Disclaimer: I own only the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling.
Authors Note: I had no idea that this would be so well-liked. And I am grateful for it. Anyway, most people voted for SLASH between SS/HP, and that's what this is going to be. However, I'm thinking of leaving this as a PG-13, and the romance-part will be almost invisible – a couple of kisses here, a hug there. Nothing too serious. If the rating changes, I'll inform you.
Authors Note2: Thanks to my wonderful beta's Lexi-formerly Katy999 and Tabitha.
-Chapter Two-
Harry smiled as Hogwarts herself came into view. The school was just as magical, just as royal as ever. He stopped just outside the tall iron gates and sighed. Time to put on the costume.
A golden light gradually surrounded him, pulsating several times before it disappeared as slowly as it had come. Where once a young, black-haired man had been, stood an old man with silvery hair and beard, half-moon spectacles, overly coloured robes and twinkling blue eyes.
Harry sighed and started towards the front doors. Since the Headmaster was a real live person, he could feel some of the power Albus controlled, and he could also feel the connection the Headmaster had with the school. The stone itself was talking to him, whispering of all the things it had seen or was seeing. It would take some time to get used to it.
"Come now, Harry," Salazar appeared beside him. "It will all be over soon, you'll see."
"What a marvelous job you did of Shifting into Albus," Helga congratulated him. "I really cannot see any difference between the two of you."
Suddenly Rowena appeared. "What do you think you are doing?!" she hissed. "We're supposed to be invisible. Invisible! As in: no one can see us!" She grabbed the Slytherin Founder by the ear and the Hufflepuff Founder by her dress, and disappeared once again. The replica of Albus Dumbledore rolled his eyes and started to walk towards the school again.
Just as he was about to open them, the doors opened of their own accord and let him in. Severus Snape stood in the Entrance Hall, glaring Shrieking Death at him. Well, some things never changed.
"About time you showed up," the Potion Master growled. "Minerva and I have had our hands full trying to keep the other teachers from asking too many questions. Come along, I'll explain the rules of Hogwarts, the Headmaster's job and how to change passwords to you on the way to Albus' office. Minerva's waiting for us there, and she'll explain to you anything I might have missed."
Harry hurried after the Slytherin Head of House. Snape hadn't changed one bit since the last time the Boy Who Lived had seen him – not counting the hurried meeting two days ago. The man looked the same as he had during the war against Voldemort nearly seven years ago.
At a certain point in life all wizards and witches would stop aging for a while. The time where they did not age varied from person to person, but would last up to twenty years. It was mostly during this time that the oldest pureblooded families' heirs searched for their wife or husband. If they found someone the aging process would speed up again; but if not or if they were already married, then they would just carry on with life and wait out their time.
Suddenly Harry realised that Snape was talking and hurried to catch up with the other man's long strides. "Sorry, Severus, but could you repeat that?"
Snape growled once again. "I said I trust that you know your way around the castle by now. Minerva has even managed to get hold of that dratted Marauders Map of yours from Filch's office, so you will have additional help. Did you get it this time, Potter?"
"If you don't want me here then I'll go." Harry turned but a strong hand grabbed his arm and turned him towards the black-eyed man. "Will you make up your mind?"
"… Please… stay, Po-Albus." The words looked like it had hurt getting them out.
"That wasn't too hard, now was it?" Harry said joyfully, easily adapting Dumbledore's usually extremely annoying cheerfulness. "What did you say about the passwords?"
"All you have to do to change a password, is tap the guardian with your wand and say Changement. When you're done with that, just tap the guardian once again and say Garder. Think you could remember that?"
"Of course I could; really, Severus, there is no need to worry so much about me." The Shape-Shifter smirked – which looked very weird, as it was Dumbledore's face – when the Potion Master looked ready to kill him for that comment.
"Ah, Albus!" Both of them looked towards the voice, and groaned. Trelawney was walking down the corridor towards them, looking like she had just won the Quidditch World Cup.
Snape tried to slink away into the shadows and escape, but Harry quickly grabbed his arm and held him firmly. "Don't you dare leave me alone with her," he mumbled to the pissed-off Slytherin. Then he turned towards the Divination Professor and smiled. "Why, my dear Sybil, how nice to see you. Is anything wrong?"
"Oh, Headmaster, I have just had a vision!" the bug-like woman cried, putting a hand over her eyes and shaking her head wildly.
"Oh my, that really is something. Care to tell me about it?" Snape's eyes widened in horror and he wildly gestured with his hands to cut this off and get out of there. "I am sure Severus will be very interested in hearing about it as well."
The Potion Master was reaching for his wand ready to kill Harry, when Trelawney turned and buried her face in Snape's robes, completely ignoring the deadly glare the taller man sent her. Harry just grinned. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. He had already had the chance to insult and embarrass Snape thrice that morning.
