Author's Notes: To all the Americans reading, Happy Independence Day!
To all the Brits reading, Happy Insurrection Day!
To everyone else, Have a great July 4th, whatever you plan on doing with it!
Due to a few requests I've received, I created a new map, like the one I did for Harry's neighborhood, with that neighborhood and the island. There is a link to it in my profile along with some of the other resources I've used so far. I'll update it as I go with more and mention it in the author's notes when I do. The map will update as well when I add more locations. I don't think I'll add the location I am choosing for Hogwarts until Lyra and Harry's third year because that's when I have planned to explain why it is where it is.
On an island off the coast of Brownsea Island in Ramshore Lake was a house. Though none of the locals could see it. They couldn't even see the island. Boats would travel around it thinking they were going in a straight line and when photos were taken nearby it wouldn't show up on film.
This illusion was the result of the most complicated sorcery possible to create a magical animal sanctuary that no one could locate, no one could see, and no one could access without permission from the man living in the house. The structure was three stories tall with a large tree growing straight through the center of it and out of the top. The basement of the house had been subjected to the most powerful expansion and dimensional manipulation charms gathered from all corners of the planet and many different magical cultures.
The man in the house owned a briefcase that had been expanded inside to be as voluminous as a blimp hangar. The space in the basement of this house in Dorset was probably the size of the island of Manhattan. It was divided up into sections of many different climates, with magical animals from all over the world. Researchers and keepers would come and go through a special portal to this menagerie of incredible life at all hours of the day, though there was another entry in the middle that led upwards into the house situated above it.
Following that entrance upwards into the house, you could find a sitting room and kitchen. A few small nifflers ran around the kitchen taking pieces of the cutlery and stuffing it in their pouches. Going up another level one could find a library covering the entire floor along the outer walls. Surrounding the tree in the center were numerous desks covered with books, maps, and other papers. On one side of the house was an open window where three owls slept on their perches. At the very top level were a few bedrooms. On all the levels if you looked closely at the tree, one could see curious creatures called bowtruckles that scurried around the tree using their sharp legs to tap into the tree to drink the sap and then hide in the leaves.
One of the bedrooms on the top floor had a large pile of sticks and leaves in the center that didn't appear to have anything particular in it. There were shoulder bags and purses on hooks around the wall as well as many colorful large brim hats and shiny objects on the tables. Two other bedrooms looked normal and unoccupied. The last bedroom was the master suite and had a large bed with a couple sleeping in it. Both were nearly 100 years of age with greying hair but as they were both magical, they were still as active as a muggle would be between fifty and sixty years of age.
As the sun crept into the window, they began to stir and prepare for their day. The man and his wife were Newton and Porpentina Scamander. Newt, as he liked to be called, stared out the window and observed birds and other non-magical animals that lived above ground on their island. He turned to a series of crystals on the wall which showed the status of the menagerie of animals in the basement, all of them were in good health. After his morning constitutional, he walked down and through the library. He approached the tree in the center and picked up a few of the bowtruckles on the tree and spoke to them quietly before placing them back on a branch and heading down to the kitchen.
Tina's routine involved checking the wards for the island. Her past career in law enforcement had never really left her, and despite the peaceful environment she had been living in for decades, it always helped her to see for certain that everything was safe around her. Walking through the library, she stopped momentarily at a desk to look through plans for their upcoming expedition to the Congo. Deciding to come back later, she moved downstairs to the kitchen, where her husband was already making the tea.
Small hands reached up onto the table and placed a few pastries and jam. Newt and Tina had decided long ago not to own house-elves due to the issues of enslavement and because their house's more natural environment wasn't proper for an elf's obsessive need for cleanliness. So several brownies roamed the island keeping order and they made sure to leave out treats and items for them as payment. The one that often took care of their house had actually started to cook for them on her own, her name was Tagei.
Knowing that she wouldn't be seen if she wasn't specifically called for, Tina just thanked Tagei to the open air, knowing she would hear, then sat down at the table and took a cup of tea from her husband. After adding cream to the cup she looked for her spoon, only to find it missing. She just gave a look to her husband who reached down to the floor absentmindedly and picked up a niffler, pulling two spoons from its pouch. He stirred his tea with one and passed the other to her. Rolling her eyes, she went to the sink and washed hers off first.
As they ate breakfast, an owl tapped on their kitchen window. With a quick gesture from Newt, the window opened and the owl jumped in and onto the back of an empty chair at the table. As Newt was taking the letter from the owl, a second one flew in and perched itself next to the first.
Newt looked curiously at the letters. "Hmm, this one appears to be from Hogwarts directly, and the other from Albus. I haven't heard from him during the school year for some time now."
His wife looked at him expectantly as he opened the envelope from Hogwarts, as it had arrived first. He scanned the message and placed his teacup down and took a deep breath, "I was not expecting that." He handed the letter to his wife.
She read the letter aloud.
Dear Newton Artemis Fido Scamander,
We are pleased to inform you that in accordance with the Hogwarts Charter, you have been selected as the nominee to found a new house for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
As a nominee, you are asked to present yourself to the Headmaster as soon as you receive this letter to begin the establishment process. If you wish to decline this honor, the owl will await your decision.
Sincerely
The Sorting Hat
Tina put the letter down on the table. "I haven't heard of such a thing being possible at Ilvermorny, and Hogwarts has always only been the four houses of the founders, so this is quite incredible. Plus, you never graduated, so I'm very curious as to how you were chosen."
"I suppose the letter from Albus will shine a bit more light on the situation." He opened it and read aloud.
Newton,
I assume by now you have received notification of your nomination as a founder for a new house at Hogwarts. I congratulate you on this incredible honor, I feel much joy that one of my oldest students and friends has been selected. Apparently, the situation that created this opportunity has occurred twice in the past but a new house wasn't created for various reasons. I imagine the Daily Prophet will be printing an entire edition later this morning explaining the situation as well.
During the sorting on Tuesday, the Hat stopped everything and removed the first-years that were already seated to the unsorted students. The Hat stopped the sorting while on the head of Lyra Cassiopeia Black, formerly Malfoy. She has had an interesting childhood that, among many things, caused her to spend the last five years with Harry Potter.
