Chapter Three
Scorpius awoke to screams and smiled. "What's wrong?" He demanded and shot up out of bed. He then saw a lion's tail attached to his backside. He smiled. "Come now show a little house pride." He said and roared it was a pretty good roar all things considered. He then jumped down and dressed into his Hogwarts uniform. He smiled and left the common room looking every inch the Malfoy, well except for the tail that poked between his robes. He had cast a little spell at the same time as he had changed the songs. Now everyone would be able to see the Ravenclaw's brains as their were translucent. The Hufflepuffs got off the lightest with little grey bumps but the Slytherins had the abdomens and tails of snakes. He wanted to see his creations but when he reached the dining hall he was the only one there. He sighed and decided to visit Blinky instead. He walked down to the kitchens and tickled the pear.
A room filled with house elves stirring and pouring filled his eyes. He smiled and stepped into the room.
"Master Scorpius."
"I am not your master any more call me Scorpo and have done with it. Can I have some kitchen scissors? I want to cut a hole in my robes, this spell will last for a week before fading." His house elf laughed.
"Good joke Scorpo." He said and gave Scorpo the scissors. He neatly cut into his robes and allowed the tail free rein.
"If you tell the professors they won't believe you. How could an fickle firstly charm the hat and the students?" He grinned. "Could I have some food?" He asked and at once was given a plate. "Thank you." He said and sat down at a table. A house elf in a ragged and torn blue dress was stoking the fire between sobs. "Come over here." Scorpius said to the house elf. She obeyed at once and curtsied. "Well now tell me why the tears?"
"My master sacked poor Winky and then he died." Winky wailed. "Poor master." He knew how loyal house elves could be.
"Well Winky, how would you like someone to serve again. I come from an old wizarding house." He said.
"You mean it? Really and truly?" Winky asked.
"Yes really and truly." Scorpius replied. "I just freed my house elf, and he will simply be my friend from now on. So I find myself in need of a loyal elf." She smiled weakly.
"You are a great wizard." She said and he smiled.
"A house elf in my service needs to be clean and a uniform would help." He said and she nodded.
"I could get one from the closets." She said and dashed off the other house elves stared at Scorpius.
"Winky never smiles Sir." Another house elf said. "never."
"She just needs to be thought useful." Scorpius said. "Blinky gets like that sometimes don't you Blinky?"
"Yes sir." He replied and then laughed. Scorpius joined him in laughter tail held erect.
"Nice place, why don't you sing? I caught Blinky singing one day and I love house elf music."
"He does." Blinky told them.
"Well alright." Another house elf said. "As long as your sure you won't be bothered.
"Bothered?" He asked. "Never."
"Well the wizard came from town and looked his garden gnomes up and down. He said oh my, this will never do so he cobbled together a creature of different parts and gave it plenty of loyalty and smarts. Thus the first house elf was created.
Well the years went by and the wizard said this will never do, because soon I will have an house elf zoo. So he boxed up the elves and shipped them by post, writing on each box, these are house elves they will dust your shelves.
To each of his friend's manors a house elf was sent, and never an idle day is ever spent. We dust the homes and make the house a home for our wizards when they return home. Until the wizards say oh my this will never do and give the poor elf the shoe.
The shoe the shoe oh what will we do, when given the shoe? So we go when we are not wanted and stay when we are and if you own a manor to this day a house elf will not be far.
Scorpius never had heard this song before of devotion and love for although it wasn't mentioned he could tell. He started to cry. "Master what's wrong?"
"Blinky I am so sorry, I meant to do well why didn't you tell me and then I tell Winky that she can be my elf. I am a bad wizard." He said and put his head in his hands.
"No you are not, you don't know elves I like to serve you but I also like that I have the choice. You didn't send me of rather you offered me friendship a true friendship. We only sing that song when among our own kind or when learning. Don't cry Scorpius." then Winky came back in and gasped in horror.
"What did you do to master?" She shrieked. "Get away from my master." She said to the other elves. Scorpius laughed and hugged the now much cleaner elf.
"I am fine Winky and house elves make the best servants."
"Well that's common knowledge that is." Another elf said.
"Is it alright if I come down to the kitchens another time?"
"Anytime, no one has really appreciated us, we are either furniture or a cause. You are the first to treat us like we have worth. It would be an honor to serve you." Another house elf said and Scorpius smiled.
"I better get going to class." He said and stood up. Winky held on to his tunic. "If you want to come with me Winky you can, although there won't be much work of the house elf sort." He then picked up Winky. "Now you need to eat more, your as thin as anything. Before you come to me eat got that?" She nodded. "I can't have you dying now can I it would show badly on me." She nodded again and Scorpius left taking his schedule with him. Still no one had come down he sighed and returned to the common room.
