"You could have gotten in trouble—hello, boys." Lucy Weasley stopped lecturing James for a moment and turned to Albus and Scorpius. "When you're on your little adventures can you be sure to get Slytherin docked at least as many points as Gryffindor to level the playing field a bit."
The younger boys' eyes went to the great hourglasses that kept track of house points and their jaws dropped in shock.
Albus whirled on James. "What did you do?!"
"He broke curfew," Lucy snapped. "And we're going to have to do oodles of stuff to get it all back." She glared at Albus and Scorpius.
Scorpius held his hands up. "I don't know what you think we can do."
"If I hear one of you has been clever in class before we're at least up forty points I'll come looking for you," she threatened in a low voice before standing up and straightening her robes. "Have a nice day." She went in the direction of her friends, who looked happy to see her, unlike the boys.
"How are we supposed to do that?" Scorpius asked as he sat down.
"Not a clue." James shook his head.
"You weren't that late!" Albus protested. A glance from James told him otherwise. "What did you do!? You didn't go back there, did you?"
"I couldn't sleep," James said huffily.
"You're out of your mind," Scorpius said flatly. "At least I was just going from the landing to the dungeons. You have to track through the whole castle and dodge Peeves."
"I wish Nearly Headless Nick was as good as scaring off poltergeists as the Bloody Baron is," James grumbled.
"It's a perk," Albus shrugged.
"So what are we doing today?" Scorpius asked. James opened his mouth, but Scorpius interrupted him. "No cleaning! I'm sick of cleaning!"
James closed his mouth, but scowled at Scorpius.
"I think we've been down there too much," Albus said. "You're starting to look like you're spending too much time with no sun and little sleep."
"Which makes sense, because you are." Scorpius snorted.
James took a breath and let it out. "Oh, I suppose you're right. It's not like we have a deadline."
When Ron got home Hermione was up waiting for him.
"What's wrong?" he asked, when he saw the look on her face. She held up a newspaper for him to look at.
Muggle Baiting Preceded Dementor Attack!
"What?" Ron's face went white as he locked the door behind him and took the paper from her. "What's all this?"
"Didn't you know?" Hermione asked him.
"I've been down in Sheffield all day looking at a case of carnivorous sheep," Ron said. Then he glanced at her. "Um… you didn't hear that from me."
"Classified." Hermione said, quirking a corner of her mouth at him. "Got it."
Ron's eyes poured over the article. "They were lured in?!"
"Apparently," Hermione said helplessly. "What are we supposed to do?"
"Well," Ron said slowly. "We made the bunker for a reason."
"So are we to stay inside until all this gets sorted out?" Hermione asked him, her eyes full of fear.
He frowned and set down the paper. "Here now." He held his arms out and she slid into them. "That isn't like you. Letting a little Dementor attack get in the way of the shopping."
Tears had been slipping from her eyes, but she couldn't help but chuckle. "I can work from home—"
"I know you can." Ron smiled at her.
"We didn't have kids last time," Hermione whispered to him, almost ashamed.
"I know," Ron whispered back. "My mum had six that kept running into the thick of things."
"I have no idea how you didn't give your poor mother a heart attack," Hermione said, hitting him on the shoulder.
"It was destiny," Ron said. "Had to survive to marry you, didn't I?"
"Oh, I see," Hermione laughed. "It was all so we could get married."
"Well," Ron started out. "Who else would put up with your bossy—" He made happy grunting noises as Hermione began smacking him around the head and shoulders.
There was a soft knock at the door and Hermione and Ron both looked at each other. They both drew their wands before she flattened herself against the wall and he opened the door.
"So, I see you've heard the news." A familiar voice rumbled and Ron opened the door wider. Hermione relaxed and slid her wand back into her pocket.
"Hi, Dad," Ron said as Arthur Weasley shuffled into the room.
"You should come stay with us," Hermione blurted out, but Arthur just waved her off.
"And bring all the animals? I'm sure your neighbors would love the pigs," Arthur chuckled. "Don't you worry about us. This isn't our first time dealing with terrorists."
"You sound a lot calmer than last time," Ron commented.
"This time you all aren't likely to run into the thick of it with all those little feet pitter-pattering around." Arthur looked pleased.
"Didn't stop you," Ron snorted.
"If we didn't have all of you to look after, do you think we would have? Because I don't rightly know, to tell you the truth," Arthur said, shaking his head. "Just the two of us? We could have gone to South America. Carved out a little life for us in the jungle where no one would find us."
Ron seemed stunned at this, but Hermione wasn't. "Ron, we started fighting at eleven. We aren't like other people. We're child soldiers trying to make the best of what's left of our lives, and if the call comes again we run towards it because that's the way we've been trained. They had normal lives. Like normal people."
Ron's shoulders sagged. "I don't know what to do."
Arthur drew himself up. "You follow your orders and protect your family." He brushed off the shoulders of Ron's robes. "And if all else fails, go to Hogwarts."
Ron nodded solemnly, as if his mind were in another place.
"Just like we always do," Hermione said firmly.
"Draco Malfoy, are you lying to me?"
There was a newspaper being waved in Draco's face and he wished it would stop.
"I'm not lying!" He snatched the paper from his wife and straightened it out. "I didn't have anything to do with this and neither did anyone we know. As far as I know. Nott has been a bit grouchy lately."
"Do you really think Theo would do this?" Astoria asked him, her hands on her hips.
"What? Make an effort without a guarantee of something fabulous at the end? Not likely." Draco snorted.