I hope you will accept this great honor and I will see you and Tina sometime around lunchtime today. Bring whomever you would like to accompany you, though I would highly recommend bringing Dougal. His presence would be very well met by some individuals here at the school.
Your friend as always,
Albus
"Well, that reeks of Dumbledore's usual mischief and mystery, and certainly more of an adventure than a trip to the Congo, even if this is just the Scottish Highlands," mused Tina.
"I guess I'll go wake up Dougal, he has been spending too much time around the house. Would you please respond to the letters? We can floo a little after lunch." He headed upstairs as Tina scratched out two quick replies to the letters for the owls still perched there.
Newt got back up to the top floor and entered the room with the large pile of leaves. He hesitantly reached towards a depression in the pile and stroked something there while whispering, "Dougal, time to wake up."
Slowly, a demiguise faded into visibility. Dougal was old, getting close to eighty years old. There was no official record of how old they could get but it was estimated at around 100 years old. Dougal was showing his age. His silver hair had begun growing darker and his eyes had changed from the golden amber they were when he was young to a deep brown with flecks of aurum still floating in them. Even his eyebrows had begun to drop below the top of his head. He rolled over in his pile of leaves and reached out an arm to stroke the top of Newt's head and look at him with eyes full of questions.
"We're going to see Albus today, and you may want to get dressed up. It seems like this will be an interesting adventure, for sure."
Back at Hogwarts, Robert Hillard made sure that all the first years were awake and ready to go to breakfast. Gathering them all in the common room, he spoke to them about their schedule.
"We will have breakfast and afterward go straight to the library. There will be a lot of students and adults there as they have been busy for over a year upgrading the catalog system and you need to know as much as you can about what they are doing. After lunch, we will find an empty classroom and I will go over the tutoring systems available, the school clubs, and an overview of the houses from a scholarly perspective."
Without waiting for questions, he led them to the Great Hall. Whispers stayed in the room and ate from the plate of fruit that was still there.
Harry immediately noticed that, like yesterday, all the teachers were present at the staff table for breakfast. The other students noticed as well and there was mostly quiet with the occasional whisper as 9 a.m. approached.
Dumbledore approached the lectern. "Such polite students, I shall miss this when I have nothing new and interesting to talk about. Last night, the Sorting Hat made its decision on a nominee for the head of the new Hogwarts house. Later this afternoon, we will be visited by none other than Newt Scamander, author of Fantastic Beasts, and Where to Find Them, and many other of the most well-known magizoology books available today. The houses of Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin will be joined by Scamander House."
There were gasps and other noises from around the room but they were soon drowned out by applause. As the students left the room, Robert held the first years back. Dumbledore approached them after everyone had left.
"I will need to speak to Lyra privately before you leave." He turned to her as she had started to slowly duck behind Harry. Harry was trying to pull her out while maintaining a protective posture near her.
"Can Harry come?" whispered Lyra.
Minerva stepped up behind the headmaster, "I will be joining the conversation as well. Mr. Potter may come but this is mostly for you, dear."
The four of them stepped through the door behind the staff seating area to a small room with a round table. "This will take just a moment," said Dumbledore. "After lunch, please find Professor Snape or McGonagall. They will escort you to my office for you to meet Newt Scamander. You may also bring Mr. Potter, and I suggest you bring Whispers too. As a Magizoologist, Mr. Scamander would probably like to meet him, and he may also be bringing a special guest who would as well." Dumbledore smiled and had a twinkle in his eye with that last sentence.
Harry squinted a bit at the headmaster's comment about Whispers. Dumbledore's mysterious attitude matched what he thought about Gandalf in The Hobbit, so it probably would lead to an adventure of some kind.
Lyra just nodded and the two of them returned to the rest of the first years. Robert raised an eyebrow at them and Harry gave Lyra a small nudge before she sheepishly said, "We need to go meet Mr. Scamander after lunch."
Robert just nodded, "Alright, we are heading to the library now."
They stayed on the main level and went to a different wing of the castle which opened into a room that was larger than the great hall many times over. The ceiling was at least twice as high, though it was just a normal ceiling, so you could see the top of it. Rows of bookshelves went off in both directions with no end that they could see. On the opposite side from the entrance, there was a large desk that stretched across the side of the room. Behind it was another set of bookcases with red ropes blocking access. Between the entrance and the large desk, there were a few dozen tables set up for reading but at the moment there were hundreds of books stacked on them as students and adults sat around them taking books off the piles and scribbling notes on paper before moving the books somewhere else.
In the center of the room was a large table with a circular tower of tiny drawers that went up nearly to the ceiling. At the base, there were small workstations that had a piece of parchment, an inkwell with a quill in it, and a small brass plate. Every so often, someone at a table would scribble on a tiny card, then flick it with their wand, and it would fly up to the tower and insert itself into a drawer, seemingly at random.
Robert turned to the first years. "This is the Hogwarts Library. It boasts the largest collection in Europe, Africa, India, and the former Soviet Union. The Chinese claim to have a larger collection but they have never proven it. The Americans do have a larger collection but it contains a combination of magical and mundane subjects, while the Hogwarts library is nearly entirely magical information.
"Right now, and for the last year, the library has been undergoing renovations and an upgrade to the catalog systems to enable easier searching for information. Before this, you had to know what book you were looking for and scavenge through each section to find what you needed."
He led them over to the desk with the tower of drawers. "Now you just need to come to this desk and write what you are looking for on one of these tables." He pulled the quill from one of the inkpots and wrote on the parchment - 'Albus Dumbledore.' As the words soaked into the parchment, many drawers above them popped open and dozens of cards floated down to them with information for books written on them. They each had a summary of the book and the section they were in.
"From there, you just need to walk over to the correct section and find the book you want from the card. If you would like a copy of the card, place it on the metal plate next to the quill." He placed one of the cards floating before him on a metal plate next to the quill and inkwell and when he picked it up again, there was a second card there, identical to the first.
"If you see any cards that have a red corner," he picked up one of the cards still floating there, "This book is in the restricted section." He pointed to the area behind the desk at the other side of the room with the red rope. "You will need special permission from a teacher to retrieve a book from there."