The common room was in a state he grinned from ear to ear. His housemates had recovered from their initial shock and now were doing all sorts of things inside the common room. Seven sets of wizard chess was being played.
"So why are we not going to lessons?" He asked.
"Because Neville said that no one has to until the spell reverses." A head boy said.
"Well I think he will stop that notion after the second day. It's a seven-day spell and I gave Gryffindor the best of it. Ravenclaws have translucent heads and Slytherins have snake tails instead of their legs. Well Hufflepuffs have badger behinds but I would rather have a lion's tail." The Gryffindors stared at him but Robert laughed.
"Good one Scorpius, how did you know how?"
"Oh, do you expect my father to send his son to school unprepared. He didn't know I did this much practice but he let me into the warded room. I didn't ask to learn magic outside of Hogwarts but decided that I might as well make use of it. I suppose he sent me a howler of a greeting but no one heard it. I didn't expect the houses to be this modest but the halls are disrupted. Which has its advantages. Who would believe you that an fickle firstly managed all of this?"
"hell of a fickle firstly." A boy said. "I would rather face a lion then cross you."
"I wouldn't do anything terrible or lasting, that's not how it works for me. I prefer jokes that amuse me at least."
"I would pay dearly to see Flint with a tail." Another boy said. At once all of the house began to laugh.
"Why don't we go down to the kitchens to eat?" Scorpius asked. "I don't know if the house elves will send up food or not."
"House elves?"
"Yes they take care of the castle, apparently they are honored to work for manors. Well for the most part. I will take you down, this is an excellent time to study the different passageways." Everyone smiled at that and at Scorpius's tail hole.
"Brilliant!" A boy exclaimed and got out scissors cutting a small hole in his own robes. Scorpius couldn't resist chasing his tail. He chased it around and around and then caught it. Everyone laughed at his antics and he grinned tail in his mouth.
"It's fun now I know why dogs do it." He said spitting out the tail. He then walked out the hold. "Coming?" He asked and together they walked down to the kitchens.
"Master!" Winky said and smiled.
"Would you mind feeding my house mates? I wasn't sure if anything was being arranged or not."
"Of course." A house elf said. "Wait for a minute lords and ladies." He then yelled to the other house elves. "Prepare the table and don't forget cups." Scorpius smiled and a odd sensation started in his throat.
"Are you purring Scorpius?" One of the Wesley relations asked.
"I suppose I am." He replied and laughed. Everyone else laughed as well. "I wonder if this means that the Slytherins hiss when they are mad." This brought on roars of laughter from the house. He smiled as his housemates were escorted to a low table and put their feet underneath it. He grinned at Robert. "Having a bit of trouble Rob?" he asked and Robert laughed.
"You could say that." He replied. "If I try to fit under that table I know that I wouldn't fit." The house elf bowing gave a bowl of food to Robert and he grinned. "Thanks." He said and all the house elves smiled back.
"You are welcome." Blinky replied smoothly and Scorpius grinned at the house elf. He smiled as his house attacked the food and took out a book reading from it.
"Put away your book and join us." A older boy said. "You executed the best joke in Hogwarts history, perhaps save the Wesley twins. You are the prince of pranksters, not the prince but the king." Scorpius roared and everyone laughed.
"Don't send food up to the houses we will starve them out." Another boy joked and everyone laughed.
"I wonder how the Slytherins move?"
"On their bellies would be the only way." Scorpius replied and everyone laughed. "Well we might as well explore our new home." He smiled and turned to Robert and Rose. "Want to journey into the underbelly of the beast." He said and they chuckling got up. Scorpius dragged his hand lavishly over each portrait. He heard a click and turned back to the portrait. Sure enough there was now an opening where there hadn't been before. "Come on." He said grinning and the other two fallowed him.
They all gasped when they entered the wide chamber, four chairs stood at a table and Scorpius smiled. "This must be the meeting place of the four founders. He sat in Gryffindor's chair and at once was plunged backward into darkness.
"Scorpius?" A voice asked. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, luminos." He said and the room he had landed in was eliminated. A giant bed was in one corner and when he sat on it little clouds of dust billowed up. In the corner there was a entire suit of red armor. He grinned and put it on it instantly shrank to be his size. He picked up a wand and examined it and then he heard the roaring. He turned and there stood a magnificent golden griffin. He grinned from ear to ear. "Why aren't you a beauty?
Thank you. Scorpius backed up several inches.
"You can talk?"
