Chapter 2 - To the resque
Helga appeared right in front of the doors of a stately mansion. The boy in her arms where still sleeping. She felt her friend appear behind her when a woman screamed with terror filled the night air. Another scream joined the first, this one clearly a man.
Helga turned around and handed the baby to Rowena, "I better handle this."
Rowena had barely taken the boy when her friend rushed into the mansion. Helga ran quickly and softly towards the screaming. She came upon them in the main study. An old woman was lying unconscious on the floor. A baby boy no older than Harry was crying in her arms. In the middle of the floor were a man and woman, both screaming their voices raw. Around them stood four people, three men and a woman. The youngest was a boy with sandy hair a cold look of contempt on his face.
The second man was big and muscular, his dark hair hiding his eyes. The smirk on his face told all just how much he was enjoying the show. The third man was an older version of the second man; he had his wand pointed towards the man on the floor, a cruel smile on his face. The woman had dark hair that where in crazy curls around her face and back, she was laughing loudly at the woman on the floor as she pointed her wans again to her and the screams started anew.
Helga had but a second to register all of this before she acted. With a flick of her hand all four where bent backwards on the floor, hands and feet tied together and wands discarded into a corner of the room. Their mouths gaged against any sound. The screaming had stopped.
With a look of fury on her face Helga addressed the four bound people now. "You dare attack my descendants. Pray to your gods now for mercy you vile scum for have committed the greatest of sins against me when you attacked my blood." You could feel the cold power of fury coming from her. With another wave of her hand all four collapsed in a deep sleep.
""We shall punish you in the morning for your crimes. Rowena hand Harry to me please and check them over to see if they are okay" Helga continued
Rowena handed the boy over to her and turned to examine the man, woman, child and older lady on the floor. The man was first to recover and notice what happened. "Wha… what happened? Who are you?"
"All in good time Frank, let's make sure your wife, son and mother are fine first okay?" Rowena answered him.
Franks dumbly watched as the woman with the dark hair examines his wife mother and son. Fifteen minutes later all three adults where standing and the woman was cradling her son tightly against her breast.
"I… we don't know how to thank you. If you did not come along when you did I have no idea what could have happened. Who do we have to thank for this great act?" Franks started again.
"Oh hush Frank, always the gentleman. Don't you recognize me, I am your blood relation after all" Helga answered with a gentle smile on her face.
"Madam I have no idea who you are and I am the head of this family" the old lady responded with Frank nodding his head in agreement.
"Row they don't know me, they have forgotten what I look like" Helga responded with a sad smile.
"It's easily rectified. You better take a seat for this. I am Helga Huffelpuff and that over there is Rowena Ravenclaw and this little bundle of joy in my arms is Harry Potter. We were too late to save his parents tonight" Helga started.
First to respond was the woman with the boy in her arms, "Little Harry? Don't tell me Lily and James…, how did you get him?" She stuttered with a sob.
"Yes Alice dear, I am sorry to say that Tom Riddle or rather Voldemort attacked them tonight and the have both gone to the great beyond now. Albus tried to place Harry with his muggle aunt tonight but we intervened" Helga answered.
"That man was always a fool. But let's move on for now. How can you two be Helga and Rowena? You both died over a thousand years ago?" the old woman interrupted.
Rowena chuckled at this as she answered the old woman. "You are very right there Augusta. All four of us, that is Me Rowena, Helga, Gordic and Salazar died a thousand years ago but we poured so much magic into Hogwarts and then one silly little curse I uttered before I died witch backfired on me has made it possible for us to be here talking to you."
"So you're not dead then" Franks asked.
"We are dead Frank, all four of us died. We are now almost like hosts, just that we can take solid form and do magic. We are the essence of Hogwarts, her guardians if you will" Rowena answered again.
Augusta's eyes narrowed and then went wide in recognition as she looked back at a smiling Helga. "I have felt your presence before, in Hogwarts and at Frank's birth. That was you?"
"Good memory Augusta, I always watch over my own. You are blood relations after all. The Longbottoms might not be my primary blood line like little Harry here but you are blood none the less and just as important to me" Helga replied.
"If this wasn't happening right now in front of me I would not believe it…"Frank started.
"Yes well Frank you are the first people we have appeared to like this in over a thousand years. We have a lot to discuss tonight, stuff that affects not just Harry here but all of you as well and I would like to get thru this before our other guests arrive." Helga answered, "Row it's time to go fetch Amelia and little Susan as well"
Rowena nodded her head as she stood up and left.
"Sorry but other guests?" Augusta asked.
