Published on: 3/17/20

Words: 2,934

Hermione POV

"The need to get to the hall, obviously!" it exclaimed. "Hey, no insults. I'm doing my best here," I yelled back. "Yeah, I know. Hey, when you find it, let me know will ya? I can probably answer some of your questions." "Don't worry, I will. Now, about this sorting, we were supposed to be doing?" I asked still amused that we talked for so long. "Right, how about we give them a bit of a scare?" With that, the hat took a deep breath (or so it seemed) and yelled: "Gryffindor!" There were a few muffled yells from the professors and students and Horace even fell off his chair spilling his tea all over his lilac-colored vest. I giggled a little as McGonagall took off the hat. "That was the longest sorting ever. What took so long?" she asked me. I smiled and said, "I'm a tricky person," I said and went to the Gryffindor table. I sat in front of Sirius which also happened to be next to Fabian with Gideon on the other side. "That took twenty minutes. The hat sure had a hard time with you, Mia," Fabian said and I nodded. "Lily Evans," I heard McGonagall call. Instantly it yelled, "Gryffindor!" I smiled and clapped. She came and sat next to me.

The rest of the sorting went like this: Lydia Hollingbury-Hufflepuff (not important but I needed a name for Hufflepuff), Alice Hunter-Gryffindor, Frank Longbottom-Gryffindor, Xenophilius Lovegood-Ravenclaw, Remus Lupin-Gryffindor, Marlene McKinnon-Gryffindor, Mulciber-Slytherin, Peter Pettigrew-Gryffindor, James Potter-Gryffindor, Evan Rosier-Slytherin, Severus Snape-Slytherin, and Wilkes-Slytherin (this really did happen, I searched it up). After Dumbledore said more words of welcome, the food appeared and we all started eating.

"So, 'Mione, why did the hat take so long?" Lily asked me. "Apparently, I can easily fit into all the house. It had a hard time sorting me. We were so caught up in how fascinating it was that we had a conversation and completely forgot about the sorting. Sorry if it bothered you guys," I said and everyone who heard me looked shocked and surprised. We spent the rest of the time eating and getting to know our housemates. James was trying to be nice to Pettigrew but I knew he was slowly getting annoyed. I wonder how those guys became friends.

After the feast, which consisted of talking to housemates and discreetly feeding Mitsuki, we made our way to the common room. The prefect led us to the portrait of the Fat Lady and said, "Acid Pops," I knew it was Dumbledore that chose the password since he loved treats. We went inside and were told about the dorm rooms. After that, Lily and I went to our dorms to start unpacking. When we got to our room, we saw that our trunks on our beds so we started unpacking. I took Nova out of her cage and conjured up a stand for her to rest, much like the one Fawkes has, and change her cage a bit so Mitsuki can stay in it. I put him in but left the cage open and continued to unpack.

I put all the books that I would need for this year on the table next to my bed. Then I grabbed my guitar and was about to start playing when two girls came into the room. I recognized them as Marlene and Alice. They were out dorm mates. I started practicing the scales on my guitar as Lily introduced herself. "Hey, I'm Lily Evans, that's my sister, Hermione Evans. And you guys?" she asked them. "Hey, I'm Marlene McKinnon, you can call me Lena," Marlene said and then Lily smiled before turning to Alice. "I'm Alice Adams, you can call me Alley," she said and Lily nodded again. Lena and Alley turned to me as I continued to practice. "Don't mind her. She'll say 'Hi' when she's done practicing. Nothing but a storm will keep her from finishing her practice once she's started," Lily explained. After practicing the scales, I started playing in a slow tempo before singing.


Dirás que es raro
Lo que me pasó
Parece que anoche
Te encontré en mis sueños

Las palabras que dije
Se volvieron canción
Versos que tuyos son
Y el recuerdo nos dio

Una melodía bella que el alma tocó
Con el ritmo que vibra
En nuestro interior

Amor verdadero nos une por siempre
En el latido de mi corazón
Amor verdadero nos une por siempre
En el latido de mi corazón

¡Ay, mi familia!, ¡oiga mi gente!
Canten a coro nuestra canción
Amor verdadero nos une por siempre
En el latido de mi corazón

¡Ay, mi familia!, ¡oiga mi gente!
Canten a coro nuestra canción
Amor verdadero nos une por siempre
En el latido de mi corazón

Amor verdadero nos une por siempre
En el latido de mi corazón


After I finished, I put my guitar down and finally turned to my sister and the two girls. "Hello, I'm Hermione Evans, nice to meet you," I said sticking out my hand so they could shake it. They each did and smiled at me. "You have a nice voice, and you play really well. How long have you been playing?" Alley asked. "A few years now. It's one of the few things that calms me down and helps me think," I said. After that, I left to go to the common room while Lily made new friends. I still had trouble making friends with girls. It's easier to be friends with guys.

