Harry Potter

Lily's Diary

Happy Birthday Hermione.

Chapter 7 While they were sleeping.

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

Manipulative old Fool (MoF) Dumbledore whose obvious favouritism to Ronald turns him into redhead Malfoy.

HHr NLLL

Beta by Alix33, Thank you.

04/12/14 correction.

- Lily's Diary. -

Chapter 7. While they were sleeping.

- Lily's Diary. -

Lily watched the children sleeping so peacefully, she was so pleased that after everything Harry had suffered, he still had his grandfather's kind and gentle heart with just a hint of his father's mischief, and to have such a good friend in Neville, and a special witch in Hermione. Hopefully the nightmares of his missing childhood will be soon forgotten. She let them sleep while now she had to discover what went wrong with all their plans to save their family. If this was a movie, then there would be some dramatic music as the plot darkened and the betrayals were revealed. She smiled a little as she remembered how she missed the muggle movies.

Lily had been writing the story of their time at Hogwarts along with the adventures of the Marauders, and then she thought of something. She used her will to open the back of the diary, and unfold the map of Hogwarts. It was her vastly improved version of the Marauders' Map. While the Marauders only wanted their map to show where everyone was in the castle, and a simple basic connection to the wards of Hogwarts would suffice for that. They were concerned that their map needed to remain off Dumbledore's radar. Unfortunately they were not able to study the wards of Hogwarts in any detail as there were no books to be found in the library, nor did they know if their basic connection to the wards would be detected. (It was).

Lily's diary was an official project, and part of her Charms and Enchantment mastery. So after much pleading, the headmaster finally gave in, and reluctantly with a lot of conditions, allowed them access to the ward room of Hogwarts for one short hour during the Christmas break the year after they had graduated. One of the conditions was they had to be closely supervised by professor Flitwick, who had been wanting to study the wards of Hogwarts for years but the headmaster had always refused saying that they were vital to the safety of the castle. Sadly Dumbledore had later used this concession to guilt trip Lily and her friends into trusting him when he insisted that they had to go into hiding because of that prophecy.

~~ Flashback to Christmas the year after Lily's graduation ~~

So to make the most of this unique opportunity to study the wards, Lily, Alice and Celeste with professor Flitwick arrived at the Ward room of Hogwarts with the Potter family Time-Turner, and turned that one single hour into twelve hours, giving the four of them plenty of time to thoroughly examine the wards in minute detail. There they found the original copy of the book Hogwarts the Wards. The ancient book had all of Hogwarts' secrets including the secret passages, and hidden rooms that were all over the castle, even a secret chamber under the castle but all the information for that was obscured by the unreadable language it was written in. The book had been automatically updated with all the wards that had been set up over Hogwarts by some of the most intelligent headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts, to protect and challenge the most brilliant young minds of their generations.

They studied the powerful defensive wards that protected the castle and school grounds. Controlling access and exit, including preventing apparition and Portkeys into and out of the castle. Nothing could be allowed to enter or exit the castle without the headmaster's expressed permission.

They studied the Detection Wards and found wards to detect everything imaginable, from the who is where location ward that the Marauders had piggyback onto, to occupied broom closets, blocked toilets, uncharitable thoughts, opinions, attitudes, surveys, ill intent, bullying, bigotry, hatred, dark magic, dark artifacts, blood magic, soul magic, curses, potions, alcohol, health, illness and disease, with warning messages for everything. Even a ward to detect when the toilet paper ran out and sent a house-elf with a new roll.

Sadly more than half of the wards had been added by Dumbledore himself, starting from 1895, when he was still a student at Hogwarts. Somehow he must have charmed the then new headmaster Phineas Nigellus Black, known as the least-popular Headmaster Hogwarts has ever had, and architect of the Pure-blood Agenda.

Hogwarts the Wards showed that Dumbledore's first wards - set up 24th December, 1895 - were fairly innocuous and must have been his test trials as they asked the following questions.

