Harry Potter and The Founder's Chamber

Chapter 3

Authors Notes:

Harry Potter is not mine. No money is being made from this. This is for my own personal entertainment; I just wanted to see if someone else would also like to read it.

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Reminder: This is in answer to AlaskanKing's 'Lord Hogwarts Challenge'

Harry assumes the title of Lord Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and Protector of the Mystical Forest (Now called the Forbidden Forest) and is answerable only to the Crown. Ancient Treaties come back into play.

As Head of 5 Most Noble and Most Ancient families, Harry must wed/betroth women to reestablish the family lines. (6 if Harry is Lord Black too).

My Harry will end up with more than that – you'll just have to read to find out how and why. THIS IS NOT MEANT TO BE A HAREM STORY

This is an Alternative Universe (AU).

There will be no sex in this story (hence the 'T' rating) so if you're looking for smut, look elsewhere.

-x-

Review if you want to, I really don't care. I'm writing this for my enjoyment and thought I'd share it with you.

rdgale

'Thought or mind speak'

~parseltongue~

-x-

From the previous chapter:

Taking a few more calming breaths, Harry fixed his resolve as to what he was to do. Looking up into the mirror so as to position the fang correctly, he brought it up to his head, and with one swift move plunged it into the center of his famous scar.

Harry had been exposed to the cruciatus curse during his fourth year in the graveyard after Voldemort's resurrection; he had been 'possessed' by Voldemort earlier that evening at the Ministry of Magic. But nothing could have prepared him for the pain he was now experiencing. All he knew was that his head exploded in a blast of pain as he felt the poison from the fang enter his body and the horcrux's violent reaction to it. Soon it was so great that he succumbed to the extreme pain and was swallowed up in darkness.

-x-

Chapter 3 – The Heart of Hogwarts

The occupants of Hogwarts were all shaken from their rest by a blood curdling scream that seemed to be coming from everywhere.

Every hallway, every wall, stair and door seemed to be screaming at the same time. For some of the students in the hospital wing, the cry was all too familiar.

"Harry!" Hermione spoke weakly. Forgetting her own injuries she tried to get up. "I must help Harry!" Unfortunately, she was so weak from the injuries she received from Antonin Dolohov at the Ministry of Magic that she collapsed to the floor as soon as she got out of bed. Madame Pomfrey came out of her office still in her night coat to find one of her charges struggling to get off the floor.

"Now what do you think you're doing young lady? You're not well enough to be moving about. Oh look at that! You're bleeding again! Now Miss Granger, I need you to get right back in your bed and stay there. Give the potions time to work. Don't make me bind you to your bed now young lady." She said as she helped Hermione back into bed.

"But Harry needs me! Didn't you hear him scream?"

"Well, I am a bit surprised that Mr. Potter didn't accompany the rest of you here tonight after your little 'outing', but that shouldn't concern you now. I'm sure whatever that noise was the Headmaster will have it straightened out in no time. It's probably just Peeves trying to scare the whole castle."

Poppy didn't really believe that. She too knew the sound of that voice all too well and was concerned for her favorite patient.

-x-

Elsewhere in the castle, Professor Dumbledore picked himself up off the floor of his temporary bedroom after being jarred awake by the scream.

'It is imperative that I get into my office! From there I can check the wards around the castle and see what is going on.'

Leaving his make-shift bedroom, the Headmaster hurried to the gargoyle in front of his office and gave the password. This time, somewhat to his surprise, the gargoyle moved aside, granting him access to the office.

Moving quickly to a small table behind his desk, he waves his wand to show the status of the wards around Hogwarts. Once more he is stumped as to why nothing happens. He tries again and gets the same results – nothing. He looks up to ask the portraits of the different Headmasters and mistresses what is going on only to find their frames are still empty. He looks over to Fawkes stand only to find it empty also. He tries mentally calling out to Fawkes and again – nothing. Just as he starts to get worried, the office door opens to show three of the four heads of house entering the chamber.

"Albus what is going on? Who made that scream?" Minerva asked. Secretly she was afraid she knew who made the scream; the one person in the castle who had lost more in his short lifetime than anyone should – Harry Potter.

"I am afraid I am at a loss Minerva, since late last night the castle has been acting very peculiar. After leaving my office briefly to run an errand, I found I could not reenter it upon my return, and now the map with the castle's ward schema will not activate for me." He wasn't going to tell them about the missing people in their portraits and hoped they didn't notice.

Moving pass the Headmaster, Minerva stepped over to the ward table and waved her wand. A layout of Hogwarts appeared on the parchment and a listing of wards and their status displayed below. At different locations within the castle, little red dots were flashing. On the bottom of the parchment was a legend corresponding to the red dots with this note: 'Dangerous Person – in stasis'.

"Albus when did you do this? It looks like the castle is on full alert! There must be at least fifteen people currently in the castle that are being held in stasis – including Professor Snape!"

"This is not my doing Minerva. We must release these wards at once before serious damage is done to any of these people!" Dumbledore was in a panic. Someone had taken control of the wards and had placed all the marked Death Eaters in stasis! If it got out that he could nullify them so easily word might get back to Voldemort or the parents of the student who had taken the mark. Then they might take them out of Hogwarts and he would be unable to keep an eye on them and show them the way back to the light.

As they were discussing this, a fine scroll appeared at the top of the parchment: "By order of Lord Hogwarts, Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is hereby placed on probation. Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall has control of the ward of Hogwarts in the interim and is instructed by Lord Hogwarts to use these wards in the best interest of ALL the children in her care. So mote it be."

"Albus?"

