The Knights of the Founders
Written By: J.C. Vascardi

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Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in this story that relate to Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling, various publishers, and Warner Brothers. I'm not profiting on this story and it is not my intent to infringe on anyone's copyright or trademark. The only things about this story that I own are the characters and storylines not featured in the books.

Established Pairings: Harry/OMC: Noah, Charlie/OMC: Alexi

Established Past Pairings: Harry/Cedric

Eventual Pairings: Harry/Tom/Cedric/OMC: Noah/OMC: Jean-Luc, plus others I choose not to reveal at this time.

Entire Series Warnings: Alternate Universe, Slash, Original Characters, Language, Violence, Pseudo-Incest, Incest, Torture, Harem, M/M Sex, Threesome, Moresome, and Mpreg

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Chapter Twenty-One,

Part One

The Founder's Tower

-o-0-o-

Once Luna arrived in the library and was told that she was the secondary heir of Ravenclaw, a fact which she was not at all surprised about, claiming that she already knew because the Nargles told her, Dakota said, "At this time, everyone who is not an heir will please leave immediately."

After the Atlantean copy of the Tome of the Founders was passed back through the mirror to Daenerys, Valen closed the connection, before levitating the mirror, as he, Asheera, and Rhylian moved to leave the room.

"Yes, Albus and Irma that includes you," Dakota added a moment later when it appeared as if the headmaster and the librarian thought they were exempt from Dakota's request.

"I'm the headmaster," Albus argued at the same time that Irma said, "I'm the librarian. You can't kick me out of the library!"

"I realize that," Dakota said. "However, by order of Merlin Emrys, what I have to say is for the heirs' ears only. And no, the fact that he's dead doesn't matter, because he charmed me to not be able to give the heirs their instructions if anyone who wasn't an heir was present in the room. So, if you stay, you're preventing me from giving them the vital instructions that they will need to carry out a task that only they can perform. A task which, I might add, it vital to the continued survival of this school and perhaps even the world at large."

'The world at large?' Harry thought. 'Great more pressure.'

"Fine, fine, I'll leave," Albus said.

"Are we really taking orders from a hat?" Irma asked, as she walked out of the room beside Albus.

"Yes, Irma, it would seem that we are," Albus said.

Once everyone other than the primary and secondary heirs had left the room, Fawkes grabbed Dakota in his talons and placed him on the floor, before Dakota said, "Inseglian gerúm!"

The heirs watched in surprise as the room was bathed in a dim white light and seconds later, all of the doors slammed shut while shutters closed over all the windows and a swirling vortex of light appeared over all the doors and windows.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked.

"I thought you couldn't cast spells, Dakota," Ryan said.

"He can't," a feminine voice said. It took the heirs a few moments to realize that the voice was coming from the Sorting Hat. "But, I can if he speaks the incantation while touching me."

"And who are you?" Harry asked.

"Hogwarts, of course," the voice answered, before laughing at the wide eyes of everyone in the room and adding, "But, you can call me Morgana."

"Morgana?" Noah asked. "You mean as in Morgana..."

"Le Fey, yes," Morgana said. "Much like how Dakota's consciousness was bound to the Sorting Hat upon his death, my own consciousness was bound to the very walls of Hogwarts Castle itself. However, unlike Dakota, I retain the ability to use magic, however, I can only do it when Dakota is touching the floor or a wall or some other architectural aspect of the castle itself, because as I said, he needs to lend his voice for the spells to work."

"In order for Morgana to retain the ability to use magic when her consciousness was bound to the castle," Dakota added, "she had to give up her voice and thus she can't speak on her own. She can speak through me, but only if we're in physical contact with one another. Well, she can also speak through her portrait, as can I, but our portraits are currently inaccessible."

"So, what was that spell?" Nick asked. "I didn't even recognize the language."

"The language was Old English," Morgana revealed. "And the spell's purpose was to seal the room so that nobody outside of it can enter or eavesdrop on our conversation until the room is unsealed. And that includes the Headmaster, who just attempted to adjust the castle wards to allow him to hear what's going on in here. It didn't work, however."

"What do we need to do?" Ernie asked.

