Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 20 ~ The Guardian
The angry servant approached Hermione, who tried to run around him to retrieve her fallen familiar. He caught her by the arm and flung her roughly back against the onyx doors.
“Now give me the damn ring!” he roared at the witch, holding out his hand. Hermione glared at him defiantly.
“No!” she said, taking a swing at him. The Lemurian caught her wrist and twisted it behind her back. It was her ring hand. He started to remove the piece of jewelry from her finger.
“I wouldn’t touch it if I were you,” Hermione said through gritted teeth, “The last wizard who touched it said it bit him, and then disappeared. No one could find him. You want that to happen to you?”
The servant hesitated.
“You lie!” he hissed.
“All right. Go ahead then, try to take it,” Hermione breathed.
The servant hesitated again, then gripped the ring gently with his thumb and forefinger, wincing a bit. Nothing happened.
“It seems your ring has lost its teeth, witch,” he gloated. He began to twist the ring. Hermione crooked her finger to impede the ring’s removal. The servant pulled on her twisted arm, making her cry out.
“Stop resisting,” he grunted.
He pulled on the ring, and suddenly started to tremble violently, releasing Hermione. Then the man was thrown back several meters, landing at the feet of his companions, unconscious.
Another of the servants knelt to check him. He placed his ear against his chest.
“He still lives,” he said to the others. None of the servants were sure what happened. They all looked at Hermione, anger on their faces.
“Let’s charge her,” one servant whispered, “she can’t get all of us.” The rest agreed.
Hermione felt her ring become extremely warm on her finger. Warmer than it ever had before. It began to glow. Hermione hid it behind her back. If it were going to do something she didn’t want to let the men know. Let them be taken by surprise.
The servants suddenly charged her. Raucous was still on the ground in front of them. The bird was about to be trampled to death.
“Raucous!” Hermione screamed, so afraid for the bird she thought nothing of herself.
As the wizards charged, a tendril of blue light flashed from behind Hermione’s back, wrapped around Raucous and pulled him out of the path of the charging servants. Once the bird was clear the light increased in glow, moving forward independent of the ring and shielding Hermione from the onrushing wizards. The servants skidded to a stop a mere couple of meters from the sheet of energy that pulsated before the witch. They watched in open-mouthed horror as the light coalesced and lengthened, taking on an enormous solid, sinuous shape. Suddenly they were facing a huge blue serpent, balancing on its upper body high above them, the rest of its body coiled beneath it, its cold black eyes staring down at them. It opened its mouth revealing huge curved fangs and hissed at them.
From the outcropping, Vivaldi stared down in awe. The Guardian had manifested itself for the witch. This was impossible. The Guardian only came to the aid of Snape family members. Who was this witch? She was no Snape. He watched as the wizards began to back up and the great snake slid forward, following them.
Hermione stared at the snake in awe as it slunk forward toward the contingent of wizards. It was so large it could probably consume all of them. She wanted the men away from her, but she didn’t want them to die. The snake stopped and turned back to look at her. It blinked its black eyes and nodded. Hermione couldn’t move. The snake turned back to the men.
Suddenly the head of the snake shot forward, its blunt nose striking a wizard, knocking him back several meters. Then it struck another and another of the screaming men with powerful head blows, assaulting the wizards, knocking them left and right. The men scrambled to their feet, holding themselves painfully and fled from the tombs without looking back. The Guardian had driven them off without taking a single life.
The snake turned around and slid toward Hermione, who was frozen in place. It lowered its head until it was level with the witch, and flicked its tongue out, tasting her face. To Hermione it felt as if someone had brushed her cheek with a feather. Then the serpent nodded to her again, and diffused into blue light, which rushed back into the ring with a roar of wind. All was silent again. Hermione stared down at the ring in amazement.
From the outcropping above her, Vivaldi stared down at the witch, his mind working furiously. The Guardian was gone and she was currently unprotected. Time for his backup plan. A large boulder stood next to him. Vivaldi moved to the stone and pushed on it with all his strength. It would crush the witch against the tomb doors and he could retrieve the ring. The boulder resisted at first, but the wizard applied all his strength to it, and the great stone toppled off the edge of the outcropping, hit the ground heavily and rolled toward a startled Hermione. The witch was so shocked she couldn’t move. Raucous, who was beginning to get his bearings, saw the boulder fall and cawed weakly at Hermione, trying to warn her to get out of the way. The great stone rumbled toward her. She was trapped in its path.