Once I got to the common room, I saw some older kids still there as well as the Marauders. I held tighter to my music book and went to the couch in one of the corners of the room. I curled up there and started thinking about new songs. I must have been there for hours since the next time I looked around, it was empty. I looked at my wristwatch and saw that it was only ten at night. I sighed and got up. I put my book on the nearest table and summoned a roll of parchment. I am going to make my map of this school since I am going to need it and I can't wait for three years until the Marauders make their own.

I started casting spells on the parchment and filling it with my memories of the castle. I also added my own things to it. I added listening charms around the castle so I could hear whatever conversation I want. I also added a spell for the map to recognize where the student's pets are. I also enchanted one of the corners so that when I press on it and think of who or what I'm looking for, it would automatically send me to the part of the map that holds what I'm looking for.

On the cover, it had a picture of the castle with a phoenix, lioness, and snake surrounding it. At the top, it said Misses Claws, Talons, and Scales is proud to present The Pride's Map. Then I put the phrase to open it; which was: The Pride is hunting. I added a spell so it would understand the phrase in whatever language I said it in. After I added the phrase to close it; which was: The Pride has Hunted. After I finished, I opened it again and saw it show me everything I had asked for. It even showed me all the secret passages that even the Marauders won't even know about.

I was planning on going to the Astronomy tower tonight but since we don't start classes until Monday, I'll just go tomorrow or over the weekend. I closed the map, folded it up, and grabbed my music book. I went back to my room to sleep.

~The next day~

I woke up and grabbed my clothes before going to shower. After I finished getting ready for the day, I grabbed a parchment and wrote a note for Lily for when she woke up. After that, I looked at Mitsuki. "Is there a way for you to attach yourself to me but not be seen by everyone? Like, can you become a tattoo on my body?" I asked him and he nodded. "I can do that, mistress. Where would you like me to attach myself?" he asked me. "Around my neck," I said and he nodded. He shrunk and I placed him around my neck. Then he went into my skin and made himself look like a tattoo on my neck. I grabbed my map and then I went to the common room and noticed that not many people were awake. I ignored them and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. Very few people were in the Great Hall so early in the morning. I sat down in the middle of the table and started putting the food that I was going to eat on my plate.

In the middle of eating, the Marauders finally came in. I sighed and shook my head as they came my way. "Hey, 'Mione. How was your sleep?" Remus asked me and I smiled at him. "I slept well, and you guys?" I asked and they nodded. "Same." We talked a bit about what we could do today. The introduced me to Peter since they share a dorm and I smiled at him trying to be friendly but still not liking him. After I finished and went to the Slytherin table since Severus was there. "Morning Sev," I said and he looked at me. "Morning, 'Mione. And Lily?" he asked me and I smirked at me. "She's should be coming down soon. Can you tell her that I'm exploring the castle today so she might not see me for a few hours?" I asked him and he nodded. "Sure," "Thanks," I said and left.

I headed to the Astronomy tower to look for the Founder's Hall. When I finally reached the tower, I went to the railing and looked at the grounds "I missed this place," I said to myself and then tore myself from there and went to the wall beside the door. Then I gently placed my hand on the cold stone. As I held my hand there, the stone melted into a door. It was made of dark cedarwood and looked as old as the castle itself; it had a faded, wrought iron design on it. I muttered a spell and with a wave of my hand, hundreds of years of dirt and moss were cleared away revealing a simple door. The design was that of the Hogwarts crest - it had been inlaid so long ago that it had seeped into the wood itself. I reached for the handle and had almost touched it when it swung open of its own accord.