For a moment she looked truly afraid. "But what if—"
"He's not coming back," Draco said firmly. "And Scorpius is safe at Hogwarts. There's no better place for him to be."
"But he's a Slytherin!" Astoria squeaked. "They sent you away last time!"
"You saw my parents in the thick of it. What were they doing?" He tapped his toe patiently.
"Looking for you." Astoria took a deep breath and let it out.
"Would they have been doing that if we'd really been tossed out? They were right outside the door!" Draco pointed out.
"I know," Astoria said, shaking her head. "Your dad shoved me out of the way when he ran in."
Draco was quiet for a moment. "You never told me that."
"What's the point? He probably doesn't remember it. I hadn't even turned twelve yet." Astoria folded her arms. "So what do we do now?"
"We stay quiet," Draco told her. "Listening and waiting. I'm not going to pull Scorpius out of school until we know what's going on."
"What about your parents?" Astoria asked him.
He paused for a moment. "Can you make up the spare room?"
James and Lucy were pressed up against the same window of Gryffindor tower, fighting each other for more room. Outside dark clouds were gathering over the Forbidden Forest. It had come up suddenly and the teachers weren't taking any chances with the recent Dementor sightings. Classes had been canceled and everyone had been ordered to their common rooms. Food had been promised later, but no one was complaining about it.
"You can hardly see anything from here!" Lucy complained.
"Is there a way we can get to the roof?" A black-haired boy asked.
"Don't even think about it," Lucy warned him.
"How do we know if it's Dementors?" James asked her.
"Dad said everything gets really cold and then you get really sad, like the worst things that have ever happened to you are happening all over again at the same time," Lucy said knowledgeably.
"How can you tell it's getting cold with the stove going?" a blond first-year asked.
"It's supposed to get really cold," a brown-haired girl said. "Cold enough to put the fire out, even."
"Oh, I doubt that," Lucy assured them. "There are all sorts of spells and protections on the castle. Even when our parents were here they were only allowed on the outskirts. They once made it as far as the Quidditch pitch, I heard."
"But the last time they were supposed to be here," squeaked a tiny second year girl. "This time they can do whatever they want."
"They tried to do whatever they wanted last time and they didn't make it that far," James assured her.
There was a crack of lightning and it started pouring. Everyone let out a collective sigh.
"See," Lucy said, smiling at the other children. "I told you it was probably nothing."
Just then there was a thunderclap so violent it shook the tower. Several of the younger students screamed.
A black mist began gathering in the storm outside and a third year pointed at it fearfully. Suddenly, everyone was fighting for look. It swirled and pulsed in the air, reaching out tendrils of darkness exploring the air around it. Although it had no eyes, and the tower was not close, it seemed to turn at them.
Several of the small students screamed and ran for cover, but Lucy frowned. "What is that?"
"I've never heard of anything like it," a seventh year squinted through a clear spot under Lucy's arm.
It started rushing towards them and everyone jumped back from the window. More than a few people drew their wands.
It hit the window with a 'SMACK', and then the rain started washing it away, as if were nothing but a thin spray of black mud.
"What the bloody hell was that?" A seventh year girl growled. "Keep alert."
"Are you going to get McGonagall?" A brown-haired girl asked.
"I think we'd better," the seventh year nodded. She spoke to a few other older students in a low voice before going out of the portal and into the castle, her wand still drawn and flanked by two sixth years.
"What do we do until then?" James asked Lucy.
"We wait," Lucy said. "There's nothing else to do."
"Except your homework?" a fifth year looked at them suspiciously.
"Chess?" Lucy asked James, completely ignoring the other student.
"Might as well." James grinned.
"And then what happened?" Albus and Scorpius were sitting on the edge of their seats.
"Nothing!" James said, looking as surprised as the Slytherins. He grabbed a piece of toast and buttered it. "That was it!"
"What do you think it was?" Scorpius asked as he eyed a plate of eggs suspiciously. "Did you owl your dad?"
"I don't want to worry him," James said.
"What about Auntie Luna?" Albus asked. "This sounds like her sort of thing."
"I'm pretty sure McGonagall already has," James said.
"So what's left?" Scorpius asked.
"Apparently nothing." James shrugged. "It might have been some weird weather thing that picked up some loose dirt from the forest and flung it at the castle."
"That's not what it sounded like," Albus shifted uncomfortably.
"We'll just have to wait," James said as he bit into his toast.
Albus didn't think James sounded nearly as worried as he should be.
"Is that thing getting bigger?" Albus asked, as if he didn't know the answer.
"I'm not sure," said James, although it clearly had.
The glowing green ball in the glass orb still looked deflated, but it resembled a raisin more than anything.
"It's gotten bigger," said Scorpius as he coughed.
"The cold really gets to you, doesn't it?" James said in a teasing tone.
"Mum says Malfoys are delicate. Wishes I could be as hearty as her brothers." Scorpius rolled his eyes and sniffled.
"She should have married someone different," Albus snorted.
They walked down the set of stairs that curved around the room and ended up at the pedestal.
"I don't want to touch it," Scorpius said.
"Well, then don't," James said. "Use your wand to blow away all the dust."
Everyone put their masks in place and began working.
What Albus had thought was decoration was really writing, but of a sort that he had never seen before. His fingers traced some of the patterns from a place he had cleared. Suddenly he perked up.
"I know what they are!" He exclaimed.
"Know what what is?" Scorpius asked.
