Thanks! Lots of thank you-s and a lot of hugs to Seldes Katne for beta-reading Hearts and Hourglasses before it's posted on Sugar Quill! She's a wonderful person and a fantastic beta-reader!

Forenote: Chapter 23 continues Chapter 20: Friends, Enemies and Rivals, immediately. The story commences after Harry walked out on Draco in the classroom.

Chapter 23: Much Ado about Sticks

Draco was bothered by what Harry had said. What did he mean exactly when he said that Lord Slytherin wouldn't stay long enough in this time to help Voldemort?

It couldn't possibly be a threat now, could it? Potter wouldn't dare do any harm to one of the Founders, even if it was Lord Slytherin.

Draco headed back to the hospital wing. He wanted to reassure himself that Lord Slytherin was in no danger.

When Draco tried to see the Dark wizard, Madam Pomfrey immediately ordered him to leave, saying that Professor Scaevola needed his rest and was in no condition to entertain visitors. The nurse still thought that Draco didn't know about the Founders.

Fortunately, the other Founders were there. Ravenclaw reassured Pomfrey that Draco would be no trouble at all, and Draco was allowed to see the patient.

The Dark wizard was still sleeping. Gryffindor was sitting in a chair by the bed. Hufflepuff was sitting in another chair on the other side of the bed. When they saw Draco, Hufflepuff gave him a slight smile. The woman had since changed her mind about Draco when she saw how worried he was about Lord Slytherin.

Gryffindor nodded at him shortly before turning his attention back to the other wizard. Lord Slytherin was frowning in his sleep. Once ever so often, he would twitch and mutter softly.

"Rachel." Gryffindor look over to Ravenclaw, who quickly moved closer to the bed. "Is he having a nightmare?" Gryffindor asked her. Draco watched Ravenclaw closely. Why would Gryffindor ask her if Lord Slytherin was having a nightmare?

"I'm afraid so," Ravenclaw answered softly. She took and held Lord Slytherin's left hand, which shook before clenching tight around her hand. ... Could she read minds? wondered Draco.

"What is he dreaming about?" asked Hufflepuff curiously.

A smile curved Ravenclaw's lips as she stroke Lord's Slytherin's hand gently with her other hand. "Broomsticks," she said simply. Draco was startled, but he quickly realized that what had happened to Lord Slytherin was more than enough to give him nightmares about broomsticks.

Gryffindor chuckled. He was about to say something when Ravenclaw gasped softly. Lord Slytherin's hand jerked away from her as its owner stilled. Lord Slytherin's eyes suddenly snapped open, blazing green fire. Everyone was startled when he sat up abruptly with a look of absolute fury on his pale angular features.

"Brooms..." He hissed through gritted teeth. His lips curled in an expression of sheer dislike.

Draco flinched when he bellowed, "I HATE BROOMS!"

***

Salazar seemed none the worse for wear. At dinnertime, the Great Hall was abuzz as students murmured and whispered to one another, all the while craning their heads to look over at the staff table more properly. Despite the other Founders' protests, the Dark wizard insisted on having supper as usual in the Great Hall.

Harry watched with amusement as Salazar glared resentfully at any professor or staff member who would dare bring up the issue of his broom mishap. It was the topic for dinner conversation this night and undoubtedly would be the most talked about news at Hogwarts for days to come, unless something even more exciting happened.

"I'm glad Professor Scaevola is all right," said Hermione, and Harry forced himself to look away from the staff table, where Salazar was slouching in his chair with his arms crossed and with a grumpy look on his face.

Chuckles and snickers suddenly broke out from the Weasley Twins and Lee Jordan. Hermione frowned at them, and Harry asked them curiously, "What's so funny?"

George cleared his throat before answering Harry, "He's funny git, Professor Scaevola, I mean."

Harry wondered if he was referring to Salazar's undignified behavior at the staff table, then Fred said, "Just before dinnertime, we spotted him outside at the broom shed."

"What was he doing there?" asked Ron.

Lee shook his head slightly, looking perplexed but still very amused. "We're not really sure, but before he could even open the shed door, the other Professors arrived."

"Professors Gloucester and Hawthorn were pretty upset," continued George, snickering. What they had seen must have been very funny.

Fred bit his lower lip, looking like he was trying hard to keep from laughing, and he was failing miserably.

Lee snorted. "It seemed that Scaevola managed to get away from them and wanted another try on a broomstick."

A chuckle escaped Harry before he could help it. It was just like Salazar to attempt another broom ride so soon after falling off one miles above the ground. He definitely wasn't the sort to accept failure lying down.

"What happened next?" asked Ron, who was grinning.

"Gloucester yelled at him," said George, "He told Scaevola he was nuts for even thinking of riding another broom. Stick to horses, he told him. Hawthorn threatened to give him a concussion if he pulled that stunt again."

