Here's the next part. I've also written the last chapter, even though there's still a handful of chapters between then and now. Funny how these stories turn out sometimes.
Back at Hogwarts, after the Christmas holidays.
The Founders
"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts," Ron sang. "Why must we return to you and learn some more things?"
"It's only the first day back!" Hermione protested. "You shouldn't be ready to return home already!"
"I'm not," Ron said. "I just don't want to go to Potions."
Harry stopped eating suddenly, holding a roll in the air. "Wow, I just realized something! This is Remus' third year teaching as a DADA professor, and Sirius' second! And neither has tried to kill me once!"
"Yay! Go Mooie!" Noko giggled. "An' Paddy," she added as an afterthought.
"Guys, I found something!" Seneca sat next to Hermione, looking very excited. "When can we meet?"
"After classes," Hermione hissed. "Now scat! You're a Ravenclaw, you don't belong at the Gryffindor table!"
Seneca pouted but she got up. "Ravenclaws are no fun. Hey Noko, want to have lunch with me?"
"Yeah!" Noko climbed out of her seat and trotted after Seneca. "Bye Daddy Hawwy! Bye My Knee! Bye Won!"
"What was that about?" Dean asked.
"Yeah," Seamus put in. "You've been ignoring us to hang out with that Ravenclaw, Blaise, and Malfoy." He faked a shudder.
""Blaise and Draco actually aren't bad," Harry said, sticking up for his Slytherin friends. "Draco's been a lot nicer ever since Noko popped up, and Blaise has never been a rotten Slytherin in the first place. Seneca's been helping with an extra project we've been working on."
"What project?" Neville asked. "Can we help?"
"It's a lot of researching," Hermione quickly explained. "To find descendants of the original Hogwarts founders. We're trekking through thousand-year-old books and papers, in the dustiest corners of the library, pulling out huge tomes that reek of mildew and crumble in your fingers as you try to interpret the faded, spidery writing –"
"Never mind," Dean interrupted hastily. "You can do it yourself. Ravenclaws, Hermione, and moldy old books. A match made in heaven! Have at it!"
Seamus clapped a hand on Ron and Harry's shoulders. "Poor you! When I'm out flying my broom in the sun, I'll think of you in your dusty corners and laugh."
"Gee, thanks Seamus."
"No problem!"
Potions came and went with ten points taken from Gryffindor for Neville's melting of another cauldron. Draco and Blaise's perfect potion earned them twenty points, but Ron and Harry's identical appearing potion was criticized for being too runny, losing them another five points. Neither really cared much though. Five points wasn't serious, and besides, Seneca would be waiting for them with some new information, hopefully. Maybe even a way to end the unsettling dreams.
As they were cleaning up their workspace, they heard a yelp from Draco and Blaise's table. A glass beaker had slipped from one of their hands and shattered, spraying the two Slytherins with shards of broken glass.
"Careful!" Snape ordered, whisking the glass away with a sweep of his wand. "Are either of you two cut?" Blaise and Draco inspected themselves before shaking their heads. "Good. Class dismissed."
"He seems a bit distracted," Draco muttered.
"Mm-hmm, yep," Blaise remarked.
"Blaise?"
"Broken glass, Draco. Just like over the summer . . ."
"Oh, snap out of it, Blaise. It was an accident this time. Fudge isn't trying to kill you at this moment."
"Are you so sure?"
"Listen, Blaise. James Potter is almost as strong as Dumbledore. Hogwarts is still extremely well protected. There's no way Fudge is getting in here. Potter knows Fudge isn't on our side anymore. You don't have to worry about it."
"Yeah, okay, if you say so." Blaise agreed with Draco just so he could drop the subject. They entered the bathroom, being the last ones there. "So? What's the news, Sen?"
"I think I found a lead! Look, I found this book at the Manor . . ."
"And you wait until we're back in school to tell us?" Draco asked snidely.
Seneca rolled her eyes. "I only found it on the last day when I was poking through the Manor's library. As I was reading it, there was this one passage that collaborates with the idea Hermione found after we found out that the Manor was Draco's." She opened the book that Hermione had used and read, "Latent memories, locked away for centuries, are just one of many sources of information in the Divination arts. These memories most often appear in dreams."
