--In Memory of Harry Potter--
Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who's reviewed and a special thanks to everyone who's stuck around so long while I've got my act together and fixed up this fic.
Harry awoke the next morning to find a set of sparkling green eyes reguarding him hopefully as though the owner didn't know whether it had been wise to wake him or not. Had he not been so used to having someone present every time he woke up he may have been startled by how close the eyes were to his person. Harry yawned and pulled himself up in bed.
"You know Harry, I never thought I'd say this, but I love little kids" Malfoy said from the other side of the room,
"Oh, why is that?" Harry asked as he reached over to get his glasses from the bedside table. "Oh" He said as the return of his sight answered his own question. Jessica, the owner of the pair of green eyes, stood next to the bed looking up at him seriously
"Oh?" Malfoy said laughing at Harry. "I suppose that means you worked it out, kids are great, they wake up earlier than everyone else in the castle, then they proceed to wake everyone else up!"
Harry shook his head at Malfoy. "its just like you to take advantage of living peoples mental states at" Harry turned to look at the wooden clock on the table next to him, "six am in the morning"
Hermione rolled over next to Harry muttering something about Malfoy being a git then propped herself up on an elbor and looked at the clock. "This isn't an every morning thing is it?" She asked looking one by one at every member of the room, ending with Malfoy.
"What?" Malfoy asked
"You waking everyone up at six am in the morning, why are you in here anyway?"
"Hey! I didn't wake anyone up!" Malfoy objected looking at Hermione, "And I'm always here in the morning, why are you here anyway?" He asked mimiking Hermiones voice.
"always?" Hermione asked frowning
"always" Malfoy said
"Damn" Hermione muttered. She looked at Harry who shrugged then at Jessica who was curled up in her fathers arms. She smiled to herself before rolling back over and ducking her head under her pillow.
Harry looked at his wife and decided that she had to be the most intellegent woman he knew. "Why didn't I ever think of doing that?" He mused softly causing Malfoy to cackle with laughter. He shook the thought from his head and looked down at his daughter. Jessica had crawled up onto the bed and was sitting in his lap her arms curled around him in a tight hug. Harry frowned at the way her eyes darted around the room worried., "Are you alright Jessica?" He asked gently.
Harry had spent the previous evening catching up with Hermione and his daughter. He smiled as he remembered the laughter that had echoed through the silent halls. It had been a wonderful night and spending time with his family had made it hard to believe that the world around them was slipping into darkness. Although the look on his daughters face was a harsh reminder that the world was not all love and laughter, and that Voldemort was still chasing his daughter.
"Voldemort is in my room" Jessica answered, the fear in her voice revealing the seriousness behind her words.
Hermione shot up after hearing her daughters answer. She looked at her husband fear dancing in her eyes. "Are you sure sweetheart" She asked, hoping that her daughter was questioning her own conclusion.
Jessica shook her head. Harry looked at Malfoy who in response ducked through the wall between the two rooms then returned shaking his head. "There's no one there now, if she's right, he's been and gone."
"It can't have been Voldemort Jessica" Harry said after a moments thought. He may have let his guard down during the night, but he was sure that his magic would have alerted him if Voldemort had entered the school.
"What did he look like gorgeous?" Malfoy asked watching as Hermione took his best friends free hand.
"He was short and fat, and he didn't have much hair." Jessica said looking at her father. Malfoy burst into laughter as he pondered what Voldemort would say if he knew someone had described him in those words.
Harry looked at the ghost dissaprovingly. "I don't think that's very funny. It may not have been Voldemort, but it was still a significant threat." He said then turned to his daughter. "Did you wake up when he entered the room?" Harry asked, Hermione being the only other person in the room who understood the significance of this question.
"I don't know" Jessica said her lip trembling.
"It's alright sweetheart" Hermione said taking her daughter into her arms and hugging her tightly as the girl cried. "Did you go in there thismorning?" She asked Malfoy trying to work out what saved her daughter.
"Yes I did" Malfoy said frowning, "He must of transformed when I entered"
"That means there is a possibility that he saw you" Harry said frowning as he thought about the consequences of this.
"I don't think so" Malfoy said, "I came in through the wall on the dark side of the room, for Jessica to get the description so correct he must have been standing at the end of her bed, in front of the window."
"Which would have allowed for a quick escape" Hermione noted agreeing with Malfoy's theory.
