A/N: Sorry the last chapter was so short! But this one should be really long! Okay… please tell me what pairings you all like best, because just when you think you will know who's with who… BAM! It'll change. So you don't know how it'll turn out; so please keep reading! J This will be a pretty twisted triangle… but it isn't the main plot or anything. Just so ya know, my favorite pairing is H/G, not that I'm going to play favorites or anything… *cough* Oh, yeah… I would advise that you reread chapter five sometime because there are some key things in there that *will* be important later. Okay, so read and review!! Happy New Year! (Tomorrow) Oh, BTW I may not be able to update for two or three days, but I will ASAP!
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Chapter 30 (finally! Sorry, I'm really talkative!):
Harry grabbed the two-way mirror Lenore had given him. "Lenore Felkes!" he hissed. A moment later his cousin's face appeared, smiling. But it faded upon seeing Harry's face.
"What's up, Harry?"
"Lenore- get down to the Dungeons- freaky room…. Draco and Ginny… go past the Potions room and make about three lefts…. And go into this twisty corridor… hurry!"
"Harry, is this about Draco and Ginny? You need to give Ginny a chance to explain, Harry…"
"You knew about that? Oh, never mind. It's not that! Just get down here!"
"'Kay. See ya." Lenore's face faded from the mirror and left Harry wondering how many people Ginny had told. Oh, well. Suddenly, Ginny ran out into the corridor. Harry spun around.
"Ginny! Are you all right! What happened? What was under the portrait?" Ginny looked shocked and frightened to see Harry. Her beautiful brown eyes widened.
"Harry!" she exclaimed. "What are you… What are you doing here? Did you…. Do you kno- Oh, Harry! I'm sorry, so sorry…" A tear fell from Ginny's eye as she looked up into Harry's face.
"Ginny… it's… I mean, I just want… I want you to be happy."
"Oh, Harry! Thank you!" Ginny threw her arms around Harry. Suddenly she drew back.
"But, Harry… oh my goodness, you need to come here! You won't believe what we found… we need Lenore."
"It's all right, Gin," said Harry. "I called Lenore on the mirror, she's coming."
"Thank Merlin… but come on! I need to show you… we think we've found Acacia's common room!"
"What?" asked Harry quickly. Acacia's common room? Merlin! Then she had been a founder! Harry quickly followed Ginny through the first portrait. Draco was still in the room, looking strangely at the other portrait, that Harry guessed led to the common room.
It was perhaps the most beautiful room Harry had ever seen. Plush Persian carpet, silk and satin draperies, encrusted with precious gems… The walls, Harry had reason to believe, were solid gold. There was a beautiful sofa sitting in the room, and there was a balcony outside that Harry decided must've been charmed, as they were underground.
Draco looked up at Harry. "That was quick."
"Yeah," said Harry, still looking around. "What is this place?"
Draco answered. "No idea… select Slytherins've known about it for ages, though… that's why we're never on the reservations for the Astronomy tower…."
"They need reservations?" asked Harry, feeling stupid. Draco snorted.
"Where have you been?" Harry shrugged uncomfortably.
Suddenly Lenore ran into the room. "Hey," she panted. "What's- wrong?" Draco raised his eyebrows, looking from Lenore, who looked out of breath, to Harry, who looked perfectly calm.
"Did you both come from the Gryffindor tower?"
"No," said Lenore. "I did, but Harry was already h-"
"Only in the Dungeons still. I had to get something from Professor Snape's room that I forgot. I saw Ginny on her way to get me, and I mirrored Lenore."
"Oh," said Draco skeptically. "I'm sure."
"What is it?" asked Lenore. "What did I have to run here for?"
"Come here," said Draco. He led them across the room to a portrait. The picture was of Acacia and Gryffindor, Harry recognized it immediately. Acacia's black eyes gleamed with triumph in the picture. Gryffindor was kissing her cheek, and she had almost a smirk on. Godric looked happy; in love.
Draco pushed the portrait open. Lenore and Harry gasped. It opened into a circular room, about the size of the Gryffindor common room. The room was decorated in a deep maroon and navy. There was a large fireplace, and cozy burgundy chairs. The room had the same basic style as the room before it did; Persain carpets, satin, jewels…
"Oh my gosh," said Lenore, in awe. "I wish I was in this house; it's stunning!"
"I know," whispered Ginny. She looked around and touched a curtain wistfully.
"Was Acacia royalty or something?" asked Draco, staring at the ceiling.
"Dunno," murmured Harry. "Come on, let's look in the dormitories."