"Reveal the Founder's Tower," Dakota answered, and there were a few confused looks because outside of Hermione, Harry, and Noah the other heirs didn't know about the Founder's Tower because they hadn't been present when Noah had found the reference to it and the three Gryffindors hadn't told the others about it because it had honestly slipped their minds until just now.

"It's a magically hidden tower," Noah said. "I found the castle's original blueprints in the Restricted Section while looking for information on the heirs." In his head, he added, 'Never suspecting for a moment that I'd actually be one.' Aloud he continued, "All five of the founders had their offices and private quarters in the tower, but it was charmed to disappear once the last founder left the school, which was in 1035 when the last living founder, Godric, died."

"So where is this tower?" Nick asked.

"According to the blueprints Noah found," Hermione replied, "it's on the cliffs near the viaduct. Although apparently it's physically inaccessible and can only be reached by magic."

"So, what you have to Floo into it or something?" Ryan wondered.

"No, you get there via a form of Apparition," Dakota answered.

"You can't Apparate at Hogwarts," Hermione argued.

"Wherever did you get that idea?" Morgana asked.

"I read about it in Hogwarts: A History," Hermione stated.

"A yes the work of fiction written by Rowena's daughter Helena," Morgana said, as Hermione's eyes widened at that description. "There are some facts in that book, but Helena never intended for it to be a true history of the school. As somebody who was alive when it was written, I can tell you with certainty that she embellished quite a few things and completely made up some others. I know it's been updated a few times over the years to include more recent history, but unfortunately the authors doing the updating didn't realize that much of what Helena wrote in the original was total fiction."

"One of the things that is at least partially true," Dakota revealed, "is the inability to Apparate. However, while the book says that it's completely impossible to Apparate anywhere on school grounds, that's not actually true. You can't Apparate off the grounds or onto them, but the staff members actually can Apparate from one location on the grounds or in the castle to another. Of course, this has been kept a secret for the last three-hundred-odd years known only to the sitting Head. As the current Headmaster, Albus can manipulate the wards so that he never Apparates into an area where he would be seen doing it by anyone and thus it remains a secret."

"Would Teaching Assistants be considered staff members?" Noah asked. "I'm a seventh-year student, but I am being paid to teach the 2nd year Potions classes."

"Things really have come full circle," Morgana commented. "In the Founders' day it wasn't uncommon for the older students to help teach the younger ones, although they generally weren't paid to do so. Anyway, if you're on the payroll and the Headmaster considers you to be a staff member, then yes, you should be able to Apparate, Noah."

"Well, he did refer to us as staff members," Ernie remembered, "when he originally told us about the Teaching Assistant jobs, he welcomed us to the teaching staff. We were forbidden to use the ground floor Staff Room, but we were given our own lounge room on the second floor."

"And we were each given our own private classrooms," Hermione added.

"One way to find out, I suppose," Dakota said. "Why don't you try Apparating over to the Restricted Section gate, Noah?"

With a nod of his head, Noah closed his eyes and concentrated on the gate to the Restricted Section. A moment later, he Disapparated from where he was standing only to reappear over by the gate. Walking back, Noah had a grin on his face, as he said, "I guess that would be a yes."

"It appears so," Dakota agreed. "Anyway, about the Founders' Tower. Some of you may or may not be familiar with it, but there's a room off the Great Hall. The door is near the staff table."

"The Antechamber," Harry said. "It's where the Triwizard Champions were sent two years ago after their names were drawn from the Goblet of Fire."

"Indeed it is," Morgana said. "And I imagine that all of you assumed, incorrectly, that it was called the Antechamber since there's a door in the room that leads outside to the Viaduct Courtyard."

"Why would that be an incorrect assumption?" Nick asked.

"Because that exit and the Viaduct Courtyard itself," Morgana said, "did not exist in the days of the Founders and yet that room has always been called the Antechamber."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Ryan said. "An antechamber, by definition, is a room that serves as a waiting room or entrance. If the door to the courtyard didn't exist and the only way into the room was through the Great Hall, how could it be an antechamber? An antechamber to what?" After a moment, his eyes widened, as he asked, "Wait, do you mean it's the antechamber to the Founders' Tower?"

