the marriage stone (Discontinued)

Chapter 32 Growing Pains

Bifrost Hall appeared through the trees, an enormous castle-keep upon a rocky hill which looked out over the farming plains of the Winter Land beyond the forest. The Brand flag flew from the top most tower, indicating that the lord of the castle was in residence, and though still daylight out, the gates were barred, armed men patrolling the walls of the Keep.

Severus, crouched near a fallen tree, felt Sirius and Remus move up on either side of him. The three men took note of the armed contingent guarding the walls.

"There will be powerful wards on the gate," Severus informed the two men as Remus pointed out several archers that Severus had not noticed hiding in the shadows of the guard towers. "But beyond that there will be very little offensive magic. It will be a physical attack if we're forced to fight, and they'll have some of the best weapons around. Even dragonskin won't turn back their blades."

"Do we mean to attack openly then?" Sirius asked. Severus could tell by the tone of his voice, that he was not necessarily against such a thing, merely more curious than anything else. Remus on the other hand hissed in displeasure.

"Surely we can try negotiation first," he reasoned. "There are women and children inside those walls. I'd rather not risk harming innocents if we can avoid it."

"They started this," Severus reminded the werewolf. "The trick will be to get the wards down as quickly as possible. Once inside the walls, we should be able to subdue the warriors with spells readily enough. Alrik will be the only really magical threat, and he'll be easily dealt with. He has little skill as a duelist."

"Remus and I can get the wards down," Sirius told him. "You just keep those arrows off of us."

Though Severus didn't particularly like the two men, he was aware of the fact that they were both capable of casting magic in tandem, a rare skill. Years of familiarity not to mention the bond between them that they were only just beginning to acknowledge made them a very formidable team. Given enough time, he was certain they could pull all the wards from those ancient walls.

"We only need the wards on one of the gates down," Severus reminded them, knowing that as Gryffindors they would likely overlook this fact and go for total overkill - such a thing would cost them time he did not want to waste.

"What if they hurt Harry?" Remus asked, voicing a fear they all had.

"We don't give them the chance," Severus insisted. "We move quickly, stop anyone who gets in our way. No wasted time." If he had to, he knew he would take those very women and children Remus had mentioned hostage against Harry's safe return. He would use their own weaknesses against them - what ever it took to retrieve Harry alive. He did not want to think about the possibility that Harry may have already been injured - he was alive when he cast that Patronus. He had no reason to doubt that he remained alive still.

Sword in one hand, wand in the other, Severus nodded to the two men. "Let's move." As one they left their hiding place, moving at a swift run across the open ground beyond the forest edge toward the gate of the castle. No sooner had they emerged from the shadows of the forest and began making their way across the snow dusted ground, did they hear the horns on the walls of the castle sounding the alarm. More armed men moved toward the walls, archers raising their bows.

It took them a while to traverse the distance between the edge of the forest and the castle walls. As they ran, Severus felt the two men beside him calling up their powers even as they raised their wands to begin attacking the wards they could feel pulsing through the earth, protecting the ancient gate. Severus threw a shield up as they ran to ward off any arrows that might fly in their direction. But before the two men could throw their first blasting attack at the wall, a man hailed them from the castle.