The Path

by tgfoy

It has lain undisturbed for five hundred years, safely hidden from those who would use it. Can one boy prevent it's rediscovery? Can he prevent discovery of his ancestors secret? He must act as a muggle subject is taught at Hogwarts for the first time.

Anything you recognise from the works of J.K.R. remains hers, I make no claim on it.

Set 500 years after the events of my novel length story, Essence of Revenge. I look forward to reading what you think of this one shot

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The Path.

The wind was still warm after the hot summer weather, which had lasted well into September and the new term at the school. It was not a strong breeze, just strong enough so that it rustled the still green leaves in the canopy of what had once been called the forbidden forest. It was hard to believe that the wide expanse of trees had once sheltered dangerous beasts amongst the more friendly ones it still provided shelter for. That had been long ago now, half a millennia ago, in the time when a Giant and Half Giant had looked after the grounds. A large mound next to a smaller one, both encircled with stones like an ancient Barrow, near the lake marked where the two brothers were buried next to each other, close to the even older hut which was still occupied by the castles Hagrid. The name of the old grounds keeper used by keepers of the keys ever since in place of their own name, The Hagrid also still occupying the hut for the duration of their time responsible for the grounds and those that lived in them. The name had become synonymous with the job and for centuries the post had been advertised as simply, Hagrid required. Similarly any assistant was known as the Grawp after the brother and again any vacancy would be advertised simply with that name and all in the magical world knew what it meant. Those were not the only aspects of this place that had become folklore in modern times, but the stories of the adventures of the past, such as Basilisks, Dementors and the like remained firmly in history.

These days the forest the Hagrid and Grawp looked after was safe, the centaurs helped see to that, though they also kept a watch on those students who explored it's shady depths, usually on summer weekends before they left for the holidays. The favourite spot in the woods for many to picnic was the water fall outlet of the great lake, a wide deep gorge had been carved by the flow over millennia. It had only become accessible since the last of the truly dangerous beasts had left the area, allowing students to explore more widely than before. The gorge provided a break in the forest canopy, and a long view out along the fast flowing river, that could be seen to lead to join another river in the distance. The damp conditions, from the mist that constantly rose from the fast flowing, narrow, powerful falls, encouraged moss, ferns and flowers to populate the area. In the coming months, when Autumn had given way to the hard coldness of Winter, even these falls usually froze and the students would walk across the top, over the ice covering the still flowing water beneath, to the other bank, as a challenge. Though that hardly seemed possible at the moment, even now the first frost was yet to appear, leaves had yet to begin to turn and both seemed a long time away. The signs of Autumn had barely begun, somewhat later than was usual around the castle.

The group of students in the forest this day were neither seeking solitude, nor relaxation though. They were grouped in a particular area, closer to the castle than it was the Falls. It was a clearing where, even half a millennium before, it was known that no trees had grown. Although trees and vegetation had at one time flourished there, that had been before area had been occupied by one of the now gone creatures. In this case their occupation had been short, at least compared with other species in the woodland, but long lasting. Introduced unintentionally by, in part, the original Hagrid when he had now famously been expelled in a case later recognised to have been one of mistaken identity at the very start of the rise of a Dark Wizard who had begun to gain followers whilst still at the school. It hadn't been the creatures fault, it was simply the effect they had on the indigenous trees and vegetation around their nests, normally far enough apart for the damage to be negligible. Here they had been amassed in a relatively small area and so the damage was also more concentrated. The first of them had arrived, escaping from the school where it had been cared for by Hagrid, although it was a strange choice as a pet. It had been scared out of it's wits when it sensed a serpentine presence which was under the control of the other student, who would later become the most powerful Dark Wizard their world had seen both before and probably since.

That was far in the past though, neither the students gathered in the clearing, nor their professor were aware of all the details of that incident, though it was taught as part of the story of the rise of Voldemort, it was considered a small point in that tale, little more than a note in the story. Even so their presence and interest in that particular clearing was to conduct research into past events that had occurred there at the very end of the time and reign of that Dark Lord.

The clearing was much larger than it had been at the time of those important events, the lasting effect of its former inhabitants ensured that. It was now twice the size of a Quidditch pitch, clearly visible from the upper floors and towers of the castle.

