Chapter 15
Tower of Destiny
On the day of the next quidditch match Hermione came running up to Harry and Soraya with an excited expression on her face.
"Come on I've got to something to show you, but we need your father's cloak Harry." Harry nudged Soraya and whispered in her ear to act dumb when they ran after Hermione to Griffindor tower. For Hermione still didn't know about the little trip they took to Diagon Alley. So a confused look spread across her face so Hermione wouldn't be suspicious.
"What Cloak Harry?"
"My father's invisibility cloak." If there was an acting class in Hogwarts they would have got an A star because Hermione was none the wiser.
"But Hermione-"
"No time to explain Harry come on!" Harry ran up to his dorm, got the cloak and then ran back down to the common room. He draped it over the girls and Hermione steered them to Snape's Office.
"Snape's Office? Ok Hermione what's going on?"
"Shhh! He's coming! Just follow him Harry and keep quiet!" So without another word they watched as Snape came out of his office and followed him. A couple of times they stopped as he turned round to make sure he wasn't being followed. Then he stopped in front of a beaten down old door. Harry had past experiences with this door. It had never opened even when he used the unlocking charm 'Aloahamora', until now that is.
Snape took out his wand and tapped the door three times.
"Entrayarmidae."
The door opened and he walked up some stairs as the door closed quickly and silently behind him. Hermione took out her wand and did the same as Snape did.
"Entrayarmidae." Once again the door opened and they quickly went inside before the door closed behind them. They looked up to see a spiral staircase of an old tower. It looked like it hadn't been used in a long time as there was dust on the picture frames. But the thing that grabbed Soraya's attention was there were no moving pictures of witches and wizards. But of the elements earth, wind, fire and water. They crept upstairs quietly and saw a hole in the roof to where the staircase ended. It was a trapdoor and already opened so they quietly emerged out of it still hidden under the cloak. They looked around and saw that they were on top of a flat, square tower which must have been about thirty feet in length on each side. It was surrounded by battlements that must have been at least six feet high.
There was a huge slab of stone at each point with one of the founder's animals at each corner of this tower. They were nearly as big as a closet and towered over them.
In the middle of the sides there were black marble alters at least ten feet away from the battlements. They were a few feet off the ground and as big as the slabs of stone the founder's animals were standing on.
They looked down to see a golden ring slap dab in the middle of all the grey stone and rock.
The tower looked ancient and uncared for, whereas the ring shone in the sunlight and looked brand new. There was writing on and around it that they had never seen before. They stayed silent as Snape looked at it. He walked over to the snake and placed a hand on it glaring at the lion. 'He's waiting for someone but who?' As if on cue when Soraya thought about this they heard someone coming up the stairs behind them. So they cleared the entrance and stood behind one of the alters. Cornelius Fudge emerged shortly followed by Dumbledore, so Harry dragged Hermione and Soraya down to hide behind the alter.
"Harry what the-"
"Harry-"
"Keep your head down! I think Dumbledore can see through invisibility cloaks."
"Oh." They stayed silent and listened to what the grown ups were saying.
"So this is the place? Every year I always find out something new about Hogwarts."
"Yes Albus. Now we had a translator here now the door has finally opened to its password. The writing says:
This location is of the founders and its power shall be brought forth to protect Hogwarts.
Thee ancient magic shall protect Hogwarts with the power of the prodigal child.
Then it just repeats this four times."
"Four founders, so an incantation for each to bring the power out fully I expect."
"Should we tell her now Headmaster?"
"No Serverus she has been through enough for now. Maybe at a later date before the time actually comes." Fudge and Snape proceeded down the trapdoor whilst Dumbledore stayed behind. He waited until the others had gone before looking up and saying.
"You can come out now they've gone. I cannot see through stone but I can sense others who are present when they shouldn't be." They sighed and stood up taking the cloak off as they went.
"Hmmm, Mr. Weasley not here this time? No room under the cloak I suppose. Now Soraya I must implore you, do not to set foot in to the ring unless absolutely necessary!" Soraya nodded and then Dumbledore left.
"I wonder why he said that." Said Hermione looking at the ring curiously, as though trying to see what could be so magical about a ring.
"Dunno, let's take a look." They went over to the ring. Making sure the coast was clear Harry stepped in ignoring the protests of Hermione. Nothing happened at all.
"Come on Hermione! Dumbledore said for Soraya not to go in but nothing about us." So Hermione sighed and did so and just like before nothing happened. Soraya then approached curiously yet very apprehensively due to Dumbledore's warning.
"Dumbledore said for me not to set foot in to the ring...but he didn't say anything about a hand."
"Soraya no, Dumbledore-"
"I like Dumbledore too Harry...all right how about no more than a finger?"
"Ok then but no more than a finger!"
So Soraya tentatively kneeled down by the ring, her hand was on top of the ring and nothing happened. So slowly she edged her finger nearer and nearer inside the ring. No sooner had the tip of her finger went inside it the ring began to glow. She gave a yelp of pain and quickly withdrew her finger. Her scar bled a little but stopped almost instantly. She turned white as a sheet when she wiped the blood away with fear gripping hold of her as she stared at the ring. Her breathing was erratic and fear spread through her like a virus.
"What happened?"
"I-I-I could feel and see...everything and everyone in Hogwarts. It was...like m-my whole body...was in tune with everything...within the boundaries of Hogwarts." She panted with cold sweat dripping down her face. Her friends stared at her with awe. But her face turned whiter still and then her body began to shake. "But then I heard something so bad that it made my head hurt."
"What was it Soraya? Come one you shouldn't keep something like this to yourself. If anything is hurting you then you have to tell your friends!"
"Every soul that has ever died in Hogwarts was screaming in my head Hermione. I have never felt such pain. It was as if I was feeling theirs when they died." They stared as Soraya clamed down and Harry decided they should head back.
They went back to retrieve the cloak. Then they covered themselves with it again and went back to the trapdoor.
