Chapter Three: Ailing Founders
The Order meeting had ended several hours ago and everyone had left with various assignments as to what sort of records to check. Dumbledore wanted to focus on the Ministry records, but had allowed other people to volunteer to check records they thought might be profitable.
One Order member who worked in Diagon Alley and was acquainted with Mr. Ollivander had volunteered to ask him if there was a way to find out if Harry had bought a wand sometime in the past. The Ollivander family had been making wands for several centuries and Dumbledore agreed that it was a good bet. The only condition he laid down was that they had to avoid letting anyone know that Harry Potter was somewhere in the past. That made that particular assignment quite difficult.
Because of the limited accommodations at Mad-Eye Moody's small house, the sleeping space was limited. Ron, Ginny, and Hermione found themselves sleeping on the floor of the living room in sleeping bags that had been conjured for them.
With the information that Harry had become a victim of time travel fresh in their minds, the teens had been unable to sleep and were discussing the possible ramifications of this. Hermione had been trying to be as optimistic as possible. "If you think about this, we could now have a tremendous advantage against Voldemort," she announced to Ron and Ginny.
Ginny was curious to know what Hermione was thinking, but Ron was still in a rather dark mood about the whole situation. "I don't see how you figure that."
Ginny could understand Ron's feelings to a degree. Ron had always lived in the shadows of his older brothers. They had been nice to him, with the occasional exception of a prank or two involving spiders.
Going to Hogwarts and becoming Harry's best friend had really been a boost for Ron. The famous Harry Potter who in Ron's mind trumped any of his older brother's accomplishments treated him as an equal. Ron had always reacted to signs that Harry might be leaving him behind with anger and resentment. He now feared that Harry had travelled to the past and started an entirely new life and might not want to come back.
"I bet Harry has done or is doing everything in his power to return," Ginny said casually. These days, she avoided praising Harry in front of others. She had gotten enough grief in the past for her hero-worship of him. In the past she would have said that automatically and twice as fervently, but now she feared she was saying it more for Ron's sake. How would Harry react? I reckon he's lonely and sad, Ginny thought to herself. It's not as if being an orphan is bad enough.
Hermione was quick to pick up on Ginny's comment and build on it. "What else would he do? If Voldemort can send someone to the past with magic, surely someone can be sent to the future."
"Maybe he only went into the past a few decades," Ginny speculated. "He could have made a fortune with what he knew about the future and be someone we already know."
"Like who?" Ron asked.
This left Ginny at a loss. She couldn't think of anyone older that she knew who had Harry's temperament and mood. Her theory was further dashed by the thought that if Harry was around, he would have come forward almost instantly.
Hermione and Ginny gave up for the night. They both knew Ron well enough to know that he would eventually get over it and be twice as excited as them in a few days about the possibilities.
Ron successfully sulked himself to sleep while Hermione continued to think rapidly of all the different resources she could look at to find clues about Harry's fate. In the end she settled on her favorite standby, "Hogwarts, A History," and blissfully fell asleep. Ginny put herself to sleep as she fantasized about all the things Harry might do given certain opportunities.
Morning soon came and at breakfast Mrs. Weasley informed them that it had been decided that they would be returning home to the Burrow. Hermione was free to come along with them, but she declined as she remembered that she had practically promised her parents she would not be gone the entire summer.
They soon were packed and ready to depart. Hermione informed Ron and Ginny that she would be stopping off at Flourish and Blots soon to pick up some history books to peruse for the rest of the summer. If she didn't find Harry in them, she would at least have a better understanding of the possible time periods they might find him in.
Ron didn't look terribly excited at the thought of reading. Making up wild ideas was more his idea of research. Ginny was afraid that she might not have the opportunity to do some real research until returning to Hogwarts, but was planning to at least look at the books they had lying around the Burrow. She knew of the diary of at least one of their ancestors. Maybe Harry had introduced himself to the Weasley family at one point.
"Be sure to keep in contact with me," Hermione instructed Ron and Ginny. "I'll write you often about what I've found."
