Chapter 5 – Protectors

It had been several days since Harry, Adora and Albus had taken the war to Voldemort, and Albus found himself sitting behind his large desk in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts pondering everything that had occurred. He was greatly heartened by the return of his grandson, well he thought, he's not actually my grandson but a smile graced his features as he thought of the young man he loved as one of his own.

As he continued to ponder recent events the smile he wore faded at the thought of Severus. The twinkle that normally shined so brightly in the old mans brilliant blue eyes faded almost completely as he thought of the betrayal of his one time best friend.

Sensing his mood Fawkes flew from his perch to land on the desk in front of Albus. The phoenix began to sing softly, his melody quickly washing away the melancholy from the headmaster.

Smiling at his friend and companion, Albus began to stroke the large birds beautiful red plumage. "Thank you my friend. What ever are we going to do next?"

Letting out a final chirp, Fawkes stepped back and took off, flying to a position in front of a small painting cleverly hidden among the portraits of the previous headmasters that adorned the walls of the office.

Albus felt a warm feeling of approval from all around him and grinned widely as he realized what Fawkes had in mind as the phoenix hovered in front of a small picture of Hogwarts.

A burst of song escaped the phoenix throat, loud and vibrant, echoing through the office as Fawkes burst into flame. The song continued for a long minute before the flame disappeared and Fawkes flew back down to the desk in front of Albus with a large red jewel clutched in his talons.

Accepting the sphere of ruby from his friend Albus once again began stroking the bird lovingly. "Brilliant Fawkes, absolutely brilliant!"

After a minute Fawkes returned to his perch and watched as Albus removed a small phoenix medallion from within his robes and tapped it three times before speaking a message to it.


Harry groaned in pleasure at the feelings of relaxation and contentment Adora was bringing to him. Her hands worked quickly and firmly passing back and forth across his back as she continued her ministrations.

"Like that do you?" she asked with a small grin on her face.

"Mmmm." was the best Harry could do in response.

Another groan escaped Harry's lips, only this was a groan of frustration as Dobby popped into existence beside the bed where Adora was giving Harry a massage.

"I is sorry Master and Mistress but yous is having a message." the small elf said as he held out a small glass statue of a phoenix that was glowing softly.

"It's alright," Adora said taking the statue, "Thanks Dobby."

After bowing deeply, Dobby disappeared from the room with another pop.

"He's got great timing, doesn't he." Harry growled as he sat up causing Adora to let out a snort. "Fine, go ahead and laugh."

Shaking his head, Harry picked his wand up from the nightstand next to their bed and tapped the statue with its tip. The soft glow emanating from the depths of the glass figurine flared briefly before the voice of the Headmaster echoed from within.

"Harry and Adora, I hope this message finds you both well. Fawkes has just come up with a most wonderful idea and I would like to meet with you both in my office at your convenience. I trust you will have no problem getting into the castle undetected. Until then take care of yourselves and each other."

"Well, that was interesting." Adora said as the glow faded from the statue. "I wonder what he's come up with now?"

Harry just shrugged his shoulders. "I guess there's only one way to find out."

Nodding to her husband Adora stood and went to get dressed for a trip to Hogwarts.


Voldemort groaned as he regained consciousness. Rolling over from his position where he lay on the floor he used the coffee table to pull himself up into a sitting position.

Closing his eyes, he waited for the room to stop spinning. After a few minutes he removed the stoppers from several potions he had set out for himself and quickly downed them. After a few minutes he could feel some of his strength returning. Still suffering from magical exhaustion, he made his way across the room where he fell heavily onto the large bed that was there.

As he rolled onto his back, he spied a table not far away that contained a wide assortment of objects he had been turning into portkeys. As he faded back into unconsciousness, and evil grin appeared on his face at the thought of what was to come.


"Bloody Peeves and his ruddy messes…" grumbled Argus Filch as he made his way through the many halls of Hogwarts. He was crossing the entrance hall rambling on about pesky poltergeists when the front doors opened to admit two short individuals who could have easily been mistaken for Filius Flitwick.

"Who might you be?" he asked as he turned to face the pair.

"Ahh, Argus! How good to see you!" one of the dwarves squeaked excitedly.

Argus eyes narrowed as he was greeted by one of the visitors. He found it curious that the individual seemed to know who he was. His sharp eyes also noticed that the dwarf's companion seemed to be stifling their laughter.

"Do I know ya?" he growled out.

"That is entirely possible, then again possibly not, hard to say really." the dwarf said happily.