Harry interrupted them, "Professor Hawthorn thinks he did it intentionally?"

"He must have," said Lee. "I mean brooms sometimes do go crazy when they're old or damaged, but they don't go crazy like that, and Draco's Nimbus 2001 is only about three years old."

Fred nodded, agreeing, "I think he must have edged on that broom too much and too quickly. Its magic must have gone haywire, and at that speed, its brakes must have gone kaput too. I've never seen a Nimbus 2001 go that fast."

Harry got a sinking feeling in his stomach as Hermione asked, "He made a broom perform beyond its capability?"

Lee explained, "There are some wizards and witches who can make a broom fly better than it's expected to do. They have a natural talent for flying. But there a few wizards who are just maniacs on a broom, no matter what they do. They unintentionally force too much out of the broomstick, and it just goes berserk. That must be what Scaevola did to Draco's Nimbus 2001."

George added, "He broke it without meaning to. I can understand why Gloucester and Hawthorn were furious that he tried to ride another broom again."

"He's a very bad flier," finished Fred.

What they said eased Harry's worry that Salazar may have tried to get out of Hogwarts, and it practically cleared Draco of wrongdoing. In which case, he owed Draco an apology. However, Harry still didn't trust Draco or Salazar for that matter.

***

Harry still had detention to do that evening. With a heavy heart, he told Ron and Hermione not to come with him, even under his Invisibility Cloak. It would be useless now that he was doing detention with Draco.

His best friends had been keeping him company each evening when he was doing detention. They would quickly help Harry finish most of his work, then spend the remaining detention time chatting and doing their homework. Hermione had cast a surveillance spell that would warn them if anyone was approaching. If someone did come, she and Ron would don the Invisibility Cloak while Harry continued his chore.

Now, with Draco, Ron and Hermione couldn't keep Harry company. But the two of them insisted on accompanying Harry to Mr. Filch's office at least. When they arrived there, they saw Draco, alone, waiting for Harry with their assignment. The two of them were to go dust the bookshelves in the library (the Restricted Section was excluded).

The chore didn't seem so bad at first. Ron and Hermione made loud excuses of wanting to do their homework in the library. It was closed at this time, but since Harry and Draco had to clean it, it should be all right if they stayed. They didn't have to speak so loudly though since Draco wasn't paying any attention to them. Harry wondered if Ron and Hermione noticed that Draco hadn't even sneered once at them this evening.

While Ron and Hermione did their homework (or tried to), Harry peeked at Draco out the corner of his eyes as he dusted the bookshelves.

Draco paid no mind to him as he meticulously dusted the books with a large feather duster. He sneezed often as did Harry as the dust tickled their noses. Soon, both boys' eyes were red and watering, and their noses were stuffy. Harry almost hit himself for not thinking to tie his scarf around his mouth and nose first.

Draco thought of it at the same time Harry did, and both lads soon resembled bandits with their thick scarves wrapped around the lower half of their faces. But their eyes were still bothered by dust, and Harry had to clean his glasses many a time. Draco fared worse, rubbing at his itchy eyes constantly.

Both of them were also starting to sweat despite the cool temperature in the library. It felt stuffy being surrounded by books and bookshelves, and the dirt and dust seemed attracted to their perspiration. Harry kept wiping his forehead with the back of his hand and didn't realize that it was now streaked with grime.

Suddenly, there was a cry from Hermione, and Harry immediately rushed out from between the bookshelves with Draco closed behind. He saw Hermione sitting stiffly in her chair. She was holding her hands to her mouth. Ron was sitting beside her, looking stunned, and his mouth gaping slightly.

Both of them were staring at Rowena Ravenclaw, who was smiling at them reassuringly. Harry decided that she must have appeared in an unexpected manner since Ron and Hermione were very surprised to see her.

Rowena's eyes lit up when she saw Harry and Draco. She walked towards them, saying, "I'm glad I found all of you."

"Is there something wrong?" asked Harry immediately, relaxing when she shook her head. "No, Harry," she said warmly, "everything is fine." Then she hesitated and added, "Actually, I would like to invite the four of you to Wvelte."

Ron and Hermione naturally looked confused, and they stood up and approached Rowena.

"Wvelte?" asked Hermione, and Rowena looked at her with a warm expression. "You'll see it soon," she said.

Harry was ready to jump at the opportunity to go back up there. Then, he remembered he had detention to do.

"I can't," he said to Rowena in a strangled disappointed tone of voice. He lifted his feather duster when she gave him a questioning look.

"We have to clean the library tonight." It was Draco who explained. He sounded very somber. Ron and Hermione glanced at him with surprised expressions.

"Oh," Rowena murmured, and she looked at each of them. Her eyes settled on Hermione who was holding her wand.

