The Book of Seals to the Magical World
by Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. Ceridwen belongs to me :-)
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel.
After breakfast, Dumbledore made an announcement.
"Dear students, the teachers have decided that from today onwards, all first-year Gryffindors shall have classes together with the Ravenclaws and the first-year Hufflepuffs together with the Slytherins. From now on, this will be the pairing which we're going to use. We decided, however, to not bother the older students with this change."
Barely able to believe his luck, Harry exchanged an excited look with Ceridwen. "That was Hogwarts," he whispered to her, when they left the Great Hall together. "She promised to see to it that we see more of each other."
"That's absolutely brilliant," Ceridwen replied, giving him a broad smile.
マジック世界の秘密に至る本
It was shortly before dinner on Halloween that Ceridwen by chance noticed that Hermione was sitting in the floor of the girl's washroom near the Great Hall, crying her eyes out.
"Hermione, what happened?" she asked in concern and, hearing how Ronald had ridiculed Hermione after the Ravenclaws' and Gryffindors' Charms class, fetched Harry, who was patiently waiting for her in front of the toilets.
"Ceridwen, I can't come in there. It's a girls' toilet in case you haven't noticed," Harry protested, when his best friend dragged him into the washroom while telling him what Ron had said to Hermione.
"Hermione, come on, don't listen to that dunderhead," Harry addressed his other friend, letting out a long sigh. "It's not true anyway, as Ceridwen, Susan, Neville, Blaise and I are your friends," he added, comfortingly. "Please forget about the matter and come with us to the Great Hall."
"Right Hermione, let's go," Ceridwen added. "The Halloween feast is going to begin shortly."
'It probably already has begun,' Harry thought, glancing at his wrist watch, just when the door opened and a mountain troll entered the washroom, causing the three first-years to scream in horror.
"Harry," Ceridwen blurted out, urgently, "can you try the spell which you cast on Ron in your duel?"
Not wasting time to reply, Harry pointed his wand at the troll, who an instant later found himself in the form of an ostrich.
'Thank Merlin,' Harry thought and, making a hole which was filled with sand on the floor, ushered the girls out of the room.
However, they only made it to the door, when the teachers arrived, staring at them in clear shock.
"What are you doing here, and who's that?" McGonagall asked, crisply, having heard from her best friend how she had to transfigure Ronald Weasley back from the form of an ostrich.
"That's a mountain troll," Hermione spoke up. "He came here, when Ceridwen and Harry were helping me with something."
"The next time, transfigure your enemies into rats," Severus instructed Harry, smirking. "We can always use some to test new potions." With that, he trained his wand at the ostrich and transfigured him into a rat and further into a wooden rat, which he pocketed, looking contented.
"Ten points to Slytherin for a brilliant transfiguration to save yourself and your classmates from danger," McGonagall uttered, before she ushered the students out of the room.
"Harry, that was amazing," Hermione told him. "Thank you so much for rescuing us from that thing."
"You're welcome," Harry replied, pleasantly, thinking, 'Thank Merlin it worked.'
"You're the best," Ceridwen whispered, smiling at him.
"No, it was your idea, not mine," Harry whispered back, feeling very happy to have such a brilliant best friend.
マジック世界の秘密に至る本
One evening, when Minerva and Severus were teaching Ceridwen and Harry in their rooms, Severus told him, "Tomorrow after the last afternoon class, a werewolf will come to Hogwarts in order to take a phial of the wolvescure which we brewed last weekend. Would you accompany me to Minerva's office to meet him?"
"Harry," Minerva spoke up, before the boy was able to voice a response, "Remus Lupin was one of your birth parents' best friends, and he'll surely be very pleased to meet you."
"All right," Harry agreed, hesitantly.
"You can make him swear a wizard's oath to keep your secret," Severus advised him, causing Harry to nod in understanding.
"Ceridwen, will you please join us, too?" Harry asked, smiling when his friend replied in a soothing voice.
"Of course, dear. Always," she said, smiling.
