Two mornings later found all of them including the ghosts and the twins stood outside of Hogwarts, which was all but empty for the summer. The only living people inside were Madam Sprout and Filtch. Godric had moved to look at a eco-scape Hogwarts presented while the others began to break into groups to search. "Hey, Hel... Is there something wrong with this picture?" Moving over to his side, she studied Hogwarts with him. "I don't see what it could be... tweleve floors, four wings, eight towers... Oh my... what happend to the tower of Casseopia?" Helga said as she pointed to where the eight tower should have been.

"The towers of who?" Severus asked as he and the others came over.

"The tower of Casseopia. Each of the eight towers we built were named after a constellation that they were directly under during the summer solistice." Salazar pointed them out and named them in turn. "Serpens, Corvus, Sextans, Pyxis, Lepus, Eridanus, Delphinus... and Casseopia should be right there. Has is fallen in the time since we've been alive?" "It was probably lost some time during the war with the Grindelwald... But I am not certain. There has not a tower at that location in the time I've been at this school." Severus told them as he thought about anything he'd read about an eighth tower being lost some time since the founding. "We'll"

"-go ahead"

"-and begin"

"-to talk"

"-in bird-speak"

"-while-walking"

"-though out"

"-the castle"

"And see"

"-if we"

"-get anything"

The twins said before they hurried off to see if they could find and open the secret place of Ravenclaw.

"It's so strange... I can almost see her in them... The brains and the pranks. I can't even imagine having to deal with -two- of them. Ro' just about drove us crazy." Helga said as she watched them go.

"She did at that. Let's go see if we can find her... I'm starting to really miss her." Godric said as he, Helga and Salazar went into the castle and began to search as well.

-0-0-0-0-

Some distance away, as they searched for the tower of Rowena, a dark mass was growing over the village in Surrey. Vernon stopped his pruning to look up at the black and green clouds rolling over.

"Vernon... what is it? The weatherman didn't say anything about a storm today." Petunia had stepped outside to bring her hard working husband a glass of lemonade.

Turning, he was about to push her back into the house when the first bolt of green lightning hit the bush he'd just been working on. "Inside Petunia!" Before they could get inside another green flash stopped them and to them the world went black.

The entire magical community of Britain stopped as they felt the surge of black magic erupt from somewhere outside of London. Arabella Figg, who'd been watching the omnious clouds from her window barely had time to dive into her fireplace with floo powder and yell out the name of the Order's headquarters before the whole of Surrey disappeared in a volly of ashes.

-0-0-0-0-

At Hogwarts, Severus caught Harry as the younger man fell from the wash of black magic. "Sev... what was that?" Harry's hand went to his forehead and came away bloody from his scar bleeding with the intensity of the magical back wash from Voldemort."I'm not certain... We should go and see if perhaps we can find the others." Severus helped him to his feet and wrapped an arm around him before they hurried to look for the rest of the group.

Blaise and Neville found them first and looked to Severus with large scared eyes. Sighing, Severus remembered that though they were some of the most skilled to ever attend Hogwarts they were still young. "I don't know what it was, but I will go and find out. Harry, please stay with them. And tell the others to remain here when they arrive." After brushing a kiss on
Harry's lips, he hurried to floo to Grimmauld Place and see if perhaps the Headmaster knew what had happened.

Severus arrived to find Dumbledore and the rest of the order staring at a live picture of what appeared to be a crater. "What's happened, Albus"

"Something terrible, my boy... That is Surrey, the former hometown of Harry Potter. This is the beginning of the end I'm afraid." Albus said looking incredibly old as they continued to watch Aurors swarm through the ashes seeing if perhaps someone had survived.

"What are we going to do, Albus? I don't know if it's possible to cover this up..." Minerva said as she chewed distractedly on his thumb nail, a habit she thought she'd lost with the end of the first war with Voldemort.

Sinking into a chair Dumbledore nodded slowly. "It can be covered up. But this means something far more terrible than the loss of a number of muggles. This means that Voldemort has reached his peek and soon he will turn his attentions on the magicial world once again." "I'm going to go see if perhaps I can help." Lupin said before patting Dumbledore on the shoulder and hurrying out, his mind with those who'd passed on so needlessly.

Nodding a little, Severus looked to Dumbledore. "I will return to the school and see if perhaps we can find what we've been searching for. One thing before I go, do you recall an eighth tower or what might have happened to it"

"No, my boy... I'm afraid I don't. If there was an eighth tower of Hogwarts it must have been destroyed before I began school." Dumbledore watched him go and hoped that Harry was right and the founders could help them.

