The Diadone Method

Chapter 17 – Dirt, Grime and Discoveries

Author's note: Here we go again!

Where we left off with Draco and Blaise in September: "I dunno. Maybe find out Hogwarts' secrets?"

Draco and Blaise stood in front of the vague outline of an archway on the wall and tried to figure out if they could get in. They had been 'exploring' the dungeons (read: wandering around mostly aimlessly in the darkest, dampest and lest-visited parts) for over a month now and had finally found something interesting...probably. Their original goal had been to find out Hogwarts' secrets, they had since amended it to finding out Slytherin's secrets. It had become abundantly clear that the Gryffindors were doing after-hours adventuring of their own so the two boys had decided to focus on where they probably wouldn't go, namely around the snake pit.

They had started looking in places that no one ever seemed to go. The only times people were in the dungeons (or even near them, really) was for Potions or to get to the Hufflepuff or Slytherin common rooms. That was it. Even Professor Snape's quarters were rumored to be closer to the rest of the school. However, there were a lot of corridors and passageways that most people overlooked, especially beyond the Slytherin area. Draco and Blaise decided to take advantage of that. After all, there must be a reason they had been built.

A couple days ago, Blaise had noticed a series of snake carvings that almost looked to be marking a path. Each carving was different and in a different spot, but their heads and tails were all pointing in the same direction. Some were near the floor (thankfully Draco hadn't had his growth spurt yet so he didn't break his back looking for them), others on doorways, one was even on the ceiling. But they all pointed the same way. And that way was usually a little darker and a little lower than where they came from.

When Draco and Blaise followed all the carvings, they had found the outline of this archway. And they knew that it led somewhere, they just didn't know where or how to open it. Wrapped around the arch was another intricately carved snake, so much attention had been paid to the details that if it wasn't made of stone, they might have expected it to come to life.

"What do we do now?" Draco asked. They had tried pushing on different stones, stroking the snake, saying Slytherin related passwords, anything they could think of to get it to open. It didn't move an inch.

"I don't know. But we've come this far, I don't want to give up."

"I agree. We wanted to find Hogwarts' secrets and I'm sure there's one behind here!" Draco was getting frustrated.

Blaise decided to approach with logic. "Let's think for a minute. This is obviously something Slytherin. Slytherin values ambition and cunning."

"Also resourcefulness." Draco added. "Maybe we need to solve a riddle?"

Blaise frowned, "Maybe...it could be a puzzle and we only found the end of it. We could have missed a clue on the way here."

"Or maybe we're not supposed to be here at all."

"Obviously." Blaise said blandly. "But that doesn't mean we won't keep coming back until we figure this out."

"Of course." Draco and Blaise then proceeded to investigate every inch of the wall surrounding the arch. And the floor. And the ceiling.

Blaise flopped on the ground, uncaring of the years of grime that were no doubt ruining his trousers. "Nothing!" He said with no small amount of frustration.

"Argh!" Draco slid down the wall.

"We're close to something big, I know it!"

"Come on, Blaise, we're Slytherins, there must be a clue here. We just haven't found it yet."

"I suppose we could come back tomorrow..." Blaise didn't sound too excited at the prospect of having to give up.

Draco slouched and leaned his head on the wall. "We must be missing something!"

And the something they were missing made itself known. The large carved snake started hissing. "Sssheeennnssasha. Hessfasssaaaha. Ssssaaaahasha."

Both boys jumped up and took a much closer look at what they had thought was just decoration around the arch.

"Sssiaaishaaasss." The snake spoke again, then it started moving. It seemed to get a gleam in it's eye, as if it had decided something. It gestured them closer with its head, "Ssseehaa hehsshhehaahsssa ssaaahh."

Blaise turned his wide-eyed look to Draco, "I think it's trying to tell us something."

"Well yeah, but what?"

"Hehsshhehaahssssa." It hissed.

Neither boy knew what the snake wanted so they just looked at each other then back to the snake.

Then the snake carving seemed to peel off the wall a bit in an attempt to be closer to them."Hehsshhehaahssssa!" It hissed again.

Getting alarmed at how close the snake was coming, Draco suppressed the urge to take a step back. "Do you think it wants something?"