"The carvings upstairs! They aren't pictures! They're signs!" Albus began to get excited in a way he never had before. The thrill of a true discovery that could change the world. He stood there for a moment in awe.
"What do you mean?" James asked, his voice tight. He choked suddenly and coughed as he accidentally breathed in some dust.
"The shapes are the same," Albus said. "This is all orderly, so you can see all the separate letters, but the ones upstairs have been woven together. It's probably some sort of fancy lettering."
James came around the side of the column and looked at the spot Albus had cleared off. "Good job, little brother."
There was a sudden spark of purple light and Scorpius dropped his wand. He shook his hand and looked annoyed.
"What was that?" Albus asked.
"No idea," Scorpius said as he bent down to pick it up. "It shocked me."
James frowned. "I've never heard about a wand needing a tune up before."
"Then you've never heard any of Uncle Ron's stories," Albus snorted.
"Have you ever heard about anything like it?" McGonagall's nervous gaze went from Luna to Harry and back.
Harry looked at Luna, but she just shook her head. "If you had some residue for me to analyze…"
"I'm so very sorry about that," McGonagall said. "It had all washed away before we got there.
"I told Ginny this was the safest place for them," Harry nodded. "So we'll just have to make sure it is. I want to assign a guard to the castle—"
"Do you truly think that's necessary?" McGonagall sighed. She sounded tired.
"None of us are as young as we used to be and I don't want to think about James and Albus doing any sort of fighting." Harry shook his head as if to get the image out. "Oh, by the way, Hermione wants to use the library. She's pleading for unrestricted access to everything including the archives."
"She can have it," McGonagall looked, surprised. "All of it? Does she have any idea what that means?"
"I think she might suspect," Harry said grimly.
"Hello, Albus."
Albus looked up and over his shoulder at the figure that had just swept by him in the hall.
"Auntie Mine?" Albus asked. Then his cheeks darkened at the nickname. He looked around to see if anyone had heard. Scorpius looked delighted. Albus scowled at him. "Shut it, you."
She turned to grin at him. "I didn't know if you were willing to talk to me with everyone around."
He turned even redder and a couple of passing third year girls giggled at him. "What are you doing here?"
"Trying to solve a mystery," she said dramatically.
"What's that?" Scorpius asked.
Hermione looked at him for a moment, the corners of her mouth twitching. Then she burst out laughing. Scorpius scowled as Hermione choked out something about 'Malfoy Mini Me.'
"Get a hold of yourself, Auntie," Albus said in a tone usually reserved after for the adults polished off a bottle of sherry on Christmas.
"I'm sorry," she laughed. She looked at his brooding face and started giggling all over again.
"Have you been drinking?" Albus said in a low, scandalized voice.
"Your headmistress did it," Hermione said, trying to regain her composure. "If you want a laugh you'll find a reason to go up to her office."
Albus tried to shake away the images that were flooding his mind. "You came here to get tipsy and walk around?"
Hermione snorted. "I wish. I have to run through some books to see if a storm like that had ever happened at Hogwarts before and what it meant. Pretty boring stuff."
"Good luck," Albus said, and he meant it.
"You could help me if you like," she said temptingly. "I'm sure the archives hold all sorts of nonsense."
"Hmm… I think I'll pass," Albus said, as if he had actually considered it.
She grinned at them. "Right. Run along, and don't get into too much trouble!"
"Define 'too much,'" Albus said with a twinkle in his eye.
"So, where did that passage come from, anyway?" Albus asked James suddenly. The pedestal was almost completely cleaned and the stone underneath all the grim seemed to gleam more every day.
"What passage?" James asked.
"The one where you found us in the bath," Scorpius said, wheezing. It seemed like the damp was getting to him so much that even the masks weren't helping very much.
"Oh!" James said, remembering. "From further down! It starts to get really damaged down there, I don't want to really touch it. I had to climb most of the way to get to your bathroom. It was a real pain."
"Anything interesting down there?" Scorpius asked.
"Bunch of broken stone." James shrugged.
"Well, that doesn't sound very interesting," Albus said grumpily. "Does that mean we're nearly done?"
"This place is a lot smaller than I expected it to be," Scorpius said admittedly. "I mean, this place is huge, but the rest of it isn't so big, is it?"
There was a faraway sound of stone on stone and the boys froze. They waited a long time, but they didn't hear anything else.
James motioned to the boys and they followed him to hide under the stairs beneath the doorway they used to come in.
Still there was nothing.
After some time, they crept from the place, wands drawn and jumping at shadows, but they saw nothing.
"What's that?" Albus asked as Scorpius emptied his pockets out on his bed.
"Rock," Scorpius said simply. "I thought it looked neat."
It sparkles," Albus said as he turned it over in his hand.
"Lots of rocks sparkle," Sam Burrows said, his shock of orange hair sticking out in all directions.
"I didn't say it was special," Scorpius said hotly. "I said I thought it looked neat."
"Where'd you find it?" Sam asked curiously.
"Unused classroom," Scorpius shrugged.
"Did Hogwarts teach geology at one point?" Albus asked wonderingly.
"Not according to my dad, and he thinks we need it," Sam nodded.
"Your da just wants more trained people to work at his stoneworks," Scorpius snorted.
"It's steady work and not everyone wants to wear a suit every day," Sam countered. "It's peaceful, you know? Just you and your wand and the rock."
"I'll take your word for it," Albus chuckled.
"Going up for a last cup of tea?" Sam asked them as he pulled on his bathrobe.