"Precisely," Dakota answered. "Or, more accurately, it's the antechamber to another room which, like the Tower, is currently hidden. This other room is called the Statue Room and inside of it are statues of all five founders. Well, in the Founders' day when it was a secret that Merlin was involved, there were statues of Godric, Helena, Rowena, and Salazar along the side walls and directly across from the door into the room was a statue of a large sleeping dragon, with a shield depicting the Hogwarts coat of arms learning against its' body."

"When the founders were still around," Morgana continued, "their individual statues served as the entrances to their private offices. Students who needed to speak with them during their office hours would wait in the antechamber and be escorted into the Statue Room one at a time. The four statues of the founders had their hands held out with their palms facing up, so to visit their office, you put your hands on their statue's hands, palms down, and uttered the word Enter in Old English. That's where the form of Apparition that Dakota mentioned earlier comes in, as it's a special type of Apparition that allows a person to Apparate even if they haven't been trained how to do it yet. Thus even first year students on their first day at Hogwarts would have been able to Apparate into the Founders' Tower."

"You made a point of saying when the founders were still around," Ernie commented. "I assume things are different now?"

"Indeed, they are," Dakota answered. "When the Tower and Statue Room were hidden, the statues of the founders would have changed positions, so that their hands were no longer held out. Meanwhile, the statue of the dragon would have shifted into a statue of Merlin, with his hands held out. Instead of going directly to the Founders' offices, you'll now be going to the Star Garden."

"The Star Garden?" Hermione asked. "What's that?"

"A room in the shape a five-point star," Morgana revealed. "It's magically charmed to allow plants to grow indoors, without water or sunlight. There's a large fountain in the center of the room and the ceiling is charmed the same way as the Great Hall ceiling. The Founders' offices are arranged around the edges of the room, in the points of the star and the entrances to their private quarters are in their offices."

"So how do we reveal this Tower?" Harry asked. "And what did you mean when you were talking about the survival of the school and the world at large earlier?"

"Merlin's portrait will answer your second question," Dakota said. "As for revealing the tower, the five of you, that is the primary heirs, must go to the Antechamber and insert your lord's rings into the slots on the underside of the chamber's fireplace mantle. That will open the door to the Statue Room."

"From there," Morgana continued, "you must enter the Founder's Tower, which will reappear for everyone to be able to see once an heir of all five founders has entered it. To enter the tower, you must, one by one, place your hands palms down upon the hands of Merlin's statue and say 'Enter' in Old English, which is 'infæreld'."

"Only heirs or those you give permission can enter the Tower," Dakota added. "Even Albus will be barred from entering the tower, unless you give him permission to enter. Also, permission can be revoked at any time, if you so choose."

"As the heirs," Morgana said, "the Founders' Tower will be your private domains over which you have full control. Of course, it could be argued that you also have full control over the rest of the school, considering that you own the school, in equal one-fifth stakes."

"Own the school?" Nick asked, his eyebrows raising in shock.

"The primary heirs do, yes," Dakota confirmed. "Noah and Luna, as secondary heirs, you don't have ownership stakes, but you are still related to the founders, so you'll have full access to the Founders' Tower that can't be revoked by the primary heirs."

"Anyway," Morgana said, "I will now unseal the room and you can all Apparate directly to the Antechamber."

"Only Noah, Harry, Ernie and myself are staff members," Hermione pointed out. "And only Noah actually knows how to Apparate, as the rest of us are still underage and haven't learned how yet."

"Ah yes, of course," Dakota said. "Very well, Fawkes can take you."

Fawkes trilled as if to confirm that he could, as Morgana said, "All of you hold hands please and then when Fawkes flies up into the air, one of you grab onto his talons. Dakota?"

Dakota spoke the incantation to allow the room to be unsealed, as the heirs all held hands, while Luna picked up Dakota from the floor. Seconds after the room was unsealed, the doors opened and Dumbledore came in, just in time to see Harry grabbing onto Fawkes' talons, as the phoenix burst into flames and all of them flashed out of the room.

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Reappearing in the Antechamber, everyone was momentarily dazed from their first experience with traveling via phoenix flash. After a moment, Noah shook his head and said, "Well, that didn't feel that much different from Apparition, except it was warmer."

Harry nodded. "Yes, I could feel the heat washing over me, but at the same time I felt very safe."

Fawkes trilled at that and preened a bit. After a moment, Dakota cleared his throat and said, "Primary heirs, you will have to temporarily remove the rings from your fingers in order to insert them into the slots they need to be placed in."

