CH 4
HPHPHP
Harry was outside tilling a bit a land in order to prepare it for a vegetable garden planned for the next year, when he heard a hooting sound above his head. It was his beautiful Snowy owl coming back from delivering a request for the Professor's company to go to one of his Grindelwald properties today or hopefully within the next couple of days.
The property that he was looking into visiting was nearby in the sense that it was located in a neighbouring country, although Spain couldn't exactly be known as a direct neighbour it was still a close enough country to go visit. It didn't require travel over an ocean to get there and he wasn't daft enough to go on his own. He knew that there were still some things that he needed to do, like find out about getting travel papers and such, especially to get to a location just north of Buron, very small town in Spain.
He also needed to ask the man about some of the activities that Voldemort had done in past. According to the new memories he carried it seems like the Dark Lord was the one responsible for the actual death of previous Dark Lord Grindelwald.
'Maybe defeat does not mean death,' Harry thought. 'I know that Dumbledore had been honoured with the defeat of Grindelwald. I wonder what really happened to my great-grandfather, maybe the German Ministry of Magic knows, but I'm not going to go to them for the answers I need, not at this time anyway.'
Harry's owl had delivered a letter earlier in the morning asking his Counsellor, if they could meet in the local village at a coffee shop.
Severus replied with a time to meet. It was several hours later when the two met up and the man agreed to accompany him to this new unknown location in a few days time, as Harry did need to obtain proper magical travel papers first. Plus they would need to plan to camp for a couple of nights, if they couldn't locate the property quick enough once they got there.
HPHPHP
They arrived on the Grindelwald land five days later fully prepared to spend several nights out of doors, if they couldn't access the building known to be on the property. On site and upon the first view, the both thought that it was a strange place to visit. The fields were dark and sparse. It was as though the land had no life left in it and yet Harry could feel the pull of the magic in his blood calling out for healing.
Even Severus was surprised at the look of the area. Apparently years ago it had been a place rumoured to have been in the middle of some Muggle War, but it felt like it had been a magical war that had affected the area. "Perhaps these were the grounds of some battle never mentioned in the annals of Muggle or Wizard history," he said in speculation the younger man at his side. "I'm positive that battles have taken place in other areas around the world and have never been recorded. It would hardly surprise me that this was one such location."
"That is certainly true," Harry said walking forward. He was cautious because it looked like some places might be bogs or oddly enough quicksand. Quicksand would be odd because they were a significantly higher elevation. He couldn't decide which, but he and his Counsellor made the decision not to step in any of the sandy or muddy patches that dotted the near barren land.
Severus knew that the young man would be following some kind of internal magical map, as Harry had already told him that there wasn't one written down. 'At least I'm getting paid for all of this,' he thought. 'Why the brat feels the need to keep an open contract for this trip, I don't know? I do understand his need at the moment to find out as much as he could about his mother's family, but I wouldn't have charged him for the time to escort him here for Lily's sake. However when I do think about it, he might not have the presence of mind to ask for Counsel if he is in the middle something that requires his absolute attention. I will wait and see what happens.'
The older man was watching and waiting. He followed the green eyed, messy haired youth past three concealed foot traps, a couple of man-traps already filled with the remains of idiots and one dangerous looking bulbous plant that Harry told him not to even think about getting near to investigate as a potential potions ingredient.
"Why not," Professor Snape had asked, still looking at it with curiosity.
"Transfigure this into a humanoid figure that can walk," Harry said to the piece of thick stick that he had picked up. A complicated charm had a humanoid faceless figure appear in place of the branch. "Now direct it to walk towards the plant."
They both watched as the near formless golem walked towards the bulb and that's when Snape saw something he had never seen in his whole life as a Wizard. A large oversized tongue snapped out of the top of the bulb, wrapped around the golem and then snapped back into the bulb taking the humanoid golem with it. There was a bunch of crunching sounds, followed by a loud gulp and then a thunderous belch, which released a yellow-green spore filled cloud.
"You can gather some of that cloud," Harry advised his Potions Professor. "I'm sure that the building will contain a book detailing that…" He was pointing to the plant. "Whatever that is? I'd be careful about letting any of the spores land on you, but I'm quite certain you can use your magic to call them into a few of your collection jars." He smiled when he noticed his Professor doing just that.
"Excellent idea Mr. Potter," he replied with a dry tone and a small smirk. "I don't believe that I would have thought of that." He did look like he wanted other parts of the plant to test for its potential in potions, but he knew better than to approach it without the proper tools or knowing what that plant-thing might be or how to properly subdue it.
"Don't worry Professor," Harry said, getting the man's attention. "I'm quite certain that there are books in the building. We're a little over half way to getting there."
Snape looked up and didn't see anything. "I suppose that I'll have to trust your judgement a little while longer, Mr. Potter, as I cannot see anything in the distance."
"I'm sure that you can't," Harry said. "I see it clear enough, but I think that the traps are about to become more interesting." His teacher didn't respond to that, but only motioned for the young man to continue their journey.
'Interesting didn't describe it accurately,' Severus thought to himself. He was currently sitting on a portable muggle nylon chair, which was surprisingly comfortable. He nursed a couple of scratches on his arm that he acquired while defending himself from some large cat-like creature that had popped out of one of the sand spots in the ground.
'At least I wasn't slimed with mud,' he thought with an internal chuckle looking at the sorry figure of a mud splattered Potter walking around an invisible perimeter. The boy had been slimed by mud balls being thrown by large tentacles that emerged from the mud holes the closer that they came to the end of their journey.
