Chapter 5: Gryffindor

"You," Lovegood said to the titan of magical might in red and gold, "are very fortunate. You know zat, oui?"

"That I stopped a demon from killing dozens of innocent young women, or that I have you for a partner?" Captain Marvel laughed.

They were currently flying back towards London from Cardiff, having put the Crumble Horned Snorcack back in its prison, guarding the rift in the area. Well, Captain Marvel was flying, Lovegood was sort of phasing in and out, just barely keeping up with him. And from his perspective, he was going pretty slow. The demon, the Snorcack, had somehow gotten free and according to rumor was planning on going through its mating cycle. Luna had gotten to Harry before it was too late and with Lovegood leading the way, Captain Marvel flew in to save the day. The hard part had simply been finding the Snorcack, but thanks in large part to Lovegood's connections with the Magical Community, the hard part wasn't actually that hard. The magic-imbued superhero then flew straight in and beat up the demon before dragging it back to the prison where it acted as a guardian for the Rift in Cardiff, and had for centuries already.

"Neezer," Lovegood answered him. "You merely are fortunate and should appreciate zat fact for what it is."

"I have to ask, what is up with the French accent?"

She merely smiled rather than answer and phased out one last time before vanishing entirely.

Captain Marvel rolled his eyes and sighed, intending on going back home, until a scream pierced the night and the superhero found himself even busier than in the early morning, working through the night. Thankfully, around midnight, he could sense no more evil that needed vanquishing, which was good. He still needed to get some sleep. He had school tomorrow, after all.

Hogwarts

Next Day

The next morning, Harry had a surprise waiting for him at Hogwarts, which showed itself just before morning role call.

"Class," Mrs. McGonagall spoke to her homeroom, "We have with us a new student. Her name is Luna Lovegood. She was just transferred this week to our school. She has been home-schooled up to this point, so I would appreciate it if you would all treat her kindly and show her how we do things here. Luna, would you care to introduce yourself?"

"Thank you Mrs. McGonagall," the silver-eyed blond looked up at the imposing Scottish teacher with an almost serene smile on her face.

Harry could only stare, unable to believe his eyes.

"My name is Luna Lane Lang Lemaris Laura Lori Lois Lucy Lucky Lovegood. My friends call me Luna. I'm nine and a half years old, and my daddy says I'm the most beautiful creature in this world and many others," she told the human children in a sing-song voice.

Harry snorted, trying to contain his laughter. He held both hands over his mouth and looked down before he could be called on.

"I don't like to lie, I love being outdoors, and learning is what I'm here to do. Well... that and one other thing, but that's a secret!" she 'shhed' the class after saying that. Harry's face started to turn red from the strain of holding himself in by now. Luna's eyes glinted with mischief and a bit of her supernatural nature, but only Harry was able to tell. "Thank you," she then curtsied and skipped to her seat, the only one empty at the moment, which just so happened to be the one right behind Harry.

He turned to look at her, as did most of the rest of the class, and hissed at her, "What do you think you're doing?"

She just smiled serenely at him and remained silent. Harry sighed, rolling his eyes, he turned back around to face front. He deliberately ignored Hermione's and Ron's curious looks at him. The interruption to daily routine over with, Mrs. McGonagall resumed class and moved things along.

Later, during the class change, Harry cornered Luna in the hallway in order to confront her about what she was doing. He was actually surprised at her appearance now, seeing as the first time he'd seen her, she'd been a six year old girl with her foot caught in a sewer grate. Time after that, when they had actually met, her Luna form was no more than a year older, if that, from when he'd first seen her, even while her Lovegood form was in it's early-twenties. Now, she was his age and looked it. Also, she wore the normal school uniform, instead of those horrid orange robes she always wore in both Luna and Lovegood forms he'd seen her in before.

"All right, Luna," he said, grabbing her arm and pulling her to the side, "What is it? What are you up to? Not that I don't want to believe the best of you, but our first meeting kind of left a sour taste in my memory."

