The New Allies
There were screams all around her now. Ida, the Durmstrang prefect, was next to Ginny, tears running down her face. “We’re going to die!” Ida was crying. “We’re all going to die!”
Ginny could only look dumbly up at the huge figures. She’d come to think of Giants as friendly, or at least neutral. But these weren’t British Giants, were they? These were the ones who had wrecked Durmstrang, and here they were, to destroy Beauxbatons as well. And New Hogwarts and New Durmstrang into the bargain.
“I shouldn’t have brought everyone here,” she said, in numb horror. “This is my fault.” There were pupils scattered all over Beauxbatons valley, in the family houses, under the New Hogwarts and New Durmstrang shields. There was nothing she could do. If she tried to move all the family houses – and she was sure that wasn’t even possible – the people inside would die.
What can I do?
The Giants were holding huge weapons – tree trunks, she realised. She flinched when they roared and held the trunks above their heads. Then they were running, and those around Ginny were screaming, turning, fleeing. But she could only stand, transfixed.
The Giants were running to her left, along the top of the cliff. In the direction of the British Aurors, she realised. What did that mean?
The Giants were roaring again, and sweeping their tree trunks weapons across the ground, back and forth, or bringing them crashing down, again and again.
“They’re attacking the Aurors,” she found herself saying. Then she shouted the same words, but there was no-one to hear. She still couldn’t move, even though she knew the Giants would be coming for the school any second now, as soon as they’d finished with the Aurors, but she didn’t know what she should do. What she could do.
The Giants were stopping now, they were just standing there. No, some were disappearing, away from the cliff edge. Chasing the Aurors, surely? The remaining Giants were roaring once more, waving their tree trunks in triumph. Our turn next…
There was something in the air next to the Giants, flying towards her. Something tiny. But it was growing larger, and closer. It was a Thestral, she realised, with a small figure riding it.
There was something strange about the figure: It appeared to have no head.
Suddenly she was back to her childhood, reading one of her brothers’ Muggle comics about cowboys. The baddies had shot the hero’s friend, and propped his dead body on a horse, and sent him back to the hero, as a message.
Oh, no… What message? And whose body?
I don’t feel like a hero right now.
The Thestral was bringing its wings up, and it was landing next to her, the figure still poised on its back.
Ginny flinched as the headless figure moved. Now it was sliding down the shoulder of the Thestral, and landing on the ground. Its arms came up, and she flinched again, because the arms were too small, and too low down, and small hands were reaching up to where the head had been.
The hands dragged a black bag off its shoulders, and there was a head beneath, a small one. Without warning the figure doubled over, and was violently and noisily sick over Ginny’s shoes.
“Eeuw!” squawked Ginny, and fumbled between her shoulder blades for her wand, but then realised her wand was already in her hand. She used Tergeo to clean her shoes, and then her stockings, and then the puddles of vomit between her and the retching figure.
She was conscious of figures crowding behind her in a silent semi-circle. Eventually the figure straightened and looked at Ginny. A Goblin, she realised at last.
“It’s been a long time, Gweasley,” croaked the Goblin.
“Shorgak?” asked Ginny in disbelief.
“I’m glad you recognise me,” said Shorgak.
“How could I forget?” Ginny asked rhetorically. Shorgak had returned the Demmy Slicer to her, and helped her destroy a flock of Dementors. And Ginny had put the Demenda spell on Shorgak’s dagger, so she – Shorgak - could fight Dementors. And enchanted her tribe’s daggers as well.
“You do not make visitors welcome,” said Shorgak, ruefully.
“No,” said Ginny. “Sorry…”
“You’re meant to use the gate,” said Madame Desprez next to her, frostily. “You shouldn’t be flying in here!”
“Unless you’re a mad taxi driver,” said Ruby, behind Ginny. “But don’t worry, I was bleeding terrified enough for the pair of us.”
“What are you doing here, Shorgak?” Ginny asked, trying to wave Ruby to silence.
Shorgak gave her a crooked smile and shrugged, in a very human gesture. “If the Giants had sent someone else,” she replied. “You might not have recognised us as allies.”
“Allies?”
Shorgak nodded with emphasis. “Allies, Ginny. We would have been here sooner, but Giants can only avoid Human eyes in darkness.”
“Wait! The Giants are our allies?”
“Of course,” said Shorgak. “You helped protect them from the Demmys – from the Dementors. So when I asked them to help you, they came.”
“They’re not…?”
“Not what?” asked Shorgak, annoyed. “No, Gweasley, they are not here to attack you. No. They are here to protect your schools from your enemies, and ours.”
“But the British…” began Ginny, still bemused.
Shorgak shook her head. “Are your enemies,” she completed. “It seems now that the enemy has changed, and it is now the British Ministry of Magic. They persecute other Magical species, they attack Beauxbatons. So, your enemy and ours. We are here to propose a pact.” She waved in the direction of the Giants on the cliff top. “Consider this a proof of our goodwill.”
