Chapter 11

Growing Threat

Harry awoke from his sleep. He's first dreamless sleep in ages. He looked over at the clock that hung on his wall.

"4:30!" he mumbled to himself.

But try and he might sleep would not return.

He slowly got up and dressed himself and walked downstairs trying to flatten his hair so it didn't look like a birds nest.

When he got to the bottom of the stairs he realized he wasn't alone. He heard hushed voices talking in the kitchen.

"The Dursley's wouldn't be up at this hour," said Harry to himself and he began to tiptoed his way to the kitchen. He peered into the kitchen to see Draco sitting at the head of the Dursley's kitchen with Raya at the stove cooking something that smelled excellent.

"What do you suppose they need it for?" asked Draco.

Raya turned around with a plate full of something Harry couldn't recognize but it looked like a strange sort of bread.

"I believe they need it to open portals between the worlds," said Raya.

Draco took a piece of the bread-like stuff and took a bite.

"He needs to gather all of this allies and armies," said Raya,

"He hasn't been able to get to them before," said Draco, "but there are thousands and thousands on his side. How can we fight that kind of force?"

"We fight with our allies," said Raya, "we have just as many allies from different worlds maybe even more."

"All I know is," said Draco taking another bite of the bread, "whenever the last battle of good against evil is it is going to be huge."

Raya sighed deep.

"I was just in contact with Lyra," said Raya, "they are fighting armies of hethras. More come everyday. Lyam is dead. She was very upset. You know how close they were. I do know how she feels. It hurts to know that a family member is dead."

"Lyam was my friend," said Draco looking down at his bread, "should we go see Lyra, help her get over the loss."

"I think it better that we wait," said Raya, "Lyra needs time to grieve before anything is mentioned. Everyone does but the people of Novia take losses harder. Remember they used to be indestructible, invincible; they won every war they fought, never one casualty. But then Voldemort came with his armies and took that away from them and their people died out almost to the point of extinction. Luckily most of the people have been able to form yet again a large society in the west and they flourish but the wars with the hethras is taking its toll."

"I agree but aren't going now," said Raya, "there is not enough time to prepare before the others wake and we cannot take them to Novia, not yet at least."

Harry backed away from the door and walked quietly back upstairs. Questions swam through his head. Who is Lyra? Who was Lyam? How did Lyam die? What did Hethras look like? Where and what was Novia? Why couldn't Draco and Raya take us there?

His head hurt when he walked through the door to his room and noticed everyone just starting to get up.

"Hi Harry," yawned Ron, "what happened to your hair?"

"My hair?" asked Harry running his hand through it.

"Oh! Harry!" said Hermione, "it looks like you had a fight with a hairdryer and lost!"

The friends continued getting ready and they walked downstairs. They went into the kitchen and saw Raya and Draco laughing and talking while eating their special kind of bread.

"Hello everyone," said Raya, "you all just got up?"

They all nodded even Harry. Raya caught Harry's eyes and Harry looked away quickly, ashamed of listening in on their conversation. A glint of knowing shone in her eyes then. She knew he had been down there listening.

Moments later the kitchen door swung open and Aunt Petunia walked through followed closely by Uncle Vernon.

"What are you lot doing in my kitchen?" asked Uncle Vernon, "out with you lot!"

Raya grabbed the plate of food as they all made their way out of the kitchen.

"What's up that man's arse?" asked Ron.

"Ron!" said Hermione, "don't talk like that!"

"Sorry 'Mione," said Ron.

"Let's go out and do something," said Neville looking out the frost-covered window.

Raya and Draco finished the plate of bread and Raya set it down near the kitchen door. Everyone put on their coats and went outside.

"What do you want to do?" asked Luna breathing out and looking at her breath.

"How about a snowball fight!" cried Ginny picking up snow in her glove and hitting Ron in the back of the head.

"Ginny!" cried Ron and he ran off after her into the backyard.

The girls and the boys broke up into teams and they built forts and began pelting each other with snowballs. Raya was very good at this game. Especially when she chose Harry to be her everlasting target. She hit him every single time she aimed for him.

"What did I ever do to you?" yelled Harry jokingly across the "war field."

"You're my brother," said Raya tossing another snowball, "its my job to annoy you!"

Harry began hurling snowballs at Raya. Harry got up and began making his way over to the girls fort.

"Hit Harry!" was the battle cry the echoed through the girls fort. And millions of snowballs came bursting out at Harry.