"Harry, Harry, Harry," she clicked her tongue like he was some cute toddler that had just made a booboo. "I believe yesterday made my point quite clear. You need a contact in the Magical Community, otherwise you'll only react to dangers in your own city and no further. And while that's all well and good for the mortals of this city, that does little for the world at large."

Harry frowned, wanting to argue, but he kept his mouth shut.

"Therefore," she went on, removing his hand from her arm, "I've decided to go undercover at this school. I can help cover for you when Captain Marvel is needed, and I can keep you informed of major events and other needs the rest of the world may have of you. Besides, I think your girlfriend, Hermes was her name I believe, she's starting to really like me."

"Hermione," Harry growled, "And she's not my girlfriend. She is, however, one of my best friends and is innocent in all of this."

"So are you, my master," she giggled and kissed him on the cheek before skipping off down the hall to their next class.

Harry rolled his eyes toward the heavens and growled under his breath, "Why me? Why now? Why, oh why?"

By lunchtime, all of Harry's friends were now 'friends' with Luna and things were never going to be the same again.

"But that's impossible!" Hermione screeched. "You have no proof, and such things existing in the first place are absolutely absurd!"

Luna just smiled serenely her eyes twinkling, which people were beginning to think of as her normal expression. Harry, however, knew better and glowered at the back of the nymph's head.

"My daddy has seen Blubbering Humdingers with his own eyes," Luna answered matter-of-factly, "He's planning on writing a paper regarding their effects on teenagers and their relation to the propagation of the human species. If you'd like, I can get you a copy. My daddy is the editor," she pulled out a magazine, the title of which was the Quibbler. The cover article actually had more to do with the defeat of the Crumble Horned Snorcack at the hands of Captain Marvel.

Seeing the photos that were proudly displayed on the cover, Harry did a classic spit-take, and the twinkling in Luna's eyes increased ten fold.

"Whoa!" Ron exclaimed, grabbing the magazine out of the younger girl's hands, "Who is Captain Marvel? He looks a bit like that Superman bloke in the States. Only bigger. And with green eyes. And what's with the lightning bolt on his chest? And why is his cape so short?"

"It's not a cape, it's a cloak," Luna snapped as she grabbed her magazine back. Harry, quite frankly, was amazed that she managed to hide the annoyance in her voice, still sounding like she was high on something or literally had no cares or concerns about the world whatsoever.

"What's the difference?" Ron asked with a snort of laughter.

Harry glared at his friend, but was saved from endangering his secret identity with Luna answering, "A great deal in fact. But the most distinctive is the collar. Cloaks have collars, capes are tucked into the outerwear around the neck and shoulders, and is usually longer. Cloaks can be worn in a number of situations, whereas capes are far more specialized and are really only worn as either fashion statements or very special occasions. There is also..."

"Yes, Luna," Harry interrupted her, "we get it. Thank you."

"Yes, but..." whatever else Luna was about to say about capes and cloaks was lost as a paralyzing screech filled the air.

"WHAT IS THAT?!" Hermione tried and failed to yell over the screech. All the children on the roof, and probably in the entire building, had their hands over their ears. Save for Luna that is.

"How odd," Luna whispered the moment the screech stopped, only for it to start up a heartbeat later.

"What is that?" Harry shouted in the brief pause between screeches the next time it stopped. Luna waited until it stopped again, and then pointed across the way to the rooftop of a building across the street.

"It looks like a griffin," she answered, and was proven correct when the winged beast she was pointing at pulled back its head and let out another deafening screech.

"Let's get inside!" Harry waved everyone to the doors, not even trying to shout over the screech. They all got the message just the same, running for the rooftop doorway, hands still covering their ears. Luna, however, actually went to the edge of the rooftop, closest to the griffin and seemed to glare at it. The moment the last student had raced inside, she phased out of existence and back in so fast it looked like she blinked her entire body from 'Luna' to 'Lovegood'. The griffin stopped its screeching the moment it saw the nymph standing there on the rooftop. It took to its wing, flying through the air across the street towards Hogwarts' rooftop.

"SHAZAM!"