Snape was flexing his fingers, just itching to reach for his wand, but as Trelawney had both his arms pinned to his side – and she was stronger than she looked – then there was nothing he could do to blast that grinning idiot into the next millennium. Potter just winked to him when he glared. He was beginning to suspect that they wouldn't have had half as much trouble if they had just gone publicly with the whole situation.
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Dumbledore's office hadn't changed at all since the last time Harry had been there. It was still filled with weird Dark Arts detectors, books, candies, Fawkes, the Headmaster's desk, papers and a huge bowl of Lemon Drops on top of the desk. The phoenix flew over to him when he entered, and settled onto his shoulder.
"Hey, Fawkes." Harry lightly petted the magnificent bird. "Mind if I settle down here until we find the real Albus?" The phoenix looked at him, then sang a short, happy tune and went back to preening itself. "I'll take that as permission to stay, though you will have to help me get around this office. I have no idea what's where."
Harry started to explore the office to get an idea of where he could find everything, but with Dumbledore, you never knew, as he was not exactly the most normal person alive today. That fact was proven when Harry found a desk drawer full of Lemon Drops, and another heavily warded drawer full of socks. The Shape-Shifter shook his head and continued.
By the time he was finished, Harry knew that the Headmaster kept all the student files on the left, Order files on the right, Ministry business in the middle and unimportant things – socks, Lemon Drops, Ice Mice, Muggle fantasy books – strewn all over the place. Fawkes was once again sitting on its perch, watching Harry with black eyes looking highly amused.
"Oh shut up." Harry snapped to the phoenix. "You try to figure out Albus' un-logical logic."
The phoenix clearly gave him a look that said: I know something you don't know!
"Oh yeah?! Well I know something you don't know too!" Harry whipped his wand out and pointed it at the bird. "Phoenix breasts taste wonderfully."
Fawkes looked horrified at the wand, then at him and at the wand again. The look the bird sent him this time clearly said that it thought he was mad as a hatter.
"What a wonderful office!" Godric had appeared and was busy examining one of the teacups on the table by the fireplace. It tried to bite him. "My, what they come up with these days."
"Gryffindor! Turn invisible before Rowena shows up and gives us one of her lectures," Salazar hissed and appeared.
"Why would she give you a lecture?"
"Because I let you turn visible." Slytherin looked around. "Not bad."
"That's what I said. Oh, look! They still have the Sorting Hat. Looks a bit worse for wear, but it's still there! Oi! There's my sword!"
Slytherin snorted and turned to the phoenix. "Still with us, I see." Fawkes didn't even look up from preening his feathers. "Why does every creature except snakes ignore me?"
"You really want us to answer that?" Harry asked and sat down behind Dumbledore's desk. He started to go through the desk to see if he could find something that could tell him what Headmasters did in their free time. Minerva still hadn't showed up, and after leaving Snape alone to handle Trelawney there was no one to tell him what to do.
"Harry, there's-" Rowena floated into the room, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the two visible ghosts. "What did I tell you two? Oh, never mind." She turned to him again. "There's a short, fat man downstairs arguing with Minerva and Severus. He wants to come up here and talk with the Headmaster and doesn't look like he will be taking 'no' for an answer."
"Do you know the chap's name?" Harry looked curiously at the woman.
"It was some kind of cake." Helga appeared. "Muffin?" she suggested.
"Tart?"
"Pie?"
"Strawberry cake?" they turned to Salazar. "What? It's my favourite!"
"I think you meant Fudge?" Rowena nodded. "He's the nincompoop that holds the Minister of Magic position."
"I think I remember you telling us about him," Godric looked thoughtful. "Wasn't he the one who called you a deranged maniac?"
"No, that was Skeeter, though Fudge agreed wholeheartedly with her." Harry slumped in the chair.
"Watch it, Harry," Rowena stuck her head in through the door. "They are on their way up. Three Aurors are accompanying Fudge, and Minerva and Severus are trying to keep them from reaching this door."
"Alright, I'll deal with them, you four make yourselves invisible." The Boy Who Lived straightened up, summoned a Muggle novel from one of the shelves and pretended to read. Not a second later the Minister entered, followed by his Aurors and the two Professors.
"Really, Minister, you can't just walk in without-" McGonagall cut off when she saw a complete double of Albus sitting at the desk.
Harry looked up and smiled slightly. "Cornelius, what a pleasant surprise! Do come in and sit down. Sherbet Lemon?"
"No, thank you, Albus, though you might not think this will be a pleasant surprise when I tell you the reason for my visit." The balding man sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk. The Aurors surrounded him, and the Potion Master and the Transfiguration Professor positioned themselves on each side of the desk.
