Chapter Five
Helena blinked at the elf in front of her. "Hello, Pinky."
"Hello, Missus! Mistress Ravenclaw was looking for you! It's dinnertime!" The elf squeaked excitedly. Helena blinked and looked down at her potion. She nodded a little at the happy creature.
"Thank you. Tell her I will meet her in the Hall."
"Yes, Missus!" The elf nodded vigorously and popped away, leaving Helena in her uncle's personal potions room. She had finally managed to convince him to let her brew in there the month before, so she had to be extra careful. Giving the cauldron another stir, she waved her wand at it, casting a stasis charm on it. She picked up her outer robes and dropped them on her shoulders, making her way out of the room.
It took barely five minutes to get to the Great Hall, and she heard her mother behind her, so she entered the room to sit next to her aunt before her mother could. It was a game they always played at mealtimes, something that had originally started as a way to get the both of them to the meals at all as they had a habit of spending hours upon hours studying or practicing potions, charms, or any other number of their favorite magical studies.
She stopped short in the door upon seeing three very strange looking teenagers – all of them about her age, maybe a little younger. "Mama? Who're they?"
"Helena! That is rude," her mother scolded as she made her way over. The girl blushed lightly and dipped her head in apology. Hours of potion making tended to tear at her manners. "They are our guests. Come and I will introduce you."
They made their way into the room quietly. The three were whispering to each other excitedly – or the girl was whispering to her friends excitedly, and they were listening. Curious, Helena used her animagus hearing to listen in.
"-Grey Lady!"
"Who?" the redhead asked dumbly. Helena could practically feel the girl roll her eyes.
"The Ravenclaw House ghost! She's rarely seen except at feasts. Apparently, she's Professor Ravenclaw's daughter. She doesn't like talking to people usually. There's a story about the Bloody Baron-,"
"That's an awful name-,"
"Like Nearly Headless Nick is any better?" the raven-haired boy snorted. The girl narrowed her eyes.
"He liked to be called Sir-,"
"Sir Nicholas, I know, Mione," the boy laughed. "She's coming over, shush."
The whispers stopped as she neared, and she got an uneasy feeling. Her mother and her friends often had odd things going on, but there was something wrong with these three. She'd never seen them before, but they spoke as if they knew the school well, and she knew all of the students. She shook herself and put on a smile, giving them a small curtsey.
"Hello," she said softly. "I am Helena Ravenclaw."
"Hello," the girl grinned. "Lovely to meet you. I'm Hermione Granger."
"Harry Potter," the boy said, watching her warily. She nodded at him and turned to the redhead, though she saw an odd look of relief on the boy's face.
"Ron Weasley," the redhead said, smiling. He had a nice smile, one that made her feel nice the way her uncle's did.
Her mother stepped behind her and put a hand on her back. "Helena, they are our guests. They will be learning from us this summer and through school, if they stay."
The girl hesitated but tapped her wand slightly. She felt her mother accept the link and pushed her relief away as it opened. "What is wrong with them?" she thought.
"That is not for me to discuss with you," her mother chided.
"Are they in danger?" Her family often took in those in danger and helped them until it was safe. The hesitation in the response told her all she needed to know.
"Not yet, but they will be. We wish to help them learn to defend themselves."
"Why not just help get rid of the danger?" She asked curiously. That was what often happened, and it was odd for them to just teach them and send them out.
"It is, regrettably, not a choice this time. Now come, we've been silent for some time."
Helena sighed inwardly and nodded, pushing her wand back in its holster and smiling brightly at the mysterious kids in front of her. She sat next to Salazar and made her plate.
"Helena, did you remember-," Salazar started, but she rolled her eyes and cut him off.
"Yes, Uncle. I put away all the ingredients and put up a stasis charm," she promised. "I told you I would be very careful."
"Good girl," he nodded. "I don't want my lab to blow up."
"But you do that all the time," she frowned. He chuckled lightly.
"But I do it in a safe way. I'm never hurt. You might mix monkshood with newt eyes and…" he trailed off, shaking his head. She frowned at him.
"I know better than that."
"It was only an example, Poof," he laughed. "You know what I mean, yes?"