A crack of thunder, louder than the screeching, tore across the heavens, followed very shortly by Captain Marvel flying up from behind the school to meet the griffin part way. The crimson and gold superhero hovered between the half lion half eagle beast and the school, and waited for the first move to be made. The griffin flapped its wings, agitated, but thankfully it did not attack. It did, however, let loose with that loud, paralyzing screech again. The primary difference being that where Harry heard only noise and at an unbearable volume for that matter, Captain Marvel heard and understood the magical language of the griffin species, understandable only to those with a certain level of magical power, or a specific type of magical ability.

(SUPREME WIZARD! I, GRYFFINDOR SEEK YOUR AID IN MY HOUR OF NEED! PLEASE HELP ME!)

Captain Marvel blinked in surprise and glanced over his shoulder, back at Lovegood, who obviously had also understood the griffin, and just shrugged at the hero's look. Glancing back at the griffin, Captain Marvel replied, "I'll... do what I can, but perhaps you can better explain what aid you need of me. And no offense meant to you, Gryffindor, but perhaps you might communicate magically with my friend Lovegood and she can translate for you? It will attract less unwanted attention."

The griffin, Gryffindor, nodded it's eagle head and flew down to land on the school rooftop next to Lovegood. The nymph shot the flying superhero a dirty look, as though blaming him for something, but he just returned the shrug she'd shot him earlier and floated over to land on the other side of the magical beast.

"I can't believe you're making me do this," the ethereal blonde muttered, putting her hand on the griffin's shoulder, right where the eagle and lion parts mixed.

"You don't have to bond with it," Captain Marvel told her with a teasing smile, "Just translate. Although just the cliff notes version please. We should get off this roof sooner rather than later, as I'm sure several teachers are racing up the stairs in response to students coming in complaining about a horrible screeching noise. Now, Gryffindor, you said that you needed my help?"

The griffin seemed about to let out another screech, but instead it looked into Lovegood's eyes and she said, "First of all, stop wit ze mindless adoration. This child has a beeg enough head as it iz. Better."

She turned to face Captain Marvel and spoke for Gryffindor, "I need your help, Supreme Wizard. My nest is under attack. Please say you will help me."

She leaned forward and whispered, "He actually had a great deal more embellishment and begging involved, but zat iz ze gist."

"You really need to drop that French accent," Captain Marvel grumbled before turning and facing the majestic magical beast. "Gryffindor, lead the way. Would you mind letting Lovegood come along? She has trouble keeping up with me sometimes."

The Moon Nymph squawked the same moment the griffin did, although each had completely different meanings. Finally, after a heavy moment of glaring between the three of them, Lovegood bowed low before the mighty beast, who after a beat bowed back, and remained kneeling until she was properly situated across its back. With a single thrust of it's majestic wings, the mythical creature was airborne, Captain Marvel following right along side, having no trouble whatsoever in keeping up.

"About how far is your nest?" Lovegood asked Gryffindor, who apparently answered with a very surprising response.

Captain Marvel grinned and shared a look before saying out loud, "Well if it's so far, we'd best hurry, hadn't we?"

"..." Lovegood glared at the magical titan, growling under her breath, which both of her companions could hear quite well, "I hate you." It was soon followed by her screams as both superhero and griffin streaked across the sky, heading to defend the latter's nest.

Gryffindor's Nest

Gryffindor's nest wasn't exactly what Captain Marvel expected it to be. For starters, it was actually at the tip of the Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham more commonly known as Durham Cathedral, one of the oldest cathedrals in all of England. Except it wasn't actually on top of the church, but the portal leading to it was.

Gryffindor's nest was actually it's own magical realm, or another dimension in layman's terms.

Once they were in the realm of Gryffindor's nest, Captain Marvel could see that the entire world was pretty much an endless mountain range, high in the mountains above the clouds. It was an amazing sight, and nearly took the young hero's breath away. The only thing that ruined it was what was happening to it at the moment.

