"ss,Parseltongue,ss" Just so that you know.

Disclaimer: Not Mine. Talk to Rowling. Just borrowing them a while.

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Last Time

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"My sentiments, exactly." Rowena said with approval. Harry didn't have to see the Founder to know that she was giving Hermione a glowing look of appraisal. He felt like was being ganged up on. Two on one odds were hardly fair.

"Why me?" Harry said, hardly expecting an answer.

"No one can truly answer that, Darion." Rowena said.

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The Founders' Heir

Chapter Twenty-Six

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A Hermione Interrogation

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"So, Harry."

Harry started and stared at Hermioe. He had momentarily forgotten that the girl was there. He was so used to sitting in that classroom on the floor with Rowena, that it was easy to forget that he was no longer with the Founders. He wasn't sure that he felt good about that or not. At least he still had a place that could remind him so strongly of his time with them. Of course, Hogwarts in general would always do that.

"So, Hermione." He countered. "Don't you have classes to attend this afternoon?"

"No."

Harry nodded. He already knew what was coming. He had prepared for her list of endless questions about his time away. He just hoped that he was prepared enough. He smirked slightly, "Shoot."

"Pardon me?" she asked.

"Shoot." He repeated. "I know you've got all kinds of questions, so go ahead. Rowena here may actually help me answer some of them if I'm lucky."

"I might." The Founder said. Harry wasn't surprised. Rowena was like that. She would make him flounder through it on his own so that he would learn something. Then she would tell him everything that he did wrong. It was her favorite teaching method.

"You don't mind?" Hermione asked.

"Not with you." Harry said, scratching Saire's chin, "I rather expected it from you, actually."

Hermione blushed a little at his words, which he found to be endearing. She looked at him for a long moment, and he simply waited for her to start. She began her questions with one that he wasn't prepared for, which did not bode well for the rest of the conversation as far as he was concerned.

"Why you?"

"Huh." He paused for time.

"I mean, why are you one of the Founders' Heirs? Aren't they chosen? Why were you chosen to be one? Was it because you're the Boy-Who-Lived?"

Harry blinked. Then he raised an eyebrow at her in amusement. He should have known that once he let her get started that she wouldn't be able to stop. "Uh, Rena, you want to answer that one?" he asked the Founder's portrait hanging above his head. "I wasn't the one who chose myself after all."

"Very well. We chose Harry for a few reasons. Firstly, yes, because he was the Boy-Who-Lived. Voldemort marked him, as the prophesy stated. This was the largest factor in our choice, but it wasn't the only one. Harry also had the ability, or perhaps the potential, to become an Heir. This may be because of his upbringing, it may be due to his heritage, we are unsure, and will never be sure." Rowena paused for a moment before continuing, "It is a question of paradox. We will never know, without any doubt, that we would not have chosen Harry as an Heir if Tom remained true to his Task. It is possible that we would have called him to us regardless, but it is equally possible that we would not have needed his presence as an Heir.

"Also," she continued, "His status as a distant descendant of Gryffindor aided the transition. It is easier for us to bring back our blood descendants, though that is hardly a prerequisite to be a Founders' Heir."

"You're the Heir of Gryffidor, as well?" Hermione asked.

"No, I'm from one of the minor lines." Harry said. "I believe the primary Gryffindor line died out some years ago, and the secondary line is the Argyle's, who's last daughter, Elaine, married Albus' father, Alfred."

"The Headmaster is…" Hermione tapered off.

"No, actually." Rowena said, "Albus and Aberforth were from Alfred's first wife. Alfred and Elaine had a daughter, who married into the Longbottom line."

Harry smiled. "Neville is actually a more direct descendant of Gryffindor than I am. He was placed into the right house, after all."

"That hat knows what its doing, Darion." Rowena said.

"Of course it does." Harry humphed. He didn't quite believe that, and the Founder knew of his opinion on the ratty old piece of head-wear.

"So Neville is the Heir of Gryffindor?"