A few drops of dusty venom seemed to drip from the snake's stone fangs, "HEHSSSHHEHAAHSSSA!" It then stopped and flicked it's now very life-like tongue at the two curious but hesitant boys. It's tail then quickly removed itself from the wall and jabbed at Blaise's elbow.

"Ow! That hurt!" Blaise complained, a sharp stone tail digging into his arm was not comfortable.

Finally, Draco figured it out. "Heee ssshaa ha sa." He tried.

The snake whipped around and focused all its attention on the blond. "Hehsshhehaahssssa."

Draco cleared his throat, "Heh ssa ha sa."

The snake shook its head in what seemed to be frustration then turned to Blaise, as if challenging him to do better. "Hehsshhehaahssssa." It repeated, yet again.

"Heh ssha ha sa." Blaise tried.

The snake hissed in disgruntlement. "Heh." It started, then nodded at the boys who repeated it dutifully (and correctly this time). "Sshhe." Again, they followed along. "Haah." Another pause as they tried out the unfamiliar syllables. "Sssa." It waited for them to repeat it then continued, "Hehsshhehaahssssa."

Draco and Blaise looked at each other, were they really learning Parseltongue from a stone snake? Because that's what seemed to be happening. "Hehh sshe ha ssa." They tried together. The snake nodded in encouragement, apparently they were getting better.

Blaise took a deep breath, wet his lips and tried one last time. "Hehsshhehaahssssa." There was a deep grinding sound and the stone archway sunk into the wall leaving a very dark passage. Even when they pointed their lit wands in, the light barely penetrated the darkness.

"Son of a banshee." Draco swore, they'd just learned a tiny piece of Parseltongue and found a very secret passage. The two were about to step through the archway when they were stopped by a stone tail across their chests. Turns out the snake was even more mobile than they thought. It used its tail to not so gently poke them back into the hall.

"Ahhsssahehsssseth." It said.

Having a bit more a a grasp of how things were supposed to sound in the snake language and what the snake wanted from them, it only took three repetitions for both boys to learn the new word. As soon as it was spoken properly, the passage closed and the archway was once more just an outline on the wall.

"Oh!" Draco explained. "It wanted to teach us how to close doors too!" It would make sense. If there wasn't another helpful snake carving – and they seriously hoped this was a helpful snake not an elaborate trap – but more doors, they'd want to know how to open and close them all.

A few moments later, both Draco and Blaise had memorized what they thought were probably the Parseltongue words for open and close. "Ready to see what's down there?" Blaise asked.

Draco gave a quiet laugh, "Probably not, but we're going anyway!"

Putting as much energy into their lights as possible, they stepped into the ancient passage with a squish. "I guess this hasn't been used in a while." Blaise commented, his lip curling up in disgust at the damp gunge they were walking on. It was even worse than the unused corridors they'd been exploring before.

"And I wouldn't recommend touching the walls." Draco added, "They're covered in slime." That wasn't quite correct, the walls were actually covered in slime, mold and an unidentifiable greenish substance. Thinking that maybe the stuff would be interesting to study, he pulled a small jar out of his bag and used the lid to scrape some off the wall.

While Draco was collecting samples, Blaise noticed that hidden behind the multitude of cobwebs there was an unlit torch in a sconce. One quick Incendio later and the whole passage was bathed in an eerie glow as torches all along slowly sputtered to life.

"Merlin!" Draco nearly dropped his newly collected slime. "Warn a guy why don't you?"

Blaise just shrugged, he'd only meant to light the one torch, how was he supposed to know it would start a chain reaction? At least now they could see where they were going...and had their wands available for any surprises they might encounter. Now that the passage was relatively lit, they could see that parts of the stone were disintegrated and it was really as disgusting as they had guessed. A quick glance at his watch showed Blaise that they could either close up now and be back for curfew, or keep going and sneak in later.

As if he could read Blaise's mind, Draco said "Stay out late, yeah?"

With a nod, they closed the archway, gripped their wands a little tighter and headed into the shadowy unknown. It only took them a few minutes to notice that the floor was sloping slightly down and there were more and more snake motifs. Wherever they were, it was Slytherin through and through.

