There were lights above him, distorting his vision. Harry mumbled a little as he rolled to one side. His vision was filled with dark spots and, although wearing his glasses, was incredibly blurry. He felt as if there was a hungarian horntail trying to claw its way out of his stomach. Harry pushed himself into a sitting position, and immediately regretted it. His stomach dropped like a stone, making him feel as if he was going to puke, and he dropped back onto the floor like a dead fish.
A voice said, "Lift the enchantment.". A low buzzing noise suddenly passed through where Harry was, and next thing he knew the pain and blurry vision were all gone. Harry pushed himself up immediately, wanting to know what was going on. He seemed to be in a large circular stone room, surrounded by what appeared to be tombs, lying in perfect formation around him. Harry frowned. He remembered how he got here, how a statue had knocked him out, and how he had discovered a necklace that brought him to a corridor out of curiosity, but something seemed to be missing. Something important.
"Welcome." The voice was old and sharp, but clear and loud as well. Harry spun around to see a man with a white robe draped around him, holding a staff on one hand and a wand in the other.
"My apologies, my guardian didn't exactly do well welcoming you." said the man with a small grin. He gestured to the statue, which stood noiselessly beside him. Harry stepped forward, reaching for his wand, which wasn't there.
"Where am I? What is this place?" The man smiled, "I am sure you have quite a few questions for me, but I'm afraid that I can only answer a few of them accurately." Harry listened intently. This person didn't seem to be dangerous or unfriendly, but he had learned to never trust by first appearances.
"You stand in the tomb of the Gardei, the followers of the fifth architect of Hogwarts, Syndrun." Harry blinked, "uh, who?". The man grimaced, "I always forget how ignorant you students are, always thinking that you know everything, Syndrun was the fifth founder of Hogwarts, and without him the school wouldn't exist! He was the most important founder out of all of them."
This had to be a joke, thought Harry in his head. He had never, once, heard of Syndrun. "You're lying." he said. The man laughed, "Everyone who I tell this to says that I lie, but I don't. Before Hogwarts was founded, Britain was a war zone for wizards. Brother slayed brother, Mothers killed their children for power, but Syndrun was the uniter of them all. He crushed all the petty factions that had tried to gain control of Great Britain. He was the one who brought together his friend Hufflepuff and Godric Gryffindor. Ravenclaw was Godric's friend, and Slytherin was Syndrun's cousin. The five greatest wizards, finally united and working together!"
Harry listened, he wasn't quite convinced, but he was interested.
"Of course, eventually, after Godric, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin built the school, they noticed that Syndrun was growing ever more powerful, so they went after him. They stripped him of all his powers and titles, exiled him, named him a criminal, and left him for dead." The old man spat on the ground. "The four founders had Syndrun removed from Hogwarts history. They obliviated any person who had ever met Syndrun or interacted with him. Syndrun, of course, although in exile and stripped of all titles and powers, was still crafty. As his final act of magic, he put an enchantment on five individuals in the magical community every generation. These five people were to be his followers, and they were extraordinarily talented. Harry still wasn't in full belief, although parts of it did fit in. Professor bins always refused to say what was going on before Hogwarts was founded, and nobody knew how the founders had united Britain into one large school. "You are a Gardei, and so is your friend, Hermione Granger."
Harry's eyes popped. "Hermione! Is she okay?" The old man waved his hand dismissively, "My guard wouldn't kill your friend, she's simply suffered a slight head injury, but nothing permanent. You'll see her soon enough." Harry sunk back down, staring at the wall. "So me and Hermione are Gardei…and you called this place the tomb of the Gardei."
The old man nodded solemnly. "All the Gardei the world has ever seen are kept and preserved here." Harry looked around, there couldn't be any more than 20 tombs in the place. "Oh, some are missing," said the man, "Some Gardei go on insane quests and never return, others crack under the hardships of the Gardei and go insane. But most live and return here before death."
Harry eyed him, "And you? Are you a Gardei?" The man laughed, "I am the oldest Gardei out there in the world, Auxis. Five hundred and ninety eight years and seven months three days nine hours old, lucky that being a Gardei makes you immortal!" "And why aren't you out...doing whatever Gardei do?" Harry asked Auxis. The smile faded from his face. "I...became a little too old." He said, a little too sheepishly. Right after he said that, his statue came to him again, and he said something to him. Auxis smiled and clapped his hands, "Time to show you to your new home!"