Ginny nodded graciously. "Of course we'll write, Hermione. We'll look forward to seeing you on the Hogwarts Express."
They all hugged each other and then left to go to their respective homes.
~!~!~!~!
Once Harry recovered from the rather nasty shock he had received by hearing Godric Gryffindor identify himself, he had the devil of a time trying to explain to the aged founder that he was in fact a time traveler. He eventually succeeded with the help of some truth spells.
"What I want to know," Godric declared, "is how a Dark wizard managed to find a spell capable of sending you to the past."
"I haven't a clue," Harry said in an exasperated voice.
"Do you have any idea how complicated and serious that is?"
Harry didn't really know enough about magic to realize that. "I'm sure that it's a serious thing, but really, all we have to do is send me back to the future and everything is fine, right?"
Godric shook his head negatively. "I don't know a single time travel spell, let alone one that can send someone into the future. I've heard of time travel, but it's a rather obscure art and rarely studied or even thought about."
"You're a Founder!" Harry exclaimed. "You're supposed to be all knowing or something. Supposedly all the ancient magic is the really powerful stuff that can do anything."
"Someone has been telling you a bunch of malarkey," Godric muttered. "Although, I will admit that ancient magic is far more advanced. You just haven't arrived in an ancient enough time."
"I just travelled a thousand years or so into the past and you're saying this isn't ancient?"
Godric was getting a little annoyed with Harry, but he could hardly blame him for his ignorance. "In the times of Atlantis, Greece, Egypt, and Rome there was terribly powerful magic. Those were the glory days. Now, we're in the Dark Years. We have renegade wizards running amok, the Muggle nobles have a war every other month with their neighbor, and most everybody is lucky if they can find enough food to survive. The state of magic is rather primitive. Furthermore, I don't know what England is like in your century, but right now we're kind of out on the far side of the world and rather behind everyone else."
Harry sighed heavily. "All right, I'm sorry. I've just got to get back to the future or the wizard who sent me here is going to create a lot of trouble."
"Be patient Harry," Godric said. "We have nearly a thousand years to figure this out."
Harry wasn't very amused.
"We need to get out of here," Godric announced. "Those Muggle villagers are going to get their bravery up soon and charge this place. They aren't terribly fond of magical people, probably because we always end up victimizing them. I can take you to Hogwarts and you can consult Rowena about this. She knows a lot more about magic than I do."
Harry felt that avoiding getting killed by Muggle villagers was a rather good idea. He also relished the fact that he had just met Godric Gryffindor and was going to have a personal interview with Rowena Ravenclaw. Hermione would be green with envy. "Would Slytherin or Hufflepuff know anything?"
Godric glanced at Harry and arched an eyebrow as he stood up and prepared to leave and Harry remembered that there might be hard feelings between Slytherin and Gryffindor. "They're both dead. What house were you in while at Hogwarts?"
"Gryffindor," Harry replied quickly, and seeing that Gryffindor was in doubt he quickly added the fact that he had at one time drawn his sword out of the Sorting Hat. This seemed to impress Godric and they were on their way.
Godric double Apparated them to the Hogwarts gates and Harry got his first glimpse of the Hogwarts castle as it had stood when somewhat just recently built. He was able to conclude that time had only made it more impressive.
"I was out checking the villages hoping to find more students," Godric explained to Harry as they made their way up to the castle entrance. "We have a book that records the names of children born with magical ability, but Rowena only developed that a few years ago. The names we have are too young. I was quite excited when I spotted you unknowingly employing a translation spell to talk to those men in the pub and then a banishing spell. You must be a very powerful."
"I'm afraid that I never thought about how powerful I might be in relation to others," Harry confessed. "In classes I just tried to do my best and learn each spell. I was talented in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, though."
They entered the castle and Harry discovered that a few things had changed over a thousand years. The floor plan was slightly different and a few things were missing. He supposed that as time had passed Hogwarts had gone under renovation and possibly had some additions.