"I'll give you all time to explore the library. If you get lost, stamp your feet three times," he did so to demonstrate and green footprints appeared at his feet which created a trail that led to the desk at the front. "Before that was added last year, every term students would get lost but eventually show up weeks later covered in snow or sunburnt depending on how deep into the library they got lost. This library is even more peculiar than the rest of the castle. Go ahead and explore for a bit, please try not to disturb the people working. I will be walking around, find me with any questions you have."
The first years just started wandering in random directions. Colin started taking pictures of everything, Ginny ran off to a small sitting area where there was tea, Luna scribbled something on the table and ran off after a single card came down to her. Harry went to the table and wrote down, 'Unicorns.'
Dozens of drawers opened up and nearly a hundred cards floated down to him. After looking at a few of them, Harry grabbed one and went over to Lyra. "I'm going to try to find something on Unicorns, will you be ok here?"
She wasn't ok with it but Harry looked happy, so she nodded and sat down near the tower of drawers as Harry ran off. She was there for a few minutes before a girl with bushy hair and red-trimmed robes came to the table with a bag full of notes. Something under her cloak was making a clicking noise. Lyra stared as the girl removed a section of the table with her right hand and turned it over to reveal a large number of characters in a language that wasn't English. She began comparing the letters to some pages of notes from her bag.
Lyra watched her closely trying to figure out what she was doing. Every so often, she'd cross something out, or write more strange characters down on the paper. Eventually, she groaned and looked up to see Lyra staring at her. The girl tilted her head for a moment before saying, "You're Lyra Black, right?"
Lyra shrunk down a little but nodded, "What are you doing?"
"I signed up to help with the library project, and I'm trying to figure out a way for the cards to bring you to the books instead of just telling you the section they're in. Now you might know the title of the book but if it is in a section with 200 other books, you'll have to look through all of them to find it. And if it's not in the correct section, you'll never find it. The library might be magically sorted but mistakes still do happen."
"What's the writing?"
"Those are runes. Magic can be inscribed into writing, and some ancient languages carry great strength in their inscriptions, so they can be used to make objects perform tasks without needing to cast a spell."
That was interesting to Lyra, it might be something that the Hidden could use without needing to be a wizard or use a staff. However, she didn't know why you would do that when there was a much easier way to find things.
"Why not use an owl? They can find things."
The girl stared at Lyra for a few seconds, "I don't think that would work. You would need too many owls even if it did and there would be owl droppings all over the library too."
Lyra thought about it for a moment and replied, "What about the feathers? You could charm the feathers to find them for you. They have similar properties to the owls themselves, like a potion ingredient."
The girl stared back, "I don't know how that would work."
Lyra reached into her pouch and pulled out her staff, which the bushy-haired girl's eyes locked onto as if she could unlock all its secrets just by examining it. Lyra also pulled out the bag of owl feathers she received at the post office. She wrote out on the desk, 'Owl,' and took one of the cards at random that came down. Placing one of the feathers from her bag onto the card, she tapped it with the top of her staff. The feather jumped up and shot off into one of the stacks of books being worked with on the tables next to them.
Lyra and the girl chased after it to find the quill stuck into the spine of a book there. The strange clicking noise could be heard again from under the girl's cloak.
"How did you do that?" the girl asked, her eyes open wide with amazement.
"The feathers came from the post office. All the owls find people every day for their jobs. I just asked the feather to find the book on the card." Lyra didn't know how she did it, potion ingredients held magic properties, you just needed to activate them.
The girl's eyes widened even further and squeaked out, "Stay right there!" and ran off with more clicking to be heard as she ran away.
A minute later she came back with an older woman with glasses and a stern look on her face. The girl was bouncing and clicking, "This is Lyra Black, she just found a solution to the problem I was working on." Then to Lyra, "Show her again, please?"
Lyra was a bit nervous from the attention but she walked back to the tower and picked up the card she left there. Placing another owl feather on the card, she tapped it with her staff and it zipped off to where the girl and the older woman were standing, getting stuck into the spine of the book again.
The woman pulled out the feather and examined the book it was in and then walked over to Lyra and looked at the card. "My name is Madam Pince, I am the librarian here at Hogwarts. Can you please do that again, step by step?"
Lyra nodded, looking back to see the girl squirming with excitement at what was going on. Lyra pulled out a feather and Madam Pince waved her wand in the air to create a golden dome over the table with bits of sparkles floating inside it. Lyra was a bit nervous but the woman nodded at her to proceed. As Lyra put the feather into the golden dome, little bits of green writing appeared around it in what was presumably more of the runes the girl had been talking about. Lyra waved the feather a bit and most of the runes remained the same, following the feather around. The card on the table also had some glowing runes hovering around it as well.
When Lyra put the two together, the runes from the card seemed to move closer towards the feather. As she put her staff into the dome to activate the feather, there was an explosion of information, displayed in the runes, startling Lyra and she jerked it back out. There was a shocked expression on the faces of the librarian and the girl for a moment before the former reached out with her wand, muttered something under her breath, and tapped Lyra's staff.
The librarian nodded to Lyra again and she reached back into the golden dome, this time, the staff had no runes pop up around it. When she tapped the feather with her staff, it pulled all the runes from the card into the feather and jumped up, and sped off towards the book. Madam Pince walked back over to the book and performed the same golden dome charm there and examined the results before coming back.
A few of the other adult and student workers had started to gather around at this point to watch.
Madam Pince came back, "This is extraordinary; you are essentially drawing out the property of the feather as if it were a potion ingredient without making a potion. You do it completely instinctively, so it will take some time before we can figure out how to replicate it without the use of a wand or a staff like you use. I believe I will be the first one to award points to your house, so I would like to give twenty points to Scamander."
She paused and looked around her like she was listening for something.
"Your house has not been fully created yet Miss Black but when it is, I will award you the points. Miss Granger, please continue on your project, and for this milestone, take five points to Gryffindor."
Miss Granger smiled, "May I also suggest that any future detentions you assign to students involve cleaning the owlery and collecting more feathers? There's no need to throw them away now."