The enthusiastic group in the clearing made an odd sight, one never before seen at Hogwarts so far as anyone knew. Each student was gradually excavating a small pit, measuring no more than a metre on each side and each at least three metres apart across the ground. They each worked in one of the pits dotted around the area in a grid pattern, slowly scraping at the ground layer by layer with a Muggle trowel, searching for changes in the colour or texture of the earth as well as any objects in the soil that may be man made. Loose soil was carefully scraped onto a hand shovel for removal out of the test pit, as a pile of spoil was carefully placed on wooden boards next to each trench at one side. On the opposite side, weighed down with a stone, was a small stack of parchment, quill and a metal grid, the same size as the pit, all used in recording any changes in the earth or finds and structures they discovered as they went, taking care over drawing the positions of any features or objects they uncovered. On another side of each square hole were trays, bags and tools for the use of the student excavating that trench. They carefully bagging any objects or inclusions, labelling them individually, hoping to be the one that uncovered the crucial evidence to link the site definitively with the legend they had been brought up with about the area.

The excavation was continuing at a reasonable pace, much to the satisfaction of the new archaeology teacher. It was his first year in post and it was a new subject being taught in the school, complementing the history of magic course. Introducing Archaeology to the course, for all years, was the first major change to the method of teaching since Professor Binns had begun teaching it a good number of centuries ago. The ghost was still in charge of the course, but had, at last, been forced to accept that his methods were dated and he needed to allow some fresh ideas, not to mention the need to cover more than the Goblin Wars. His fixation on that part of Wizarding history was becoming very embarrassing, especially as relations between the two races had been much more co operative for the last few hundred years and had never been better. The Goblins understood the wars were part of history and should be taught, in fact they included them in their own schools teachings as a warning of the folly they had been. However it was not a subject that could or should be taught in isolation, it was only a part of the History of the Wizarding world after all. It had been a struggle to convince the ghost of that though, successive head masters had tried over the centuries. Admittedly he had, slowly, been convinced to add other aspects of Wizarding History in that time, two lessons on the life and times of Albus Dumbledore, for example, but it had been more than an embarrassment that the school had needed to employ another teacher to ensure students learning in the subject was adequate for the last three hundred years.

This was the students first practical investigation into the history of the school and it's environs, so Professor Jones had selected what he hoped would be a relatively simple site. Although he believed it would be a site with the potential to reveal artefacts and finds of enough interest to start the project off well, it was not a site known to have had many structures on it, the remains of which could be complicated to sort out. This part of the grounds was reputedly connected with a most mysterious event in the schools and indeed the country's history so could well provide some answers of national importance amongst the finds and evidence effecting the soil itself. The event, which although legendary, he was not sure if it would have left much evidence anyway, but it certainly had the potential to have done. Even if any had been lost at the time and had survived the event itself, it's preservation in the rich loamy forest floor for five centuries under ground was questionable and may only be a stain in the soil by now. Still the stratigraphy of the ground might be interesting and there were bound to be objects dropped by anyone who had crossed the area, both before and since the events, perhaps quite deep down, revealing activity in the area. Perhaps there might even be evidence from the time of the founders, helping to fill in gaps in what was known from then. What ever they found would be informative, even if they found little it would guide future excavations, the potential was certainly there to discover much. The Professor initially hoped that the very least they would discover would be evidence that would positively date some of the layers of soil to the time of the mystery half a millennium ago.