A good ten minutes later, they came to another archway, this one much larger and guarded by multiple snakes. Making sure they were ready to dodge and run if this was a trap, Draco spoke the first word the snake had taught them. "Hehsshhehaahssssa."

Unlike the first archway, this one just dissolved and the two boys froze in shock.

Draco couldn't believe what was in front of him. "Are you seeing this?" He asked Blaise almost silently, not taking his eyes off their discovery.

"I think so." Blaise said faintly. The alternative was that the wall slime was hallucinogenic. Which was entirely possible.

The reason the two Slytherins were nearly speechless was that they were standing in the entry way of a spacious chamber. The ceiling was held up by a series of arches made of intertwining snakes and was completely covered in strange glowing runes. There wasn't a single torch in the entire place, instead the runes lit the chamber in a comfortable glow. Unlike the passage they just came out of, it didn't have a creepy feel. There weren't flickering shadows and slime covered walls. In fact, it was quite a welcoming space.

The almost overwhelming number of snake motifs gave little question as to who the chamber belonged to. "Did we just find the Chamber of Secrets?" Blaise finally asked.

"I thought that was a myth." Draco said, "And isn't there supposed to be a monster in it? This doesn't look or feel like a place a monster would be hidden."

"Good point." Blaise admitted. "But this has to be Slytherin's something. And there is no doubt it's a secret."

Draco thought for a minute. "Well, the founders did live a long time ago. Maybe the chamber is real but the monster is myth." He suggested.

After a cursory exploration of the room and much discussion, the boys decided that yes, they had found the Chamber of Secrets. Why they had been allowed to find it was an entirely different question. And that was something they were sure of; they didn't find this by accident, they had been shown. The stone snake had obviously wanted them to come here. For Merlin's sake, it had taught them some Parseltongue just to open the doors!

They really wanted to explore all the side rooms they had found (many of which were sealed shut and didn't open to the two words they'd been taught) and dig in to the small library, but according to Blaise's watch it was nearing midnight and they had class in the morning.

As they closed up the chamber and headed back to their common room, it dawned on them that they had walked through what might have been centuries of dust and debris to get to the chamber.

"I wonder when the last time that chamber was opened." Blaise mused.

"Not recently, that's for sure." Draco paused, there was something else they could get out of knowing where Slytherin's Chamber was, "I wonder if we can actually learn Parseltongue."

Blaise stopped in his tracks, "Merlin, what if you're right? I mean, everyone thinks you have to be born with it, but neither of us were and now we know two words."

"I mean, we wouldn't be Parselmouths but..." Draco trailed off, it was almost more than his exhausted brain could handle.

"Wow." Blaise said. "Even if it's only a few more words, we'd still know more than almost every other person in the world."

Draco grinned, "Just imagine if we did actually learn it though."

The two boys were thinking the same thing, there were so few Parselmouths in the world that they could communicate entirely secretly. Draco, however, had an additional thought. His father had always hinted that his Dark Lord was not completely gone, if that was true and he came back, he and Blaise would have an invaluable advantage. Also, knowing the snake language would be a huge addition to Antonio's plans. Especially if they could teach it to him as well.

As the boys slipped back into their common room, Blaise couldn't help but ask, "I wonder why it taught us those words. We couldn't possibly be the first Slytherins to find that carving."

Draco didn't have an answer for that.

What the two first years didn't know was that while descendants of Slytherin had roamed these halls many times in the past, none had found the true Chamber of Secrets. Either the ones who found the carving didn't bother spending as much time at the hidden archway trying to get in, or they had been to snooty to explore the dirty depths of the dungeons. What this led to was the snake being annoyed at people overlooking it and a deep-seated disappointment in both Slytherin's descendants and Slytherin house in general. It was also annoyed at how much grime had been allowed to build up in its corridor, it was a representation of the King of Serpents, its home deserved to be clean!

A certain Tom Riddle would be very disappointed to know that he had not found the true Chamber of Secrets, he had found what amounted to the backyard and doghouse. So obsessed with having found a deadly monster that only he could control, Tom had completely overlooked the fact that it was called the Chamber of Secrets. Plural. As in multiple secrets.

