Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Harry Potter and the Knights of Slytherin ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Harry Potter and the Knights of

 

Fan-fiction by Bizmarck

 

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter etc. It's just a fan-fiction, read and enjoy.

 

(Chapter 8)

 

Back in the present, Harry had just finished going over his recollections of his run-in with Snape on that strange spring evening, unfortunately his feelings towards the information he had attained, and towards Snape himself, was still confused. Harry watched some of the few clouds in the sky drift across his vision peacefully. Eventually He decided that it was no use, his history with Snape was too dark to quickly alter his feelings about his old teacher, he would simply do as Snape did, burry his feelings, and not allow them to get in the way of working with the people he did not like to attain a worth while goal.

Harry grimaced slightly, then his expression softened as he finally let the topic of Snape slide into the `out tray' of his mind. The young man stretched slightly then allowed his mind to wander again, coming onto the topic of the Star-cross of Hufflepuff and the Rite of Cecilia. Hermione had been her usual fountain of knowledge on the subjects, informing Harry and the others that the Star-cross had been the prised work Helga Hufflepuff, it was a small golden amulet, apparently always glowing with a soft internal light. Little was known about the amulet itself, though quite famously Helga credited it with her amazing victory over of a mad sorcerer, who, having come to the newly opened Hogwarts in an attempt to kill Salazar, had only moments before single-handedly beaten all three of the other founding members, simultaneously. Helga had survived multiple direct hits from all manner of curses, the most powerful ever used, including apparently the Avada Kedavra curse, calmly walk towards and subdue the madman. Helga was however never able to explain how the amulet worked, simply stating in the end that you couldn't use it with knowledge of magic, but that the amulet responded to passion of a particular type. It had remained in the Hufflepuff family and indeed had various degrees of amplification on whoever wore it, though nothing even close to what was reported on that famous evening. Though as an interesting side note, Hermione remembered that it was always rumoured that Salazar Slytherin had helped in its construction, though he never discussed the matter, taking any information on the topic to his grave. The Rite of Cecilia was a much more modern and well-known matter; Cecilia had been a famous witch whose work had focused on the use, creation and destruction of magical items. She was fascinated with the process of instilling magical abilities to inanimate objects, something that was well known but something that she claimed could be reversed, i.e. attaining equivalent innate magical abilities from an item. It had been ladled impossible but in a famous experiment she had successfully transferred a flying brooms power to herself, being able to levitate passively at will, and fly around virtually indefinitely without effort. This however had been the only example of this spell working, the process being too complex and difficult, without any foreseeable practical outcomes, to have any purpose, other then the academic. It was immediately obvious what Voldemort had planned, he obviously believed that the Star Cross would make him invincible. That would indeed be an obvious conclusion, suddenly Hermione's face lit up, she knew how Snape planed to kill Voldemort, stating quickly that Cecilia had famously said that to perform the rite it required the complete cantering of your being, the amalgamation of mind body and soul to become an appropriate recipient. Voldemort would have to retrieve the remaining sections of the soul to be able to receive the power. There would be a small opportunity, however brief, to kill Voldemort, once and for all. Ron had commented that Snape could simply kill the Dark Lord himself when the time was right, and questioned as to why he needed help from the Order of the Phoenix members, though then Hermione countered that the Dark Lord probably didn't trust anyone, and had taken steps to ensure non of his Death Eaters could betray him. Harry also added that in any case Snape was no martyr, and wouldn't openly commit suicide, as a sudden deliberate attack on Voldemort in front of fellow Death Eaters was bound to be.

Harry had shared most of what happened that night with his two close friends, the two having been riveted in the retelling of Harry's exploits in Snape's memories. In the end they agreed that with what they now knew they had to act, irrespective of their feelings for Snape. That was the end of the speculation as they agreed to wait for Snape's message. Harry had asked one last question to Hermione, wandering if she knew anything about the `Knights of Slytherin', to which she replied that she had never heard the term before.

So there Harry was, at a pivotal point in his life, the final showdown with Voldemort possibly only hours away, lying on a thatched roof, sun in his face, wind in his hair, and his thoughts drifting, to Ginny… Harry had not seen the young Weasley in some time, though he missed her company greatly, he was too fearful that his contact with her could potentially put her in danger, and the few times he had actually had the opportunity to enjoy her presence he had made an excuse to avoid the situation. Hermione and Ron had remained in contact with her directly and she had proved invaluable as a researcher, utilising her access to the Hogwarts library to greatly aid the Order of the Phoenix members. Harry tried to get as much information about her from Ron and Hermione as he could, though always doing it in an indirect way so not as to appear overly interested, though Ron and Hermione well knew what he was doing. Harry smiled as he remembered back to happier times with her. So contented was Harry that he didn't even notice the approach of a single person along the path leading to the old cottage. Indeed he didn't even notice the person call his name once they got close enough to the old building, Harry being easy to spot on the lower roof. Harry's inaction to his name being called may have been due to Him currently thinking about the particular person that was talked to him.