'It's obvious that he's looking at something, but how to get in,' Severus thought while taking a sip of fresh water from the canteen that Harry had provided him with. 'The boy came with complete picnic lunch items too, clever, but I'll keep that observation to myself.'
Harry had suggested making such provisions, 'Just in case', and Severus did take him seriously. However his version of provisions were magical in nature and what he carried the most were empty vials and collection items rather than an extra canteen or two of fresh water. He didn't believe that it would take that long to get to the main house or building or whatever was to be found on this desolate piece of forbidding property.
"Ah-hah," Harry said out loud. "There you are." He was elbow deep into the ground, but didn't seem to be worried. His arm splurched up and in his hand he was clutching a small tin pail with a secure lid. He quickly wiped it down. "This is what we need."
"What is it," Severus said.
"I don't know," Harry replied, which caused his Professor to make a noise of exasperated impatience. "I just know that I need it. I suspect if you hold it you can see the place." He was holding it out to his Professor for the man to examine.
"I'll wait," Snape said inching slightly away with his wand out. He was unsure about running a diagnostic scan of the item for Dark Magics and therefore just sat there waiting for the young man to make a decision.
"Of course, sir," Harry said with a smile. He looked in his pack for a towel that would wipe away the grime. He had Winky and Dobby get anything that they thought he would need for this trip, when he produced a list of thing that he wanted for this trip. He'd been sure to mention something that would wipe away sweat and stains.
They came back with three very fluffy hand towels made specifically for Magical Archaeologists. They told him that he needed more than one to rotate their use. Basically the towel worked to remove accumulated dirt and sweat by spell absorption. At the end of the day the towel was to be laid out to dry and the following morning it only needed a couple of good shakes in the open air and that was supposed to render it clean and ready for use once more. They were supposedly good for only a month, but the house-elves figured that Harry might need an extra one for his travelling companion.
Severus watched the cleanup in fascination. "How are you getting all of that grime out so quickly?"
"Special towels," Harry told him. "Winky and Dobby found them for me." He then explained how they worked.
"I wonder if they have something similar for infirmaries," Snape said out loud taking a closer look at the clean one that Harry had handed him. He used it to wipe away the blood smears from his minor injuries. A couple of potions took care of the potential for infection and scarring from the scratches he had received.
Harry only shrugged at the comment. He wasn't someone with a medical background, but then he thought about the 'NEW' label and showed it to his Professor. "Here sir," he said. "Have a look at the packaging on this one. It looks to be a new product, although it's very handy."
"Too true," Snape said examining the package of the un-opened towel. "I wonder if they make bigger ones."
"It would be useful in potions," Harry commented. "That is if they could pick up 'all' spills rather than just body fluids, dirt and dust." He looked at the tin box and wiped it clean with the last clean corner of his towel. He had to smile at the picture on the box because it came with a fond memory that belonged to Natalia or perhaps her mother. "Barbie!"
"What?" His professor said out loud.
"Look," Harry said pointing to the old fashioned figure of a doll with a perfect figure and dressed as 1920's or 1930's housewife. That was strange because he knew that the doll was not available in the 20's, but in the 60's, which didn't make sense age-wise to belong to his grand-mother, unless the doll came out in the Wizarding World first and then of course it made perfect sense.
"That doll has unrealistic proportions," was Snape's only comment, but it was one that had Harry in stitches with laughter. A short while later, after Harry had calmed down and after they finished taking their break, Harry was ready to attempt the opening of the door.
The tin contained simple instructions.
They had to walk in a ritual pattern, three times clock-wise, six times counter and five more clock-wise before the door would even appear. The Gryffindor had to knock on the door following a musical pattern which caused him to smile and his professor to frown. The magically preserved note gave him the clue and he suspected that it was Natalia herself that had changed it to something that perhaps only a Muggle-born would know.
Her suspicions were true, as it was fact that her offspring were raised in the Muggle World and they would know about this particular little seven note tune. Her note had been clear, "Remember the cost of a 'shave and a haircut' my child,' she had written. "It's always 'two bits'."
The tune was bugging Harry's professor, but he knew that if he asked the boy, he would tell him about it later. Meanwhile, Harry had to be careful when he was knocking to make sure that the te-tock toc sounds of his knock match the tune of old American radio jingle.
There was a deep cha-click sound and the door opened, creaking all the way like the worst of the B-movie horror films. They couldn't see into the darkness of the entrance way.
Even though Severus had not been able to see the building he had been able to feel it when they walked around it. Once the door was revealed and opened, the invisibility of the tower was completely removed. However the inside was still blacker than pitch.
Harry pulled out a muggle torch and flicked the switch, hoping that it would work in what was clearly a magical environment. He was surprised and pleased that it was working. He had no expression on his face when the light shone in a small circle and landed on something he didn't want to think about just yet.
He rotated the light to get a clearer view of the interior and then returned it to the spot that had him pursing his lips in sadness. He rotated the light again and then using a muggle lighter he lit a small torch in the torch sconce by the side of the door. This had the effect of causing all candles and torches to light up in the entrance room.
Candles began to float in the air and seek out the flames from the scones, but all seemed to have been directed by Harry's need and only three larges and two smaller one were lit. The three large ones were floating in strategic positions to provide maximum lighting in the area and the two smaller ones were stations just above and to the right of each man's head. Harry turned off his muggle device, hoping to preserve the batteries, just in case.
