Content Warning: Depictions of Child Abuse/Torture
Chapter 9: Control
It did not take Harriet very long to notice that something was very wrong.
As she walked down to breakfast with Hermione, she noticed the guards. They all looked quite disreputable. Why were they here? They couldn't be from the Ministry, the Ministry would have sent aurors. They all seemed to glare at Harriet as she passed.
"What's with the goon squad?" Harriet asked Hermione.
"I think they are Umbridge's inspectors," said Hermione.
"Then why are they patrolling like soldiers?" asked Harriet.
"That I don't know," admitted Hermione.
Things became more obviously wrong when they entered the Great Hall and saw that none of the teachers were there. Umbridge was there, sitting in the Headmaster's seat, but no teachers.
"Hermione," said Harriet very quietly, "this is worrying me. A lot."
Hermione nodded her agreement.
Ron arrived at the table early for once. He had a tendency to do that on weekends, when he didn't have to be anywhere. Always good to have more time in a day of relaxing!
"What's going on?" Ron asked, "The school seems subdued today. And where are the teachers?"
"Okay, now I'm really, really worried," said Harriet, "I didn't notice it before, but the portraits were all very quiet today. And no offense Ron, but usually you don't notice things like that."
"Yeah, it has to be really bad if I'm picking up on it immediately," said Ron with a grin, "I once didn't notice that Charlie dyed his hair pink."
"Why did he do that?" asked Hermione.
"He lost a bet with his friend Tonks," said Ron.
Soon the entire school was down for breakfast. Harriet noticed that the students were being allowed into the Great Hall, but not allowed out. Clearly something was going to happen. Umbridge had consulted the Head Boy, who was now going around and speaking to the prefects.
"Head counts," said Harriet, "They want us all here."
Harriet noticed a lot of anxious faces. But she seemed to note that the students in Hufflepuff and Slytherin seemed even more anxious.
"Something happened in the dungeons last night," said Harriet, "Something the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins heard."
"Good eye," said Hermione.
The prefects had finished their counts and reported back to the Head Girl. She went over and spoke to Umbridge, who seemed satisfied. Umbridge stood up.
"I would like to make an announcement," said Umbridge, "I am Dolores Umbridge, of the Board of Governors and the Hogwarts Inquisitor. There was a safety incident in the dungeons last night. Your teachers are all fine, but they have gone to St. Mungo's as a precaution. They will return by tomorrow at the latest. Today, I will administer the school. As it is a Sunday, this will entail very little change to your schedule. The Library remains open for O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. students, though you may not check out books today. Do not think that the lack of staff today will mean that you can cause trouble though. I will punish any rule breaking harshly."
Harriet gave a very troubled look to Hermione and Ron. Something was not right about that explanation.
Harriet ate quickly. Her goal was to get back to Gryffindor tower as quickly as possible and stay there for the rest of the day. And make sure Hermione stayed there the rest of the day. If the staff returned tomorrow, they could clear things up. But Umbridge had other ideas.
"Miss Granger," said Umbridge as she approached the Gryffindor table, "if you could remain behind after breakfast? I would like to speak with you privately about a matter. In the portrait room, if you would be so kind. "
"Of course," said Hermione, though her face looked worried. Something about this felt very wrong to Harriet. She decided that she might have to rethink her plan.
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Draco was suspicious as hell.
The Slytherin prefects had heard sounds of combat in the dungeons last night. Draco was pretty sure that was the "safety issue" that had befallen the staff. He doubted they were at St. Mungo's. In fact, Draco was beginning to consider the idea that the same person who had helped his father with the Chamber of Secrets was behind this. When Umbridge began to speak to Hermione, that confirmed it.
Draco wasn't thrilled with the things that Harriet and Hermione had been uncovering about Slytherin. But Snape had said that there was no reason to be following the lead of a long dead Wizard anyway. And Draco liked that logic. He was a modern pureblood wizard, he could make his own decisions.
He still didn't approve of the research Harriet and Hermione were doing exactly, but he couldn't really fault them for following the evidence. And he knew that the pureblood fanatic who had assisted his father would not see things this way. They would want to hit back in an extremely visible and over the top way.
