The meeting in Professor Dumbledore's office went well. For the first part of it he treated them just like normal students. He checked their progress in their lessons and offered to help them if they were struggling with anything. This prompted Harry, who was struggling a little with some transfiguration theory to ask if other students got this sort of review. Professor Dumbledore's answer quite surprised them.
"Students are supposed to have weekly reviews with their head of house. However, in reality this is nearly impossible. Staff need to teach several hours of the day, make sure that they have everything prepared for their lectures, mark any homework given, supervise detentions, keep up with research in their field and be available for any students who specifically require help. I'm rather afraid to say between all that, unless a student asks for help or is failing a class, the teachers have little time to check on students who are coping."
The four were quite disappointed with this answer and it prompted a discussion on ways around it. When they mentioned hiring more teachers Professor Dumbledore confessed he had asked the governors a few times and each time they had said no. This was something the students resolved to discuss together and see whether the school had the funds to hire more teachers.
With their review over, Professor Dumbledore had a request of them.
"I know you said you were going to try and find the rooms of the founders of the founders today. I would like to accompany you with this."
"It would be our pleasure sir, though why do you want to come with us?" asked Susan.
"I have spent much of my life at this school, and yet these are areas I have not yet discovered. I am curious as to where they are. Do you have any ideas yourselves?"
"Yes, I took out a book from the Slytherin vault where he mentions visiting Hufflepuff in her room near the hospital wing, so we know roughly where to go." Daphne replied.
"I see. Do you have ideas on the others?"
"No. We hope to find some clues in Hufflepuffs rooms."
"To the fourth floor then." Dumbledore declared, rising from his seat with grace and motioning for them to leave his office.
The four of them left Dumbledore's office and travelled down to the fourth floor, and moved towards the hospital wing, keeping their eyes peeled for any clues that could help them. They reached the hospital wing having found nothing. They turned around, back the way they came, and still found nothing. They did this multiple times, much to the puzzlement of Madam Pomphrey and other students before pausing to brainstorm some ideas.
"Sir, presumably the rooms are under enchantment?" Harry asked
"One would be safe to make that assumption, yes Harry." Professor Dumbledore replied.
"So could you not just try sense the enchantments?"
"While that is a good idea, Hogwarts is full of magic. Too much for anyone to sense such background enchantments."
"So what do we do?" asked Daphne. "We can't wander around here all day."
"That is true Daphne. Perhaps Susan holds the answer."
"Me Sir? How can I know the answer?"
"As Harry said, the rooms are likely to be under an enchantment keeping them hidden. It would be safe to assume that the enchantment would respond to the magical signature of a Hufflepuff, or more specifically, the ring that marks a descendant of the original owner of the room."
"Well how would I then be able to find it then Sir? What would I have to do?"
"The solution would be similar as to how a wand maker finds the right core for a wood."
"Then it's simple. You need to focus your energy through your ring. I'd say you likely need to be thinking of the room as you do it." John interjected.
Susan nodded and closed her eyes. After a few seconds she raised her arm and carried on concentrating. Eventually she opened her eyes and beckoned the group to follow her. She moved away from the hospital wing and turned right, down a corridor that ran parallel to the hospital wing corridor. The corridor led to a room which was boarded up.
"Why is this door boarded up Sir?"
"You know what Miss Bones, I don't recall ever having seen this door before. Or this corridor for that matter."
"Why would that be Sir?" asked Harry.
"There are a number of magical methods of concealment. To say for certain, would require more time and study. But I would guess there's a notice-me-not ward on this corridor. With Susan knowing where she is going, the ward does not take effect. A notice-me-not doesn't hide a place as such, just makes our brain not pay attention to it. So, if we know where we going, the ward does not work."
Professor Dumbledore waved his wand, and the boards disappeared.
"Now normally I would suggest I go first in case of any defences. But I feel I am safe in my assumption that the ring Susan wears would stop any traps. So, if you please Miss Bones?"
With a nervous look on her face, Susan opened the door and walked in. The room smelled fusty and there was a thick layer of dust on all the surfaces. Immediately in front of them was a huge window with beds of soil in front of it. It was clear there were once dead plants in the soil. On the right was a similar, slightly smaller window. In that windowsill, rather than a bed of plants were cushions arranged in a way to offer a view of the grounds where the Greenhouses were placed. A small wooden table with an elegant but ancient looking tea set on it.
Opposite the smaller window was a large desk with three chairs in front of it and one behind it. A yellow and black rug sat underneath the desk and chairs. Behind the single chair were two small bookcases sat either stuffed full of books which were sat either side of a large fire. Closer inspection showed the books were mainly potion recipes, books on healing spells, glossaries of various plants and cooking recipes. Daphne was surprised to find some complex Dark Arts books.