"I'll pass," said Scorpius as he sniffled pitifully.
"Might make that cold go away," Albus suggested.
"I just steamed my head in the bath." Scorpius shook his head. "I'm going to make an early night of it."
"Suit yourself." Sam shrugged and motioned for Albus to follow him. "But if you're up in an hour hacking and making a cup anyway I'm going to tease you."
"What? Like there's a way to make you stop?" Scorpius asked with mock surprise. "Could have fooled me."
McGonagall was sitting at her desk when the knock came.
"Enter."
"It's just me," Hermione said as she peeked her head around the corner.
"Did you find anything, or is this another excuse to open another bottle of port?"
"I'm never doing that again." Hermione winced. "My teeth still hurt."
"Then I'll have to assume you found something." McGonagall folded her hands on her desk.
"I'm not sure," Hermione admitted. She walked in and several piles of books followed her. "Have you ever seen these before?"
"What are they?" McGonagall looked over the tops of her glasses at Hermione.
"Books," Hermione said and McGonagall gave her a withering look. "But I'm not sure where they came from."
"What do you mean?" McGonagall asked, her interest piqued.
"Well, at first I started going through what was on the shelf in the archive room, but there were volumes missing."
"Some of them have been lost or destroyed through the years," McGonagall admitted.
"Well, I decided to use a shelving charm," Hermione explained. "They taught us how to use it when we were looking for things people had borrowed from the Ministry archives."
"What happened?" McGonagall asked, peering at the stack of ancient books.
"Well, I found a few of them," Hermione nodded happily. "I have no idea where they were hiding, but I swear, one was covered in pond sludge."
"Are these the ones you found?" McGonagall asked.
"Not exactly," Hermione said uncomfortably. "About a half-hour after I preformed the spell these came floating in." They settled on McGonagall's desk. "I'm not sure what to make of it."
McGonagall pointed her wand at the pile of books and several volumes glowed. She avoided those and chose a plain one. She opened it and her eyes scanned the page.
"Where on iearth/i were these hidden?" McGonagall breathed. She tapped the page with her wand and the letters rearranged themselves into modern English. She scanned the page. "These are amazing!"
"But they may be part of the problem," Hermione said grimly. She put three volumes in a separate pile. "These were already clean. One was already translated."
McGonagall's face went white. "What are you saying?"
"That someone's been reading these and doing Merlin-only-knows-what with them," Hermione said, her mouth a thin line. "And I'm not even sure what they do!"
"We'll have to find out." McGonagall got to her feet and went over to a small writing desk. She pulled out very official-looking stationary out of a drawer and began writing.
"Who are you owling?" Hermione asked.
"The Ministry and the Goblin Ambassador," McGonagall said. "Some of that writing is in ancient Gobbledygook."
"Yes." A goblin stood on a stool and examined the ancient text. "I remember hearing about this when I was just a young thing squalling at my mother's knee."
"You know it?" Harry exclaimed. "This has happened before?"
"Oh, no," the goblin chuckled at this as if it were a joke. "Just once, when the Heart was corrupted."
"What 'Heart?'" McGonagall asked him. "What is all this?"
"Well, of course you know, the goblins build Hogwarts—"
"Everyone claims to have built Hogwarts at one time or another." Hermione crossed her arms.
"Be that as it may, we actually did." The goblin sniffed and pointed at the page. "List of supplies right there. Even a baby can see it!"
"Maybe a baby that speaks ancient Gobbledygook," Hermione grumbled.
"This one was already translated." The goblin pointed at a book. "No excuse."
"Obviously we have lost much of our building technology," McGonagall said, trying to diffuse the situation. "We didn't know what all this was for."
"Maybe if you had known to begin with we wouldn't have had to build the school for you." The goblin seemed to think about this for a moment. "Hmmm."
"So what happened?" Hermione encouraged him.
"When the castle was originally built it held a mighty source of trapped raw magic. It was supposed to protect the castle, but the wizards were foolish and thought they could bend it to their will." The goblin paused. "They failed."
"After many years of fighting with it, it became wild and unpredictable and threatened everything around it. Your 'Forbidden Forest' grew quickly and magical creatures no one had ever seen before populated it. The land became twisted and the wizards had to do something."
"What did they do?" Hermione asked.
"Goblins are made for working with raw magic." He grinned at her, a feral look full of sharp teeth and beady, black eyes. "Humans are too weak. Their systems cannot hold it. They burn up."
"And?" Harry asked, wishing the goblin would get on with it.
"One day it struck out at those that would use it for their own gain. We rescued you. We buried it under rock and earth and drained most of magic from it, creating the castle from the runoff." The goblin grinned. "Looks as if you're going to have to change your history lessons."
"So this isn't the first castle?!" Hermione squeaked.
"Hogwarts, A History miss something?" Harry teased. She just glared at him.
"Your dungeons used to be the main castle," the goblin said, obviously happy to have the wizards at a disadvantage. "The workshops were below. The Heart lies within them."
"And someone has woken it up," McGonagall said, her face turning white. "Do the goblins have the original plans?"
"I can't say for certain—"
"Yes, you can!" Hermione barked out, startling the goblin into falling off his stool. "Goblins keep records for thousands of years. You still have the plans from the pyramids, I've seen them, don't you lie to me!"
The goblin looked startled, and McGonagall looked at Harry, who looked as if he was trying to retain his composure.
"You're going to tell us anyway, so stop playing around I am not in the mood!" She growled at him and he began to look concerned.