"He will be, eventually." Harry said. "His father is the current Heir, I believe."

"Oh." Hermione seemed a little surprised by the information. Harry wasn't terribly shocked at that. He, too, had been surprised when her learned of Neville's heritage. He hadn't expected his old class and dorm mate to be of the Gryffindor line. He should have though. Nevill had proved the strength and courage of his line during the whole fiasco at the Ministry in their fifth year. Not many would have been able to face a dozen Death Eaters the way Neville did that night. Actually, all of the ones that had followed Harry to the Ministry demonstrated a courage that was rare, especially within their age group.

"What was it like?" Hermione asked, seemingly awed by the whole idea that Harry spent years with the Founders.

Harry shrugged. "Like school, I guess, except I gather it was a bit more dangerous, what with Salazar throwing snakes and potions at me every time I turned around."

"Don't get into that again, Darion, we all know that you can whine and complain about Salazar for hours, and we don't need to hear it again." Rowena said.

Harry grumbled under his breath, but followed her orders.

"Is that," Hermione paused, seemingly unsure if she wanted to ask the question. "Is that where you got all your scars?"

Harry blinked. "Some of them." He said. "Most of my scars are from when the wands exploded. Especially the ones on my face and chest." He ran a finger down the right side of his face, feeling the scattering of scars there. "Most of the time Helga was able to heal whatever injuries I had with minimal scarring, but some left a mark. Not all of them are on my chest, though. I think the worst one is when he managed to hit me with a corroding potion of some sort and it melted away the whole right side of my hip, half of my right thigh, knee and foot. It then proceeded to disintegrate three floors below my feet. I was lucky I didn't fall through that one. I fell through one of his acid holes before, I had no desire to do so a second time."

"What was his reasoning behind that, did he ever tell you?" Rowena asked.

"Yea," Harry said darkly, "He said he was trying to teach me to dodge."

"Did you learn the lesson?"

"Of course I did!" Harry exclaimed. "I wouldn't let Salazar within a twenty foot radius of me, and I made sure I knew exactly when he entered a room. I wasn't about to be caught unawares of him again."

"Ah. That's what he did, then." Rowena said. "I had wondered what Salazar had done to warrant that little prank."

Harry smirked widely, and a little evilly. "I thought it was a brilliant idea. One of my best."

"It certainly accomplished what it was meant to, I suppose." The Founder conceded.

"What did you do to him?" Hermione asked a bit hesitantly. Harry figured she was a little afraid to know what he had done in retaliation.

Harry laughed. "I charmed him."

"What kind of charm?"

"A proximity charm." Harry said.

"To what, you?"

"No, although he might have thought that at first." Harry said. "I charmed him so that every time he walked thorugh a door way music would play." He grinned mischievously, "Loudly."

"It was an old lullaby tune." Rowena said. "It was sweet at first, but got to be terribly annoying very quickly."

"How so?" Hermione asked.

"It took Helga nearly four weeks to repair my hip, leg and foot." Harry said. "During that whole time I was all but strapped to a bed in the Medical Ward. I think I almost developed a phobia of the place." He shuddered at the memory. It had been a very long month; and a painful one. "So I charmed Salazar as soon as Helga let me leave the ward. I wasn't about to go back there for as long as I could manage. Actually, I would have been perfectly happy to never go back."

"Darion didn't take the charm off of him for over a month." Rowena said. "Salazar had taken to wearing some sort of ear plugs, so he didn't hear the tune every time he walked into a room, but the rest of us still did. We all got tired of it very quickly."

Harry smirked. "I knew where he was though."

"There is that." Rowena said with a sigh.

"Where there only the Founders there as professors, or were there others?" Hermione asked.

"At the time we bring the Heirs to us, there were only the four of us."

"How does that work? How do you figure the time difference? If Harry was there at the same time as Voldemort and the Headmaster, how did you know that you would need him? Were there other Heirs there at the same time? Heirs from the past or the future?"