"Yeah," said Lenore. "Gin and I will do the girls, you do the boys." Everyone nodded, and Harry and Draco climbed the left staircase and entered the first room. It was still littered with belongings. Everything was covered with dust.
"Good Merlin," whispered Draco.
"I know… what happened to all the people who were in this House?"
"What happened to Acacia?... Whoa! Was that a broom?" asked Draco suddenly, pointing to a short stick next to a bed.
"I don't think so," began Harry. He walked over and picked it up. It was rough and jagged. "Let's see if it flies," he grinned.
"Okay," said Draco, rummaging through some other boy's things. He picked up another broom. "Race ya."
"You're on!" So the two boys mounted their brooms and took off.
"It only goes three feet into the air!" complained Draco.
"Yeah, and it goes about five miles per hour…" scowled Harry. "They must have been so bored back then!" Draco nodded in agreement.
"Let's check the next room."
"All right." In the next room, they found an age-old copy of Hogwarts, a History, which had probably been brand-new once.
"Hermione would have had fun with this bloke," said Harry, sifting through the trunk. He paused and shook the dust off his hands and coughed. "Look at this, he kept his homework from every year!"
Draco scrunched his nose. "Can we say freak?"
Harry snorted. "And look, everything's an O… disgusting." Draco nodded.
"Ooh… a diary!" he exclaimed suddenly. Harry ran over.
"Where? Let me see it…"
"No…" said Draco, turning away. "I found it; let me read it first…" He opened the book to a random page in the middle.
"Dear Diary," he read, laughing. "Today was rather tedious. Thou wilt never believe what Helena hath begged of her dear father. The fierce vexation of a dream, she hath said, bade her ask for the disengagement of our marriage. Methinks she hath loved Byron, though she denies it so. … But even so, fate has it that we shan't meet again either way, for the time is drawing nearer. We shalt show our true livery on the morrow one day, and when fair night arises, we shalt strike and take captive my Helena. All the world shalt tremble under our rule one day. We, the noble army of Acacia and her fair lord, shalt be given unimaginable might; and when we leave, after the child of Acacia is borne and given to Salazar, we shall form our plight under the cover of darkness, and with us take those worthy of our torture and love. The women under the house of Acacia will be brought to the fortress whilst we men prepare for battle. And none wilt ever have the knowledge to open the doors to our house until we are gone."
"What did that crap mean?" asked Harry, frowning.
"It meant, Potter, that this guy was in love with some girl who won't marry him, but he was going to take her by force after Acacia and everyone in their house left after the baby was born, and that they would one day take over the founders."
Harry lifted an eyebrow at Draco. "How the bloody hell did you do that?" Draco shifted awkwardly.
"At the manor, all the books almost were written like a thousand years ago…"
"Ah. I see." Harry paused for a moment. "Do you realize that we can make a small fortune with all of this?"
"Potter, you already have a small fortune. I have a large fortune. So who really cares?"
"Malfoy, this stuff can be a key to defeating Voldemort." Malfoy shuddered.
"Don't say his name. And how?"
"I'll say the name if I want. And because if he wasn't the heir of Slytherin, then it could be important."
"How so?"
Harry sighed impatiently. "Well, because of the warnings and dreams we've been getting. 'Together, the four heirs can defeat the fifth one.' Lenore could be Slytherin's heir and Vol- sorry, Voldy, let's call him, could be Acacia's heir."
"What warnings, Harry? I haven't gotten any… my dreams are just scenes…. Shadows. Not warnings."
"Really? I've gotten tons of warnings…"
"Weird."
"Yeah… Anyway, we should bring this diary to Dumbledore."
"I suppose so," said Malfoy. They lifted the diary and exited the room, heading back to the Common room. To their surprise, Ginny and Lenore were already there.
"Hi," said Lenore, looking up. "Find anything?"
"Actually, yeah," said Draco. "Get a load of this." He threw Lenore the diary. She opened it curiously, with Ginny reading over her shoulder.
"Whoa… that's pretty cool. That language is so weird, though…" said Ginny, frowning.
"I'm used to it," said Lenore, laughing. "Last year our history of magic teacher made us read all of Shakespeare's stuff… not all of it, only a few, but still…. Did you know Shakespeare was a wizard?" Everyone shook their heads amusedly.
"That's… interesting," said Harry vaguely. "But we need to really go to Dumbledore or an Order member…" The others nodded in agreement and the four stood up. They were about to exit the portrait when suddenly Draco fell to the floor, screaming.
