//------------------------------// // Chapter 98: Red Alert! // Story: Agents of Discord // by KittyrinnAiko //------------------------------// “Red alert, red alert!” Moonie all but shouted in Aerie’s ear via an earpiece that had suddenly popped into Aerie’s ear. Aerie pealed off wildly, startled and confused. “Containment breached!” Moonie continued. “It found its way out through an old tunnel under the Herbology labs!” Aerie’s emotions went from confusion to alarm and abject dread as she willed her broon higher and higher, pushing it as fast as she could go. Diggery followed having lost track of the snitch thinking that she was still after it. Higher and higher they went, Aerie pouring her magic into that broom, a howling roar coming from the white-hot sweep. Diggery dropped off unable to follow. Aerie continued to climb until she’d found the broom’s max altitude and allowed it to do a sort of shimmy stall across the sky. The broom dropped, she pitched over and shot through the sky. She’d left the pitch and stands far behind. Diggery watched her go, saw her shoot through the sky, saw what looked like smoke coming up from the Herbology greenhouses, and Aerie headed straight for it. Aerie closed in on the greenhouses, saw a large dark shape, saw its head lifting up, abandoned her broom, teleported through the air, and summoned up her daggers as she dropped onto the beast. Damn, the thing was big! The head alone was every bit as big as Big Mac. The daggers did not bite. It’d been like trying to stab a bolder, or an oil pipe while it moved about. The knives connected right where she wanted but if they’d cut in they’d done little more than alert the beast to her presence. It had whipped its head around and sent Aerie flying. She’d not make the same mistake twice and pulled all limbs tight while willing her shield at maximum. Several greenhouses bore the evidence of her passing before she’d regained control. Once more into the air, she flew. Once more maneuvering for a strike, the monster somehow sensing her approach turns towards her. Two bolts of energy come from the direction of the quidditch field. It turns in that direction, Aerie swoops in, dives, and before it can lock in on the new attacker she has driven the daggers into its eyes. “Son of a bitch!” Aerie shouts in pain as she pulls her hands free. She’s blinded it but the daggers look like they’ve turned to stone. She grabs for her hammer pendant, alarmed that she can’t grip it. “Do it!” Aerie shouts as her wings take her heavenward her hands beating at the pendant, electricity dancing about her. “Set loose the hammer! Full armor! Turn the volume to eleven and drop the hammer of the gods!” Finally! Power rips through Aerie, her hands regain motion as the crust drops away. If the large black cloud casting Hogwarts in shadow wasn’t enough to alarm everyone, the boom of thunder happening an instant after a bright flash was. Quidditch players raced for the ground, the game halted, and people in the stands looked as though they were ready to bolt. Suddenly there was a golden pegasus flying in front of them, it dropped down onto the stands and transformed into Aurora Summers. “Professor, it’s out!” Dumbledore quickly checked his zipper. “The monster. It’s loose in the greenhouses!” Diggery shouted as he approached. “Aerie went straight for it!” Aerie Potter vanished from the wards followed by the appearance of Thora Arthol thanks to the interaction with the hammer. Aerie had transformed into an adult, fully equipped in the ancient armor she’d collected, the hammer now full-sized, she dropped that thing onto the head of the beast driving it down only to be thrown again as it thrashed around. At least it couldn't kill just by looking at her. Up she went, timed her shot, and threw the hammer only to watch it bounce off. The hammer whipped around to slap back into her armored glove. Aerie dove down again, this time building up a massive difference of potential to bring down a powerful lightning bolt even as she drives the hammer into the monster’s head. Down it goes slamming into the ground, its body and tail thrashing about. Aerie pulls back and strikes again. “Skadoosh, you son of a bitch!” Aerie shouted as she slammed the hammer into the head of the beast over and over, shattering, bits of scale that sprayed out with each strike. The beast’s head slammed down into the ground each time. But it’s still thrashing about, its head still raises only for Aerie to slam it down again, and again until it stops moving. Once more she found herself in a crater following a fight. At least this time she wasn’t exhausted. She jumped up to the edge of the crater and landed there, the monster’s head in the pit, its body curled about, some in the pit, but the majority was beyond the pit. Destruction was all around them. She let herself relax as the dust settled, transformed back into Aerie Potter, and transformed the hammer back into a pendant, her armor back into hammerspace. “Aerie?” Aerie couldn't help but jump at the sound of Professor Dumbledore’s voice. He’d a wand out. “You saw that, did you?” “Aerie, as much as I appreciate what you just did, I think that artifact is far too dangerous for a child.” Aerie looked at him incredulously at his outstretched left hand. Aerie shrugged, took the pendent, dropped it in the man’s hand, and watched as he was slammed into the dirt. The hammer was back to full size. “Professor?” “Get it off,” Dumbledore whimpered. “Please.” “I can have it back?” Aerie's tone was borderline taunting. He was quiet as he contemplated what to say. “Professor,” Moonie said as she appeared nearby. “Only someone with a powerful elemental ability can wield that hammer. And only if they are pure