“But why did the Giants attack Durmstrang?” asked Ginny. Aren’t they still the enemy?
“They were trying to stop Durmstrang creating Dementors,” said Shorgak.
There was a silence. “What?” asked Ginny.
Shorgak was gazing at her, frowning. “You knew.”
“Yes, I…”
“You knew,” repeated Shorgak. “But you did nothing?”
“Wait…”
“You are human,” said Shorgak, with a strange gesture. Distaste? Disgust? “You cannot be trusted.”
“Shorgak, we only just found out!” Ginny protested. “And remember I made all those Demmy Slicers for you!”
Shorgak was angry. “Another way of controlling us,” she said.
“No! I was trying to help! I nearly got sent to Azkaban, remember? I’m on your side!”
“You brought the machine here,” said Shorgak.
“Machine?” echoed Ginny, weakly.
The Goblin turned and pointed unerringly at the House of Assembly.
“Yeah, I did,” said Ginny, despairingly. “But I didn’t know! I brought it here to save all the pupils, that’s all!”
Shorgak stared at her in silence.
“We can prove it to you,” said someone behind Ginny. Ginny swung around. It was Undine, her voice thick and unrecognisable. Her face was wet with tears.
“Undine?” asked Ginny. “What’s wrong?”
“We show the Goblins,” said Undine. “And the Giants. We destroy the House of Assembly.”
“But we don’t know how!” protested Ginny. “Honestly, Shorgak…”
“I know,” said Undine. “Wait…” She spoke, but in a different language, and then appeared to listen. A pause, and she nodded. “Professor Sendulla,” she said in a clear voice. “You need to leave the House of Assembly.”
“Undine?” asked Ginny, baffled. “He won’t hear you…”
Undine shook her head. “He can hear me. I know he can. The House of Assembly is talking to him, for me. Professor Sendulla, you must leave the building now, before I destroy it.”
“What are you talking about?” Ginny asked.
But Undine was pointing. Ginny spun around, and she could see tiny figures hurrying down the side of the House of Assembly. And then, with a crack, Sendulla was standing next to them.
“What is this?” he demanded. “The House of Assembly is Durmstrang property! And you will not touch it!”
Ginny realised he was shouting exclusively at her. “Not me,” she said when he drew breath. “You need to talk to Undine.”
“The architect?” demanded Sendulla in surprise. He turned to stare at Undine. “What gives you the right…?” He pulled out his wand and pointed it at her.
“Is the building empty?” asked Undine. She seemed supremely unafraid of Sendulla, or his wand.
“Yes, but…”
Undine spoke, but not in French. Sendulla’s face twisted in incomprehension, and he said something Ginny couldn’t understand. Is that Danish too? Sendulla was turning to look at the House of Assembly, his face rigid with fear. “No!” he shouted, in French this time. “No!”
The ground shook, suddenly, and continued to vibrate. Shorgak’s Thestral brought up its wings in alarm, and Shorgak had to turn and quieten the animal.
The House of Assembly was falling. As they watched, the domed roof collapsed, inwards, with a huge crash, and the ground shook. Then the walls were falling too, and only the two remaining Jotun were left. But then they could see the pair of huge statues leaning backwards, slowly – so slowly - until they fell as well, on top of the wreckage where the building had been.
The ground was still shaking under their feet, and as they watched the huge pile of stones dropped further. There must be a basement, Ginny decided then, her head whirling. That the stones are falling into.
But then, as they all watched, the remaining stone disappeared, and all that was left was the grass of the Dining Chamber lawn. Not a trace of the House of Assembly could be seen, and the ground was still. The wreckage of the Dining Chamber lay exposed now, the awesome pile of glass blocks and boulders an impressive backdrop to the expanse of green.
“What did you do?” Ginny asked Undine when she could find her breath.
“I said it was time,” Undine replied, sadly. “And goodbye.”
“That’s all?”
“Yes,” said Undine. “I didn’t realise until now that I knew. That I already knew everything.”
“Visendakona,” said an awed voice. It was Ida, who was staring at Undine, her eyes wide in shock. “She who knows everything.”
Undine merely nodded.
“Her?” said Sendulla, in disbelief. “No, she can’t be!”
“Why can’t she be?” demanded Anthony. He was standing next to Undine, and taking her hand. “She’s a Viking too.”
“A Viking?” demanded Sendulla. “She is French!”
“My grandmother had Viking blood,” said Undine. “She was an Anquetil. I even look like her.”
The ground was pulsing once more, but all was still on the Dining Chamber lawn. What?
“So,” said Shorgak. “You like drama. And so do the Giants.”
Ginny brought her eyes up to the top of the Great Cliff, where huge shapes were moving. “What are they doing?” she asked, fearfully.
“They’re dancing,” said Undine.
“Do you really know everything?” Ginny asked her.