A/N: Hello all! How's your day been? Good, I hope. Now that that's out of the way, let me drag you down with me into the putrid, bubbling quagmire that is The Light Child's ninth chapter!

Warnings: Mild language and violence in later chapters. SLASH as well but none so far.

Spoilers: At least the first four books.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter or anything officially related to it, I'm just writing this for fun and to cause reine qual to all who read my works. Bwwahhhhhhhhh!

Chapter Nine: The Room of Transcendence and WTF?
It may have taken a while but eventually the four of them managed to pry the still weeping Helga off of the suffocating Harry.

Taking a much-needed breath of air, Harry sat back in his chair, clutching his throat.

"Are you all right?" Rowena asked softly. Worry filled her voice and eyes as she looked at his rumpled appearance.

"Yeah." Harry rasped. "I mean, yes ma'am. I'm fine."

A sigh of relief was heard from everybody and Helga struggled to pull herself together, blowing her nose daintily on a kerchief handed to her by her husband. "I'm sorry, muffin, I' didn't hurt you, did I?" She asked tearfully and sniffed.

"It's all right, I'm fine." Harry soothed, although his voice was still slightly rough. "Really." He said when she didn't look convinced.

"I was just so upset to here how rough you've had it, pooky bear." She told him softly and looked sadly at him and he smiled at her.

"It's okay. I'm rather happy that you care about me so much." He grinned. "I've never been smothered by love before, not even by Mrs. Weasley."

Finally she smiled shyly and the explanations proceeded.

"Boy, I have a question." Salazar said abruptly and everybody stared at him. "What? Can't I be curious too?"

"What is it, sir?" Harry asked warily.

"How many times have you fought the one called 'Voldemort'?"

"Um, let's see, once in first year, once in second year, once in forth year, and once when I was a baby. So, four times. Why?" Harry questioned before he remembered. Tom Riddle was also Slytherin's heir. "Uh-oh."

"Don't worry, Harry." Salazar told him firmly. "That bastard is not my heir."

"Come again?" Harry blinked.

Salazar snorted. "He may be a Slytherin, but one several times removed from the family. My second cousin is his ancestor. Voldemort is barely a Slytherin at all he's so far removed. So, don't be repulsed at being related to him."

"Oh, okay, good." Harry's shoulders relaxed and some color came back into his cheeks. Boy, that was scary.

"We need to get on with this." Merlin told everybody. "Harry's friends are really worried."

"What?" Harry looked worried himself. "What's wrong in my time?"

"Nothing." Merlin answered quickly. "It's just that, you see, you're not really here, so to speak."

Harry raised an eyebrow and frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, your body at the moment is 'asleep' in the hospital ward at Hogwarts in your time. What we are seeing at the moment is your spirit or something like it, actually, because for you to be able to separate your spirit from your body, you have to be, well, dead."

"Oh, and my friends are worried because I'm 'asleep' and haven't woken up, right?"

"Exactly! Now you see why we have to speed things up."

"But I haven't been 'gone' all that long, have I?"

"Time works differently in the Time Portal you opened. A whole day has passed since you came here and to you I'm sure it's been a few hours at the most." Merlin explained and stood from his chair, grasping his staff tightly as he did so. "Come with me, Harry."

Harry and the others followed Merlin out of the room, down several long corridors and up many high staircases, until he brought them to a set of tall, oaken double doors carved with intricate swirls and spirals. Merlin opened the door and they all filed in. Harry gasped. The room was enormous!

And totally empty.

Floor to ceiling windows covered one wall and over looked the Hogwarts south grounds. The only thing of interest was the floor. It was covered with mosaic tiles in a strange, confusing pattern that made Harry dizzy just by looking at it.

"This way." Merlin stepped into the very center of the room with the founders on either side of him. Harry stood in front of them all, feeling slightly intimidated, the fact that the people before him were legends in his time suddenly came rushing to mind. He forgot about Godric's goofy ways, and Rowena's gently smile, and Helga's nicknames and hugs, and Salazar's bizarre password for his rooms.

They were the Four Founders of the most famous wizarding school ever and even Muggles had heard of Merlin. He swallowed nervously, feeling rather small.

Suddenly Merlin rapped the butt of his staff on the floor and Harry jumped. Merlin intoned, "We greet you, Adamas Harold Leviathan Angeleus Matlyyn Gryffindor Sena Slytherin Jamas Ravenclaw Kayal Hufflepuff Potter, and welcome you to the Room of Transcendence. Are you ready to take on your burden?"

Harry blinked. Then blinked some more as they continued to stare at him in expectation. What the hell was he supposed to say to that! Room of Transcendence? Burden? And what was up with that name!

"Well, heir, do you accept your responsibility as The One or will you deny your calling and leave mankind to suffer at the hands of Darkness?"

Harry: . . WTF!

A/N: Well, not much to say about this chapter, I mean, come on, you can only tell someone how sucky a story is before you get tired of it, right? If you haven't figured it out by now, then, well, you have very low standards when it comes to reading fan fiction and I really must applaud you for sticking around this long. So, to those who are reading this I salute you and want you to know that I hold you in the highest regards, thanks.

Ideas! I need ideas, please somebody help!

Guten Tag – Reine