They climbed a rather long staircase that Harry recognized as being all the moving staircases put together and not moving around. Eventually they arrived in front of a door down a hallway that Harry was not familiar with. Godric knocked and hearing the muffled response from inside, opened it and entered with Harry behind him.
The office of Rowena Ravenclaw was very elegant though in some ways sparse. It was a large rectangle. The long sides had the occasional window, but for the most part were covered with built in book shelves and cabinets. The one short side was dominated by a fireplace and the other was almost entirely made of windows that overlooked the Forbidden Forest.
There was an extremely large rectangular desk closer to the wall of windows and entrance that Rowena Ravenclaw sat at. She was sitting in a chair and hunched over several open books and parchments scattered across the surface of the desk. She looked up as they entered the room.
"Did you have any success, Godric?" she asked politely, looking pointedly at Harry.
"I'm afraid not," Godric answered as Harry studied the woman.
Rowena Ravenclaw's bright white hair was evidence that she was far older than Godric, though there was a vitality in her eyes that made Harry doubt she was anywhere near death's door.
"We have a rather complicated situation to discuss," Godric told the woman.
Rowena gestured vaguely toward the fireplace where three comfortable looking chairs appeared. "Just give me a few more minutes and I'll join you," she instructed.
Before long, they were sipping from goblets of pumpkin juice as Harry explained as much as he could about getting sent by way of time travel to the past. Godric interrupted occasionally to make sure Harry clarified one point or another. Rowena only listened, looking Harry in the eyes the whole time.
Harry soon concluded his tale of woe. "I was hoping you might know of a way to send me back to the future."
Rowena stared into her goblet for several minutes before answering. "I know of no spell to send a person to the future," she told Harry, not unkindly.
Harry sighed in defeat.
Ravenclaw was not done speaking though. "My lack of knowledge doesn't mean there isn't a way that now exists or could be engineered to return you to where you belong. If you wish to return to the future you will have to seek out someone who has become a master of time travel or you will have to learn yourself. Perhaps you will be lucky. Hogwarts is becoming a great center for learning. Someone who can help you might come to us."
"I wouldn't even know where to start to figure that out for myself," Harry said.
Ravenclaw nodded sympathetically. "If you have to do it yourself it could take years. You'd have to be patient. I realize that it's not the quick fix, but it's better than never returning."
Harry had no choice but to agree.
Godric spoke up. "In the meantime, you could stay here at Hogwarts. You're a powerful wizard and could go far. If you want, you could be my apprentice. You'd learn plenty and eventually might be able to travel back to the future."
Harry thought this sounded like a pretty good idea. He always enjoyed his time at Hogwarts and always regretted going home for the holidays. He wouldn't even have to attend normal classes; at least that's what it sounded like.
"What kind of magic do you specialize in?" Harry asked Gryffindor.
Godric smiled grimly. "Offense Against the Dark."
~!~!~!
The Hogwarts Express was nearly ready to leave. Ron and Ginny had failed to spot Hermione anywhere on the platform so they assumed that she had already boarded or was running late. Concern that they might not get a compartment to themselves prompted them to board and claim a compartment if Hermione had not already done so.
They managed to drag their luggage on with them ended up finding Hermione about halfway down the train. Eventually, the train was under way and the teens wasted no time in bringing up the subject of Harry.
None of them had found out anything. Hermione was particularly frustrated as she had searched a lot of books that she was confident should have had answers. Ginny was frustrated because she had hardly been able to search any books and Ron was annoyed because he didn't want to have to search history books in the first place.
"Has the Order found anything at all?" Hermione asked Ron and Ginny, knowing that they had a higher chance of hearing that sort of news.
"Mum claims that nothing has been found," Ginny sighed.
"Ginny thinks that Mum is not telling us everything," Ron told Hermione.
Hermione wasn't so suspicious. "I'm sure you would have heard something if anyone had found anything remotely interesting."
"Maybe," Ron said doubtfully. Over a month had gone by since Harry had gone missing, and Ron was beginning to wonder if they would ever find him.
