Hogwarts Year 5
Chapter 14
April 27, 1996 was a Saturday and all the "kids" were down in the chamber except Harry, he was in the Gryffindor quarters looking through the books left behind by Godric Gryffindor. Harry was looking for anything that might be of use to defeat Voldemort besides the rituals to remove him from the family and remove his magic. In order for the rituals to work Harry had to know for sure that Voldemort had been resurrected, even though he thought that by now that had occurred he had to be sure. From what Harry had read on the ritual it would take a bit of time to complete and then more time for it to be effective, time he might not have if he waited until the last minute to do the ritual. Harry was pleased to see that Reggie had been very diligent in arranging the books, that made it much easier to search for the material he wanted.
Meanwhile down in the chamber Hermione was instructing the others in advanced Transfiguration and Charms, or at least advanced for their level or year. Hermione would teach for two hours and then they would take a break and either Neville or the twins would take over and instruct in either Herbology or Potions for one to two hours, then lunch. Hermione didn't notice the cat sitting in a dark corner watching her teach, if she had she might have recognized it as the animagus form of Prof. McGonagall. If anyone else noticed they didn't say anything about the cat sitting in mid-air about eight inches off the floor and nobody seemed to hear the slight chuckle coming from that area either.
Hermione was covering the animagus transformation for those who needed the extra instructions, namely Susan and Luna since they were both able to transform already. This also had the interest of Tori as she hoped to become an animagus too. Hermione was asked a question that usually didn't come up in regular classes, "Can you change your form, or have more than one form?". This came from Tori.
"Yes, you can occasionally change your form to something different than what you found at first and you can have more than one form. A couple of the older members here have more than one form or shape. For instance, I found my first form rather easily and have found that I can assume most other forms of the same animal" Hermione said as she changed into her primary owl form then back and into another owl form, this one from the states. "While my primary form is found here in England, my second form is found in America so it isn't as noticeable there. If you become an animagus then Harry, myself, or Luna will tell you how to attempt to alter your form, but only after you are stable in your primary form" Hermione continued.
Next Hermione went into Charms and started to explain the Invisibility Charm and how it could be very useful if used just before a battle or fight. She demonstrated the wand movement and the incantation used then said it was usually a silent spell, which meant that you didn't have to verbalize it. The next thing Hermione did was to ask Tori to be a subject for the spell as she was still not advanced enough for this one. Once Tori was in front of the others Hermione told her to stand very still and not to wander around once the spell was cast. Hermione made Tori disappear and then brought her back. Tori said it felt like someone had poured a thick liquid over her the first time and that the liquid just fell away the second time. "Did you have to hit my head so hard?" "Just wanted to get your attention, but no you don't have to hit the object hard at all – just a touch. Now I'll show you a variation of that spell that I think works better and uses less magical energy. This one also can't be removed by anyone but the caster and will cease to work if the caster is knocked out, or killed." Hermione replied.
Once again Hermione used Tori as a demonstration model, she just reached out and laid her hand on Tori and Tori disappeared, no wand movement at all. Over in the dark corner the cat looked at the space under it and seemed to have a question on its face, another chuckle was heard – but it was very quiet and didn't carry. At the front of the room Hermione mumbled something and Tori reappeared. As Tori sat down Hermione asked the others to practice the first spell on each other for a few minutes to see if they could accomplish the desired effect. While the others practiced Hermione told them that this spell could be disrupted by the Finite Incantation and that if she caught either of the twins using the spell to spy on girls she would make sure they regretted it. This statement seemed to make the twins rather down.
After a few minutes of practice all of the "students" had done the spell-work assigned and had been able to turn someone or something invisible; even Tori had managed to make her notebook disappear, which was a surprise to Hermione and the ones in the corner. "One of the drawbacks to an invisibility charm is that if someone throws water or something similar on you you will be outlined and caught. If you are caught out in the rain you will be seen, or at least your form will. In an old movie in the muggle world they used flour to find an invisible man, that would also work on us. If you lose an item of clothing it will remain invisible but what is under it won't, so be careful. This isn't true of the second spell I showed you as it effects everything you are wearing, as an example if Tori had removed her shirt while under the second spell we would never know until the spell was canceled. At the same time if she put on her robes then the robes would be visible, they would just look empty" Hermione explained.
"There is one other way to become invisible, and that is to use an invisibility cloak like Harry's. But, not everyone has one of those, or at least not as good of one. The 'Headless Hats' that the twins came up with are an example of that type of invisibility and I imagine they used something like the first spell to accomplish that effect. But as they will tell you it doesn't last very long. There are several people who offer so-called invisibility cloaks but they are a waste of time and money" Hermione continued. Hermione then gave them the incantation for the second spell and had them practice some more. Once again Tori was able to do the spell, she just couldn't cancel it when the time came. Hermione had to use her staff to cancel the spell and make Tori's notebook reappear and even that was a strain on Hermione's magic. Hermione then explained that since it was her spell design she had been able to counter it, barely.
