The Fifth House
Disclaimer: This could easily go without saying, but because I'm broke and won't be able to cough up the cash if I was sued, I don't own Harry Potter. Anything you see that you recognize from HP belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Author's Note: I've been trying, see? I just update yesterday and now I'm updating again because I know how much it means to all of you {not to mention how fun writing this story is for me}. I'm sorry if Harry seems a little OCC {off character completely}. It's been difficult with his dialogue. Why must he make this so hard for me?!
Ok, guys, this chapter will give a ton of important information. A ton. Try to process it as best you can. I hope it isn't too much. But it all has to come out at the same time.
Read.
Review.
Relax. {A special thanx to Violet Eyes for suggesting R words!}
Curtains Up!
Chapter Sixteen
Harry didn't know where he was when he woke up. It seemed to be a strange sort of room, with mirrors on every wall. Harry opened his eyes wider and then squinted to see his surroundings.
He was in a small room, with, as said, mirrors on every wall. Or, maybe they weren't mirrors. Harry stood up and walked closer to one of the walls. He reached out a hand. The wall was wet. No, this room was not mirrored. It was painted silver with water running down the walls, into small moats around the room. It was the strangest thing Harry had ever seen. There was one door, an old, wooden one with some sort of rusting metal sign on it. The ceiling was strange, too. Harry wanted to touch it, but it was too high to reach. It looked as though it was made of gold. The richest, softest, highest-karat type of gold. The kind that you just had to touch, to see if it was the real thing. The floor was strange, also. It was painted.
The floor was very interesting. It was painted with pictures. They showed several knights. One was slaying a dragon, one sword fighting, one riding a horse towards what looked like a battlefield, and one he couldn't tell what it was doing because someone was lying on top of it.
At last, Harry realized that he wasn't alone. Actually, there were three other people there. He didn't really want to go near them, in case they suddenly made some movement, but he wanted to know who they were. Harry walked around the first person he found and crouched to try and seen their face. He didn't know his name, but he recognized him as a Ravenclaw seventh year.
Whoever he was, he looked very much asleep. So Harry continued to the next person. Harry thought that she looked vaguely familiar, some girl from, maybe Hufflepuff? What had her name been, he tried to remember. Was it Eleanor something? , he thought. He wasn't sure. Since she also showed no signs of awaking any time soon, he moved on to where the final person in the room lay.
"Kylie?" he breathed when he saw her. Even before he'd seen her face, he'd seen her copper hair. The same person who'd kidnapped Harry had also taken Kylie. This was interesting. Both he and Kylie had gotten letters, both were kidnapped, was it a possibility that the other two had gotten letters as well?
Kylie was stirring.
"Harry?" she said, squinting her eyes.
"Yeah, it's me. There are two other kids down here, too. I don't know who they are, though," He said.
"Where are we? Why are we here? Is that water on the walls?" she asked, apparently very confused.
"I don't know where we are, or why we're here. Yes, there is water on the walls, but I don't know why,' he explained.
"I can tell you that," said a voice from the doorway.
Harry turned his head sharply, and was sure that Kylie must've done the same.
"Who are-?" Kylie started to ask.
"I, Ms. D'Alessandro, am Mundungus Fletcher, Master of Games. I am in charge of the Crevi Game, in which all four of you are players. Oh, are the other two not up yet? They should be soon," the man said quickly.
Just then the two students woke up.
"What am I doing here?" the girl asked.
"What the-?" the boy started to say.
Mundungus Fletcher brought his hands together, then moved them quickly sideways to silence them.
"If you will allow me to explain, without interruption, I will be able to tell you that you are not in any danger. As of right now," the man began.
Harry took this time to observe the man. He was tall and thin, with grey hair and a mustache that curled up. He had a monocle that made him look very intelligent. He seemed to bear a resemblance to the man Harry recognized from the cover of a muggle game, Monopoly.
Mundungus began to speak.
"I am Mundungus Fletcher, Master of Games. I am in charge of the Crevi Game, which you are all playing. Yes, you do not know it, but the game has already begun. It has not been any of your turns yet, however. The Crevi Game was made for a reason. You will be told all of this tonight.