"Why would she have these Sir?" asked Susan, equally as surprised as Daphne.
"A lot of the best healers have an awful lot of knowledge on the Dark Arts. After all, how can they heal wounds caused by the Dark Arts, if they don't know how to recognise them?"
The four students nodded their head understanding what Professor Dumbledore was saying.
Two doors sat either side of the bookcase. Through one was a small potions laboratory with cases of dried up ingredients, their preservation charms long worn off. Professor Dumbledore said the jars were mostly of ingredients commonly used in healing potions, with a few extremely rare ingredients such as freely given phoenix tears. The other room contained a bedroom with an en-suite bathroom. The bed covers were riddled with mould under a thick layer of dust. The bathroom had no plumbing in and was simple privy with a large iron bath.
"Well this is rather pleasant, much like I expected given the modern impression of Helga." Professor Dumbledore spoke as they exited the bathroom to move back into the main room. "I suppose this was her office with her living quarters attached. Only the headmaster's office has that layout now."
"I bet those books are interesting. I don't know if they'd still be readable though." John spoke, sounding like a typical Ravenclaw.
"Madam Pince would have a better idea than me, but I would be surprised if we couldn't salvage some information." Dumbledore answered. "Now, do we have any idea where any of the other rooms are?"
"We was hoping to find clues in this room to be honest Sir. The lack of clues means we have to rely on educated guess work." Harry replied.
"Perhaps not." Daphne interrupted. "Should the other rings not work the same way Sir?"
"They should." Professor Dumbledore acknowledged. "The only problem we have is they not work until we are closer to the area. But perhaps you can try."
Daphne closed her eyes and concentrated for a minute, before giving up and shaking her head, a disappointed look on her face, before John spoke up.
"Well like Harry said, we have educated guesswork. I mean, what are odds on Rowena Ravenclaw being far away from the library?"
"That is a good point John. Perhaps that should be our next stop." Professor Dumbledore praised, before starting to move out the room with four students in tow.
It did not take long to get from the fourth floor to the library on the first, the staircases having been kind to them. Once there, John focused his thoughts through his ring, just as he had when choosing his wand core through his wand wood. Sure enough, he started to feel a pull, taking him in a certain direction. He moved to the left of the library and down a corridor as if he was going to the bathrooms on the first floor. Before reaching them, he took another left and came to face with another boarded up door in another corridor Professor Dumbledore confessed he hadn't realised was there as he waved his wand to remove the boards before beckoning John to move forward.
Opening the door the room was covered in another thick layer of dust just like the rooms of Hufflepuff. While the rooms of Hufflepuff looked homely, this looked much more like a study that Ravenclaw just happened to use an office. There were shelves on every wall piled at least twelve feet high full of books and manuscripts. The desk was as large as the previous one but was covered in parchment with notes on ancient symbols. Professor Dumbledore informed them that they were Runescripts. These were what Warders used to map out the structure of wards they were going to place. Just like the Hufflepuff rooms there were doors. One of which contained a bedroom and bathroom that was far tidier than the main room. The other contained more books along with a bench.
The bench was old and the wood, though still standing was rotten. On the bench was a small cauldron, empty but with what looked like a potion recipe next to it. Professor Dumbledore said it was for a rather complicated alchemical solution that was capable of permanently sharpening knives to an incredible level of sharpness. Warders used it to inscribe ward stones as easily as they could write on parchment. Next to it was a stone with some Runes inscribed on it. Professor Dumbledore recognised them as the start of a basic protection ward, often used as a first line of defence to against accidental intruders.
Looking on the desk, John was startled to realise that even though he saw Rowena's short slanting handwriting was in what appeared to be a Celtic language, he could understand it. Startled that was, until Daphne reminded him that the Ravenclaw ring allowed him to understand any language. Reading the notes of Rowena, he found that the rooms of Slytherin were on the second floor, near a cluster of the secret passages.
"That makes sense." Daphne observed. "Would anyone really expect Salazar Slytherin to not have a room near multiple possible escape routes?"
Moving down two floors they just passed a bathroom that Professor Dumbledore informed them was haunted by one of the castle ghosts. Daphne followed the same process the other two heirs had followed and used her ring to try and sense the direction of the rooms which again were in behind a boarded up door. Once entry was gained, the group walked through the door, none truly knowing what to expect.
Immediately they knew this room was different than the others. It had no touches of home like the others, just a desk with a comfortable chair behind one side, and two rickety wooden chairs the other. There was nothing that marked it as being where someone had lived.
Rather than the two doors that had been off the other rooms, this one had four. Looking behind two of them, it seemed to lead to secret passages. A quick exploration of them showed that one led near the main entrance to the school, coming out just to the side of the main doors. The other led to the seventh floor.