However, out of the three of them, Ginny seemed to be the most depressed over the fact that Harry was missing. This was largely because she couldn't help dwelling on how Harry must be feeling in whatever situation he had found himself in. She told Ron and Hermione something to that effect. "I keep thinking of how lonely he must be and how I would handle it."
This gave Hermione an idea. "We could theorize about what he would do in each time period and then that could tell us where we might find clues."
"How is that supposed to work?" Ron asked.
"It's easy!" Hermione said brightly. "Imagine that Harry found himself somewhere in the past fifty years. He eventually figures out that he travelled through time and he needs help to return to the future. What would he do?"
"Go to Dumbledore." Ginny said.
"Exactly," Hermione said. "If that was the case, Dumbledore would have already known this was going to happen and the Order wouldn't be in the dark about Harry's whereabouts. In fact, he would have been able to prevent the death of Harry's parents. Since that isn't the case, we can conclude that Harry went farther than fifty years."
Hermione went for her trunk and retrieved some parchment, ink, and a quill to take notes as they theorized. This proved to be a thought provoking activity, and in some cases quite fun as some utterly outrageous theories emerged.
Just as the exercise had become extremely difficult from a lack of knowledge about the magical world as it was five hundred or so years in the past, they were interrupted by Neville Longbottom.
"I heard about Harry," Neville said. "Do you know if there's any news about his whereabouts?"
Ron took the lead and showing some discretion informed Neville that they hadn't heard anything definite. He had remembered that Dumbledore wasn't too anxious for everyone to know that Harry was in the past.
Neville expressed his regrets about the situation and hope that Harry might be found. He then brought up the real reason for visiting their compartment. "Were you planning to restart Dumbledore's Army by chance?"
This question caught the three by surprise. "I'm not sure, Neville." Hermione answered. "To be honest, we haven't thought about it that much. I'm pretty sure that they have gotten rid of Umbridge for the Defense professor."
"I realize that," Neville said defensively. "I was just thinking that as we do have V-v-voldemort breathing down our necks a little extra practice and instruction couldn't hurt.
Ron and Hermione still felt a little guilty about the trouble that Dumbledore's Army had gotten Professor Dumbledore into the previous year and were thus quite unsure about restarting it without consulting him first.
Ron didn't want to let anyone down though and thought it couldn't hurt to drum up more support for the cause among the students. At least they would be against Voldemort if not fully able to fight Death Eaters. "I'm thinking that we'll talk to Dumbledore tonight or tomorrow and ask him what he thinks. We might be able to work something out."
This response seemed to satisfy Neville for the time being and he left. His departure was followed by discussion between Ron, Hermione, and Ginny about potential options for the upcoming year. They were interrupted several more times by former DA members who asked the same question as Neville. Some of those who stopped by were students who had not previously been members.
Ron soon got into the swing of answering their questions and by the time the train arrived at its destination had a standard reply that made it sound as if everything was already decided and that all they had to do was set it up with Professor Dumbledore. Hermione was into it as well, but Ginny was a little amused at it all.
They rode up to the castle in the carriages pulled by thestrals and soon found themselves in the Great Hall at Hogwarts awaiting the arrival of the first years who needed to be Sorted into their individual houses. During the Sorting, Ginny noticed that many of the students were inconspicuously shooting glances toward them. She assumed that they were looking for Harry and wondering about his status. The Daily Prophet had initially made a big thing of his disappearance, but as the weeks wore on, everyone had lost interest.
The Sorting over, Dumbledore stood as was custom and began to go over the various announcements. To the surprise of nearly every student there, he announced that Professor Snape would be assuming the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. Snape had been replaced as the potions professor by a young woman that Ron seemed to enjoy ogling much to Hermione's disgust and Ginny's amusement. The food eventually distracted him.
The feast eventually ended and instead of making their way to their dorms as every other student was in the process of doing, the three made their way to Professor Dumbledore's office. Their haste was such that they were waiting at the gargoyle when Dumbledore himself arrived.