Madam Pince gave her a wicked smile in return, "Three more points to you for that idea, I can think of a few students right now that will be getting that assignment as the school year starts up again."
Turning back to Lyra. "Thank you so much for your help. I don't even start studying runes until next year, so this project has been incredibly hard learning the languages straight from the books. I need to run, I just had an idea that I want to ask someone about. My name is Hermione by the way."
The two girls shook hands and Hermione ran off, the clicking noise following her as she left.
Harry reappeared right at that moment with a huge grin on his face. "There are unicorns in the forest! We need to go see them! What have you been doing?"
Madam Pince stood next to them, "Miss Black just solved an issue we were having in the library with some unique magic and earned twenty points for her new house when it is fully formed."
Harry gave his sister a big hug and passed her a small fruit-shaped candy.
The two of them explored the library a little more. It was much bigger than it appeared. As they got deeper into the stacks, the straight aisles of the shelves began to twist like trails in a forest and there were no more labels for the sections. They found a tree growing out of the floor that had a cabinet in the trunk that opened up and was filled with miniature books that had even smaller writing inside like they were made for a tiny person. Further away, they found the opposite, a shelf of books that were as tall as Harry with letters the size of his hand inside. When the floor started turning to dirt, they decided it would be a good time to turn back. Stamping their feet three times, green footprints lit up on the floor to guide them back.
It took them nearly an hour to get back to the front desk. An older student with yellow on his robes was sitting there checking out books for a younger student. He saw the tired looks on their faces, "How far did you go in?"
"There were books as tall as I am and the floor had just turned to dirt," Harry responded.
"Oh, that's not so bad. You didn't even get out of the shelves, to the beach or the mountains. The wings of the library go on forever, or at least there is no record of someone reaching the end. The shelves eventually stop and the terrain looks like you're outside. There is always a ceiling for whatever reason. You will still find books and reading material scattered around out there, some of it hidden, others just laying around. During spring break, we pick a direction and spend the whole week going camping and hunting for books in the depths of the library. I found a book inside an oyster shell at the bottom of a pond once. It's quite fun, especially last year when we started to be able to trace our way back."
That sounded amazing to Lyra and Harry and a great place to look for secrets of the castle. A few minutes later, Robert gathered everyone back together and they headed to lunch.
When lunch was over, Harry ran back to their common room to fetch Whispers before meeting up with Lyra and Professor McGonagall in the Great Hall. The four of them then proceeded to the Headmaster's office. The entrance was located on the seventh floor at the end of a long hallway where a large stone gargoyle stood. The face had sharp teeth and curved horns on the head. The wings on its back were spread out completely to the sides of the hallway and had its arms out like it was about to lunge forward and pounce on something.
When they stood right in front of it, the head tilted down and in a deep but smooth voice said, "Password?"
The two children and the demiguise all let out a tiny scream and disappeared.
McGonagall turned, "It won't hurt you, it just guards the office." She waited patiently until they all became visible again. When they had, McGonagall turned again to the gargoyle and said, "Chocolate Frogs."
The gargoyle smiled and in its smooth deep voice said, "That's right."
The stone guardian stood up straight which had Whispers hide behind Lyra, who hid behind Harry, who tried to be brave but still stood a bit behind Professor McGonagall. The wings of the gargoyle folded up as it turned around to the masonry. Reaching up to the corner, it stuck his clawed hands into the wall and peeled it back to reveal a hidden staircase. Then with a sweeping gesture and a bow, it gestured them inside. The children followed their professor closely, keeping an eye on the gargoyle the whole time. As they passed by, it winked and smiled at them with its jagged stone teeth.
As they climbed the staircase, Harry repeated what everyone kept saying, "This is a very very peculiar castle."
As they reached a large wooden door, they heard from inside, "Come in Minerva, Harry, and Lyra!"
As McGonagall opened the door, Lyra shivered a bit and said, "That was creepy, it reminded me of Mr. Olivander." McGonagall choked back a laugh at Dumbledore's favorite trick being called 'creepy.'
They entered the headmaster's office. Dumbledore was seated at the desk but he knew that first-time visitors always liked to look around first. Harry, Lyra, and Whispers were no exceptions to this. Their eyes looked over the many shelves around the room of various trinkets, weapons, and books for at least a minute before reaching Dumbledore at his desk. Then they looked up to see portraits of men and women on the wall behind him. Most of them were sleeping, but a few looked down on the children that had just entered.
"Welcome Lyra, Harry, Whispers," Dumbledore said kindly.
From a portrait behind Dumbledore, a man in a circular hat spoke up, "This is the scion of my house? I will withhold judgment until I see what Scamander house becomes."
Dumbledore frowned, "Lyra, the eloquent man behind me is Phineas Nigellus Black. He was your Uncle Arcturus's grandfather. He was Headmaster of Hogwarts in the late 1800s and is widely known as the most disliked headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. So if he offends you, just know that you weren't the first, nor the last to receive such treatment."
Lyra was shocked by the reaction she had received from the portrait but she also didn't have high opinions of her family so far, so to see that even the dead members of her family were mean didn't phase her much. Harry saw this as a big step forward that she didn't get emotional at the dismissal from the portrait.
"It's fine," she said. "Tristan explained portraits to us, it's not like I can do anything to change his opinion, he's going to be like that forever."
Dumbledore shook his head, "The portraits of the headmasters and some others in the castle are a bit more complicated. While their personalities generally do stay the same, they can learn new information and change ever so slightly in response."
"Though it is unlikely that you will achieve such a change," the portrait of Phineas Black retorted to Dumbledore's statement.
Dumbledore waved his hand and the portrait of Phineas went blank. "He has another portrait frame in one of the Black properties, I sent him there so he doesn't disturb us in our meeting. Newt Scamander should be joining us shortly."
As if on cue, Whispers's eyes began to glow but he just started bobbing up and down rather than disappearing. The fireplace lit up with green flames and out stepped a man, a woman, and a very old demiguise. He had a leather satchel over his shoulder and wore a wide-brimmed blue hat with a bunch of ribbons of the same color on one side. The older demiguise's eyes were a darker brown as he scanned the room and landed on Whispers. Whispers jumped down from Lyra's back and approached the older one. Everyone watched the two of them silently. Whispers reached up and put his hands on the elder's shoulders as his eyes lit up as well. They stared at each other for nearly three minutes before Whispers put his hands down and nodded to him. Then he turned and spoke to the others in his strange growl-sounding voice, extending his right hand and pointing to himself with the other, "Hello. Whhiissspers."