One of the other doors held a bedroom. This room had the four poster bed they were expecting, as well as a small desk and walls covered with books. The books focused mainly on poisons and their antidotes and mind arts. Though there was more than a fair share of dark arts books present as well. Professor Dumbledore also noticed a small rune stone on each side of the door that seemed to act as security for this room. The second room held a potions lab, set out much the same as the one in Hufflepuffs room. However the ingredients were vastly different and Professor Dumbledore said most of the ingredients were used in more 'offensive' potions such as poisons or truth serums.
John and Daphne were reading what appeared to be a diary of Slytherin that was on the desk in the bedroom. It seemed that Gryffindoors rooms were somewhere near the main entrance to the school, near where the secret passage let out. Slytherin noted it was part of the defence plan for the school. Gryffindor as the most talented dueller would hold off any invaders, while Slytherin would use the secret passageway to get down there quickly and flank them.
Leaving the room for now they headed down the secret passage and exited near the main doors. Harry then channelled his senses through his ring, and in a matter of a minute they were stepping into the rooms of Godric Gryffindor.
This room was set out much like the rooms of Hufflepuff in that one side of the room was dominated by a large desk, behind which two large bookcases flanked a very comfortable looking chair. Daphne commented that the red and gold carpet was a bit 'garish'.
Where Hufflepuff had a bed of plants however, Gryffindor had something completely different. On a mannequin was a very old and very dusty set of duelling robes. The centre piece of the robes was a vest which Professor Dumbledore informed them looked like the hide of a Hungarian Horntail, the most powerful dragon there was. To the side of the robes there was a weapons rack full of various weapons. Maces, axes and swords adorned the rack, with one empty space.
"I assume that's where Gryffindor kept his legendary swords." Dumbledore stated.
Again, the room had two doors leading off it, one being Gryffindors bedroom, which was much more homely then Slytherins, resembling Hufflepuffs quite closely. The second door led to a room which John and Professor Dumbledore recognised immediately.
"Its a small duelling room." John stated, leading Harry to ask what a duelling room was.
"It is a room that somebody interested in duelling will set aside." Professor Dumbleodre explained. "The walls will be enchanted to stop rebounding spells and to resist any damage. This one is rather small. I imagine Gryffindor used more for attempting to master new spells than for practicing against opponents."
The books on the bookcase also mainly focused on duelling or swordsmanship. Even those on another subject had a link to duelling, such as 'Transfiguring an Opponent. Using Transifguration in Battle'.
Reading a stack of parchments left by Gryffindor, John noticed something exciting.
"Sir look at this. Apparently on the fourth floor, near the hospital ring and behind a portrait of a battle is a fully functioning duelling room."
"Now that is interesting. As much as I understand your eagerness John. It is nearly the end of lunch. Can I suggest we go the great hall for lunch and after we can search for the duelling room?"
After lunch the group of students and the Professor met up outside the Great Hall. While on the way to the fourth floor Professor Dumbledore asked them if they had any plans for the school.
"Well we decided to wait until our first year was done to make any changes Sir." Susan answered. "But Daphne did raise a point we all agreed with."
When Professor Dumbledore asked her what this was Daphne launched into an explanation.
"Well I know from my father that Hogwarts used to offer education past the seventh year for gifted students who wanted to enter academics, but this stopped around the time that You-Know-Who first came to power. We was wondering why it stopped as we all thought it was a good idea."
"I would agree with you Lady Greengrass. As you may have noticed our teachers are rather stretched. Not long after Voldemort first came to be of concern, the Board of Governors cut the schools teaching budget. To this day they have not provided a satisfactory answer. For the core subjects there used to three teachers. One for first and second years, another for third through to fifth years and another for NEWT students. Alas, with the budget cut, I had to make the two junior Professors redundant to make ends meet, so now we only have one Professor per subject."
"So its time?" enquired Daphne. "The Professors just don't have the time to take on more advanced students who want to gain a Mastery in the subject?"
"Yes that is precisely it. As it is most of our Professors work long weeks. I know Professor McGonagall rises before dawn and rarely goes to bed before eleven at night. At least on one occasion she has had to go to Madame Pomphrey for a pepper-up potion to stay awake while supervising detentions."
The four heirs looked at each before nodding.
"We might be able to do something about that sir." Harry spoke, causing a huge smile to appear on Dumbledore's face.
"It would be much appreciated. I know Hogwarts is still a fine bastion of education, but it is not what it once was, much to my regret. But no more on that. we appear to have arrived."
And indeed they had, Just thirty seconds walk from the infirmary was a painting of a battle between wizards. However none of them had any idea how to gain access. It was eventually John who came up with an idea.