His professor had been waiting for the boy to move, but knew not to rush it, in case the landing or floor had pressure traps. He too had a similar expression on his face when looking at the location where the light had first landed. He watched as the torches and other magical light take action, lighting up the entry way and spiralling up the obvious stairs circling ever up. 'Clever,' he thought. 'That has to be magical fuel or a pre-planted potion or spell that supports the flame from a muggle lighter.'
Harry looked closely at the floor and then he closed his eyes seeking a memory of this place and its possible traps. He sighed in relief and stepped into the entrance room with confidence and held up his hand to stop his professor from following him.
"Professor Snape," Harry said out loud. "You are welcome in my home as my Teacher and Counsellor."
"I thank you Lord Grindelwald," his professor answered using the correct name for this particular property, not wanting to offend the magics in the location by naming another Family as owner. He was surprised by the formality, but then he reflected that it might be a form of protection against possible hostile or lingering magics. "My advice is yours to use as you see fit and my knowledge is freely given."
Harry paused as he felt the magic evaluate that statement.
Severus was surprised to feel the magic scan him, but he let out a tiny sigh of relief when he felt the pressure preventing him from entering, let up. He raised one eyebrow at the young man indicating that he expected an explanation at a later date.
Harry just nodded and said, "Please come in Professor Snape."
"Thank you," Snape said stepping into the entrance way. He walked up to the Gryffindor and they were both startled when the door slammed shut with a bang after they had both gotten clear of it. The large clacking sound of a lock sealing the place indicated that they might be confined for a bit. "Interesting…"
"Yeah," Harry said. "Creepy too, I bet Fred and George Weasley can make a product that does that." He pointed his unlit muggle torch back to that one patch on the ground that bothered him. "What am I going to do about him?"
Severus sighed and then said, "We can give him a proper burial, but for now we can wrap him up in a sheet, if you can find one, and we'll move him out of the way."
"Good idea," Harry replied.
The Gryffindor looked quickly around the room, located a closet based on his memories and found a white sheet to wrap up the body. His professor had him open up the sheet and then he used magic to wrap up the dehydrated body of the old house-elf that they found in the main entrance.
They moved the body to a side wall. The same thing was going through their minds. 'How many more bodies are we going to find?'
Harry went to the closet and pulled out a small stack of surprisingly, clean white sheets. He put them in his backpack, just in case they would need them. He took a deep breath and realized that the air was clean and breathable. That made him wonder what had happened to the old elf.
The hall was a perfect circle. Round with high-arched thin windows going up into the tower's other rooms. There were several doors, not including the main one, which led to a dining room, a kitchen, two basement doors on opposite sides of the round hall and a few wardrobe, linen and coat closets too. They didn't enter the rooms, but opened the doors and made a note of what they contained.
They did this for all seven levels of the tower. It seemed that the building was definitely a tall tower, larger on the inside than outside, but each level had a specific use. The second, third and fourth levels or floors were obviously living quarters and guest quarters. The beds and wardrobes were dead giveaways as to this fact. They even had fully function water closets attached to most of them, but they were basic loos with a small sink and mirror. Each of these three floors had a room with three shower stalls and another room contained full bathing room with a tub for a full body cleaning.
The fifth level contained a wall to wall trick library that had bookshelves in the form of spokes on a wheel or slices of pie. Each 'pie' section contained a category of books, like history, biography, potions, etc… The trick of it was that once you stepped into a 'pie' section the floor would rotate and lead you to a larger space with hundreds more books of that same category and the difficulty or trick was getting out again.
Severus had difficulty not only in leaving, but leaving without taking any of the ingredients or potions books that he noticed because he had never seen them before. "Potter…" he said gaining the attention of the boy who was activating the 'wheel' to bring him back to the starting point. "Would you mind…"
"Not at all Professor," Harry said. "…but not today. I need to figure out what is here and how it's catalogued first. Who knows maybe some of these books are in the Restricted Section of Hogwarts or would be considered banned by the UK Ministry of Magic and I wouldn't want to lose them just because they were brought into the Commonwealth without knowing the law regarding them." He paused and then took one book off the shelves of containing plant information and handed it to the man. "You may want to read this one while you're here." The Potions Master raised one eyebrow in question. "I believe it contains answers regarding the bulbous thing out on the land."
Severus sighed, looked longingly at the other books and said, "Very well and thank you. I'll concede to your younger wisdom in this matter. But if I may… why would you think that some of your books may be banned by the UK Ministry?"
"Well," Harry began. "Not knowing the local law can get a lot of individuals in trouble when traveling. Muggle News will sometimes contain stories of people who don't know the particular laws in the different countries that they are visiting. The worst News stories are the ones when someone deliberately does something stupid and then they complain when they get caught because they find they can't leave that country without serving time. It has something to do about no Extradition Treaty in place or some other law that prevents them from leaving."
Professor Snape snorted when he heard that. "Foolish," he stated. Harry just nodded and shrugged at that.
They continued their exploration of the tower. The sixth level contained a ritual room that the Gryffindor had never seen before as they didn't study magical rituals in school. The sad part of this room was that the last ritual performed in there was still written on the walls, floor and ceiling, including a pool of disturbing stains that were obviously from body fluids.
"Rituals are conducted under strict measures and the UK Ministry of Magic has a 'hands-off' policy regarding many of them," Severus explained in answer to Harry's question about rituals and their place in their society, while he mentally made notes on the contents of the room. "Some are strictly regulated, but there are many minor rituals that are passed down internally in Families that are not. These are done in varying stages and depend only on the level of magic of the caster, the knowledge brought to the rituals and what the particular Wizard Family wishes to pass onto their offspring."