Tom had found Salazar Slytherin's underground practice ground and his lonely and mostly psychotic pet snake. And not only had the teenager not found the true Chamber of Secrets, he hadn't even found one of the original entrances. He found the secret trapdoor Slytherin had installed in case he was barred from the dungeons for some reason. In fact, Salazar would probably be rolling in his grave if he knew that his heirs had been accessing his chamber through the Second Floor Girls' Lavatory all these years.

There was a good reason Slytherin's descendants didn't know how to get it properly, he never told anyone. As he aged, Salazar Slytherin started getting rather paranoid of not only Muggles but also his own family. There was a certain type of madness that lay in Slytherin blood and it effected Salazar particularly bad. What started as frustration with Muggleborns' families not understanding their children, sometimes to the point of harming them, turned in to a distrust of everyone. Family, friends, students, everyone. He wouldn't have told because by the time he was old enough to truly think about his own mortality, he was too far gone.

History didn't remember the young teacher who painstakingly taught Muggleborn after Muggleborn about magic only for their families to turn on them when they couldn't always control it. No, history only remembered the paranoid old man who was convinced that Muggleborns were ruining the magical world because they didn't know how to balance their lives. By the time he died, alone and far from the school he helped create, Salazar Slytherin was so mad that his former friends wouldn't have recognized him.

When Tom Riddle found the basilisk in what he thought was the Chamber of Secrets, he didn't bother to continue to explore. He had what he wanted, a deadly weapon only he could control. Why should he keep looking? That would eventually be part of his downfall. For a Slytherin, Riddle had a surprising lack of curiosity. Ambition and cunning he had in spades, but resourcefulness...well, that required a certain amount of curiosity which he was missing.

Lord Voldemort was pissed off. He was stuck to the back of an absolute idiot's head. Sure, the man had the good sense to understand that Voldemort was the most powerful person in the universe and it was an honor beyond all honors to host him. However, the imbecile was faking a stutter in order to allay suspicions (a ridiculous notion) and for some reason thought that Voldemort had an odor and he therefore needed to cover it up. This meant that the self-titled Dark Lord was stuck listening to a terrible fake stutter and smelling like slightly rotting garlic. It was beyond frustrating.

And that was not to mention the fact that his face was being squished by the ridiculous purple turban Quirrel was wearing meaning that he couldn't even see unless he used Quirrel's eyes. Which gave him a splitting headache. The sooner he got his body back the better. If only he had managed to break into Gringotts before the Philosopher's Stone had been moved he would have it already!

Now the bloody thing was hidden away beyond a series of protections that he had no idea what were. Hagrid's stupid dog was a vicious thing that would attack anyone who came near and he was sure that the other professors had come up with suitably dangerous obstacles. Not to mention what the old coot Dumbledore had come up with. What Quirrel really needed was a distraction. He needed time to fight the dog without someone finding out.

To make things more difficult, he was pretty sure that Severus Snape suspected Quirrel of wanting the stone for himself. If only Voldemort could find out if Severus was still his faithful spy! Unfortunately, Quirrel had managed to raise Severus' suspicions in a way that implied Quirrel was a self-serving bastard. Severus was not an unobservant person and he wasn't giving Quirrel any chances to slip into the third floor. Maybe they could do something on Halloween, it would be fitting for him to get his hands on the Stone on the anniversary of his temporary setback.

To top it off, Voldemort was pretty sure the unicorn blood he was drinking to stay alive was actually giving Quirrel some sort of heartburn and/or indigestion. Every time they killed another unicorn, it felt like part of Quirrel's life force was being twisted. Maybe he should have studied more on the rumored curse that came with drinking the blood of a unicorn. No, that couldn't be it. Voldemort was the king of curses, they held nothing over him! They couldn't touch him! He had taken too many steps, too many precautions, to be brought down by some silly unicorn curse! What he needed to do was focus on getting the Stone so he didn't have to worry about other people's problems like hiding a face on the back of their head.

When Nio heard that Granger wanted a contract from them as well as signing one herself, he was even more impressed. He decided to keep a close eye on her. A smart, underestimated witch like that would make a fantastic ally. Or a formidable enemy. Once they'd exchanged the glorified nondisclosure agreements, Nio was pleasantly surprised to hear that she wanted copies, another point in her favor.

