Reposted on 11/8/05

AN- MUST READ: I have decided that this story is going to be an answer to the Brides of the Founders challenge by Jon3776. For those of you who do not know what this challenge it I will explain. The challenge is simple, come up with a story that involves a new prophecy that tells that for Harry to tap into the 'power the dark lord knows not' he must get married. Not to one, two, or even three witches but to four. Each one from a different house at Hogwarts. Through this 'marriage the power of all five will increase dramatically since they can draw power from the others if need be. Now these are the rules,

No Hermione or Ginny since there is so many stories with them

At least two MUST be students and at least one adult that can serve as an anchor for the group such as Tonks, Bellatrix or Narcissa

Sex magic should be a part of defeating Voldemort. (No idea what this part is about but to let everyone know, I WILL NOT be turning this story into some porno.

Bonus points for naughty parts (R-nc-17) such as both Patil twins. (Wont be doing this. Obviously there will be some sex but as I said NO porno and no incest.

Immortality or extreme longevity is part of the package deal

Now I have decided to do this because I came across the challenge and thought it would be cool to challenge myself to write something like this that actually has a plot and a good story not just perverted nonsense. This story will keep its PG-13 rating with maybe moments of an R rating. So when I begin with the challenge requirements I hope you enjoy how it develops. Weather you like this idea or not please send a review with you opinions and possible choices for the brides. I will simply call them the Brides of Hogwarts instead of Brides of the Founders because it makes more sense really.

THE NEW ORDER

By

Padfootjr24

Chapter Three: Training

"WAKE UP!" 'Mad Eye' Moody yelled as he blasted each of the five boys with ice cold water from his wand. Immediately all five leapt from their beds and seemed to be wide awake. A few had even drawn their wands and now had them trained on the now smirking ex-Auror, which was actually quite a disturbing sight.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" Ron nearly screamed as he wiped his face and lowered his wand, an action that Harry and Neville imitated as they growled in annoyance.

"Time to begin training! Get dressed and be in the common room in two minutes." The older man replied as his scared face twisted into some grotesque grin before turning on his heal and limping back out the door, his wooden leg thumping with each step.

"For Merlin's sake, it's only four o'clock." Ron complained as he pealed off his wet pajamas before drying himself off and getting dressed. While Ron and the others complained Harry simply went about his task in silence while mulling over his thoughts and memories of his most recent nightmare. In his head Harry knew that Sirius wouldn't have blamed him for his death but for some reason, in his heart, he didn't want to believe that. Almost as if he wanted to be blamed so that all of his feelings and thoughts since that night in the Department of Mysteries would not have been in vain. He needed that blame almost as if it had always been a part of him.

Walking silently down the corridor into the main common room Harry was greeted with a most unusual sight. Along with the other four boys stood Hermione, Ginny, Blaise, and Hannah Abbott. All looking extremely pissed. This was not really that unusual since he had seen his two friends angry at one point or another and he was sure that even the even tempered Hufflepuff had lost her temper at one point or another. No, what was truly amazing was that Tonks, who had obviously been sent to wake the girls, had actually managed to piss off 'Loony' Luna Lovegood. All of Harry's previous thoughts on Sirius' death had been thrown out the window as he saw the pink haired Auror cringe under the ferocious glare of the absolutely murderous tiny Ravenclaw as Moody looked on with absolute glee in his eyes.

"What the hell happened?" Harry asked Hermione in a whisper after he snapped out of his shock. Hermione however nearly jumped to the ceiling when her concentration was diverted to one of her best friends. After a few moments she was able to calm her racing heart enough to answer.

"Well, Tonks came in and woke us all up when she put a shaking charm on all of our beds. She told us all to get dressed and then turned to leave. However, before she could she tripped over the edge of the carpet and crashed into Luna's bedside table, knocking over the tank that was sitting on top of it." At this point Hermione stopped her explanation as if she were unwilling to admit something.

"Well?" Harry prompted.

"Well, when she knocked over the tank something got out and has now disappeared."

"What disappeared?" Harry was now getting very annoyed with Hermione's reluctance. As if sensing her friend's annoyance Hermione took a deep breath before continuing.

