CHAPTER 17

(A/N: I was able to type up the next chapter sooner than I thought, so here it is. Thank you again to all reviewers for our support, suggestions, and questions. -A.S.Leif)

Near the beginning of February, Harry saw something on the front page of the Daily Prophet. It was a picture of ruins and the headline read: Dark Lord Destroys Azkaban. Harry set down his fork and read the article.

On January 29th, the wizarding prison Azkaban was attacked, by a large force of Dark Wizards, led by You-Know-Who. With the dementors, who had normally acted as guards, gone, there was little the aurors could do to defend the prison against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his followers.

They attacked around eleven pm and left only one person alive amoung the many dead and dementors' victims to tell the story of the prison's decimation. "I've never seen anything like it," Tom Funder, an Azkaban guard and the lone survivor, said. "They got out their wands and started hurling fireballs at the walls. They didn't rescue the prisoners, just left 'em in there as the walls came down, I don't really know why they left me alive, but I don't know how to take it either."

The Ministers were unavailable for comment, but there have been rumors that another prison is being secretly built in an unknown location. For more details on the prisoners who were in Azkaban at the time of the attack, and those who died in the service of defending Azkaban, see page 5.

Harry rolled up the newspaper and continued to think about the news while he finished eating.

The attack was what everyone was talking about for several days. The main question was: if Azkaban could be destroyed, could Hogwarts?

Harry asked about it during his elemental lesson. "It is not likely." Splikvin told him, "As long as there is at least one person who fully believes in Hogwarts, it will not fall like Azkaban." Harry, now reassured, didn't ask about it again.

He'd talked with each of the elements in his lessons, but he was now trying to reduce the amount of time it took to hear them. He couldn't progress much further until that was accomplished.

Harry noticed a few nights later that it was a full moon. He nudged Ron, who was doing his muggle studies homework, and tilted his head towards the window. Ron grinned and nudged Hermione, who looked out the window, smiled, and tapped Ginny on the shoulder. The youngest Weasley smiled; it was time for a visit with Moony again. They waited until eleven thirty, checked the Marauders' Map, and snuck out under Harry's invisibility cloak as their first forms. Once they reached the Whomping Willow, Harry slithered over to the knot and pressed it as a cobra. Ron turned into his thestral form once they were in the tunnel, and Harry went from cobra to werewolf, Ginny and Hermione remained birds.

When they entered the shack, they got another surprise. Padfoot was there too. "Whoa, who're all these people Moony?" he asked.

"Tallon, Fenris, Cloven, and Dima." Moony answered.

"Harry—and who?" The four Gryffindors laughed.

"I'm Dima, or Ginny."

"Ron, slash Fenris."

"Hermione, called cloven."

"And I don't need to say anything." Harry finished.

"Since when are you a werewolf Tallon?" Padfoot asked.

"Oh, I forgot to show you my other forms during Christmas break." So Harry went from werewolf to cobra, to phoenix, and back to werewolf, then explained how Godric had taught him the easier way. Ron then showed his other two forms, Hermione showed her unicorn shape, and Ginny just told him that her other form was a dolphin.

"Man that makes me wonder why we took two years to become Animagi." Padfoot said; that only made them laugh.

February always brought one thing: Valentines Day. The Hogsmede trip was scheduled for that day, and most everyone was excited about it. Harry'd asked Alex if she would go with him, and she'd agreed. Naturally, Ron and Hermione were also going together, receaving the occasional tease or two from their Gryffindor friends. The students lined up and passed by Filch, who checked the names off.

Harry hoped that this Valentines Day would be better than the one with Cho last year. It was. They didn't go to Madam Puddifoot's, but they went to the Three Broomsticks instead. They talked the majority of the time, enjoying each other's company. Harry conjured up a rose under the table and gave it to her as a present. She smiled and took it with a thank you.

Soon after they were joined by a brown-haired man in his mid-thirties. It took Harry a minute to recognize Sirius. Alex looked at Harry, who then quietly introduced them. "Alex, this is my friend Sir—er, Mr. Cklab; Cklab, this is Alex Zolar."

Sirius 'Cklab' shook her hand gently. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

She smiled. "Same to you Sir." Then she added quietly, "Again."

Sirius looked at Harry. "I won't bother you too much, just wanted to say hi really." They talked for a few minutes, until Sirius got up to leave. "I'll see you again Harry." He grinned. "Oh, and be on the look out for Moony and Sel, they went together." Harry was thinking about what'd he'd said as Padfoot left.

"Professor Lupin and Splikvin," Alex said with amusement. "Interesting."

Harry choked on air. "How do you guess that?"

She smiled. "Honestly Harry. At Christmas Lupin was there, and Mr. 'Cklab' called him Moony, so did you. And it's not hard to guess that Lupin likes Splikvin, especially after the dance. And isn't her first name Selena?"

Harry grinned, "I'd forgotten about that."