Dumbledore had yet to observe Whispers speaking, so he was suitably shocked at the situation. Newt and Tina were amazed as Dougal had never made noise other than the chirps and occasional screeches he would make.
Newt kneeled in front of the small demiguise and took his hand. Pointing to himself, he said "Newt," to his wife, "Tina," and to the older demiguise, "Dougal."
Whispers soaked all of it in and said, "Noooot, Teeenaaa, Dooo-All."
Newt stood back up and looked at the children with curiosity and wonder dancing in his eyes. "As you may have guessed, I am Newt Scamander. This is my wife Tina, and my friend, who I have been with longer than Tina, is Dougal."
Lyra had been just staring at the exchange that had been taking place. Harry took a step backward so that she was standing in front of him and gave her a small nudge in the back. She shuffled her feet a little and looked like she wanted to step back behind Harry, though his hand on her back stopped that.
She looked up at Newt and took a big breath, "My name is Lyra Black. These are my brothers Harry Potter and Whispers."
Handshakes went all around, though Dougal did not want to shake hands with anyone.
Newt turned to Dumbledore, "I accept. Whatever this entails, I accept. I haven't been suitably interested in something as extraordinary as this in decades. We were just about to leave for The Congo for the fourth time to try to find a few new species of magical creatures that were reported to us but that can wait another ten years while we do this."
On a shelf behind Dumbledore's desk, the Sorting Hat spoke up, "That's good, Newton, it's exactly what I needed to hear. Albus, please pass me to Mr. Scamander."
Dumbledore picked up the hat and passed him across the room to Newt. With an encouraging nod from his wife, he placed the hat on his head. After a minute under the hat, the castle itself began to shake just a little bit. Then in a voice deeper and more powerful than the one normally heard from the hat it bellowed, "FOUNDER!"
The voice echoed through the room and most likely was heard through the whole castle.
It was followed up by another bellow, "HOUSE SCAMANDER!" The echo shook through the castle once again.
Newt took off the Sorting Hat and placed it on Dumbledore's desk. There was energy in his eyes that denoted a purpose he needed to fulfill. He asked, "So, what do I do now?"
No one had any idea, so they looked at the Sorting Hat. Tina asked, "What happens now, Mr. Hat?"
If the hat could grin, it would be grinning. "I can think of a few things that need to happen. Miss Black, you will need to speak with Mr. Scamander to decide the elements of your house. You will need a crest, colors, a common room, ideals that identify and differentiate your house from the others, and probably a few other things too. You have until Sunday before dinner to get it all done so the students can be sorted."
"Well, no turning back now I guess," Newt remarked.
Tina took over from there, "Mr. Dumbledore, we will need an office and a place to get to know the children. It will need attached living quarters for us as well as additional bedrooms for any of our personal staff we bring in on this project. We will need access to the Hogwarts budget for any funds we need to set up the Scamander House."
"It will be done. Minerva, can you take everyone to the room directly above the current common room for the first-years. The elves will have it set up by the time you arrive, if you need to make any changes just call for one. There have been reporters swarming at the gates all day. They probably heard the announcement of the new house all the way down there and I'll need to go speak to them before they start making things up for the evening edition deadline."
Professor McGonagall took the group with the two demiguises through the halls of Hogwarts to the office that had been mentioned by Dumbledore. A few students saw them as they walked, gasping and whispering about 'Newt Scamander,' and 'the new founder!' Harry felt intrigued that no one even seemed to notice him now.
The room they arrived at was identical to the common room downstairs except there were multiple doors on each wall. There were a few desks and a large board set upon the wall by the door. Tina conjured a beanbag chair in the middle of the room and Dougal walked over and lay down in it. After a moment's consideration, she conjured a few more, and Whispers cautiously climbed into one before letting it just absorb him into the shape of it.
Newt turned to Lyra, "Let's get started, please tell me about yourself."
McGonagall interrupted, "Lyra has had a particularly difficult childhood and shares similarities with Mr. Potter here." Turning to the children, "You may tell them the whole truth about your lives and situation. They will not judge you or spread any information around, you can trust these people."
Lyra looked like she wanted to believe this but stayed quiet. After a few moments, she whispered something to Harry who whispered back and gave her a small nudge.
"Could Se… I mean could Professor Snape join us?" Lyra asked.
McGonagall smiled with a hint of humor to it before waving her wand and summoning her cat Patronus. "Please tell Professor Snape to meet me in the office above the first-year common room as soon as possible." The spectral feline ran downward, through the floor of the room, directly towards its recipient.
Lyra still didn't say anything but instead went over to the beanbag where Whispers was and squished into the chair with him.
Harry walked over to Newt and Tina, "Can you tell me more about Dougal? How old is he?"
Newt looked down at Harry, "I picked up Dougal after his family was stolen by poachers when he was approximately ten years old. He was the only one to survive." Harry's face turned furious at hearing that. "Now, he is somewhere around seventy-five years old, but could be closer to eighty." Harry's eyes widened at hearing that he was that old. "Dougal has always helped to care for the other animals I've kept, no matter how big or dangerous, he has always tried to look after them and make sure they stay safe. He has been one of my best helpers for all the time we've been friends."
Harry smiled at Dougal lounging in his beanbag chair. "We encountered poachers once," his face turned dark and serious. "They were dealt with and will not have another opportunity to harm any of the Hidden again." This shocked the Scamanders a bit. "It may be part of the story that Lyra wants to tell, so I'll wait for Professor Snape before I say anything else."
A few minutes later, Professor Snape came in. Lyra smiled at him as McGonagall whispered to him the situation and a caring look came over Snape's face as he looked back at Lyra. He conjured a chair next to Lyra's beanbag and asked her to start the story.
Lyra sat up and began.