HP
Harry immediately liked the man. 'No wonder that he was one of my birth parents' best friends,' he thought, while Severus explained to the man about Salazar Slytherin's room, which did not only have a potions lab, equipped with ancient potions ingredients, but also a library with recipes of Salazar Slytherin.
'We should always use this explanation in order to not have to tell your secret to anyone,' he thought to Harry, who returned an unobtrusive nod.
'That's a good idea,' he thought, not wanting people to know where Ceridwen and he came from. 'Only in exceptions, I will tell someone if I really want it,' he resolved.
"Thank you so very much for doing this for me," Remus replied, hastily wiping a tear from his cheek. "I'm so very happy."
"Nevertheless, you need to spend the night in the Shrieking Shack, just to be sure that nothing is wrong with the ingredients, which have been stored in the lab for several hundred years," Severus informed the werewolf, who gladly agreed.
Finally, Severus suggested that Ceridwen and Harry should accompany the werewolf to the hospital wing, stating that Madam Pomfrey would take him to the Shrieking Shack later on.
"Let's meet us here again tomorrow morning before breakfast," the Gryffindor head suggested, and everyone including Remus happily agreed.
HP
On the way to the hospital wing, Remus turned to Ceridwen. "Hufflepuff?" he enquired. "I've never heard that name or even any of the other founders' name in this time. Are you a direct descendant of Helga Hufflepuff if I may ask?"
"Harry, shall we tell Mr. Lupin the truth?" Ceridwen whispered, causing Harry to nod, smiling.
"Helga is my sister," Ceridwen admitted, and Harry informed the older wizard how he had ended up living in the time of the founders of Hogwarts.
"Please keep this to yourself though, as only Minerva, Severus and Madam Pomfrey know about it in this time," Harry ended his explanation in a firm voice.
"I will," Remus promised. "Thank you so much for telling me the truth and, above all, to try curing me from lycanthropy."
"You're welcome," Harry replied, smiling, before he promised, "In case it doesn't work for some reason, I'll ask Salazar what went wrong, so that we'll be able to cure you right after the winter holidays."
HP
To everyone's relief, however, no further research was necessary, as Remus did not transform during the full moon. He was over the moon with joy, and his mood was contagious to Harry and Severus, who immediately began to make plans for curing the entire werewolf population of their time.
Before the former werewolf left Hogwarts, Minerva asked, "Remus, would you be willing to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, when the position will be vacant the next time?"
"I'd love that," Remus agreed, smiling broadly.
"Too bad that the position is cursed though," Severus spoke up, sighing.
"Cursed?" Harry and Ceridwen asked, simultaneously, making Severus explain about the curse, which Voldemort had cast at the position many years ago.
"Ever since then, the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor only lasts a year," he informed them.
"The problem is that we need a new professor every year, and there are barely any good candidates anymore," Minerva added. "Mr. Lupin is only available because of having been a werewolf until now."
"I'll speak with Hogwarts about it. She'll surely be able to lift the curse or in any other way help to keep Mr. Lupin on the post," Harry said in determination.
"That's all I can ask for," Remus replied and once again thanked Harry and Severus, before he stepped into the fireplace and left.
マジック世界の秘密に至る本
When Halloween was over, the students' conversations began to more and more revolve around Christmas and the upcoming winter holidays.
'We're going to travel home,' Harry thought, happily, when he recalled that in order to travel home he had to paint a picture first. 'I really have to be careful with the date though,' he thought, resolving to let not only Ceridwen but also Severus and Minerva check if it was correct before travelling.
"Harry, do you have any idea what we could give the founders and our parents for Christmas?" Ceridwen asked one day, causing Harry to gape at her in surprise.
"Oh Merlin, I completely forgot about that," he replied, shocked by his own lack of consideration. "Let's ask Severus and Minerva tonight."
To the children's relief, the professors were not only able but also willing to help the first-years, and Minerva lend them a couple of magazines from the shops, informing them that they could simply owl order items, telling the shops to take the money from the Potter vaults.