This dig was not just about what could be found, nor was it simply a method of teaching the students about investigating and interpreting physical evidence, it had a wider purpose. This excavation was the first carried out in the Wizarding world, so had to prove to the sceptical magical authorities and community that using techniques that had been used by Muggles for centuries were valuable in rediscovering lost history along with any surviving physical evidence. Whilst the basic techniques were Muggle in origin, despite advances in technology, even they still had not come up with a true substitute to the use of shovel, trowel and brush to gain a good picture of what had happened during the History of a site. The professor had trained in the Muggle world after he had left Hogwarts, gaining a PHD in Archaeology, then brought his knowledge of how to discover and interpret the physical history buried underground back to be applied in the Wizarding world. In fact it had been Gringotts who had first recognised the usefulness of his work. The Goblins had observed him using the methods and had him train their treasure hunters as a result. In a very short period, this had improved the recovery rate of gold, even at sites previously thought to have been emptied by the bank. Understandably the Goblins had been ecstatic, the ministry, who had been dismissive of the usefulness of his methods suddenly took notice and commissioned a study into the techniques to see if they could be improved by magic. He had happily worked with the department of mysteries, evaluating the methods, seeing how or if they could be adapted for a number of years, the results had been interesting, to say the least. Few people had the delicacy of spell or wand work to effectively use magic on an excavation without destroying evidence or the stratigraphy and so the Muggle techniques were deemed to be the best. A ministry Archaeology department was created under his guidance although no large scale excavations had taken place, the department had received many objects for identification from the public and so had built a map of Wizarding Britain's potential hot spots for future investigation. Soon the Headmaster of Hogwarts had expressed a wish for the subject to be taught at the school, alongside history of magic. It had taken ten years to persuade Professor Binns of it's usefulness, the ghost was growing frustrated by what he saw as interference in his classes, but eventually agreed. It then took another year to design the course and select the site for the first dig from the plethora of possibilities around the school, now that excavation was under way and under the microscope of officialdom

It had taken much deliberation to choose this site, the Professor had needed to consider many things in order to satisfy the different demands. The professor had been initially at a loss which area to excavate first, He had spoken with his colleagues in the school, even followed many wizards before him by visiting the grave of Albus Dumbledore to contemplate. Some believed visiting the grave of the man many still regarded as the greatest headmaster Hogwarts had ever had, could help discover the solution to many problems. He was not among them, but he found that sitting with his back to the white marble, somehow helped clear his mind. As well as the site being of interest, whilst not having the potential of being too complex for the students to interpret. He had needed to research the various options around the castle, from the records of the area, it had taken the most work during the preparations for the dig. He had first ruled out anywhere known to have burials in them, especially those of human. Such trenches could be very interesting to excavate and examine, but were likely to be worrisome for the younger years to discover, besides the bones would need to be treated carefully and with due respect, so excavating them was fraught with complications when ever they were found. They were not really suitable as a training dig, or a first excavation so he had quickly ruled any such site out. The past year he had continued his researches, visited potential sites around the grounds and in the forest, he surveyed them and plotted every feature, hump and bump, precisely on plans he created. He used these to categorise the different areas, narrow down the sites for the first dig, prioritising the others for future excavation. He had even identified an area he believed could be the site of a previously unknown settlement under the lawns between the Castle and lake, he believed this may even be the remains of the earliest buildings on the grounds, perhaps the first school buildings themselves. He had, eventually settled on the area they were now excavating, no one had looked at the area in this way before, so they had started at the start of term, digging a series of test pits which, if they proved interesting, could be expanded to uncover more.

He had desperately wanted to excavate the site of the possible early settlement that he had discovered, but in the end had let his head rule his heart and decided it was best to leave it until the course had run a few years and the students had more experience. Convinced it would be quite a complex task, more about stains in the soil than artefacts and structural remains, so needing more experienced hands than the students would have this year, to do the site justice. He knew that digging any site would destroy the stratigraphy and therefore the site he knew it was better to wait. In the end it had taken until the beginning of the Summer to settle on this site, in the forest, he had then spent the time when no students were present completing a detailed survey of the large clearing, planing where the trenches would go, ready for the start of the new school year.

Now the course had begun, the students had surveyed the position of their own trench in the first lesson, then they had begun digging as instructed. They had only a few weeks remaining before the weather would stop the dig for the winter in all probability, they would then be processing, sieving and examining any finds made as well as examining the drawings. Even here in the forest, under the shelter of the trees, the cold weather of winter would freeze the ground, making excavation impossible and sieving the soil samples very difficult. So far they had cleared more recent soils that were made from leaf mould from the surrounding trees, thus far to a depth of twelve inches in most of the trenches they had opened so far, the Wizarding world still clinging to the old imperial measurements, rather than the metric used by Muggles. The piles of soil were being placed in buckets as part of the tidying at the end of each session, labelled and stored for sieving indoors over winter.

