Sensing Magic
by Teddylonglong
Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.
"I trust that you've already met Amaterasu, my familiar?" Salazar cast them a questioning look.
"Lulu, it's all right." Harry tried to calm down the canine, who was growling fiercely at the large serpent. 'It's huge,' Harry thought in bewilderment. 'No wonder that Lulu is afraid.'
"What a noissssy little thingsss."
"Thisss isss Lucccy," Harry hissed back. "Thessse are Teddy and Neville, and I am Harry."
"Oh, a ssspeaker. That isssss niccce. I am Amaterasssu I am a basilissssk."
"Hello Amaterasssu."
"Anyway, if you go into our chambers, you can call Amaterasu. She is living in my private chamber, but it has a direct connection to our rooms." Salazar gently petted the basilisk. "At least I hope that she is still alive in this time."
'The basilisk is not real, she's just in the portrait the same way as Salazar,' Harry thought, when Godric spoke up.
"Behind this door are our rooms. As the first heir of all four of us, you're the owner of Hogwarts, as I already told the headmaster the other day. You are entitled to visit our quarters whenever you wish. They are yours now."
"Thank you." Harry was surprised to say the least. 'I have my own rooms at Hogwarts?' he wondered. "What do we have to do to get inside?"
Without any forewarning whatsoever, Helga leaned into Salazar's arms and Rowena into Godric's, causing a small corridor to appear in the centre of the painting.
"Lucy, will you please go ahead and show me where we're going?"
The canine let out a small woof of confirmation, before she ran ahead, making everyone follow her quickly.
"Inside is another portrait of the four of us," Rowena informed them, right before the painting behind them returned to its previous state.
HP
They found themselves in what seemed to be a large living room with a group of comfortable looking sofas arranged in front of a fireplace. Harry stepped backward, startled, when Lucy showed him that a small fire was lit in the fireplace. 'Do they have house-elves here?' he wondered in surprise. 'Still strange that they switch on the fire in the middle of the summer.'
He was brought back to reality, when Helga addressed them from the large, life-size painting of the four founders, which was overlooking the room.
"Hello Harry, welcome to our private quarters. No one has lived in these rooms for at least five hundred years. We have always been employing one elf. Lisa," she called out, and an instant later, an elf appeared in front of them. Lisa was dressed in a white one-piece with an application of the Hogwarts crest all over the chest.
'I wonder if she's a free elf,' Harry thought, while Helga introduced him to Lisa and asked her to be there for him if he needed something.
While Lisa eagerly chatted with Teddy, Harry and Neville thoroughly explored the founders' quarters. There were mostly single and double bedrooms as well as one large room and one small chamber.
The large, square shaped room was completely void of any furniture apart from one comfortable looking wing chair, which stood in front of the windows, causing the friends to worry what it had been used for.
The small room was only equipped with a sofa, which stood against one wall facing another wall. "How strange." Neville sounded bewildered, and Harry could only share the sentiment.
=Perhaps, these rooms had a special purpose.=
Harry quickly translated Lucy's words to Neville, knowing that it must have sounded like barks to him.
Seeing that Teddy and Lisa finally followed them, he decided to ask the elf. "Excuse me, Lisa, do you know what this room is for?"
Lisa chuckled. "This is the spy chamber."
"The spy chamber?" Neville looked at Harry in apparent disbelief, which Harry could only understand too well.
Chuckling again, Lisa pointed her right hand against the blank wall opposite of the sofa. "On."
An instant later, the wall allowed the view into the headmaster's office, where Dumbledore was playing Wizard's Chess with Minerva. Harry listened in shock to the conversation between the two professors.
Beginning of scene
"Have you heard that an elf is going to become a student at Hogwarts?" Dumbledore let out a deep sigh.
"Teddy, isn't it?" Minerva smiled, broadly. "He is very intelligent and eager. I am looking forward to teaching him."
"Minerva!" Dumbledore sounded horrified. "Hogwarts is a school for wizards and witches, not for house-elves."
Minerva grinned. "Albus, Teddy is a free elf, not a house-elf. That's a big difference."
Dumbledore sighed again. "That may be, but still. I don't think it's wise to have elves attending classes together with the students."
"And why might that be?" Minerva leaned forward, giving the headmaster a sharp look.
Dumbledore merely shrugged, before he suddenly jerked around to face Minerva, wearing an expression of utmost alert. "I just thought about something. The house-elves are all bonded to Hogwarts. Perhaps, I should renew the bond, but instead of Hogwarts, I should bond them to me. Otherwise, Harry might be able to bond them to him, considering that he is the owner of Hogwarts, at least according to Godric Gryffindor."
Minerva nodded. "That he is, but I am sure that Harry won't do such a thing. Why would he? The freedom of elves is high on his agenda. He wouldn't want to be bonded to hundreds of elves. Check."
"Ahhh, you got me. I was too distracted." With a flick of his wand, the chess board arranged itself anew."
End of scene
"Teddy, I'm going to the elves' quarters and speak with whoever needs to know about this. I won't have Dumbledore bind the elves to him."
"I'll come with you."
"No, please remain here with Neville. I'll be back as soon as possible. Lucy, can you accompany me?"
Not waiting for a response from any of his friends, Harry grabbed Lucy's leg and popped themselves right into the elves' quarters.
tbc tomorrow...
Thank you so very much for the kind reviews for the previous chapter. I appreciate it very much, and my muse really needs the feedback. Thank you.