Only in Sarsletoungue. You have a slight accent but nothing that I can't get over. The second you touched the wand I awoke. My name is Hogarth but you can call me something different if you like. Godric put me in here because even in his day my kind were rare, he hoped to continue the species with my mate and me. My mate was placed in a secret room in Gryffindor's solar where his students used to sleep. I see that you bare the mark of the lion. Excellent tell me how long have I been under the spell?
"About a thousand years, and the only griffins still alive now are either transfigured or in captivity in the rare magical creature museums."
I was afraid of that but my wife is pregnant so that shouldn't be a problem.
"Pregnant? She is pregnant?"
Yes.
"So how do I get out of here?"
Same way as you came in.
"Great." He said and took the chair up once more the griffin flying like a guard of honor. His housemates stared at Scorpius. "Apparently I have the blood of Godric Gryffindor in my veins." He gently stroked the cat and it let out a low purr.
"That's a griffin." Robert said excitedly. "What is his name? We heard roaring."
"It's Hogarth." Scorpius replied and the griffin bowed. "Don't I look good in battle armor? There are a ton of weapons down there, no wonder this explains my family's fascination with weapon spells and guarding spells. I wonder when we changed, well it's no matter anyway." He said. "Why don't you sit do any of you feel drawn to a particular chair that's how it was for me."
"Yes." Rose said smiling and took a seat in the chair that was sky blue. She was whirled backwards and returned a moment later with the most beautiful spell coat Scorpius had ever seen. She also had two wands crossed at her chest. "I never thought that I would find keyed wands the art was lost long ago." Albus didn't want to admit it but he was drawn to the green chair somehow.
"I fear if I sit in that chair I will break it." Robert said uncertainly.
"Go on Rob, you will be fine. This armor was big enough for a giant and it shrunk for me. It makes sense that the chair will grow for you."
"But I don't have Hufflepuff blood, my grandfather was a pureblood wizard and could trace the bloodlines back."
"Well what about the giant bloodline?" Rose asked and Robert stared.
"Well Grolp was smaller than other giants as was his mother. It is possible." He grinned then and sat back in the chair and several minutes later he was back and clad in leather chainmail. He held a wand in one hand and a book in the other. "My umpteenth great grandmother's diary. It's loaded with interesting creatures, she created some and healed others. When a giant approached her she healed him too and they fell in love, most probably a painful pregnancy and then she gave the baby to the giant knowing that he would never be accepted in regular society."
"Well that is rather incredible, I suppose that leaves me." Albus gulped and went to the green chair and sat in it. He was whirled backward and came back a few minutes later clad in a snakeskin and clutching a book and a wand. "It explains the different types of snakes in Salazar's day and the way to speak the different dialects. Apparently I am related to Slytherin." Everyone stared at each other for a moment.
"Well should we unveil our ancestry to others?" Scorpius asked." It would be a lot easier for me in the common room."
"You can but I would prefer to keep this a secret, I don't want people to know. I don't want Slytherins cozying up to me and the last known person with Slytherin blood was the dark lord."
"He was also defeated by your father. There must be a common wizard ancestor in the family genealogy it's the only explanation." Rose said lightly fingering the wand. "So that's why I understood what the raven was saying. I say that we go and explore some more, I think that that room was the first of many."
"I agree." Scorpius said and sat back in the chair again. He returned to the room but this time saw a door where the armor had been hung. He opened the door and saw a beautiful inlayed book. It was titled simply spell making for beginners. Scorpius felt his heart beat increase as he gently took the book in his hands. The art had been lost like so many during the witch burnings. Then he noticed more books Gryffindor had put all the additional arts in a library just in case. There were four additional volumes of spell making. There were also books of creature making and of wizard games and a hundred other useful things. He learned that the modern lessons were based upon spell saying. He also found a book entitled healing. He stared at the book before taking it down. He looked through it and found that the healer's art was very different then that, that was commonly practiced. He fingered the pages and did as the book said and his hands blazed with light. This was incredible. He grinned and put back the book on the shelves returning the power to his hands. It would take years to read all the information contained in these books. He grabbed a few that he knew would be most accepted and then he saw it. Hogwarts was unpalatable but the founders had made a document containing all the secret passageways and the passwords in a neat scroll, apparently they were in the private quarters of the four and the headmistress's rooms had formally been a meeting place for head boys and girls. He snorted at such humble beginnings. He knew that the passageways were always being changed but there were an underlying password that would allow him into any room in the castle. The room of requirement had originated as a storage closet for when the four was too lazy to go traipsing all over the castle for objects. The room could be summoned with the same word and he grinned the others would be happy at this news.
He walked from the room tail held high and his arms full of books. He knew that he would come up to the meeting place of the four next. As soon as he sat down with the others the room blazed in light and five ghostly images showed themselves.