After watching a fifth founder of Hogwarts be revealed to him, being told he was chosen to be a Gardei, and realizing that he was immortal, being shown a new home wasn't much to blink an eye at. Harry's new home was pretty cool, much better than the one at the Gryffindor Tower. The entire place he was in seemed to be inside a giant ravine, with a crystal clear stream underneath him, and a cobble path leading up to a little cave home. It was small, but in a cozy sort of way. There was a magical fire burning in the fireplace, and the bed was large. There was a window that reflected sunlight in different colors, and outside there was an entire forest, all inside the giant ravine.
Auxis bounded around, happily showing off all the features in the ravine. The kitchen that cooked on its own, the statue which you could give a cupcake to in exchange for advice about baking cookies. The enchanted waterfall which could heal any wound. The armory, which was filled with magical swords, maces, shields, suits of armor, and Harry even found a shotgun while digging in it. Finally, after an hour of touring, Auxis informed Harry that there wasn't much left to see, and asked Harry if there were any questions. When Harry asked how he would cast spells, Auxis rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers. A Golden wand appeared out of thin air, which was engraved with swords, spears, and fire symbols.
"A Gardei's wand. Each one is forged by a Gardei, and eventually you will forge one for future Gardei members as well. These wands are useless in the hands of everyone but true followers of Syndrun, in which they become literally the best wands, second only to the elder wand! Go on, try it out." Harry took the wand cautiously, and pointed it at a rock. "Reducto!" There was a bang, a flash of white light, and the rock was a smoldering pile of ash. Auxis grinned childishly, as if showing off a very nice toy he had, "See, works perfectly!".
After that, Harry asked Auxis what he was supposed to do now that he was there. "Well, for now you can stay here, practice dueling, and explore the ravine. But soon enough, you will be completing Syndrun's main goal, reconquering the outside world in his name!" said Auxis.
Harry stared. "What dya mean, conquering the outside world?"
Auxis grinned peevishly, "Why, we'll be avenging Syndrun once and for all! The ungrateful founders kicked him out, and Syndrun wanted revenge. But he was weak, so he sent his Gardei to complete the task."
Harry slowly began to back up, "Are you saying that I have to kill people in the outside world?" Auxis growled and waved his hand, "Why do people always think that conquer is equal to kill? We mean take back the land, and if you want to you can spare the lives of your loved ones."
Auxis suddenly frowned. "It's 6 o' clock, you better head back to your cave. Your friend should be awake by now. You two can go and, ah sort things out." Harry noticed how he emphasized the last few words, and had the impression that Auxis believed them to be more than friends.
Harry opened the door to see Hermione sitting on one of the fluffy sofas, looking good as new. "Hermione!" The two of them locked into a solid embrace, and when they broke, they both quickly explained what had happened to each other.
Hermione had apparently woken up before Harry, and had been healed by him. He had given her the tour and had showed her everything. Hermione showed him her wand. Hermione's Gardei wand wasn't gold, but it was made of a liquidish-solid material that was light and shiny. It reminded Harry of Pettigrew's silver hand.
"So this is it, eh? The two of us, Gardei of the generation." Despite Harry's worries about the people in Hogwarts and how his other friends were doing, he knew that it was always him and Hermione. The two of them, and their marvelous adventures. But then there was that nag, in the back of his head. Something was missing in his mind… Harry shook his head, he was still disoriented, that was all.
Hermione grinned,"I mean, I shouldn't be smiling, but it's kinda cool isn't it?"
Harry nodded, "Yeah."
That night, Harry and Hermione slept in the same room. Hermione's bed had appeared out of nowhere across from Harry's bed after Dinner, which was served by Auxis's statue, whom they found out was named Jeremy. After dinner, Harry realized that he was staring at Hermione a little more than usual. He quickly averted his gaze and decided to stare at the floor.
Hermione noticed this and grinned. "You know, I don't think that as Gardei we'll be allowed to have ordinary boyfriends or girlfriends."
This comment hit Harry hard. "Uh…"
"Why not?" Hermione began walking towards him,
"Damn, Hermione, I've been with you for so long, but I never really considered-" Whatever Harry was going to say next, nobody knew, because Hermione kissed him right then. They held the kiss for twenty whole seconds before breaking, and they fell into nervous giggles afterwards. After a few awkward silences, they bid each other goodnight and went to bed.