"Well then, what seems to be bothering you?"
"Oh for heavens… fine, Albus, if you want to play it that way I'll follow your rules." Fudge looked really annoyed. "What I am talking about is the You-Know-What in Gringotts."
"Which vault?" Harry asked. His curiosity was piqued.
"Huh?"
"My dear Cornelius, there are lots of You-Know-What's in Gringotts. You don't expect me to know every single one of them, do you? I need the number of the vault to know which You-Know-What you are talking about." Out of the corner of his eye Harry could see Snape's eyebrow rising unnoticeably. So, the Potion Master didn't know about this either. McGonagall looked just as befuddled. Interesting.
The Minister looked slightly confused for a second, and then he put himself together. "I'm talking about the You-Know-What in vault 713."
"Oh, that You-Know-What! Why didn't you say so before?"
"Albus, you get more and more impossible every time we talk." Fudge shook his head in exasperation. "Well, what do you suppose we should do with it?"
"What did you have in mind?"
"My opinion is that we should melt it down and make Silver Sickles out of it. A thing like that cannot be allowed to, for lack of a better word, live."
Fawkes, who had landed on the desk during the conversation, shook his head wildly. "Really, Cornelius, why would you ever destroy something like that? Why not have it brought here to Hogwarts?"
"To Hogwarts?! Are you mad?! The thing's magical powers could weaken the ancient wards of the castle, you should know that; and the children will definitely write home about it and soon the whole world will know!"
"Cornelius, need I remind you that besides Gringotts, the only other safe place is Hogwarts?" Snape and McGonagall looked worried and curious at the same time. Harry himself thought he was doing quite a good job of acting as Dumbledore. So far, nothing life threatening had happened, though how long that was going to last was up to debate.
"Besides," Harry continued, "if you turn it into Sickles, Galleons and Knuts, it's going to be spread all around the world, and imagine all the damage it could do like that."
Fudge looked horror stricken. "You have convinced me, Albus. I'll bring it to Hogwarts within the week." The Minister got out of his chair and saw himself out, still looking terrified.
"He's gone!" Rowena floated through the floor.
At the female ghost's words the rest of the room's occupants relaxed. Harry let the mist take over him and changed back into his real form. Rubbing his eyes, he slumped in the chair. McGonagall sat down in the chair previously occupied by the Minister and Snape leaned on the windowsill. Godric, Salazar and Helga sat down in mid air.
"So, anyone know what Fudge was talking about?" Salazar asked.
"Unfortunately, no," Snape replied. "Albus has this weird urge to hide everything from the rest of us until the last minute."
"Then we need to figure out what all this fuss is about." Helga looked determined. "Now, what could we gather about this thing from the conversation with the Minister?"
Godric looked strangely at her. "I think you've spent too much time with Slytherin, you're starting to think like him."
"Shush, you," Rowena glared and Salazar smirked. "I agree with Helga though. So, what do we know so far?"
"The Minister doesn't like this thing." Minerva said. "He wants to melt it."
"Obviously it's magical and of great value, or else it wouldn't be kept in a high security vault." Snape looked thoughtful.
Fawkes kept pushing a month-old article cut out from the Daily Prophet, towards Harry. The green-eyed man picked it up and started to read while the others in the room tried to figure out what they had agreed to bring into the school.
"Um, guys," they stopped talking and looked at him, "I think I just found out what this is all about."
"Well, keep talking, Potter, we don't have all day here," Snape snapped.
"Listen to this article:
'Major Treasure Found in France!
A couple of days ago Gringotts employee Bill Weasley found a most peculiar sword. This discovery was made in Paris, France, in the catacombs running for miles under the city. After numerous charms and enchantments, it was declared that the sword belonged to none other than Jeanne D'Arc herself.
Unfortunately the Gringotts guards didn't let anyone enter the tomb where the sword was discovered and Mr. Weasley refused to be interviewed, but we in the Daily Prophet managed to sniff out the fact that the sword will be brought to England for further examinations.'
Well, at least we know what this is all about." Harry finished looking at the rest of them.
"I wonder why I didn't see that in the Prophet."
"It's a pretty little article, Minerva, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was in a corner along with the advertisements." Snape, who had snatched the article out of Harry's hands, read it several times over before giving up. "So, what are we going to do? Where do we keep it? And how the hell are we going to keep this quiet from the public?"
"That is a good question. How about we put the sword in the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry suggested after a while. "No one besides me could get down there, and we could easily get some creature to take care of it and put loads of ancient enchantments on it."
"And where would you get a creature that wouldn't mind guarding a sword? Not to mention that it has to be dangerous enough to scare people off, and calm enough to let us get down there on monthly checks – though I wouldn't mind skipping the check-ups."