"Yes," she said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. From there, the conversation devolved into uses of aconite. The strange visitors traded a look and stayed out of the conversation, and Helena recognized the sight of information being withheld.
"Can I ask you a question?" the girl – Hermione, she reminded herself – asked. Helena nodded, pushing a polite smile onto her face. "What was that strange silence and look between you and your mom- er, mother?"
"Oh!" Helena gasped. "I am so sorry. I sometimes forget that not everyone knows."
"It's fine," Hermione assured her, a kind smile on her face. Helena found herself liking the girl, however uneasy she was about the trio.
"We found an old sort of magic. You know soul magic?"
Hermione nodded before hesitating. "I've not done as much research as I would like, considering…" she paused and glanced slightly at the black haired boy – Harry – before moving on and making Helena even more interested in the three of them. "But I understand the general idea and how it works, for the most part."
"Well, it's sort of like that. Mama wanted a way for me to contact her if she was away and I was in danger."
Hermione blinked. "Have you actually had to use it before?" Helena hesitated but nodded.
"There was one time… I was out of the castle, just in Hogsmeade, but I had taken the students there for the day. We were attacked…" she paused, biting her lip. "It was not a pleasant experience, but the link saved my life."
"How does it work?" Helena recognized the familiar hunger for information in the girl's eyes that she often saw in her mother's eyes. She smiled softly.
"You would have to ask Uncle Salazar. Mama didn't want to know, aside from ensuring it was not dark magic."
"Why?" Hermione frowned in confusion.
"Because it is a long process that she does not believe should be shared with the masses," Helena shrugged. "Imagine your enemies being able to speak silently to one another across any distance and at any time."
Hermione shivered. It seemed the idea truly terrified her. The girl nodded quietly. "I can understand that." She shook herself and turned to ask another question. "So, is it just you and your mother that have this… connection?"
Helena shook her head. "Mama's friends have it as well, which means I have it with them, too."
"That is fascinating," Hermione muttered. She looked down at her food and her mouth began moving, but no words came out. Helena covered a smile with her hand. It seemed the girl was a little version of her mother. She was shocked out of her thoughts as she heard her Uncle talking.
"-Dementors in your third year?" Salazar asked, his eyes narrowed. Harry looked slightly sheepish and stared at his food as if begging it to intervene.
"Uh, yeah, well, you see…" he muttered. Salazar was not impressed.
"Harry."
"Yeah?"
"Explain please."
Harry coughed and looked at his friends. Hermione was still muttering to herself, and Ron just shrugged at him. "There's a little more to it than just Dementors…"
"Your godfather," Salazar nodded. Harry looked at him in surprise, and the man scoffed. "I do pay attention to your ramblings, Harry."
"Right, well… should we be talking about this here? I mean… it is dinner," he winced at the lame excuse. Helena watched her uncle lean over and whisper something to the boy and the boy shook his head, replying. They continued for another minute before Salazar sat up and looked his niece in the eye.
"Helena, I believe we should explain some things to you."
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Hermione had zoned back into the conversation when they finished explaining the situation to Helena, who looked both overwhelmed and extremely intrigued. Salazar, however, had not lost sight of his point. He pinned Harry with a hard look, who sighed and leaned back in his seat.
"In school, my dad had a group of friends called the Marauders," he explained. All of the founders were listening intently, and his friends were paying almost as much attention. "There was my dad, James Potter, and his friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and…" Hermione gave him a comforting smile which he was very thankful for. "Peter Pettigrew."
"Bloody rat," Ron shivered.
"Ronald," Rowena scolded, but Hermione shook her head.
"He's being quite literal, except for the bloo- you know what I mean. The Marauders were animagi, except for Lupin."
"Lupin is a werewolf," Harry explained. "So my dad, Sirius, and Peter became animagi to be with him on the full moon."
"That was very kind of them," Helena commented.
"Yeah. So anyway, my parents went into hiding – now we know that they did that because of the prophecy – but Dumbledore was certain there was a spy in the Order. Sirius was appointed Secret Keeper-,"
"Secret Keeper?" Godric frowned. "Are you talking about a Fidelius?"