"May I borrow your wand, Hermione?" Rowena asked her politely. Hermione was startled, but she quickly handed her wand to Rowena.

Harry watched curiously as Rowena held out the wand and closed her eyes. Moving only her wrist, she began waving Hermione's wand in a circular motion. Seconds later, there was a small burst of light, and a miniature whirlwind appeared, twisting and hovering in the invisible sphere formed by Hermione's wand.

Harry jerked when he felt the air around him began to move towards the mini tornado.

"Quickly," said Rowena, opening her eyes and backing away from the magic whirlwind she had created, "it will only last for a short while. Dust as much as you can."

He stared at her puzzledly, and glanced at Draco who had rushed back in between the bookshelves. The other boy began hitting at the books with his feather duster, and Harry, Ron and Hermione jumped when the dust Draco dislodged flew towards the whirlwind. It was like a vacuum.

Harry quickly started dusting; Ron and Hermione helped as well. Soon, a modest dust cloud was whirling in the library, steadily fed by currents of dust-laden air. Harry and Ron made a contest of it, running through the bookshelves, swiping their dusters across book spines and through the bare spaces in between the shelves and books. It took very little effort to loosen the dirt and dust. Once the particles were in the air, Rowena's whirlwind drew them in, gathering all of it into a dense dark gray ball.

It was like working in a dust storm (which was what it was exactly), but it was fun. Harry, Ron and Hermione were laughing and coughing when they finished running through the library. Even Draco was grinning. Rowena laughed suddenly and lifted her hand to her mouth to stifle it. When Harry looked at his friends and Draco, he realized what she found so funny. All four of them were gray, from their hair to their shoes. Their faces, hands, arms, hair and every inch of their clothes were covered by fine library dust.

"Oh dear," whispered Rowena, who was immaculately clean.

***

"You three boys go into that room." Rowena pointed at a door to the right. They were in the grand hall of Wvelte. Harry noted the door Rowena indicated and quickly walked towards it. All twelve doors looked virtually identical to Harry, and he didn't want to end up opening the wrong door.

Draco followed Harry while Ron kept still. The latter was staring up at the crystal dome, his mouth opening in amazement. Hermione was in a similar state, but she didn't have much time to gape since Rowena was ushering her towards the door just right of the one Harry was standing in front of.

"I'll go with Hermione," said Rowena warmly. Hermione looked embarrassed as Rowena told the boys, "Don't take too long to clean up. The others are waiting for us. We'll meet the three of you back here in ten minutes, all right?"

Harry nodded, opening the door and stepping inside.

It was a bathroom thrice the area of the Prefect's bathroom. The floor was made of polished granite slabs while the walls and ceiling were of amber veined white marble. There were no windows, and the room was lit by dim tear-shaped light globes suspended on the walls. These brightened when Harry stepped further into the bathroom.

There was large sunken bathtub in the center of the room. A wide full-length mirror hung in the center of one of the four walls. Beside the mirror were finely carved wooden cabinets. Harry opened one of the cabinets. There were white fluffy towels and bathrobes inside.

He heard water splashing and turned to see a curtain of water falling magically from the ceiling and into the bathtub, which was big enough to be considered as a swimming pool.

"What did you do?" Harry heard Ron ask Draco in a demanding tone. He turned to see Ron fuming since Draco was ignoring him. The silver-haired boy suddenly stepped towards the rim of the tub and began taking off his clothes.

Harry and Ron watched as Draco quickly stripped down to his underwear and jumped into the tub, which was only thigh-deep and already half-filled with water. Draco waded to the cascading sheet of water and immersed himself in it. Seconds later, he emerged from it, walked back to the rim and got out of the tub dripping wet and clean.

Draco scowled when he saw Harry and Ron gawking at him. "We're suppose to hurry, remember?" He snapped at them. Harry and Ron jumped and began divesting themselves of their robes. They got into the pool while Draco rummaged in the cabinet for towels.

When Harry and Ron clambered out of the pool, they found Draco, with a towel over his head, frowning at the marble floor.

"What's wrong?" asked Harry as dried himself with a towel.

Draco gave him a puzzled irritated look. "Our robes and shoes are gone," he muttered.

"Eh!" Ron exclaimed. He and Harry began looking around for their clothes, but couldn't find them where they had dumped them on the floor. Ron looked suspiciously at Draco, thinking that he took their clothes, but Harry nudged him to be quiet. He didn't think that Draco took their clothes, since his own clothes were also missing.

The door suddenly opened, and Godric walked in. He spotted them and hurried over to them with a reassured look on his face. "Good. You're all clean," he said as he walked passed them to the cabinets. He opened the rightmost cabinet and took out their clothes and their shoes.