Umbridge was almost certainly Imperiused, just like Nott. It had to be. There was no way someone like Dolores Umbridge would willingly take the fall for something like this. So she had to be Imperiused.
Draco sighed. This was definitely not his fight. Yet he couldn't help it. He had to get involved. This could still lead back to his father potentially. But there was more to it. He'd thought it was a lie when he said it before, but he really didn't want Granger to die. And he felt ashamed by what he had done to her. Not that he would ever tell her that. He looked back at what a brat he had been last year.
He turned to Daphne Greengrass. "Tell Potter not to let Granger out of her sight. Umbridge has it in for her. I'm going to go down to the dungeons and see if I can find the staff. Something is not right."
Daphne scoffed, "I'm supposed to believe that you care about what happens to Granger?"
"Believe what you want," said Draco, "the girl is in danger. We're all in danger. Umbridge is Imperiused, just like Nott was. And we don't know what her orders were."
Daphne's eyes widened. She immediately nodded. "I'll warn Potter," she said.
Draco stood up. Time to scour the dungeons and see what he could find.
XXXXX
Harriet left the Great Hall as quickly as she could, with Ron in tow. At this point she jist wanted to get her invisibility cloak so she could keep an eye on Hermione. She was halted just outside by Daphne Greengrass.
"Wait, Potter!" said Daphne as she ran to catch up to her.
Harriet turned to look at Daphne. The girl looked worried. Very worried.
"Is something wrong?" asked Harriet.
"Draco thinks Umbridge is Imperiused, and that she means to hurt Hermione," said Daphne.
"Malfoy thinks that? Not likely," said Ron.
Harriet considered this. Malfoy had been rather helpful this year. Harriet didn't think it would last, but she guessed he might be right about Umbridge.
"Ron, I think Malfoy is worried about anti-pureblood backlash," said Harriet, "I think this is legit. But there is no way Umbridge lets us keep an eye on Hermione. We still need to get my invisibility cloak. Thanks Daphne."
And Harriet broke out in a run, Ron following her closely. She ran all the way to Gryffindor tower, then ran up to her room. She grabbed her invisibility cloak from her chest, then made sure she had her wand. In her pocket she had her runestone, as usual. She hoped she wouldn't need it, but she always kept it on her, just in case.
With the cloak, Harriet ran back downstairs. She and Ron put on the cloak before re-entering the Great Hall. Most of the students were gone, and the last few were leaving. Harriet led Ron to where Hermione was sitting.
"We'll keep an eye on you, Hermione," whispered Harriet.
Hermione nodded slightly. She was clever enough to avoid giving away Harriet's presence. Umbridge hadn't noticed anything.
When the last student left the Great Hall, Umbridge gestured for Hermione to follow her into the Hall of Portraits. Harriet and Ron followed.
Harriet hadn't spent a whole lot of time in this room, but it was well named. Portraits lined the walls, and it seemed to be empty otherwise.
"Hermione," said Umbridge in her faux sweet voice, "You have been very busy this year, what with the research you've been doing. Maybe you should step back and assess what you've found. You have made some bold claims."
"Everything I've claimed has been supported by evidence," insisted Hermione.
"Oh but there are all sorts of evidence. If you could walk back your claims until you had time to confirm them..." said Umbridge.
"My work has been peer reviewed," said Hermione, "I am not going to retract anything."
Umbridge smiled. "Good, I was hoping you'd say that. I was afraid this was going to be boring."
And Umbridge pulled out her wand and pointed it at Hermione. " Crucio!" she roared.
Hermione screamed as the spell hit her, and she began convulsing. For a moment, Harriet was frozen in place as she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Then she drew her wand. She heard Ron draw his as well.
" Expelliarmus!" yelled Harriet as Ron yelled, " Petrificus Totalus!"
Umbridge dropped her wand and seemed to freeze for a moment. Hermione gasped as the spell left her.
"Over here!" screamed Harriet as she ran over to Hermione. She helped the older girl to her feet and began to retreat.