"Draco!" yelled Ginny, kneeing in front of him. Lenore looked really concerned too.
"Malfoy…" began Harry.
Suddenly, Ginny shrieked. "Draco! Let go of the book!" He released it, and suddenly, he stopped screaming.
"Merlin," he moaned, trying to stand up.
"What was it?" asked Harry.
"Crucio… really horrible, not like Potter's pathetic curse…. It was like Bella's and Father's…" He moaned and stood up.
"They cast Crucio on you?" asked Harry, horrified. Malfoy nodded, standing up.
"Hardly ever… only when I said that I'd never join the Death Eaters… Snape found out and told them he'd try to make me find my senses and join… he's my godfather, but he introduced me to the Order…"
"Oh, Draco!" said Ginny, hugging him.
"It's all right," Draco muttered, gently pushing her away. "But in any case, I don't think we should take things out of here…" The others murmured in agreement. They then exited the portrait and then exited the first room, into the Dungeons.
They had been in the Dungeons for no less than two minutes, when Snape, Lupin, and Tonks bombarded them quite suddenly.
"HARRY! MALFOY! GINNY! LENORE!" yelled Tonks as she came into view. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!"
The four students exchanged apprehensive looks. "W- what do you mean, Tonks?"
Even Lupin looked angry, and Snape looked more livid than usual. He pressed his pin, which hung on his robes. "Strawberry, United States, Dragon, and Liver-boy have been found. Corridor 36 Dungeons."
Several replies of "Thank Merlin", "Good!", "Finally" and "Be right there," were echoed back out of the pin.
"Where were you?" demanded Snape as the adults got to the teenagers. "You weren't on the map! For all we knew, the dark Lord had gone and kidnapped you out of your beds… Never should've trusted you four without guards and Mundungus with the map…"
"Hey!" exclaimed Harry. "You mean my map? The Marauder's map?" he asked in disbelief. Snape sighed impatiently.
"No, Potter, Lupin here and some assistors were able to create another. Now WHERE were you? The entire bloody school is in lockdown, looking for you…"
"What?" asked Lenore. "But we were in school! And we were only gone less than an hour…"
"Where were you?" repeated Lupin. "Six hours. You've been missing for six hours."
"W- we need to sp- speak with D- Dumbledore," piped up Ginny. "We f- found something…"
"Well Dumbledore has been assisting in our search for you four for the last six hours!" spat Snape.
"That can't be," said Harry. "I was at Occlumency, Professor Snape, with you, less than an hour and a half ago!"
Snape, Lupin, and Tonks looked unnerved for a moment. "No, Potter," said Snape strangely. "This is no time for games. You were at Occlumency from eight to nine." Harry lifted his watch, rolling his eyes.
"And now it's… three thirty…" Draco, Ginny, and Lenore gasped.
"But how?" asked Draco. "I promise, we weren't in that bloody medieval common room for six hours, I assure you…"
"What medieval common room?" asked Tonks quickly, who looked like she was believing them. Suddenly, McGonagall, Mad-eye Moody, Dumbledore, Evelyn, Calista, Mr. Weasley, and Mundungus Fletcher were running down the corridor. Ginny's jaw dropped next to Harry.
"What in the-"
"Ginny!" exclaimed Mr. Weasley, running over and hugging his daughter. "Thank Merlin… you all…. Where were you? We were just getting ready to search the… Chamber of S…" he trailed off.
"Where have you been? This is going to be a lot of points, let me tell you," began McGonagall quickly.
"Told you they'd be in the Dungeons," muttered Moody. Tonks rolled her eyes.
"See, Arthur; Remus?" began Mundungus, slurring. "Told yeh there'd be no bloody 'arm getting' them… after all, 'e's the boy 'oo lived, dinch I tell yeh, Minervie; Sev? Ha… Sev… tha's a righ funny bloody name, Sev… haha…." Harry fought back the urge to laugh as McGonagall's lips tightened.
"Albus, can we please just stun him?" she asked. Dumbledore chuckled.
"Not quite yet, Minerva… I believe that Harry, Ginny, Lenore, and Draco have some explaining to do…"
"No kidding," muttered about five people, including Draco and Harry.
"But, ah… why don't we do this in a more comfortable room?" Everyone nodded.
"My room is closest, Professor," began Snape.
"And the most uncomfortable," said Evelyn, frowning.
"Ev," came the exasperated voices of Lupin and Calista at once. She muttered something not understandable under her breath, though it didn't sound nice.
"Since some of us have gotten over juvenile grudges can we please move along?" asked Snape.