"What are those things?" Captain Marvel asked in disgust, staring at the snake-like creatures that were swarming the mountains below. He knew even as he asked, but while his magical knowledge and wisdom told him what they were, that didn't help with what their purpose was, or who they served.

"Basilisks," Lovegood answered needlessly. "All at least a hundred years old, some from their size I would say are more a thousand years old. Their gaze can kill more effectively than a Gorgon's, and their venom is one of the most lethal substances known to magic. Older they are, bigger they get, more powerful they become. How did they even get here?"

Gryffindor screeched and pointed it's talon at one particular snake that was bigger than all the rest.

"Slytherin!" Lovegood hissed. She turned to Captain Marvel, genuine fear in her eyes. "Slytherin is the King Basilisk! The oldest of them all, and needless to say the most powerful by far! They say that he doesn't even need creatures to meet his gaze in order for him to kill them with his! They say that...!"

"I'm sure they say a lot of things. I'll be right back," Captain Marvel said, closing his eyes and flying straight for the King Basilisk. Right before it would have devoured a nest full of eggs, the red and gold hero struck the massive snake right between the eyes and threw it off the mountain.

Lovegood slapped the back of Gryffindor's head, and demanded to know, "What in ze Nine Hells did you do to get Slytherin's attention in ze first place?"

Gryffindor shot the Moon Nymph a glare, but didn't reply, instead diving in to help Captain Marvel defend it's home, attacking the younger and smaller basilisks as best it could.

Before Captain Marvel could do much more than pick up the second largest basilisk by the tail and use it to club others off the mountain, Slytherin reappeared from the cloud layer and headbutted the superhero in the back. Slytherin's eyes then glowed, shining dangerously as it stared after Captain Marvel.

Sensing the hostile magic, even as he was careening face first into the rocks below, Captain Marvel kept enough sense about him that he released the basilisk still in his grip at just the right moment so that the death magic being sent his way struck the basilisk first, blocking Captain Marvel from Slytherin's gaze entirely. He then crashed painfully into the side of the mountain, several boulders coming loose and covering him.

Hissing angrily at it's dead offspring, the King Basilisk slithered forward, intent on devouring the human that dared to interfere with its mission. Before it even got close, Captain Marvel punched his way clear and then picked up the largest boulder around him, making sure to keep it between him and Slytherin. Using his other senses, mostly hearing and touch from feeling the vibrations in the ground, he aimed carefully and then tossed the boulder straight at the giant snake, before picking up another just as quickly and throwing it and every other one that he could.

Slytherin smoothly dodged the first two, but after that they started coming so fast that it was being driven back and was winged if not hit outright more than once.

Unfortunately, Captain Marvel was starting to run out of boulders and he would still need one to hide behind. He'd taken Lovegood's warning to heart about Slytherin not needing eye contact to illicit the killing magic that was a part of the basilisk nature. Or rather, not needing eye-to-eye contact. Slytherin still needed to see its target, and he didn't want to risk finding out if all it really needed to see was a hand or a foot or the back of his head. Two aspects of his magic, Solomon and Achilles were both warning him that, empowered by the gods or not, he could still die, and basilisk magic was certainly potent enough to do it.

If only there was some way to blind the basilisk, but unfortunately only an immortal creature, like a phoenix or the counter to a basilisk a Cockatrice would be able to withstand Slytherin's gaze long enough to do something like that. Wait, who said anything about having to actually taking the snake's eyes out to blind it? He thought suddenly.

Throwing his last stone, Captain Marvel followed his instincts, gathering magical power to both his hands and whispering a spell of light under his breath. He waited until he could see the King Basilisk's head and then brought both his hands together in a loud clap. A blinding flash flooded the area and every living thing cried out in pain. Slytherin's eyes had been open and glowing staring right at Captain Marvel the moment the boulder fell away. At the exact same moment, the flash obscured Captain Marvel from sight, and because of the vulnerability of the basilisk's eyes when it was using it's killing magic, it was blinded for the next twenty four hours.

"Nooo!" Slytherin hissed loudly, shaking its head wildly, trying to see something, anything, and more than that trying to use its killing magic on everything around it. Of course none of that worked.