And then Harriet heard a howl of rage from Umbridge who snapped out of her body-bind and began to kneel for her wand.
"Run!" warned Ron as all three of them fled the portrait room into the Great Hall.
All three of them ran towards the entrance, but suddenly two of Umbridge's men walked in the main entrance. They didn't initially move to stop the fleeing students, but then Umbridge ran into the room.
"Stop them!" Umbridge screamed.
" Petrificus Totalus!" shouted both Harriet and Ron. Both guards stiffened and fell over.
"NO!" roared Umbridge. Suddenly she sent out a wave of magic. It swept through the Great Hall pushing the massive tables away from Umbridge. Within seconds it reached Harriet and her friends. The wave threw Harriet, Hermione and Ron towards the door, but Harriet lost her grip on her wand. It was lost somewhere in the mess of moved tables and benches.
Hermione pulled out her wand and cast " Impedimenta!" It hit Umbridge, but she walked forward as if it wasn't there. That shouldn't have been possible! Not without shielding!
"Dammit!" swore Harriet as she desperately patted herself down as Umbridge advanced on them. And in her pocket she noticed a small round object. Her runestone.
Grabbing her runestone she began to pull in as much magic as she could. Harriet knew she wasn't supposed to do this, but she had no choice. Umbridge was somehow managing to resist spells. Well then Harriet would use Sorcery!
The amount of magic Harriet had now was staggering, more than any amount she had ever had. It had to have something to do with being at Hogwarts, Harriet realised. There was so much loose magic here.
Harriet unleashed her magic at Umbridge. It hit the woman in the chest, throwing her into the wall behind her.
"Let's get out of here Harry!" screamed Hermione.
Harriet nodded. But as she stumbled towards the door she heard motion behind her. Umbridge was on her feet again! Harriet began pulling in power through her runestone again.
The doors to the Great Hall had been blown open, but Hermione and Ron had run out and were shutting them, leaving just enough room for Harriet to escape.
"Come on Harry!" shouted Ron.
"I can take her," said Harriet.
Umbridge unleashed a spell at Harriet, more quickly than Harriet could react. No. Stop it! she thought as she tried to raise her runestone.
And the spell stopped. Umbridge cast again, and Harriet's thoughts again went to stopping the incoming spell. And it happened again. This time Harriet felt the power flowing into her through the runestone.
Harriet could shield by thinking! Somehow, in this heightened state, Harriet could perform actions far beyond what a normal second year should be able to do. Harriet had no idea what was happening, but she knew she could take down Umbridge.
"Keep trying all you want, these spells can't hurt me! I'll block them all!" yelled Harriet.
"Harry, please!" cried Hermione.
Umbridge smiled. "You'll block them all, will you? Crucio!"
In the moment Harriet had before the spell hit her she realised what a terrible mistake she had made. She'd forgotten some spells were unblockable!
Pain beyond anything Harriet had ever known wracked her. It felt like every single part of her body was being cut and burned at the same time. She heard a scream, and realised that it was her own scream. She tried desperately to move, but she felt the power that had filled her begin to slip away.
And then a pair of hands grabbed her, pulling her backwards. Ron had pulled her through the doorway, and with one sweep of her wand Hermione shut the doors. Immediately the pain ceased.
Harriet began to draw more power from her runestone, this time just to get her limbs to start working again.
"What on earth were you doing in there?" demanded Hermione.
"No time, have to run, get to Gryffindor tower," said Harriet, as she struggled to catch her breath.
"Harriet is right, let's move!" shouted Ron, giving Hermione a push. Harriet didn't need one. They all began to run.
The Grand Staircase was out, of course, it was too open and one of them might get knocked off. But just a bit ahead was a side staircase. They just had to run down this corridor and then cross the Entrance hall…
And then the door to the Great Hall flew open.
Hermione immediately leapt around the corner into the Entrance Hall, and Harriet followed her. But Ron was a step behind.
" Crucio!" roared Umbridge.
Ron let out a strangled cry as he was hit by the cruciatus curse. Harriet grabbed him and pulled him around the corner.