"Sir, most the battles between wizards ran parallel to battles between muggles until the Statue of Secrecy right?"
"Yes you are right Mr Williamson. Even in more modern wars such as World War Two for the muggles, or the Grindelwald wars as we know it this was the case."
"Well then perhaps if we know the battle, that might give us a clue."
"Perhaps you are right. Judging from the way the robes are cut this is around the time that Merlin and Arthur were just starting to gain control."
"Sir look at that figure." John pointed. "Could that be Merlin?"
Indeed there was a figure carrying a staff. He wore crimson robes with long white hair and a long white beard. The staff seemed to be shooting lighting.
"You could be right John. Though small, it appears to fit the generally acknowledged description of Merlin. The main battle he is known for partaking in happened in 455. I believe it was called the Battle of Aylesford."
At the world Aylesford the painting shrunk back into the wall and a door appeared. This time Dumbledore entered first. Drawing his wand he quickly sent a burst of flame towards the two dozen or so torches that lined the wall due to the lack of a window in this large room.
Wooden dummies aligned one the walls, as did various muggle weaponry on another wall. In the middle of the room was a large wooden platform, raised a few feet off the floor. All but the muggle raised Harry immediately recognised it as a duelling platform.
"I wonder how this room got lost." Harry wondered gazing around.
"Yes it is a wonder. I know Fillius would love this room. And will certainly come in handy in your duelling lessons and some of the more advanced Defence Against the Darts classes."
"I wonder if those dummies are magical or not?" Daphne questioned.
"Dumbledore, still with his wand drawn sent low powered knockback jinx against one of the dummies. Much to everyone's surprise, a shield sprang up around the dummy absorbing the spell, which then came flying back towards Dumbledore at quite a speed. Dumbledore just batted it aside and stayed on guard in case another spell came, but none did.
"It would appear they are magical." Dumbledore said the a wry smile. "I would suggest not testing them yourselves until myself and some other staff members have determined the extent of their capabilities."
The four heirs nodded as the group left the room, none of them wanting to get into something they might not get out of.
"Now it would appear that is us done for the day. I am afraid I must now leave you to your own plans. I must go and deal the great evil of any teacher, paperwork." Professor Dumbledore said, with a twinkle in his eyes before turning round to walk to his office, the goodbyes of the four students ringing in his ears.
o-0-o
Later that evening, as the four heirs were in their common room, reading, or in Harry and Johns case playing wizards chess, a select few wizards were in Professor Dumbledores office.
The four head of houses, along Professor Babbling of Ancient Runes, Master Mermann, Master Ardwyad and Master Therin were sat in various chairs around the office as Professor Dumbledore relayed to them the days events.
"I worry about what could be in those books Albus." Professor McGonagall spoke.
"As do I Minerva. All four of the founders had books with dark arts in them, especially Hufflepuff and Slytherin."
"I was surprised Hufflepuff had dark arts books." Professor Sprout spoke. "She is not known to be a practitioner of them like Slytherin was.
"No but she was known to be a gifted healer." Professor Snape drawled. "You can't heal what you don't know. You would be surprised at how many healers have an advanced knowledge of the dark arts,"
"Its also true for Battlemages. We can't know what counter curse or shield to use if we don't know the spell we are facing." Master Mermann spoke in his German accent.
"Yes. I myself know more than most on the dark arts." Professor Dumbledore commented, much to the shock of Professor Sprout and Babbling.
"But the books are the reason I called you all here. We have no right, either legal or moral to stop students looking at their own books. Though we can stop some students bringing the books into the school, the fact the four students effectively own the school also prevents that route."
"So what do we do?" asked Professor Flitwick.
"From what I could see, the books were mainly in Old English with a bit of Latin. That means all but Mr Williamson would be unable to read them.
"Why could he?" asked Professor McGonagall.
"The enchantment on the Ravenclaw ring allows him to read any language."
Professor Babblings eyes lit up at that, knowing how much help it could be to her own research.
"My plan is this. The books themselves mainly focused on runes for warding, Transfiguration in battle, Charms, Curses and Potions. I suggest if he is willing John translates them under the supervision of Professor Babbling. Then once they are in English, the appropriate teacher can go through the books with the heirs, pointing out potentially problematic areas, whether it is due to the darkness of the work or the difficulty of the magic. That way the heirs get access to the knowledge, but under our guidance. And I dare say we will get access to knowledge we didn't know either."
All agreed to the plan, but as she left the room Professor McGonagall hung back for a second.
"Albus, they are all very gifted students. But are they ready to take on this task?"
"I think they are Minerva. As you say they are gifted students, but I must say, they also appear to be remarkable people."
