers to help and protect the world, no matter what kind of problems or evils we had to face."

"And even if Harry and I aren't Supreme Sorcerers," Hermione stepped in. "If we have the power to be of any help we aren't just going to stand back and watch."

"Most of the times we handle things by ourselves." Eriol explained as he too entered the room. "Or if not us, our guardians handle it."

"Your guardians?" McGonagall was puzzled at this.

"Magical Creatures, created to help and protect their masters." Shaoran explained. "Sakura-chan and Eriol-kun both have."

"Magical Creatures…" McGonagall repeated.

"They were created to help us, but they are alive." Sakura said. "I like to consider they are my friends."

"But with all this, you mean you've been doing thins like these for a long time." McGonagall said thinking about it.

"At least five years yes." Shaoran nodded. "Although Eriol-kun and me have been in this longer, and Naoko-chan, Hermy-chan and Harry-kun not as much."

"As Eriol was saying, usually we alone take care of these problems." Tomoyo continued. "We are used to this. But last night the situation was worse than expected, we needed Naoko-chan's, Hermy-chan's and Harry-kun's help."

"After the training I had back in Japan, I'm more used to sleeping less than Harry-kun and Hermy-chan." Naoko added.

"They shall be perfect in a couple of hours, when their energies are fully recovered." Eriol added. "And if this continues, it shall take them about one or two months to get used to."

"But if they need to rest, shouldn't they go to the infirmary?" McGonagall asked.

"We don't need that kind of recovery." Naoko shook her head.

This left McGonagall puzzled.

"We aren't hurt, just with a lack of energy." Tomoyo explained. "We, being sorcerers, recover energy taking it from the environment around us. Mostly each of us has an element as base, of which to feed. Mine is the water, that's why I would usually go take a swim, or lay next to a water source to recover; Sakura-chan's is the wind, so for her it's really easy to recover; Shaoran-kun's is the thunder, or the pure energy, like the one that is freed in every spell we cast; Eriol-kun's is the ice, the cold, something like ice-cream or a cold drink usually help; Harry-kun's is the opposite, the fire, the heat; Hermy-chan's is the earth; Naoko-chan's is the nature, trees and flowers, as we had Herbology earlier today Hermy-chan and Naoko-chan are probably the most recovered of us along with Sakura-chan."

McGonagall was really astonished at all the information.

"You must leave." Eriol told the teens. "I believe you have Potion's Class right now."

"Right." The group nodded

They all turned to leave, with Eriol leaving first. Sakura was the last.

"Don't worry McGonagall-sensei." Sakura said with a smile right before leaving. "Everything will be alright."

.---.

When the group arrived to the Dungeons they really had a surprise: Snape hadn't arrived.

"Something must be really wrong here for Professor Snape not to be here." Hermione murmured more to herself than to anyone else.

Just as they had taken their places they heard as someone entered the classroom.

"Good morning class. My name is Sonomi Amamiya, and I'll be your Potions teacher today." She explained. "Professor Severus Snape is currently indisposed. I shall impart his class today, and the following days depending on his recovery."

"What happened to him?" one of the girls of Slytherin asked.

"Nothing you need to worry about." Sonomi replied. "I was just ordered to tell you that he won't be imparting the subject for a few days, I'm his substitute and you must respect me. Now if that's all turn to page 135 and let us begin this class."

Class went through faster than anyone might have expected; being Sonomi a sweat and understanding person the students had no problem in understanding what she was teaching, the potion was done almost perfectly, and they even finished five minutes before the end of the double-term.

"You're all done. You may leave now." Sonomi told them.

Most of the students left immediately, except Tomoyo, Sakura, Shaoran and Naoko. They had convinced Harry and Hermione of leaving along with Ron so as not to cause more curiosity of the blue-eyed boy.

"Oka-san, what happened?"

"Nandemo (Nothing)." Sonomi replied. "Well, nothing too bad. I know you were in last night's battle."

"Hai." The four nodded.

"Well, Severus-san was injured in that battle. According to him a 'lost curse' hit him." Sonomi explained.

"Wasn't he supposed to have left the DE?" Shaoran asked.

"Hai, but he pretended to have come back." Sonomi said. "He's still a spy for Dumbledore, he's trying to discover what the plans of the DE are. I think the DE don't believe him to be back, that's why they didn't care to hurt him."

"But if it's so dangerous he shouldn't be doing that." Sakura said.

"Tell that to him." Sonomi said sarcastically. "I told him not to do spy work again; even Dumbledore said he would release him of the duty, but he insisted; and this is the result."

Before they could say anything else they saw some of the students of the next class were arriving. Signaling they should be leaving for the next class or they would be late.

.---.