"What are you DOING?!" came a voice from across the Entrance Hall, by the stairs. Cho Chang was standing there, her eyes wide in horror.
"Stay out of this!" bellowed Umbridge.
"No!" said Cho, " Immobulus!"
"It won't work!" screamed Harriet, "Run, Cho!"
Cho's eyes went wide as she saw the spell fail. She began to turn around, but Umbridge began casting Cruciatus curses at her.
The trio began to run. They didn't care where, they just ran. Hermione swept open the doors in front of them with a sweep of her wand. And Harriet and Ron closed them behind after they'd passed through. They were now outside. And they kept running. They ran into the forest. They kept running. Panic had fully set in, and the three friends fled full speed into the depths of the Forbidden Forest.
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Draco ran his hand over the door to the runestone chamber. It had clearly been opened recently, by the dust on the floor, but it was once again sealed. But not well. Draco considered. It was very likely that the missing staff were behind this door. He would need to contact someone at the Ministry to open it though.
He turned back. He should probably have a prefect take care of this. He headed back towards the Slytherin common room. As he made his way there, he passed the new door to the Hufflepuff common room. It was still a little strange seeing that there. It was close to the side staircase that led to the Entrance hall, Draco had to admit. The Hufflepuffs had a much better location than the Slytherins. The Slytherins were tucked away in the corner of the dungeons near the lake.
And then Cho Chang tumbled down that staircase. Her face was scuffed and cut from her fall down the stairs. The cuts were bleeding, and her eyes were wild.
"Umbridge has gone mad! She's throwing around Unforgivables!" cried Cho as she saw Draco.
Draco swore. Of course she was. And that was when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Cho managed to get to her feet and run.
Umbridge appeared on the staircase.
" Petrificus Totalus!" he cast. Umbridge continued forward, raising her wand at him.
"HELP! HELP US!" screamed Cho as she pounded on the door to the Hufflepuff common room.
" Crucio!" said Umbridge. Draco convulsed as pain beyond imagining struck him.
And then Umbridge slipped on a small smear of Cho's blood on the stairs. Umbridge fell to the bottom, releasing Draco.
Draco tried to stumble to his feet, but he couldn't move. His legs were taking a moment to start working again.
And then the door to Hufflepuff opened up. Cedric Diggory was standing in the doorway.
" Crucio!" hissed Umbridge as she targeted Draco again.
Cedric's eyes went wide and he pushed Cho into the Hufflepuff common room. Then he leveled his wand at Draco.
" Accio, Malfoy," said Cedric.
Draco flew to Cedric who caught the younger boy and pushed him into the common room. Draco was suddenly surrounded by Hufflepuffs. Cedric followed and was about to shut the door when Umbridge leapt through the doorway just as the door closed.
She failed to notice that pretty much every Hufflepuff was present in that room. All she could see was Cedric now, Draco could see it in her eyes. " Cruc…" she began.
And all the older Hufflepuffs began to stun her.
Stunner after stunner hit Umbridge. Even in whatever frenzy she was in, she couldn't just stand there and take that. She fell to her knees. But she didn't go unconscious. Umbridge had just taken at least forty stunners and she was still conscious! She raised her wand again.
And the Hufflepuffs carpeted her with stunners. Stunner after stunner. Hundreds of stunners.
And finally, Dolores Umbridge fell unconscious.
Draco breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever had just happened, it was over.
"What was wrong with her?" asked one of the Hufflepuff prefects. Draco embarrassingly realised that he didn't know any of the Hufflepuff prefects' names. Well why would he? They were Hufflepuffs.
"I don't know why she was so powerful," said Draco, "but she was acting frenzied because she was Imperiused. She started attacking Cho, but then I intervened so she attacked me, then Cedric intervened and she attacked him."
"And she attacked me after I intervened in her attacking the youngest Weasley boy!" said Cho.
"Someone Imperiused her and told her to deal with anyone who intervened, so she did that precisely," said Draco.
"We need to report this, but to whom?" asked another prefect.
"I think I know where the staff is," said Draco, "They're likely in the runestone room. But we can't open it. We need help from the Ministry."