"I have never heard of this 'Lord Hogwarts'. I know the castle itself is sometimes referred to as 'Lady Hogwarts', but there has never been a Lord of the castle, indeed there could not be unless…"

"Unless what Headmaster?" Filius ask as he and Pomona joined the other two around the ward map table. Professor Flitwick conjured a small step-ladder so he could climb up and see what was on the table.

"As I understand it, the only way for someone to be declared the Lord of Hogwarts, they must first, of course be male. Next they would have to be able to claim either by blood or conquest the lordship of each of the four founders."

"There are many pure-bloods that can claim to have some of each of the founder's blood flowing through them; we are a fairly closed society after all. But how would one go about making a claim of being Lord Hogwarts and have the castle recognize that claim as valid?"

Dumbledore feared in his heart he knew who had made the claim. If Harry was indeed the new Lord Hogwarts, all of his plains and schemes were for not. He had to stop whomever this new Lord Hogwarts at any cost – especially if it were young Mr. Potter.

"Minerva I must ask you to release the wards that are holding Severus and the other students in stasis. It is vital they be able to continue as they were before this unfortunate situation arose."

"I'm sorry Albus, I can't do that. My charge is to look out for the welfare of ALL the children in my care. If the wards of Hogwarts has identified these people as 'Dangerous' I cannot ignore that fact and will not release them until a proper investigation has taken place regarding each person."

"You are making a grave mistake Minerva. You must see that it is for the greater good that these people are not restrained this way."

Professor McGonagall looked at her friend for over forty year in shock and disbelief.

"Greater good? How in Merlin's name can having 'Dangerous' people running around a school full of young innocent children be for the greater good?"

Dumbledore saw her Scottish stubbornness starting to set in and decided to cut his losses on that subject for now. He had more important things to do if he was going to stop this'Lord Hogwarts' from completely taking over HIS castle.

"Never mind that right now. I must get to Gringotts to see if I can find out more information on this 'Lord Hogwarts."

As Dumbledore was talking and thinking, Filius and Pomona were watching the ward map. They noticed that a dull pink dot had appeared in the Headmaster's chambers, and that dot was getting brighter and brighter as Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall were arguing amongst themselves. Looking at the legend, they saw a notice that read 'Ill intent'.

Professor Dumbledore headed for fireplace to floo to Gringotts when the flame in the fireplace went out.

"NO!" Dumbledore yelled, "I must get through! I will not be denied!" He took out is wand to cast an 'incendo' at the fireplace when Filius and Pomona noticed the pink dot turn to red – 'Dangerous Person – in stasis'.

Immediately Professor Dumbledore looked as if he had been hit with a 'Petrifius Totalus' curse as his hands and legs were brought tight together as his wand slipped out of his hand and onto the floor. As it did, it faded from sight. A clear cocoon that glowed red surrounded the Headmaster as he was levitated slowly to the ground.

Shocked, the other three occupants of the office looked at the still body of the Headmaster, wondering what had just happened.

After several moments, Filius turned to Minerva, and spoke, "Well Min, it looks like you're the temporary Headmistress, at least until we can get to the bottom of this. What would you like us to do?"

It took several more seconds before Professor McGonagall could take her eyes off the Headmaster. Finally she came to her senses.

"Filius, will you please go and collect Professor Snape and the students in Slytherin and Ravenclaw that are in stasis, and Professor Sprout you could get the students from Hufflepuff and bring all of them to the infirmary, I will bring Professor Dumbledore and the students in Gryffindor and meet you there.

"Of course Headmistress," the diminutive professor replied.

"Locomotor." The new Headmistress incanted as she took Professor Dumbledore out of the office.

-x-

It was a tired and worn-out Professor McGonagall that stood to address the students for breakfast the next morning.

"Students may I have your attention please? As many of you are aware there have been several unexplained occurrences this past night. As a result, classes are being suspended for the next three days. Please make good use of this time by finishing any end-of-term projects or preparing for the summer break. Thank you."

Sitting heavily down in her chair, she thought about the activities of the early morning. Seven Slytherin, three Ravenclaw, two Hufflepuff and two Gryffindor students, all seventh year, were found with the dark mark on their left arm in addition to Professor Snape.

In each case, most of their things were neatly packed ready for the students and professor to be moved – as in out of the castle. In each case the only thing missing was the person's wand, but without exception there were other items such as illegal potions, dark weapons or journals showing what each had done to get the dark mark. The DMLE was in the process of looking into the events described in the journals to see if they could solve any of the unsolved crimes that had occurred over several years. The fact that two of the five Aurors were placed in stasis as soon as they entered Hogwarts' gates had many at the Ministry of Magic also worried.

The big mystery for the day however was why was Professor Dumbledore still in stasis? He didn't wear the dark mark. Why did the map say he was a 'Dangerous Person'? Dangerous to whom? 'Lord Hogwarts'? The other students in the school? The wizarding world in general?

Who was this 'Lord Hogwarts'? She did notice that there was only one student that could not be accounted for in the castle right now – Harry Potter. Where had he gone? What was he doing? How was he coping with the loss of his godfather?

Quietly she got up out of her chair and moved back to her own room where she hoped to catch a few hours rest before having to face the challenges of being the temporary Headmistress of the largest magical school in all of Great Britain.

End Chapter 3.

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AN – Happy New Year to one and all.

I know that in my other story, all three of these chapters would fit into one chapter. I'm trying to make things a little easier to read.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE long chapters, but sometimes a 20,000 word chapter takes a bit more time to get through than I have time to give.

Also remember, this is being written in response to a challenge on the fly, and so doesn't have the depth of character or plot development that you would find in a story written by Bobmin356, Clell65619, robst or kb0 and the like. They are the real masters in fan fiction.

Thanks for your time, and for your reviews. I hope you are getting some pleasure out of this story.

rdgale