Harry nodded slowly. "They went to a cottage and lived there. Sirius was Secret Keeper, but they decided that was too obvious. He was my dad's best mate, more than Lupin and much more than Pettigrew. So, they changed Secret Keepers. Without telling anyone."
"Not even Dumbledore?" Helga asked. Harry shook his head with a frown.
"Peter took Sirius's place, but…"
"He was the spy?" Salazar guessed. Harry grimaced and nodded.
"He told Voldemort where they were. Halloween 1981, they went after my parents – after me. Sirius went to visit Pettigrew, who wasn't supposed to leave his heavily warded home, and found him missing, so he knew it was Pettigrew. He came to check on us, but it was already done. He gave me to Hagrid and went after Pettigrew. He was an auror, so he found him pretty easily.
"He cornered him in the street and was about to curse him, but Pettigrew framed him. Yelled at him, asking how he could kill my parents, and then blew up the street, cut off a finger, and turned into his animagus form."
"And then he spent twelve years posing as my rat," Ron added, shivering at the memory. "He slept in my bed."
Hermione patted Ron's arm awkwardly as Salazar frowned. "That's why Sirius was in prison?"
"Yeah," Harry sighed. "He broke out before my third year after he saw a picture of Ron with Pettigrew – Wormtail, we call him."
"Everyone thought he broke out to kill Harry," Hermione added sadly.
"Yeah," Harry snorted bitterly. "Including us."
"Y'know how my dad told you, before the year started, to… not go looking for Sirius?" Ron asked, sounding slightly amused. Harry flushed a bit.
"Am I that predictable?"
"You did go looking for the Stone," Hermione told him with a shrug.
"And the Chamber," Ron nodded.
"Hey!" Harry protested. "I was hearing someone whispering in the walls. You would go looking for it too if you could hear her."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Ron snickered at the look on his friend's face. Salazar cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow at the trio. Harry nodded and focused again on the story.
"Anyway, that year was the first I'd heard of Sirius at all," he sighed. "But the Ministry, bloody helpful people they are, decided to place Dementors around the school. Not on the grounds, mind you-,"
"Like they cared," Ron muttered, thinking of the Quidditch incident. Harry ignored him.
"But they were there in case he showed up."
"If they weren't in the school grounds," Godric said slowly. "Then why did you have to learn the Patronus?"
"Er- right. Well… see, the first time I encountered them, they were searching the train. I… didn't react well."
"You passed out!" Hermione huffed. "That's worse than 'didn't react well.'"
"Yeah… maybe," he shrugged. "Lupin sent away the dementors and gave me chocolate."
"And?" Salazar asked. He knew there had to be more.
"Well… they did interrupt a Quidditch match."
"What happened?" Helena asked curiously.
"It was kinda rainy-,"
"Large thunderstorm," Hermione corrected.
"-and I was chasing the snitch. It was flying up, and Cedric," his voiced cracked slightly, but he pushed on, "was right behind me. When I got too high, the Dementors caught me. They started… I think they were trying to give me the Kiss? I'm not sure. I fell off my broom, and Dumbledore used some spell-,"
"Arresto Momentum," Hermione informed them.
"-and caught me. After that, I woke up in the infirmary. That's when I convinced Lupin to teach me the spell."
"I see," Salazar said. He didn't sound happy. The trio shared a long look, and after a few quiet minutes, Harry sighed.
"There's more."
"I guessed as much," Salazar said with a raised eyebrow.
"One full moon, Padfoot – Sirius's animagus form – saw Ron walking the grounds and holding Wormtail. He tried to grab the rat and missed and ended up pulling Ron into the Shrieking Shack… er, a… place in Hogsmeade that's connected to Hogwarts by a tunnel that isn't there yet."
"Hm."
"Hermione and I followed, because, well… a huge dog just kidnapped our friend."
"In a bloody painful way, might I add," Ron grumbled, looking down at his leg. Harry rolled his eyes and moved on.