Susan Bones spoke up suddenly. "So are you saying I should contact my aunt Amelia?"
"How?" asked one of the prefects.
"We can just floo call her, " said Susan.
"Do not trust any of Umbridge's people," said Draco, "whoever they are, she brought them here so she could cause trouble. We need to get help quietly."
No one needed to be told that twice.
XXXXX
"Face it," said Hermione, "we're lost."
"I was certain this was the way we came," said Harriet.
"We should use the moss on the trees," said Ron, "I've heard that it grows on the north side of trees."
"Why don't you do that Ron?" asked Harriet acidly.
"Sure, I… oh. The moss completely covers these trees, doesn't it?" said Ron, a little lamely.
"Yeah, I think we both noticed that ages ago Ron," said Hermione.
"Well, I know centaurs live in these woods," said Harriet, "if we stay here long enough, we'll find them."
"So long as they find us before something else does!" argued Ron.
There was that, Harriet admitted. It was almost midday and she had to admit that they weren't getting any less lost. Still the Forest was much bigger than Harriet would have believed. No wonder they didn't want students coming in here!
Suddenly, Harriet heard hoof beats. A centaur? But when she saw the blur of silvery white she realised her mistake.
"Ron, stay back. It's a unicorn," said Harriet.
"What?" asked Ron, "Why should I stay back?"
"Unicorns don't like boys," said Hermione.
"Oh," said Ron a bit sadly. Harriet briefly felt a bit sorry for him, but she wasn't about to let this chance pass her by. She stepped forward and around a tree to see a full grown unicorn. Harriet slowly walked up to the creature.
"Hey," she said, "I'm not going to hurt you. Let me…"
The unicorn seemed to pull back its head, as if it was saying to go ahead. Harriet walked up to it and began to stroke its mane. Hermione was right behind her, and she also began to stroke its side.
They petted the unicorn for a while, and both Harriet and Hermione seemed to feel a bit better for the experience. They were both exhausted and aching from being hit with the cruciatus, but this encounter seemed to fortify them a little.
"Now we need to figure out…" started Harriet.
Suddenly they heard a chittering noise, and suddenly the unicorn bolted, back the way from which the students had come.
"What was that?" asked Ron, who sounded nervous.
They heard the sound again. It was louder, and there were more noises.
And that was when a swarm of giant spiders came piling out of the forest.
Ron shrieked at seeing them. Harriet grabbed her runestone and began drawing power as she and Hermione began running towards the boy. But only a few of the spiders were heading towards them.
Suddenly there was a cry and arrows flew towards the spiders. Many spiders fell dead. And suddenly centaurs with spears charged the spiders. They killed a lot of spiders, but there were a whole lot of spiders.
A few spiders did head towards the three children, but Harriet was ready. As they approached Harriet unleashed her magic in a sheet of flame which immolated the spiders.
"Fall back!" said one of the centaurs, "There are too many!"
"That sounds like a very good idea," said Ron.
"No arguments here," said Harriet. But the spiders were now between them and the centaurs. They were forced to flee in the opposite direction. The spiders did not follow.
XXXXX
Sirius, Amelia and Griselda followed Draco and Cho down the corridor to the runestone room.
It had taken an hour for the aurors to clear the entirety of Hogwarts of Umbridge's men. Which didn't count the amount of time that it had taken to get into Hogwarts. Ultimately they had been forced to wait for Griselda to open the gates. The school was now secure, but aside from the less combat oriented members of the staff, who had been found frozen in the infirmary, they hadn't found the staff. Draco's idea was as good as any other Sirius supposed.
Amelia walked up to the door and put out her wand. The door recognized the specialised key she had been given, and it opened. Sirius peeked into what was a much larger chamber than he had thought it would be. But the other teachers and the Headmaster were all there, frozen in place.
"Let's free them!" said Draco as he ran towards Snape. Amelia headed towards Dumbeldore and Griselda towards McGonagall. Sirius headed towards Remus, while Cho headed for Flitwick.