"Can you imagine what she's like as a mother?" Harry whispered as an aside to McGonagall, who bit the insides of her lips.
"I'm pretty sure I heard that last bit out of Severus more than once," the headmistress managed to squeak out before trying desperately trying not to giggle.
"The Heart was throwing off so much magic they started channeling it into creating protections for the castle," the goblin said nervously, completely unaware of anything besides the angry witch in front of him. "I would hazard a guess that the incident with the storm is one of those protections.
"But why would it turn on the students?" Harry asked.
"It might not have been." The goblin looked surprised that no one else was seeing it like he was. "It was probably attacking the new castle because it wasn't attuned to it. It thinks the castle itself is siege machinery. It might just be trying to attach itself to leylines that don't exist anymore. That would explain the Dementor sightings. They always congregate where they think they might be able to siphon a little power. Magical townships were usually built on ley lines"
"Then the Muggle-baiting might be totally coincidental." Harry rubbed his face with his hands. "So what do we do?"
"First we have to find out who's been reading these books," Hermione said grimly.
"It might help if you knew where they came from," the goblin pointed out.
James and Scorpius were feeling along the walls in the Slytherin bathing room and bickering back and forth.
"There's no law that says a passageway has to go both ways," Scorpius argued. His cough echoed through the underground cavern.
"But I can't even find a seam!" Albus said, shaking his head. "I know we heard the rock move!"
"What are you doing?"
The voice made them jump and they turned around to see Siobhan Connors looking at them suspiciously.
"Nothing!" They both said quickly.
She arched a perfect eyebrow at them. "It doesn't look like nothing." Albus and Scorpius both looked very guilty as she crossed her arms and stared them down. "Out with it!"
"There's a passageway back here. We're trying to find it." Albus admitted.
"There is no secret door to the kitchens!" She sighed. "It's just a story to drive first years mad—"
"No, really," Scorpius said. "Someone came through it."
"What?" she asked sharply. "Who?"
The boys exchanged glances.
"Where does it come from?" she pestered.
"We don't know, exactly…" Albus said.
"Somewhere further below," Scorpius admitted.
"How much 'further below?'" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"I have no idea," Albus admitted. "He didn't tell us."
"So someone just pops into the Slytherin bathroom and you don't say anything?" She narrowed her eyes and thought for a moment. "Because you knew who it was, didn't you? It was James, wasn't it?"
The boys looked startled.
"We knew you had to have found something!" she declared. "What was it?"
"Just some old rooms." Albus shrugged. "Really."
"Then what was so special that it kept luring you down there?" she asked suspiciously. "You'd better tell me."
There was a strong rap on McGonagall's office door and all that were inside turned to look.
"Enter," McGonagall called out.
The door swung open and Albus and Scorpius were pushed unceremoniously through. It looked as though they were interrupting a meeting.
"What is the meaning of this?" McGonagall demanded.
Albus looked up and turned white. "Uh… hi, dad."
"Talk!" Siobhan ordered them, her face furious.
McGonagall folded her glasses and set them on her desk. "Miss Connors, if this has anything to do with the rumors—"
"Ask them what they've been doing below the castle!" Siobhan snapped, having no patience left.
Albus watched his father's face turn white. "What have you been doing?"
"Cleaning!" Albus said defensively.
"Cleaning what?" Siobhan prodded.
Both of the boys turned red.
"What did you boys find?" Hermione always had a softer touch when it came to extracting information.
"Well, it all started with Siobhan's knickers—" Scorpius started and he was rewarded with a slap to the back of his head. "Well, it did!"
"We went to see if a rumor was true, and it wasn't," Albus added emphatically, ducking just in case. "And there was a hole there where her knickers were supposed to be."
Siobhan let out a squawk of outrage as several of the adults tried to keep their composure. Now she was turning red.
"And on the other side there was a bit of the castle that looked like it had been blocked up," Scorpius added.
"Did you boys think there was a reason why that part of the castle was off limits?" Hermione asked as Albus' father slapped his forehead.
"Well, it was all wood, and they made castles with that before stone, right?" Albus said reasonably. "We just figured they built on top of the old one when technology got better."
"Have you been reading these books?" McGonagall gestured to a small pile near her.
"Yeah!" Scorpius exclaimed. "There was a ledger, and then there was the one that stunned James—"
"What?" Harry asked sharply.
"You said he fell while climbing!" McGonagall was beginning to look angry.
Albus and Scorpius exchanged looks.
"You need to tell the truth to people about how you get injured!" Albus' father said sternly
"Like Uncle Ron did when he got bit by that dragon you were hiding with Hagrid?" Albus challenged.
"What?!" McGonagall asked, her eyes going to Albus' father.
"Where is James now?" He asked, clearly trying to change the conversation before it went any farther in that direction.
"Well, we were in the bathroom looking for the passageway when she found us and stormed up here," Scorpius jerked his head at Siobhan. "He wasn't in there with us."
"What passageway?" McGonagall asked sharply.
"James came through it once," Albus admitted. "Said it was from deep below and he had to climb out."
His father's face went white and he looked at Albus' Aunt Hermione. Her face was ashen. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I think it might be a good thing you're talking to snakes again," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
The Slytherins exchanged worried looks.
McGonagall opened a small box on the edge of her desk and rang a small brass bell. A house-elf popped into view and McGonagall leaned down to tell it something before it disappeared again.
"You should have told us, Albus," his father said softly.
"We were just trying to make it look nice before we showed people what we found." Albus sounded very small.