She started with how her father had thrown her out and how she found herself in the container. Fire danced in the eyes of Tina Scamander while sadness was in the eyes of Newt.
She told them of Harry's arrival and him reading to them from The Hobbit and feeding them every day, making sure everyone got something to eat. Snape and McGonagall hadn't heard this part of the story yet and were astounded by how Harry had acted in this terrifying and unfamiliar situation.
They got to the part where they were dragged out into the light and the man hitting Harry in the head followed by the ship sinking. Lyra didn't say it but the adults all assumed that the other children had all died, chained to the wall of the inside of the container from the ship. Severus made a mental note to check with Alastor if the muggle side of the investigation needed any help interrogating suspects.
Lyra spoke about floating on the desk and arriving at the island, and the mystery bananas that showed up for them. She had Harry tell about chasing after the hairy men in the dark by following the hairless child clinging to them. Newt was very interested in this part as he could figure out that these were other demiguises.
The story continued with them getting to know the creatures and learning to eat the fruits and grubs. Then the story changed to the part where Lyra vanished for the first time when the plane flew over.
Newt stopped the story, "So you turned invisible as they did? Can you show me?"
Lyra stood up and vanished. Tina ran her wand over the area and muttered a few spells. "Amazing, this isn't disillusionment. There is no residual distortion, this is actual invisibility. And she managed to affect her clothes as well."
Lyra continued by telling them about how the other members of the tribe congratulated her and then intentionally scared her over and over until she could do it on her own. Then giving her the task of scaring Harry to death repetitively until he could turn invisible as well. Harry stood up to demonstrate the ability as well.
"Incredible," said Newt.
They talked about catching the flying squirrel and weakening the rainstorm. Newt scrunched up his forehead and reached into a pocket on his coat pulling out a tiny book. He tapped it with his wand and it enlarged to normal size. Inside were handwritten pages in many languages. He stopped at one of them in a foreign alphabet.
"What you're talking about sounds like a legend I heard about a flying lemur called a Kolago. The legend is that if it cries at dawn, the skies will be clear. When I investigated it, decades ago, I found that the animal was not magical at all, and thus, I stopped looking for more information. We will definitely need to come with you sometime to see this island and the wonders on it."
Harry nodded a little, he wasn't sure yet about bringing more people to the island but it was a sanctuary now, so it shouldn't be too bad, right?
What followed was the introduction of The Giver, who Professor Snape called a Duwende and set off another round of shocked expressions.
More revelations abounded when Lyra told them about the Usurper. Lyra shared a look with Harry and he gave her a quick shake of his head then picked up the story from there.
"The Giver lived with a large snake that he introduced us to. I found out then that I could speak to snakes, Professor Snape and Alastor said that was called being a Parselmouth."
Newt gave a big sigh from yet another shock. "I would like to conjure a snake to hear it, may I?"
"Do what?" asked Harry.
Professor McGonagall explained that non-magical animals can be conjured, the same as a chair through an incantation. The summoned animal was just a construct and not alive, however, it still had many of the characteristics of a real animal including internal organs, hunger, and hopefully, in this case, language.
Newt conjured a small green snake with the incantation, "Serpensortia!"
Harry looked at the small snake and said
§Hello, lesser snake§
The snake looked up at him and responded
§Hello, speaker§
§How may I assist you?§
Harry looked at it funny
§I wish for you to kill rodents§
The snake responded back
§Of course, speaker, command me§
Harry looked back up to Newt. "This snake is weird, it has no ego. All non-magical snakes I've ever met are arrogant and frustrating to command without smacking them on the head. This one is like a blank slate. I could probably command him to eat himself and it would do it."
"Well it kind of is a blank slate," said Tina. "Freshly hatched in an adult body with no memories and no time to gain any arrogance."
"That makes sense, I guess." Harry continued the story, "So it turned out that The Giver was also a parselmouth, which made a lot of communication with the Hidden easier, and he was able to teach us little bits of magic."
Lyra looked like she wanted to say something but decided against it.
"What kind of snake was the kind that lived with The Giver?" asked Newt.
"He said it was an Usurper, a kingsbane, and that other snakes were all afraid of him," said Harry.
Snape added, "I have never seen anything like it. It was magical, between forty to fifty feet long. It was green and brown with bits of orange mixed in, had a red crest on its head that would stand up when it acted angrily, and extended two long fangs like a viper when it opened its mouth. The tip of his mouth was a golden color, and it couldn't be seen by Alastor Moody's magical eye."
Newt had stopped showing excessive reactions to all the shocks he was receiving. "That is like no magical serpent I have even heard of."
Lyra continued to tell her story about their lives with the hidden, and Harry's efforts to bring agriculture to the village along with the garbage beach and using cobras to guard their crops against rodents. Finally, she got to building their staves. They both took them out and Newt and Tina stared at them as they talked about the hoohoo nest and the Lampong. Newt hadn't heard of the Lampong as Ollivander had but still expressed interest in seeing it.
The next part of the story mostly concerned expanding the agriculture and growing the tribe. They spoke of building the seeing staff for the Hidden in the village. They had taken a ten-foot piece of bamboo and stuffed it completely with demiguise hair, then wrapped the outside as well before coating it with a protective and magically conductive potion. With that, Chief had been able to see that visitors were coming to the island a few days away but not any of their intentions.
Harry took over again, "We didn't learn until they arrived that they were poachers." Newt saw the fury on his face again like when he was telling Dougal's story, "Lyra and I greeted them when they arrived at the island. They attacked us right away and I just barely managed to escape with Lyra. We saw them unloading cages of all sizes from their boat and didn't know what to do, so we split up and summoned the protectors of the island. I brought the Usurper, Lyra brought the hoohoo patriarch, and then I also brought in the lampong. We waited until nighttime and the lampong charged into their camp, though it wasn't much of a surprise because of the glow that surrounds it. The Usurper attacked and as many as it could from the shadows while the hoohoo patriarch sunk their boat with fire. I watched from the side and knocked over one that was going to cast some kind of spell at the Usurper when it was facing the other way. When it was all over, their boat sank to the bottom and the Usurper ate all the bodies."