"Yes Augusta, Salazar and Gordic are bringing Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. On their way here Sal will also be picking up Mrs Greengrass and her daughter Daphene. Rowena just left to fetch Amelia Bones and her niece Susan. All of you have some involvement here tonight and we are offering you a way forward." Helga answered.
Augusta just nodded her head and Helga continued. "As Rowena explained earlier we have been guarding Hogwarts for over a thousand years now. Never interfering, always just subtle hints of help when needed. In the last hundred and sixty years it has slightly changed. You see that is when Albus Dumbledore entered Hogwarts for the first time. We watched him and where glad when he left end of his seventh year. Then a hundred years ago he returned as a teacher and once again we watched him, more closely this time. We saw how he changed peoples view to fit in with his own goals, we watched as he manipulated people into good or bad deeds, and trust me there were a lot more bad than good. This carried on until finally a boy named Tom Riddle came to Hogwarts. Immediately we felt his presence in the castle. Salazar confirmed him one of his blood, just like you he was not from the main line but he was thought to be the only surviving Slitherin, we discovered later that not to be the case, he was smart and as powerful if not more so than Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore by this time was seen as the most powerful wizard alive and did not like this so he subtly manipulated Tom. By his seventh year Tom was a full dark wizard and took on the mantle of Lord Voldemort. It was a sad day for us because the boy had so much potential in him for good. That is when we decided that we will never let that happen again. So we waited for the next powerful wizard to arrive so that we can guide him or her. Twelve months ago we met such a person. What we did not expect was to meet two wizards at the same time and then two witches a couple of days later as well."
"The first we met was little Harry and Neville here. Neville is as powerful as Dumbledore. Harry on the other hand has a lot more power and we surmised that he is as powerful as our old master himself. Also Harry is the direct descendant of all four our bloodlines, which makes him officially the owner of Hogwarts. Albus has gotten hold of some of this information thou he does not know all of it. He only knows about two of the blood lines and he can't even allow that. So he plans on getting rid of all power that can oppose him and that is why we are here tonight as he has made his move now"
"We watched as he informed Tom about the prophecy, which is fake, via a confounded Severus Snape. And watched when he informed you and Harry's parents about the prophecy. We watched as he manipulated Sirius into switching secret keepers with Peter Pettigrew and then watched as he manipulated Peter into betraying the Potters. We were too late to save their lives. We have also watched how he planned the deaths of the Bones family and also of the Greengrass family; luckily Mrs Greengrass was still in hospital with her daughter when they attacked them. The same could not be said about the Bones family with only Amelia and Susan left, and they were attacked because they opposed Dumbledore in the court systems."
"Now that I have told you everything I hope that when the others arrive and we make an offer to you that you would join us as we cannot do this without you" Helga finished.
The other three adults just stared at her in silence, each deep in his or her own thought.
Gordic and Salazar had no problems finding Remus Lupin. He was staying in a small rundown cottage in the middle of a forest not too far from Hogwarts. He was calm and friendly when he let them in. Upon hearing of the death of his best friends Remus's first question was if Harry was fine.
Hearing that Harry was fine and being taken care of his anger took over. "I'M GOING TO KILL SIRIUS BLACK FOR BETRAYING THEM!" he shouted. It took both men to calm down the werewolf ending with Salazar threatening to stun him if he doesn't calm down immediately because they don't have time for this now.
That calmed Remus down quite a bit and it only took them a short time to explain the situation to him. No, Sirius was not the secret keeper because they switched with Peter at the last minute. Sirius did not take Harry but went chasing after Peter to avenge the deaths of Lily and James. They have to find him quickly before he kills Peter and lands up in prison.
Remus jumped up and ran to the door shouting at them, "We have to hurry, there is no tell what Sirius will do and forgiveness is not in his nature!"
The two men ran after Remus and followed him. It was a wild chase from location to location. Slowly the closed in on their prey. Two hours later they found Sirius just as he started to confront Peter. Peter was shouting something and pulled his wand. Before he knew what hit him though Salazar stunned him and bound him. Remus ran right past the stunned Peter to the shocked Sirius and immediately started to berate him.
"Sirius Orion Black, what type of fool are you, leaving Harry to chase after this scum! Did you think for one moment that he was safe and did not need you now? DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHERE HE IS? You are his godfather and in the first act you abandon him! Shame on you!" he ranted.
"I'm sorry Mooney. It's entirely my fault. They are dead because of me…." He sobbed as he crashed into Remus's arms.
"Hush Sirius, it's not your fault, you did not force Peter to betray Lily and James. You did not fire the spell at them that killed them. So pull yourself together now and let's take this scum to the ministry so that he can rot in jail for the rest of his life." Remus comforted him.
