Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix

Chapter Three

The Stupid Chapter That Sucks A Lot, Even Though It Got Edited Fifteen Billion Times.

Albus Dumbledore walked alone down the corridors of his school, looking with pride at the great stone walls, shining suits of armor and exquisite paintings. He liked the summer break, as he usually had the entire castle to himself for the whole two months. He pondered upon the whereabouts of the Potions Master, Severus Snape; a worried feeling settled in the pit of his stomach at the thought of what he may be doing at that very moment.

No worries, I've got him right here. *Pets her little Severus. * Good boy.

He strode down into the Potions dungeon and sat cross-legged upon a table in the center of the room. Staring at the walls, he took his wand from his robes and set a stream of silver and gold stars shooting around. They fell upon the floor and disappeared after a few seconds.

Ah, pretty… *pets her Severus again. * Yes, you are pretty too…

He wondered about how Sirius Black was doing at Remus Lupin's home. He was safe there, Dumbledore knew that, yet with no word on Voldemort in a long while, he couldn't help but worry a bit.

I know what they're doing. *Enter cackling of power. *

He sat for another thirty minutes, firing colored stars and small birds all over the place. This eventually became a little boring, so he got up and left the cold room. A nice breakfast in the Great Hall, under the enchanted ceiling would please him. He always enjoyed looking at the ceiling; he never got tired its mysterious quality. The many secrets the Hogwarts castle held intrigued him, as he knew he could never find them all.

Dumbledore knew of only a few - the secrets that had been passed down from headmaster to headmistress. One told that each of the four house founders put a barrier on the Hogwarts castle, so those they thought not fit to enter could not come in. Rowena Ravenclaw made the castle un-plottable; Helga Hufflepuff put the jacalus charm on it, which made the castle appear as a shack to all those without magic in their blood; Salazar Slytherin put the anti-Apparition spell on it; and finally, the barrier of Godric Gryffindor is un-known. He knew that only the descendants of these four founders could control or remove these barriers. Thankfully, Voldemort did not know this, as, having Salazar Slytherin as an ancestor, he could remove the anti-Apparition spell if he wanted.

Fancy that, what a random piece of information. I bet it's completely irrelevant to what's going to happen later on in the book.

Most of the things Dumbledore knew about the castle did not prove to be anything of much interest. Such as the small inscription of the wall of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, that said simply, once you had translated it, "Grindylows are bad." Many of the classrooms had little messages inscribed on the walls that said very silly things such as "never turn your quills into worms".

Well, it's good advice, really.

Dumbledore strode down the Entrance Hall and was about to open the doors to the Great Hall when he heard two small pops come from behind him. He spun around to see a tall man, with shaggy black hair and a slightly shorter man with dusty brown hair standing there, both shaking and wearing looks of great confusion.

'Sirius, Remus, what are you doing here?' Dumbledore ran over to them.

'I was just wondering the same thing…' Sirius Black said, turning to the Headmaster.

'How did you get here?'

'We were Apparating to Hogsmead… but, we came here instead… I don't know how…' Remus Lupin stammered in reply.

'Come in here,' Dumbledore led them into the Great Hall. 'You need some food, then you can tell me what happened.'

***

Sirius and Remus were barely able to eat half of their chicken sandwiches; they were shaking so much. Sirius tried to start explaining, but Dumbledore wouldn't let them speak until they had eaten something.

'I suppose I've made you two eat enough now, tell me what happened.' He nodded and leant forward, showing interest.

'We were in the forest last night, because it was a full moon.' Remus began. 'We came back to my house just as the sun was rising and… there was a Dark Mark hovering over it… or at least, what was left of it…'

Sirius took over. 'We decided we needed to get away from there and to the safest place possible, so we were going to Apparate to Hogsmead and then walk up here… but, we Apparated straight here instead, by accident. But, Albus, I thought you couldn't Apparate inside the Hogwarts grounds?'

'That's correct… I have no clue why you were able to…' A small pop cut him off. They all knew what it was and ran into the Entrance Hall just in time to see the Potions Master collapse, trembling and shivering, onto the floor.

WHAT? I thought I chained you up! You broke your leash again, bad boy!

'Severus!' Dumbledore rushed to his side. 'Severus, what happened?'