The site was perhaps the most mysterious location, in a fairly well documented part of the castles history. The story was one that each of the children had grown up with and it was tantalising to hope they might find some evidence of the pivotal events that had, according to the tales, happened in this location so long ago. Certainly once it had been announced, the excitement amongst the student body had been palpable and had been maintained so far, the extra curricular club that had also started to expedite the work had been one of the most popular this term. The popularity of a club that involved much hard physical work could not simply be put down to curiosity about a new subject, that could be satisfied in the formal classes, but was due to the popularity of the story of that event in a war long in the past.

Outside the castle's main entrance, a well kept garden surrounded an old white monolith, like a gigantic wand with a thread of gleaming black Whitby Jet spiralling down its length, commemorating the famed battle of Hogwarts stood. It was a place students often went in term time to take a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life in the castle. It was a place they would go to contemplate when they needed time for themselves, many a homesick first year had gone there for comfort at the start of each year, at the end of term it was mostly stressed fifth or seventh years who went to escape the stresses of their exams, it was a place respected by all, the one place in the school where peace could be guaranteed. Even couples would sit demurely next to each other if they went into the garden, going elsewhere if they wished to kiss or cuddle, such was the power of the place and the story of that time on Wizarding Society, such was the respect and awe it still held. The names of the golden trio, long dead, were still spoken in admiration together with those of the other members of the Order of Dumbledore, the award created to recognise their bravery, no other being considered sufficient nor had it been awarded to any other since. Carved stone plaques inside the entrance hall, listed the names of those killed in the school and grounds in gilt letters were just as respected, a tradition of bowing to them as one entered or left the castle by that route had started a few years after it's installation and was now an unquestioned custom of the school, observed as strongly as was the Quidditch season or house cup. Each year, the anniversary of the battle was marked with a solemn national commemoration centred on the school, the day had become a national holiday to mark what had been the biggest battle in Wizarding Britain. It was on that day when descendants of those revered witches and wizards who had fought here, joined the school in commemoration and white sparks were seen over the nation marking the Wizarding community united in remembrance. Although there had been Dark Lords threatening the community over the centuries, the lessons learnt in the years leading to the battle had meant none had reached the power of Tom Riddle, so the day was still a significant event even after five hundred years, the memory of the terrible events and bravery of those people still kept, a reminder of what could happen if it was ever allowed to be forgotten.

The dig site was away from the main battle ground, in front of the castle, yet according to the story, it was here that a key event, perhaps the pivotal event of that night so long ago, was said to have happened. It was to here that Harry Potter had walked, alone. He had left his friends behind, to do what he knew needed to be done, he had been utterly alone, though it was said his dead parents and their friends had appeared as ghostly figures to support him as he walked towards what he expected would be his death. It was here that he had faced his nemesis, Tom Riddle. It was here that Harry was said to have been killed, where he died for the first time. It was from here his body had been carried as he feigned death in the arms of his friend, only to rise up and defeat the most powerful dark wizard the world had seen. That much was known from the records and eye witness statements at least, although historians raised questions over if Potter had really been hit by the Killing curse and survived it, they also questioned the eye witness accounts as probably unreliable, intended to increase the legend of either him or Riddle depending on their point of view. So little was really known about what had actually happened in this clearing that night, so little could be verified beyond doubt, the story was just that, a tale, part of the legend of the largest great war in the Wizarding world. What had really happened to Harry Potter that night? That was a question many historians wished an answer to. There were so many stories about them both, many sounding unbelievable, perhaps this was just one more. Many papers had been written, none had really proven anything about that lonely walk and the events that followed. The professor knew it was unlikely that this dig would provide many answers for that, but hoped they could confirm that this had indeed been the location the stories indicated, the site where the death eaters had retreated to during a lull in the battle. Indeed only this morning they had found evidence of a fire having been set in the middle, beneath the centuries of leaf mould covering what was likely to be the ground level of the time. They had found a large area of burning with a lot of charred branches preserved, a good sign of the preservation of the objects buried here. Then, within an hour, close to the scorched area of the fire, they had found a death eaters mask, tarnished and corroded, but on the same layer as the fire remains. They had their dating evidence, confirmation they had reached the right layers in the trenches, as well as the presence of Riddles army here. Records had shown that death eaters would only have had access to this area around the time of the battle, in the months of Riddles rule. This was a couple of pieces of the proof they needed, though more would be required to confirm it, they were at a stage where the danger was that they would try to make the evidence fit the stories, rather than letting it tell them the story.