The heirs nodded and pulled the rings off their fingers and then headed over to the fireplace. Finding the necessary slots, Hermione and Ernie slid their rings in without difficulty, but Harry, Ryan, and Nick were having some. After a moment, Nick said, "It won't fit."

"Perhaps you need to separate them," Luna commented in her normal far-off tone.

"Luna is correct," Dakota said. "I'm sorry, I forgot. The rings won't fit because the slots are meant for the faces of the founders' lordship rings, but all of you are the lords of more than one family, so the faces of your rings are larger than the slots. Press the pad of your wand hand's thumb against the face of the ring and say 'Solvo.'"

Doing as they were instructed, Harry, Ryan and Noah were momentarily awed when their rings split apart into separate rings again, with the latter two each holding two rings, while Harry held three. Looking at the rings to ensure they had the correct ring, they each inserted them into the slots. A moment later, what sounded like stone grating on stone could be heard and turning their heads away from the fireplace, they could see that an archway had just opened up on what had previously been an empty section of wall.

"You may remove your rings from the slots now and put them back on," Dakota said. "Now that it's open, the entrance to the Statue Room will remain open."

Once the primary heirs had all slid their rings back onto their fingers, they all crossed through the archway into the Statue Room and could see, just as had been described, the statues of the founders, along with the statue of Merlin dead ahead. Taking a moment to look at the statues of the founders, Harry said, "Slytherin looks a lot handsomer here."

"What do you mean, Harry?" Ernie asked.

"Well, there was a statue of him in the Chamber of Secrets," Harry answered. "He was pretty ugly though and obviously quite a bit older than he's depicted here."

"All of these statues, with the exception of Merlin's," Dakota spoke up, "depict the founders in their early to mid thirties, although they ranged from their early twenties to their mid forties when the school was actually founded. Merlin, meanwhile, is depicted in his late sixties, as that's how old he looked when the school was founded." After a moment, he added, "All of them, with the exception of Salazar, were over a 100 when they died. Salazar was 95 when he died from a stroke and it was probably within the decade or so before his death that he built the Chamber of Secrets, so the statue there shows him much older."

"When was Salazar actually born?" Nick asked, curious about his distant ancestor.

"He was the youngest of the founders," Dakota answered. "Born 5 May 930 and was the last of the founders to apprentice under Merlin. So, he was only 23 years old when the school was founded in 953. Meanwhile, Helga, the eldest and first of the founders to apprentice under Merlin, was 44 at the time of the founding. Godric was 37, Rowena was 30, and Merlin was actually 123, although he'd used magic to slow down his aging so he looked to be in his late 60's at that point."

"And where do you and Morgana fit in age-wise?" Ryan asked.

"I was born the same year as Merlin," Dakota revealed. "So the year 830 and Morgana was one year younger than us. Anyway, I think it's time you are started heading into the tower. You remember what you need to say?"

All seven of them nodded, before lining up in front of the statue of Merlin, with Harry in the lead. All of them were thoroughly shocked when the statue of Merlin spoke after Harry placed his hands on the statue's hands and said, "Infæreld."

"Your pronunciation is a bit off, Harry," Merlin's statue said. "But we'll work on that. For now welcome."

As Harry disappeared, Noah asked, "That statue can talk?"

Dakota answered, "Yes, Merlin imbued a small part of himself inside the statue. Similar to the process that allows portraits to speak. However, the statue is rather limited in its interactions. Anyway, next."

Each of the primary heirs went first, with Merlin making some comment about their mispronunciation of Old English. Finally, Luna was the only one left and since she couldn't hold onto Dakota and place her hands upon the statue's, she put Dakota on her head and then did what she had to do to enter the tower. Dumbledore arrived in the room just in time to hear Luna speaking and disappear, making him utter, "What in the Nine Hells?"

"Albus!" Minerva called out.

"In here Minerva," Albus called out.

McGonagall's eyes widened as she said, "I don't recall this room ever existing."

"I guess it was hidden," Albus said and then noticing the look on McGonagall's face, he asked, "Is something wrong?"

"A tower has appeared out of nowhere near the viaduct," Minerva said. "It looks completely inaccessible."