"Thanks Harry."
"For what?"
"For not letting me put my whole hand in. I would have probably screamed and then we would be in real trouble."
"Oh...right...no problem."
They proceeded back down the stairs and made sure the coast was clear before going out of the door. They turned down the corridor to get back to Griffindor tower. They stopped when they spotted Snape with Fudge talking quietly. But it wads still loud enough for them to hear what was being said.
"Minister what if she finds out I-"
"Serverus it wasn't your fault, you were very naive like most when we are young."
"I know but because of me her parents-"
"Serverus!" Dumbledore appeared from the other side of the corridor and joined in the conversation. He Soraya and her friends who were still under the cloak. Though he pretended they weren't there and strode over to Snape quickly.
"Cornelius is right; you were young so being tricked by him was child's play to Voldermort. Remember that many great witches and wizards of our time have been played for fools by him. Some were much wiser than I and yet they believed everything he said like you did that fateful day." There was an awkward pause that lasted for a few seconds.
"Very well Dumbledore, I shall be going to the quidditch match now."
Harry put his hand to his head and suddenly remembered where he was going in the first place. He was wearing quidditch robes and the match was about to start. So they ran back to Griffindor tower and put the cloak away. Then they ran down to the quidditch pitch with his Firebolt.
Without stopping for breath they bolted down to the quidditch pitch. The girls joined up with the others and Professor McGonagall gave permission for Harry to fly the rest of the way to the pitch. So he hastily said good bye to Soraya and Hermione before flying to the game at full speed. He made it as the quaffle was about to be thrown in to the air. The two girls went down to the front of the stands and joined up with Amily. Before they knew it they were each holding a Griffindor flag. This time the game went on for a great deal longer than last time and Soraya was enjoying the match. Amily was jumping up and down like a kangaroo clapping her hands when Griffindor scored.
The score halfway through the match was 20-60. Griffindor were in the lead and were showing great skill. Harry and the Hufflepuff seeker were looking around for the snitch which was no easy task as it was both cloudy and dark.
Then it had stated to rain and there was a scramble for umbrellas and hoods. So the finding of snitch became even harder. Then Soraya stopped cheering as she could feel a pair of eyes in the stand on the other side of the pitch looking at her. The rain was letting up and the sun penetrated the clouds. She saw it was Snape and he was looking right at her. He was looking at her in an uncomfortable sort of way and Soraya thought she had to be imagining things. So to be sure she put her hand in front of her and moved it side to side in a feeble sort of wave. She saw Snape shake his head as though bringing himself back to reality. Then he shot his head back up in to the air to watch the match. Soraya felt greatly disturbed as she put her hand back down and continued to watch the match.
For the next half hour the game became more intense. Hufflepuff were leading 120-70. Ron had taken a bludger to the head and was rushed off the pitch in a stretcher to the ward. But the game ended when a Hufflepuff chaser scored the next goal and Harry caught the snitch. So the end score was 130-220. The Griffindors were cheering like mad, the Ravenclaws clapped, the Hufflepuffs looked sadly but clapped anyway as it was such a great game. The Slytherins on the other hand booed until their throats were hoarse. Snape looked maliciously at Harry as though he was a fly he wanted to swat. Ron ran on to the pitch with his head bandaged and hugged Harry tightly around his middle. Harry was grinning broadly with the struggling snitch still clasped tightly in his hand.
A while later and the friends were reunited.
"Only Slytherin next and the cup's our again." Said Ginny with a smile.
"Only Slytherin? They play dirtier than Snape." Said Ron to hear she said this so casually.
"Ron Snape maybe malicious but I've never seen him cheat."
"Oh come on Hermione." Harry protested as no one played dirtier than Snape and Soraya agreed.
"Okay then not as bad as Snape but they still cheat!" Said Hermione as Harry threw her a warning look.
All day nothing but the match was talked about and the Griffindors kept on congratulating the Hufflepuffs for such a great game. They didn't look so sad after that and even the captains were talking happily about the game as well.
"We were close this time."
"Who knows next time without Harry you might win."
"Yeah who knows?" Soraya smiled at this show of good sport, only the Slytherin's were bad sports when it came to loosing.
* * *
The Easter holidays came around and everyone was either doing their homework or revising for their Owls or NEWTs. So Soraya went to the grounds as she had no homework or revision to do. So she kept going back to the spot by the lake always with the same thought popping back in to her mind. 'What did you do to my parent's Snape?' She put her head in her hands and sighed deeply, night was coming and it grew steadily colder. She shivered and climbed down the tree. She headed towards the castle alone with the same thought still racking her brains till it made her head hurt. She did this everyday throughout the holiday and not once did she stop thinking about what it is she was meant to do on top of that tower. Or of what Snape was supposed to have done to her parents.
One day she was sitting in the tree reading a book she took out from the library. There wasn't anything about a prodigal child in the book but she found some parts interesting and read it for a while. She was so engrossed in the book that she didn't notice Snape come and sit beneath her with his back to the trunk. She looked down horrified to move, she didn't want to cross Snape right now by jumping down in front of him. She suddenly noticed the book was falling the book was sliding off the side of the branch. So she hung by her legs to catch it in mid-air and hoped to goodness sakes that Snape didn't notice. Luckily he sneezed a couple of times and didn't see or hear Soraya as she swung down, caught the book and swung back up again. 'Hagrid why didn't I heed your warning about Snape coming here?'
She hid in a thick bunch of branches and leaves which was quite comfortable to sit on. It also meant she was out of site if by any chance Snape happened to look up. She stayed there as long as Snape did and yawned quietly as the hours floated by. It slowly turned dark and Snape left for dinner. 'Thank god he didn't see me!' Soraya waited until he was so far away she couldn't see him and then climbed down the tree. She quickly ran to the castle and ate her dinner after she caught her breath. She looked over to the teachers table and saw that Snape was looking at her suspiciously. His eyes moved from her head to her bag at least three times. Soraya shot a puzzled look at him and looked at her bag. It had an oak leaf and twig on it. She then looked away from Snape and reached up where she found an oak leaf in her hair too. She removed them quickly but the damage had been done and Snape's lip curled as he continued eating from his plate.