Over the following few weeks they widened many of the pit's, merging some and starting new ones in an attempt to find the edge of the clearing as it had been at the time of the battle. Perhaps more evidence that this was the clearing they sought could be found, as well as going deeper to see if anything else of significance could be found. What had been voids created by the rotting root balls of long dead trees showed beneath the more recent leaf mould as a different coloured, less organic soil surrounded by the darker loam of the forest floor, the tops of which were close to the same depth as the fire and the mask, indicating where trees had been complete with tentative dating. The sentient inhabitants, especially the centaurs, were taking an interest in the dig. A number of the Centaurs were always present, watched the progress with interest, especially when an old arrow head was found, they identified it as one in the style they made, confirming it was most likely fired by one of their ancestors, probably still whilst the area had been occupied by Acromantula, perhaps in defence against them. The giant spiders had long since left the forest, their pride damaged by the manner in which Riddle had controlled the fiercely independent race, they were now occupying a forest further north, well away from human activity.

The next find had been a piece of metal, blue paint still evident on it's surface, although rust covered most of it, embedded in the layer. As they carefully removed the metal into a finds tray, it revealed another piece, this one had silvered edges and was thicker than the first. Again the student who was excavating the trench carefully scraped around it, loosening the object from the grip of the soil where it had laid. He lifted it carefully, noting that it left an impression of some lettering in the soil. He carefully turned it over, indeed the silver letters were still visible on a red background, the surfaces showing very little corrosion. The raised letter's would be bright with a little cleaning, even so he could clearly read the single word. "Anglia!" Upon it.

Both of the artefacts were placed with labels in trays and taken to the finds table for cleaning and examination. The student assigned to the table that day had been very enthusiastic about excavating the site, a third year who seemed to soak up the information and who studied each find carefully. The professor grinned as the boy examined first the rusty metal, then the silver and red piece carefully. He understood the boy's enthusiasm for the site, he was after all a direct descendant of Harry Potter, but his enthusiasm seemed to extend beyond just the site and into the subject itself. The young student had spent many hours of his free time researching Archaeological theory and each of the items found. The Professor watched as the present day Potter examined, what many would have thought was worthless scrap, carefully, handling it like a precious fragile object, before turning to the other piece and repeating the process. The student grinned as he examined the second of the items, then chuckled.

"Sir, we definitely have the clearing the Acromantula occupied." He told the professor, who stood wide eyed at the certainty with which the sudden leap of faith was spoken.

"Really, how do you know that from those finds?"

"Family closet sir, it has the papers relating to the car these are from, a flying car belonging to my ancestors father in law, although of course that lay in the future for him at the time. Anyway he flew it to school in his second year, with his friend, the owners son, later it rescued them from the Acromantula, when they were exploring why spiders had been leaving the castle, we already know they occupied the place Riddle withdrew to, that is in the official records. This proves that the nest was here, this is a piece of the cars body work." The student picked up the rusty piece of metal. "Look at the surviving edges on this piece it has been torn from the rest of the car, it must have happened as they fled. The second piece is the badge from the bonnet, it is the name of the type of car it was, an Anglia, originally manufactured by a Muggle company called Ford."

"Ah yes that was the year of the chamber of secrets incident if memory serves, I didn't know about the car though, it's not in any of the official histories, it's even absent from surviving copies of his official biography and that was written at the time by Hermione Weasley, she was one of the golden trio too."

"Well that would be because, as I say, the car was Muggle built, but had been illegally enhanced by it's owner, who worked in the misuse of Muggle artefacts office at the time, so it's a family secret sir. Certainly Hermione knew about it, but it was one of the things she deliberately omitted from the published version. There is a record of him being fined after the flying incident, though of course it doesn't tell the full story, the ministry at the time did not want to be embarrassed by the matter of their own official breaking it's own laws. We have the press clipping though, so they didn't hide it completely."