"A Crumple Horned Snokack or whatever it was that she called it. Can you believe it? They actually exist. All of last year I thought she was completely insane for even suggesting it but then I come up to bed last night and there it was, looking just like she said it did. I mean, can you believe it. Until Rita Skitter wrote that article for us last year I thought that everything in the Quibbler was absolute rubbish, everyone thought so…"

"Hermione you're babbling, knock it off." Harry said with a chuckle. "Everyone has to be wrong about something, it builds character. It just so happens that it is your turn to be wrong." His chuckle almost turned into a full blown laugh when Hermione turned her death glare on him but was spared when Moody spoke up.

"Alright let's go, and be quiet about it." Moody growled and Tonks was only to happy to get out from under Luna's glare. After a silent walk from the castle the group made their way across the still darkened grounds towards the lake where the giant squid could be heard splashing around. "Now, start running!"

"Excuse me?" Ron piped up only to be silenced as Moody's eyes turned to him.

"Do not question me boy!" He growled. "Every day you will make one lap around this lake before you begin your regular training. Halfway around you are allowed to take a five minute break before you begin again. There is to be no stopping to catch your breath and no walking. There will also be other, challenges, along the way."

"But that will take half the day." Hannah Abbott complained.

"Then you best get started!" Tonks said before she and Moody began firing minor hexes and curses at them to get them moving. And it worked brilliantly as the group took off at a fast run.

Only ten minutes later the group was utterly exhausted and wanted nothing more than to lay down and die. However every time they began to slow down to a pace that Moody did not approve of they were attacked by a barrage of curses coming in from all sides. The curses were nothing serious, just stinging and pinching hexes and other such uncomfortable hexes and curses. At one point Ron stopped for a moment only to find himself hurling through the air and landing with a splash in the frigid waters of the lake thanks to a well aimed banishing charm.

After nearly an hour and a half of solid running the group was ready to collapse when Harry suddenly had an idea. Slowing his pace down a bit so others could catch he instructed them to do the same until everyone was now running together again.

"Alright if we keep this up we will be dead before we get half way." Harry huffed as he jogged along.

"So what do you have in mind Potter?" The Slytherin boy, Harry had learned his name was Allen Samuels, asked without a trace of arrogance or superiority.

"That's easy, we stop and walk." He answered as if it were the simplest thing in the world. The others just looked at him as if he were insane.

"Are you insane?" Hermione hissed. "If we stop running than those hexes will only get worse.

"Ah, but what if we cast shielding charms and then overlap them into one shield. That would be more than strong enough to hold off those curses and much stronger ones for awhile. Long enough for us to rest for a few minutes." He explained between each breath. "Everyone up to it?" His question was met with a round of approval.

"I would be up for death right now Potter if it meant I could stop running " Blaise quipped much to everyone's amusement.

"Alright, on three! One, two, three!"

'Protegeo' An instant later ten shields flared to life with a shimmer of silver light as they were place between their creators and the attackers. Neville himself was very pleased if not surprised to see that his shield was just as strong as everyone else's. Almost immediately everyone slowed down to a walk while breathing a sigh of relief at the knowledge that they were well protected within their combined shields. However they made it only a few steps before 'Mad Eye' appeared in front of them with Fawkes on his shoulder causing them to come to a dead stop.

"Very good. If it had taken you any longer I would have hexed you into oblivion. When in a combat situation you must always remember that you are only as fast as your slowest team member. If you were to run off blindly and uncoordinated as you did in the beginning you would all be killed. However, if you stay together and work with each other, you will survive. Or at least have a better chance of doing so."

"You mean this was just a test? Run until we work together?" Ron asked in annoyance.

"Yes and no. Everything is a test, however you are also running for my amusement. Now move. All except for Potter and Zabini." Harry and Blaise stood back in confusion while the rest of the group groaned in defeat and once again began running.

"What did you want to see us for sir?" Harry asked politely.

"Professor Dumbledore would like to speak with the both of you in his office so take hold of this." He explained simply as he held out a piece of parchment. Harry cringed a bit before he reluctantly held out his hand and placed a finger on the portkey and the world around him disappeared in a cascade of colors, light and sound.

"Harry, are you okay?" Harry looked up to see the concerned faces of Albus Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall. Snape was standing alone by Dumbledore's desk looking quite smug that Harry fell over as he arrived while Blaise Zabini was sitting on a nearby couch with an unconcerned look on her face.

