A/N: I know... it's been a long time since the last update...

Chapter 20 – Hermione

Hermione, Draco, Ron, and Neville slipped behind the tapestry after they saw Harry walk down the steps, his eyes still glittering with tears.

"I already saw you," he said, "and Dumbledore wants to see you, Hermione."

"Why?"

"I didn't ask."

Hermione jumped onto the staircase just as the gargoyle moved back and the stairs spiraled back up. She opened the door and saw Dumbledore with a solemn look on his face.

"Please sit down, Miss Granger."

She complied, looking slightly confused.

Dumbledore sighed, "There is no easy way to tell you this…Voldemort attacked your house this morning and attempted to kill your parents."

"Attempted?" her eyes started to water.

"Several Aurors and I arrived to find several Death Eaters cornering them."

"Are they okay?" Hermione asked, folding her shaking hands in her lap.

"Yes, they are fine, though quite shaken. The house was on fire when we arrived. They are staying at Grimauld Place."

Hermione nodded and left the room.

That night, they headed back to the library to search for more information on the swords.

Again, there seemed to be nothing useful up until Melinda and Neville ran out of the restricted section, excited.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"We found something!" Neville exclaimed.

"Shhh,"

Hermione, Harry, Draco, Ginny, Ron, and Luna followed them over to a shelf in the restricted section. Behind a several old books on a high, dusty shelf, there were four very small books, completely blank, one of each house color, red, green, blue, and yellow.

"Umm… Neville?" Harry frowned, "these don't seem very helpful."

"No, look!"

He passed his sword over the yellow book. The blade seemed to glow, and the light pouring off of it revealed the words 'Hogwarts, A History, Version 1, Part 4.'

Hermione looked very interested at this point.

Harry grabbed the Red one. Passing his sword over it revealed, 'Hogwarts, A History, Version 1, Part 1.'

For the next six hours they read the books over. Part One went into detail about the wards around the castle. Part Two described all of the halls and rooms in the castle, including two secret passages not on the Marauders Map. One went from the Astronomy Tower to the dungeons, and the second lead from the kitchens to Hogsmead, where the elves got things for cleaning the castle. The third book described the construction of the castle, and, finally, the went into depth about the founders. Godric's sword had indeed been, as Dumbledore said, smeared with Salizaar Slytherin's blood, but he was not killed by Godric…

"After Slytherin left the castle, Godric pursued him to try to persuade him to return. Salizaar refused and attacked Godric. He terminally wounded him, with a stab through his left lung, but did not kill him. Instead he left him at the bottom of a deep gorge, with no food, bleeding. Though Slytherin had taken his wand and sword, Godric, who had mastered wandless magic, unbeknownst to Slytherin, cast a curse on him. One that ensured that until Salizaar was dead, and not just dead, but had felt pain equal to what he had to go though, at the bottom of the gorge, slowly dying, Godric's soul would not be at rest. When Godric did not return, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw searched for him. They found his body and caught up with Sytherin, and beheaded him with Godric's sword, which they had found with Slytherin's belongings outside of his tent. They then threw all four swords down into the gorge where they had removed Godric's body. They left Slytherin for the wolves, and buried Godric in a tomb underneath the Great Hall, where they would too be buried when the died."

"But," Hermione started, "beheadings don't hurt too bad, actually. Certainly not as bad as bleeding to dead at the bottom of a gorge with no food or water."

"So Godric's soul is still not at rest then," Harry muttered.

A voice quietly called out, "Quite right."