Harry let out a girlish scream and dropped to his stomach. Raya came out from behind the fort and jumped on top of Harry. They wrestled each other to the ground. Naturally Raya ended up on top pinning Harry's shoulders to the ground.

"Surrender!" cried Raya.

"Never!" shouted Harry and the rolling on the ground continued.

Everyone else thought it was a good idea and joined in. Ginny threw herself on Ron and began trying to bring him down. Which was very difficult considering that Ron was practically twice as tall. Luna, at top speed, ran at Neville and Neville, at top speed, ran away from Luna. They chased each other all over the yard. Hermione ran at Draco and they began to wrestle each other to the ground as well.

Hours later they came inside with red noses and cheeks and breathy laughs. They removed their wet coats, gloves, hats, and scarves and took out their wands. Aunt Petunia came out of the kitchen and nearly had a seizure when she saw their wands in hand.

"Oh my God!" she cried and rushed back into the kitchen.

They all shook their heads and whispered a drying spell on their clothes and themselves.

They went up the Harry's room. The girls took out their homework and began working on it.

"What are you four doing?" asked Harry.

"Our homework," said Ginny frankly, "you should be too."

"Ginny," said Ron in mock shock, "did you take a polyjuice potion. Are you really Hermione in disguise?"

Ron was hit by an incoming pillow from Hermione's direction.

"What was that for?" asked Ron pretending it hurt and clutching his side.

"For being a prat!" said Hermione and continued on her Potions essay.

"Hermione?" asked Luna, "help me. What are three ways you can tell Ground Snake fang from Ground Bat wing?"

"I'll tell you two but you have to figure out the last one for yourself," said Hermione leaning over to look at her paper.

"Thanks!" said Luna and they began talking hurriedly.

"Raya," said Harry, "please tell me that you don't want to be doing your homework and are just under Hermione's spell!"

And Harry was hit by a Hermione pillow.

"Honestly," said Hermione, "you should get to work on your homework. Before you know it you won't have any time left!"

The eight friends worked on their homework until it was dark outside.

"Tomorrow," said Hermione, "you boys have to get out of the house for a couple of hours."

"Why?" asked the boys together.

"Because we are going to be wrapping your presents," said Ginny.

"Is that really the reason?" asked Harry pretending to be suspicious.

"No," said Raya, "we are going to invite a lot of hot bloke's over and try and match Hermione up with one of them."

The girls laughed. They guys did too all except Ron who, oblivious to everything, thought Raya was serious.

"What!" cried Ron jumping to his feet only causing them to laugh harder.

"Ron," said Hermione, "we were kidding!"

Ron looked like he didn't believe her.

Hermione grabbed his hand

"Come with me," she said and she lead him out of Harry's room and down the hall and they heard the bathroom door slam.

The six friends left in the room look curiously at each other.

About ten minutes later Ron walked slowly into the room. His hair looked very messy and there was lipstick all over his face.

"I believe her," said Ron dreamily as Hermione entered the room after him. The girls giggled, the guys, not being as shy, or nice for that matter, all started rolling on the floor laughing.

Hermione beamed as she sat next to Ginny, who looked disgusted.

Raya got up slowly and looked out the window. She peered through the frost. Draco followed her and looked out the window. She opened her mouth to speak but then looked behind her at the curious faces of her six friends. She turned back to Draco.

"Dyud wesrte lle adesa er feste?" asked Raya in a language none but Draco understood. (Translation: "What do you suppose it is?")

"Er alfeurta erth e yuimol," answered Draco. (Translation: "It looks like a symbol.")

"Do you know why its here?" asked Raya, resuming English.

"How do they know where you are?" asked Draco.

"I don't know," said Raya, "but they can't come here."

With that Raya took off out of the room and Draco taking one last look out the window followed her.

"Stay here!" Draco insisted as he ran out the room.

Harry started to follow.

"Harry," said Hermione, "don't disobey her twice."

Harry looked longingly out the door and then sank back to sitting on his sleeping bag.

Raya ran out the door and Draco followed.

"Raya!" cried Draco, "we have no weapons."

"We'll have to make do," said Raya, "we fought battles with nothing before."

They ran side by side.

What they had seen out the window was a large thin shape in the sky. It looked so much like a cloud that no one but Raya or Draco could have seen it because they had been trained by the people of Novia, who's eyesight conquered all. It was shaped like a star with a large circle surrounding it and linking all the points of the star.