I stepped through the doorway and found myself at the top of a very small spiral staircase that looked to have been squashed in right next to the normal one. Right before the door closed behind her with a resounding thud, a few torches lit themselves. The torches here seemed older than the ones in the rest of the castle; they were in simple yet elegant brackets, each of which had a different engraving on it. I walked down the stairs very slowly so as not to miss my footing but also so I could look at each torch. The first one had an engraving of a lion with an eagle riding on it's back, the second had a snake curled up next to a book with a badger. These went on and on, sometimes the engraving was of one of the houses' mascots and sometimes it was of two or three. It was great to see them all working together doing various school tasks or learning different things. Suddenly, the stairs turned into a small corridor. This surprised me because by my estimation I was only about three-quarters of the way down the tower, none-the-less I followed it. It would go straight for a while then it would start twisting and turning only to become a staircase again, sometimes going up and sometimes going down. I followed this strange pathway for about 20 minutes before it finally came to a stop in front of another ancient-looking door.

As I approached the door it swung open and I stepped into the most spectacular room I had ever seen; it was almost as big as the Great Hall. The ceiling was the same as the one in the Great Hall, it looked exactly like the sky I had been observing earlier, there were even the tiny puffs of cloud hovering over. And the floor, the floor was a tight weave of carpet, a deep midnight blue, almost black in color and covered with a pattern of clouds and stars. It seemed to be a toned-down, fabric reflection of the night sky. Scattered around the room were small sitting areas, study tables, and couches. Three of the four walls were lined with bookcases that were two stories tall and many rows deep, creating long corridors that seemed to stretch for miles; there must have been hundreds of thousands of books. One side of the room had dozens of small shelves and cases filled with Merlin only knows what, another with long workbenches, there even seemed to be a dueling platform. Directly across from where she had entered there was a massive fireplace and placed in the corner to it's right was a huge ornate desk, beautiful but serviceable. Despite the fact that everything was covered in layers upon layers of dust, it was a magical scholar's dream come true.

A small stand with a massive, closed book on it was placed just beyond the door. I walked slowly forward, still in awe of the room. On top of the book, there was an ancient piece of folded parchment. On the front, it simply said 'Welcome'. Brushing the dust off, I turned it over and found that it had never been opened, it was still firmly shut with the seal of Hogwarts stamped on the back in wax. Carefully, I unfolded it and read it.

Welcome, heir of Hogwarts, to the Founder's Hall, the heart of this school.

This hall was created as the center of learning, it is here for all those with an open mind and a will to learn. Over the years, hundreds of students and graduates have used this hall as a place for quiet study, for academic entertainment, and of course, as a place to further their knowledge. However, what is found here is not for the weak of mind, for as with power, knowledge can easily corrupt. Without proper supervision, we are worried that what is held within these walls will be used in a manner not befitting a true Hogwarts student. Originally we intended to have an official guardian for this hall as we each have our own duties to attend to, and in the years we have taught here we have searched for one deserving of that power but it has been a fruitless hunt. Therefore, this hall has been sealed to keep its secrets safe, we made this decision many years ago and do so now, as our days come to an end. It will only be found and opened again when an Heir of Hogwarts is deemed worthy of the responsibility.

A true Heir of Hogwarts embodies the traits valued by all four founders of this school. From Hufflepuff, you must bring loyalty, hard work, and determination. From Ravenclaw, you must bring wisdom, creativity, and individuality. From Gryffindor, you must bring bravery, courage, and selflessness. And from Slytherin, you must bring cunning, ambition and raw power.

If you are reading this then you are the Heir of Hogwarts and have now become the Hall's new guardian. You are responsible for this hall and those who use it until another comes along or until you tire, at which point you must once again hide it from the world. Only those who know where the Hall is will be able to get to it, please remember this and please use what you find wisely.

Rowena Ravenclaw

Helga Hufflepuff

Godric Gryffindor

Salazar Slytherin

P.S. To clarify some things that Rowena may have worded a bit too eloquently, you are the embodiment of all that Hogwarts is meant to be, we are trusting you with secrets known only to us, and 'until you tire' basically means you can live for as long as you are willing to protect this hall. ~ H.H.

P.P.S They also forgot to tell you that you now have access to all our primary vaults, just go to Gringotts and show them all our signet rings, they will take you to vaults one through four. Also, the Hogwarts ring will let you in vault 9, the Hogwarts vault. You can't have the gold because that's for the school but there might be some interesting stuff in there, we don't know. ~ G.G.

P.P.P.S I feel it is my duty to warn you, if you abuse this privilege the consequences would be ... unpleasant. ~ S.S.