Argus was beginning to get flustered and his temper was flaring. "Enough, who are ya and what business do you have at the castle?" he ground out in annoyance.

"Now, now, Mr. Filch, no need to get angry. You know, all of this rage can't be good for your heart."

A bright red and glaring Filch was about to respond when a water balloon hit him squarely in the head, dowsing him in ice cold water.

"Peeves!" an already irate caretaker yelled at the poltergeist who was cackling gleefully as he took aim at the dwarves and let fly his ammunition.

Continuing to smile the whole while, the dwarf surreptitiously waved his hand and redirected the balloons to land on the caretaker.

"Blast you Peeves! I'll have you out of here for this!" Forgetting all about the castles guests a very angry and wet Filch ran off towards the Headmaster's office.

Laughing heartily, the pair followed along at a more sedate pace. As they approached the gargoyle that guarded the stairs to Dumbledore's office, they were surprised to see it leap aside seemingly of its own accord. Sharing a curious glance the pair shrugged their shoulders and climbed aboard the moving staircase. Reaching the top they could hear Filch ranting about Peeves.

"I say he's a menace and needs to be expelled from the castle!"

"Now Argus, I'm sure it's not that bad however as much as I would like to continue this fascinating conversation, I believe my guests have arrived."

Hearing the Headmaster recognize their presence, the pair pushed the door open and entered the office. Filch walked by giving them both a glare as he passed while still muttering about Peeves as he left the office. As they approached the desk Dumbledore waved his hand closing the door to his office.

"Harry, Adora, it's wonderful to see you both, I didn't expect you to arrive this soon." Albus said grinning widely.

Harry gripped Adora's arm. "I'm scared, why's he twinkling so much?"

Adora let out a snort and Albus smile seemed to get even bigger as he let out a chuckle of his own. "Not to worry Harry, please, have a seat. Lemon drop?"

"No thanks." Harry said as he waved his hand over Adora and himself dispelling the illusions they were wearing before taking a seat in front of the desk next to his wife.

"I must say I approve of your disguises. It's too bad Filius is not in the castle at present, I'm sure he would love to see them for himself."

Adora smiled. "Well, we'd be happy to show him anytime. So, what was it you wanted to see us about?"

Still twinkling brightly, Albus opened one of the drawers of his desk and removed a large red jewel. As he placed it on the desk in front of him he was joined by Fawkes.

"Have either of you ever wondered how it is I know most everything that occurs within Hogwarts grounds?"

Harry and Adora both looked curiously at Albus. "I guess, in passing. I never really thought about it too much."

Dumbledore nodded. "The answer actually dates back to the construction of Hogwarts herself. The founders imbued the castle with large amounts of magic as it was built. In fact, the castle and the grounds it sits on is the most magically powerful place on earth. The original intent was to increase the amount of magic in the area to make it easier for students to access therefore making it easier to learn to perform and control."

"During the construction of the castle's foundation, the founders created a structure to help power the wards which encompass the school and its grounds. The wards are so large and powerful that it would be virtually impossible and quite possibly deadly for a single wizard or witch to power them so this construct was created for that purpose. It's actually quite interesting how it works. The large crystalline structure absorbs ambient magic from the area in and around Hogwarts. It stores a large portion of that magic and uses it to power the wards and reinforce the structure of the castle itself."

"It's a fascinating and brilliant design because the more magic that's used in the area, the stronger the wards and castle become, meaning that the students learning and practicing magic actually make the wards stronger."

Harry and Adora were fascinated to hear about the history and inner workings of Hogwarts but were wondering why they were being told this. Picking up on this, the Headmaster continued.

"Of course even though the wards do not require a wizard to power them, they still needed to be controlled. It was decided during the construction that this would fall to the Headmaster of the school and those who were to be its Protectors."

"Protectors?" Harry asked. "I've never heard of that."

Dumbledore smiled. "I would not expect you to have. There hasn't actually been a protector for several centuries. A protector is one who has the same access and control over Hogwarts, her grounds and the wards as the Headmaster while not actually holding that position. You see, times were much more dangerous for Wizards and Witches in the past than they are now and it was often necessary to have several capable individuals to protect the castle and its students. I'm sure you could understand how disastrous it could be if the Headmaster were to be incapacitated during a battle and control of the wards was lost."

"However, returning to the construction of the castle, once the construct to power the wards was created and charged with magic, it became time to tie control of the wards to the Headmaster. The ritual to do this required all four of the founders as it was their magic that created the construct and the castle. During the ritual a phoenix appeared."