A quick finite was all that was required to revive each person. All of them were a bit disoriented. All of them except for Morgan.
"Umbridge!" she gasped as Griselda revived her, "Did you stop her?"
"She tried to attack all the Hufflepuffs at once," said Griselda, "It didn't end well for her."
Morgan shuddered as she began forcing herself to move. "She may still be dangerous. I need to see her immediately," Morgan said as she began to stretch her legs,''She linked herself to the runestone, so she was using the leyline confluence as a battery. We severed the link, but she still had a massive reservoir of power. If she still has that, she may be extremely resistant to normal spells. You'll either have to use sorcery or overwhelming numbers of spells to deal with her."
"How does that work?" asked Sirius.
"It normally doesn't," said Morgan, "The only objects in the world that can provide that amount of power are the Atlantean keystones. A sorcerer could gather a fraction of that power from the leyline environment here at Hogwarts. Enough, perhaps, to defeat her, or limit her power. But it wouldn't be easy. You got lucky. And I need to be sure she's disarmed."
"Go ahead," said a very exhausted sounding Dumbledore, "She knows what she is talking about. We will be fine."
"I have things under control here," said Griselda.
Sirius and Amelia helped the still unsteady Morgan as they followed Draco and Cho back to the Hufflepuff common room.
Back at the common room, ten upper year Hufflepuffs had their wands pointed at Umbridge at all times. She'd apparently woken up multiple times, but every time she'd been stunned back into oblivion.
Morgan quickly waved her wand over the prone Umbridge. "If she still has that power she will be able to cast spells as quickly as she can think them, and will be able to simply will basic things to happen. Luckily, Umbridge is not particularly skilled, otherwise she could have really been dangerous. As it was, her rather limited imagination meant she didn't use much more than extremely basic magic."
Morgan shook her head, "She's safe. She's been stunned so much the power has all receded. You can safely revive her."
"There's another problem," said Cho, "We're not sure, but we think Harriet, Ron and Hermione fled the castle. Umbridge was using the cruciatus curse on Ronald when I saw them running that way. I think…"
Sirius immediately had his wand leveled at Umbridge, but Amelia grabbed his wrist.
"If she used the Cruciatus on Harriet, I'm going to kill her," said Sirius.
"No, you aren't," said Amelia firmly. "I will interview Umbridge with Morgan. Get the aurors and teachers looking for Harriet."
Sirius looked Amelia in the eyes, then looked at Umbridge. He nodded once and left the Hufflepuff common room.
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Harriet stumbled as she made her way through the dense underbrush. This section of the forest was all twisted and strange. Harriet had no idea why that was. It didn't feel evil exactly. It felt… ancient. As if this place had remained the same for all these years. Wizened would be the appropriate word Harriet realised. Everything here was magical in a way that Harriet couldn't quite place.
"There is the unicorn again," said Ron.
Harriet nodded. They'd seen it many times since midday. It was almost like it was trying to lead them somewhere. Harriet didn't understand where or why, but she was certain it was true. Hermione, on the other hand, was sceptical.
"Still think this is just a coincidence?" asked Harriet.
"A unicorn is just an animal. It's a magical animal, but still an animal," said Hermione, "it isn't leading us anywhere."
Harriet grunted. Trust Hermione to take that line. But she could feel the truth. Something was close. She could feel it calling to her.
Harriet looked up at the trees. There was still light poking through. It had to be late afternoon now. There were still several hours of light left, but Harriet felt that they would need to find shelter soon. Somehow…
XXXXX
"We're pretty sure Harriet, Ron and Hermione left the castle," said Morgan.
Sirius nodded. He'd been biting people's heads off a lot today, so he tried to keep his mouth shut. He was sitting in Dumbledore's office, and aside from Morgan and Dumbledore, Griselda, Amelia and McGonagall were there.
"Umbridge certainly made a mess of the Great Hall," said McGonagall, "There was quite the battle in there. We also found this."
McGonagall set Harriet's wand on Dumbledore's desk.
"So Harriet, at least, is unarmed," said Amelia.
"Perhaps not," said Griselda, "Does she still keep her runestone on her?"
