Disclaimer: The same as the previous chapters.
Chapter 28
House-elves Quarters below the Kitchen,
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and wizardry
Scotland
30th January 1960
Dinty the matriarch, wriggled her fingers and paced about her room. Rintz watched her sister and exchanged worried glances with two other house-elves present in the Hogwarts House-elf matriarch's room. Figgs was the head of the house-elves employed by the Gringotts while his other brother Jiggs served at the Ministry of Magic.
The fact was none of them were here on their own will. Rintz had returned to St. Mungo's after paying a short visit to Figgs and Jiggs. A handful of house elf families were talking about it in hushed whispers. To say that they were excited was an understatement. The wizards had failed to notice it, that magic was not the same as it used to be. It was tampered and tainted not by blood but by evil intent.
Something or someone had called upon their magic and had forced them to apparate right into the woods close to the Great Lake a couple of hours before dawn. There they had found the ancient artifact. As soon as each one of them touched upon it, still debating its credibility and whether to involve the Headmaster of Hogwarts, they were apparated back in the bowels of the castle. They knew for sure, house elves' magic is stronger than that of wizards and witches, nearly at par with that of Goblins, but the magical energy that oozed out of the glowing horn-like structure was too powerful. They had already argued, this misplaced horn was not the reason for the castle to hum.
Dinty mumbled in hushed whispers," I knew, previously Ogg stole from the Room of Hidden Things. He could never resist the sight of shining things. But house-elves have looked all over this place for centuries. They could never find it. We will never know where the old Gameskeeper found it either. Looked everywhere, the man has simply vanished." She looked at the haphazardly gathered coat of the missing man and bit her lips.
Figgs hummed,"By the looks of it the thief might have chanced upon it. Hogwarts staff is quite alert tonight. Might have stumbled upon it, while looking around. The Adharc was elfen made. A supposed gift to honour the King who rode the fiercest dragon. Mother always said, old tales don't lie. I felt the magic!" When he looked about everyone was nodding their head in mute agreement.
Rintz sighed, and rubbed her face," Are you certain it will stay safe, where we put it this time?"
Figgs nodded and Jiggs spoke up," It belongs to Hogwarts after all. It carries the mark, the three Elven horns. The sign of Rihim, Rohim and Rouhirim. No house-elf ever heard it's call. The riders of the fire breathing beasts had left these shores, ages ago. But there are tales that only once did the older elven race hear it call for them. But instead of greeting them like old friends, they thought it was keening and so they wept. Rumour has it, the elders of three elven tribes sacrificed their lives and magic to protect the noble friend."
Dinty said, "The founders were wizards of the later kind. Of course they never knew the story. All they knew for certain was that the mountain and the lake, the forest around whispered magic into the elements around. The Older Folks thought they heard of it once again during the Goblin Rebellion. But our cousins the Goblins, the descendants of Rodnad and Rihim-nan, the daughter of Rihim, just could never find it. The line of Rohim died off. But we carry forward the blood of Rouhirim to this day."
"Do you believe the rest? The chosen one, the redeemed and reborn raven will come back. He alone will find the door to the chamber where the King sleeps. The fruit of Evanstar and the Cursed Lover will carry his Goblin's Teeth… the king will join in spirit to defend Old Magic?" Figgs said, his eyes shining under the candle lights.
Dinty flopped back in her bed, feeling exhausted," We just know the castle is awake. We will have to wait for the rest to happen. Our elders vowed to stand by magic Old. I say, we honour that. Until then, we will do everything to keep it safe and out of everyone's sight. We can't allow anyone to steal it away again."
Rintz asked once again, "We tried taking it away, but we couldn't. Every time, we got apparated back into that chamber below the Lake. Hogwarts wanted us to put it back in there. Once we placed it at the bottom of the basin of swirling mist, we got whisked off into your quarters."
Figgs turned and corrected," Well, that's because it carries the Mark as well. It belongs to Hogwarts. Hogwarts wants to hide it. It called us to help it hide it. Figgs wonders why does not the castle trust its own walls," then looking around he whispered, "The castle no longer hums, neither does the Bank. The Goblin Order knows Ragnad is awake."
"So is the Ministry of Magic, but Blar Reccr is quiet. Dinty, do you think it was a false alarm?" Jiggs asked the eldest.
"Time will say what happens next. Though the rest of the castle sleeps, Dinty knows the Headmaster weeps under the stars. Dinty has little hope in finding the chamber once again. Hogwarts is more awake than we think." the House elf Matriarch mumbled pensively.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and wizardry
Scotland
31st January 1960
Minerva McGonagall and Filius Flitwick watched the students disperse once the breakfast was over. The Headmaster in his short address had already assured the residents of the school that perhaps, the sentient castle had come up with a rare kind of a cold, given the harsh winter they were experiencing this year. But she knew the older students saw right through that joke. Anyone would because The Daily Prophet had printed a unique story about it.
"Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic shook on its grounds yesterday!"
Apart from fabrications on the involvement of Dark Magic for which the reporter couldn't provide any substantial proof, the whole thing was indeed a fantastic fairy tale. One could expect nothing less from Junas Lockhart.
Hurdled in small groups several of them were still trying to come up with a better explanation or in Flitwick's word giving birth to fresh sets of rumours. The Slytherins too were thoughtful and jittery. Slughorn shared that many of his snakes had knocked at his doors first thing in the morning complaining about someone or something moving in the walls under the floor right below them, throughout the night.
The Gryffindors were already planning to conduct a search all by themselves, which Minerva had managed to nip it at the bud itself. Roger Amorim, one of her prefects, had the better sense to go behind his scheming housemates and report it to both the Headmaster and the Deputy Headmistress, right before breakfast. Bilius Weasley the Head Boy was already working on a plan along with the Head Girl Susan Jones to ensure more safety for the prefects going on their rounds later in the evenings.
Among all these humdrum, neither of the professors missed the frown that crossed over Albus Dumbledore's face on receiving a standard letter from the Gringotts Bank. The three of them were supposed to go down to Hogsmeade Village later in the day, but the Headmaster excused himself in the last minute.
Trudging down the path that ran down the hill skirting beside the Forbidden Forest, Minerva McGonagall couldn't help but ask his diminutive companion," How did you know about my mother?"
Filius Flitwick chuckled," You were once my student Minerva."
"That does not explain why you would remember about my mother most singularly. You have been a part of the faculty for a long time." the Witch replied guardly.
"Though I never had the honour to teach her. I did hear quite a lot about Isobel Ross. She was in the Quidditch Team and was exceptionally good at Transfiguration and Aritmancy. She was good at making magical artifacts, my mentors used to say." Staring back at the grumpy witch he huffed and cleared," Much like Albus, I keep a track of Wizards and Witches who have peculiar talents."
"And you drabble with folklores as well?" making sure that they were truly alone, the witch whispered.
"Ah! I have a peculiar interest in them," the goblin wizard smiled.
"Filius, can you be honest with me?" she stopped on her tracks and turned to face him.
"Minerva, when have I lied to you?" the goblin looked up.
"All I am asking is why did you tell me that tale about dragons yesterday? Why not any other day?" the witch asked straight away, " You saw that glass ball, didn't you? What do you know about it?"
"Minerva," looking around, the half goblin pleaded," why don't we talk about this later one. I promise I will try to answer your questions as honestly as I can."
"Very well then, and one more thing, how did you know Albus is…" the witch was cut off when both of them saw Abeforth Dumbledore walking up the path with Hagrid. Held in Hagrid's arms was none other than Ogg, the current Keeper of the Keys and grounds of Hogwarts.
A/N: Well, every magical creature has their own version of stories attached to the myth.