They finished their drinks and left the pub to wander through the town. The two of them ran into a few other couples from Gryffindor, but most of the students were still indoors. A gentle snow began to fall, but it wasn't bothersome, they just kept walking and talking. The time to return to Hogwarts came all too soon, and they went back to Gryffindor Tower after Alex kissed him on the cheek.

Unable to sleep that night, Harry teleported to his exercise room in The Hideaway and stayed there and worked until he was almost asleep standing up, then returned to Hogwarts.

February ended with studies on basilisks, household charms, dreamless sleep potions, enlargening things, and griffins. March came and went, after they'd learned invisibility and camouflage charms, dementors, keying transfigurations to certain actions, antidotes to confusion potions, and reviewed in Care of Magical Creatures. Harry was now almost two-thirds done with his customized spell and had reduced the time it took him to contact the elements to ten minutes.

The unusual calm that had settled on Hogwarts, however, did not last much longer. On the fourteen of April, the Ministry was attacked. Lessons were cancelled as half of the teachers went with the messenger at breakfast. Harry paced restlessly in the common room, he wanted to do something to help. He didn't want Remus to get hurt, and Harry bet that Sirius was there in disguise too. The teachers who had remained were McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick, the two Divination instructors, Binns, Vector, and the astrology & muggle studies professors; they patrolled the hallways, making sure the students were safe and not wandering out of their house dormitories.

Harry occasionally received pricklings from his scar, but they were too faint for him to understand—one of the drawbacks of being an Occlumens. His friends weren't the only ones watching him, Godric watched Harry carefully for a while, then left to go find the other founders.

"Harry, will you just relax?" Hermione asked tiredly.

Harry stopped pacing and glared. "How am I supposed to relax when Remus and probably Padfoot are out there, and I can't do anything!" he snapped; a rush of water fell over him instantly. He turned furiously around to find Alex as the source, her face stern.

"Don't you even think of snapping at me Harry," she said firmly, "You've no right to talk to one of your friends like that. You're not the only one with a family member out there. What about Ron and Ginny? Their father and their brother work at the Ministry, and one of them is a Minister, for Merlin's sake; did you even think about that?"

Harry's annoyance and agitation melted away like butter in an oven, he slouched as they were replaced by shame; he looked at the ground. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"It's not me or the floor you should be apologizing to." Alex replied calmly.

Harry looked back at Hermione. "Sorry Hermione, I shouldn't have lost my temper."

"It's alright, I know you're worried. But we all are, so don't do it again." She told him.

He nodded and looked at Ron, who was pale and staring out the window. "You alright mate?" Harry asked.

He jolted out of his daze. "Yeah—yeah, I'm fine; just…thinking."

"They'll be alright." Harry said. "They'll all be alright."

No one left their common rooms or dormitories except for lunch. They were silent even while eating, the other teachers still hadn't returned. A gloomy, tense feeling was spread throughout the castle and even Peeves wasn't his usual, annoying self.

A little while after lunch, Harry got an idea. He sat silently, listening for the air element; in ten minutes he heard it. "Hello Tallon,"

"Hello," Harry replied mentally, a trick he'd learned last month. "I was wondering if you could tell me something."

"What would that be?"

"There's a fight gong on right now between many evil wizards and good wizards at a building called the Ministry of Magic, in London. I'm not allowed out to help, so I was wondering if you could tell me how it's going."

"One moment nephew; I shall check." The element faded, but Harry remained in his trance-like calm. After a few long minutes, the element returned. "The battle fares well for the good. Their adversaries were taken by surprise by four creatures: a lion-eagle that attacks with beak and talon; a flaming bird which attacks by magic; a large serpent which kills with its eyes, teeth, and tail; and a golden, one-horned horse which protects the others. The red-eyed wizard, befouler of all that lives, has fled now, the eye-slaying serpent spoke to him moments ago."

"Thank you so much," Harry said.

"I am glad to be of assistance, farewell for now." The element left, leaving a relieved Harry.

It's the founders, he realized, they went out of their portraits and took animagus form to help. But what did Salazar say to Voldemort? It can't have been good if Voldemort fled after, or maybe it was a warning? With these half-comforting, half-unsettling thoughts, Harry dozed off in his chair.

He'd dreamed dreams he couldn't remember when someone shook him gently awake. "Harry... Harry. They've come back... Lupin's back, and so is Cklab." Harry opened his eyes to see Alex kneeling beside him. "About time," she joked, "I've been trying to wake you since after dinner."
Harry's eyes widened, "Have I been asleep that long?"

She nodded. "C'mon, Lupin and Cklab are in the Great Hall; Ron, Ginny and Hermione are already down there—let's go." Harry got out of his chair and rushed down to the hall with Alex. Not only was the Hogwarts staff there, but most of the Order, and more than a few ministry workers. Madame Pomfrey was everywhere, making sure people ate, checking the uninjured and helping the injured. Harry scanned the hall and saw Remus and the disguised Sirius talking as they ate at the Gryffindor table. He ran over and hugged them both from behind.