Soraya took an annoyed bite from an apple and ate her dinner with her friends quietly. 'Oh great what's he gonna do? Give me detention for being in the same spot as him?' But for the next few days he did nothing at all. Soraya breathed a sigh of relief at the end of the holidays when he still did nothing. Potions classes came up and he still did nothing. Soraya slept easily but still wondered when Snape was going to strike.
It happened at the weekend when she went back to the spot. Before she could move Snape cornered her and she had no where to run. He gave her a very puzzling look and Soraya glared right back at him. She hated it when people looked at her like that and felt anger bubble up inside her.
"You were here last week weren't you? The same time I was here perhaps?" Soraya sighed and looked in to his eyes with anger still rising. But thought it best to keep a civil tongue and fought back the growl in the back of her throat.
"Yes sir."
"Do you know what happens to students who spy on me?"
"I WASN'T SPYING!" Soraya had enough of Snape's rubbish to fill ten bins and her anger finally came out. Snape took a step back as Soraya looked angrily back at him. Soraya then gave him a very odd look as she was trying to make sense of what Snape was doing. The look on his face reminded her of what she did to Malfoy last year.
"Sir I'm not going to...oh forget it!" She picked up her bag and stormed away from the spot leaving a worried Snape behind.
For the next few weeks Snape and Soraya gave each other a wide berth and this made her very happy. She hadn't seen Snape apart from lessons all week. Then one night Soraya went to bed very early as she felt strangely tired for some reason. So she went to bed when lessons ended.
She had that strange dream again, only this time without her parents and Voldermort with the neck snapping snake. She woke up suddenly with her scar in pain again and her pillow was bloody. So she wiped her scar clean and put some clothes on before bandaging her scar. Madam Pomfrey supplied her with some just in case it should happen again. She hoped that her scar wasn't bleeding badly enough to require a blood potion and went down the corridor towards the ward. She could hear the students in the great hall having dinner through the grates as she past above it. Soraya felt so strange that she didn't notice that the bandage wasn't properly on. There was the smallest of gaps at the bottom and tiny drops of blood dripped out of it leaving a very small but noticeable trail of blood behind her.
Then she stopped and heard something very strange coming from the corridor beside her. They were getting louder the further away she went. Then it became unbearable so to save her eardrums she went back and followed the noise. They led her to the door of the tower and the noise turned in to something different. 'Voices?' She tapped on the door with her wand and whispered.
"Entrayarmidae."
The door opened silently just like before and closed quickly behind her. But this time causing a small thud as it closed quicker this time. Soraya rounded on it and tried to open the door and felt numb as the door wouldn't open. 'What ever it is wants me up there...Ok then I am game.' So she climbed the stairs and opened the trapdoor. There was no one there and the voices were becoming louder and clearer. An eerie silence hung in the air and Soraya looked down at the ring to see it glowing in the dark with a soft golden light.
Then without warning Soraya looked up to the statues to see they were coming alive. But she didn't take out her wand when they came towards her. For some strange reason she felt safe and Hufflepuff spoke to Soraya in a way that made her feel at ease.
"Don't be afraid it's only us, we are in our statue forms this time. We cannot show ourselves like before because we need help from Griffindors hat to do that."
"Yes we could only spare magic like that for my hat and though it may not look it Soraya this is much simpler."
Soraya didn't feel so much at ease when the snake statue slithered towards them all. He was so long that he stretched right around them all in one big scaly circle. Soraya didn't like this very much as it made her feel trapped. He reminded her of Nagini a lot, but what he said next made her feel angry and gave him a piercing look.
"We saw what you did to that boy...you really are very powerful." He had a certain hunger to his voice which made Soraya's hairs stand on the back of her neck.
"Yes, yes she's very powerful Salazar. But her mind is even better when it comes to her gifts. I only wish you could have been in Ravenclaw."
"Shut up Rowena! Her uncle was in my house with the exception of his brother of course. But if he was in there then she should have gone to Slytherin."
"Are you still going on about blood and family ties?"
Soraya looked down and smiled. She shook her head at the two arguing founders who were behaving like nothing more than children. Actually...not even children would behave like that. They only stopped arguing when Griffindor broke them up and spoke.
"But Soraya and my hat decided."
"I decided?"
"Of course you did. Don't tell me you didn't feel drawn towards the table? Did you have a certain desire to go anywhere?" Soraya hadn't thought of this and answered him almost immediately when she did.
"Griffindor with Amily and my friends."
"Exactly, so the hat took a look at all the brave things you did in your life to be in there. The dragon rescue, taking the blame for Amily time and again the list goes on and keeps on growing. What you have done out of courage far out ways the other houses."
Rowena made a very impatient noise to clear her throat.
"Yes, yes Ravenclaw was a very close second." Soraya couldn't help but smile and tried to fight down a laugh when Rowena and Slytherin started to argue again. She scratched her chest with her right hand as it felt itchy and jumped when she heard a noise below the trap door.
"Someone's coming Godric!"
"Thanks Helga. Everybody back to your positions!" Soraya placed her right hand on the lion and he looked back at her kindly.
Then the statues went back to their positions quickly just as the trapdoor opened. Soraya just stood there and noticed the ring was glowing brighter and was moving a little.
Then she looked up to see Snape coming out of the door. He looked at Soraya and then his eyes strayed to the ring. Soraya just stared at him rooted to the spot and didn't seem to have the will to move. Her head ached and her scar seared with pain underneath the bandage. Soraya had to look away from the ring as it hurt her eyes and covered them with her hands as she walked around it. She stopped when she was in front of the ring and uncovered her eyes. Snape just looked at her with a sneer on his face as he stepped away from the trapdoor. Soraya sighed as she looked hatefully at him.
