"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."
The teenagers stared at Rowena expectantly as she fiddled with the piece of wood in her hand. Harry slowly stepped forward, watching her hands move along the wand. There was something familiar about it, as if he'd seen it somewhere before. Without thinking he snatched it away. Immediately he felt a rush of warmth run down his arm and spread through his whole body.
"Where did you get this?" He gasped.
Rowena's expression fell. "So it's yours then? I figured as much. I was hoping…"
"This is Dumbledore's wand," Harry stated assuredly, "I'd know it anywhere. But how did you get it?"
"Fawkes called to me and then the tomb was blasted open by lightning. It flew right into my hand. Apparently I was supposed to get it for you."
Suddenly Harry cringed as he felt a stab of pain, as if something was jabbing him in the leg. Slowly he reached down and extracted his holly wand. The wood burned in his hand and he immediately dropped it onto the floor.
Harry stared at it in confusion. "That was weird."
"What happened?" Hermione questioned.
"It burned me." He looked down at Dumbledore's wand. "The wand chooses the wizard," he whispered quietly.
No one noticed Rowena bend down and pick up Harry's wand. A moment later a shower of sparks rained down from the tip. Rowena smiled and moved to hand it back. Harry waved her off.
"It's yours now," Harry said, a bit of sadness in his voice, "The wand chooses the wizard and I guess these two have made their choice. Now tell us what's going on. Why have all the muggle-borns lost their magic?"
Rowena shook her head. "They didn't lose it," she replied. "They never had it."
Draco let out a shout and Hermione gasped. "What do you mean, they never had it?" Ron questioned.
"I mean they never had any magic. It was given to them by this castle."
"How can a castle create magic?" Asked Hermione.
"It's like a gigantic magical generator," Rowena explained. She let out a frustrated groan at the bewildered looks she was getting. "Hogwarts generates magic and disperses it across the world. Muggle-borns are the people who are most susceptible to magical influence."
"Rowena Ravenclaw and Godric Gryffindor came up with the idea," she continued. "Helga Hufflepuff agreed to help in the end and Salazar Slytherin was tricked into participating. All four founders lent their magic to the generator, but when Slytherin found out what Hogwarts was doing he fought with the other three and tried to turn it off."
"Why couldn't he?" Ron asked. "If he helped create it, then why couldn't he just go and turn it off?"
"It's not that simple," she replied, "There were stipulations on turning the generator on and off."
"So all four of them could do it but it had to be all four?" Hermione questioned.
Rowena shook her head. "No, Godric made it more difficult. The generator would turn off when there was only one person of each line left, one Gryffindor, one Slytherin, one Ravenclaw and one Hufflepuff. All of the founders had pretty large families, except Slytherin. In order to turn it off he'd have to go up against all of them and he wasn't stupid. Once the generator was shut down, to restart it all of the heirs would have to come together and work the magic again."
"Then we'll never get our magic back," Draco groaned, "The Dark Lord's the last of the Slytherin line."
"That's where things get bad," Rowena stated, "Call it a loophole or an oversight but it doesn't have to be all four to turn it on, only the last to turn it on, which means Voldemort could kill us all off and use Hogwarts any way he wants to. He knows all about what this castle is capable of. If the muggle-borns have lost their magic, then only the last of each line is left, so unless we can get Voldemort to agree to help us…"
"I have to kill him," Harry finished.
Rowena nodded. "Then there would only be three and no one in the Slytherin line to stand against us."
"But why would Voldemort really want to get his hands on Hogwarts?" Ron questioned. "The muggle-borns have lost all their magic, isn't that what he's wanted all along?"
"Think about it Ron," Hermione broke in fervently, "Hogwarts is a giant magical generator, if he could tap into that…" Her voice trailed off.
"But that means we could tap into it to? Couldn't we?" Harry looked at the group expectantly.
The corners of Hermione's mouth turned up slightly into a small grin. "Isn't it obvious Harry? You already have been, why do you think you're having such problems with spells."
"It would make sense," Remus stated, "You're already the last of your line. You-Know-Who is probably tapping into the castle's magic as well since he's the last of Slytherin. Now we just have to find the last of Hufflepuff."
Harry's eyes went wide and he made a mad dash for the door.
"Where in Merlin's name are you going?" Ron exclaimed.
"To find Neville," Harry explained quickly before rushing off in search of his friend.
DSz
Severus stretched out over his couch, watching the mantle clock, watching and waiting. The clock rang out the hour and a small pop echoed through his sitting room. A red robed figure stood before him, face shrouded by a hood.
"It is done."
Severus nodded. "I know."
"You better know what you're doing."
He got up from the couch and leveled a glare at the other wizard. "How dare you? Do you think I would go to such lengths if they were not needed?"
The red robed figure cocked his head to the side. "What do you expect? You know I don't trust you. This plan of yours is crazy."
"It's not my plan," Severus hissed. "It's everyone's plan. This is our only chance."
"I know," the wizard shook his head, "but that doesn't mean I have to like it." He held out his hand and Severus dropped a locket into his palm.
"You know what to do."
The red robed man nodded under his hood and then pulled the chain around his neck. With a small pop he was gone, a small bit of mist left in his wake. Severus sighed and headed to his private potions' lab.