"What did you find?" Aunt Hermione asked curiously.
The boys were more than happy to tell her everything, from how they figured out how to restore the furniture down to figuring out the wall carvings were actually signs.
"Really?" His father took in a deep breath and snorted it out. "I can't get you clowns to clean your rooms and you're out restoring castles? Really?!"
"Don't tell mum," Albus pleaded.
"He's not in his common room, mistress." The little elf bobbed his knobby head as soon as he appeared again. "He's also not in the library, the Great Hall, or any of his classes."
"Thank you, Justice," McGonagall said, not unkindly. She looked at the others in the room. "We'll have to start a proper search."
"I doubt it," Scorpius pointed out. "There's only one other place he's been going lately."
"I'm not so sure about that," Harry said grimly.
Albus' Uncle Ron chuckled at the view, in spite of himself.
"It's not funny!" Harry said, his voice both muffled and cranky.
"I think you should have just waited for the goblins, dad," Albus said, turning his head to the side. There was the noise of footsteps and several other people entered the boat launching area.
"Are you stuck?" Albus heard his mother ask. He turned around to shrug at her as if to say: 'I couldn't stop him.'
"He looks like Winnie-the-Pooh." He heard his uncle Ron laugh.
"I can fix that," said a gravelly voice. The rock beneath Albus' father began melting away and there was a mighty thud as he fell into the secret part of the castle.
"Are you all right?" Albus' mother called out.
There was a light from the darkness that grew as the stone melted away at the goblin's command.
"Are you effing kidding me?!" Albus heard his father exclaim, and he winced. He sincerely wished his mother wasn't there.
"I still don't understand how this was going on for so long—" Scorpius' father stopped talking to McGonagall when his eyes lit on his son. They went to Albus and back.
Scorpius suddenly wished his father had a job like everyone else's father and wasn't quite so easy to hunt down.
"What did you two do?" he thundered in a way that reminded Scorpius of his grandfather whenever his favorite horse lost.
Scorpius opened and closed his mouth for a moment before deciding his best bet was to step behind Albus.
"Don't you try to hide!" The eldest Malfoy looked furious, his hands on his hips. "Do you have any idea how terrified your mother has been?!"
Scorpius looked like he was about to cry.
"And I can't get you to pick up your socks?!"
Albus winced as he heard his mother's voice from inside the secret area.
Scorpius' father was temporarily distracted by this and Scorpius breathed out a sigh as his father went to investigate.
"Headmistress, I think we need you," Harry said seriously.
"Come along," McGonagall prodded them. "Show us what you've been doing."
Albus and Scorpius walked them through, hanging their heads sheepishly as they showed the adults all of the things they had done. The goblin representative was especially excited to see the wooden carvings on the wall.
"They're warning signs," he explained. "Telling everyone to keep out." He peered at one. "Not this one."
"What's that one?" Scorpius asked.
"A little rhyme about keeping your teeth clean." The goblin shrugged. "But it's different wood than the others. Probably left over from before the castle was buried."
"We didn't notice," Albus admitted, feeling more and more embarrassed.
"Where was the library?" Aunt Hermione asked him.
"Down here," Albus explained. He showed them the little room that was hidden behind the elaborate carving. The door was open, leftover from when Hermione had retrieved the archives, but the boys showed them the proper way to open it.
"McGonagall's eyes scanned the carving and she exchanged looks with Hermione.
"What is it?" Albus' father asked.
"This might confirm some theories about the founding of Hogwarts," Hermione said slowly.
"Like what?" Ron asked.
"See, there are the symbols of the Hogwarts houses," Hermione pointed out.
"What are all the others?" Albus father asked. "What's going on?"
"They're all fighting for dominance," Hermione said, her fingers running over the carving. "Ow!"
She pulled her hand back and scowled at a drop of blood welling at her fingertip.
There was a rumble from below and for a moment, the carving gleamed like gold. Ron pulled her away from the relief and the rumbling settled.
"How much blood magic went into the original founding of the school?" McGonagall asked the goblin.
"It wasn't called blood magic back then," the goblin seemed offended. "It was called divine magic."
"Because it was a sacrifice," Hermione murmured.
"Exactly!" The goblin seemed surprised that Hermione understood.
Scorpius coughed hard and he held a handkerchief to his mouth. When he took it away there were red spots on it.
"How long has this been going on?" Draco demanded.
"Couple of weeks," Scorpius admitted. "It's just the damp and my allergies—"
"That is not a normal sickness," the goblin said firmly. "That is sickness caused by exposure to raw magic."
"How do you know?" Scorpius demanded.
"I can smell it." The goblin's nostrils flared and it wrinkled its nose.
"But I haven't been down here that much!" Scorpius reasoned. He swung around on Albus. "Not any more than you!"
"You've been down here with James before, without me!" Albus exclaimed.
"No, I haven't!" Scorpius said defensively.
"Yes you did," Albus insisted. "When I had detention with the hippogriffs!"
"We both had detention with the hippogriffs, if you remember right." Scorpius snorted.
Albus was very quiet for a moment. "Scorpius, I did that detention alone."
Scorpius' father looked scared for a moment. "What's happened to him?"
"Sounds like someone's modified his memory," Harry said grimly. "What else happened that night?"
"We took a bath," Albus remembered. "And then James came out of a corner in the Slytherin bathroom."
"And he said he'd climbed his way out?" Albus' father asked.
"Yes," Scorpius confirmed. He coughed again.