Ward No: 18951224a-APD. What is Albus Percival Dumbledore's favorite color?

Ward No: 18951224b-APD. What is Albus Percival Dumbledore's secret ambition?

Ward No: 18951224c-APD. What, in your opinion, is Albus Percival Dumbledore's greatest achievement to date?

Ward No: 18951224d-APD. When is Albus Percival Dumbledore's birthday, and what would his ideal gift be?

Ward No: 18951224e-APD. Why don't you like the beautiful colour of lilac?

Lily had noted the headmaster's original name in 1895 was only Albus Percival Dumbledore. He must have added the rest to sound greater. The next set of wards was not so innocuous, and had a more political agenda.

Ward No: 18951230a-APD. Who is your favourite headmaster?

Ward No: 18951230b-APD. What is your attitude regarding the harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples?

Ward No: 18951230c-APD. What is your attitude regarding world peace?

Ward No: 18951230d-APD. What is your attitude regarding the dark arts?

Ward No: 18951230e-APD. What is your attitude regarding the Greater Good?

Ward No: 18951230f-APD. Do you know what the Greater Good is?

Ward No: 18951230g-APD. Do you believe that Wizards ruling muggles will bring World Peace?

Then Dumbledore's wards got more personal and intrusive, asking questions about blood status, generations pure, inbreeding, heritage, Gringotts vault number, and account balance, to orientation, purity and secret woman's business.

Lily, Alice and Celeste with Professor Flitwick were staggered at the level of intrusion and how far Dumbledore with the then headmaster Phineas Nigellus Black had gone with his Pure-blood Agenda. Lily remembered from her modern history books she was studying so she could continue her education at Oxford University that in the 1890's there was a lot of discussion on the controversial concept known as Eugenics, the belief and practice of improving the genetic quality of the human population. It is a social philosophy advocating the improvement of human genetic traits through the promotion of higher reproduction of people with desired traits (positive eugenics, id est Pure-bloods), and reduced reproduction of people with less-desired or undesired traits (negative eugenics, id est muggleborns).

Sadly Lily had discovered in Hogwarts the Wards, that many useful wards that could have made a big difference to the attitude of many students, and the prevailing bullying culture of the school, had been modified by the headmaster, and worst; the warning messages had been redirected away from the seven professors who should have been receiving them; the headmaster, the Deputy Headmistress, Heads of the four Houses of Hogwarts, and the head of the Board of Governors, to some sort of magical artifact that they did not recognize but it seemed to be able to log, record and monitor the messages.

Professor Flitwick was very peeved about the redirection of the warning messages from the Head of House, as they would have been of great assistance to stamp out the bullying and rivalry within Ravenclaw house, and would have eliminated the terrible cold war of hatred and rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin which affected the whole school environment. He had decided to bring this to Minerva's attention, and have his access to the warning messages restored. He knew the warning messages were being monitored as the headmaster always seemed to know what was happening, and never missed a trick for things that were important to him. But Ravenclaw seemed to be in the irrelevant box with Hufflepuff.

~~ Flashback paused ~~

Lily wondered if Filius and Minerva had any luck with the headmaster, to have the access to the warning messages restored back to them. But with the action currently taking place in the Gryffindor common room, she would have to say no. But looking how quickly Severus was able to back up Draco, it was obvious that he had direct access to some of the warning messages to care for and protect his Slytherins.

~~ Flashback restarted ~~

Motivated by her own experiences, and with professor Flitwick's help and blessing, Lily and her friends set up piggyback connections to the warning messages of the wards, and directed them to their diaries. Plus she had tweaked its connections with the Hogwarts' wards that would provide more information from the castle including the surrounding grounds as far as the wards reached into the Forbidden Forest, the Black Lake, and across to Hogsmeade. Plus apps that show a mother's touch, (checking for clean hankies and underwear) and a very long arm, just in case any of their children followed in the Marauder's footsteps, and they would be able to monitor them from the comfort of their own homes.