Professor Jones nodded, chuckling, "More evidence of how little we really know about your ancestor then, Potter. Although of course his main achievements are recorded, it's such things as this that help complete the picture. Oh, and of course, may explain your propensity for, shall we say, stretching the rules, it must be genetic."

"Yes sir." The green eyed boy replied, smiling, to the chuckling Professor.

It was true that Potter and his friends had a reputation as practical jokers, helped along with prototypes from the family firm, Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, the Wizarding worlds leading joke and defensive product manufacturers. He was however known to be careful that any pranks would not permanently harm anyone, even if the temporary effects were interesting. He was also known to be a caring boy, who shared the family trait for right and wrong, he often used his pranking ability to get revenge on any who bullied others, but never to threaten or bully others. He was well liked by most and worked hard, never letting the attention his family still received because of his ancestor go to his head, as it so easily could have. The professor had no hesitation in accepting what the boy had said about the car, it was thought that the golden trio had not revealed everything about their legendary quest to any, but those closest to them. Such things could easily have been kept in the family for all this time, without being revealed to the wider world.

The continuing exceptionally mild autumn meant they could excavate for much longer than had been anticipated, the last day of the dig was the day before Halloween. Although it was hoped to resume the excavation in April if the weather allowed, it meant they would have plenty to keep them occupied over the Winter months. It was hoped that examination of the finds might guide them to the best places to open more trenches in addition to resuming work the existing ones to see if anything from even earlier periods survived. In the meantime there were finds to process, over one hundred of them had been found, as well as hundreds of buckets of soil to sieve and analyse. The samples would reveal much about the environment, insects, seeds, possibly even pollen and small mammal bones as well as anything missed during the excavation. They would need to conserve and interpret, everything as a whole then there would be reports to write, drawings and photographs to study, certainly the classes would be busy.

The students on site were now simply cleaning the sections they had been working in, ensuring they were stable and protected for the winter, ensuring they could carry on in the spring from where they left off, without worrying about material washing into the trenches ruining the layer they had reached too much. The trenches were to be protected by charms as an added precaution anyway, but this work was necessary so they could start afresh from where they had left off. Drawings of the trenches were being made, photographs taken and tools gathered in as the dig was being closed down.

Potter was in a trench near what had been the edge of the clearing, tidying it up and recording it. There seemed to be a more compressed area of soil running along the centre of the base, perhaps indicating it had been a simple narrow earth path. The feature was aligned to head to the clearing from the castle. He was gently clearing the loose soil into his shovel to be cleared for examination later, when something glinted beneath the blade of his trowel. He stopped and picked up the small black stone and examined it, it was broken, he looked around the area where it had been to see if the rest of the polished stone were there, then continued brushing the soil, but now with extra care. A moment later he spotted another, similar, glint, he picked up the second object and carefully examined it too. It was another piece of the same type of stone, again broken and seemingly polished. They were certainly not natural pebbles, they were of a gemstone not found in this area, he wondered if this was what he had been warned may be uncovered here. Holding the two pieces together, they fitted perfectly, creating a flat oval jewel, clearly they were two halves of a broken stone. He could see markings engraved on the most polished surface of one side, it's shape indicated it might have come from a ring, the markings probably on the display side of it. He gasped as he felt the magical power in the artefact and realised it may well be what he feared it might be. If his suspicions were correct this was a dangerous object, mentioned in his ancestor's papers, the ones that had never been published. If anyone else had found it they would not have known it's probable significance, despite being aware of it's legend. The stone was well known, but only as a myth, but with his Family's special knowledge, Potter suspected this was what he had been worried would be found ever since he had known where they were to dig. This small stone could be the reason he had been so keen to be on this dig, the reason he had taken every opportunity to be on site. If he was right it had once been part of a Horcrux, one that had been destroyed by Dumbledore. If it was what he strongly suspected then it was one of the Hallows and had been given to his ancestor. It was also a significant magical object, the existence of which had been hidden from the Wizarding world by his family for half a millennia. It confirmed to him that his ancestor had indeed been in this clearing on the night of the Battle of Hogwarts it was precisely the kind of evidence he knew the professor had hoped for on this site. Potter wondered briefly if he should let the others know he had found it, they surely would not know it's significance, but could he take that chance? If they did recognise it, could he knowingly take responsibility for what it could easily do to his world. He had to choose between family loyalty and protecting the magical community without their knowledge or loyalty to the integrity of the investigation. They had been told that they should remove nothing found from the site without it being catalogued, or it could ruin the entire investigation. He knew that the answers found were eagerly awaited by so many, interest in this period was so strong. His choice was not easy, he needed time to consider, time to talk to the one person who would know what to do, the one he had already consulted about the dig, he owed this person that, he was after all family.