"Which ones are strictly regulated," Harry asked. "How would the Ministry know that someone did a banned ritual? Is there some kind of alarm that sounds at the Ministry?"
"No alarms," Severus said. "The only way that they would know would be based on the results of in-depth and thorough medical scans. Any rituals that are considered 'Regulated' or 'Banned' are the ones that involve young children in sex acts or involve the death of a person... Ritual animals don't count because they are not considered sentient. However there are exceptions for creatures that are listed under the Ministry's Banned Magical Creatures for Ritual Use."
Harry frowned and didn't want to go further, but he had to ask, "Taking the Dark Mark was a ritual that the Ministry never caught, right?"
"That is correct," Severus said. "Even if they did, it wouldn't fall under the banned or regulated ones because it was basically just an 'Oath of Fealty' that had changed configuration many times over the years based on culture and the rulers of those times."
"That's something to think about," Harry said. "Do you believe that it can be removed, if it was based on a Fealty Ritual or maybe transferred?"
"The Headmaster has looked through different Fealty Oaths and their history," his professor told him. "I don't know that he was altogether successful in finding the correct one because the Oath was done in Parseltongue and I do not know the spells 'He' added to the original spell or which one was used."
"We can look in the library here for those, maybe all you need to do is transfer your Fealty to a new Leader or Master and then you won't be summoned anymore," Harry observed. "If you wish, maybe you can guide me through one of your memories of a marking Ritual. I could translate the Parseltongue that way."
That had the Potions Master twitching because Dumbledore had told him that transferring Fealty could only be done by someone willing to accept him. The Gryffindor noted the twitch, but didn't say anything because he had his own suspicions on why the Professor's Dark Mark hadn't been altered.
"Only one more level to inspect, but I suspect that the main door in the entrance hall will not open until we have inspected all levels including the sub-levels. I also suspect that we might have to spend the night here." He looked away because he wasn't sure what the older man's reaction would be.
"We have the equipment to stay overnight," Severus told him. "I have no pressing engagements, although I do hope that this Tower will let me leave should I be called to the Dark Lord's side."
"If you can sense 'His' call," Harry muttered while walking up to the last visible level of the tower. At the top of the stairs there was an observatory, complete with a huge old fashioned telescope pointing to the night sky. There were shelves of books and various optical lenses lining the walls on this final level.
"Oh, wow!" The Gryffindor said. "This is so awesome! I've never seen anything like this outside of Hogwarts and the one we have at school is a lot more modern, but this one is just cool. Wonder where the Owlery is for this place?"
They both looked up at the hoots of a few owls that were penned in a corner of the rafters. The pen was almost based on a similar pattern to muggle chicken wire, but it was obviously magical as it allowed that section to rotate when the telescope rotated. The openings above the owls automatically shut when the tower room rotated and others opened up to allow the owls the freedom of movement.
Three owls were looking down at the two wizards from their roosting spot. One was a large Barn Owl, the second was a Snowy owl, but it was not Hedwig. The final owl was hidden in the shadows of the beams and it looked like it was sitting on a nest. This one was black and its eyes glowed with a green light.
"A Sooty," Severus whispered softly so as to not startle them. He was staring at the black owl that was hidden in the rafters.
"Hmm," Harry mumbled while looking back at his memories for the owls. "I think that they are either third or fourth generation." He looked up at them and then said softly, "I can't tell if they're regular owls or magical."
"Magical," his professor said after pondering them. "They'd not be able to live in this place if they weren't. Let's leave before they decide that we're intruding. That Sooty is clearly nesting and because we are strangers, they may attack."
"Agreed," Harry said. "Let's pick out a couple of guest rooms to stay the night and take the wrapped bodies down, as we go." They had found two more bodies of house-elves, one in the library and one in what they suspected had been the master bedroom.
"Very well," Professor Snape said, following the young man.
At the Ritual Level, Harry pointed to the walls and had paused to ask, "Do you happen to know what that Ritual was?"
Severus did suspect that he knew what the ritual was, but he wasn't absolutely certain and didn't really want to let the boy know. However he did promise to do his best to provide any information regarding the Wizarding World even if it wasn't to render an opinion or advice on something. He sighed and said, "I strongly suspect that the last ritual was some kind of magical siphon. Most of the symbols on the floor and ceiling support that, but there seems to be another component having to do with the mind. I cannot tell you more until I research it."
"That's all right Professor," Harry said with a scowl at the markings on the walls. "I have an extremely good idea of what happened here."
"Really," Severus said. He was curious as to how the boy would know, but he didn't press the point.
"I may tell you one day," Harry said, leaving that room and level and heading down to the second floor. They had collected the bodies of the old house-elves and soon they were setting up for the night.
Severus had cleared their selected rooms of the dust and grime using magic while Harry hunted down something to use as clean sheets and pillows. It didn't matter if there were no sheets because they had brought along sleeping bags and they could always transfigure something into pillows.
The evening prior to the sun setting was uneventful. They continued exploring the Tower's sub-levels and found an underground garden and a potions lab. The underground garden had a similar wheel configuration like the library, but in the case of the garden it was different climates and environments, rather than different subject matters.
Settling in for the night the two Wizards fell immediately asleep as soon as their heads touched their transfigured pillows.
They were awakened several hours later by awful sounds and noises coming from all floors of the building. There were sounds of heart-wrenching sobs, angry mutters, creaking floorboards and grunts of a copulating beast. Bursts of screams and howls echoed in from the distant fields, all of which awoke them both from a sound sleep.