"I'm still twenty-one in terms of years spent in the wizarding world, Snivellus, and the last thing I remember you saying to me is that I was a mudblood-lover and putting the Cruciatus on me and then the Imperius on me trying to get me to actually-"
"Enough, Evelyn!" cut in Dumbledore sharply.
"Sorry, Professor…"
"Now, we shall head to Severus's r-"
"Wait, professor," said Ginny suddenly.
"Yes, Miss Weasley?"
"Can we go to the room that we found instead?"
"Certainly; please lead the way." With that, Draco, Harry, Lenore, and Ginny led the group of adults to the new room; the first one.
"Diligo," muttered Harry, when they reached the portrait. The adults all began murmuring amongst each other. Harry and the other fifth and sixth years present sat on the first sofa. The adults began admiring the room and seating themselves.
Finally the room quieted. "So," began Dumbledore. "Do you believe you can tell us your account of events this evening? Harry, would you go first?"
"Yes, sir. I was on my way from Occlumency when Draco passed me, and I decided to follow him." Snape snorted, and Evelyn pointed her wand at him. "Anyway, he went into this portrait, and I hid outside it. A few minutes later, Ginny came and went into the room." Ginny flushed suddenly, and Draco glared at Harry for eavesdropping. Harry noticed Mr. Weasley stiffen. "And after maybe ten minutes,"
"Why were you listening for ten minutes?" asked Snape, obviously enjoying the embarrassing situation. "Was there conversation going on? Or, perhaps, other… ah, noises?"
"SHUT UP!" yelled Harry, Draco, Ginny, Lenore, Mr. Weasley, and Evelyn at the same time.
"Sorry, sorry…" said Snape, smirking.
"Go on, Harry. And if I may inquire no more interruptions?"
"After ten minutes," began Harry again, "I heard Ginny yell and Draco say to get Harry and Lenore. Of course, I was already there, so I took out the two-way mirror Lenore got me for my birthday and called her and said to come down. Then, when we were all there, Draco showed us this portrait of Acacia and Godric, and we opened it, I think when we said Acacia, and it lead us to this really old-looking, dusty common room. It's that painting, there. And when we went inside we looked around for maybe forty-five minutes and left. That's all."
"Curious," said Dumbledore thoughtfully. "We recently found out some details about Acacia, the Order did, but we could never find any real evidence or records of her… Could we please see this room?"
"Yeah," said Harry. He walked over to the Portrait.
"Acacia." It swung open. Harry looked at the adult, expecting to see them look shocked or impressed, but they all just looked confused.
"Is this your idea of a joke, Potter?" asked Snape.
"No!" said Harry. "What are you playing a- wait. You can see the room, can't you?" The Order all shook their heads.
"But…" said Ginny. "It's right there! See? We'll go in!" She grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him into the portrait, into the common room once again. A moment later, Draco stepped in.
"You guys, there all getting worried; it's been five minutes." Ginny looked at him like he was crazy.
"We were only in here a second! Let's go out, quickly. I don't like this." So the three stepped out together.
"It's been ten minutes!" exclaimed Tonks.
"No," said Harry. "It felt like we were only in there a second…"
"Harry," said Lupin suddenly. "What does your watch do in there?"
"I don't know… I'll check." With that, Harry climbed into the room and looked at his watch. It was moving… extremely fast…. Harry cold barely see the hand, it was spinning so quickly. He stepped hastily out of the portrait and the watch slowed down.
"Merlin…" he said as he looked at everyone's faces. "It moved so fast…"
"Harry," said Calista, "Do you think you can take something out of there for us?"
Harry shook his head. "No… we tried taking out this diary, but when Draco tried to leave with it, it did something weird."
"Yeah," agreed Draco. "It pretty much did the Cruciatus curse on me and wouldn't let me pass until I dropped the book. And it was a strong Cruciatus curse, too… worse than a death eater's…"
"How would you know?" asked Evelyn.
Draco looked at everyone angrily. "Believe me… I know."
"Oh, my…" said Calista. "Draco, are you-"
"Leave me alone!" said Draco angrily. He got up and hurried out of the Portrait, into the Dungeons.
"Would you follow him, Severus?" asked Dumbledore. Snape nodded curtly and left.
"Now," began Dumbledore. "Tell us what the room was like." Harry nodded, and he, Ginny, and Lenore told as much as they could remember.
A/N: Okay, remember to review! J If I can, I'll do another chapter tonight, though I don't think I'll be able to! The prequel is coming soon, I promise!
~Jinglez**