They agreed that Granger would attempt the obstacle course on Monday, October 28, and that she would pay for her attempt on the day. Nio and Neville couldn't wait to see how she did, in fact, Neville was so excited that he accidentally let slip that she would need knowledge of all aspects of magic in order to successfully complete the challenges.

Hermione stood just outside a door through which she could hear a faint growling. Interesting.

"Good luck!" Fred said with a smile.

"Hope you don't need it!" George added, sounding way too excited. Something that made her very suspicious.

"Thanks." Hermione said blandly. "I hope you know that if I die this evening, my ghost will haunt you until the end of time."

The twins didn't actually know what to say to that comment, so they retreated to the makeshift waiting area where they were expecting another person to arrive shortly.

Hermione tried the handle and found it locked. When it opened with a simple Alohomora, she became even more suspicious, there was no way it was that easy. She was proven right when she found a three headed dog on the other side. Thanks to her quiet entry, she was able to shut the door and think for a moment. She didn't actually know how to subdue a Cerberus but was pretty sure a stunning spell wouldn't do it. Not that she actually knew how to cast that yet. Instead, she reached in to her bag and pulled out a raw steak. She had packed anything she could think of into the bag that she had convinced a seventh year to charm larger and lighter. Thankfully she had guessed that there would be at least one creature involved and knew that many things loved food. And usually, the most dangerous ones were carnivores.

Sirius was impressed when he saw Granger pull a steak from her bag, it seemed that she had used the time between finding out there would be challenges and attempting the course to prepare. Of course, he had no idea if it would even work. It did. Fluffy got one whiff of the raw meat that the girl had tossed across the room and all three heads started fighting over it.

While the 'dog' was busy, Hermione quickly opened the trap door and looked down. Wasn't that interesting, a big drop into nothingness. Well, that's what the rope was for. Hopefully she'd have enough. Quickly tying it around the door in a way that would pull it shut behind her, she hung the excess over her shoulder and carefully let her weight pull the trapdoor shut.

"I guess those gymnastics lessons paid off after all." Hermione muttered as she very slowly lowered herself into the darkness. She stopped about five feet in, "Hermione, you idiot." Hanging on with one arm, she lit her wand and held it in her teeth. Every ten feet or so, she would stop and try to see what was ahead of her.

Just as she was starting to worry about running out of rope, she finally saw the bottom. There was a writhing mass of plant that seemed to shy away from her light. "Oh good." She didn't want to have to try and connect the extra rope she'd brought along while balancing on the knot she'd tied at the tail. A quick swing saw her landing near a door. This one was suspiciously unlocked.

Using even more caution than she had when entering the room with the trapdoor, she peeked inside. Only to find a bunch of flying keys and a handful of brooms. "You cannot be serious." Ever since their first flying lesson, Hermione had hated it with a fiery passion. She much preferred solid ground. Pulling a shield from her bag and holding it above her head, she carefully made her way across the room. She didn't want to take the chance that these were attack keys.

When Alohomora didn't work on the door, she pulled a small saw from her bag and cut the doorknob out of the door allowing her to skip the need for a key altogether. A quick glance into the next room had her stopping in her tracks.

"Shit!" Hermione swore, not something she usually did. What the hell was she supposed to do with a troll? She dug through her bag. Of the many things she had prepared for, a troll was not one of them. Who would be stupid enough to put a troll in a school?! And how on earth had they gotten it in without anyone noticing?

Her eyes narrowed, she must have something that she could use. She made sure the door to the troll room was blocked and dug through her bag again. "No. No. Maybe... Nah. Hmm..." Finally she found something that might work, her grappling hook. "Yes!"

Using the simple but effective levitation spell, Hermione guided the hook around the troll's feet until it had circled three times. Then she pulled it tight and toppled the troll. While it was flailing around, she wrapped its hands with her extra rope and trussed it up like a pig for roast. She then levitated it to the far wall and hurried past before it could roll over and squish her.

