Chapter 2

Snape lowered his wand and closed his eyes for a moment. He was seeking any magical cores around him, something that he'd been trained to do by Dumbledore himself. He only felt his own and Harry's for a few moments, but he did ultimately feel a third core near them, one down the stairs and off somewhere. His eyes flew open and he started to move when he realized that he already was being moved. "Put me down this instant!" The man demanded indignantly.

Harry had him levitated and was carrying him towards what looked like the direction the infirmary was in. "You've a gash in your arm, professor. Whatever it is can wait." Harry stated as he ducked from a tree branch shooting straight through the wall.

"I am perfectly capable of walking, you imbecile. My arm was wounded, not my legs! Now put me down or I will hex the ever living daylights out of you." The man threatened. "And stop calling me professor, I haven't been your professor in 4 years and it certainly doesn't appear that either of us will be teaching any time soon."

"Will you come willingly to the infirmary with me to see if there's anything left that can help you?" Harry asked, looking back towards the man as though he were trying to talk sense into a pet.

Severus growled at the boy. How dare he, how DARE he treat him as though he weren't perfectly capable of helping himself. "Potter, the only healing potions that would have lasted over a century without expiring would be ones that Hogwarts couldn't get their hands on. If you want to help, then clear the way so that I may get to my potions laboratory and set up there whilst you go and pick some plants for me in the forest."

"Ohhh no, that is not happening, Sir." Harry stated with absolute refusal. "We are not splitting up. Merlin, you're half muggle, have you never seen a horror film? You split up and bad things happen. Stay together and things will actually get solved."

"This isn't a horror film you- look… fine, we shall split up for a short while just to prove that nothing will happen, and then you'll go gather the ingredients I need for a potion for this." Snape offered.

"And if something does happen, what then?" Harry asked, crossing his arms and glaring to the man.

"Then we… stay together." Severus had a bad feeling about this. He should have just kept his mouth shut; he just knew that something would happen to make the blasted brat have to follow him around like a mother hen.

The two split up shortly, Harry going to the kitchens to see if any food was salvageable while Severus sought out the source of the third, faint magical core. The older man was surprised when all signs pointed to the Great Hall. Harry found something in the kitchens that surprised him. There was a single house elf, sleeping on the table. He walked over to it and shook the elf's shoulder, rousing her from her slumber.

The elf awoke with a start and quickly moved to defend itself. It looked at Harry, unknowing of who this young man was, and unsure what he wanted. "Castle be mine, not for you! Go, go away, shoo!" She demanded, picking up the scattered dishes around her and throwing them at the intruder.

Harry barely managed to duck the first, and he cringed as it shattered against the wall behind him. Soon his wand was out and he was levitating the dishes himself. He floated them down to a safe place on the counter as he warily watched the house elf who was staring at him. "What was that for? I'm only here trying to help!" He snapped.

The elf skittered back from him, her eyes raking over his body. She swallowed thickly. This was no normal witch or wizard. She moved down and hopped off of the table, going up to the young man. "Why is you clothes so good?"

Harry frowned, looking down to his robes. "Uhm, they're not… they're just simple black robes for teaching, nothing fancy." He replied, glancing back to the elf that was running circles around him.

"Yes! They is clean, they is whole. Why? How? Witches and wizards be poor, they be homeless and slummy. Why you get rich?" The elf demanded.

Harry stepped back a bit. "Witches and- wait what? I'm not rich, I only have about 500 galleons in my vault and-"

The elf waved her hand with a scoff. "Galleons be useless, have been for over 100 years." She muttered, making her way back to the top of the table. She climbed in a chair and nearly knocked it over jumping from it to the flat surface. "Humans find better metal, worth more. Gold fell with the goblins."

"Wait, the goblins, they fell? What do you mean?" Harry asked his heart racing and his mind reeling with the information and speculation.

"Goblins went extinct! Goblins, giants, centaurs, dragons, they all extinct. Merpeople, they still live though. Ruthless, vengeful, bitey!" She made a biting motion with her mouth then flopped down on the table. "You are stupid wizard?"

Harry huffed. "I most certainly am not stupid! I have you know I graduated in the top 20 of my class, I know every spell and potion that Hogwarts had to offer and then some thanks to Hermione's cramming sessions with restricted books, and on top of that I served as an auror and I worked with some people who taught me spells and potions that most who attended Hogwarts could have never expected to exist."

The elf eyed the young man as though he were crazy when an equally irrational notion swept over her. "And you… you be so smart, why you not help wizards and witches? Why you here instead of Diagon Alley?"

Harry frowned, confusion settling in. "What's happened at Diagon Alley? Why do they need help?"

The elf waved her hand again. "You is stupid wizard, stupid, stupid. How not know what been happening for last century? Have no memory?"

"Er, you could say that…" Harry tried, attempting a different route. "I've no idea what's happened since… since er, about 300 years ago, maybe more." He said, hoping to get some information from the elderly elf.

The elf only shook her head. "You go to big office in the tower. You find stuff there. History. Learn it, stupid wizard." She muttered before lying back down and promptly trying to drift off to sleep.

Harry huffed in irritation and decided to make his way back to Snape. He used a simple point-me spell and went along the direction he was being pulled. The elf had barely saw him do this and decided to follow behind him. She didn't know any witch or wizard alive who could control their magic like that, just doing a spell at the drop of a hat. Things like that were only talked about in their lore, the tales of the olden days when people would come here to learn. Maybe this man was the man who- no… No, he couldn't be. It was a legend, it wasn't real. She still followed behind him, just in case.

When Harry finally did reach Severus, he nearly got blindsided by a charm that was headed straight for him. The spell missed him and hit the wall, the air around them becoming thick for a moment before the smells of mold and decay seemed to filter out of the area where Harry was standing. "Mundissaere!" Snape shouted, pointing the same spell towards another area of the Great Hall.

Harry watched him clear the air for a few moments before his attention was drawn to something in the middle of the room. Tree roots had grown in through the walls and they seemed to meet together in the center of the room, the ruined tables serving only as things to grow around and crush with the roots' weight. Where they met a large mound stood, and that was the area that Snape was standing. "What are you doing this for?" Harry called, looking back up to Snape.

"Isn't it obvious? Mundissaere! I'm killing two birds with one stone, Potter. Mundissaere! The magical core's signature came from this room. If it truly was Hogwarts speaking to us, then any kind of magic should help to restore the core. Mundissaere! It also makes it easier for us to breathe if we're going to set up a base of operations here." He glanced back to Harry. "You could help you know. It's a flick and a swirl, watch and learn. Mundissaere!"

Harry took note and watched the man, unaware that they were both being watched by the lone house elf. As she observed the two working she came to the only conclusion that she possibly could. These were the two from the legend. She had to tell her Master.


Etymology of the Non-Canon Spells used in this chapter:

Mundissaere – comes from the Latin, 'aere mundissimo' meaning, 'pure air'. This charm purifies the air within a room. The rate of how pure the air will become is in direct relation to the amount of space within a room. The smaller the room is, the more influential the charm will be. It has no effect in rooms larger than 400x400 feet. This spell is not taught at Hogwarts, but was one of the spells crafted for use by the witches and wizards who dared to go on expeditions through the ruins of old in 1952.