Fawkes trilled a beautiful piece of song at this point in the story. Smiling, the Headmaster reached over and stroked his plumage lovingly. "Yes, in fact it was this very phoenix."

Harry and Adora looked astounded as they continued to listen to the story in fascination.

"With the ritual already underway the founders were unable to stop it. Fawkes changed to flame and passed through each of the founders collecting the various traits each of them prized before merging with the construct where he added those traits as well as some of his own essence to it. The founders were surprised when they didn't have control over the school or its wards at the end of the ritual. Over the next few weeks they spent most of their time working on the problem. Wondering what changes Fawkes had made and why. Eventually they began experiencing feelings and receiving visions that were not their own. What they finally came to realize was that it was Hogwarts communicating with them."

"What!" Harry exclaimed. "Are you saying Hogwarts is alive?"

Albus chuckled. "In a manner of speaking. She is sentient, but obviously cannot move about as you or I thus the need for a Headmaster or Protectors to help guard her and carry out her will."

"Amazing." Adora said. "So that's how you know what goes on? Hogwarts tells you?"

A large smile lit up his face and his eyes twinkled brightly. "Yes and no. You see, over the years the large amount of magic used here and the numerous people passing through the hallowed halls of this wondrous institution has increased Hogwarts awareness and ability to communicate and feel. She dearly loves the students who come here. You can feel her sadness when they leave for the summer and her growing excitement as the day of their return nears. It's a most wonderful experience."

The pair wore a wondrous look at what they were hearing. "Sir, you keep saying 'she'. Is Hogwarts female?" Adora asked curiously.

Albus chuckled. "Yes, I believe she is. You see, Hogwarts thinks of herself as a mother figure to those who frequent her halls and grounds."

"This is amazing Albus, but I find myself wondering why your telling us all this." Harry said.

"I'm telling you this because Hogwarts would like to make you and Adora her Protectors."

Silence filled the room and the Headmaster couldn't help but chuckle to himself at the stunned expressions Harry and Adora wore on their faces at his announcement.

"You're kidding." Harry finally managed to stutter out after several minutes.

Albus smiled widely. "I assure you I am not. It is a great honor to be chosen and should you accept you would be bonded to Hogwarts just as I am."

"You mean we would be bonded to her like a familiar? Like you are with Fawkes?" Adora asked.

A perpetual grin seemed to be etched upon the Headmasters face. "Actually I'm not bonded to Fawkes."

"But I thought, I mean, everyone thinks," a confused Harry said trying to phrase his thoughts. There seemed to be no end to the surprises the Headmaster was dropping on him today.

"I know that is what is generally believed and in fact I have perpetuated that rumor over the years but in truth Fawkes is not bonded to me, but to Hogwarts."

Realization hit Adora at his announcement. "That makes sense, you can communicate with Fawkes through your connection to Hogwarts."

"Very good Adora, ten points to Ravenclaw!" Albus said cheerfully.

"But I've never read or heard anything about Headmaster Dippet having a phoenix."

"True. Fawkes chooses who he wants to appear bonded too. The rest of the time he remains invisible or visits the other corners of the globe, but he will always respond to Hogwarts call."

Albus watched the pair closely as they contemplated all of the new information they had just been given for several minutes before asking his question, he could feel the anticipation of the castle around him as he did.

"Will you be Protectors of Hogwarts?"

Harry and Adora quickly shared their thoughts with each other and a smile before turning back to the Headmaster. "We would be honored."

Smiling knowingly Albus enjoyed feeling the happiness emenating from the castle. As he stepped back, Fawkes grasped the red jewel from the Headmaster's desk and took off coming to a stop hovering in between Harry and Adora. As he began singing, his song filled their hearts with love, hope and happiness. Slowly the song began to shift tunes and without realizing what they were doing, Harry and Adora reached out and touched the stone Fawkes held.

At first nothing happened and the pair was simply surprised to realize they were touching the stone but as they continued to touch it they realized they could not let go. Slowly the jewel began to glow, brighter and brighter. Power started thrumming within its depths quickly increasing and filling the room with energy unbound.

As the room reached a point where the power was almost too much to bare, Fawkes burst into flame. Releasing the stone from his talons he flew in a great circle around the room before passing through Harry first and then Adora. He then returned to the stone removing it from the pairs hands. With a bright flash, Fawkes and the stone disappeared and all the energy in the room was sucked into Harry and Adora's bodies.