With the redirection of the warning messages, Lily and her two friends were wary of the headmaster's agenda. So they made sure that the sample copy of the diary that they had to supply to the professors as one of the headmaster's conditions only contained a basic Hogwarts map that only shows the location of everyone within the castle, and ignored the secret passages, special rooms and warning messages.

Oddly enough shortly after they submitted the sample diary, the headmaster thought it would be a good idea to have a group photograph of the Order of the Phoenix, and that it would be more convenient for everyone to hold the secret meetings of the Order in the boardroom of the Hog's Head Inn.

Sadly, two weeks after the group photograph was taken, they lost Marlene McKinnon, the Death Eaters had murdered her with her whole family. Dumbledore tried to cheer them up with memories of the big one, the war with Grindelwald. He spoke of losses and sacrifices that needed to be made in a war. Then they got Benjy Fenwick, and they only ever found bits of him. Then Edgar Bones, the brother of Amelia Bones, they got him and his family. Poor Caradoc Dearborn, Celeste's older brother, vanished six months after this, and his body was never found. It took five Death Eaters to kill Gideon Prewett and his brother Fabian, they fought like heroes. Then poor Dorcas Meadowes, Voldemort killed her personally. Lily shed a tear at the memories, and wondered how many were betrayed by the Rat before he got James and herself, and the Longbottoms? So many who didn't fit into Dumbledore's Greater Good.

~~ Flashback end ~~

Lily stopped her reminiscing, and willed the map to show the Gryffindor Founders' Quarters. There she could see the position and names for Neville and Hermione. But next to Hermione, Harry's name was a mass of unreadable black text of overlapping names which were made all the worse with the flashing blood red warning messages. Lily's anger grew as she watched the warning messages cycle through, pulsating like a heartbeat and slowly fading away.

WARNING: MULTI-SOULED WIZARD FOUND!

WARNING: HORCRUX FOUND!

WARNING: CONNECTION TO DARK LORD FOUND!

WARNING: AKA LORD VOLDEMORT!

WARNING: AKA HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED!

WARNING: AKA TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE!

WARNING: DUPLICATE SOUL PIECES FOUND!

WARNING: APPROACH WITH EXTREME CAUTION!

The first warning message about a multi-souled wizard could be a positive sign given what James and Lily's had planned to save their family. Plus it showed that the arrogant headmaster had not bothered to terminate their diary's connections to the warning messages of the wards of Hogwarts, that the three witches had made over ten years ago. (But then again those three witches were no longer active.)

It took all of Lily's self-control to remain calm while she watched the rest of the warning messages cycle through. All she felt like doing was terminating the Machiavellian Manipulative Old Fool with extreme prejudice. He must have been completely and utterly insane to leave a Horcrux of Voldemort attached to that ugly scar on Harry's forehead. It proved that Voldemort was not completely dead and could return, and Dumbledore had done nothing to stop it. She feared what the headmaster's plans would be to destroy the Horcrux. Some handy scar!

But portrait Lily knew she had to be very careful as she was the only family Harry had left, and it was obvious, one way or the other, the Machiavellian Old Fool had managed to manipulate events to eliminate and remove James and Lily from Harry's life plus remove Sirius Black, twice, along with the Longbottoms and Remus. Totally ignoring their will and guardianship arrangements, and condemning Harry to ten dark and difficult years trapped in Durzkaban. The prophecy told that dark lord would mark him as an equal, and Dumbledore had ensured that Harry was made an orphan just like Tom Riddle, and suffered a similar brutal childhood without the loving guardians his parents had arranged.

Lily knew if she started to travel around the castle using the Hogwarts' portraits, it would alert the headmaster to her presence. As a magical portrait, the headmaster could easily capture and destroy her.