"After that incident, we started building a bigger and better seeing staff for the Hidden, and Charlie took over the duty of seeing from there. We eventually constructed a seeing staff thirty feet tall which Charlie used to anticipate some incidents a full lunar cycle ahead. It allowed us to predict when Professor Snape, Alastor, and Tristan were coming and prepare for their arrival.
Lyra took over again, "Mostly the seeing staff helped all of the Hidden in the village plan their days. They could see what was the best use for their time and only spend some time working and the rest of the time doing fun things. Because of all of the food and safety, the tribe grew constantly."
Newt asked, "How many are in the tribe now?"
"Fifty-eight when we left, but now there should be another five that will have been born by the time we go back for the holiday break." Turning to Harry, "We should write to Nestor soon."
Newt let out a low whistle, "I really hope I can bring Dougal to see the village. I have never seen so many living together, much less with all the advancements you brought to them."
Tina tried to steer the conversation back onto why they were there. "We need to start building your house, dear. From what I am hearing, I think the ideals of your house should be survival, ingenuity, fierce protection, and an appreciation for all living things. They are similar but different from the ideals of the other houses. They all work well together as well. What do you think, Lyra?"
Lyra looked around the room. "And family. I don't know how to phrase it, but I want the house to be about family."
Newt nodded, "They are all supposed to be about family, though it turns out differently in each house. Yours will be no different."
Tina wrote on the board with her wand:
Survival
Ingenuity
Fierce Protection
Appreciation of plants and animals
Family
She drew a line between Fierce Protection and Family.
The story, no matter how abridged it was, had taken up the entire afternoon and it was getting close to dinner, so they decided to head down to the first-year common room, with Newt and Tina heading directly to the great hall to meet the teachers for dinner.
The other first-years were already gathered in the common room. Colin ran up to them as they arrived.
"We felt the whole castle shake! I took pictures of the portraits and tapestries as they were looking shocked. I hope they will move when I develop them. There's a whole potions club where I can learn how to make the developing potion. Robert wrote up a whole list of the clubs at school so you two can look through them, it's over on the wall." Colin had managed to get through that entire speech in one breath so he took a big gulp of air to get it all back.
Whispers had run over to the fruit plate while the other first-years gathered around them. Lyra had sunk back a little bit behind Harry who was trying to get her to stand more by his side. It ended up being almost a small dance as they slowly shuffled around.
"Newt Scamander is a legend," said Ginny with awe. "My older brother Charlie worships him. He tamed a whole group of Ukrainian Ironbelly dragons during the first muggle world war. What is he like?"
Harry really wanted to see a dragon, he nudged Lyra to respond. "He's nice," she said simply. "His eyes look like he wants to learn everything about whatever I was talking about. His wife looked happy whenever he got that look of curiosity. They were both very nice."
Arthur Bell had left the group and was sitting next to Whispers on a couch and feeding him grapes. Colin tugged on Harry's sleeve and motioned towards the two with his camera and a pleading look in his eyes. Harry smiled and nodded. Just as Colin was going to take the picture, Whisper's eyes glowed, and right before the camera flash went off, he vanished.
Colin resolved himself to turn off the flash next time. But for now, they needed to head to dinner.
Before they entered the great hall, the first years noticed a new hourglass on the wall. In between the hourglasses belonging to the four houses, there was a fifth one. It displayed that there were twenty points in it, though all the gems inside it were currently clear and colorless, the others had colors matching their houses. The great hall was buzzing with conversation as they entered. Everyone was talking about the echoes and shaking around the castle, the new hourglass outside the great hall, and that Newt Scamander was sitting at the staff table with his wife.
No food was on the table and after it seemed like no one else was coming in, Dumbledore approached his lectern. Two identical redheads at the Gryffindor table were chattering away even when Dumbledore arrived at the podium. He waited for a moment before loudly clearing his throat and two girls next to the gingers each slapped them on the backs of their heads to shut them up.
"Misters Weasley, I'm going to assume this was intentional as a result of me telling everyone how much I was enjoying the immediate attention I was getting in my last few announcements. I should have known you both would take it as a challenge. So I won't deduct points. However, you will have detention with Madam Pince on Saturday and Sunday during the daytime. I am told she has been given a new idea for detentions that the two of you can be the first to experience."
One of the boys opened a planner, scribbled something down, and then gave a small high-five to his brother.
"To bigger news. There are currently a few flocks of owls waiting outside to deliver letters and a special edition of the Daily Prophet regarding the events of today. If you were anywhere near Hogwarts, you heard the announcement of House Scamander today. The centaurs in the forest told me they heard it, as did the merpeople at the bottom of the lake, and the residents of Hogsmeade. Starting today, House Scamander is the fifth house for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"
Applause and cheers shook the room. Harry was tempted to hold Lyra up in the air but instead, he just cheered and passed her some candy as she shrunk down to try to avoid notice.
"Joining us tonight are Newton and Porpentina Scamander, who will be establishing their house and overseeing the children who join it for at least the first semester of this year. I give the floor now to the author of many of our textbooks and a world-renowned expert in magizoology, Newton Scamander!"
There were cheers around the room as Harry looked up to Newt at the teacher's table. It was then that he saw something in Newt's eyes that reminded him of himself and Lyra. He didn't like to be the center of attention. He kind of leaned back away from the cheers and applause like he was deflecting a blow to his face. His wife quickly stroked his shoulder and gave him a small kiss on the cheek which seemed to empower him as he stood and walked out to Dumbledore. Shaking the older man's hand, he took his place at the podium.
He looked out at the students assembled before him, looking as many in the eyes as he could before continuing, "As many of you know, I did not graduate from Hogwarts. I spent my time here among the most loyal of houses, Hufflepuff. I was expelled before my N.E.W.T.S. and took my education on the road, learning from any who would teach me; whether they were wizards, muggles, plants, or animals. Even the smallest of bowtruckles has something to teach if you listen carefully. Every student here should learn that lesson and teach their classmates something they don't know."
Looking towards Lyra and Harry, "In the past six hours, I have already learned a great deal from the first member of my new house, Lyra Black. I hope my position as the founder of House Scamander allows me to teach and learn more every day that I am back in Hogwarts. I may ask for help from the students I see before me tonight and even if you don't join my house and I hope we can learn much from each other."