Sirius seemed to get a hold of himself. He walked over to where the stunned Peter laid and the other two men stood. He did not recognize them but spoke politely to them.
"Thank you gentlemen for your assistance, I do not recall ever meeting either of you?" He politely talked to them.
"This is not the time for introductions Sirius Black, You need to get this piece of filth over to the ministry and processed before they blame you for the deaths of the Potters. Make sure to give them a full confession of the events under Veritaserum and stay until they have done the same for him. We will wait for you and talk afterwards. Please hurry as time is of the essence!" Salazar answered him.
Sirius nodded his understanding as he gave both men a strange look. Remus joined him and both men disappeared with a soft pop.
An hour later both men stepped out of the ministry. As they stepped into the ministry the Auror's were on their way out to apprehend one Sirius Black. A short discussion later and confession under the truth serum Sirius was cleared and Peter Pettigrew was charged and sent off to Azkaban prison.
As they stepped out of the ministry the two men was waiting for them. "Time for introductions and explanations gentlemen, please follow us" Gordic said by way of greeting. Sirius and Remus followed the two men to the Leaky Cauldron. Tom the bartender showed them to a private booth where Salazar and Gordic told their tale up until the point where they took Harry from his aunts home.
The men went from disbelieving to outrage to concern thru the tale and by the end both Sirius and Remus were firmly behind Harry and against Dumbledore. Especially since it made sense now why Albus told the Auror's that Sirius was the Potters secret keeper. What finally won them over was when Salazar did a scan of the two men.
"There seems to be a couple of spells on you Sirius. I was finding it strange that not once since you have met us that you haven't once asked about where your godson is. Now I know why, there seems to be a compulsion charm on you, it's forcing you to not think about him, very crafty indeed. There is also a cure on you, it's making you act rashly, the bigger the danger the more rash your actions. I haven't seen this curse in quite some time. There it should be removed now" he finished with a flick of his hand.
Sirius's expression cleared as he felt the effects of the spells leave him. For the first time in his life he didn't feel the need to jump into immediate action, it was like drinking a calming draft. Then he looked up in concern as he started to think about his godson.
"Don't worry, Harry is safe. You will see him when we are finished here. He is at the Longbottom home with Helga. They were also attacked tonight but that should have been sorted out by now. Now Remus I did a scan of you to and I found a nasty little curse on you. It's a self-loathing curse. It makes you hate yourself, makes you feel that you should sacrifice yourself, really nasty piece of work. It seems to have been placed on you when you were fourteen. That you have survived this long is a miracle in itself. There it is gone now. Now please follow Gordic, he will take you to Harry. I have one more stop before I join you." Salazar ended.
Whit that he four men left the pub. Gordic took hold of the two men and disappeared to Longbottom manor. Salazar hoped that his next visit would go better than this one had. He disappeared and seconds later he was standing in front of the Greengrass home.
He knocked on the door and a house elf let him in telling him to wait, the lady of the house will be with him in a moment. Five minutes later he was greeted by lady Greengrass. He introduced himself and they talked for half an hour and by the end lady Greengrass, who insisted he call her Deidra, had he daughter in her arms and followed him to Longbottom manor. All in all it didn't go to bad.
Rowena caught up with Amelia Bones just as she arrived home. The two ladies talked for an hour drinking tea. Rowena explained the story to her and by the end Amelia to ware convinced to go to Longbottom manor with her niece Susan. Rowena and Salazar arrived at the manor at the same time. After quick introductions they proceeded into the house to join the rest of the group. Things were going to move fast now if all the parties agreed to the plan that they have worked out.
Once all of the adults were settled in the study of Longbottom manor Helga stood up and introduced herself and the rest of the group. The four children were settled into a corner of the study with two house elves to look after them. Augusta arranged for a tea service and light snacks as Helga assured the rest of the group that the prisoners will not wake until morning when she will deliver justice upon them.
Amelia was interested in this and all Helga would say is "for every lie they tell, for every crime they commit from this moment on, even if they avoid going to jail, they would my wrath. It's a little spell called the truth and justice curse." She had a very feral grin on her face and all knew that you do not want to mess with Helga Huffelpuff.
Gordic smirked at the looks on the people's faces and commented. "You know I never understood why people always think that her house was the weak one. I mean she could out duel all three of us at the same time without breaking a sweat."
Further shocked looks where on the gathered people's faces as Helga blushed at Gordic's comment.
"Well if we are all settled now, shall we begin?" Helga asked.