The next door was also, suspiciously, unlocked. And it led to...a chess board? It quickly became apparent that she was expected to play her way across the board. No thank you. "But how to get across?" She wondered. As she paced in from of the pieces on her side of the board, she found that the opposing pieces only took notice of her when she was standing on a square. With a smirk, she removed her shoes and carefully hopped across the board being very sure her feet only touched where the lines intersected. There was just enough room for the balls of her feet. When she came to the row of opposing pawns she subconsciously held her breath while hoping for the best. It worked.

Once she was at the door on the other side and putting her shoes back on, she finally allowed herself to breathe. "I can't believe that worked." Being just as cautious as before, she looked into the next room... "What?"

There was a bench with bottles on it. Checking for potential traps, she walked through the door. Colorful flames springing up in the doorways was a surprise. The note telling her about the potions was very suspicious. Deciding to try a different track first, she pulled out her shield again. Wrapping it in a Muggle fire blanket, she laid the shield down over the flames. She was actually shocked that it worked, there were still flames on either side, but there was a clear path forward. What kind of magical fire was this that it could be partially smothered by a physical shield?

Again the door was unlocked. "Good lord." Hermione muttered as she saw another rather innocuous room. This time there were no flames, no games, no creatures. Nothing except a small stool with what looked like a rubix cube on it, something she had learned to do with her eyes shut years ago. Inside there was a congratulatory note and directions to a secret passageway.

Sirius was shocked. Granger had made it through the obstacle course in record time. Using nothing but logic and observation. Nio would have to hear about this. The kid would have been here except he was currently defending his title as champion of the younger years at the duelling club. He should be arriving any time now to supervise the next attempt.

Sirius let himself into the final room, "Well, that was certainly impressive." He said, surprising the first year.

Hermione whipped her wand around at the appearance of the stranger. "Who are you?" She may only be a first year but she did know a few spells that might help if he turned out to be hostile.

Sirius raised his hands to show he wasn't armed. Not that the lack of a wand could stop him from subduing someone. "I'm a friend of Antonio's, I'm here to make sure no one gets hurt."

"Well it's good to hear that someone is being responsible. Honestly, not everyone actually thinks before jumping into things. Students could end up dead down here."

Sirius was glad that she understood, judging by how she was capable of thinking outside the box, this might be the one person to find a loophole in the contract and tell on them.

Hermione looked around. "Well, do I go back through or do you have a way of retrieving my belongings?"

"I collected them as you went, you have successfully completed the challenges!"

"That's it, seriously?"

Sirius had to hide a smile at the pun that became old decades ago. "Seriously." He then showed her to the false wall and the passage that would lead them past all the obstacles.

Hermione didn't let the stranger know that she was very impressed with their way of monitoring the students who came down here. For each challenge there was a variety of counter measures and a healing station set up. It was as they were climbing a spiral staircase that ran parallel to the drop from the trapdoor that they encountered Diadone and Longbottom.

"Longbottom?" Hermione exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Neville had been surprised when Evan had sent the all clear signal indicating they were ready for their next contestant/customer, but figured that Granger had been held up by something. Probably the troll, that was where most people had to turn back and come up with a strategy.

"We're supervising the next person." Neville said, gesturing to Nio. "This one got stuck and is making her second attempt." He was careful not to specify where they had gotten to the first time, no need to give anything away.

Sirius snorted. "You can speak freely around Granger, she finished."

Nio's eyes widened as he looked at Granger in barely disguised shock. "You already made it through?" There was so much more to this girl than anyone knew. "That was like, twenty minutes start to finish!"

Hermione didn't even bother to hide her smile. "Well it wasn't exactly rocket science." She knew that as a Muggleborn, Diadone would know what that meant. "Where did she get stuck?" She asked, referring to the student making their second attempt.

"The troll." Nio responded, "That's where most people have trouble."

Hermione could understand that, trolls were intimidating. Especially if you were trying to do something stupid like vanquish it instead of just putting it out of commission for a while.

Neville was interested in how Granger had made it through so easily, but he turned his attention back to the Hufflepuff who was flying down towards the Devils Snare. "Nio." He called. "Hurry up. Evan, just take her up and give her her stuff back."

"Right, yes, let's go." Nio said as he and Neville activated the slide. After the first people used brooms to get down they had needed a way to keep up with them. It didn't hurt that it was fun!