Hermione let the others take a break and it was decided that Fred and George would take the next lesson time for Potions. While the "kids" were off to the restroom and getting something to drink the cat "floated" over to the target zone and port-keyed away. Once the two were back in Prof. Flitwick's office they compared notes on what they had observed in the chamber. "I say, Ms. Granger is doing a very good job with Charms and she even taught me a thing or two. I had never heard of that second invisibility spell and she said she created it. If that had been one of my classes I would have to award her at least 100 points for her spell-work. Even young Miss Greengrass was able to do the spell-work and she is several years behind the others. I would have liked to have seen Mr. Potter teach them defense, that would be very interesting judging by Ms. Granger's efforts" Flitwick said.
"Yes, I was very surprised at the knowledge Ms. Granger showed in Transfiguration. I will have to find out how she was able to change her form. That was the third time I have observed her instruct and she shows me something every time. The only fault I have found with her teaching is she gets too involved with the theory and tries to explain too much at once. I had a chance one time to observe Mr. Potter instruct Transfiguration and he does a much better job of explaining things without confusing 'his students' or overloading them. You know that Sirius has Mr. Potter doing most of the teaching in Defense and from what I have heard he is teaching things to fourth years that they usually don't get until late in their fifth year and some of the things he teaches the sixth and seventh years isn't even taught usually" McGonagall replied.
In the Slytherin dorm Draco was looking through the Prophet and came across a small article in the very back pages that said that the ministry had confiscated several of the properties of known Death Eaters and put them to use for the Ministry. This made him wonder if they had taken over Malfoy Manor, come to think about it he couldn't remember where the manor was located. He just knew it had existed when school started but couldn't remember how to find it now. But if they had confiscated the manor how had they gotten past the wards, some of those wards were blood wards and only a true Malfoy could touch those.
Up in the Gryffindor quarters Harry had not found what he was looking for in Godric's library. It was time to check out the Slytherin quarters to see if maybe Salazar had anything to offer. Harry transformed and flashed to the Slytherin quarters and started to look through the library there. Reggie had rearranged this library also, just as he had done for Godric's, so it wasn't long before Harry came across the books he hoped would hold the answer he sought. Harry looked up from one of the books to rest his eyes and it was then that he saw the tapestry. Harry didn't remember seeing this tapestry before, it showed the descendants of Salazar Slytherin and the lowest, or last, entry was Tom Marvolo Riddle. But a very thin line lead to his own name on the same level and Harry's name was just a little fainter than the rest. "That must be because I'm the magical heir and not the physical heir" Harry thought.
Harry was startled by a voice behind him, a voice that sounded very stressed and weak. Harry spun a round and didn't see anyone there. "So, you finally discovered my family tapestry. The one who came before you never even found these rooms, he only found my chamber. But, have you found that which he never found, my other office where I kept all my most secret discoveries? I would say not as if you had I would have known and been able to speak with you sooner." the voice said. Harry noticed that the sound came from a painting of Salazar behind the desk.
"I didn't know your portrait could speak or I would have spoken to you sooner. This second office is located in the chamber I would guess. Would you be willing to tell me how to find it?" Harry asked.
"As my magical heir I can not keep that from you, but if this Tom Riddle should have asked I would have revealed its location at the time. But, not now and not to him. He is a disgrace to my line, while I wanted to limit the ones allowed to study here I did not intend to kill anyone just because they had no magic. In the end my friend Godric showed me the error of my thoughts, that and Rowena and Helga's badgering didn't make my life any better. You can speak the language of the snake or else you would have never been able to open the chamber or these rooms. Go to my chamber and speak thus in Parseltounge" with that Salazar explained what Harry would have to say to find and open the hidden office. It took some time for Harry to learn the long phrase that had to be spoken in the chamber.
Harry flashed to the chamber and went to the area he had been told about, it took three tries before he was able to get the office area to show itself and allow entry. Once inside Harry saw that the area was a mess, the dust must have been at least six inches deep and it covered everything. Harry called Dobby and asked that the office be cleaned as quickly as possible. It turned out that Harry had to call each of the chamber elves before they could enter the area and it appeared that nobody not of the Slytherin line would be able to enter. That would make Hermione upset as she would want to examine all the books and parchments as quickly as possible. Harry asked that the elves take special care to clean the portrait of Salazar Slytherin as it was like the portraits in the Heads office, semi-sentient.