"Here, put them on," said Godric, dumping their clothes into their arms. They were now clean and dust-free. Godric seemed to be in a hurry and didn't notice or choose to ignore the surprise in their faces at the instantaneous laundering of their clothes.

Harry fingered a sleeve of Ron's robes (Godric had switched his and Harry's clothes). Their robes had also been pressed and ironed, and their shoes were polished shiny.

While Harry and Ron exchanged robes, Draco had finished dressing and was putting on his shoes. When he was done, Godric told him to go ahead to the third door on the right from this room. Draco immediately went off without a question.

"Sir, what's going on?" Harry asked while putting on his socks.

Godric's expression turned rueful. He passed to Ron his socks before answering Harry. "Sextus," he stated. Harry remembered that Rowena's name spell was still working on the Founders. Godric and the others would hear Salazar's real name, but everyone else would hear his alias.

"What about Lord Slytherin?" said Harry, unable to keep himself from grinning. The Dark wizard seemed to cause trouble wherever he went.

Godric rolled his eyes, looking exasperated. "He's being an annoying brat." A snicker escaped from Ron at this, and Harry had to bite his lower lip to keep from laughing.

Godric looked disgruntled. "Whiny," he said in an irritated tone of voice, "Sextus has been whining since dinnertime, because we wouldn't let him go near a broomstick."

"He is dangerous on a broom," commented Ron with a grin, and Godric nodded firmly, agreeing. Then, brown eyes turned curious as they locked on Ron, who was embarrassed at having Lord Gryffindor's full attention.

Harry quickly introduced Ron to Godric, who smiled and shook Ron's hand. "Please to meet you, Ron Weasley," he said warmly, and Ron looked as though he wanted to ask Godric for his autograph.

***

The fourth room in Wvelte that Harry entered became his favorite, beating Godric's bedroom. It was a low-ceiling room, dimly lit and cozy with dark wooden paneled walls. Windows covered one whole wall and were shrouded by thick maroon curtains with silver embroidered edges.

The other two walls adjacent to the window wall were covered with shelves filled with books, bottles and various objects. Most of them appeared to be games. Harry spotted a gold and silver chest set. On the fourth wall was a fireplace. The fire in the hearth was changing from one rainbow color to another.

In the center of the room was a round table whose surface was glowing white. Four plush recliner couches were around it. Salazar and Draco were sitting on one. Helga, Rowena and Hermione, on another.

Hermione stood up when they came in and rushed over to Harry and Ron with a wide happy smile. Harry blinked at her. Hermione's hair had been braided and set in an elegant style.

Hermione looked as though she had something that she wanted to tell Harry and Ron badly, but when she saw that Godric was with them, she became embarrassed. Godric immediately noticed her discomfort and gave her a reassuring smile. Then, he excused himself politely and went over to join the others.

"What is it, Hermione?" asked Ron. She looked very excited. Harry then noticed she was wearing Rowena's eagle pin.

"There's a huge library here!" Hermione's eyes were glazed over with joy. "When I told Lady Ravenclaw how interested I was about their time, she said I could look over the books and scrolls in the library. She let me have a peek at it, and it's fantastic!"

Harry didn't have to guess which room in Wvelte Hermione liked the best.

Hermione was practically squealing. "She said, if I like, I could borrow the books! Oh, Harry, Ron! This place is a treasure house! A lot of knowledge was lost over a thousand years, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to replace them! I must tell Madam Pince! She'll be so excited!"

"So... I guess that means you two can come over here whenever you want to."

Hermione fell silent, and Harry looked over to Ron, who was struggling not to look jealous. Harry swallowed uncomfortably. So Ron must have noticed that he and Hermione had pins, and Draco too."

"Oh, Ron..." Hermione bit her lip, at a loss for the words that would make Ron feel better.

Ron shrugged, putting on a brave face. He pretended to be uninterested.

"What are you three doing over here?" They all jumped when Helga suddenly appeared beside them.

"Oh. Ah. Nothing." Hermione was flustered, and so was Harry. Ron just looked away. Helga tutted softly and said, "We better start the game soon before Godfrey murders Sextus. Hermione, you'll be pairing with Rachel, right?"

As Hermione nodded, Harry wondered, what game? But before he could ask, Helga was shooing off Hermione back to Rowena, and then she turned to him and said, "Harry, you're Godfrey's partner."

Harry blinked at her and nodded slowly. He was startled when Helga moved passed him and took Ron's hand.

Ron stared into gentle teasing black eyes. "You will be my partner, won't you, young man?" Helga said in a warm but still no-nonsense tone of voice. Ron's ears turned red, and he nodded.

Helga smiled at him brilliantly and pulled Ron over to the table. After a few seconds, Harry followed them.

To be continued.

Chapter 23 has ended. Please go on to the next chapter.

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