Harry sighed rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he mumbled, "This can't be happening." There was a knock at his door and he knew that it was his Professor. "Come in, sir."
Professor Snape was at the door in his old fashioned nightshirt and a robe covering it. He had a small potion vial in his hand. "I thought you might have woken up too. Did you want to investigate the noises or have a bit of 'Dreamless Sleep'?"
"I'd love to have the Dreamless Sleep, but I can't," Harry said. "I'd be wondering what the noise was tomorrow morning and then we'd have to stay another night in order to investigate it. Couldn't we just check it out now and then maybe take the Dreamless Sleep after if we figure it out, even if we find nothing?"
Snape nodded in agreement. He too would have been curious to know what the noise was in the morning, should he have taken the potion before finding out what the raucous was. "Very well then," he said. "I'd best get changed to something more conventional for exploring the premises at this time of night. I'll see you in a few moments."
Harry nodded as his door was shut. He got up quickly and put on a pair of sweat pants and top with long sleeves to keep the chill out, clean warm sock, plus a comfortable pair of indoor trainers. Most of the noises were above him and he had a bad feeling that it had something to do with the ritual room, but he knew... instinctively he knew that he had to start at the bottom in one of the sub-levels rooms. He strongly suspected that during their previous exploration they might have missed a door down there.
He carried the muggle torch in one hand and his wand in the other. This Country didn't penalize under-age Witches or Wizards, but they knew that he wasn't strictly a member of their Country and his legal status of Adult in the UK didn't matter here.
Spain's Ministry of Magic gave him a Writ permitting him to use his wand in a limited, emergency capacity and they told him that once he was on the privacy of his own land, when that land accepted him, they would never take action should he use magic. Magical property laws being what they are and all that followed with owner paperwork. Of course he had a copy of their statement on file and handy, just in case, as advised by his Counsellor.
Therefore Harry didn't use his wand at all during their trek through the land, but he certainly was not going to wander this building without it tonight. That would have been a supremely foolish move on his part. He met his Potions Professor in the hall who was also prepared, but not dressed in his usual robes. He too had a torch and wand in hand, but his torch was of the magical variety and in the form of a small palm sized globe of flickering light that floated on its own. It was almost as if it contained a candle from the way that the soft light flickered inside.
"Shall we," Snape asked the boy who just nodded. "Lead on, I will follow you."
"We need to begin at the bottom," Harry said. "I think I know what is going to happen, but we must remain quiet throughout or else we will disturb the Shades."
Severus blanched. 'Shades,' his thoughts shuddered. 'By Merlin's hairy balls, the boy thinks that this place is haunted by Shades.'
Shades were not ghosts in and of themselves. They were from the spectral family, but they did no harm to anyone, but were very famous for re-enacting an event that may have taken place in a particular domain. They were basically the magical recording or spiritually residue of an event. Usually the event recorded depicted the most heinous of crimes. Magic had to have been released during the act of committing something foul for any Shade to be created.
"Are you sure," Harry's professor asked. His voice was not too steady for he had never seen a Shade and never knew anyone to have a good experience from the witnessing of such creatures or their recorded acts.
Harry had a sad look on his face and stated honestly, "I strongly believe so, sir. I need to 'witness' this event in order to lay them properly to rest, but you needn't. You can feel free to remain in your room for the remainder of the night. I will not fault you for that choice, sir, because I'm fairly certain that I already know what I'm about to see. The Shades will only confirm the information from memories I have acquired from that Reverse Pensieve."
"I would never let you face these Shades alone," Severus told the Gryffindor. "You may need someone to confirm that the event had taken place. At the very least you'll need someone to understand what it is that you will be witnessing."
"I do not know how much your opinion of the Headmaster will change if you were to witness these events," Harry said. "I do not want to cause a rift…"
"Do not be ridiculous Potter," Severus told him in a gruff tone. "My opinion is my own and I'm certainly adult enough to handle a few harsh truths. That is what a Shade is commonly known as... The Ghost of Truth."
"So be it," Harry said and walked down to the lower levels of the basements.
Sure enough they had missed a door, but only because it had been bricked up and made to look like the other archways lining the corridor that linked the two sub-level rooms together. Only now the door was visible in ghostly pale light and shone through the brick work visible as long as it was night.
"Stand back, sir," Harry said ducking into one of the archways. His professor followed his course of action and was glad of it.
Coming down the hall was the ghostly figure of an angry and much younger Albus Dumbledore. He was stalking through the corridor and had a look of determined rage on his face. He immediately opened the ghostly door that appeared through the bricked up archway and hauled out a young girl that looked to be in her very early teen years. He had her by the arm, causing a purpling bruise in the shape of his hand. It was clear that she was very thin and had been undernourished on purpose.
"You're coming with me," the Shade of Albus said. "I have invested too much of my precious time in searching for you. You will pay for the insult and the humiliation that I endured. Have you made up your mind?"
"Yes," the transparent girl said spitting in his face. "I will live and I will destroy you."
"Hah," Dumbledore said wiping away the spittle with the sleeve of his robe. "I sincerely doubt you'll ever be able to mention these events without killing yourself in the process, my dear."
He tugged harshly on her thin arm and walked her quickly in the direction of the stairs leading up the tower. He was heading in the direction of the prepared Ritual Room. The writings were already on the walls and she was not ignorant of what was about to take place.