"Malfoy, can you go and check Jessica's room for any sign of our rat, then go and wake Sirius, Remus, Ron and Snape and get them to meet us in Dumbledores office, we need to find a way to confine this rat to the castle so that if he has discovered anything, it doesn't reach Voldemort. We also need an effective way of knowing where he is at all times."
"We might need to keep you two in disguise to," Hermione said, "Although I have no idea how your supposed to disguise a ghost."
-o-
"You could just stay invisible all the time" Ron suggested with an evil grin.
"I like that suggestion" Hermione said laughing at the look of betrayl that Malfoy had directed towards her.
"I don't!" Malfoy objected.
"Neither do I" Harry said, "You never know when he's in the room, his voice comes from everywhere, and you look as though your talking to yourself when you talk back. We're going to have to look for some sort of spell"
"The only spell I can think of is considered illegal by our current government" Sirius said frowning, "Fudge is already looking for a reason to put us in jail, it wouldn't be wise to give one to him."
"Sirius is right, unless there is a similar charm that I am unaware of, that spell is the only thing that could change the form of a ghost, and thats only for a limited amount of time. We would have to replace the charm every week for it to be effective" Remus said looking at Malfoy. "I'm sorry draco but it seems that the only option is to stay invisible"
"I disagree" Severus said
Sirius turned and looked at his old rival, "If your going to suggest we use a ghost potion, you are insane"
Sererus looked at Sirius, "It would be a more effective way of hiding Malfoy than have him wandering around invisible, meddiling in everyones private affairs."
"Which reminds me" Dumbledore said, speaking for the first time. "I've heard a strage rumour. All the students seem to believe that the Hogwarts express is haunted. You wouldn't know anything about that would you Malfoy?" He asked looking at the ghost over his half moon glasses.
How Dumbledore could make light of a situation such as this Harry did not know, but he had certainly put Malfoy on the spot.
"Well, ahh. Well you see, Harry suggested that.."
"Excuse me?" Harry asked, looking accusingly at the ghost. "I distinctly remember saying something along the lines of stay out of trouble."
"I'm sorry to interupt, but I don't think this is time for arguments." Hermione said, "We have a number of serious issues to address before this hour is up and I don't think we've come to a conclusion for one of them. Remember we all have classes to teach, and work to do, so the sooner this is solved, the better"
"Hermione's right" Dumbledore said seriously. "Malfoy will have to stay invisible till an alternate way to disguise him is found because Jessica's safety is the main issue we should be concentrating on.
"Having her stay at Harry's side is the best way I can think to keep her safe" Ron suggested. "He's the only one who can keep her safe from Voldemort anyway"
"Voldemort is going to leave the safety of his hideout yet" Severus said "Keeping Jessica with James puts the students in his classes at risk"
A soft musical note brought Harry's attention to the phoenix who landed on the back of his chair. He smiled at the majestic bird and stroked him gently. "I agree, although I also think the best way to keep her safe is to not leave her alone."
Hermione shot up in her seat, "He can't hurt her!" She exclaimed suddenly.
"We're not going to let anything happen to Jessica, Hermione" Ron said looking at his best friend,
"No" She exclaimed, her mind racing "I mean he actually can't hurt her"
"You are reguarding to the life debt that Peter owes Harry" Dumbledore said carefully thinking over the idea.
"That doesn't particulary mean that Pettigrew won't take her to his master" Sirius said saying his former friends name as though it was a curse. "He is to afraid of Voldemort to not give him what he wants"
"He could be taking his time though. I am surprised that he didn't take her while he had the chance" Remus said looking at Jessica who was wrapped up in her fathers arms.
"If he had the chance" Hermione said "Remember, according to Jessica, it was when malfoy entered the room that Wormtail left, for all we know he just arrived in the room."
"I think perhaps this conversation can wait" Dumbledore decided looking at Jessica, "It does not do to create more fear in the child, she has already gone through an ordeal thismorning."
"I agree" Harry said, "Although the subject does need to be addressed, now is not the time"
"If we dont' address it now, when will we" Severus said harshly. "I know it's a nice fantasy to protect your daughter from suffering the same life as you, but it might be time that you woke up to the fact that there is no possible way that we can ensure her safety every minute of every day."
"What do you suggest then" Harry said, anger dancing in his eyes.
"I suggest that you either send her to someplace a safe distance away, or you teach her how to use those powers that keep causing havoc throughout the school."
"She's to young" Hermione objected immediantly.