"Yeah, just fine." Harry replied as he pulled himself off the floor. "I hate those bloody things." He muttered to himself as he lowered himself into a nearby chair as the two professors made their way back to their chairs.

"First off I would like to inform the two of you that as I had said last night each of you will be paired up with another as leaders of specific teams. As such I would like the two of you to be the leaders of the first team." He began in a serious tone but Harry could detect a fair amount of amusement in his voice. Snape seemed to be absolutely appalled at the idea while McGonagall looked positively delighted. Blaise seemed to have the typical Slytherin mask of indifference well in place but Harry was shocked.

A Slytherin. He was paired with a Slytherin. Not only that but another student. He had thought that the students would be paired with adults since most adults would be unwilling to take orders from a 'child'.

"The reason for this is quite simple really. You, Harry, your strength primarily lies in defense and to a certain degree in charms and transfiguration. While Blaise's lean more to potions and ancient runes as well as defense. I believe that your combined attitudes and temperaments will be enough to keep even the most seasoned of your team members in line." Dumbledore chuckled while booth Harry and Blaise looked at the old man as if he were insane. "Of course there is another reason as well."

"And that reason is?" Harry questioned after a few minutes of waiting.

"Oh, sorry for that, my concentration wondered." He explained as Snape rolled his eyes. "The other reason is that I need help from the both of you."

"What kind of help?" Harry asked impatiently. He was not in the mood for games at the moment.

"We are in need of specialized talents that only you two possess."

"For Merlin's sake will you just get to the bloody point? We just spent an hour and a half running full out with Moody dogging at our heels the entire way, I am not in the mood for games at this point." Everyone present looked at Harry in shock for speaking to the Headmaster in such a way although both Snape and Blaise were looking relieved that Dumbledore may finally get to the point. Dumbledore himself had a calculating look in his eyes as if he were simply seeing how far he could push the young man before he snapped.

"Alright Harry. As the two of you are the only parselmouths we know of other than Voldemort we need…"

"Excuse me? The two of us?" Harry asked in a confused deadpanned voice.

"Yes Potter, the two of you. Ms. Zabini's talent in this area has only recently awakened. Surely even you with all your arrogance couldn't believe that no one else could possible have such a rare gift." Snape commented sarcastically, his voice filled with contempt.

"Don't give me anymore reason to kill you Snape. So why don't you run along and play with your chemistry set." Harry replied with just as much contempt and hatred. The room sat in shock at Harry's words. No one could believe that Harry Potter just issued a death threat. Snape however was fuming.

"Why you insolent little basta…" Snape's words were instantly cut off as Harry stood and leveled his wand at the potions master's heart.

"I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you Snape. You may think I am nothing more than a pint sized version of my father however there are many that could tell you that we are nothing alike."

"Potter, really." McGonagall began.

"SHUT UP!" Harry yelled, effectively silencing the head of Gryffindor House before turning back to Snape. "I have never been one to play pranks to humiliate someone so I guess I will just have to put you in the hospital wing the next time you can't hold your tongue." Harry snapped before sitting back down and turning back towards Dumbledore while Snape fumed in the corner. "Now what did you want?"

"What, oh yes," He began after shacking off his shock. "While going through some of the smaller chambers last night Remus found a library. Many of the books contained some of the darkest magic imaginable however there are many that's contents remain unknown since they are written in parseltongue." He explained.

"What, it's a written language. What the hell do snakes need books for?" Harry asked in shock while everyone else expressed their shock as well. Obviously Dumbledore didn't inform anyone of the exact nature of this meeting.

"It was not developed by the snakes, rather by a parselmouth that lived many centuries ago, long before even Salazar Slytherin, named Methina. It took her years to perfect but afterwards all parselmouths have had an instinctual knowledge of this language. From what I understand it is much like speaking to a snake, you seem to be reading in English but the writing is unreadable to others."

"How do you know this or even that the books are written in parseltongue?" Blaise asked curiously.

"In my youth I met a young man with this ability in Germany. He came across a diary written by Methina herself in which he learned of the development of this language. I was able to read much of it and found it utterly fascinating. The rest had been written in the completed form of her new system. After the completion of the First World War I went back to study it further only to find that he had been killed and the diary destroyed. Since then I have not seen this writing again until Remus found the library."

"So you want us to read through the books and see if there is anything useful?" Harry asked. When Dumbledore nodded his conformation Harry stood and made his way to the door. "Oh, is anyone down there now?"