A minute later Fawkes reappeared in his normal form and began singing his healing song to the pair. His singing had an immediate effect and the heavily breathing pair seemed to calm down though they could feel the additional power they had gained from joining with the ancient structure coursing through their veins.

As everything returned to normal, Harry sat up and looked around the room. He could feel his wife through the link they shared and could tell she was recovering from the bonding as well as he was. As he concentrated on the surrounding area he also noticed another set of emotions. They portrayed a deep sense of happiness and love and Harry found himself looking at Albus with a question in his eyes.

"Yes Harry, it's Hogwarts that you feel. She is extremely happy to be bonded with you."


For the next several hours, Albus taught Harry and Adora how to communicate with Hogwarts. Conversations with the castle were not exactly what they had expected though communication was possible. The conversations took place on a subconscious level without actual words but they could converse with her. It helped them greatly that they were masters of Occlumency.

The most obvious aspect of the bonding was that they could feel Hogwarts emotions. They also quickly learned that they could sense Fawkes and Dumbledore's emotions as well since they too were bonded with the castle, though they were much weaker and harder to sense.

Albus explained to them about the portraits, ghosts and elves that now all knew they were Protectors and held the same status as the Headmaster. The group made an incredibly powerful spy network. He also taught them about the wards and how they didn't actually control them so much as ask Hogwarts to make the changes they needed and she would do it for them.

"Hogwarts helps us as much as we help her then, right?" Harry asked receiving a nod and a smile from Albus. "That's what happened when we came here today, Hogwarts opened the gargoyle up for us."

"Exactly Harry. She will do all she can to help you in your tasks just as she knows you will do all you can to protect her and those under her care."

Harry was about to ask another question when the group felt a flash of anger and outrage from the castle. Having just learned to communicate with the castle and not yet being very proficient at it Harry and Adora looked to Albus for an answer.

After a moment of concentration Albus began shaking his head. "It appears Cornilius has arrived with a rather large group of Aurors. I have of course expressed my fears that this day may come. I suggest you both disappear."

Moving to one side of the room Harry and Adora prepared to disappear when the wall they were standing next too seemed to push backwards out of the way. They felt a tickle in their subconscious and seemed to understand that Hogwarts wanted them to enter the niche she had created. Stepping into the small area a wall solidified in front of them reforming the original wall before it became transparent so that they could see and hear what was occurring in the office.

Albus smiled as the wall reappeared knowing Harry and Adora would be safe where they were and that they could see and hear what was about to occur. Taking a moment to compose himself, Albus returned to his seat behind his desk and waited for the Minster to arrive. A moment later he did, barging in as if he owned the place and waving a piece of parchment around as he did so.

"Dumbledore," he began pompously as he approached the Headmaster's desk, "this is an order relieving you of your duties both at Hogwarts and at the Ministry. It also calls for you to be placed into custody until a hearing can be held."

He sighed sadly feeling the anger emanating from Hogwarts. Looking around he noticed that the Minister had brought a much larger force than he had the previous time he had tried to arrest him, there had to be at least a dozen Aurors positioned around his office. Looking at their faces Albus could see that they had been carefully selected. They were all loyal to fudge and all had their wands drawn.

"And what exactly am I being accused of?"

"At the moment the only charges are aiding and abetting one Harry Potter and Nymphadora Tonks. There are also suspicions of collusion with the Dark Lord and use of dark arts but that is what the hearing will determine."

Harry and Adora couldn't believe what they were hearing. Was the Minister really so entrenched in his hatred for Dumbledore and Potter that he would go to these lengths to remove the Headmaster? They could feel Hogwarts anger pulsing all around them and wanted nothing more than to join Albus and stand by his side but did nothing at Hogwarts request.

"I see." Albus began as he stood. "I will of course step down from the offices I have faithfully held until now."

The Aurors tensed as Albus stood and raised there wands though the Headmaster continued as if he had taken no notice. "I will not however be going with you too the Ministry. There are far too many better things I can be doing with my time."

Before anyone could blink the room went dark. Harry and Adora noticed they could still clearly see everything that was going on in the office and suspected Albus could as well. They continued watching nervously, itching to go to the Headmasters aid but stayed still at Hogwarts continued urging.

The instant the lights went out Fudge screamed and dropped to the floor. All of the Aurors fired spells into the dark where they had been aiming but Dumbledore was no longer there. Drawing his wand in an instant, Dumbledore quickly crossed the room firing stunners as he went. His face was stern and his eyes glittered with power as the spells from the Aurors converged where he had been standing. By the time he had reached the opposite side of the room over half of the Aurors and Fudge had been stunned.