"I thought you might approach me soon," he said, his blue eyes twinkling. "Come on up with me."
They opted to get the issue of Dumbledore's Army out of the way. It was Hermione who spoke. "Professor, we have been approached by several former members of Dumbledore's Army asking about our intentions for this year."
Professor Dumbledore sighed. "I don't know how good of an idea it is."
Ron and Hermione quickly ran over all the positive things that had come from the association the year previous and Hermione eloquently presented all the reasons why it should continue this year.
"I'm sure that Professor Snape will do a fine job of teaching Defense this year," Dumbledore pointed out. "He after all is eminently qualified for the position. I've personally reviewed what he will be teaching and I'm confident you will not be disappointed"
The teens persisted until Dumbledore caved in and promised he would look into resuming the Dueling Club that Gilderoy Lockhart had unsuccessfully tried to initiate in Ron and Hermione's second year in lieu of the organization they had engineered during the previous school year.
This satisfied them and Ron brought up the real reason for their visit. "Have you found anything about Harry?"
"I'm afraid not," Dumbledore admitted. "We've turned up blanks everywhere we looked. How has your search gone?"
Hermione was eager to report on her progress and outlined the books she had read and even provided a list of the book she intended to read alongside the notes she had taken on the train about their theories. Dumbledore examined her notes and told her which ones he had already had covered, but encouraged her to keep on with the other resources.
"It occurs to me," Dumbledore said, "that no matter what time period Harry arrived in, he might have at least attempted to go to Hogwarts." It seemed that even he had caught the spirit of speculation that Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had employed on the train.
"I've covered that possibility," Hermione told him. "I carefully read Hogwarts, A History from cover to cover."
Hermione's comment was followed by an extremely loud and rude snort of disgust. Everybody jerked their head to look in the direction that it came from. Even Dumbledore seemed shocked. Their eyes simultaneously landed on one of the many portraits of former headmasters and headmistresses. While most of the portraits appeared to be asleep, the occupant of the portrait in question was awake and had a severely disgusted look on his face.
When Dumbledore had ascertained which portrait had snorted, he leapt up from the chair behind his desk and walked over to it, examining the name plate screwed onto the frame. "Headmaster Edward Drake Blood," he read aloud. He looked the portrait in the eye. "I don't believe I've ever seen you awake before nor had the chance to speak to you."
"Everything that happens in this office is so boring," Professor Blood said, punctuating his comment with a yawn.
"I see," Dumbledore said carefully. "Suppose you tell us why you have so much contempt for Hogwarts, A History."
Professor Blood looked Dumbledore in the eye. "The book is a complete pile of rubbish! If I were you, I would gather all the copies in this school and burn them. The idiot headmaster who wrote it hardly consulted any factual records." With a jerk of his head he gestured toward the portrait of the particular headmaster he was referring to. Said portrait was pretending very hard to be oblivious to the conversation.
Hermione was outraged. "How dare you! I bet you haven't even read it!"
Ron was trying to hide his laughter, but when the portrait informed Hermione that she was a dimwit, he got rather offended on her behalf. Ginny started snickering and thought she detected a slight smile from Dumbledore.
Dumbledore managed to remain a gentleman despite the portrait's somewhat rough manner. "Perhaps you could refer us to a factual record," he suggested.
"All right," Professor Blood agreed. "Go consult Hogwarts THE History."
"No such book exists," Hermione declared with her fists on her hips. She even went so far as to stick her tongue out at the portrait causing Ginny to burst into laughter. "I've checked the library for every book on Hogwarts history."
Professor Blood was quick to imitate Hermione's pose. "The said book is not located in the Hogwarts library," he snidely informed her. "It is kept in the kitchens."
"What dimwit keeps a book in the kitchens?" Ron retorted, trying to defend Hermione.
Professor Blood rolled his eyes at Ron and then explained. "The Founders commissioned the house elves to record and maintain Hogwarts THE History. As the house elves are relegated to the kitchens and the book is in their keeping, it must of necessity be kept in the kitchens."