Hermione just shook her head and followed who she now knew was Evan up the stairs.

All in all, it was an enlightening evening for all. Hermione learned that many people had no idea what to do with a troll, and Nio, Neville and Evan had learned not to underestimate socially stunted brainy girls.

Once she got back to the common room, Hermione slipped into her room (which she still needed to name) so she could think about the obstacle course in peace. However, that train of thought was derailed because the first thing she saw was a tapestry that had appeared on the wall. "Lyall, what have you done?" She had long since learned that the devious portrait had a unique way of determining what Hermione might find interesting.

"Take a look."

The tapestry was titled 'Hogwarts Games'. A closer look revealed a subheading of 'The Gauntlet'. Hermione watched as her name started stitching itself onto the tapestry. 'Hermione Granger, Gryffindor, First Year, 28-10-1991, One Attempt, 18 minutes 31 seconds.' "That's interesting." She commented. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Lyall had decided to call the obstacle course The Gauntlet.

Lyall smirked, "It is, isn't it. Now that you know what's going on on the third floor, I thought you'd like to keep up to date on the game!" The portrait was way too excited about this.

"You mean I'll have a list of everyone who ever tries to go down there?"

"And when." Lyall responded smugly. "And how long it took."

"Brilliant!" Hermione couldn't wait to study the tapestry more closely, especially when it had finished filling itself in. The next name was already stitching itself. 'Marcus Flint and Lucian Boyle, Slytherin, Fifth Year, 19-10-1991, One Attempt, 21 minutes 43 seconds.' If she had to guess, Hermione would say that the tapestry was putting the fastest times at the top. That she was first did wonders for her ego.

"Us portraits found a way to record the attempts." Lyall said smugly. "Those boys will have one too."

However, Hermione's brain wasn't done with the wording for the tapestry. She frowned, "Lyall, why does it say 'Games', plural?"

Lyall smirked, "You'll just have to find that out, won't you." She had promised the others that she wouldn't tell her protege about the duelling club (which they had dubbed The Society of Duels) until she found out herself...they hadn't said anything about not giving Hermione something else to investigate!

What Hermione didn't know was that the portraits had finally found a way to communicate with each other about what was going on in the castle. And they didn't want to ruin the fun. Who knew that the portraits were so bored? The past headmasters and headmistresses were even in on it!

The portraits had discovered (rediscovered for some) that the friendly (mostly) – but still unauthorized – competitions that were springing up around Hogwarts were feeding the castle's spirit. They were a great idea and should be encouraged. Centuries ago, games and 'official' duels (AKA not petty grudges that devolved into fights in the corridors) were common and helped keep the school united. The extracurricular activities were ways for students to get their competitive spirit going outside of Quidditch and the House Cup.

Many students either weren't interested in Quidditch or lacked the skill to make one of the coveted spots on the team. Still more weren't the very academic type so couldn't earn significant points for the House Cup. These other competitions allowed more people to participate in school-wide activities. The castle was quite happy for its residents to bring some back, even if they were technically against the rules.

For now.

So, the castle created relevant tapestries for each room that was now in use. The Room of Requirement – when it was being used by the Gryffindor miscreants – contained the 'full' version, with The Gauntlet and The Duelling Society (more commonly known as The Society) both represented. Hogwarts had also provided a portable version for the third floor. The duelling room contained one with the various skill brackets with wins and losses. Slytherin's Chamber had one for the The Society and would add The Gauntlet to it as soon as Draco and Blaise discovered the obstacle course.

If Hogwarts could, it would have cackled. As it was, it had to settle for the portraits conspiring against the professors to allow students to have their fun. The portraits were also quite proud of themselves for coming up with names for the games that could be spoken without suspicion. If a professor somehow managed to overhear a student talking about The Gauntlet or The Society they would just think it was some silly little game or a colloquialism they didn't know about because they were too old.

When the students noticed the tapestries, they were actually quite suspicious. What would happen if someone saw? However, their worries were in vain because after a little experimenting, they found that only someone whose name was on the tapestry could read it.

Author's note: I hope you liked it! Also, I need a way to refer to Nio, Evan, Neville and the twins as a group. Something along the lines of the Marauders, but not. Ideas would be greatly appreciated!