Harry smiled at Hermione's enthusiasm. "I'm sorry." She said, "I'm just curious, and I can't quite figure out how it would work."

"That's rather difficult to answer." He said. "Rena?"

He heard a light sigh from above him before the Founder started in on the girl's list of questions. "We bring our Heirs back to us during the time before we opened the school to the public. In short, we created a sort of time stasis, in order to teach all of our Heirs. It's rather difficult to explain, and I'm sure you wouldn't understand it if I did." Harry noticed that Hermione looked a little disappointed at this, but seemed to accept it. He knew that the spells and charms that the Founders were able to cast were highly advanced, and quite possibly had never been repeated. "At any given point, there were usually anywhere from three to twelve of our Heirs with us at a time. For instance, when Harry arrived there were already seven Heirs present, Everard, Melaina, Branwen, Gideon, Albus, Aberforth and Tom. By the time Harry left there were only three with us; Harry, Charles and Susan."

Rowena paused, and Harry decided to add his two cents to the explanation. "I was with the Founders for five years. Most of the Heirs left within the first two years after I arrived. Albus and Aberforth left after I had been there for three years, and Tom left the year after they did. Charles came a number of months before the Dumbledore's left and Susan arrived shortly after Tom left."

"They overlap each other during their time with us much as they overlap in their own time periods." Rowena said.

"Melaina?" Hermione said, "Melaina Sanders?"

Harry nodded. He remembered the fiery blonde Melaina quite well. She was a gorgeous woman with a wicked tongue. She could throw insults along with the best of them and she was incredibly smart, especially with Arithmancy. Harry hadn't liked her.

"I've read about her." Hermione stated, excited. "She made a break through in Arithmancy in the mid nineteenth century. It revolutionized how the Wizarding world viewed the subject. It was absolutely fascinating."

Harry wasn't surprised. Melaina was brilliant with numbers and calculations. She even managed to calculate the probability that he would have one of his pranks backfired on him in the duration of his stay with the Founders. She was one of the very few who figured out that he was the one pranking Salazar all the time. He was never able to get her to tell him exactly how she knew, which aggravated him to no end. And the one time that he tried to prank her, just for irritating him with all her bloody numbers, she somehow managed to turn it against him. He just didn't get how she did it.

"Yes, that was the primary focus of her Task." Rowena said. "To continue with your questions, we brought Harry to us, because we simply knew. As to the how, I can't honestly tell you. I suppose it's a secret of the Founders." She said with amusement.

"Don't listen to her, they just pull people around in time for the fun of it." Harry said.

"Calculating the differences in travel, instance and the space interval is hardly what I would consider fun, Darion."

"Of course not!" he exclaimed.

"Arithmancy really is something you should have bothered to learn."

"I have no gift for numbers." Harry said.

"So I've found." Rowena said dryly. "You are a little one sided."

"I'm not that bad."

"Oh?"

"I'm good at a lot of things." Harry said defensively.

"Of course. Flying and pranking."

"I've had a lot of practice." Harry said airily. "Salazar left me now choice in the matter."

"Yes, of course. Hexing Salazar and then flying to escape him."

Harry shrugged with a smirk. He couldn't help it that Salazar needed a good hexing every now and then. The man usually deserved it. Harry was only too happy to give it to him.

They sat in silence for a while; Harry absently stroking Cin's belly with his feet. The Griffin's soft purrs echoed a bit in the room.

"Isn't it strange?" Hermione asked. "Knowing people who lived in a different time?"

"Like Albus?" Harry said. He shrugged his shoulder. "I suppose. Me and Albus made friends fast enough. Of course, I actually knew who he would become, so that put an interesting twist to our relationship, but otherwise I rather think it's nice. I've met and known some of the greatest minds and personages in our history, or at least the last few centuries of history. Not many can lay claim to have met Dei Llewellyn, or Melaina Sanders."

"True." Hermione said. "I would have liked to meet such people. But still, living with them like that for years must have been odd."