They teens were already in their last class, it was double hour of History of Magic, they were now seeing the life of Clow Reed; Sakura and Shaoran chat in low Japanese between themselves, not bothering with the class as they already knew it; Tomoyo just sighed now and then, she had already learned most of that man's life, and first hand; Naoko seemed quite interested, as she already knew Eriol was the reincarnation of the mage, but she never asked him what he had lived; Hermione took constant notes as always; Harry too was very interested, although he preferred to listen and copy his girlfriend's notes later; very few of the other students were paying attention, as most were already asleep (Ron between them).

They were near the half of the first hour when all of a sudden something made all the sorcerers straighten at the same time. They turned to look at each other and immediately knew it: problems.

A second later the door opened, showing Eriol in the door.

"Excuse me Professor." Eriol said politely to the ghost-teacher. "But I need you to lend me some of your students."

"For how long?" The ghost asked in return.

"Likely the rest of this class." Eriol said. "It's really important."

"Ok. Who are they?"

"Li, Kinomoto, Yanagisawa, Daidouji, Granger and Potter."

"Fine. Those whom Professor Eriol needs, go with him. I trust you'll read pages 437 to 456 on Clow Reed's biography for next class, I'll be asking questions."

The six students nodded and left the classroom immediately.

"Clow Reed's Biography?" Eriol asked once they were out of hearing range.

"Hai." Naoko nodded. "It's quite interesting."

"If you wanted to now anything about Clow Reed you could have asked me." Eriol said with a smile. "I can tell you some things not even the books say."

"Even if I'm sure everything must be really interesting, I don't think that things that don't come in the books will be too useful right now." Hermione commented politely. "After all, the professor won't be asking us that."

"Anyway, I believe we can leave everything concerning the classes behind right now." Shaoran said seriously. "There is something wrong going on, and we must sort it out."

They all immediately nodded.

"We'll be long?" Harry asked suddenly.

"There's no way of knowing." Tomoyo told him. "It all depends on what kind of problems we have to face, and how long it takes us to sort them out."

"What worries you Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Ron." Harry replied. "He's already confused at everything that happens. If he wakes up and doesn't find us…"

"Then let's just hope we make it back on time." Sakura said, as cheerful as always.

Harry just nodded, he too expected so.

.---.

A couple of minutes later the seven sorcerers appeared in an open field, about 70 miles away from Hogwarts, they used the Move Card to get there fast, right after notifying Dumbledore of what they were feeling and that they would go and try solve it on their own, Dumbledore told them he would be giving them two hours, and then he would send Aurors to help them, the teens had accepted.

"What are we gonna do if we are recognized?" Hermione asked.

"We won't." Sakura assured them. "Change."

A moment later they were all wearing silver robes and white masks that covered everything from their noses up, except their eyes.

"Wow." Naoko was fascinated by it.

Even if they had gone in missions like this before, they usually did it in secret, from a place where they couldn't be seen, so there would be no danger; but now, something made them believe there would be no way for them to act from a hiding spot this time.

"Can you feel anything?" Hermione asked.

"Hai." Sakura nodded. "The presence is faint, not big, but it is approaching fast."

And a couple of minutes later their enemy arrived, it was a…

"A werewolf?" Naoko asked, a bit confused.

"Do not lower your guard." Shaoran told them. "You must never underestimate an enemy."

"Good suggestion boy." The werewolf told them. "I believe that instead of eating you I'll turn you into my subject."

"Like we would let you do such a thing." The rest immediately drew their wands out.

The werewolf jumped at them, and they had to split to dodge the attack, some jumping, or flipping, or rolling aside.

The werewolf again tried to attack, this time Sakura and Naoko who had ended on the same side, and hadn't finished getting back on their feet when…

"God of Thunder!" Shaoran attacked from behind the werewolf.

But before the werewolf even had a chance to turn Tomoyo had already borrowed a Sakura Card and attacked with it:

"Freeze!"

"Shot!" Sakura attacked on her own almost at the same time.

The monster didn't even get a chance to react, the consequential attacks threw him away with so many wounds it was a miracle he could even stand.

"It's impossible." The creature murmured panting as it got up. "No wizard can defeat me."

"Then it is a good thing we aren't common wizards." Eriol said sarcastically.

The werewolf again leapt at the teens, but Hermione created an aura-shield to deflect him.

"Serpentmea!" Harry attacked immediately after.

Naoko took pity on the werewolf when it again fell down, even more wounded than before.

"Night Thorns." Naoko said extending her hand toward the monster.

A thorn that contained a very strong somniferous embed itself in the werewolf's side, making it fall unconscious almost immediately.

"Well, we're done." Harry said satisfied.