Aw, it's ok. I still love you.

Snape raised his head with difficulty and said, in a hoarse whisper, 'Voldemort… barrier down… coming here…' Nasty purple bruises began to sprout upon his face, but the trembling stopped. He grasped Dumbledore's robes and pulled himself up. He stood, swaying slightly with his eyes out of focus, then looked right at all three of them.

Noooo… my Severus is hurt. Let me kiss your boo-boos better…

'Voldemort, he took the anti-Apparition barrier off the castle – he's coming back.' He told them. 'He knows I was working as a spy and tortured me with the Cruciatus curse until I told him how he could get inside the castle. I got back here as soon as I could, but I feared it would be too late. I'm so sorry, Headmaster, I've failed.'

'Severus, you have not failed, he isn't here. Voldemort destroyed Remus' home and they too were able to Apparate here, now we know why.'

Well, what do you know? That completely random piece of information wasn't so random after all…

***

In the very early hours of the next morning, Professor Dumbledore went searching for answers. He wondered if Harry Potter was still safe - Voldemort still hadn't shown up at the castle and he was beginning to wonder why. There were four people there whom he wanted dead, yet no sign of him. He wondered if it wasn't that Voldemort didn't want to come, but that he simply couldn't. Perhaps this was another secret, that there was more to this than what Dumbledore knew. For this reason, he set off in search for answers. Hogwarts had a funny habit of revealing things when you least expected it or when you most wanted it; he hoped this was one of those times.

More random pieces of information to come.

He traveled through the corridors of the first, second, third, fourth and fifth floors, searching each classroom, yet finding nothing helpful. At three o'clock, he decided one more floor would end his search and if he found nothing, it meant there was nothing to be found. He climbed the marble steps to the 6th floor and searched each classroom and broom closet. Nothing… nothing until he reached the south wing and saw there a door he had never seen in his time at Hogwarts.

I'll bet that's just a random door. No relevance whatsoever.

The door was of battered oak with iron hinges and a large golden lion's head sticking out, but no door handle. Dumbledore approached it cautiously and jumped back when the eyes of the lion snapped open.

'I suppose you want to come in here, do you?' It said.

A talking lion head on a door? Oo-er, how odd.

'Please.' He replied, nervously.

'So, you're the headmaster, then,' the head peered at him.

'Yes… who are you?'

'None of your business, though I'm sure you'll find out someday. You do a good job here, the children seem happy, I suppose I'd say I'm proud. Why do you want to come in here, Headmaster?'

'Looking for some answers.' He replied shortly.

'How can you be sure you'll find them in here? You could find nothing you want or you could find something you don't want.' Albus could've sworn the lion grinned at him.

'I suppose I can't be sure, can I?' He looked the lion straight in its blank, golden eyes. 'Are you going to help me or let me in, or just leave me standing here?'

'You want help, do you? Might be able to sway a deal. It all depends on what you want to know, Albus Dumbledore.'

A psychic lions head? This is getting weird.

'How do you know my… never mind. I need to know about the barriers on this castle and about its protection from evil. If you can help me, I must know, but if you can't, I mustn't waste my time here.'

The lion fell silent for a moment or so, cocking his head to the side and looking the Headmaster up and down, as if sizing him up to see if he was fit to know the answer.

'Very well, Headmaster, you may enter.' The door creaked open slowly, leaving only just enough space for Dumbledore to squeeze in.

It was a small room, but magnificent in a ghostly way. The walls were of stone, but they seemed to contain small specks of gold and silver that shone like stars under the light of the moon. The floors were pure white marble, so white they radiated an eerie blue. There was a single, small window that was so high up, you could barely see outside, yet the moonlight seemed to fill the room all the same.

On one wall, very close to the ground, Albus saw something shadowed in the light. He crouched down to read the words carved in the stone.

Another completely irrelevant piece of advice.

When goodness enters and evil is left behind

For this an answer he will not find

He does not know the secret true

That tells each barrier is of not one, but two

He cannot enter until the one

With blood of the chosen come

And then if that one may choose

To take the protection, it is all that lose

***

A brown owl flew in the window of Albus Dumbledore's office, dropped that day's copy of the Daily Prophet on his lap and settled itself on his desk. Dumbledore put on his half moon glasses and read the headline.