"Take off your clothes!" The goblin pointed at Scorpius.
"What?!" He squeaked.
"Something is making you sick!" the goblin insisted.
"How about I just empty my pockets first," Scorpius said in an annoyed voice as he stepped into the little library and began emptying his pockets onto a small table. Even his father had to raise an eyebrow at everything that came out of them.
"Is that half a meat pie?" He asked incredulously.
"I thought I might be hungry later tonight," Scorpius reasoned. There was a clatter as he dropped a handful of odds and ends on the table.
"Ah!" the goblin said suddenly.
"What is it?" Scorpius' father asked, his face worried.
"Soul stone." The goblin picked up the small, glittering rock that Scorpius had been carrying around. "Years ago all of the students probably had these. Easier and cleaner than blood sacrifice. They're tuned in to whatever Heart they've been programmed to feed. It just takes little bits of you at a time. No harm done. But this time… I bet you're the only one holding onto one of these. It would have sucked the soul from you until you were just a husk. The closer you are, the better it works. Far away it would just be a trickle."
"That thing could have killed you!" Draco's father said, his voice fearful. Scorpius stepped further away from the rock.
"Wait, when you said you found it in an unused classroom, did you mean down here?" Albus asked.
"Of course I did," Scorpius said and Albus groaned. "I thought you knew that's what I meant."
"You're what's been feeding the Heart," the goblin declared.
"Well, it didn't seem so strange." Scorpius shrugged. "James grabbed one and he hasn't been sick—"
"James has one?" Albus' father asked sharply.
"Sometimes they make people sick in different ways," the goblin said ominously.
"You need to find him," Albus' mother said, her voice full of fear. "You need to find him now."
They hurried out of the small room and Albus and Scorpius quickly led them to the enormous pedestal and the glowing Heart of Hogwarts. It was the size of a football, with no wrinkles marring its surface. It seemed to be pulsating slowly and turning within the glass sphere.
McGonagall gasped. Hermione made a choking sound. The goblin made some kind of gesture with his hands that Albus thought looked distinctly superstitious. No one else paid it any mind.
"He's not here," Albus' father said, his eyes scanning the floor beneath them.
"He got to the bathroom from further below, he said," Scorpius reminded them.
"How far down can it go?" McGonagall asked them.
Albus' parents, and his aunt and uncle all exchanged looks.
"I think we might know a short cut," Ron admitted.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Hermione looked at Harry seriously. "We can get a team—"
"It might be too late until then," Harry reasoned with her. "Come on, you've done this more than I have."
She quirked a corner of her mouth at him as Ron put a hand on her shoulder.
Harry turned his attention to the small carving of a snake on one of the taps in the girls' bathroom. He made a hissing noise that gave both Ron and Hermione goose pimples, and things began moving.
Soon, the portal to the Chamber of Secrets was opened again.
The three of them began their descent into the darkness and whatever waited for them, the same way they had nearly twenty-five years ago.
James nearly quivered with excitement. The book had told him this was the way it should be. When he stood within the mouth of Salazar Slytherin he could feel the power beginning to flow through the castle.
He finally began to understand.
He could see the impurities in a way he never could before. So many students of magic in one place and not one of them understood what a gift they had. A divine right given to them by the great creator that put them over all of the other living things in the world. The most precious thing in the world.
And what did they do with it?
They squandered it! On candies and toys, things for being lazy or for vanity! So many pointless people in one place, and of all the places, the one they least deserve to be in. It made him feel sick.
"James?"
He heard his name being called out and he looked up sharply. They had come looking for him, but it was too soon. Nothing had been put into place; his plans were just starting to form in his head.
He was James Potter, and he was the new Guardian of Hogwarts. He would do anything to defend the castle.
He rose to his feet and walked to the opening that looked out into the Chamber.
His father stood there, as did his Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron. His mother was nowhere to be seen, although he sensed her in the rooms above. He didn't sense Scorpius anymore, but that happened from time to time.
"James, what are you doing?" his father asked in an even tone.
"I'm fixing everything," James said simply.
"What do you mean?" His father had his wand in his hand, but he wasn't pointing it at anything.
"I found the old castle," James explained. "We started fixing it up when I found the training manual."
"What training manual?" Ron asked, in the same even tone as his father.
James began getting annoyed. "The one that showed me everything! How the castle works and how the magic flows through it! Why it must be defended and what it means to the whole of the islands!"
"James," Hermione said gently. "It was an old manual. Technology improved. That type of energy is unstable—"
"No it's not!" James roared. "It's what we are! We are the magic, and it is us! We live life entwined with a gift that puts us above all others! It's the way it should be!"
"That might be so, James, but the Heart isn't connected to the world the same way," Hermione sounded pleading. "You're doing damage! Trying to force connections that don't work anymore!"
"Damage? To who?" James sneered. "The earth changes all the time. People migrate. It is the way of things."
"But people haven't migrated," Harry said firmly. "And the Dementor sightings are your fault! Your ley lines are trying to connect at junctions that don't exist and the magic's just flowing out!"
"You can help!" James looked excited. "You can tell me where they don't work and I can pull out those feelers and try others! The castle isn't nearly as powerful as it used to be! It can be so much better!"
"There's a reason it's not that powerful anymore, James!" Ron said regretfully.
"Because the people have lost their faith!" James raged. "We could be so much more!"
"And what is that?" his father asked him.
"Better!" James' face broke out in a wide smile. "Purer! More at one with the magic! We should use it, we are it!"