Lily willed the map to show the other duplicate soul pieces. The next section of the map unfolded, and writing appeared to show the location of another soul piece of Tom Marvolo Riddle. The writing formed a picture of a very large room called the Room of Hidden Things within the hidden magical Room of Requirement that was off the corridor on the seventh floor opposite an enormous tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy attempting to teach trolls how to do ballet. The map depicted rough narrow corridors like a maze within the room, and a blood red flashing 'X' showing the location with the words in black; Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem. On top of the black texts was the cycling flashing blood red warning messages, pulsating like a heartbeat and slowly fading away.

WARNING: HORCRUX FOUND!

WARNING: CONNECTION TO DUPLICATE SOUL PIECES FOUND!

WARNING: CONNECTION TO DARK LORD FOUND!

WARNING: AKA LORD VOLDEMORT!

WARNING: AKA HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED!

WARNING: AKA TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE!

WARNING: APPROACH WITH EXTREME CAUTION!

Lily watched amazed as she knew that the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw had been missing for centuries, and somehow that monster had got hold of it. He had corrupted and destroyed it to anchor his soul to this realm, and the headmaster just let it stay there.

A second section of the map unfolded, and writing appeared to show the office of the Head of Slytherin. The black text showed the only person in the office was professor Severus Snape. He seemed to be sitting at his desk with a flashing blood red 'X' on his left hand side with the flashing blood red warning messages cycling through as before, pulsating like a heartbeat and slowly fading away.

WARNING: DARK MARK POSSESSED WIZARD FOUND!

WARNING: CONNECTION TO DUPLICATE SOUL PIECES FOUND!

WARNING: CONNECTION TO DARK LORD FOUND!

WARNING: AKA LORD VOLDEMORT!

WARNING: AKA HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED!

WARNING: AKA TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE!

WARNING: NASTY DARK UNCHARITABLE THOUGHTS!

WARNING: MOST FAVOURITE HEADMASTER NOT DUMBLEDORE!

WARNING: APPROACH WITH VERY EXTREME CAUTION!

Lily knew her former first friend Severus had taken the dark mark when he joined Voldemort. The warning messages from the wards of Hogwarts for his dark mark lit him up like an effigy of Guy Fawkes being burnt on a bonfire. The wards would have told Dumbledore who was a Death Eater and he just kept that secret to himself. She wished that she had checked the map when their former friend Peter Pettigrew was at a meeting for the Order of the Phoenix that was being held in the headmaster's office before he decided to move the meetings to the Hog's Head Inn. It could have saved the lives of many of their friends they had lost in the war. It is not a sacrifice if it is a setup and betrayal. That is murder!

Then she remembered that the Rat had first been Percy's pet, and had been walking around the school for the last four years. The headmaster would have known all along and chose to ignore it or use that little secret for his greater good while poor Sirius had rotted away in Azkaban.

A third section of the map unfolded and writing appeared to show the DADA office. The only person in the office was professor Quirinus Quirrell but the black text his name was written in was faint, as though Quirrell was fading away. Overwriting his name was the flashing blood red warning messages cycling through as before, pulsating like a heartbeat and slowly fading away.

WARNING: POSSESSED WIZARD FOUND!

WARNING: VERY DARK UNCHARITABLE THOUGHTS!

WARNING: HATES DUMBLEDORE!

WARNING: UNCONSCIOUS WIZARD!

WARNING: APPROACH WITH UTTER EXTREME CAUTION!

Lily felt contempt. The headmaster must have disabled the Health Status warning messages that should go to the house-elves so they could transport the unconscious wizard to the hospital ward. She will have to see professor Flitwick to see if that warning messages could be reactivated, as the castle monitors for any injured or lost students or those who have been locked out of their dormitories or trapped in dark closets, so she would be able to send house-elves to assist. The castle corridors can get very cold and lonely at night.

Lily watched as the map showed a second listing. Professor Quirinus Quirrell seemed to be slumped at his desk unconscious for some reason with a flashing blood red 'X' behind him, with the urgent flashing bright blood red warning messages cycling through, pulsating like a fast heartbeat and slowly fading away.