"All the time," said Sirius, "she isn't unarmed."
Suddenly loud footsteps came up the stairs. Hagrid burst into the room.
"Just had a centaur named Firenze come to see me," said Hagrid, "He said a centaur hunting party ran into a group of Acromantulas. Apparently three kids nearly wandered into the battle. The kids ran away pretty quickly, and the acromantulas were between the kids and the centaurs. Apparently they were following a unicorn."
Morgan and Dumbledore both perked up at this news.
"That is very good news," said Dumbledore, "Unicorns are clever creatures, who know how to avoid trouble. And if night falls, the unicorn will likely return to its glade. A unicorn glade would probably be the safest place for three children to spend the night in the forest."
"I figure I can get out there and look for them easy enough if that's what happens," said Hagrid.
Sirius nodded. Harriet would be all right. She had to be.
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Harriet stopped suddenly. They'd ventured even deeper into this strange forest when suddenly, the unicorn had stopped. The sun was getting low, and the forest was starting to get dark.
"Something is ahead," said Hermione.
"Yeah," said Harriet, looking straight ahead.
A short distance away they left the trees to enter a meadow. It was full of flowers and the unicorn had lain down in the middle of them. A bit beyond the meadow they saw a large outcropping of rock. With a cave in it.
"A unicorn glade," said Hermione.
"Wicked," said Ron, "This is amazing."
"I think that this might be the exact center of the old part of the forest," said Harriet.
As they crossed the glade, Harriet nearly tripped on something. Looking down she saw it was an ancient runestone.
"Whoah," said Harriet, "someone warded this area, long ago."
Hermione knelt down. She wiped away ages of moss with her hand. "Welcome to the land of Godric Gryffindor. All evil beings be gone, all beings of good heart be safe, my cave is open."
Harriet gasped. "Let's investigate that cave."
"Maybe that's not a good idea," said Ron, "if it is occupied…"
"The magic protecting this place is still active," said Harriet, "Can't you feel it? I can feel it drawing me in."
"I don't feel anything," said Hermione.
Harriet walked over to the cave. It didn't go back far. But at the back of it there was a door. And on that door was the same symbol that Harriet had seen in that hallway in Hufflepuff house. The symbol of the founders, plus Percival. Harriet raised her hand, and the symbol glowed. The door opened.
Harriet entered the room. It was a small room. There was a desk, and a bed, and a fireplace. There was a fire in the fireplace that had lit itself. The fire gave off warmth and light, but it had no fuel. Magic fire then. On the walls were two portraits, one of a bald man with a well groomed mustache, the other of Rowena Ravenclaw. Both were sleeping. On the desk was a long line of about 10 weighty tomes.
"Is that Salazar Slytherin and Rowena Ravenclaw?" asked Hermione, pointing at the portraits.
Both portraits seemed to wake up. "Hello there!" said Slytherin, "Godric! Is that you?"
Harriet walked ober and stood in front of the portraits. "Godric Gryffindor has been dead for a thousand years at least," said Harriet, "My name is Harriet Potter. I'm a descendent of Percival."
"Of course Godric is dead," said Ravenclaw, "How could you think otherwise, Salazar?"
"I'm just a portrait, I can't keep track of time!" said Slytherin.
"Lady Ravenclaw," said Hermione, running up besides Harriet, "Lord Slytherin. I am so thrilled to meet you."
"Master Slytherin if you really must be formal," said Slytherin, "but I prefer Salazar."
"We found your memories," Hermione said to Rowena, "though we only found your study because of the clues found in the painting you left in the Chamber of Secrets Salazar."
"Oh god, that name stuck? How embarrassing," said Slytherin.
"Well what did you want them to call it?" asked Ron, "You kept the place secret, and also kept the basilisk secret and you also had murals that gave away other secrets like Ravenclaws study and what Avalon looked like."
"This is Helga's revenge for not telling her how to get in there you know," said Ravenclaw, "I mean really, it was her castle."
"Did you meet the Basilisk?" asked Slytherin, "I hope no one harmed her. She's very nice."