"How many points is it going to be this time sir?" She asked in a very annoyed tone with hate still burning in her eyes. He was just about to open his mouth when more people came out of the trapdoor. McGonagall, Dumbledore, Dye and Flitwick all came out with their wands pointed in front of them. McGonagall was the first one to speak and she looked at Soraya in very deep concern indeed.
"Soraya I think you should go to the ward immediately!" Her bandage was sodden and only then did Soraya look at the floor.
She noticed she was standing in a very small puddle of blood. She followed the small trail of blood leading from the trapdoor to the puddle around her feet.
"Miss. Granger informed me that you were not in bed like you said and saw a trail of blood leading to the ward. But it stopped when you were halfway there and it went off in another direction. She thought you had taken another route to the ward and so that's where she went to see if you were all right. But when she found out you weren't there she assumed the worst. So I followed the trail and met up with some of the other teachers along the way for some help. For you see you turned direction so abruptly I thought you might have been kidnapped."
"I saw the trail leading to the door and so I investigated."
"I would have done the same Serverus. Now Soraya do you care to explain what is going on here?" Soraya looked up and proceeded to tell them what happened about the founders and the statues. Her scar still bled and splashed down to the floor making the puddle grow bigger in size. Dumbledore looked at the ring when Soraya had finished and then studied the statues.
Soraya didn't look at him as he was behind her and the ring still glowed painfully bright to her in the night.
"They have indeed been moved as the dirt around them has been disturbed. Soraya couldn't have come over here and touched the lion as she is standing in a pool of blood. So there would have been a trail of it from the trapdoor to the lion."
"How do you know she touched the lion?"
"That's easy Samuel. There is a hand print in blood on the lion's side. Looks very fresh too by the looks of things and it glistens in the moonlight." Professor Dye went over to Dumbledore and studied the hand print. He looked to Soraya and she was looking at her hands. The left one was clean whilst the right one was covered in blood. She used her left hand and wiped it down her front and then it too was covered in blood. She followed the trail of blood from her throat to her bandage where she found the gap at the bottom of it and sighed. Soraya repositioned the bandage and the blood stopped dripping down her face. But her bandage was still sodden and was heavily stained. But no more blood went down her front to the ground and so the puddle stopped growing.
Soraya felt very sick and incredibly drained as though life itself was being sucked away from her. Her scar was still very painful but she refused to show that she was in pain and just stood there.
"Samuel. Please take Soraya to the ward."
"Yes Albus." Professor Dye walked with her to the ward and had a very odd look on his face. Soraya collapsed half way there so he picked her up and carried her the rest of the way. He left her with Madam Pomfrey who was beside herself and poured a whole bottle of blood replenishing potion down Soraya's throat. Soraya really wished she hadn't because it caused her to wretch. It was a good thing the next day was a Saturday because in the morning she felt sick and couldn't eat a thing for the whole day. She was made to stay in the ward for Sunday as well.
She never told anyone about what happened that night and just told them she had a weird nightmare again. They bought it as the dreams were giving her trips to the ward whenever she had them and didn't ask anything more. She told her close circle of friends the truth and they either gasped or just listened. They kept this new piece of information very quiet as she had asked them to keep this a secret. She had a feeling Dumbledore told the teachers to do the same. So very few people in the school had any knowledge about what happened last night. The bandage was on again and this time Madam Pomfrey didn't restrict her from homework. Soraya was relieved for she didn't want to face that amount of homework being piled up again.
She felt calmer after her last Hogsmeade visit and more relaxed. But there was one thing getting on her nerves. She was receiving stares from the teachers more than anyone. In the end she got so sick of it and went to the quidditch pitch with her Firebolt. She asked permission from madam Hooch to go flying. There was no better cure for depression than the feeling of flying on a broomstick if you liked flying of course and Soraya loved it. She did a full scale dive and pulled up quickly.
Then she looked at the castle to where the tower should have been. But instead of a flat roof with four big statues there was a massive grey cone. At first she was confused about this and then thought about the vale of illusion over the animal sanctuary back at home. 'Must be a vale of illusion otherwise the quidditch players would have seen it by now. Harry looked as though he had never seen the tower before until the day we went up with Hermione.' She carried on flying around until Madam Hooch called her down as a training session was about to start. Soraya was relieved it was the Griffindor team and not the Slytherin's time to practice. The captain and the rest of the team stared at Soraya and her Firebolt when she landed beside them.
Ron came up to her and did no less than beg. "Please be on the team. With two Firebolts on our team those Slytherin prats are bound to loose the quidditch cup."
"I'm sorry I would love to be a chaser Ron I really would. But I think Madam Pomfrey may have something to say about that." Ron and the team looked disappointed as they took to the air and started to practice. So for the rest of the afternoon Soraya watched from the stands as the team took to the air.
She enjoyed just sitting there and watching the Griffindor team testing their skills. She thought Harry was an incredible seeker and knew that he was a formidable opponent on his Firebolt. The team wanted to see what she could do as a chaser on her Firebolt and sometimes past the quaffle to her. But she declined and just threw the quaffle back to them. Soraya gave up and was quick to agree when they started aiming bludgers at her so she took to the air. She scored a lot of goals in a few minutes and the captain secretly timed her. She had to dodge the entire team except for Harry to get to the hoops and score. After the session everyone was hot and breathless and very happy with the practice. Soraya's head on the other hand had stopped hurting for the rest of the day and was happy that she got to play quidditch.
"Are you sure you won-"
"No Ron! And besides from what I saw Griffindor are a very talented team!" Ron and Harry turned deeply red on their way to dinner to join up with their friends.
*** Oh I wish quidditch was real... (Sigh)...(thinks about quidditch and stop typing as she imagines herself on the Griffindor team.)...