"Easy, Severus, we just ask Hagrid for it."
"Hagrid?! Hagrid couldn't keep a secret even to save his own hide! Have you gone mad?!"
"Calm down, Minerva, I trust Hagrid with my life. And remember, even if someone finds out from our dearest groundskeeper about the sword, then they first have to get into the Chamber, and then get past whatever creature and enchantments we put down there."
McGonagall blinked a few times, her eyes getting watery.
"What now?" Snape asked.
"You sounded just like Albus, Harry." The head of Gryffindor House whispered. "I- I'm sorry, it's just that…" she shook her head trying to put herself back together. "Sorry."
"Nothing to apologise for," Harry said smiling. "I'm sure that we all have to get used to this situation until the Headmaster returns."
"Yeah, tell me about it." Godric mumbled. "I just discovered that a certain mutual Founder built a whole chamber without my knowing."
"There is a reason why my House always gets the sneaky ones, Gryffindor, get used to it."
"Boys!"
"Leave them be, Rowena, after a thousand years of their bickering you should be used to it," Helga replied and patted the taller woman's arm comfortingly.
"Yeah, leave us alone. We aren't going to kill each other."
"Not that we could, we're dead already."
"I give up!"
"That's the spirit!"
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Harry was on his way to visit Hagrid and ask him about a creature that could help guarding the sword. Snape was with him to make sure that he did not say or do anything that Dumbledore wouldn't have done. Minerva was left in the castle along with the ghosts of the Four Founders who still hadn't stopped arguing and insulting each other.
"How you put up with the four of them, I will never know." The Potion Master mumbled.
"Believe it or not, you get used to it, either that or you start ignoring it," Harry replied and made sure not to trip on the crazy-coloured robes that Albus seemed so fond of.
"I highly doubt that, no one could get used to-" an angry screech from the castle cut his words off, "-that!"
"To each his own Severus, ah, here we are!"
Hagrid, who was just coming from around the hut with Fang at his heels, stopped and waved merrily to them. Harry returned the gesture. "Professor Dumbledore sir! 'ow nice to see yeh again, did yeh have a good time visitin' Aberforth?"
"Oh, yes, simply marvellous! However, Hagrid, I was wondering if I could ask a favour of you?"
"Sure! Come on in," the half-giant led them into the hut. Harry sent a quick glare to Snape, warning him about making any comments. The Slytherin looked as innocent as they come, and Harry only waited for him to start whistling and a halo to appear over his head.
Hagrid was happily making tea and Fang was sitting and panting with his tongue hanging out of his mouth, waiting for his food. Harry seated himself in one of the wooden chairs at the table, while Snape positioned himself strategically and could keep an eye at the windows and the door.
Hagrid put two cups of tea on the table, offered a third to the head of Slytherin who declined, and sat down opposite Harry. "What did yeh wan' to talk to me about, 'eadmaster?"
"Well, it's quite simple, Hagrid. I need a creature that can guard a certain item that's being brought to the school."
"Oh? Any specific traits it should 'ave?"
"Yes, preferably so. First it mustn't have anything against staying in the Chamber of Secrets, and second it must be horrific enough to scare people away and kind enough to let us check this item once a month." Harry took a sip of his tea and nearly gagged. How the hell could Dumbledore drink something as strong as this?!
"Hmm," Hagrid looked deep in thought. "I think I might 'ave somethin', and if not I could pr'bably get a 'old of it. 'ow are ye getting' into the Chamber?"
"Oh, er, Harry's going to open it for us." Snape looked like he wanted to bash his head into the wall. Repeatedly.
" 'Arry's coming back?!"
"Only this once to open the Chamber," Harry quickly explained. "He's also going to bring a snake with special instructions that can open the Chamber for us while he is gone." Snape looked relieved.
"So 'e is goin' ter come back ter visit?" Hagrid asked hopefully.
"Something like that." Once again, Snape looked like he might murder him. "But Hagrid, how long do you think it might take you to get a hold of the creature?"
"Oh, um, a couple o' days at most. When's 'Arry gettin' 'ere?"
"In a couple of days." The Slytherin Head of House sent him his best death glare. It would have scared Harry when he was a student, but now he just raised an eyebrow. He and Snape really needed to have a serious talk later. Preferably without any Deputy Headmistresses or crazy ghosts intervening. Right now he had to get the Chamber ready for a beast of Hagrid's and a sword.
This promised to be one hell of a year.
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Once again I'll say that this is going to be SLASH, but it's going to keep at PG-13 unless I change my mind. The romance won't be too noticeable… yet.
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FRENCH:
Changement: change, alteration
Garder: keep, retain
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