"I imagine this room has something to do with it," Albus said. "I just saw Luna Lovegood disappear from here, wearing the Sorting Hat."

Walking over to the statue of Merlin, Dumbledore laid his hands palms down on the statues and said, in perfect pronunciation, "Infæreld."

"Good pronunciation, Albus," Merlin's statue said. "However, you have no right to access the Founder's Tower. Now go away and stop wasting my time."

-o-0-o-

As Luna appeared in the Star Garden, the others hadn't been there more than five minutes at most. The moment Harry appeared in the room the torches scattered about the room lit of their own accord and the fountain, which had previously been empty of water, suddenly came to life. It would seem that the fountain water was the lifeblood of the garden, as the plants had all been dead looking when Harry first arrived, but within moments of the fountain starting up, all of the plants greened and blossomed in short order to the point that the garden was in full bloom by the time Luna arrived.

Not long after Luna's arrival there was a pop that had everyone turning towards the source to find Dobby standing there.

"Hello Dobby," Harry said with a nod.

"Master Harry Potter, sir," Dobby said with a smile. He looked confused then and asked, "Where are we?"

"The Founder's Tower," Ernie answered.

Dobby looked momentarily awed, before h nodded. "Older elves have long said they could detect hidden tower, but couldn't get in."

"So whatever magic was hiding the tower," Noah said, "was also keeping the house-elves out?"

Dobby nodded. "Very strong magic. Stronger than anything elves ever feel before. Felt it unravel - every elf in castle immediately came here. They is cleaning now."

"Cleaning?" Nick asked.

"Lots of dust and cobwebs in other rooms," Dobby answered.

"Huh," Ryan said. "I suppose that makes sense if you think about it. If this tower has been sealed since the founders died..."

"Godric was the last," Harry added. "Died in 1035."

"So it's been sealed for 961 years," Hermione said. "Makes sense it would need a good cleaning, after all that time."

Dobby nodded. "Rooms directly below this room is clean now. Elves still working on rest."

"According to the blueprints," Noah said, "those should be Helga's rooms." Grinning at Ernie, he said, "So, Ernie, you want to do the honors as our tour guide for the first half of this adventure?"

Ernie grinned. "Sure... um," he looked around, confused, as he looked at the five doors that led off the room. "Which one is the door into Helga's quarters?"

"That one, Master Ernie, sir," Dobby said, as he pointed at a door. "Leads to clean rooms."

"Thank you, Dobby," Ernie said with a nod, before leading the group over to the door that the elf had indicated. The hinges squeaked a bit, probably in protest of being moved for the first time in over 950 years, but it wasn't long before they were all entering the room and taking their first looks around.

The room was rounded on one side, with two more walls meeting at a perfect ninety-degree angle, which made sense due not only to the shape of the Star Garden, but also the tower's round construction. The room was decorated in earth tones, which kind of surprised several of the occupants, as they would have expected Helga Hufflepuff's rooms to be decorated in yellows and black. Of course, then again, just because those were the dominant colors in the house common room, didn't mean they had to be in the rooms belonging to its founder.

The floor was made of dull gray stone, while the walls were paneled in a light-color wood from the floor up to about four to four and a half feet, at which point the walls switched to an off-white stucco like material. Eight feet above the ground, several large wooden beams crisscrossed the room, with the ceiling extending another two feet above them. There was a large stone fireplace on the rounded wall, which had lit upon their entrance to the room, as did the candles held in wall sconces and candelabras interspersed throughout the room.

In front of the fireplace, there was a small end table and two chairs, all three items being intricately carved and in a fashion nobody currently in the room had ever seen before. Of course, it made sense that the furniture used would be very old fashioned, considering that the tower had been sealed since 1035. And assuming Godric hadn't come in and made any changes, this particular room had likely been sealed and unchanged since Helga died thirteen years earlier in 1022. A pair of bookcases flanked the fireplace, while a large desk sat on an angle on the left side of the room.

Walking over and taking a closer look at the desk, Ernie could see that a panel on the front side of it, perfectly centered, was an intricately carved copy of the Hufflepuff coat of arms which appeared on the lordship ring. The desk also featured exquisitely carved badger's heads on the corners of the desk, just below the desk's surface.