She had a plan though. She was going to endure the indignity that would be visited upon her unprepared and under-age body and she would strike such a blow that the man inflicting his rage on her would never remember. She hissed the entire time between the screams and yelps of pain.
Harry and Severus could only stand by and watch as the old and revered Headmaster of their school physically, magically and mentally raped the girl. Harry had tears in his eyes, but he paid close attention to the sounds coming from her mouth.
"Parseltongue," he whispered. "She's speaking Parseltongue."
Snape was scowling furiously at the scene. His first thought was to remove Harry from the proceedings, but he was fully aware that the boy was the only one that could cleanse the building because he owned it. His eyes gleamed with rage against the man that held the respect of so many in the Wizarding community. "He'll not get away with this," he whispered back. "He'll regret such actions."
Harry put his hand on the man's arm, squeezing gently, to get his Professor's attention. Once those dark eyes locked with his, he whispered, "She's speaking in Parseltongue. She's casting spells in Parseltongue and he doesn't even know it."
Severus blinked and then quickly looked back to see the events unfold. It was disheartening that the foolish actions of youth could lead to bitter ends or result in bitter people. He regretted his actions in joining the Dark Lord, but to know that a man that had earned his respect had acted this way in his younger years, it was near unbearable to acknowledge.
However he would never regret his decision to view the Shades' actions because without such knowledge the young man, known as the Boy-Who-Lived, might have become overloaded in emotions. Without someone to discuss these events with, someone who would believe him, the young man might have cracked from the pressure and knowledge of this crime.
They both watched the violation continue and they were horrified by all of it.
Albus had used certain spells that guaranteed the girl would enjoy the act, but it was a false act. Those spells had a way of infiltrating the psyche and it twisted her round the inside, making her feel responsible for it and guilty because she had no control over what was happening to her. Her future liaisons with men would be forever altered because of those spells.
Her magic was slowly seeping into the man that was taking her virginity repeatedly.
They watched as a bowl, not unlike the Reverse Pensieve appear behind the unloving coupling that was occurring. Silver fluid appeared as a drop, slowly increasing in size and soon the flow increased with the morbid tempo of the ritual taking place. Parseltongue hisses were interspersed with the grunts of the rutting man and the bowl filled more swiftly until it was almost over flowing.
Once it was near full the Shade of a young female house-elf silently popped into the room, absorb some of the Human magic from the man and the girl. She took hold of the bowl, transformed her appearance to match that of the thirteen year old Human girl and popped away quickly before the red-haired Wizard noticed any of it.
The girl's deep green eyes were noticeably dulled in appearance, her hair turn fine and stringy. She was squinting at the man who finished his business and she dully asked, "Are you done yet?"
This was not the response that Albus had been hoping for. He sneered and said, "Not quite."
He repeated the process two more times, this time violating her mouth and violating her from behind. He wanted her to bleed and from the pain-filled cries of semi-ecstasy and actual pain he drained most of the remains of her magical core.
Albus never once suspected that he didn't get all of the girl's magic during the Ritual of Siphoning, but he had gotten enough of it to make her barely a Squib for life. "Now my dear," he said at the girl whose vacant stare focussed on the location of where Harry and Severus had been observing from. "Obliviate!"
Before the spell hit her, she let out a small wicked smirk at the men that watched the horror happen. It was a look that Albus had never detected and she hissed, (…You first, Obliviate…) before the old Wizard's spell hit her, hers hit the Headmaster first. It was faster due to the snake language and it struck him with a viper's lightning speed.
The two observers watched the results of the dual Obliviate occur. Both spells had knocked out the two participants of the Siphoning Ritual.
Albus Dumbledore came to himself and was horrified by the blood and other fluids that he found on his genitals. He looked at the room and walls in confusion and at the girl whose mind he suspected had just been Obliviated. He didn't want to believe that he could do such a thing, but a few quick tests showed him that the girl was now a Squib and that her memory was no longer there. He didn't recall much of her name except that it began with Natal. So he believed that it was Natalie, as in the standard Anglo language.
Albus quickly and quietly washed and dressed the both of them with magic and then left the building carrying the girl in his arms. As soon as they were out of the building, the tower disappeared from sight. The land boiled and bubbled, changing from a green healthy lushness to the devastation that Harry and Severus had trekked through earlier that day.
The Wizard, that was obviously the future Headmaster, Apparated away with the Squib girl. He chose to run from the events of this place and from the small bits of memory that he had upon waking up, from what he knew was at the end of a Ritual that he never remembered conducting. In time he came to believe that he had stumbled across the girl and never once truly recalled his own state of dress in the matter.
The two observers watch as all the house-elves took their own life with a potion that would mummify their remains on the spot where they were most happy in their lives. They died without pain and with the hope that one day someone would find the tower and cleanse it, preparing it for proper occupation once more.
Harry and Severus were stunned. They were then suddenly startled as the sounds started up again. "I cannot watch this a second time," Harry said gagging on bile as his emotions were in flux because of the memories that the Shades brought to the front of his mind. "How can I put these… these Shades to rest?"
"Cleaning this room would be a start," Severus told him. "It must be done while the Shades re-enact the sequence of events that led to their creation. I believe that this repeats every night, so perhaps some Dreamless Sleep for the remainder of tonight and we can better prepare to deal with them in the morning."