"They have come to unleash Novia!" cried Raya as they ran.

They had been running for about a mile now and they reached a large field shrouded by trees and large bushes. Nobody could see past them.

There standing a circle were six women dressed long think red cloaks. They were humming some sort of spell. Then the humming became softer and one of the women stepped forward. Raya and Draco stood rooted their spots.

"We now send you too sacrifices to open the portals to Novia," said the women, "we will destroy their people and bring the worlds together so that humans will know their place is low on the life scale."

Two other women stepped out of the trees on the other side of the field bringing with her two people. They looked to be about Draco and Raya's age. Their heads were down and they walked slowly dragging their feet. When they got to the circle the one woman continued her speech.

"Let the sacrifices blood rain from their bodies to the grave," said the woman and all the eight women stepped back and the star symbol appeared on the ground; engraved in the dirt.

The two women that had come out of the trees lifted the heads of the two teenagers. Draco's eyes widened as he saw who they were.

"Raya," said Draco, "those are two of the exchange students that came this year."

"Andreanna and Kennan," said Raya softly, "but what do they have to do with the portal?"

The women held knives up to Andreanna and Kennan's necks.

"Go now!" said Draco.

Raya ran into the middle circle and threw herself between the knives and the two students.

"Don't touch them," said Raya panting.

The women looked taken aback for a moment, but then smiled when they saw who it was standing in front of them.

"Get away," said the woman, "we are after your blood as well. You have made it easier for us. Now we do not have to come and look for you."

Raya glared at them.

"Kill them first," said the woman and then she pointed at Raya, "save her. The Dark Lord would find killing her in front of him pleasing."

One woman grabbed Raya from behind. Draco snuck up behind the woman speaking. The woman behind Raya took rope and began to tie it around Raya's wrist. Before she got the knot tight Raya spun around knocking her in the head with her elbow and bring the rope around her neck. The women all drew out wands. As the woman who spoke before was about to place a spell upon Raya Draco jumped her and hooked his arm around her neck in a death hold. Both of the women Draco and Raya attacked fell dead.

"Any of you want the same fate?" asked Raya.

The women stood their giving her glares but nothing more.

"Release them," ordered Raya at the two women holding Andreanna and Kennan.

The women hesitated.

"I said release them!" shouted Raya and the women let go of Andreanna and Kennan. Raya quickly undid their binds and walked with them up the hill side.

"Little Brat!" shouted one of the women, "CRUCIO!"

Raya was hit directly.

She fell to the ground, crying out. She lay their shivering fiercely. She was trying her best to look strong, so Draco would not worry about her.

Draco took one look at Raya's form before whipping out his wand.

"Feryeds Daerdes!" shouted Draco, and the six women were suddenly surrounded by a thin layer of light that formed a dome around them.

"Alvisca," whispered Draco menacingly and the dome imploded. Silently; yet the dome set bursts of light around every which way.

"Raya!" cried Draco and Draco performed the same trick on Raya that she had on Ginny.

After a few moments Raya slowly stood up.

"I'm alright," said Raya, "I'm just a little dizzy."

"Thank you," whispered Andreanna, "you didn't have to do that."

"Yes," said Raya, "I did. They were killing you without purpose."

"They did have a purpose," said Kennan quietly.

"They needed someone that was Novian," said Raya but then she paused and a look of realization dawned upon her face.

"Both of our parents," explained Andreanna, "were from Novia. Our fathers were guards to the imperial palace."

"We inherited human qualities because we were born in this world in the United States," explained Kennan, "we go to our home quite often but we can never go back for good until we are of 21 years of age."

"Why did your parents leave?" asked Draco and they walked back towards Privet Drive.

"Our mothers were pregnant with us and when Voldemort's forces attacked and our fathers wanted to send our mothers to a safer land our mothers refused to leave them behind," answered Andreanna, "so they all went."

They stopped just before they were to turn on Privet Drive.

"Thank you again for saving us," said Kennan, "we'll call a knight bus from here."

"Are you sure?" asked Raya.

"Yes," said Andreanna, "go. We'll be alright."

"As you wish," said Raya and she and Draco walked back up the street.

They turned just before entering number 6 and saw Andreanna and Kennan stepping onto the knight bus. They both waved and Raya and Draco waved back.

"Well that was interesting," said Draco.

"Yes," said Raya, "but the important thing is. We know now what they want."

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