-0-0-0-0-

Harry found that he couldn't cry for his relatives. Not really. He didn't miss them or feel pain for their loss. It was the others in Surrey... Mr. Andrews, who ran the corner store... He would give Harry candy even though the boy couldn't pay for it. Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell that lived just down the street... They would always wave and speak to Harry. Miss Hutchins that taught his 1st grade class. Widow Dumas. Mr. McAbby. Miss Roulston... The list was so long and full of so many people who didn't even known they were living in a dangerous place. For them, Harry cried. He knew he couldn't have saved them, even if he'd known the attack was going to happen, but the loss of so many people was too much for him.

While he cried, Severus held him unsure of what to say or do. So he simply held Harry, and planned out long torturous things to do to Voldemort should he ever have half a chance.
Severus was about to suggest that Harry try to rest when the younger man sat up and looked at him. "Is legilimency the same as occlumency? Does it work the same way"

Shocked by the question Severus nodded. "It is at it's roots the same principle. The entrance into someone's mind. Why? Do you believe the Dark Lord has infiltrated your mind?" His heart beat double time until Harry shook his head. "No... It's not that." Standing up, Harry moved to the window of their bedroom at Oak Hope Manor. Drawing a deep breath, he closed his eyes and sent himself to that place where he could feel when Voldemort was starting to act up.

Rising, Severus went to his side and as he was about to ask what Harry was up to, a bright red light seemed to emanate from the scar and with a bang, Harry shot backwards from some invisible force. "Ouch"

"What did you do?" Severus demanded as he knelt by his side.

"Tom threw the gauntlet... I simply answered it in return." Harry said as he sat up and rubbed his head.

"What exactly did you do, Harry?" Severus scooped him up and laid him gently on their bed.

With a light smile Harry reached up to pet his bond-mate-to-be's cheek. "I just gave him a headache."

Miles away in a manor fit for a king, Voldemort screamed as it felt like ice had been poured into his skull. And a soft voice whispered through the pain. /You won't get away with it...

Not this time, Tom./ With a howl of rage, Voldemort cursed the Deatheater closest to him.

The weeks seemed to pass too quickly, each week brought news of worse attacks. And on that note the Ministry was forced to admit that Voldemort had returned. The masses all panicked and some tried to escape but it seemed Voldemort was ready for this. As if hitting a wall, all of those magical people who tried to apperate or floo out, were knocked back often times killed in their attempts to leave. Even by muggle means the magical folk were held within Britain.

And the search for where Lady Rowena was coming up empty. The twins had tried everywhere they could think of and a few suggested by Harry and the others. Even Cros had come to help, though his search was usually relegated to where ever Bill could take him. Bill and Charlie had returned to Britain upon receiving the news of the decimation of Surrey. "This is impossible." Bill said as he and Cros finished their sweep of the west fifth floor corridor.

"Not impossible... Just very difficult." Cros said as he tapped his way down the hall with his cane. "I don't understand why this last one should be so hard to find when the others were so easy." What he didn't say was that his mind was filled with things other than searching for Rowena's tower. He'd gone home to find his mother and father in a screaming fight with Ron and Ginny. Somewhere in his 17 year old wisdom, Ron found that he believed that purebloods were true evil and that they deserved to die. Molly and Arthur had tried to reason with their son only to have Ginny jump in the middle of the argument, siding with her brother. Unable to stop them, Bill and Charlie had been forced to watch their youngest brother and only sister storm out of their home. They hadn't even contacted their parents when Percy had been severally wounded in an attack on the main building of the Ministry.

"William!" Cros called for the fifth time as he put a hand to Bill's arm.

"What... oh... sorry. I was just lost in my thoughts. Did you find something?" Bill asked as he snapped out of his thoughts.

"I don't know... Maybe. Here, listen." Cros goes back to the wall and taps his cane against it. A vaguely hollow sound catches Bill's ear.

"It may be a hidden door. Let's mark it down and then go on." Bill started to walk off when he noticed something on the wall that made him stop. A tiny raven was carved into the ceiling above where Cros' cane had tapped a funny sound. "Maybe... you have something here. I'll get the others"

Stepping into a near by room, Bill floo-called Colin who was waiting in the Charms classroom to relay messages to the other searchers.

A short time later Fred and George were standing with them and the others were on their way.