Newt pulled out his wand, which held the attention of every student in the room, "Now to start dinner tonight, Headmaster Dumbledore has asked me to add a new word of power to Hogwarts." Pointing his wand towards the ceiling, a column of swirling silver and purple magic rose from his feet to surround him.
He called into the hall, "Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment, Tweak, and ERRANT!" The last word echoed as if it had been shouted into a deep cave.
The purple magic expanded outwards without force to cover the entire hall of Hogwarts before disappearing. As it passed over the tables, food appeared on all of them and everyone started to eat.
Everyone ate, and as dessert was served, Professor McGonagall approached the lectern to speak. A mere glance from her towards the Weasley twins on her way to the podium silenced them.
"Before everyone leaves, I would like to remind all students fourth year and below, if you wish to have a chance for resorting, please visit your head of house before lunch on Sunday. Tonight and the next two nights after dinner your heads of house will be in their offices to receive anyone who wishes to sign up for resorting. You may also owl them with your decision if you do not wish to meet with them directly. With that said, enjoy your dessert."
In the Slytherin common room after dinner, Draco Malfoy was meeting at his favorite spot by the window to the lake with Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. The two boys were the best goons Draco could ask for; Vincent was tall, fast, and had a keen eye for weakness while Greg was built like an erumpent and if he wasn't a pureblood one would assume he was part troll. Both of them were very pliable and good at following orders.
"My uncle has made it forbidden for me to speak with my sister but he never said I couldn't use intermediaries. She hasn't responded to the letter you passed her either, Greg."
"It did say after the sorting, she hasn't been sorted." Greg looked past Draco towards the window into the Black Lake as he spoke. He was easily distracted at times.
"The girl still should have responded, would you like me to give her a reminder?" Vincent flexed his fingers as he spoke.
"No, not yet. However, I want both of you to apply for the resorting. We need someone in her house."
The boys looked shocked, "But I like Slytherin," Greg complained.
Draco padded their egos, "Both of you are good snakes. It would be incredibly cunning and ambitious to be in the newest Hogwarts house, wouldn't it? Slytherins recognize their own. It's like Farley says, 'sometimes it is better to be a snake in the feathers of an eagle.' I need to stay where I am but you will both go to Snape and tell him you want to be resorted. Am I clear?"
Both boys nodded.
Just as the two boys were about to leave for their head of house's office, two girls silently slipped back into the common room and headed to their dorm.
There was a full house meeting taking place in the Hufflepuff common room. The room was circular with white stone walls and round windows along the top that allowed light to shine into the living space during the day to give it a warm and pleasant feeling. The floor was made of polished dark wood that would feel warm if you walked around barefoot. Plants were growing on most of the walls that would have flowers or fruit on them that could be plucked off.
The center of the room was sunken in multiple levels of seating like an amphitheater with a large fireplace at one end on the wall. The levels of seating all had various colored cushions for people to sit on and every seat was full with some even standing around on the top row without a place to sit. Tonight, in front of the fireplace stood Noah McClory and Lynn Harcourt, the 7th-year prefects.
Lynn called the room to order. "We would like to call this house meeting to discuss the possible resorting. Hufflepuff is the house of the loyal, so a lot of you may feel like asking for a resorting would betray our ideals. Would anyone like to speak for or against this idea?"
A second-year student stood up, "Ernie Macmillan. Hufflepuffs need to stick together, that is what we have always done. I was bullied last year by all of the other houses, it was through the actions of this house and the older students that I was kept safe. Leaving would betray those people who helped me." He sat back down.
An older girl stood up, "Gianni Bunson. Newt Scamander is a Hufflepuff, and even founding his own house, he will always be one of us. His new house will have similar ideals to ours. They will certainly have the same kind of loyalty to each other that we do. Other students will be resorted from other houses and some may become Hufflepuffs. We will show them the same loyalty and protectiveness that we would to a first-year. We should show no ill will towards those who wish to be resorted, especially if they end up in Scamander's house."
The discussion went on for close to an hour before the matter was put to a vote. Everyone placed their ballot into a large barrel near the fireplace. When everyone had voted, the barrel was shaken up and Noah pulled each one out as Lynn tallied them up. When the vote was finished, there were only nine votes against accepting students wishing to be resorted and the vast majority supporting it.
In Ravenclaw, there were no meetings, large or small. The Eagles were known for their independent thought, so they would all make their individual decisions. The house common room was accessible to any who had wit and cleverness, so they could always visit the Ravenclaw library if they did change houses.
In Gryffindor, Hermione Granger steeled her nerves. She had been chosen for Gryffindor and she could feel the bravery in her heart but this wasn't the place for her. Too many incidents and injuries had resulted from being in this house. Her parents flinched when they looked at her now. Pulling her cloak tighter around herself to keep the clicking to a minimum, she approached Professor McGonagall's office.
The door opened before she could place her hand on the door. Neville, the chubby boy from her year was exiting as she entered. They shared a quick look that they both understood why they each wanted to be resorted. As Hermione sat down at the desk, McGonagall looked down at her with a sad face.
"I can't say that I won't miss you. You will always be brave, and you will always be strong but I also believe that you will be happier in another house. I've already spoken to the Sorting Hat himself and asked him to place you where you will have the most joy. He made no promises but listened to me all the same. There are no words I can give you to express my sincerest apologies for what happened last year."
Hermione looked down at the resorting form to see it already filled out except for her signature. She signed it quickly and looked back to her professor. "Thank you," she whispered with tears in her eyes and then left the room quickly.
Author's Note: After seeing him in Fantastic Beasts #1 wandering the department store, I'm giving Dougal a quirk of collecting objects with a penchant for bags and colorful hats. While looking at hats, the one he wore today can be googled as:
"royal blue Elegant Women Wide Brim Floral Floppy Fancy Derby Wedding Dress sinamay Church Hat"
There will be others later.
Casting Options:
The voice of the Gargoyle guarding the headmaster's office - Isaac Hayes.
Newt Scamander - Bill Nighy
Tina Scamander - Kristin Scott Thomas