The Fifth House
Disclaimer: I own the plot, a few characters, Terces, basically everything that makes this story different from J.K. Rowling's books, and all that. But I do not own Harry Potter.
Author's Note: I just posted yesterday! Aren't you all so happy? Can I hear the sounds of rejoicing? Can you all believe that I'm on chapter 22?! Actually, It's chapter 23 if you want to get all technical and stuff, and if you include the prologue as a chapter. But that's only for people who want to get all technical and stuff.
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Reupholster! This is an explicit cry for help finding R words!
Curtains Up!
Chapter Twenty-One
Harry walked through the portal door and into another passage. There was a door a few paces in front of him. It was different shades of silver, black, bronze, and gold. It had the four Hogwarts mascots on it. Harry turned the knob slowly and walked into the water-wall room.
Ray and Kylie were already there.
"Hey, Harry," said Ray, smiling and waving slightly.
"Hi," said Kylie, who saluted. Ray and Harry both looked at her rather strangely for this.
"What? I'm in a saluting mood today!" she said.
"Okay…" said Harry. It was good that, even when everything seemed to be so bad, there were still friends who could make you laugh.
"She saluted to me, too," said Ray.
"And I'm going to keep saluting, to Ellie, and Fletcher…" Kylie went off on a long list of names. Harry picked up on 'Ron', 'Hermione', and 'Draco'.
Finally she finished. "So, how many of those people will give me strange looks?"
"Probably most of them…" said a voice from the door.
"Hey, Ellie," Harry said.
"Hi Ellie!" Kylie said, and saluted. Ellie saluted back. Kylie beamed.
"Hey Ellie," Ray said.
"Hello, Eleanor," said another voice from the doorway.
"Hello, Mundungus!" Kylie said, and yes, she saluted. Mundungus also saluted.
"Hey," Harry said.
"Hey," said Ray.
"Hi," said Ellie.
"I hope you're all ready for another meeting?" Mundungus said. Four heads nodded.
"Good. Has anyone noticed anything strange that they'd like me to explain?"
"Yeah, well, about the new Quidditch pitch…" Harry started.
"Ah, yes, the old pitch," Mundungus said.
"Well, we had a practice game there, and I followed the snitch into a crack, and I found a set of stands with purple and opal coloring, and there was a painting of a wolf," Harry said. "Terces used those stands, didn't they?"
"Yes, those must be Terces secret stands. I've heard that there was a set of stands made especially for Terces to view the games, and it only makes sense that they would be at that pitch. Let me tell you some things about the old pitch, before I go off in some random direction.
"That pitch was the original pitch. It's been around for about a thousand years, it's so old. It was the very first pitch built for Hogwarts. Terces, the fundamental group of them, wanted to be able to watch the games with their house. So, they used magic to build stands so that they could watch the games in secret. If you are in the Terces stands, you can see through the canyon walls and see the game, but people on the pitch cannot see inside the walls to Terces stands.
"Once the first Terces sodalis, that's member, had graduated Hogwarts, Terces could not function properly. The Terces sodalises knew that it would happen. Terces discovered the power as four, they aimed at eternal Evil as four, and they did everything as four. They could not go on with only three sodalises. They had never intended to reach the peak of their Evil success in their first group; they had spent much time planning Terces rebirth. So, a month before graduation, the four of them had to find some way to keep the school from going to that pitch, in fear that someone might discover it.
"Those stands are heavily charmed. You can only find them when there is a complete Terces circle at Hogwarts, which is why Harry found them. If there is anyone from Terces in there, people who aren't Terces members cannot get in. When there is not a complete circle, you cannot find them. I'm not exactly sure what happens so that you can't find them. Maybe the crack seals, or maybe the stands vanish temporarily.
"Anyway, Terces had to find a way to keep the school from returning to that pitch. The inter-house Cup game hadn't been played yet, and someone could find the stands.
"Now, generally, one would think that someone from Terces would just have to be in their stands, and then no one else could get in. But the night of the Cup, it used to be played at night, there was a full moon. The shapes of the moon can cause strange things to happen for certain charms. On this particular moon, people would be able to see through the canyon walls and into Terces stands. It wouldn't matter if anyone from Terces was there or not. People would still investigate. Terces did not want any chance of being discovered.
"So Terces took action. They used the same magic to ruin that field that the reborn circle used to ruin the newer field. The old pitch was repaired, but the new one was much closer, and more convenient to use. To get to the pitch on Mount Maldade, teachers must use spells to transport the students. It would be much simpler to apparate, but you cannot apparate on Hogwarts grounds," Mundungus finished his speech.
"So, why did Terces ruin the pitch this time?" Ray asked.
"Because they cannot sit together on the new pitch, and it is Hogwarts tradition to watch a match while sitting with members of your house. Terces may be Evil, but they are not to break tradition," Fletcher explained.
"Okay, so are you saying that they do all this Evil stuff, like trying to rule the school, but they still do it all traditionally?" Kylie asked as if she was trying to figure something out.
"Yes," Mundungus said.