Tower of Destiny
On the day of the next quidditch match Hermione came running up to Harry and Soraya with an excited expression on her face.
"Come on I've got to something to show you, but we need your father's cloak Harry." Harry nudged Soraya and whispered in her ear to act dumb when they ran after Hermione to Griffindor tower. For Hermione still didn't know about the little trip they took to Diagon Alley. So a confused look spread across her face so Hermione wouldn't be suspicious.
"What Cloak Harry?"
"My father's invisibility cloak." If there was an acting class in Hogwarts they would have got an A star because Hermione was none the wiser.
"But Hermione-"
"No time to explain Harry come on!" Harry ran up to his dorm, got the cloak and then ran back down to the common room. He draped it over the girls and Hermione steered them to Snape's Office.
"Snape's Office? Ok Hermione what's going on?"
"Shhh! He's coming! Just follow him Harry and keep quiet!" So without another word they watched as Snape came out of his office and followed him. A couple of times they stopped as he turned round to make sure he wasn't being followed. Then he stopped in front of a beaten down old door. Harry had past experiences with this door. It had never opened even when he used the unlocking charm 'Aloahamora', until now that is.
Snape took out his wand and tapped the door three times.
"Entrayarmidae."
The door opened and he walked up some stairs as the door closed quickly and silently behind him. Hermione took out her wand and did the same as Snape did.
"Entrayarmidae." Once again the door opened and they quickly went inside before the door closed behind them. They looked up to see a spiral staircase of an old tower. It looked like it hadn't been used in a long time as there was dust on the picture frames. But the thing that grabbed Soraya's attention was there were no moving pictures of witches and wizards. But of the elements earth, wind, fire and water. They crept upstairs quietly and saw a hole in the roof to where the staircase ended. It was a trapdoor and already opened so they quietly emerged out of it still hidden under the cloak. They looked around and saw that they were on top of a flat, square tower which must have been about thirty feet in length on each side. It was surrounded by battlements that must have been at least six feet high.
There was a huge slab of stone at each point with one of the founder's animals at each corner of this tower. They were nearly as big as a closet and towered over them.
In the middle of the sides there were black marble alters at least ten feet away from the battlements. They were a few feet off the ground and as big as the slabs of stone the founder's animals were standing on.
They looked down to see a golden ring slap dab in the middle of all the grey stone and rock.
The tower looked ancient and uncared for, whereas the ring shone in the sunlight and looked brand new. There was writing on and around it that they had never seen before. They stayed silent as Snape looked at it. He walked over to the snake and placed a hand on it glaring at the lion. 'He's waiting for someone but who?' As if on cue when Soraya thought about this they heard someone coming up the stairs behind them. So they cleared the entrance and stood behind one of the alters. Cornelius Fudge emerged shortly followed by Dumbledore, so Harry dragged Hermione and Soraya down to hide behind the alter.
"Harry what the-"
"Harry-"
"Keep your head down! I think Dumbledore can see through invisibility cloaks."
"Oh." They stayed silent and listened to what the grown ups were saying.
"So this is the place? Every year I always find out something new about Hogwarts."
"Yes Albus. Now we had a translator here now the door has finally opened to its password. The writing says:
This location is of the founders and its power shall be brought forth to protect Hogwarts.
Thee ancient magic shall protect Hogwarts with the power of the prodigal child.
Then it just repeats this four times."
"Four founders, so an incantation for each to bring the power out fully I expect."
"Should we tell her now Headmaster?"
"No Serverus she has been through enough for now. Maybe at a later date before the time actually comes." Fudge and Snape proceeded down the trapdoor whilst Dumbledore stayed behind. He waited until the others had gone before looking up and saying.
"You can come out now they've gone. I cannot see through stone but I can sense others who are present when they shouldn't be." They sighed and stood up taking the cloak off as they went.
"Hmmm, Mr. Weasley not here this time? No room under the cloak I suppose. Now Soraya I must implore you, do not to set foot in to the ring unless absolutely necessary!" Soraya nodded and then Dumbledore left.
"I wonder why he said that." Said Hermione looking at the ring curiously, as though trying to see what could be so magical about a ring.
"Dunno, let's take a look." They went over to the ring. Making sure the coast was clear Harry stepped in ignoring the protests of Hermione. Nothing happened at all.
"Come on Hermione! Dumbledore said for Soraya not to go in but nothing about us." So Hermione sighed and did so and just like before nothing happened. Soraya then approached curiously yet very apprehensively due to Dumbledore's warning.
"Dumbledore said for me not to set foot in to the ring...but he didn't say anything about a hand."
"Soraya no, Dumbledore-"
"I like Dumbledore too Harry...all right how about no more than a finger?"
"Ok then but no more than a finger!"
So Soraya tentatively kneeled down by the ring, her hand was on top of the ring and nothing happened. So slowly she edged her finger nearer and nearer inside the ring. No sooner had the tip of her finger went inside it the ring began to glow. She gave a yelp of pain and quickly withdrew her finger. Her scar bled a little but stopped almost instantly. She turned white as a sheet when she wiped the blood away with fear gripping hold of her as she stared at the ring. Her breathing was erratic and fear spread through her like a virus.
"What happened?"
"I-I-I could feel and see...everything and everyone in Hogwarts. It was...like m-my whole body...was in tune with everything...within the boundaries of Hogwarts." She panted with cold sweat dripping down her face. Her friends stared at her with awe. But her face turned whiter still and then her body began to shake. "But then I heard something so bad that it made my head hurt."
"What was it Soraya? Come one you shouldn't keep something like this to yourself. If anything is hurting you then you have to tell your friends!"
"Every soul that has ever died in Hogwarts was screaming in my head Hermione. I have never felt such pain. It was as if I was feeling theirs when they died." They stared as Soraya clamed down and Harry decided they should head back.
They went back to retrieve the cloak. Then they covered themselves with it again and went back to the trapdoor.