The elves found that magic was of little use in this area and they would have to do the cleaning manually and that meant that it would take longer. Harry offered to help with the lifting and found that his magic worked well; then he had an idea, Harry called Windford to gently remove all the dust he could without disturbing any of the papers, books,or parchments there soon appeared a nice mound of dust and dirt in the main chamber – this the elves could take care of with magic. As soon as most of the dust was gone from the portrait it woke up.
"What is this, you command an elemental? Even I, Salazar Slytherin, never mastered that feat. You young man are truly deserving of your magic. Would that more had your power and abilities. I must speak with Godric, Rowena, and Helga of you. Tell me young man what might be your name?" Salazar asked.
"My name is Harry Potter and I am the direct descendant of Godric Gryffindor as well as the magical descendant of you Sir. It would be nice if the other founder's portraits were able to speak. We have in this chamber all four heirs, well three physical heirs and one magical heir. Maybe we just need to speak with the other portraits to get their attention. I will suggest that very thing to the others. Would you explain why elf magic won't work in here, it would make the task of cleaning this place much easier." Harry replied.
"I never considered that elves had enough magic to do much of anything. They were not very magical when I was alive. In fact we didn't use elves at all, we hired squibs to handle the cleaning and such. Pray tell me how those lights work, I don't sense any fire – not even magical fire – from them. When I created this chamber I set it so that only my magic would work here, or rather only Parseltounge magic.
"Well, Sir, since you have been dead for around 900 years it might be difficult to explain how the lights work. They work on what is called electricity, and I don't know enough to explain how electricity is made, but you can compare it to lightning since that is as close as I can come to explaining it. The electricity runs through a wire, a very thin piece of metal, and goes to the lights where the heat of another piece of metal makes the light. I am not sure what has happened to elf magic since your time but now days wizards and witches use elves to do the housecleaning, cooking, and whatever is needed. The elves here at Hogwarts are very helpful, but most of the students don't ever see them as they stay hidden. We, the heirs, have several elves that work down here in the chamber to keep it clean and take care of us. Each of us have a personal elf that is responsible for our needs, and there are several elves that help keep this place clean in general. If you don't mind, is there any way to allow non-Slytherins inside these rooms and to allow the elves to use their magic in here?" Harry answered and asked.
Salazar directed Harry to a certain book and that book explained what spells had been cast and how to remove them, using Parseltounge magic. When Salazar asked about the basilisk, Harry explained what he had done with it, Salazar seemed pleased that the snake had been taken care of so well. It was while they were talking that Salazar asked about a particular painting that had hung in the head suite. Harry said he didn't remember seeing that painting there but would see about finding it, Salazar said he would see if he could still access that painting and if so he would let Harry know where it was to be found. This painting allowed all four founders to get together in the same place and converse. Harry finally bid Salazar farewell as he was getting hungry and needed to use the restroom.
After using the restroom and having something to eat Harry went to the Gryffindor Quarters and spoke to the painting of Godric, surprisingly it spoke back in a very slow and dazed manner. It took a while but soon the painting was speaking much better. Godric explained that it had been so long since there had been much magic in this area that the painting was very low and almost out of magic. Godric also asked about the painting Salazar had inquired about and the paintings of the other two founders. Harry said he would have the two heirs speak with the paintings and he hoped that it wasn't too late to revive them.
Harry finally gathered up enough courage to tell Hermione about the new finds, and as he expected she was upset she couldn't enter the new set of rooms in the chamber for now. Hermione calmed down some when Harry told her that he had a way to fix that but it would take some time since the instructions were written in Parseltounge and he wasn't as familiar with reading that, or writing it but intended to correct that problem as quickly as possible. Luna and Susan both left for their own founders quarters to speak with the portraits in hopes of reviving them.
It was Sunday before all the paintings were activated and the group portrait had been found in the "come and go" room that the elves used to store things inside. It was decided that the portrait would be moved to the chamber so all the heirs, and the rest of the group, had access to it. They would tell McGonagall about the portrait later once Voldemort had been taken care of once and for all. It was Salazar that came up with a translation spell that translated the Parseltounge to English, Old English but English all the same. By Wednesday Harry had the restrictions relaxed enough so the elves could do enough magic to give the rooms a very thorough cleaning and Reggie was able to rearrange the books and parchments in a more sensible manner. Hermione spent much time in the new rooms looking over the documents and books.
A/N: Well all four painting are now awake and the group portrait has been found. McGonagall and Flitwick have been exposed to some of the advanced teaching that the group has had and now they have a few suspicions. I think Flitwick said it best when he said it was good when the instructor learned from the student.
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