“Come on Harry, what kind of a greeting is this?” said Ginny, now standing about ten meters away from him. Harry, suddenly realising that this was not in his head, shot up into a seating position, however the thatched roof was not designed for such sharp movements, and Harry slipped forward, scrambling for a second, he came off the edge of the roof and fell into the cobblestones, rolling to avoid injury to his legs he still ended up on his side. Looking up through crooked glasses he saw Ginny, she was watching him and unsuccessfully attempting to suppress a giggle.

“Are you ok?” she asked, coming over to help him up. Harry was originally annoyed at himself for looking so foolish in front of her, but her bright smile quickly brought him to the lighter side.

“Ya, I'm alright” he said with a smile, getting back up. Straightening his glasses he brushed off some of the thatch that had loosened and come down with him.

“I just wasn't expecting to see you here… it was a bit of a shock” he said, looking at his friend. Ginny looked at Harry for a second, she had not seen him in about ten months and he had filled out nicely since then. With an approving smirk she said;

“I'm glad I can surprise the `chosen one', makes me feel rather important” Ginny said with a bit of a teasing voice. But her coy facades quickly crumbled as she suddenly moved forward and give him a big hug, which he quickly returned.

“It's good to see you again Harry” she said, her head in his chest.

“Its great to see you too” replied Harry, enjoying her closeness.

 

Over in a nearby field Ron looked across with a smile, Hermione had her eyes closed and was resting up against him, as the two lazed under a tree.

“He He He” sniggered Ron. “Looks like Ginny just arrived” he said calmly.

“And what is so funny about that?” asked Hermione, her eyes still closed, enjoying the relaxing moment.

“Harry just fell of the roof” answered Ron with a big smile. Hermione opened her eyes and raised her head slightly, looking over at the cottage.

“Is he alright?” she asked again.

“Considering who is here to visit, I would say so.” said Ron lazily, then lay back down a bit, stroking Hermione's hair absent-mindedly. Hermione watched the distant figures for a second then snuggled back into Ron, contentedly.

 

Harry and Ginny had entered the cottage to unpack the items that Ginny had brought along, carried them in a muggle style backpack. Harry used the opportunity to steel a glance at his former girl-friend, she had also matured since he last saw her, and to say she was gorgeous, barely did the young woman justice. They caught up like long lost friends, laughing and joking about what had been going on in their lives, despite the dark subject matter that occasionally filtered into the conversation. Harry found out about the difficulties Mr Weasley, and the rest of the ministry of magic, had had to cover up the exploits of Harry and Ron in chasing down Snape and that Death Eater through the London streets barely a month ago. Though Harry felt bad for having given the already overworked Arthur even more work, he couldn't help but find amusing the elaborate mechanism the ministry used to convince the muggles that it had been a light plain accident. Harry was also greatly pleased to hear that though still scarred slightly, that Bill had made a good recovery from his werewolf injuries. The Weasley family had suffered much during the conflict with Voldemort, one of the twins had almost been killed in a run-in with a Death Eater and almost the entire family had been injured at one point or another. It was no surprise that Ms Weasley had insisted that Ginny remain at Hogwarts and not get involved with any of the others activity. This was of great frustration to Ginny, who had contemplated going against her mothers wishes, though once she know what a help she could be to the group from Hogwarts, it was enough to keep her there. The two quickly found themselves back outside, sitting at the table that Harry and the others had all breakfasted on earlier. Harry was the happiest he had been in ages, nothing could bring his mood down in the presence of the young read-headed woman. Ginny as well appeared to be greatly relishing the situation, always smiling she had left her hand where is was after reaching over in an innocent jester to squeeze Harries wrist. Harry felt slightly uneasy, but kept up the conversation; looking into her eyes, and still feeling her hands on his, he seriously began to wonder about his decision to break up with her. From the little he had heard she had not been together with anyone else since their parting, though it was inconceivable that she had not had many offers since their break-up. Harry continued to smile and talk as if nothing had changed, though in the back of his mind there were much more serious feelings processing, feelings that would indeed change the way they now talked.

 

Authors note:

 

Hope that was sweet, more to come…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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