of heart. Even I am unable to lift it.” “Alright, alright, take it back. I’m sorry. I should never have presumed.” Aerie took the hammer, shrunk the hammer down, and put it back on her chain. A moment later he was rolling over and cradling his crushed hand. Mrs Silverwood stepped up a moment later. She leaned down, and with but a touch she cooled the fire in the man’s hand, the pain now gone. “Have a care what you ask for,” Mrs Silverwood chided. “I was simply going to return it to the Goblins,” he offered tersely as he sat up. Granted that it was more likely he’d a mind to give it to someone capable of considerable malicious mischief so that he could rush in and save the day. “Master Smith Brokkr of Akkadia made this hammer. It is not some cheap goblin trinket, and I doubt the veracity of their claim to many of the things they call their own,” Aerie scolded. Aerie took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “And yet you’ve agreed to return certain items.” “Items spoiled by Riddle. Make no doubt that the ring is only usable by Riddle. “Mrs Silverwood, was that you who fired a couple of shots at it, this thing whatever it is?” Now that the dust had cleared Aerie could see it far better. Indeed it was shaped like a snake but far larger than any snake she knew, and the scales on the beast were undeniably draconic. “A Wrym. The longer they live, the bigger they get. A hybrid to be exact.” “And the harder to fall, it seems. You don’t mind if I tell everyone you dealt with it do you?” “Well, it wasn’t me that tried to distract it. And, sure. Why not? Probably not a good idea to let it out what you can do.” “I… um…” Dumbledore began. “Those two blasts you saw came from the Weasley twins. They figured out how to do a manna dump,” Moonie informed them. “I got them to safety. The outlay of raw manna did the same thing to them it did to you the first time you tried it.” “Professor, I think it’d be prudent to make sure none of the students come over here,” Mrs Silverwood cautioned. “Think I’ll head towards the pitch and see if I can find my broom.” “Afraid we’ll have to call off the game,” Dumbledore offered with an air of disappointment. “Call it off, after I’d already caught the snitch?” “Caught the snitch?” “Well, you didn’t think I would leave it for Diggery? It’s in my pocket.” “And I’ve no intention to leave this thing here,” Mrs Silverwood announced and got out her phone. She pressed a couple of buttons and held it up to her head. “We need a Wyrm pick up over at the school. It’s a big one. Do we still have the Herakles on station? Good, send it on over, and make sure they understand that they will need hazmat suits for this one.” “Pardon?” Dumbledore asked, turning his attention from Aerie. “What?” Mrs Silverwood asked while looking at Dumbledore. “Professor, George the V, King of England set up the forest, Hogsmeade, and the lands the school is on as a Barony under my control. Edward VIII, George VI, and Elizabeth the Second have all extended the order which effectively makes me the law out here. I allow the ministry to handle their affairs, but I will step in if I feel things have gone off the rails. That and they already have one of these things. I want to know what makes it tick just in case old man Slytherin has any more stashed down there.” “There could be more?” He sounded horrified at the thought. Aerie picked her way through the rubble, found the twins behind a tumbled-down wall, and roused them. “Aerie… what the hell?” Fred asked. “What happened to you?” “What was that?” “Who was that?” “We thought you went and got yourself killed!” both chimed. “I took cover, and she was just a passing housewife.” The irony was that in her adult human form, she was a young Mrs Arthol supercharged with divine power. “I was afraid there might be someone in there in need of help.” “Figures.” “Don’t ever do that again.” “I’ll try not to. “Moonie, any idea where our brooms are?” “You’re going to need new brooms. I found the bulk of yours…” She’d appeared in human form and had three large pieces, the sweep, and two sections of shaft that might just as well be petrified wood. “Maybe I can send it back for a refund.” Aerie took the pieces. “Look, I’ve got the snitch in my pocket, I’m going to go see if anyone is still over at the pitch.” “You caught the snitch?!” “Ya, but they may have canceled the game and it’s not going to count.” “It better count!” Aerie and the boys arrived back at the pitch a short time later, the stands still full of people as no one was quite sure what was going on. Aerie walked out onto the field, tucked the remains of her broom under one arm, reached into her pocket, pulled out the snitch, and held it aloft. It took a moment for people to realize what she had in her hand. “Aerie Potter!” McGonagall scolded. “What do you mean by leaving in the middle of the game?” “I caught the snitch, the game was over. I saw smoke coming from the greenhouses. Something big and nasty wandered in from the Forbidden Forest. Mrs Silverwood took care of it, and they don’t want anyone over there. I found Fred and George, and brought them back before they could get underfoot.” Everything had come out in a rush leaving McGonagall in a bit of a quandary. “Perhaps we should get everyone back inside,” Snape suggested coolly. He’d not missed what Aerie was carrying. “And by the looks of that broom, I’d say Miss Potter is lucky to have survived her foolishness.” “What? Oh my!” “I’m calling the game for Gryffindor,” Lupin stated. “And then I’m going to go have a look.” He took a few steps, placed the wand to his throat, and made the announcement. Everyone was confined to the main building until further notice and the greenhouses were off limits indefinitely.