"Only Remus and Professor Flitwick."

"Ok, make sure no one else goes down there. To make sure I'm going to change the password. I don't think it is a good idea for knowledge of Blaise's ability to get out."

"And why is that Potter?" Snape sneered. Harry had to take several deep breaths to calm himself down before answering.

"I know this is difficult for you professor but please, try and use your head for a moment. I'm sure everyone here remembers what happened when the Daily Prophet told everyone that I was a parselmouth. Everyone turned on me, claiming me to be another dark lord. Some even demanded that I be given the Kiss immediately. Now what do you think would happen to her. No offence meant, but another parselmouth in Slytherin. I'm sure you all remember who the last one was. The magical world will be screaming for her head and Voldemort will be wetting his pants in anticipation for his Death Eaters to capture her and bring her to him. You didn't think of that, did you?" Harry explained and then added after he looked at each of the professors who all had surprised looks on their faces as if they could not believe that they had not thought of that. "Shit! With all their combined knowledge and wisdom the three of them really do make half a moron." He muttered to himself as he stalked out of the office leaving four gaping faces staring out after him. After reaching the bottom of the staircase he remembered Blaise and quickly called back up for her to get a move on as he waited impatiently.

When Blaise had caught up with Harry she was obviously still too surprised by Harry's outburst to rattle on about him calling after her like some common servant. Or at least that was his first thought but he quickly pushed that down deciding to give her the benefit of the doubt about not being your stereotypical Slytherin. The trip to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom went by very quickly, so quickly in fact that he was surprised to hear Blaise gasp and realized that he had already opened the 'doorway'. (For lack of a better word.)

"Where does that go?" She asked nervously. Harry let out a long sigh before answering.

"This Blaise, is the entrance to Salazar Slytherin's little chamber of horrors, also known as the Chamber of Secrets our new headquarters. Let's go." After leading the reluctant young Slytherin down Harry pointed his wand at the opening. 'Portus Afermea, Phoenix Fire.' After the soft blue light around the entrance disappeared he continued, this time in parseltongue. 'Portus Afermea, open up' Finished with the spell Harry went down the stairs to meet Blaise.

"I changed the password back to parseltongue so when you have to leave just hiss out open up."

"Hiss, that sounds so, so… Why couldn't you just say open up?" She asked as if the thought of her hissing disturbed her. Harry paused to look back at her.

"Because if I had you would probably spend hours screaming for it to open not even realizing you had to say it in parseltongue." He responded with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, that's probably true." She agreed reluctantly before following after Harry. Looking around was kind of a disappointment for Blaise as she had heard all the stories about the Chamber being dark and terrifying when it actually wasn't that bad. The walls and ceiling of the corridor had a nice vaulted cave like look about it with a nicely polished black marble floor. Torches were spaced along the walls every fifteen feet or so giving it an almost surreal look. "I don't see what all the fuss was about, it's actually kind of nice down here."

"That's because members of the Order have been in and out of here all night cleaning it up. Up until last night this corridor was nothing more than some crude tunnel through the rock, cluttered up with fallen debris, the remains of small animals and a mass of shed snake skin. Come to think of it, the lack of an eighty five foot basilisk always goes a long way in making some place tolerable."

"Smart ass!" Blaise muttered to herself at the sarcastic tone Harry used with his last comment. As they entered the main chamber both students stopped and gasped at the sight before them.

As with the corridor leading in, the floor was now done over with polished marble while the walls retained their rough earthen look as they arched over to form a magnificent dome. Each of the dozen or so tunnels lining the walls were now molded into tasteful archways leading only god knows where. They were done in white marble that contrasted nicely with the black floor and the bark stone walls. The hundreds of candles floating overhead sent their light shining down to reflect in the marble giving the place an almost ethereal look. Harry took the changes in rather quickly and was shocked at the progress made in only one night. Magic or not that was a lot of work. Taking one more quick look around he noticed one more change that he had failed to notice the first time.

The massive statue that stood at the front of the hall was most definitely not that of Salazar Slytherin but rather that of someone that Harry was well acquainted with. He should considering he belonged to his house. Yes that's right, right in the middle of the Chamber of Secrets stood a sixty foot high statue of Godric Gryffindor.