"Thanks Harry."
"For what?"
"For not letting me put my whole hand in. I would have probably screamed and then we would be in real trouble."
"Oh...right...no problem."
They proceeded back down the stairs and made sure the coast was clear before going out of the door. They turned down the corridor to get back to Griffindor tower. They stopped when they spotted Snape with Fudge talking quietly. But it wads still loud enough for them to hear what was being said.
"Minister what if she finds out I-"
"Serverus it wasn't your fault, you were very naive like most when we are young."
"I know but because of me her parents-"
"Serverus!" Dumbledore appeared from the other side of the corridor and joined in the conversation. He Soraya and her friends who were still under the cloak. Though he pretended they weren't there and strode over to Snape quickly.
"Cornelius is right; you were young so being tricked by him was child's play to Voldermort. Remember that many great witches and wizards of our time have been played for fools by him. Some were much wiser than I and yet they believed everything he said like you did that fateful day." There was an awkward pause that lasted for a few seconds.
"Very well Dumbledore, I shall be going to the quidditch match now."
Harry put his hand to his head and suddenly remembered where he was going in the first place. He was wearing quidditch robes and the match was about to start. So they ran back to Griffindor tower and put the cloak away. Then they ran down to the quidditch pitch with his Firebolt.
Without stopping for breath they bolted down to the quidditch pitch. The girls joined up with the others and Professor McGonagall gave permission for Harry to fly the rest of the way to the pitch. So he hastily said good bye to Soraya and Hermione before flying to the game at full speed. He made it as the quaffle was about to be thrown in to the air. The two girls went down to the front of the stands and joined up with Amily. Before they knew it they were each holding a Griffindor flag. This time the game went on for a great deal longer than last time and Soraya was enjoying the match. Amily was jumping up and down like a kangaroo clapping her hands when Griffindor scored.
The score halfway through the match was 20-60. Griffindor were in the lead and were showing great skill. Harry and the Hufflepuff seeker were looking around for the snitch which was no easy task as it was both cloudy and dark.
Then it had stated to rain and there was a scramble for umbrellas and hoods. So the finding of snitch became even harder. Then Soraya stopped cheering as she could feel a pair of eyes in the stand on the other side of the pitch looking at her. The rain was letting up and the sun penetrated the clouds. She saw it was Snape and he was looking right at her. He was looking at her in an uncomfortable sort of way and Soraya thought she had to be imagining things. So to be sure she put her hand in front of her and moved it side to side in a feeble sort of wave. She saw Snape shake his head as though bringing himself back to reality. Then he shot his head back up in to the air to watch the match. Soraya felt greatly disturbed as she put her hand back down and continued to watch the match.
For the next half hour the game became more intense. Hufflepuff were leading 120-70. Ron had taken a bludger to the head and was rushed off the pitch in a stretcher to the ward. But the game ended when a Hufflepuff chaser scored the next goal and Harry caught the snitch. So the end score was 130-220. The Griffindors were cheering like mad, the Ravenclaws clapped, the Hufflepuffs looked sadly but clapped anyway as it was such a great game. The Slytherins on the other hand booed until their throats were hoarse. Snape looked maliciously at Harry as though he was a fly he wanted to swat. Ron ran on to the pitch with his head bandaged and hugged Harry tightly around his middle. Harry was grinning broadly with the struggling snitch still clasped tightly in his hand.
A while later and the friends were reunited.
"Only Slytherin next and the cup's our again." Said Ginny with a smile.
"Only Slytherin? They play dirtier than Snape." Said Ron to hear she said this so casually.
"Ron Snape maybe malicious but I've never seen him cheat."
"Oh come on Hermione." Harry protested as no one played dirtier than Snape and Soraya agreed.
"Okay then not as bad as Snape but they still cheat!" Said Hermione as Harry threw her a warning look.
All day nothing but the match was talked about and the Griffindors kept on congratulating the Hufflepuffs for such a great game. They didn't look so sad after that and even the captains were talking happily about the game as well.
"We were close this time."
"Who knows next time without Harry you might win."
"Yeah who knows?" Soraya smiled at this show of good sport, only the Slytherin's were bad sports when it came to loosing.
* * *
The Easter holidays came around and everyone was either doing their homework or revising for their Owls or NEWTs. So Soraya went to the grounds as she had no homework or revision to do. So she kept going back to the spot by the lake always with the same thought popping back in to her mind. 'What did you do to my parent's Snape?' She put her head in her hands and sighed deeply, night was coming and it grew steadily colder. She shivered and climbed down the tree. She headed towards the castle alone with the same thought still racking her brains till it made her head hurt. She did this everyday throughout the holiday and not once did she stop thinking about what it is she was meant to do on top of that tower. Or of what Snape was supposed to have done to her parents.
One day she was sitting in the tree reading a book she took out from the library. There wasn't anything about a prodigal child in the book but she found some parts interesting and read it for a while. She was so engrossed in the book that she didn't notice Snape come and sit beneath her with his back to the trunk. She looked down horrified to move, she didn't want to cross Snape right now by jumping down in front of him. She suddenly noticed the book was falling the book was sliding off the side of the branch. So she hung by her legs to catch it in mid-air and hoped to goodness sakes that Snape didn't notice. Luckily he sneezed a couple of times and didn't see or hear Soraya as she swung down, caught the book and swung back up again. 'Hagrid why didn't I heed your warning about Snape coming here?'
She hid in a thick bunch of branches and leaves which was quite comfortable to sit on. It also meant she was out of site if by any chance Snape happened to look up. She stayed there as long as Snape did and yawned quietly as the hours floated by. It slowly turned dark and Snape left for dinner. 'Thank god he didn't see me!' Soraya waited until he was so far away she couldn't see him and then climbed down the tree. She quickly ran to the castle and ate her dinner after she caught her breath. She looked over to the teachers table and saw that Snape was looking at her suspiciously. His eyes moved from her head to her bag at least three times. Soraya shot a puzzled look at him and looked at her bag. It had an oak leaf and twig on it. She then looked away from Snape and reached up where she found an oak leaf in her hair too. She removed them quickly but the damage had been done and Snape's lip curled as he continued eating from his plate.