"I don't know if this is what we're looking for." George said as he stood looking at the wall. "How do we know what we're looking for?" Fred said as he hip bumped his twin with a smile.

"I thought it would be more interesting... I mean, Sal's chamber is down a chute in the girl's lavatory, Hel's garden is in the middle of the Forest, and 'ric's island is out in the middle of the lake. I just thought that it would be something more impressive than a simple hidden doorway in the school."

Cros blinked slowly as he listened to the bird-like squawks coming from the twins. Bill, however wasn't listening to the odd sounds coming from his brothers. He was watching the
painting on the wall. It was of a plain staircase. But the longer the twins spoke the bigger the painting got, until finally it stood as tall as the wall and wide enough for two men to wall through shoulder to shoulder. "I think we've found it"The twins stopped their chattering and stared at the enlarged painting. With a single glance at one another they walked over and stepped through the frame and began to hurry up the stairs. A slight explosion made Cros jump and reach out to Bill, who had started to follow the twins. Cursing, Bill took Cros' hand and began to run up the stairs after his little brothers. At the top of the stairs, he stared at the twins who were sitting on the ground, their faces pink and teal, respectively. A light giggle had Bill turning, with his wand raised. A tall thin ghost of a lady floated slowly down from the top floor of the tower. "I love the expressions on your faces... Ah... it is such a pleasant feeling. Welcome to my tower, little ones. I am most impressed you found it"

"Lady Rowena?" Bill asked in a respectful voice. This was not how he had imagined the wise lady of Ravenclaw. But then, he hadn't expected a long hair soft spoken Slytherin, giggly and bouncy Gryffindor or a sometimes flamboyant Hufflepuff.

"Yes, deary." She smiled a little at Bill before she turned back to the twins "Well? Are you just going to sit there or are you going to stand up and introduce yourselves properly?" The twins scrambled to their feet a moment after she spoke and bowed slightly to her. "Dear Lady... I am Fred, and this is my twin George. We are honored to be your heirs... But we didn't know our family was decent of your line"

With a smile she shrugged and gestured them deeper into the eight open-story library. "I'm afraid you are not of my blood. You see, I foresaw my own line dying out... as well as that of the other founders... So after much debate we took our own special abilities and set them out into the world... Only someone who possessed these abilities and the traits we held dearest would be able to open the doors and be our true heirs. In some cases there were some minor relations to us, but the last of our direct blood decedents officially died a short 15 years ago. That is why some of the heirs today share traits similar to that of my friends and I." Her movements were smooth as any ghost as she floated to settle in a seat before the fireplace.

Just then Harry, Severus, Neville, Blaise, Colin, and Graham came in with the ghosts not far behind them. Rowena stood and allowed herself to be hugged close by her ghostly compatriots. "It has been too long, my friends"

"Far too long." Helga said as she kissed her forehead lightly.

"Missed you so much! And you hid Cassiopeia!" Godric pressed a kiss to her left cheek.

Salazar said nothing as he stared into her eyes before kissing her right cheek.

Harry stepped forward. "I hate to break up your reunion... I understand it has been a very long time since you've seen one another, but we really need your help... And that which your library can offer." The sheer number of books in the tower were enough to amaze even the most literate of people.

Rowena after a look between her friends, turned to Harry. "We will help you put an end that little upstart. But know this, we have very little influence on the material world."

"Use of your library and your input should be more than enough." Severus stared at the four founders and wondered why Salazar could have split from them. He didn't seem to have any trouble around Colin, who was open about being a muggle-born.

"That can be done... Though I would suggest that we move this to your home, young one. Even though we are dead our power would still be noticed if it's left outside of proper warding." Rowena pulled her ghostly wand and with a gesture every book in the library began to shrink and then they all flew into various people's pockets. When they looked to her, she shrugged. "I can't travel without my library"

"How did you know I owned a house, Lady Rowena? And where has this tower been? Dumbledore didn't even know it was here." Harry asked as they all started back down the stairs that lead out of the newly restored tower.

"I have minor precognition. As for the tower... it is very simple. I was the last of the founders to pass on... I simply put a charm on the tower so that when ever I died it would disappear and remain hidden until such a time as my heirs came looking for me... Also it gave me a chance to write my memoirs." Rowena floated with her arms wrapped around Godric and Helga's shoulders.

Harry nodded silently as he looked to Severus who gave a slight nod of his head and they continued on to where they could floo to Oak Hope Manor... Where they would begin to plan their strategy for the final battle.

-0-0-0-0-0-