"You have all received letters. Harry, yours were from P.1 Rebirth. Kylie, yours were from P.2 Rebirth. Eleanor, yours were from P.3 Rebirth. Raymond, yours were from P.4 Rebirth. They told of strange and mysterious happenings that would take place this year at Hogwarts, about an Evil. An Evil so dangerous and powerful that it is spelled with a capital E.
"By the way, do we all know each other? In case you don't recognize each other, I will say each of your names. Harry Potter, Kylie D'Alessandro, Eleanor Branstone, and Raymond Cruz. There, now I can continue.
"This Evil, it is all that the letters say it is. It can control Hogwarts, it has before. It controlled the years 995 to 998. It caused events that aren't even spoken of anymore. Not necessarily because they were so bad, which they were, but because the whole, I guess you could call it a sequence, was kept secret.
"This Evil is composed of five powers. Four of them are controlled by a certain society; a society of outcasts. The Fifth Power, however, has never been controllable. But there is mind behind the Fifth Power. There are people behind it.
"Ever since the Evil left the school, which was the year that the oldest person in the society left the school, the Fifth Power looked to the future. There was only one person in that time that could help the power. But it is better now. There are four of you. In the future, the Fifth Power found its hope. It saw people who could help it fight next time the Evil was reborn.
"This is why your letters are from, for example, P.1 Rebirth. P.1 means Part One, of the Rebirth. The Rebirth of the society, the Rebirth of the Evil. There are four parts of the society, four people that run it. Four powers, each run by one of the students.
"Yes, students are responsible for this Evil. Students who did not fir in any house, so the Sorting Hat kept its silence when it was their turn. They are not really brave like Gryffindors; cunning like Slytherins, loyal like Hufflepuffs, or clever like Ravenclaws. They are not strong in any of these qualities. They do not belong in any house. But they have to be placed in a house. So they stay in the dorms of and have lessons with the house that they fit in best with, even though they don't fit in with any of them.
"So they formed their own house. It meets in secret places, more secret than, maybe, the Chamber of Secrets. They control this Evil. Each member, from each different house, controls one of the powers. Once one of the members graduated Hogwarts, the Evil lost power, because the society had not been able to complete some things to keep the evil permanently, as planned. But this society has a second chance, because the society is rising to power again.
"Are you all getting all of this? I know it's hard to process, because maybe you thought that this sort of thing couldn't happen in Hogwarts. Welcome to the real world. Before I continue, do you have any questions?" Mundungus was finally taking a break from his speech.
"Yeah, this society, what are they called? I mean, don't they have a name?" Kylie asked.
"Before I answer that, I must say that none of this can ever be mentioned outside of this room. One student in each of your houses is in the society, plotting Evil on the school. One of your own friends, perhaps. To answer your question, the secret society is called Terces," Mundungus said.
Terces, Harry thought. What a strange name. He had plenty of questions that he wanted to ask, but he didn't know how to ask them, or which ones to ask first.
"If there are four students in this school that the Sorting Hat was silent when they went up to be sorted, how come we can't remember any of that happening?" Raymond asked.
"If I speak truthfully, did you not witness Sarah Zakharova not be sorted into any particular house this year?" Mundungus asked.
"Sarah? She's in my house!" Eleanor shrieked.
"Yes, but never mention this to her. Or anyone. Ever. She is the only Terces member that we know the identity of, we don't know who the others are yet. To answer you question, Albus Dumbledore has put memory charms on the school after that part of the sorting every time that it happens. One year, I think Harry and Kylie's first year, two students were put in Terces," Mundungus answered.
"You mean that our own headmaster has been lying to us all these years?" Kylie asked.
"Even Dumbledore does not know about Terces. No one does, except for Terces and us. I am the in the service of the Fifth Power. I am the only one. The Ministry of Magic doesn't even know, because I'm an Unspeakable. The Fifth Power needs us to help stop Terces before it's too late. Hogwarts will be plagued for eternity if we don't stop Terces,"
"Why does it have to be us that does this? Couldn't full-fledged wizards and witches do this instead? What if we mess up?" Harry asked. He had to say something.
"Terces is made up of members that don't belong anywhere in Hogwarts. But you four could all be in any house and fit in. You are the only four. The Fifth Power knows this, and it needs your help. We are Hogwarts's only defense," Mundungus said, looking very solemn.
"So, are you saying that, basically, the future of Hogwarts is in the hands of four students who aren't even old enough to apparate yet?" Raymond asked.