"She's extremely powerful" Severus counted, "She'll blow someone up if she doesn't learn to control some of her powers"
"Enough" Dumbledore roared over the shouting that began to fill the room. "Hermione, I suggest you leave the decision up to Harry as he is the only one who can completely understand his daughters power, although I would advise against teaching your daughter anything until she is older" He said looking Harry directly in the eyes.
"Jessica needs protection from Wormtail, I will not make it so that she needs protection from herself as well" Harry said in a tone that told everyone that he would not argue about this. "Wormtail is a threat, and he will take her to his master if he has the chance."
Hermione looked at her husband sadly, "You believe that he will kill her"
"I don't know" Harry said "I think Sirius is right, it is a bit much to say that he will not take her before Voldemort, although saying that he might not let Voldemort kill her is something else."
"Pettigrew stand up to Voldemort?" Sirius snarled
"You might be surprised, I might even go to wonder if the idea came from Pettigrew to turn her in the first place." He thought out loud
"Who mentioned turning her?" Hermione whispered
"Turn me... into what?" Jessica asked. The question was followed by an awkward silence as all the adults stared at Harry.
"Nothing Jesse, because its not going to happen" Harry said eventually,
Dumbledore sighed, "So what can you three tell me about the guardians?" he asked changing the subject.
"Only what we learnt while we were here" Hermione said.
"That will have to do for now" Dumbledore said pensively sitting back in his chair. "I know little of them, and I doubt the other headmasters knew anything of value either" He said looking around at the paintings who all seemed to nod in agreement, apart from Phineas Niggelus who continued to doze on in his frame.
"The four were top students" Malfoy said
"teachers" Hermione corrected
"They all loved Hogwarts, and they were students"
Harry began to laugh, "You might as well stop arguing Malfoy, she's right, they were teachers. Anyway your telling it the long way, its probably easier to tell everything we know from beginning to end, if you continue telling it that way, were going to need to take notes to pick everything up." He said.
"Right, well to start from the beginning the guardians weren't students at Hogwarts, they were young teachers, four of the first young teachers to ever be a Hogwarts." Harry said, "The most amazing thing about them was that each of them had a gift apart from magic, Miranda, the princess of the South had the gift of light and Tobias, the mage of the west, had the gift of darkness. Faris, the Knight of the North and Iris, the maiden of the east had the knowledge of the past and the future, for all."
"The four were extremely good friends of the founders before the creation of Hogwarts and after became the first four teachers after the founders themselves. Miranda taught defence against the dark arts, Tobias taught potions, Faris History of Magic and Iris Divinition." Hermione said in her best matter-of-fact tone.
"Is that all you know?" Dumbledore asked frowning.
"Tobias and Miranda fell in love, it was under extremely strange circumstances too" Draco commented only to be sent a look by Hermione.
"It was romantic, not strange!" She cried "They were complete opposites, and they fell in Love, the link between Light and Darkness that they found in each others hearts created the magic that sealed them in the walls in the first place."
"So we assumed" Ron said, "That was a guess we took, it doesn't actually say anywhere that the shift between light and darkness, and the past and the future created a magical rift."
"But it does make sense" Hermione said. When the four became the friends they did, and when Darkness and Light found the love that they did a magic was created that each of them had to learn to control, extremely quickly"
"And that's the understatement of the day" Malfoy muttered "You see Hogwarts was attacked and the four guardians, well they weren't the guardians then but they had to fight the hundreds of dark wizards with the magic that they were still learning to control."
"What happened?" Sirius asked
"No one actually knows" Ron said "We couldn't find any documentation of that day or what happened, only that it was after then that they chose to seal themselves to the magic of Hogwarts, to protect the old school forever."
Dumbledore had his pensive sitting on his desk and was pouring thoughts into it. "A joint in powerful Light and Darkness may create a rift" he paused "But I'm not certain" and Dumbledore stopped. "This is very confusing, if we knew what happened we could probably work out how they got there."
"Which is exactly why I think we will never find anything that will tell us what happened" Hermione said "If more people did know about them, and knew what happened then don't you think hundreds of witches and wizards would be trying to work out how to contact them, and at worst trying to get them out" Hermione said
"Would that kill them?" Ron asked
"No, but it might cause alot of trouble." Remus said
"Not might, would, cause a heap of trouble" Draco said
"So then how do you plan on contacting them?" Sirius asked Harry.
"I have no idea, but I'm sure they will just know that I need their help" Harry said shrugging.
-o-
Somewhere in Hogwarts two figures stood staring out over the grounds.
"Its been a long time since they've talked about us" said a gentle female voice
"Hm" was the reply as the second figure returned to the shadow.