"And there was a confrontation and Lupin showed up, and then Snape showed up and I, er, disarmed him-,"
"And knocked him out!" Hermione reminded him. "A teacher…"
"Anyway," Harry said loudly, pulling her out of her rant worthy thoughts. "We captured Wormtail and were heading back to the castle to get it all sorted out, but Lupin, uh…"
Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, and Harry mentally facepalmed. How was he supposed to explain what had happened without mentioning Wolfsbane?
"He lost track of the time," Ron told them. It was… sort of true.
"Yeah. So he turned, and we were all in danger. Sirius turned into Padfoot and protected us from him. There was a wolf call from the forest, and Moony – Lupin's Marauder name and what we call his wolf – ran off, but Sirius was injured. He was near the lake, and I ran over to him, and…" he frowned at Hermione. Explaining all of this and the time travel part was going to take a while. "I tried to help him, but the Dementors found us. There were… what, a hundred? Maybe two hundred?"
Hermione sighed. "More around two hundred."
Helga gasped softly. "That is… incredible."
Harry nodded his agreement. "I tried to hold them off, but it was too hard. My emotions were too mixed up and I couldn't think straight enough to find a good memory, a strong enough memory. In the end… I didn't have to. Someone else cast a Patronus and it saved us. And then… I kinda passed out. I woke up in the infirmary with Ron and Hermione. Ron's leg was broken, but Hermione was fine.
"Dumbledore told us to go back in time. We saved a hippogriff set for execution and then Hermione did the wolf call that saved Sirius from Moony… and then we ran from Moony-,"
Rowena frowned at the bushy-haired girl at the table. "He responded to your call?"
"Yes," Hermione nodded. "Why?"
"Hm…" the woman shrugged. "It may be nothing. I'll do more research and get back to you…"
"Okay?" Hermione frowned in confusion, and Harry moved on, eager to get the conversation over with.
"And then we watched as the Dementors started to attack us. I had thought… when I saw the patronus at first, I thought I saw my dad. But no one came. So I cast the spell. My stag saved Sirius and I."
"You got rid of two hundred dementors?" Helga asked with wide eyes. Harry shrugged and nodded, moving on before she could say anything.
"And then Hermione and I went and saved Sirius from being Kissed."
"I do not suggest riding Hippogriffs," Hermione added, shuddering. Harry rolled his eyes and looked at Salazar.
"See, I think we saved Sirius because it had already happened. Time is less of a delicate fragile butterfly and more of a… sturdy loop de loop."
"A what?" the man blinked at him.
"Er- a series of connected swirls?"
"Right… well, that's an interesting theory," Rowena said. "And it might help with my research."
"Really?" Harry blinked. The woman nodded thoughtfully.
"Although that idea makes me wonder if… hm…" she stood up in the middle of her sentence and walked off, muttering quietly to herself. The three friends blinked in surprise as Helena grinned at her mother.
"What… just happened?" Hermione asked.
"She just did a you!" Ron exclaimed.
"Excuse me?"
"You do that all the time," Harry laughed. "You get an idea and walk away to work on it."
"I do?" Hermione asked with wide eyes. Her friends laughed and nodded.
"Well," Godric grinned. "I think Rowena has just excused all of us from the meal."
"Yes," Salazar agreed. "And I suggest you three get to bed soon. We will be up bright and early to continue our dueling."
With great reluctance, the trio stood and bid everyone goodnight, making their way to their rooms for desperately needed sleep.
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It was cold. For a long minute, that was all Ron knew. After what felt like an eternity, his friends blinked into his vision. He tried to run to them, but he was stuck in place, chained to whatever was behind him. Sighing, he looked around to see where they were and was surprised to see other kids – their age and both older and younger – all tied up the way he and his friends were. He didn't recognize any of the others, so he turned his head toward a door he found to his right.
The door opened quietly, and he felt someone on his left flinch violently at the noise. He saw a man – was it a man? – walk into the room, holding a dagger. The man twirled the dagger between his fingers cruelly and eyed the girl next to Hermione. She looked to be about twelve. "Your turn, dearie."
He felt sick when he watched the man throw the dagger at the girl. The dagger sunk into her gut in a way that would cause her immense pain, but wouldn't kill her. Desperate, Ron looked around to try and figure out where they were. That was when, with a start, he figured it out.
They were at Hogwarts.
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