"It cannot be." Sakura shook her head.

"I don't like this." Tomoyo murmured unsure.

"This was too easy." Shaoran said seriously.

"Good thing you noticed." A cold voice said. "Too bad you found out too late, soon you'll all be dead."

Just then they all could feel lots of auras, strong auras.

"They're here." Tomoyo announced. "Dark auras, I suppose they must be DE, about a dozen of them, strong ones."

"Two for each." Eriol said. "Be careful on the way you fight. And try to use just your wands, we have to try and prevent them from discovering our identities."

The rest just nodded and raised their wands again. They formed a circle with their backs against each other so they wouldn't be attacked from behind.

The duel that followed wasn't too hard, as they had mostly gotten used to that kind of fights; using their sorcery as discretely and as fast as possible, so as not to be discovered.

The DE fell one by one without much of a problem, until one of them seemed to be able to find an open space and managed to hurt Tomoyo in the side.

"Ah…" Tomoyo gasped at the searing pain invading her body.

Eriol had to bit his tongue to prevent himself of crying out his beloved's name.

"Oh Kami…" Sakura murmured looking at her cousin.

They continued fighting their enemies, trying to protect themselves and the injured Tomoyo at the same time.

"I hear something…a voice…" Harry murmured suddenly.

Shaoran had managed to defeat the last DE already.

"What is it?" Naoko asked.

"A voice, something or someone is approaching." Harry explained.

"I can't hear anything, nor can I feel any auras." Sakura said seriously.

"Harry, you don't think it is…" Hermione began.

"It may be." Harry nodded. "A snake."

"A snake?" Shaoran asked. "How can you be listening to a snake?"

"Harry speaks pársel tongue." Hermione explains. "It is the language of the snakes."

"I thought just the descendants of Salazar Slytherin had that ability." Eriol said while still treating his girlfriend's wounds.

"I somehow got it when Voldemort tried to kill me so long ago." Harry explained. "I don't even know the full details. It's not exactly an ability I'm proud of, but it comes in handy once in a while."

"You know where this snake is exactly?" Naoko asked.

"It's approaching." Harry explained listening carefully. "It says: Bite…scrap…tear…kill… All those who may represent a threat to the Dark Lord will die tonight. Beginning with the flower…"

"The flower?" Sakura asked. "What flower?"

"Perhaps Naoko." Hermione guessed. "Maybe 'flower' is a way they refer to Naoko's power as a sprite."

"Iie…" Tomoyo whispered. "The flower…the rose…"

But before they could finish hearing to the Enchantresses words another noise cut in.

"It is here." Harry announced getting on his feet and raising his wand.

Hermione remained on her knees, right behind Harry with the wand at the ready, so as to protect her boyfriend if the need be.

"Come out!" Harry called to the darkness, but his voice sounded like hissing. "Come out from wherever you are!"

"Get out of here boy." The voice of the snake reached his ears. "I will get my prey tonight."

"I won't let you kill anybody." Harry replied.

"Then you too will die boy." The snake replied.

In all answer Harry pointed with his wand to where the voice was coming from.

"I can feel it!" Naoko cried out.

And exactly two seconds later a big snake seemed to jump to Harry.

"Impedimenta!" Hermione was way faster than her boyfriend.

"Destroyo!" Harry tried to make the creature explode, but its skin seemed to be too hard, almost like some kind of armor.

"God of Fire!" Shaoran attacked immediately afterwards, but as before there were no results.

"This is bad." Sakura said noticing the lack of results the attack had.

"There must be something that can be done." Eriol said feeling impotence.

Just then Tomoyo straightened up, surprising her friends.

"The flower will die…" the snake continued saying.

"No, I won't let that happen." Harry insisted.

"Harry…" Tomoyo whispered as she held him by the arm.

"Now." The snake said right then.

"No!" Harry yelled.

It all happened so fast everyone got dizzy.

Harry got a strange draining feeling, as if someone were taking something very important from him.

At the same time the snake leapt toward the small place where Tomoyo, Eriol and Naoko were close together.

Tomoyo tried to scream but her voice came out as a hiss.

Harry was trying to think about something to do, but it was as if suddenly too many voices were mixed inside his mind.

And when they thought everything was lost…Tomoyo raised her right hand toward the attacking snake, there was a deafening explosion and…


No! A cliffhanger!

Knowing that it is likely you'll be wanting to kill me, all I have to say is, have patience and some faith in me and in two to three weeks you'll know the outcome of this battle.

I'm having problems writing battles, I'm better in those that require arrows, swords and that kind of weapons. Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter.

Oh, and by the way: Merry Christmas and Happy New year! And for those who celebrate it: Feliz Día de Reyes!