Captain Marvel waited precisely as long as it took after the light spell ended to confirm that Slytherin was now blind before flying head on towards it and slamming it with a heavy left combo followed by a killer right cross. The giant snake's head flew back, but it coiled its body and using its own senses of hearing and smell, it targeted Captain Marvel and struck like lightning.

He was knocked back into the mountain and then barely managed to get his feet under him in time to catch Slytherin's next strike, this one with a mouth full of poisonous fangs. Basilisk venom was some of the most lethal in all of magic.

Muscles bulging, Captain Marvel managed to hold the giant snake back, his hands at the top and bottom of Slytherin's unhinged jaw. Adjusting his grip slightly, the red and gold hero grabbed the snake by the scales and ascended into the sky. He then started spinning as fast as he possibly could and then tossed it into the air. Before the creature could recover, he slammed it with a flying uppercut followed by a double fisted blow to the back of the skull where it met the spine.

Before it could reach the rocky ground below however, he dove after it and grabbed it by the tail with both arms and carried it higher into the sky as fast as he could possibly fly. And then he started to spin in the opposite direction and kept it up until they were nothing but a big green, silver, red and gold blur before finally letting go. Slytherin flailed as he shot down below the cloud banks. Far below, the sound of the crash and the avalanche it started echoed back up to the top of the mountains.

There, he clapped the dust from his hands, that's the boss taken care of, now for all the minions.

Captain Marvel cast about, looking for some way of clearing the threat away quickly and without any further damage to the griffins and their eggs. Of course he could just go around throwing them off the mountains like he had the King Basilisk, but there were thousands of basilisks of all sizes slithering all over the place. He would be at it for hours and who knows how much more damage they could do in the interim.

All he saw were rocks and clouds. And not even storm clouds that... wait a minute.

"GRYFFINDOR! GET YOUR PEOPLE IN THE AIR!" Captain Marvel shouted. Moments later a loud screech rent the air and all the griffins took to the air, carrying as many of their eggs as they could. Lovegood waved her hands and sang a note that soon had all the rest floating up beside their parents, right out of the mouths of the basilisks in some cases. At the curious looks she got, she just shrugged and said, "I've picked up a few tricks here and there."

"I really hope this works," Captain Marvel mumbled and enacted his plan.

Taking a deep breath and concentrating with all his magical might, he gathered power to his hand and clapped, shouting at the same moment, "SHAZAM!" The bolt of thunder came, but because he also dodged it and then grabbed it with his glowing hands, he caught the bolt of raw magic lightning and was able to redirect it, to every single basilisk below as they were grounded and what he threw the bolt of power at. He was half afraid he would be changed back to Harry mid-air, but thankfully his gamble worked, and more than that, all of the evil snake demons were roasted on the spot, even the ones that were thousands of years old.

Unfortunately, however roasted they became, did not mean that they were killed. Any under five hundred were, but those were also the weakest and the same ones that Captain Marvel and the griffins could have handled on their own anyway.

"Well, if it worked once," Captain Marvel began gathering his power once again, planning on doubling the strength of the blast.

Before he could shout however, Lovegood shouted, "Captain Marvel! LOOKOUT!"

He flew up and into a back flip, narrowly missing the attack lunge from Slytherin, who could apparently fly. No, Captain Marvel silently observed as the giant snake fell back to the mountains below, it could just jump really high.

Since he still had the power gathered in his hands, he decided what better opportunity was he going to get. Adjusting the way he was going to redirect the power, he screamed to the heavens, "SHAZAM!" and dodged and caught the bolt of power with a clap once again, this time directly all of it directly towards Slytherin. The King Basilisk screamed as the power tore through it, and at the same moment, all the still living basilisks screamed with their progenitor. Not out of any kind of sympathy pains, but from real pain, as the power being shot against Slytherin was halved and that half was evenly distributed between all the remaining basilisk. Apparently that was good enough, this time, to destroy all of them that were younger than two thousand years old.