"So?" Ron asked. "Hermione already read that to us. What's your point?"
"I'm getting there!" Seneca put Hermione's book aside and opened hers. "Listen! "One argument for the existence of reincarnation lies in the repetition of ancient memories in dreams. Although rare, it is not unheard of for a witch or wizard (or occasionally muggle) to dream of an event or person that he or she has no prior knowledge of and be able to retain the dream and recount it in a description that matches those given in corresponding records. Many believe that these dreams are a subconscious recording of a previous life. The most popular witches and wizards to be reincarnations of are none other than the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin, and Godric Gryffindor."" Seneca closed the book with a snap. "We're the reincarnations of the founders!"
"May be reincarnations," Draco corrected. "We don't know for sure."
"Actually," Blaise said, "What Sen just read sounds surprisingly familiar. Remember how my dreams seem to occur more frequently than yours? Once a night, rather than once a month? Well, a couple of years ago, my mum took me to all kinds of fortune tellers and Seers, even muggle ones, trying to figure out why I kept having these dreams. My personal favorite, an old muggle named Madame Morgul, said basically what Sen just read. She said I was the reincarnated soul of the wizard who I was in my dreams, and that I would continue to live my lives to be killed by my murder until I either atoned for a mistake I made that made him kill me, or I found a way to end the repetition, most likely by killing him."
"Two sources with similar ideas. Doesn't that make it true?" Ron asked Hermione.
"Of course not! Just because Blaise and Draco say that Snape's nice doesn't make it true! Just because Fred and George tell you a candy is harmless doesn't mean it is!"
Seneca frowned. "If we die, only to get reborn and die again, our birthday should be the exact day of our past life's death, right?" Hermione nodded. "Well then, I was born October 31, 1981. Who died then who was a Ravenclaw?"
"Halloween '81?" Draco repeated. "That's only the most famous night in modern magic history."
"The night Voldemort attacked my family," Harry whispered. "The night my mum died."
"Lily . . . maiden name?" Hermione asked, pulling out her copy of Prefects Who Gained Power.
"Evans."
"Lily Evans," Hermione murmured as she flipped through the book. "Aha! As I thought, she received an honorary mention for the protection she put on you. "Ravenclaw prefect and Head Girl, Lily Evans married Gryffindor prefect and Head Boy James Potter only a year after her graduation. Moments before her untimely death on October 31, 1981, Lily cast an unidentifiable protection on her young son, Harry Potter, allowing him to defeat the Dark Lord You-Know-Who.""
"Ravenclaw?" Seneca squeaked. "I only meant that idea as a joke! I saw it on X-Files once! I don't really want to be murdered for something I did in a past life!"
"X-Files?" Blaise questioned.
"Muggle TV show I watched back home," Seneca informed him. "Really weird, about aliens and supernatural occurrences."
"Just because Lily was a Ravenclaw who died on your birthday doesn't mean a thing," Hermione sighed. "It's probably just a coincidence and we'll be back at square one again."
"It can't hurt to ask," Ron pointed out. "We'll ask her about Sen's dreams, see if she had them, and go from there. I don't know about =the rest of you, but I'd love to find out why I'm having these dreams."
"Hey, Mum? Can Sen ask you something?"
"Of course!" Lily grinned. "Always happy to help a fellow Ravenclaw!"
"There was a pause before Draco nudged Seneca. "Ask!" he hissed under his breath.
"Um, Lily, Mrs. Potter, I was wondering if you maybe ever had any dreams where you were RowenaRavenclawwritinginyourdiaryandashadowcomesupandkillsyou?" Seneca finished in a rush.
Lily gasped, one hand flying to her mouth. "How did you know that? I never even told Jamie about those dreams!"
Much to my shock and surprise, the X-Files episode that Seneca mentioned does exist. I saw it by chance after coming up with the whole idea for the story. The way it used practically the exact same idea was a bit unsettling. Kinda like something I'd expect to see on X-Files . . . weird.
Anyway, I figured I just had to mention the episode somewhere in the story, even though it's from a newer season without Mulder, and I don't know what it's called, but it's the one with the people who are skinned alive. Anyone see it?
Oh well.
Dumbledore still needs to be doing something. Your opinions? Anything? Please?
~Spider