After a few minutes, Harry pointed to the stone staircase opposite the desk and said, "Well, shall we go explore downstairs?"

With a nod, Ernie came over and said, "Yes, let's," as he led the way down the stairs and into the room below. Much like what had happened when they'd first entered Helga's office, the candles lit as they moved down their stairs. Reaching the room at the bottom, it took a moment, but then the fireplace lit itself and one by one, the candles throughout the room lit to reveal a larger room which was decorated in much the same style as the room above, with mostly earth tones. This room, did, however have more shades of yellow interspersed throughout, along with the occasional black.

The thing everyone's eyes were immediately drawn to however, where the two life-size portraits hanging above the fireplace mantle, which depicted two women. The one on the right was wearing a very fancy black dress, embellished with silver, and holding an open black lace fan in her hands. She had long black hair, hanging down over her shoulders, and a kind looking face. After some scrutiny, everyone recognized her as Helga Hufflepuff, as this painted image matched the features of the statue of her that they'd seen in the Statue Room. The other woman, meanwhile, appeared to be slightly younger with brown hair tied back in an intricate bun. She was wearing a pair of diamond and pearl earrings, along with a diamond tiara, and wearing a fancy yellow dress accented in silver.

"The woman in black is Helga Hufflepuff," Ernie commented.

Harry nodded. "Yeah and I imagine the other woman is her wife. What did the book say her name was again?"

"Catherine van Blunt," Hermione supplied, just as the occupants of the two portraits, who had until now been dozing, woke up and looked at the assembled group of students.

"So, somebody finds us I see," Helga said, with a smile. "Which one of you is my heir? And just how long has it been since I died anyway?"

"I'm your heir," Ernie said as he stepped forward. "Ernest John Macmillan, although most people call me Ernie or E.J. As for the year, it's October 1996."

"November, actually," Hermione corrected, which caused Ernie to turn and give her a questioning look. "It's after midnight, Ernie."

Looking at his watch, Ernie nodded and said, "So it is."

"1996," Catherine said. "So, we died 974 years ago, Hel. Somehow I didn't expect it to take this long for the tower to be found. Of course, Merlin never did say how long it would take, just that it would be in the future."

Helga nodded. "Yes, he could be annoyingly vague when he wanted to be."

"Forgive me," Hermione said, "but your speech is much more modern than I would expect."

Catherine smiled, "One of the many spells cast on the tower, Miss..."

"Granger, Hermione Granger," Hermione answered. "I'm Godric's heir."

Catherine nodded. "Yes, I thought I saw a slight resemblance. Anyway, Miss Granger, one of the spells cast on the tower was a spell that would allow us portraits to update our speech patterns the moment you entered the room. Otherwise, you likely would have had great difficulty in understanding what we were saying."

"So, who are the rest of you?" Helga asked, as everyone proceeded to introduce themselves.

As they finished, both Ernie and Nick yawned. Helga shook her head at this and said, "I think any further exploring and conversation can wait until you've all had a good night's sleep. I know you said it was after midnight, so it's quite late for students to be out of bed."

"Well, Luna is a 5th year and Noah is a 7th year," Harry said. "The rest of us are 6th years and we were up later than normal because it was Halloween and the older students had a Masquerade Ball to celebrate."

"I'd wondered about your fancy dress robes," Catherine said. "Anyway, I think it's time you all went to bed."

"The house-elves are still cleaning the other rooms," Ryan said.

"There's plenty of room here in our quarters," Helga said. "In addition to the master bedroom, there's ten guest rooms. So, more than enough for all of you to have your own rooms." After a moment of scrutinizing Harry and Noah, she added, "Although from your body language, Harry, Noah, I imagine the two of you wouldn't mind sharing a room."

Harry and Noah blushed, as the others grinned at them. After a moment, Catherine gave everyone directions and they all headed off to sleep, Ernie in the master bedroom, while the others picked from among the available guest rooms. Despite their embarrassment over the comment, Harry and Noah did opt to share a room, falling asleep almost as soon as their heads hit the pillows, with Noah spooning Harry from behind.

-o-0-o-

To be continued.

And there you have Part One of Chapter Twenty-One. I hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter, you'll meet the other founders, and their spouses, and find out more information about the threat that's facing Hogwarts and the world at large.