"James!" His father looked very stern. "The magic has its hold on you! It's bending you to its will! Be strong!"
"I am strong!" James exclaimed. "I'm stronger than I ever thought I could be!" He threw his wand away from him. "Look at me!"
James raised his hands, his fingertips crackling with power. James laughed, but his father could smell his flesh burning.
"James, stop it!" his Aunt Hermione called out, her voice high pitched and fearful. "Just put the magic down!"
"Put it down?" James growled. His eyes began taking on a strange glow.
"Stop pulling it to you!" his Uncle Ron ordered. "It'll burn you up!"
"But don't you see?" James shook his head and his hair began smoking. "I'm evolving! Changing into what we're truly meant to be!"
Hermione let out a small cry as a piece of burning flesh fell off his hand. "This is evil, James!"
"We all must make sacrifices," James said solemnly. "They need to believe in the magic, and I will be that sacrifice!"
"What do you mean?" his father yelled at him, his eyes wide with fear behind his glasses.
"People say that God is dead, but how can they think that if I show them the devil?" James opened his mouth and a plume of flame shot out, causing the adults to scatter. "They will fear me!"
"He's gone, Harry!" Hermione screamed. "Whatever that is, it's not James anymore!"
Harry couldn't catch his breath.
His son.
His eldest.
The one who carried his father's name.
Gone.
And in his place stood a beast made of magic and fire, raging about divine right and sacrifice.
But he was talking to Harry Potter.
And Harry didn't need anyone to tell him about sacrifice.
The castle shook and there was a tremendous clap of purple lightening that nearly blinded all those who happened to be looking out a window.
"What was that?" Albus squeaked.
Ginny tried to untangle herself from all of the limbs wrapped around her: Albus, Scorpius, and to her annoyance, Draco. "I have no idea."
She went to the window and looked out. It was a clear day. The sun was shining. The birds were singing, and there were none of the ominous swirling clouds overhead.
She felt a fear growing in her heart, as if a cold wind had passed through it. She looked at Albus, who was looking at her questioningly. She went to him and put her arms around him. She refused to let him go until Harry walked into the room, his face grief-stricken and dirty, sharp tracks cut out in the dust from the tears that had been falling.
She didn't need to hear it. Her mouth opened and she let out a primal wail that caused the hair to rise on anyone that heard her.
Ron and Hermione stumbled in after Harry, looking just as dirty and just as grief-stricken. Ron ran to his sister and put his arms around her. Her wail turned to screaming and McGonagall ran in from an adjoining room.
Her eyes went from Ginny and Ron, to Hermione, and at last, to Harry.
"We lost him," Harry whispered.
The memorial had been intended to be small, but far more people showed up than expected. Harry and Ginny had expected their friends and family, but he hadn't expected the Board of School Governors and the representatives from the Goblin Embassy, but they had shown up to give their deepest condolences.
Harry and Ginny had been assured that the Heart had drained considerably once Scorpius had gotten rid of his stone. Harry never asked about the stone James had taken. He assumed it had been destroyed in the fire that had consumed his son and had been the reason he could channel the magic so well.
The area below the dungeons was scourged of traps, and the room with the Heart once again sealed forever. The small amount of life left in it barely a flicker when the stones were once again put in place. The goblins had overseen the destruction of any stray soul stones left behind and had made sure every last bit of them had been cleared out from the ancient areas of the castle.
The historical society had taken over the renovations from there and had made sure the first thing that went up was a plaque for James; an engraved brass thing that stood at the entrance and lauded him for the most Significant Historical Find the Modern Wizarding World had Ever Seen.
Scorpius had suggested an honorable mention for Siobhan's knickers and was rewarded with a slap to the back of his head by his father.
Albus and Scorpius went to see it quite a bit when it first went up, but as time went on, they stopped. They certainly never set foot in that area of the castle again. It took Albus a number of potions and several weeks until he could sleep again, including one breakdown in McGonagall's office, begging to be switched to another House so he wouldn't have to be near the door that led from the Chamber of Secrets.
She assured him that it had been permanently sealed, but late at night, from time to time, he could swear he heard a faint rumbling from down below.
4 months earlier
Lily Potter grinned widely as she took the small package from the owl. She scratched it behind its ear tufts and it trilled at her.
"Don't forget to give him a treat," Her mother reminded her as she poured three cups of tea and placed them on a simple wooden tray beside a tray of biscuits. "And write a thank-you note for your brother."
The little girl reached for the ceramic jar of owl treats, its base making a hollow sound on the counter top and her mother took the tray out of the room.
"Oh, lovely!" Lily heard her grandmother's voice from the other room.
Lilly fed the owl a treat and shook the box it had delivered. It rattled and she pounded towards her room so that she might open it in private. She didn't want her mother taking it away if she didn't think it was appropriate.
She closed the door to her room and ripped open the package and snorted. There were all sorts of candies and treats for her, including a few things from the Hogsmede joke shop that her mother would never let her have. She went through it all, sorting and cataloging everything. When she came to a small pouch at the bottom of the box she paused for a moment before peering into it cautiously.
She wrinkled her forehead and dumped the contents into her hand.
It certainly was a pretty rock. Greenish and sparkly. It felt faintly warm to the touch.
She closed her fingers around it and it felt good. Maybe it was a good-luck stone. It certainly felt like one.
She slid it into her pocket before hiding the things her mother would try to sneak away if she knew Lily had them. Then she gathered her sweets and left her room so that she could share them with her mother and grandmother.