"Hello to our descendants." The stinger said. "I am the fifth maker of this school but I left shortly after it's creation to battle wardogs to the south, my common room was for the unexpected students that had more than a few qualities of the different houses. I never came back from that battle but the school is named in my honor. I am Hogarth Hogwarts and I have no dependence in my house. Continue our work and strive to liberty and equality. We cannot answer questions as we are only magical sending's. Ghosts that appear for a short while."
"I am Godric Gryffindor, I hope that you find my library, it is important that we work to equality. That is why we set up the tri wizard tournament and why we started this school. Your job can be hard or easy depending upon current situations you must unite all wizards, oh and take the spare hat when you leave, no doubt by now my own is threadbare. You can hear this message again by saying Salan together. Although I do not see why you would bother.
"Godric!"
"It's useless you know it is Rowena. Anyway they will be expecting me soon so I better depart." with that his image vanished.
"Sorry about Gryffindor he is so easily sidetracked. Anyway good luck you know what you are to do."
"Yess, go and do it." Another man said and all four shuddered. "You will have to win my houses loyalty to do what you want." His voice was like a hissing snake poised to strike.
"Well we are being summoned you have your task and I hope that you will do better than we did. If new lands have been discovered include them in your world unity." They all disappeared.
"They are asking us to do something that people have been striving to do for years?" Albus asked.
"Well I don't think they expected us to be first years." Rose said. "It's a prerecorded message." All four nodded.
"I don't think that we should reveal who we are to the school." Scorpius said. "We would get open hostility better that a Malfoy becomes friends with a Potter." Scorpius grinned at Albus. "That is if you want to be."
"Of course I do." He replied.
"Maybe we all should become friends." Rose said. "More believable that way." Rob nodded.
"I would like that. I like all of you." Rob grinned.
"And we, or at least I like you." Scorpius said. "Your not half bad for a giant." Rob laughed at that.
"Thanks." He replied. "You like other magical creatures."
"Mostly it's just the human like ones, I used to watch garden gnomes in other people's yards."
"You watched them, come to the burrow and I will teach you a game called wack a gnome." Rose said and Scorpius laughed.
"I would like that, Winky would have to come with however I don't think that she will like it but then again she is in my service."
"Winky? Mum told me about her she was always drinking and crying." Rose said. "She tried to help her but never got through."
"The house elves don't like to be ordered how to think."
"But she didn't."
"She didn't mean to but think of it, at an elves point of view. They live to work for their families." Scorpius said. "I didn't understand that at first, I gave my elf freedom. He is still in my service though but by choice now. They love serving actually. It's the old blood not the manors that draw them, they just think that old blood is more common in manors."
"They like serving?"
"Yes, it was what they were made for." Scorpius replied yawning. "I wonder what time it is."
Robert looked at his clock and gasped. "Well no wonder we are tired, it's eleven o'clock at night."
"There is an old passage, that leads off this rooms, I bet we could get trapped in there and pretend we got trapped. How are your lungs?" Scorpius asked.
"Excellent." Together they carefully took the right passage way and to all seeming it appeared to not be in use. It was dark in there and sure enough they couldn't open it.
"HELP." Rob yelled as though existed and the others joined their voices. "Help, help, HELP, Help, help, HELP." They shouted. Eventually they heard voices and increased the noise level.
"Who's in there?" A familiar voice asked.
"Half the first year Gryffindor dorm and it's crowded." Scorpius replied. "In particular, Scorpius Malfoy, Albus Potter, Rose Weakly and Robert Hagrid." He replied. "The door locks from the inside, I fallowed Rose in here and closed the door behind me and so did Albus and Robert. We have been trapped for about five hours." He said. "It answers to mudblood."
"Mudblood." A voice said with distaste. The door opened and the four of them blinked back the light.
"Thank you." Scorpius said and dusted off his clothes. "I almost suffocated thanks to these...People." He finally said with distaste.
"Well being within close proximity to your slimy skin isn't any picnic." Albus returned trying not to laugh.
"Isn't that just to bad because the sorting hat saw fit to put my slimy skin in Gryffindor." Scorpius returned snapping back. Together they drew out their wands.
"Stop it you two, fighting won't solve anything." Rose said. "Well other than the problem of what to do with your free time."
"Free time you, you know it all." Robert said and took out his own wand.
"Stop it all of you, honestly one would think that this was the WDF." Neville said. "Do I have to give you all detention? I am sure I could find something nasty for you to do." They glared daggers at each other. "Now go to bed, classes begin tomorrow." Then with his tail hidden underneath his robes he walked to the Gryffindor common room. They then walked back up to their dormitories and smiled at the snoring boy. They changed and got ready for bed and soon all three boys and Rose were fast asleep.