Suddenly a blue flash emitted from the ring, blasting the stone into powder. The entire area, including Hermione and Raucous was covered in the fine dust.
Vivaldi cursed and then beat a hasty retreat, half running, half sliding down the outcropping. He had seen the power of the ring was with the witch, and he wasn’t going to fuck with it again. She could keep the cursed thing. Acquiring it wasn’t worth losing his life over. The Snape family had survived fine without it for several generations. They could continue to do so. Severus wanted her to have it, and obviously the ring was linked with the witch. The wizard didn’t have the power to break that link.
Vivaldi headed back to the Manor. Let her do what she came to do and get the hell off his mountain. He had enough.
Ozmadias observed the wizard fleeing the scene, his cold gold eyes following him. The familiar thought it a wise act. He was no match for the witch’s ring. He continued to watch, curious to see the final outcome of the witch’s journey.
Hermione ran over to Raucous and picked him up gently off the ground, brushing the boulder dust from his black feathers as best she could. The bird looked up at her, then sneezed.
“Are you all right Raucous?” she asked the bird, holding him tenderly against her body.
Raucous let out an exaggerated caw of weakness, and snuggled against her breasts. Hermione arched an eyebrow at him. He looked up, blinking at her with his beady eyes.
“That was brave of you, Raucous, trying to take on that wizard,” she said softly, “foolish but brave. Thank you.”
Raucous cawed a welcome then struggled to right himself in her arms. He succeeded. He was recovering. Luckily nothing was broken when he was slammed to the ground. He was only stunned by the impact. Hermione set him on the ground and attempted to brush the dust from her clothing. She was covered from head to toe in fine brown dirt. She did her best, but remained soiled. She stood there, looking down at herself.
“What a mess,” she sighed.
Suddenly, the dirt began to fade, the color of her clothing brightening. After a minute or so, she was spotless. Ah, the self-cleaning charm. Even her hair was clean. Yes! Raucous looked up at her approvingly, before setting to work preening and shaking the dust from his black feathers
Hermione turned back toward the tomb doors, wondering how she was going to get them open.
“You didn’t leave instructions, Professor,” she breathed, her amber eyes sweeping over the enormous doors. “How am I going to get in here?’
The ring began to warm again, and a thin beam of blue light shot out of it and directly into the keyhole. Hermione heard a heavy click, then a thump, then a ponderous dragging sound. She stepped back as the doors slowly swung open with a rumble. The ring had granted her access. Hermione opened her pack and pulled out the fabric wrapped box, removed the cloth and held it in her hand. The box was warm and pulsing as if it were alive. She got a strange feeling in her belly as she remembered what the dream Professor had said. That she was sent here to resurrect him.
Hermione initially believed his claim was only part of a dream generated by her wishful subconscious, but now…holding the pulsating box in her hand, she wondered if what she experienced was truly a dream. Did she dare hope it was something more?
Hermione looked down at Raucous.
“We’ve almost completed our journey, Raucous. Come on, let’s finish this,” she said.
Raucous fluttered up to her shoulder, peering into the tomb. He cawed as something caught his eye. Hermione stepped closer to the doors also peering in. She froze.
“What is that?” she asked, cautiously walking forward and entering the tomb.
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A/N: All right. The guardian showed up and rescued both Raucous and Hermione. Vivaldi beat a hasty retreat. Smart wizard. I just couldn’t bring myself to kill the wizard off since he had just asserted himself as Lord of the Manor. He’s squicky but hot. Also his death would have resulted in the Hourse of Snape on Mu dying out. We need villains. lol Now Hermione is entering the tomb. Obviously something strange is in there. Wonder what it is? Hmm. Guess we’ll find out next chapter. Please review.
The Burning Pen
The Ring
by Ruth Solomon
The story content is adult in nature and can contain graphic sex and violence. Those under the age of 18 are asked to leave this site immediately. You are not welcome here. The author is not responsible for those under-aged who view these works.