Both Ron and Hermione were feeling rather stupid at this point. Dumbledore was shocked though. He had never known that such a history was kept and maintained by the house elves.
Before anyone could reply, the portrait asked a question of its own. "Why are you even poking your noses into history in the first place? I thought you young people were allergic to it."
Dumbledore saw this as an opportunity to possibly find something out about Harry. He quickly explained about someone who had been involved in an incident of time travel and they were trying to find out where he went. They hoped to find some record of him.
"I don't think you'll ever find anything," Professor Blood informed them, yawning yet again.
"Why not?" Ginny asked, not wanting to admit that this could be true.
"The Ministry zealously restricts time travel, the study of it, and covers up any occurrences as best it can. The Department of Mysteries was originally created almost for that sole purpose." Professor Blood told them. "Those tyrants even refused to admit to the general public that such a thing as time travel existed for the longest time."
Dumbledore quickly explained that he had already been given access to the archives and examined the details of several incidents of time travel. He was trying to assure the teens as much as he was trying to inform the portrait.
Ginny was confused about the Ministry's behavior. "Why would they do that?"
"It's quite simple, really," Hermione told Ginny. "Time travel is an extremely dangerous thing for a person to engage in. You have no idea what sort of disasters could occur if something went wrong. The Ministry has to regulate it to protect everyone."
The portrait snorted yet again. Hermione spun around to confront Professor Blood. "Do you have a problem?" she growled.
"You truly are a dimwit, aren't you?"
Hermione replied with a profanity.
"Restricting time travel to protect society may or may not be a good thing," Professor Blood said. "However, the Ministry started restricting it for the sole purpose of protecting their power. It's no coincidence that the Department of Mysteries was created within weeks of Lord Darkbane's suicide."
Dumbledore did not want to appear ignorant, but he could tell that the Lord Darkbane spoken of must have some tie to time travel and he had never heard of him before. "Could you tell us more about Lord Darkbane?"
The portrait looked at Dumbledore for several moments before responding. "You have never heard of Lord Darkbane and you call yourself the Headmaster of Hogwarts?"
Dumbledore tried to keep his composure as best he could. "I'm afraid not. I was hoping that you would enlighten me."
Professor Edward Blood scowled at everyone except Ginny who had somehow managed to avoid his wrath. "Go educate yourselves. It's in Hogwarts, THE History." With that, he laid his head back on the back of the chair in his portrait, went to sleep, and would not respond to further questions or in Hermione's case, insults.
There was silence for a few moments after it was determined that the portrait was not going to respond to them. Finally, Dumbledore spoke. "Professor Blood may have given us a valuable lead. I'm sure the house elves wouldn't mind if we paid them a visit right now."
With that, they all stood and exited the office, making their way toward the kitchens. They soon found themselves at the entrance and Dumbledore opened it to reveal the kitchens. They stepped in the kitchen and were soon surrounded by house elves asking what they would like to eat or drink.
Professor Dumbledore thanked the house elves for their desire to serve and then inquired if they might look at Hogwarts THE History. The house elves enthusiastically acquiesced to his request and soon the headmaster and three teens were looking at an extremely large tome that the house elves had wheeled out on a special stand with wheels.
"How often do you show people this history?" Professor Dumbledore asked.
"Never in my lifetime," squeaked a rather aged house elf.
"I see," Dumbledore said.
There was an awkward pause as the four looked at the tome and several house elves watched them look at it. Finally, the four realized that the house elves weren't going to leave. Professor Dumbledore flipped it open and began thumbing through the pages, marveling at the detailed record that had been kept by the house elves.
He finally opted to check for an index or table of contents as the tome was so large that it would literally take weeks to read it all. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny watched him check the index and turn to a page. Another moment or so passed and Dumbledore announced he had found it.
"Following the death of the last surviving Founder, Godric Gryffindor, Lord Darkbane became the first official Headmaster of Hogwarts and reigned for ninety-seven years."