Sirius Black, Captured At Last.

Immediately, he crouched down in front of his fireplace, muttered 'incindio' and threw some purple powder flames. He stuck his head in.

'Remus, Sirius, are you there?'

He heard rustling, yawning, flatulence and finally a voice. 'Mwerf… yeah, I'm here…you got any idea how early it is?' Sirius muttered.

Heh heh heh, wonder what those two were doing…

'It's four am, sorry, but you two need to get to my office as soon as possible.'

'Why?… never mind, we'll be there in a few minutes…'

Dumbledore drew his head from the fire, then threw some more of the powder into it and replaced his head.

'Severus, are you awake?'

'No, go away.' Snape murmured in reply.

Go away, we're busy!

'Severus, I need you to come to my office straight away.'

'No, I'm sleeping…' He sighed and grunted. 'Fine… whatever, I'll be there soon…'

***

'Please, sit down.' Snape shot a nasty look at Sirius as he and Remus sat on the sofa, and then sat on the opposite side of the room.

'I believe I know why Voldemort has not invaded the castle yet.' Dumbledore began. 'This morning, I went searching for answers. I found a chamber that I had never seen if my life and it contained the answer I was looking for. Severus, you said Voldemort removed the barrier of Salazar Slytherin, yet, he has no come here yet. The reason for this is, that each defense was not formed by one founder, but by two. Yes, Slytherin set the anti-Apparition spell on Hogwarts, but another of the four added something to it. This means that it will only barrier will only truly fall once the other descendant has removed the other part of it.' He peered at their confused looks. 'Does this make sense to you?'

Yes, perfect sense. Isn't is just wonderful that you found this all out right when you needed to, no ifs ands or buts about it? Most fortunate

They nodded and murmured. 'But, you don't know which other founder created the other part?'

'No, unfortunately, I don't know. I believe I do know what they did to it. I think whoever did it, strengthened the defense against any sort of Dark wizard. This is why you were able to Apparate here, but Voldemort cannot. The barrier against wizards of good blood is down, but anyone of Dark descent still can't Apparate here. It is rather hard to explain; I hope you all understand me.' He looked around the room again at the sleepy faces.

'Sirius, this came this morning…' He handed him the copy of the Daily Prophet. The moment his eyes fell upon it, his face contorted into shock and confusion.

'Why… how… what the hell is going on?' He cried.

'I don't know, but I do know that Harry will be receiving this soon and I have a feeling it might worry him a bit.' Dumbledore looked sternly at Sirius. 'I want you to write to Harry and tell him I will come to his home to pick him up at three o'clock this afternoon.'

'But, why? He's supposed to be going to Ron's house it a couple days. Plus, he's safe at the Dursley's.'

'I can't explain it, I just have a gut feeling that he's not safe there anymore, nor will he be at the Weasley's home. I think Voldemort will be quite angry about not being able to get in here, and he might go after Harry.'

Sirius bit his lip. 'All right, three o'clock this afternoon then?'

'Yes, there's an eagle owl in the Owlery that should get the letter to him within the hour. I will write to the Molly and tell her Harry can't come, but her children are welcome to come here for the rest of the summer.' Sirius got up to leave. 'Sirius, do tell him not to worry, but tell him not to leave his house. We never know where Voldemort could be.' Sirius nodded and silently exited.

'Severus,' Dumbledore turned to Snape, who was sitting slouched in an armchair, half asleep. 'Go down to Hagrid's cabin and tell him everything.'

'Yeah, sure.' He muttered, then left the office to only Remus and Dumbledore.

'Remus, I suppose I don't really have anything for you to do. Just keep your wits about you. Having the barrier down can work as an advantage to us. If Voldemort does find a way into the castle during the school year, we can perform an Apparition bind on all the students and Apparate out.' He grinned. 'Great little invention of yours, that spell. You never cease to amaze me.'

Nor I. So smart and sexy all in one, almost as smart and sexy as Mr. Snape. But, that's not important. What is important is that I have no idea what to write about after this. A wee bit of a plot is formed, but it's so fragmented (and stupid) that I'm not sure how to write it… oh well… er… maybe I'll just give up now. Sounds good.