"She is," said Harriet, "I'm a Parselmouth, so we had a nice conversation. She was very contrite that she'd followed your heir's orders to try to purge the school of muggleborns."
"What!?" screamed Slytherin, "why would my heir do that?"
"Common wizarding perception of you is that you left the school because it admitted muggleborns," said Harriet, "Now we know that isn't true since we've seen Rowena's memories, but we are still struggling to convince people of it."
"Salazar left because he was organizing resistance to Alfred," said Ravenclaw, "He returned when Alfred's allies attacked us. He led the Danish reinforcements. He died defending the school. In response, I headed south and poisoned Alfred. One of his wizards cursed me after I had succeeded, unfortunately. I died only a few years later."
"After Rowena's death, Godric came here to finish the history they were writing," said Slytherin, "it is there on his desk. He completed it, then he left and did not return."
"He must have died shortly after that," said Harriet.
"Wait, those books are The Wars of the Founders?" asked Hermione, "This is it! This is the proof we need to prove once and for all that Slytherin didn't hate muggleborns!"
"Apparently that bit of misinformation from Alfred had a lot longer lifespan than Godric thought it would," said Ravenclaw.
"I am glad that you are doing your best to help me," said Slytherin, "You seem to care about this a great deal."
"Well, I am a muggleborn," said Hermione.
"My mum was a muggleborn," said Harriet.
"What brought the two of you out here anyway?" asked Slytherin.
"We're students at Hogwarts, but we got lost in the forest," said Harriet.
"We followed a unicorn here," said Ron.
Rowena smiled, "But how did you gain admittance? Godric sealed the door against any but heirs of the founders. And I don't think he included Percival in the wards."
"I uh… found the Grail," said Harriet, "and I drank from it."
"That would explain it," said Slytherin.
"What did you do with the Grail?" asked Ravenclaw urgently, "It is very dangerous. It cannot fall into the wrong hands."
"We sent it to Avalon, and the Guardians of Atlantis," said Harriet.
Ravenclaw relaxed noticeably. "That is good. Morgana nearly destroyed Hogwarts looking for it once…"
Harriet gave Hermione an uncomfortable look. How much should they tell these portraits?
"The chances that Morgana reincarnated herself at this exact time are very remote, Rowena," said Slytherin.
Harriet's eyes widened. They knew she had used the ritual!
Harriet laughed nervously, "Uh, yeah, about that, the reincarnated Morgana may be our Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. She did tell us to send the Grail to Avalon though!"
"She seems to have left her dark magic in her old life," said Ron.
"I'm not so sure of that," said Hermione, "she lied to Harriet about Mordred."
"If Morgana has truly left behind her dark magic, and abandoned The Darkness, she may be your greatest ally," said Slytherin, "If not, she is more dangerous than you can possibly imagine."
"The Darkness?" asked Hermione, "What is that?"
Rowena shook her head. "You are too young."
Salazar nodded. "I agree," he said.
"I hate it when people say that to me," said Harriet, "What is this thing that would make Morgana so dangerous? May I remind you that you brought it up."
"It is a world of dark magic that runs parallel to ours," said Slytherin reluctantly, "Morgana learned how to tap it once. The power it gave her was enormous. But it corrupted her."
"It is where the dementors come from," said Ravenclaw.
"Okay, yeah, we don't need to hear that when we're lost in the woods," said Harriet.
"No you do not," said Slytherin.
"I sense that you are weary, and have been through much pain and suffering today," said Ravenclaw, "you should rest.
Now that she mentioned it, Harriet did feel tired, tired as she had never felt before. Somehow she knew this wasn't magic.
"This place is safe," said Slytherin.
"When you wake, help will come," said Ravenclaw.
Harriet climbed into the bed. Despite it being over a thousand years old, it was still soft and inviting. She felt Hermione climb in beside her. And then she knew no more.
Author's Note: One more chapter left in this part.
This is a really important chapter for Hermione, who is already very hurt by Draco's attack, but this is much, much worse. In fact, the consequences of Umbridge's rampage will be felt by everyone until the last chapter of the story.