Soraya took an annoyed bite from an apple and ate her dinner with her friends quietly. 'Oh great what's he gonna do? Give me detention for being in the same spot as him?' But for the next few days he did nothing at all. Soraya breathed a sigh of relief at the end of the holidays when he still did nothing. Potions classes came up and he still did nothing. Soraya slept easily but still wondered when Snape was going to strike.
It happened at the weekend when she went back to the spot. Before she could move Snape cornered her and she had no where to run. He gave her a very puzzling look and Soraya glared right back at him. She hated it when people looked at her like that and felt anger bubble up inside her.
"You were here last week weren't you? The same time I was here perhaps?" Soraya sighed and looked in to his eyes with anger still rising. But thought it best to keep a civil tongue and fought back the growl in the back of her throat.
"Yes sir."
"Do you know what happens to students who spy on me?"
"I WASN'T SPYING!" Soraya had enough of Snape's rubbish to fill ten bins and her anger finally came out. Snape took a step back as Soraya looked angrily back at him. Soraya then gave him a very odd look as she was trying to make sense of what Snape was doing. The look on his face reminded her of what she did to Malfoy last year.
"Sir I'm not going to...oh forget it!" She picked up her bag and stormed away from the spot leaving a worried Snape behind.
For the next few weeks Snape and Soraya gave each other a wide berth and this made her very happy. She hadn't seen Snape apart from lessons all week. Then one night Soraya went to bed very early as she felt strangely tired for some reason. So she went to bed when lessons ended.
She had that strange dream again, only this time without her parents and Voldermort with the neck snapping snake. She woke up suddenly with her scar in pain again and her pillow was bloody. So she wiped her scar clean and put some clothes on before bandaging her scar. Madam Pomfrey supplied her with some just in case it should happen again. She hoped that her scar wasn't bleeding badly enough to require a blood potion and went down the corridor towards the ward. She could hear the students in the great hall having dinner through the grates as she past above it. Soraya felt so strange that she didn't notice that the bandage wasn't properly on. There was the smallest of gaps at the bottom and tiny drops of blood dripped out of it leaving a very small but noticeable trail of blood behind her.
Then she stopped and heard something very strange coming from the corridor beside her. They were getting louder the further away she went. Then it became unbearable so to save her eardrums she went back and followed the noise. They led her to the door of the tower and the noise turned in to something different. 'Voices?' She tapped on the door with her wand and whispered.
"Entrayarmidae."
The door opened silently just like before and closed quickly behind her. But this time causing a small thud as it closed quicker this time. Soraya rounded on it and tried to open the door and felt numb as the door wouldn't open. 'What ever it is wants me up there...Ok then I am game.' So she climbed the stairs and opened the trapdoor. There was no one there and the voices were becoming louder and clearer. An eerie silence hung in the air and Soraya looked down at the ring to see it glowing in the dark with a soft golden light.
Then without warning Soraya looked up to the statues to see they were coming alive. But she didn't take out her wand when they came towards her. For some strange reason she felt safe and Hufflepuff spoke to Soraya in a way that made her feel at ease.
"Don't be afraid it's only us, we are in our statue forms this time. We cannot show ourselves like before because we need help from Griffindors hat to do that."
"Yes we could only spare magic like that for my hat and though it may not look it Soraya this is much simpler."
Soraya didn't feel so much at ease when the snake statue slithered towards them all. He was so long that he stretched right around them all in one big scaly circle. Soraya didn't like this very much as it made her feel trapped. He reminded her of Nagini a lot, but what he said next made her feel angry and gave him a piercing look.
"We saw what you did to that boy...you really are very powerful." He had a certain hunger to his voice which made Soraya's hairs stand on the back of her neck.
"Yes, yes she's very powerful Salazar. But her mind is even better when it comes to her gifts. I only wish you could have been in Ravenclaw."
"Shut up Rowena! Her uncle was in my house with the exception of his brother of course. But if he was in there then she should have gone to Slytherin."
"Are you still going on about blood and family ties?"
Soraya looked down and smiled. She shook her head at the two arguing founders who were behaving like nothing more than children. Actually...not even children would behave like that. They only stopped arguing when Griffindor broke them up and spoke.
"But Soraya and my hat decided."
"I decided?"
"Of course you did. Don't tell me you didn't feel drawn towards the table? Did you have a certain desire to go anywhere?" Soraya hadn't thought of this and answered him almost immediately when she did.
"Griffindor with Amily and my friends."
"Exactly, so the hat took a look at all the brave things you did in your life to be in there. The dragon rescue, taking the blame for Amily time and again the list goes on and keeps on growing. What you have done out of courage far out ways the other houses."
Rowena made a very impatient noise to clear her throat.
"Yes, yes Ravenclaw was a very close second." Soraya couldn't help but smile and tried to fight down a laugh when Rowena and Slytherin started to argue again. She scratched her chest with her right hand as it felt itchy and jumped when she heard a noise below the trap door.
"Someone's coming Godric!"
"Thanks Helga. Everybody back to your positions!" Soraya placed her right hand on the lion and he looked back at her kindly.
Then the statues went back to their positions quickly just as the trapdoor opened. Soraya just stood there and noticed the ring was glowing brighter and was moving a little.
Then she looked up to see Snape coming out of the door. He looked at Soraya and then his eyes strayed to the ring. Soraya just stared at him rooted to the spot and didn't seem to have the will to move. Her head ached and her scar seared with pain underneath the bandage. Soraya had to look away from the ring as it hurt her eyes and covered them with her hands as she walked around it. She stopped when she was in front of the ring and uncovered her eyes. Snape just looked at her with a sneer on his face as he stepped away from the trapdoor. Soraya sighed as she looked hatefully at him.