"It is now I guess." Harry said. "But only a little. Me and Albus were close during our time with the Founders. While we may not be the same age now, we're still close friends. He'll still help me with my pranks, too." He ended cheerfully.

"Merlin help the school." Rowena mumbled.

"I can't help it." Harry said. "It's in my blood."

"It didn't come from your mother, that's for sure." The Founder stated.

"You knew Harry's mother?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, she found her way up here during her third year, I believe. She was a wonderful conversationalist, and had some brilliant theories within the charms field."

"Will you tell me about her, Rena?" Harry asked.

"Yes, another day. You may want to talk to Godric, I believe he worked closely with your father for a few years."

"Really?"

"Is that such a surprise?"

Harry thought about that a moment. "No, it isn't. He was ever so helpful with thinking up good prank ideas to try out on Salazar. I wonder if Godric learned from my dad, or the other way around."

"Does it matter?" Rowena asked. "You wouldn't have been missing much if you didn't have that half of your family in you at all." She stated dryly.

"Hey, I happen to like that side of the family." Harry said.

"Yes, it adds so much flavor to your genealogy." Rowena said.

"You just aren't fond of Godric's idea of revenge." Harry said.

"Pranks are hardly dignified." She said imperiously.

"Pranks are perfectly dignified, so long as you don't get caught."

"Harry?" Hermione interjected into their debate. Harry was glad for the interruption, not that he would admit it. He was beginning to run out of decent responses to Rowena's challenging jibes. It was one of their games; a type of conversational word game in order to challenge each other's wit and vocabulary. Harry usually got double the practice, what with Salazar's habit of insults and dry humor.

"I'm curious," Hermione said, "Are you descended from Godric on you father's side, or your mother's?"

"My father's, the Potter family." Harry said. "So if you take away that side of the family I would loose more than just my heritage of pranking." He added toward the Founder above him. "My mother was Muggle-born, for all we know I could become a Squib without my father's line as well."

"Losing any ties with Godric, isn't all that great a loss." Rowena said. "And living as a Muggle isn't that bad a thing, either."

"Wait a minute." Harry said, sitting up sharply. The motion jarred Saire, who hissed in annoyance. He barely noticed her irritation, however. "What did I just say?"

"Wait a minute." Hermione repeated diligently.

"No, no before that."

"That you might have been a Squib without your father's line." Hermione said.

"That's it!" Harry exclaimed, jumping to his feet. Cin scrabbled away from him as he began to pace. "That's the way!"

Harry turned around in place, and upon spotting the location of the door shot towards it barely short of a run. He was out of the room and down the hall before either of the two women could stop him.

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Hermione stared after him in slight shock. She was then startled when the Griffin cub huffed in annoyance and ruffled his feathers before approaching her. She was glad that the creature seemed to like her, and scratched Cin's head as he lay down next to her. The Griffin's soft purrs again filled the room in Harry's wake.

"Does he do that often?" Hermione asked the Founder.

"I'm not sure where he picked up such a habit." She said, "But yes, unfortunately. He does it very often."

"Whatever is he up to?"

"No doubt he's just thought of something, or figured out some puzzle, or what not." Rowena said dismissively. "He's probably gone off to Albus."

"Do you have any idea what he was thinking of?"

"No. It could have been anything. His mind seems to be like that. He keeps puzzles and mysteries sitting in the back of his mind, just waiting to be told the answers. He will suddenly figure something out and go off to research it, or bounce his ideas off of someone."

"Do you think he'll be coming back here?" Hermione asked.

"I suppose its possible, though it might be some time."

"Do you mind if I stay here for a while, then?"

"Not at all." The Founder said, smiling. "This is my old office, and it hasn't been used in centuries. I don't get too many visitors, what with it being all the way up here on the seventh floor. You are more than likely to stay as long as you like."

"Thank you."

"You are most welcome. I should really be thanking you."

"Would you tell me about Harry's mom?" Hermione asked. "Lily."

Rowena smiled fondly. "I would love to."

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