WARNING: PRIMARY DUPLICATE SOUL PIECE FOUND!

WARNING: SEMI-CONSCIOUS DARK LORD FOUND!

WARNING: AKA LORD VOLDEMORT!

WARNING: AKA HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED!

WARNING: AKA TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE!

WARNING: UTTER NASTY DARK UNCHARITABLE THOUGHTS!

WARNING: UTTERLY DESPISES DUMBLEDORE!

WARNING: APPROACH WITH UTTER EXTREME CAUTION!

WARNING: RUN IF YOU WISHED TO LIVE!

Lily thought it was odd that the second set of red warning messages were not on top of the black text of Quirrell's name. Until she remembered that the map has the black text orientated to be at the front of a person's head so as to show which direction they were facing. So that meant that the possessing soul piece was attached to the back of Quirrell's head. Worse still the Hogwarts' wards had not detected this soul piece as a Horcrux but as the Primary Duplicate Soul Piece Found,so this was the current manifestation of Tom Marvolo Riddle AKA Lord Voldemort.

Lily had the presence of mind to ask Ally to put a silencing ward around the sleeping children which she did with a snap of her fingers. Then Lily swore black and blue for ten minutes as she realized the lengths that the stupid old fool would go to to try and redeem the evil dark lord who had murdered James and herself. He was to give him a job teaching the dark arts to children. This proved beyond all doubt that the headmaster was completely and utterly insane, and that his much vaunted Greater Good had no place for the Potters, Longbottoms, and muggleborns.

Lily sat down and wept.

They had trusted the headmaster, and so many of their friends had died terrible deaths. So many futures destroyed for this fool's vain ambition and Greater Good. All this information was available to the headmaster but obviously he was keeping his secrets or ignoring it as irrelevant.

She wept like she had never wept before while Ally tried to comfort her mistress by hugging the diary and saying. "Don't cry, my mistress, we must be strong. Young master Harry and his Hermione need you. Bad old whitebeard is playing his games, he has brought a very powerful magical artifact into the school for safekeeping."

Lily looked at the elf through her tearful eyes. "What very powerful magical artifact?"

Ally tried to speak but her lips couldn't move and no sound came out of her mouth.

Lily quickly realized the Machiavellian headmaster would have selectively silenced the house-elves to keep his secrets, so they could describe something but not say what it actually was. So interesting hints could be heard to spike the children's curiosity and lead them on a quest to discover the mystery.

But to have Harry, Voldemort and a very powerful magical artifact in the castle at the same time was obviously not a coincidence. The headmaster was playing a very dangerous game with the lives of all the students of Hogwarts and Harry in particular.

So it was a challenge, and to win a challenge she needed to ask the right questions to get the right answers. The house-elves could say that there was a very powerful magical artifact in the castle but could not say what it actually was, but they could indicate what it wasn't.

"Is it bigger than a bread box?"

Ally shook her head and cupped her hands together to show it was small enough to fit into them.

Lily thought, 'an object small enough to fit into the palm of the hand.'

"Is it made out of metal?"

Ally shook her head and made a stirring motion with her fingers as if she was holding something to stir a cauldron.

Lily thought. 'So not mechanical, but something solid that can be used to make a potion. Not made of metal would rule out Hufflepuff's cup. That left something she feared. The headmaster could not be that stupid.'

"Is it a stone?" Lily asked and Ally tried to nod but could not move but her eyes got wider.

"Is it red in colour?" Ally's eyes got wider again.

"Does it belong to Nicolas Flamel?" Ally pointed to her nose.

"DAMN! DAMN..."

Lily swore again for twenty minutes. The stupid, insane headmaster has attracted Voldemort to the school full of students, with the Philosopher's Stone, a very powerful legendary magical artifact that is used to change any metals to gold, and can be used to brew a potion called the Elixir of Life, making the drinker immortal. Just what a wraith would need to stop a possessed body from dying.