He had found the portrait in his first year and talked to the portrait regularly ever since. He learned that every member of his family had done the same whilst attending the school over the centuries. When the dig had started he had kept it informed of progress and learnt of the significance of the invisibility cloak he had been sent to school with. His kin had warned of the possibility that the stone could be found when the dig had been announced, he had feared it would be found, had even told him whereabouts it might be. So Potter had watched the trench closely once it had been opened close to where he thought he had been told the stone might be, ensuring he saw every object found in the area, just in case. He volunteered to work the trench whenever possible, the portrait had shown relief each day when he reported it had not yet been found. He wondered what the reaction would be, if this was the stone he thought it was. If it wasn't he would sneak it back amongst the other finds, but if it was, well, he knew what he would have to do, his ancestor and he had discussed that already.

He pretended to stretch, glancing round the clearing, making sure no one was watching him, he couldn't let anyone else know about this, at least not yet. He would have to break the site rule, risk failing the course as a result, possibly further punishment if he was caught and betraying his Professor, who he had come to like and respect, but he knew he had to do it. No one was watching, they were too engrossed in completing their work, in the short time left to them. He swiftly conjured a finds bag and placed the two halves in it. Calmly he put it safely in his bag at the side of the trench and returned to his work.

That evening, Potter left the common room under the invisibility cloak that had been passed through his family for generations. In the back of his mind was the thought that if the stone in his pocket was what he thought it was he was now in possession of two of the three Hallows his family were sworn to hide. He knew the third was secure and could not be retrieved, but he also knew that Riddle had desired them all, as had others since and in the wrong hands even just two could create an extremely strong Dark Lord. He moved swiftly and silently through the dark deserted corridors of the castle with practised ease, until he stood before the portrait of his illustrious ancestor hidden in a secret passageway, just off the defence corridor. He cast a silencing charm around the area, he did not want to be overheard and looked grimly up at the figure in the frame.

"I think I have it." He said.

"Where?" Came the reply.

The boy, who greatly resembled the older figure in the portrait, reached in his pocket and retrieved the clear bag containing the two halves of stone, he took them out and placed them together in the palm of his hand before holding them up for the painting of his ancestor to see.

"Yes, that is it." The figure said sadly."Does anyone else know you have it?"

"No, I found it today, next to the remains of the path you told me was there when we're spoke the other day, I managed to hide this without anyone seeing."

"Good, thank you for taking the risk my boy, I'm glad you recognised it."

"I wasn't sure, but felt the magic so guessed it might be, I thought it best to check with you before reporting it if it wasn't what I suspected."

"Thank Merlin." Breathed the figure. "We must ensure it remains secret, we cannot risk the two being reunited again. The third, the wand should be powerless since I died a natural death, but you know it is safe anyway, no one can breach its hiding place, Hermione saw to that. Still like the cloak its true nature must not be discovered, it is our families responsibility, which means it is now yours."

"Yes sir."

"You know what you must do."

"Yes sir, as we discussed." The young Potter sighed. "I know it's the right thing to do, though if the professor ever finds out, I will be in trouble."

"I know, but it is vital the truth about it's existence is kept secret, if it was ever known the Hallows were real, then it would be very dangerous as others tried to become masters of death, you know that."

"I know sir, don't worry I will do what I must, I won't let you down."

"I know you won't." The portrait smiled. " Well done my boy, I am proud of you."

"Thank you sir." He pocketed the stone, he would see to it's security after he left here, before going to bed

His ancestor's portrait winked and grinned mischievously at the boy. "Now tell me, what prank you have planned with Peeves and your cousins for tomorrows feast, young Harry?"