"Cleaning this room has to be one of the last things we do," Harry said firmly convinced of it. "I think that we'll first have to un-brick that door in the sub-level and blast out the walls of that room. We can do that one tonight. Perhaps we can take care of scrubbing most of the rooms and floors in order to clean up some of the lingering spiritual taint during the next day, maybe with a proper Spirit Cleansing potion. I believe that the last thing we should do is to give the house-elves a proper burial. This room can be done just before we lay them to rest."
"I agree with you," Severus said. "Did you want to call your house-elves to assist?"
Harry looked at his professor and then told the man his suspicions that no other being can enter without invitation by the Tower. The Tower had accepted them because of Harry and his blood and that once they were in, they would not be able to leave until the Shades of the past were put to rest.
"You can try leaving, sir," Harry said. "But I cannot guarantee that you'd be able to open the main door or any door for that matter."
"I will check that out while you reveal that prison doorway in the sub-level," Snape told him.
It was a matter of minutes to avoid the Shades climbing the stairs and heading up to the Ritual Room. It took Severus only half a second to know that he couldn't open the main door, even using his magic.
Harry headed immediately down into the sub-levels to the spot where the bricked up doorway was more defined because the door was opened. It was a ghostly outline behind the bricks. A couple of third year spells allowed the mortar between the bricks to dissolve and his first year levitation charm was essential in floating the bricks out of the way.
Professor Snape assisted him with moving the bricks to a minor storage room in the sub-level. The door was slowly revealed with its dry wood and rusty hardware. There was even a key still in the door, as though whatever or whoever had done this didn't want anyone to have another form of access. It couldn't have been Dumbledore unless the man came back over time and took care to hide the evidence of the cell.
Opening the door for real revealed the Shade of the girl crouched in a corner. The walls were nearly filled with scratching. Calculating the scratches and double-checking his memory, Harry said, "A year and six months."
"What," his Counsellor said looking at the markings, easily deducing that they represented days.
"She was here for a year and six months," Harry said. "She had succeeded in being free, hiding from the Wizarding World for that same length of time before she was imprisoned here. This Observatory Tower belonged to her mum and her biological father didn't even know about it. I wonder how Dumbledore figured that one out."
"She's doing something in that corner," Severus told the Gryffindor.
Harry walked over to the corner. He heard the hissing and watched her hand dig in the dirt looking for something. He listened to her words.
(…Magic to my land…Magic to my land…Magic to my land…The King and the Land are one…Magic to my land…Magic to my land… Magic to my land…The King and the Land are one…)
"The King and the Land are one," Harry said softly in English.
"What was that," Snape said sharply.
"That's what she's saying in Parseltongue," Harry explained looking back that the man standing in the doorway. "The King and the Land are one, well that and Magic to my land."
Severus walked over the corner and looked closer at the girl. He inhaled sharply when he noticed the small sliver of copper thread magic leave her hands. Her hands were wrapped around the root of a plant that was planted near the base of the Tower. Her magic was slowly going into the land and the land would be affected by her health at the time of this occurrence and in the future.
"How is she saying the spell," he asked the young man who understood her hisses.
"Magic to my land is repeated three times followed the line of the King and Land," Harry said. "Is that important?"
"Yes," Severus told him. "It will be for you because you share her blood. You can reclaim some of her magics by reversing this effect, which will also allow the land to heal. I suspect that the creatures in the pools will also revert to their natural form or they may die, but you must realize that they are not natural creatures of this world anyway."
"I kind of figured that," Harry said. "A sea creature should live in the sea and cats should not live underground. It's possible that she has seen one too many bad B-Movies while she was on the run in the Muggle World. I know that cinemas showing those kinds of movies are easier to sneak into and that would have provided her with some physical shelter while she was on the run from Dumbledore."
Severus snorted when he heard that. "Possibly," he said. "Or maybe she's read too many bad novels?"
"Maybe," Harry agreed. "Please step outside of this room, sir."
His professor stepped out and then watched as the boy cast a spell that would super-clean the room. The walls were sandblasted. The meagre furnishings of a cot and chair were blasted into splinters and burned. The remains of the debris were banished and a slight breeze flowed through the room with the scent of freshly cut grass.
There was nothing that they could do for the remainder of this night. They both were grateful for the invention of the Dreamless Sleep potion because there was no way that they'd have been able to go to sleep after what they had witnessed and not dream disturbing things.
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The next morning when they were breaking their fast they made plans.
Harry was going to use cleaning and scouring charms beginning in the sub-levels, while his Counsellor worked from the Owlery and Observatory on down, skipping the Ritual Room to keep it for last. The Gryffindor told him that he was better suited to ensure that the books would be safe during that particular cleaning process and the Potions Master could not dispute that. He had the knowledge regarding book preservation and would not do anything to damage the valuable knowledge within the aging bindings.
Severus did show Harry the spells for the books, just in case there were some in the Potions Lab, but they had been in the lab long enough to know that no ingredients remained viable for use. "You may as well clean up the lab and cauldrons while you're down there," he said with his smirky Professor-type smile. "Merlin knows you have enough practice from your detentions with me."
Harry huffed and said with a grin, "Whatever. I don't plan on getting anymore this year, but that would entirely depend on whether things change in class or not."
"I doubt that things will change in class," Professor Snape said. "You only need to listen when instructions are being given."
"Yeah, yeah," Harry said waving off the friendly banter. "I'll go down and once I have a few of the cauldrons clean we can use those as containers for water to clean the Ritual Room and prepare the 'Spirit Cleansing Potion'."
"Good idea," Severus told him. "By the way Mr. Potter, what is the name of this Tower or land?"