Exhausted from swearing, Lily hearkened to the comforting words of her faithful house-elf, Ally, as she hugged the diary, and she remembered Harry and Hermione, and the love they shared and the hope of a better future. They would need her to be strong.

Lily looked at the portrait of Hogwarts that was currently showing the Gryffindor common room, and the argument that was happening between Ronald Bilius and Professor McGonagall with the rest of Gryffindor house.

She turned to Ally.

"Ally, could you monitor Professor McGonagall? I want to know what is happening with the Hogwarts' chapter of the Old Dragon's Guild."

"It will be done, my mistress." Ally said with a curtsey.

Lily cringed at Ally's curtsey. It had taken years to get her elf to treat her as a friend and not a mistress. It showed how much Dumbledore must have obliviated the poor elf, and compelled her to act as a proper house-elf again. She would need the help of Gringotts to restore her elf when she went to see Goldenclaw, the Potter account manager. But first she needed to check on the status of Potter Manor.

- Lily's Diary. -

A very motivated Lily walked off to the side of her portrait intent on discovering what had gone wrong with their plans to save Harry, and was determined to find out what the old goat had done to interfere. Dumbledore might fear Molly Prewett Weasley but Molly Prewett Weasley feared Lily Evans Potter, and by Merlin, the great Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is about to discover why. Him and his stupid evil dark lord.

Lily remembered the last confrontation with she had with Molly, and still couldn't believe the nerve of that witch. Poor Ginevra Molly Weasley was only a month old; when Molly Prewett Weasley showed up at Potter Manor unannounced one morning saying she had some very important family business to discuss with the head of the house Potter. She intended to gently persuade James to sign a binding marriage betrothal contract for Harry and Ginevra.

Fortunately James was upstairs asleep with baby Harry snuggled in his arms, and it was Lily who Molly met in the kitchen that morning. It was the first time anyone dared to say no to Molly as Lily gently explained that the children should be free to make their own choices.

Lily was surprised to see that Arthur had already signed the contract, so she magically scanned it, and when she discovered the compulsion hexes on the parchment with the hidden fine print that included potions, she incinerated it. Molly went Prewett rage red that an uppity Mud-... A muggleborn would dare to interfere with Pure-blood business, and raised her voice to express her displeasure.

The disturbance had woken up Harry, and then it was on as both witches went curse for curse and hex for hex. Molly hadn't landed a curse on Lily while she got her backside kicked by the more powerfully gifted witch. James thought it was a Death Eater attack; he left Harry in the care of Ally as he charged into the kitchen with his wand out. It looked like a war zone and he could barely recognize the batted and disfigured Molly as Lily banished her from Potter Manor forever with threats of what would happen if she ever tried to interfere with her family again.

- Lily's Diary. -

Hedwig arrived at the Grangers' home but no one was in the kitchen. She flew around the home to find Emma as her Post Owl senses told her that she was near. She found the door to the master bedroom was closed and she distinctly heard Emma cry out.

"Oh Dddaaanniiieeeeell!"

Hedwig smirked. 'They are celebrating Hermione's birthday by trying to give her a little sister. Well isn't that nice.' She thought. 'Well I don't want to intrude, and besides there is a couple of pepperoni sausages hanging up in the kitchen that have her name on them. She was very appreciative of Emma for introducing her to this wonderful muggle treat and she loved the hint of the different types of capsicum, including bell peppers and a small, spicy and often pickled pepper with garlic, fennel, or mustard seeds that while they were indigestible for her they certainly removed the taste of rat from her breath.'

As she ate with a passion, Hedwig wondered if Fawkes was up for a visit to celebrate Hermione's birthday? There was plenty of pepperoni to go around.

A small ball of flames answered that question.

In the morning, Emma would find a beautiful red and gold phoenix feather under the dining room table with some feathers belonging to a certain snowy white magical owl.

- Lily's Diary. -

Thank you for reading.