"So, they most likely will not use any strange routes to do this Evil stuff? Everything they do, we'll have seen the technique before?" Kylie asked. Harry began wondering where she was going with this.
"Correct," Mundungus said.
"So, all we really have to do is think of all of the traditions that happen around here, and then look for Evil stuff that happens in the same ways?" Kylie asked.
"That's pretty much it," Mundungus said.
"It seems really easy, just looking for ways that things are different, so… what's the catch?" Kylie asked.
Mundungus smiled. "Terces is not a group to come into something with a huge event. The initial sodalises would come into something silently. It was strange enough, what happened at the masquerade. Apparently, the new Terces sodalises like to make a statement. But, they still keep to their traditions. That's one catch: Terces keeps to their own traditions as well. They don't exactly differ from ours, but there are many more," he explained.
"I knew it couldn't be that simple," Kylie said. Harry was slightly surprised to see she was smiling. It wasn't good news, but maybe she liked the fact that she could tell when there was a hidden catch that people sometimes just 'accidentally' leave out.
"Who else has questions? Is there anything else strange, you'd like to know about?" Mundungus asked.
Harry put his hands in the pockets of his robes. He felt a piece of paper and pulled it out.
"What's that?" Ellie asked.
"I completely forgot that I'd gotten this…" Harry said.
Mundungus asked to see the letter, and Harry handed it to him. Mundungus looked at the violet seal and sighed. That was the first time Mundungus Fletcher actually looked scared. He handed the letter back to Harry.
"I suppose you should read it while we're all here. Oh, and all of you, please bring all of your letters from P whoever Rebirth," Mundungus said.
Harry slid his finger under the seal and pulled the parchment out. He read it out loud. It said:
Harry,
Nos teneo. Insiders told nos. Nunc, totus vestrum ero evestigatus. Subsisto ex nostrum via, quod nemo gets vulnero. Take is ut a admonitio. Three offendo, quod you're sicco. Is est offendo unus.
Sincerely,
P.1 Rebirth
"Actually, I don't know what it means, or if I even pronounced any of it right," Harry said after his struggle to read it.
"It's Latin, I wouldn't expect you to know it. Give it to me; I'll translate it for all of you. But I must say, It means nothing good," Mundungus said, and took the letter from Harry's outstretched hand.
He cleared his throat and read:
"We know. Insiders told us. Soon, all of you will be discovered. Stay out of our way, and no one gets hurt. Take this as a warning. Three strikes, and you're out.
This is strike one."
"Oh, no…" Ellie said.
Ray had his head in his hands.
Kylie looked crestfallen.
Harry was in a state of amazement.
"Listen to me, all of you. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Terces sodalises will not be able to tell if we do anything unless it's very obvious and visible. I must say that I, being an Unspeakable, never do anything not in secret. Nothing in our whole endeavor will be obvious. If everything goes unbelievable smooth, the school won't even know that our group was fighting against Terces," Mundungus said.
"Why was it written in Latin?" Ray asked.
"I think I know," said Kylie. She went on. "Latin must be a language that Terces uses a lot. They must figure that we probably have a fully-fledged wizard working with us, because that is probably the only way to translate it, and then we'll lay off. And they figure that if we're working just by ourselves, we won't be able to translate it, then we'll do something obvious, get strikes two and three, and then they'll get rid of us. So they probably think that they'll win either way. But they don't know exactly how unobvious we can be."
"You'd be a good, what's one of those muggle people called? The ones who help people get out of trouble?" Ellie asked.
"A lawyer?" Harry volunteered.
"Yes! Kylie, you'd be a good lawyer," Ellie said. Kylie smiled.
"I must say, it is a very good idea of what probably is going on," Mundungus said, smiling.
"Does Terces use Latin a lot?" Ray asked.
"It is one of their three major languages. Latin is one, then English obviously, and the other is Norwegian. One Hogwarts headmaster was Norwegian. I'll look up some information on her, and I'll tell you next time we meet," Mundungus said.
Ray was looking kind of out of it.
"I think that this would be a good time to end our meeting. It is a Friday, but it's still getting late. Is everyone not in a state of panic, and are we all calmed down a bit?" Mundungus asked. Harry nodded, Ray nodded while stifling a yawn, Ellie said: "Yeah, I think", and Kylie shrugged.
"Alright then. I'll see you all next week. Don't forget your letters," Mundungus said. Kylie saluted.
Harry, Kylie, Ellie, and Ray left through a portal and arrived at the entrance hall.
Harry said goodbye to his friends and left for his dorm. He was just a few paces from the entrance hall when someone, he couldn't tell who, let out a blood-curdling scream.
Curtains Close!
Author's Note: I'm evil, I know. I keep ending at cliffhangers. I'm sorry, but I just love keeping you all hanging off cliffs. Well, not literally, but I think you all catch my drift.
Words of Wisdom: "Got to turn on a dime, now…. Make it shine like the gift was intended to be. It's a light that burns out when you doubt, and you can't get it back if you can't even see."
~Lindsey Pagano
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~Starry