"LEAVE NOW, OR ELSE!" Captain Marvel shouted to the remainder. "AND KNOW THAT GRYFFINDOR AND ALL HIS PEOPLE ARE NOW UNDER MY PROTECTION!"

The griffins all screamed with delight at this proclamation.

Captain Marvel floated down until he was eye to eye with Slytherin and dared to look the King Basilisk in the eye, which fortunately were burned shut from the power it had just been blasted with. "IF YOU WANT TO GET TO THEM, YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME FIRST! NOW GET OUT OF HERE!" he screamed in the dark creature's face.

"I won't forget thisss, Wisssard," Slytherin hissed, and then made some snake sounds that had all of the remaining basilisk vanishing in puffs of black smoke and then disappearing into the cloud bank below.

"Gryffindor says thanks," Lovegood translated even as her mount and all the other griffins landed back amongst their nests.

"..." Captain Marvel was silent, his arms still crossed over his massive chest.

"Something amiss, Captain?" the nymph asked.

"Slytherin is territorial and vengeful, but until now, I don't think it was an agent of the Dark Lord. I think I may have just pushed the basilisk race in that direction with this."

Gryffindor nudged the superhero and then emphatically shook it's eagle head. It them made several bird and cat like sounds and after it stopped looked expectantly to Lovegood. Frowning, she translated for him.

"Gryffindor says that he and Slytherin were allies once. Neighbors if you will. The basilisk lived in the caves and the griffins on the cliffs. Not in the same reality, but adjourning ones. Human wizards, magic poachers, and even goblins and trolls would steal from both of them equally. Desecrate corpses, steal eggs, raid nests. Unfortunately it iz a sad fact of ze current state of things zat zis iz quite common."

"Save the commentary, if you please, Lovegood," Captain Marvel gestured for her to get on with it.

"Hem hem," Lovegood cleared her throat with a small glare and continued, "Something happened recently. A demon came to the basilisk caves. A messenger demon. That same messenger demon then came to the griffin nests. Gryffindor only listened long enough to hear it introduce itself before chasing it from the realm. Unfortunately, he heard that Slytherin did not do the same."

"The demon's name?" he asked, dreading the answer.

Gryffindor growled.

Lovegood's eyes went wide as she repeated, "Duramonill!"

Gryffindor spoke some more and Lovegood translated, carefully ignoring that mounting anger in Captain Marvel's expression. "After the demon visited, Slytherin started encroaching into the realm of the griffins, invading, not just visiting or entering and then leaving. The basilisk realm started to bleed into this realm and it was obvious what was happening. Gryffindor tried to get Slytherin to talk to him, but he was ignored. When a nest was attacked by basilisks, Gryffindor retaliated by invading the basilisk caves with his best hunters. There was a war. When this attack started, with Slytherin at the lead, Gryffindor came to get us, well, you."

"What can I do to keep Slytherin from invading all over again?" Captain Marvel asked, half to himself.

"You've already done it," Lovegood informed him. "By declaring Gryffindor's Nest a protectorate, Slytherin must now invade and conquer your home realm before he can enter Gryffindor's again. By any means. It is a law of magic."

His green eyes went wide. "You mean..."

"Yes, you have nothing to worry about," Lovegood shrugged off his apparent concern. "The defenses on the Rock of Eternity are infinite and unbeatable. Why is it you think the Seven Deadly Sins are imprisoned there? There is no way to break in, and there is no way to break out. The only ones allowed in and out are the Supreme Wizard and whatever guests he may invite in. And never without him being present. Nothing to worry about."

"Except my home realm isn't the Rock of Eternity, it's Earth!" Captain Marvel shouted, worry filling his voice.

Lovegood blinked and then did a double-take. She shared a look with Gryffindor before replying, "You mean Earth, the Human Realm Earth, the Mortal Realm Earth?"

Rather than give a sarcastic retort, Captain Marvel simply nodded his head and answered, "Yes."

"We may need your help, my friend," Lovegood said to the Griffin King after another long glance shared between them.