Sirius choked and twisted to see who it was. "Hiya Harry," he said with a smile, Remus laughed. After finally releasing them, Harry sat between them and pestered the two with questions. Were they alright? Was everyone else he knew okay? How long had they been fighting at the Ministry? "Easy Harry, easy!" Remus said with a laugh. "Give us a second to answer one question at least!" Harry smiled sheepishly and allowed them to answer. "First; yes, we are okay. Second; Tonks got hit with a few curses, but it's nothing she can't handle. Professor Snape got a sprained ankle, and Selena a broken one, but neither has told Poppy about it and are still walking. She's going to give it to them later, I guarantee it." Sirius and Harry chuckled. "Percy was knocked out, but he's going to be alright. Dung got hit with a nasty combination of jinxes, they're undoing them now."

"Everyone got hit with a few things, but those four dealt out massive damage to the Death Eaters." Harry looked where Sirius pointed: the founders were in a corner, still in animagus form, talking quietly with one another. He'd talk to them in a little bit, he decided.

"How long were you there for?" Harry asked.

Sirius scratched his chin thoughtfully, "Since ten o'clock this morning maybe? What do you think, Moony?"

Remus shrugged. "More or less. We got here roughly half an hour ago." Harry asked some more questions, then left them so they could finish eating and went over to where the disguised founders were.

Rowena was a gold and blue phoenix twice the size of Hedwig, and had a black beak and talons, along with grey eyes. Helga was a golden, but adult, unicorn with a pearly white mane and tail, and a horn that was a foot and a half long, along with gentle, violet eyes. Godric was a red and copper griffin with a white beak, black talons and sparking, gold eyes. Salazar was a black and dark green basilisk that was larger than the one Harry had slain in the Chamber of Secrets, he was probably twice its size and his fangs and eyes, which were carefully looking at the enchanted ceiling as he coiled up on the floor, were silver. "Wow, you're big." Harry told him in Parseltongue, the basilisk shook with hissing laughter.

"Thank you," Salazar replied.

Harry shook his head. "I should be thanking you four, for doing what you did. I know that regular curses and spells still work on you, and you took the risk anyways. You four are the reason that my friends made it out okay. If you hadn't gone they—they might not have come back at all. Thanks."

Salazar, eyes closed, gently nudged Harry with his blunt nose, almost knocking the young wizard over. "We wanted to help Harry; but don't forget about it." The last part was said in a mock-serious hiss.

Harry chuckled, "How like a Slytherin." He joked.

"Well I am the founder of SSSlytherin houssse."

Harry smiled and turned to the other three. "Did you understand what I said?" he asked, they shook their heads so Harry quietly repeated the thank you he'd given Salazar. When he was done, Helga rubbed him with her nose, Rowena sang a few notes and Godric patted him with a wing. "They sssay don't worry about it, and you're welcome." Salazar said in a hiss, and returned to staring at the ceiling.

Harry smiled at them and voiced the question that had popped into his head. "Why are you all twice the size of normal creatures?" They conversed with each other, then Salazar answered for them all. "It isss becaussse we are Greater Animagi. We are able to ussse wandlesss magic in thesse ssshapesss, and sssspeak telepathically with each other if we wisssh, assswell with those of our kind—normal phonixesss, griffinsss, unicornsss and basssilisssksss."

"Potter, what are you doing over there?" Snape demanded from a little ways away.

Harry noticed that Snape was limping somewhat. "You should get that fixed Sir."

"Poppy is busy enough right now; and I asked you a—" he froze as Helga walked over to him. He stood stone-still as she bowed her head. A pearly mist came out of her horn and wrapped around his ankle. When it vanished, she nudged him with her muzzle and trotted back over to the others. In his surprise, Snape forgot his question and instead nodded at Helga and walked away on his newly healed ankle.

"I think you spooked him," Harry joked quietly. Helga neighed a response and Salazar translated.

"Sshe sassyss: are you ssssure it wasssn't SSSalazar?"

Harry couldn't keep in a laugh. "No offense, but you are more likely to spook someone than Helga because of your shape."

The basilisk sniffed. "I ssshall sssspook them with my nobility." Harry laughed again, as did the other founders. Harry heard footsteps behind him and Rowena lifted her wings: the founders disappeared in a burst of blue-copper flame.

"Did you know those four creatures Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry shook his head. " No Sir, I was just thanking them." He wouldn't be able to explain about the founders' ability to leave their portraits without revealing his Hideaway.

"What did they say?"

This time Harry told the truth. "They said you're welcome, and not to worry about it—but the basilisk said not to forget it."

Dumbledore smiled slightly, "I don't think any of us will."

Coming Up:

Hufflepuff vs. Gryffindor

Sanctus

Add Number Two to the List

(A/N: This chapter will be long)

Then:

The Founders' Spells

Elemental: Step 2