Harry Potter and the Secret of Lord Seilftrist

by:

Lord Dreadnault



Chapter Four: Harry's Birthday and the Order's Concerns





Harry strolled down a corridor leading to the castle's Great Hall. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had decided to do homework for the afternoon which left Harry to work on his lesson plans and prepare teaching methods and examples for the students. Dumbledore had not sent any applications for HADADA to him yet. Harry hoped that Dumbledore was only waiting until he had them all. He knew that Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had sent theirs in almost immediately.



Fortunately they still did not suspect that he was going to be the teacher of that class. They had not had any time to dwell on the subject because that night they had celebrated Ginny's promotion to prefect.



Harry wondered why Ginny had not mentioned it the morning their Hogwarts letters had arrived. So he had asked Hermione in private. She replied that it was most likely because Ginny didn't want Harry to feel uncomfortable or left out. It was then that Harry had been tempted to tell Hermione his secret. Fortunately he had overcome the temptation.



Wonder where everyone is, Harry mused as he approached the great double doors that for some reason were closed. He pulled one open and walked in. He was greeted by a tumultuous "HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!"



Harry stared at everyone in shock. He had forgotten that it was his own birthday. Harry quickly took in the surroundings. It seemed that maybe Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had not been doing homework after all. . . "T-thanks!" Harry stuttered, still overwhelmed with surprise.



"It was the least we could do!" Mrs. Weasley answered rushing forward and giving Harry a bear hug.



"Thank you very much." Harry wheezed as all the air was squished out of him.



"Let's eat!" Ron suggested brightly as Mrs. Weasley let go of Harry.



Hermione shot Ron a is-that-all-you-can-think-about look and then turned to Harry. "The house elves made a special dinner for you Harry. I can tell that they like you very much."



"I try to be nice to them," Harry replied, surprised that Hermione wasn't going on about S.P.E.W.



The Weasley family, Harry, Hermione, and Professor Lupin sat down at the table and ate the scrumptious meal that the elves had prepared. Harry vaguely wondered how they had known what his favorite foods were. He had never requested anything specific for meals from the kitchen.



After the meal a gigantic cake was rolled out as well as a table with all of Harry's presents. Harry gaped at it. How would anyone, let alone a big family be able to eat all of that? Soon the cake was served and it was time for presents.



The twins gingerly set down a large, wrapped box in front of Harry. "We made a special package for you Harry." George announced.



Fred snickered. "I think you'll find it very entertaining."



Harry cringed and carefully unwrapped the package. In it he found an assortment of products from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. It didn't seem like the package was booby trapped after all. "Thank you," Harry said smiling broadly.



Everyone followed the twins example and proceeded to lay their presents before Harry. Hermione presented him with a special notebook that could hold all of his notes from classes, Ron of course gave him a Quidditch book, Percy, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley presented him a box of sweets, Ginny gave Harry a wand cleaning kit, and Professor Lupin gave him a special Defense Against the Dark Arts book.



After that Mrs. Weasley got up and announced that it was bed-time amid many protests.



"Can't we stay up a while longer?" Ginny pleaded.



"I'm afraid not Ginny," Mr. Weasley responded. "We have a rather important Order meeting tonight and it's late anyway."



Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron headed for their rooms on the fourth floor. "Maybe we could try some Extendable Ears!" Ron suggested.



Harry shook his head. "I think not Ron. Professor Lupin put several wards against that type of stuff on the room they meet in. But. . . wait, he can't stop the castle from hearing though. . ."



Ginny, Hermione, and Ron gave Harry a some strange looks. "The castle?"



"Never mind," Harry replied. "If it works I'll be able to tell you all in the morning."



They all wished each other a good night and then went to bed in their separate rooms. Instead of going to bed, Harry sat up in one of the cushy armchairs next to the fireplace in his room. Yes, no matter how much they warded against eavesdroppers they couldn't stop the castle itself from hearing, Harry contemplated. He lifted up his left hand and slowly concentrated his eyes on the crest and sapphires that surrounded it. Suddenly it seemed he was a part of the castle. He turned his attention to the Order's special room. It was as if he was in the room himself.



"You say that he is searching, but for what?" came Dumbledore's calm, unmistakable voice.



Snape's voice came next, "I am not sure. The Dark Lord is trying to find the power of an ancient ruling lord."



"An ancient Dark Lord?" Mr. Weasley asked.



"I am not sure," Snape answered.



"Not sure about what?" Lupin asked calmly.



Snape answered, "I don't know if the ancient lord was Dark or not."



"Is there a name associated with this lord?" Dumbledore inquired.



"Seilftrist," Snape replied. "Lord Seilftrist."



"Do you know who he's talking about Albus?" came Moody's voice.



Harry could hear Dumbledore repeating the name under his breath. "I am not sure Alastor," Dumbledore replied. "I know that Seilftrist once ruled all of England absolutely, long before the time of Merlin, or King Arthur. I also know that his power was unchallenged until his death. After that, England was chaos until Arthur drew Excalibur. As to whether or not he was a Dark lord or not, I do not know either."



"The times before Arthur were Dark though, weren't they?" came one of the twins' voices.



"Perhaps," Dumbledore agreed, "perhaps. I don't know if they were Dark before, after, or during Seilftrist's reign though."



"If You-Know-Who is after Seilftrist's power then he must have been Dark," suggested the other twin.



"I believe that if he was a Dark lord then history would not have forgotten him so easily," Mrs. Weasley put in.



"An interesting theory to think about," Dumbledore said. "I'm afraid there's nothing much we can do on this topic for now. We must wait for Snape to get us more information."



The conversation then turned to other things that quickly lost Harry's interest. He drew his concentration away from the ring and put his hand down. So, Voldemort was searching for the secret to Lord Seilftrist's power, Harry thought. Perhaps Hermione would be able to find more about Seilftrist in the library. Or maybe she already knew. Harry slowly pondered the topic until he had fallen asleep in his bed.



* * * * * * *



A few weeks later Harry sat at the desk in his study surveying his stack of written out lesson plans. He had completed them and was ready to teach. Now all he needed was a few students to teach. Just as that thought passed through his mind an owl carrying a very large parcel flew in through the window, dropped it on Harry's desk, and flew away.



Harry quickly put his lesson plans away and then opened the parcel. It contained a very large stack of HADADA applications. It seemed that a few people were interested in his class. The majority of the student body to be exact. There was a note on top from Dumbledore.



Harry-

It seems that there's been a lot of interest in the class. Would you consider holding four classes? I promise that it won't interfere with your schedule any. Since Lupin will be only teaching stuff you've already done you can hold one class during your DADA hour, one during you HADADA hour, one in place of your favorite class, Divination, and one in the evening.



Professor Dumbledore



Might as well, Harry decided. He began to sort through the forms idly looking at name and houses to see who was interested. One in particular caught his eye. A Slytherin, in fact, the only Slytherin who had signed up. Zabini, Blaise, Harry noted. He continued to sort through. Harry found Hermione, Ron, and Ginny among all the letters.



Harry pulled out a sheet of parchment and began to make a list of those that seemed the most qualified. Fortunately, he would be able to test them later. I can't wait until the year starts, Harry thought, this will be the greatest yet.

A/N: If any of you want to see my responses to your kind reviews feel free to visit the web site listed on my profile, I would write it here but ff.net is being stupid about putting web addresses in the document and it fouls up chapter. :)