Harry and Ceridwen gladly agreed and spent the rest of the evening looking for books that might be interesting for the founders, finally deciding on the not-self-updating version of Hogwarts: A History for Rowena, a book with prank potions for Salazar, a modern healing book for Helga as well as a book about Quidditch for Godric.
"Maybe they can invent Quidditch in our time," Harry said, smirking, causing Ceridwen to chuckle.
"The next time, probably at the beginning of the summer holidays, we should spend a day at Diagon Alley. I heard the others talk about it, and I'd love to go and take a look, plus I'd also like to bring some useful things of this time to my sister and her friends for use in their time."
"We can do that," Harry replied, thoughtfully. "It doesn't matter if we travel home, when everyone else goes home or only on the following day."
Ceridwen let out a long sigh. "It makes no difference, that's true," she admitted, when a sudden thought crossed her mind. "Oh right, we could buy some Christmas ornaments to show them. Let's do that," she suddenly agreed.
"The question is how we're able to return to Hogwarts," Harry said, pensively. "To London, we could just take the Hogwarts Express together with everyone else, but how are we going to come back?"
In the end, they decided to ask Severus, and the professor informed them that he was going to accompany them for their trip to Diagon Alley. "While at Hogwarts, the heads of the houses are the students' guardians, however, when we release students to go home for their holidays, their parents take over the guardianship," he explained, and continued, "I believe that the headmaster is probably Harry's guardian for the magical world, however, since Ceridwen doesn't have a guardian, I see it as my responsibility to ensure your safety. Therefore, we'll accompany everyone to the station at Hogsmeade, and from there, I'll apparate us to Diagon Alley and back, when you're finished shopping."
"Is that really all right for you, sir?" Harry asked, hesitantly.
"Of course; otherwise, I wouldn't have offered," Severus replied, reassuringly.
HP
Unfortunately, with Quidditch practice, lessons with Ceridwen, Minerva and Severus, ordering Christmas presents for everyone at home and brewing together with the Potions master, he was so busy that he did not get around to draw the picture. It was only during the last week before the holidays that he spent his History of Magic class diligently drawing the Christmas tree, which Hagrid had put up in the Great Hall a few days before.
Harry felt extremely contented with himself, once he had finished drawing. 'What date should I put on it though?' he wondered. 'I need to ask Ceridwen,' he finally decided, sliding the drawing into his school bag for the time being.
HP
When he showed her the drawing once they met in their rooms in the evening, Ceridwen looked at the parchment in clear amazement, before she let out a long sigh.
"I'm sorry, Harry, but we won't be able to use this," she then said. "You must draw something which exists in our time, for example, the Great Hall, but not a Christmas tree. Remember, we didn't have Christmas trees in our time."
"We need to remedy that, when we're in the past," Harry replied, inwardly sighing at the prospect of drawing another picture for their travel.
"Oh well, you can still draw it when we return from Diagon Alley," Ceridwen replied, pleasantly. "As you said, it doesn't matter when we leave."
マジック世界の秘密に至る本
After finishing their Christmas shopping, they returned to Flourish and Blotts and made sure to closely observe the large Christmas tree in front of the shop from all sides.
Seeing the professor give them a surprised look, Harry explained, "We want to introduce Christmas trees to our parents and the other founders, so we need to show it to them as detailed as possible."
Smirking, Severus contented himself exploring the show window of the nearby Apothecary until the children were ready to return to Hogwarts.
"Professor, are you sure that you don't want to accompany us to our time?" Ceridwen asked the teacher, who had already refused, when they had asked him and Minerva the first time.
"Thank you for the invitation, Ceridwen," Severus replied, and a small smile played on his lips. "Maybe you could ask the founders if it was all right for Minerva and myself to accompany you during the summer holidays. If they agreed, I'd love to join you, and Minerva will as well."
"We'll ask them," Harry promised, sincerely.
"We're going to leave now, sir," Ceridwen announced. "Thank you so much for taking us to Diagon Alley."
"Happy Christmas, sir," Harry added.
"Happy Christmas and take care. Don't mess up the time to return, and let me know when you're back," Severus replied, smirking.
tbc...
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