"Basically, yes," Mundungus said.
"Oh, okay," said Kylie, looking calm. "Wait, WHAT?"
"Why us? I mean, you just answered that, but there's got to be some other reason that it's got to be kids instead of adults! I mean, there are other reasons, right?" Kylie said, looking around the room frantically.
"Each of you could be in any house and fit in because you all have very interesting life stories. Some of you have connections with Voldemort. Others have connections with Hogwarts headmasters. One of you even has a family of Seers. There are other things that make you all very different from other students. Two of you come from families that have been ripped apart. All four of you are parselmouths.
" I would say exact information with names, but I don't want anyone to get very uncomfortable. But you all need to trust each other to an extent that you can know these things," he finished.
"I hope that you will be open with each other, really. I know that this seems like it's too much to process. But you have to know. A man pretending to be a wise man once said 'Constant Vigilance!' Take something from that phrase. You'll need it," Mundungus said.
"So, is the Terces society the people wearing purple costumes in a circle in the Great Hall?" Eleanor asked.
"Yes. That is indeed Terces. They are making a display of their power. Maybe hexing the school, or something like that. You must never confront them. Especially Sarah, now that you know she is in it. Terces will find out who you all are eventually, but if all goes well, that won't happen until the end," Mundungus said.
"The end," Harry said, more to himself, but everyone heard him.
"The end may or may not be where you want to go," Mundungus said.
"And now, it is midnight. I think that you should all, at long last, go to your dorms. I highly doubt that you will be getting much sleep, but tomorrow is a Saturday, so it's all right. Tomorrow morning, you will wake up to find several scrolls waiting for you. They will contain information about when we will meet next time. We will always meet here. Here, by the way, is the third floor below the Great Hall. Hogwarts's basement, you could say. Below the dungeons, but above the Chamber of Secrets. To get here, you will not have to worry. Just make sure that you are alone at the time that we meet, and a portal will appear in front of you. Just step through it, and you'll be here. Now, I think you should all go to bed."
The four students left through a portal that took them to the empty entrance hall.
"Hey Harry," Kylie said.
"Yeah?" Harry answered.
"When Fletcher said that two people had torn apart families, I just well, yours is, and mine is too. It's just, I don't know if you care, really, but I just thought maybe you'd like to know you weren't alone. My mum was murdered by her dad, my grandfather for-for something. My dad is, I don't know where, he's somewhere around the world and constantly moving. But my mum, she was murdered right, right…" Kylie stopped there. She looked like she was going to cry.
"I have to go," she said, and ran towards the Slytherin dungeons before Harry could say anything.
He didn't have a chance to talk to Raymond or Eleanor.
He never knew how much he and Kylie had in common. Torn apart families, both speak parseltongue, they're both part of a group that has to save Hogwarts from eternal Evil…
How is this going to work? Harry thought to himself. Four students saving a school from evil powers and a thousand year old secret society? Who does Mundungus Fletcher think he is?
Then Harry remembered Sirius's letter. Mundungus Fletcher had been the Unspeakable who played Chinese checkers with his mum. But why had Harry forgotten that, when he'd finally met him?
Maybe because I was a bit preoccupied thinking about me and three other witches and wizards have to keep the school from being run by Terces?
Harry was at the portrait of the Fat Lady by now.
"Hippogriff", he said to the portrait. The door swung open and Harry was greeted by…
Silence.
Inside the common room, everyone was sitting down, not talking. Hermione was sitting in a big leather chair, staring into the fire. Ron was leaning on the arm of it, also looking into the flames.
Wow, Harry thought. Terces must've made one heck of a scene.
But Harry would here all about it tomorrow. Right now he was exhausted. Thinking no one would miss him if he just went to bed, he walked up to the dorms alone. The only person up there was Neville, you could tell it was him, not just by the fact that it was his bed, but by the pink bunny slippers on his feet that hung over the end.
Curtains Close!
Author's Note: I know, that was a weird part to end at, but it seemed right. Was that chapter eventful enough for you? Now that the whole master plot is in there, I can start the action, the drama, the excitement. Oh joy. I hope you could all get that. I might have to clean it up a little in the next chapter.
Words of Wisdom: Constant Vigilance!
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I love you all!
Ciao!
~Starry