Harry smiled because he liked the name. "The Tower is called Galileo's Spindle," he said. "I'd have to look into the Mossenberg Family archives to find out if we were actually related in some way, but somehow I don't think so. That telescope could have been a gift, though."
"It might be in your records," Snape said. "That is providing that you can find all of your Family's records. Now let's get to work."
Harry nodded and they cleared up their morning rubbish. It took all day, but once the night arrived, the Shades began to tell their tale once more only this time they were partially visible. They were less like silver-grey ghosts and much more transparent like vapours. It was evident that the cleansing of the Tower was working.
The two Wizards worked quickly to wash the writings off the walls, ceiling and floor of the Ritual Room. As soon as they were done, they heard a loud click like all of the doors of the Tower were just unlocked at the same time.
North of the Tower was a large out-door garden with four small glass greenhouses at the end of a maze path. A rose tree had been planted close to the tower, with sister trees on either side and behind them were the long climbing vines of sweet-roses that were slowly beginning to bloom in the night as the magic that suppressed their growth was being slowly absorbed through the soles of Harry's shoes.
He was aware that this was happening, but he didn't care. The magic belonged to him now and it would flow in the veins of a Grindelwald descendant once more. The bodies of the house-elves were magically interred and three round rocks of green marble rose from the ground. Not knowing their names, but knowing their date of death, the following was carved, "Ever faithful and loyal, October 31. 19..."
"Always a Halloween," Harry observed patting one of the stones. "Something bad always happens on Halloween."
The Potions Master looked at the Gryffindor and then he said, "It is a powerful night for Witches and Wizards."
"Samhain," Harry stated. "I can understand that." He looked out to the land and then he removed his shoes and socks in order to be able to absorb the rest of the magic more swiftly. He looked to the man who had accompanied him and asked, "Do you mind if we stay here for another day? I'd like to set up proper wards and get my house-elves keyed to them."
"Not at all," Severus told him. He smiled and said, "I'll take this time to explore the library here, if that is all right with you."
"Your counsel has been invaluable Professor Snape," Harry said, concluding their actual business. "Feel free to browse the library, sir. I don't mind. You can call Winky and Dobby to come and stock the kitchen here with basic staples that won't expire quickly and we can come back whenever you like."
"Thank you," Snape said. He was there to observe the young man and ensure that nothing happened to him. He watched the flow of magic seep into the youth with soft copper tones. The process promised to take some time. He snapped his fingers to call forth the house-elves that were instructed to respond to him whenever he was in Harry's presence.
Two soft pops nearby didn't distract Harry from channelling the magic along similar, yet dried up paths in his veins. It was as though a river had dried and yet it was gaining a new source or perhaps a source that should have been there all along.
The process was not unlike his magical maturation so he was quite familiar with it. He took the magic and let it flow into his limbs and mind. More gathered into his primary magical core and some was stored in his memories to live with Natalia in order to bring forward any hint of a memory that existed and could identify the gifts that came with the Grindelwald and Mossenberg bloodlines.
Severus asked the house-elves if Harry had any stationary prepared for his duties as a Lord of several family lines. "We need to send formal correspondences to Gringotts about this place," he explained. "Wards need to be put up on this land and we need to have something to send to the officials of this Country in order to properly register the accepted ownership of this building and land."
"I goes to gets them," Dobby said, popping away.
The Potions Master turned to Winky to explain that Harry requested that the kitchens be stocked with the basic staples for their time here and that anything perishable should be limited. "I believe that we will stay here for another night and day," he told the little female house-elf. "So bring us two jugs of milk and some fresh fruits. You might want to take a look in the kitchen here first to see if there is anything missing appliance wise."
"As yous be wishing P'ofessors Snapey," she said popping away to the completely scoured kitchen of Galileo's Spindle.
Snape called forth the book that he had been reading in the Tower and one of the muggle folding chairs. He set up a comfortable spot under the rose tree and kept an eye out for Harry as the boy absorbed the magic that linked him to the land.
'That spell has not been used since the times of Feudal Kings,' he thought back to the girl hissing this spell in the corner of her cell. 'I wonder if it will affect his properties now or just affect him.'
Harry was unaware that he was being watched, but it wouldn't have mattered to him. He removed all of his clothing in order to sit on the grass and allow more of the magic to flow freely. The vines of the climbing roses reached him in order to give him more of the magic had been waiting for someone of the bloodline to claim it.
Severus had never seen anything like this before. It was like he was being re-introduced to the world of magic. He shook his head in wonder, took up the book he had summoned and just kept an eye out for Harry, in case the young man needed his assistance. He did note that the Boy-Who-Lived had a number of scars that should never have been found on the back of a pampered child and yet they did not detract from the young man's physique. It was natural to see the human form when magic of this type was performed, but as the young man's Professor he relegated his observations to a far corner of his mind and chose to not think about the boy's desirability.
He had the patience to wait for time to do its thing and let the boy mature. He wasn't sure if there was some underlying unresolved sexual tension because of James Potter rather than his possession fixation for Lily and her honest eyes.
He shook that away with a shudder. There was no way he had ever been remotely interested in James Potter. Lily Evans yes, but a physical sexual interest in James Potter… never, and if had he wouldn't admit, not even for the privilege of licking Merlin's feet.
He looked at the young man and knew that this was not the same as his views on Lily. Yet it would definitely be interesting to see, if the interest could be returned sometime in the far future. However he could wait for Harry to grow-up a few years and besides a Potions Master without patience was not a good Potions Master and he was known as one of the best. His patience would be near infinite in this case.
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TBC...