Several of the remaining wizards tried to cast the lumos spell to no avail before they passed into unconsciousness.

Less than ten seconds had passed before the lights came back on and Hogwarts lowered the wall allowing Harry and Adora to re-enter the office. The room had taken a lot of damage from the spells the Minister's men had been casting about in the dark. Walls, cabinets and book cases were damaged along with many of the valuable items they held. Dumbledore's desk and chair had been reduced to little more than a pile of broken wood.

As they took in the scene their gazes came to rest on the sole remaining conscious occupant of the room, the Headmaster. Harry had only seen him look this angry and powerful a few times and as powerful as he was, was glad the old mans anger was not directed at him.

"It would appear that I have been freed from my responsibilities and now have an abundance of free time on my hands. If you would have me, I would gladly join you."

Harry and Adora grinned at the now twinkling eyes of the Headmaster. Harry quickly conjured a piece of parchment and a quill. After writing the fidilius phrase revealing the location of their home/prison on it he handed it to Dumbledore.

"We'd be happy to have you."

After reading the small slip of parchment, Albus incinerated it and vanished the ashes. Pulling another parchment from within his robes, Harry stared at it for several seconds growing angry as he did. Carefully folding and replacing the parchment, Harry stepped up to some of the Aurors and began pushing up their sleeves revealing the dark mark.

Adora removed a bag of marbles from within her robes and approached the three Aurors who were wearing the dark mark, dropping one of the portkeys into each of their hands causing them to disappear.

While Albus and Adora levitated all of the stunned bodies down the staircase and into the hall, Harry concentrated on the Hogwarts wards.

With their task complete, Albus waited patiently as he watched Harry modify the existing wards. It was about fifteen minutes later when Harry finally came out of his trance.

"I watched you work on the wards Harry and must say the changes you made are most intriguing. While the signature looks familiar, I am curious as to what they are for."

Harry nodded. "They're something we designed for our prison. They protect against the dark magic that's growing around the UK. While we don't know what it's supposed to do, we know it can't be anything good and we can protect against it. We've also added the ward to Grimmauld Place."

Albus nodded in approval. After a final look around, they each took a pinch of floo powder and disappeared into the fireplace. As Harry was about to go through he looked back to the empty office.

"Don't worry, we'll be here when you need us." he said softly. As he disappeared he smiled at the happiness and warmth the castle projected at him.


It was a week after the incident at Hogwarts and Harry, Adora and Albus were sitting in the kitchen at Grimmauld Place where Albus had decided to stay so that he would be available to the Order members when Minerva McGonagall entered the room.

"Good morning Minerva." Albus said smiling at his long time friend.

"Good morning to you Albus, Harry, Adora." she replied. "I thought you should know the Ministry has finally ceded the Headmastership to me."

Albus smiled knowingly and waited for her to continue.

"It seems their representatives have been having all kinds of problems with the castle, disappearing for days at a time, being unable to open doors and the like. It also seems they have been unable to overturn a writ from the Board of Governors."

Blue eyes seemed to twinkle even brighter.

"Somehow they seem to have found themselves magically bound to transfer the position to the Deputy Headmistress. You wouldn't know anything about all of that, would you Albus?"

A mischievous grin appeared on his face and his eyes continued to twinkle as he shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea what you're talking about Minerva." he said before returning to his breakfast, completely ignoring the raised eyebrows on her face and the snickering coming from Harry and Adora.

Shaking her head in frustration, Minerva let out a sigh and turned to leave the room. Her stern expression would have chastised the group but for the continual twitching at the corners of her mouth as a smile threatened to break free.


Voldemort woke feeling refreshed with his magical reserves fully recharged. Getting up from the bed where he had spent the last week recovering he spied the table full of portkeys and grinned evilly.

Leaving the room he found the nearest Death Eater and pressed the tip of his wand to the dark mark on his left forearm. The Deatheater screamed in pain as the call went out before collapsing on the floor as the Dark Lord removed his wand.

A few minutes later Voldemort's remaining Death Eaters began appearing. Within ten minutes all that was left of his minions were in attendance.

Voldemort grinned evilly as he surveyed his forces. A few more had been captured and he now only had twenty three left, but it would be enough.

His eyes glowed red, malice dripping from his voice as he spoke to the assembled Death Eaters. "It is time to take what is mine."