"How many points is it going to be this time sir?" She asked in a very annoyed tone with hate still burning in her eyes. He was just about to open his mouth when more people came out of the trapdoor. McGonagall, Dumbledore, Dye and Flitwick all came out with their wands pointed in front of them. McGonagall was the first one to speak and she looked at Soraya in very deep concern indeed.
"Soraya I think you should go to the ward immediately!" Her bandage was sodden and only then did Soraya look at the floor.
She noticed she was standing in a very small puddle of blood. She followed the small trail of blood leading from the trapdoor to the puddle around her feet.
"Miss. Granger informed me that you were not in bed like you said and saw a trail of blood leading to the ward. But it stopped when you were halfway there and it went off in another direction. She thought you had taken another route to the ward and so that's where she went to see if you were all right. But when she found out you weren't there she assumed the worst. So I followed the trail and met up with some of the other teachers along the way for some help. For you see you turned direction so abruptly I thought you might have been kidnapped."
"I saw the trail leading to the door and so I investigated."
"I would have done the same Serverus. Now Soraya do you care to explain what is going on here?" Soraya looked up and proceeded to tell them what happened about the founders and the statues. Her scar still bled and splashed down to the floor making the puddle grow bigger in size. Dumbledore looked at the ring when Soraya had finished and then studied the statues.
Soraya didn't look at him as he was behind her and the ring still glowed painfully bright to her in the night.
"They have indeed been moved as the dirt around them has been disturbed. Soraya couldn't have come over here and touched the lion as she is standing in a pool of blood. So there would have been a trail of it from the trapdoor to the lion."
"How do you know she touched the lion?"
"That's easy Samuel. There is a hand print in blood on the lion's side. Looks very fresh too by the looks of things and it glistens in the moonlight." Professor Dye went over to Dumbledore and studied the hand print. He looked to Soraya and she was looking at her hands. The left one was clean whilst the right one was covered in blood. She used her left hand and wiped it down her front and then it too was covered in blood. She followed the trail of blood from her throat to her bandage where she found the gap at the bottom of it and sighed. Soraya repositioned the bandage and the blood stopped dripping down her face. But her bandage was still sodden and was heavily stained. But no more blood went down her front to the ground and so the puddle stopped growing.
Soraya felt very sick and incredibly drained as though life itself was being sucked away from her. Her scar was still very painful but she refused to show that she was in pain and just stood there.
"Samuel. Please take Soraya to the ward."
"Yes Albus." Professor Dye walked with her to the ward and had a very odd look on his face. Soraya collapsed half way there so he picked her up and carried her the rest of the way. He left her with Madam Pomfrey who was beside herself and poured a whole bottle of blood replenishing potion down Soraya's throat. Soraya really wished she hadn't because it caused her to wretch. It was a good thing the next day was a Saturday because in the morning she felt sick and couldn't eat a thing for the whole day. She was made to stay in the ward for Sunday as well.
She never told anyone about what happened that night and just told them she had a weird nightmare again. They bought it as the dreams were giving her trips to the ward whenever she had them and didn't ask anything more. She told her close circle of friends the truth and they either gasped or just listened. They kept this new piece of information very quiet as she had asked them to keep this a secret. She had a feeling Dumbledore told the teachers to do the same. So very few people in the school had any knowledge about what happened last night. The bandage was on again and this time Madam Pomfrey didn't restrict her from homework. Soraya was relieved for she didn't want to face that amount of homework being piled up again.
She felt calmer after her last Hogsmeade visit and more relaxed. But there was one thing getting on her nerves. She was receiving stares from the teachers more than anyone. In the end she got so sick of it and went to the quidditch pitch with her Firebolt. She asked permission from madam Hooch to go flying. There was no better cure for depression than the feeling of flying on a broomstick if you liked flying of course and Soraya loved it. She did a full scale dive and pulled up quickly.
Then she looked at the castle to where the tower should have been. But instead of a flat roof with four big statues there was a massive grey cone. At first she was confused about this and then thought about the vale of illusion over the animal sanctuary back at home. 'Must be a vale of illusion otherwise the quidditch players would have seen it by now. Harry looked as though he had never seen the tower before until the day we went up with Hermione.' She carried on flying around until Madam Hooch called her down as a training session was about to start. Soraya was relieved it was the Griffindor team and not the Slytherin's time to practice. The captain and the rest of the team stared at Soraya and her Firebolt when she landed beside them.
Ron came up to her and did no less than beg. "Please be on the team. With two Firebolts on our team those Slytherin prats are bound to loose the quidditch cup."
"I'm sorry I would love to be a chaser Ron I really would. But I think Madam Pomfrey may have something to say about that." Ron and the team looked disappointed as they took to the air and started to practice. So for the rest of the afternoon Soraya watched from the stands as the team took to the air.
She enjoyed just sitting there and watching the Griffindor team testing their skills. She thought Harry was an incredible seeker and knew that he was a formidable opponent on his Firebolt. The team wanted to see what she could do as a chaser on her Firebolt and sometimes past the quaffle to her. But she declined and just threw the quaffle back to them. Soraya gave up and was quick to agree when they started aiming bludgers at her so she took to the air. She scored a lot of goals in a few minutes and the captain secretly timed her. She had to dodge the entire team except for Harry to get to the hoops and score. After the session everyone was hot and breathless and very happy with the practice. Soraya's head on the other hand had stopped hurting for the rest of the day and was happy that she got to play quidditch.
"Are you sure you won-"
"No Ron! And besides from what I saw Griffindor are a very talented team!" Ron and Harry turned deeply red on their way to dinner to join up with their friends.
*** Oh I wish quidditch was real... (Sigh)...(thinks about quidditch and stop typing as she imagines herself on the Griffindor team.)...