Taking in the sight of one of the greatest light wizards in history towering over him set Harry on edge. Of all places for a statue such as this, it was not here. Granted one of Slytherin would have been in worse taste but there was no point to split hairs. Thinking of the situation quickly he could come to only one conclusion. Quickly removing his wand, he pointed it at the likeness of Gryffindor's face and yelled 'Reducto'.

Blaise was pulled out of her sight induced stupor at the sound of Harry's voice and the flash of blue light that issued from his wand and streaked at top speed towards a big honkin' statue of a man she knew to be Godric Gryffindor. Under normal circumstances she would have questioned why such a monument would be down here of all places but she was concerned with other matters at the moment, such as diving back out the entrance and hiding behind the massive iron door when the spell connected sending a shower of rocks and bust in every direction.

After casting his spell, Harry quickly cast a shielding charm on himself and sent one flying towards Blaise before dashing into one of the side chambers to seek cover from the blast. Just before reaching safety the stone face exploded in a rain of masonry.

"WHAT THE HELL!" A deep voice shouted. "Aorest"! The man yelled this time being joined by another. Almost at once the massive amounts of dust that had filled the air began to form up into one giant swirling mass before it began constricting and pulling into itself. In a matter of moments the room was clear and the full damage was visible.

Damage may have been to strong of a word. Obviously there were many spells and enchantments in place to keep the place clean and prevent damage like cave-ins because with the exception of large amounts of rubble scattered across the floor not much seemed to be out of shape.

"Care to explain what happened?" Remus asked as he surveyed Harry through piercing brown eyes as Professor Flitwick twittered with excitement and amusement as he vanished the rubble with a wave of his wand. The look in his eyes told Harry plainly that he was the one to alter the statue and that he was quite proud of his work.

"That didn't belong down here!" Harry replied simply and firmly. Of all the answers he was expecting this was not one of them. Not because it was something so ridicules or trivial but rather because he was now one hundred percent confused.

"Care to explain?"

"It's simple really. Granted this is the Chamber of Secrets and was the base for Salazar Slytherin but as this is our new base his statue remaining down here is tacky considering what he stood for. However, it would be bad taste to simply replace his face with another of the founders."

"Why not? They all stood for the light and Gryffindor led them." Remus answered back.

"So, he is not leading us." This statement only served to confuse the older man further. "Remus, you and myself are Gryffindors. Professor Flitwick and Luna and Terry Boot are from Ravenclaw. There are many members of the Order form each of the four houses. This is the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix not the Order of Gryffindor so that statue unintentionally showed a lack of respect for the other members. Don't get me wrong, you did a wonderful job on it but at this time we cant have our time wasted by arguments over something as trivial as that." When Harry had finished Remus was gaping at him with his mouth hanging wide open while tiny Professor Flitwick simply stared at him with wide eyes.

"Are you sure you weren't supposed to be in Ravenclaw Potter. That was the most wise and intelligent argument I have heard from another student in a while." Blaise stated as she made her way towards them.

"I must agree, very wise indeed. Then again with someone like Lily Evans as a mother it shouldn't be that hard to believe. Many claim that you look like your father Mr. Potter but it is clear that you inherited something of your mother as well." Flitwick replied after shaking off his shock. For a brief moment a rather intense look flashed across Harry's eyes but no one seemed to notice. No one that is except Blaise. Remus on the other hand took a few more minutes to collect himself but when he did it was right down to business.

"Um, yes, well, err lets go, the library is down this way." Remus said while leading them to the third corridor on the right hand side of the chamber. This hallway unlike the main corridor and chamber looked more at home inside the walls of Hogwarts and looked quite ordinary and spartan. They came to a large room at the end of the hall, only about thirty meters or so, and entered into what looked like any ordinary study.

The room was about twenty five meters by thirty and with the exception of a massive claw footed mahogany desk the center of the room was bare. Along all four walls were massive book shelves containing hundreds of dusty old volumes and enormous tombs. The only openings between selves were for the door and a ten meter space for a long work table with a bench that was covered in books.

"From what we've found, every book written in parseltongue is on that table there. Every book in here is in excellent condition but those are the only ones with preservation charms on them so it would take quite sometime to find out how old they are so when you're looking see if you can tell who wrote it and when as well as any other prudent information." Remus explained as he looked at the aforementioned books longingly obviously wishing he had the ability to read them himself.

"Are you sure HE shouldn't have been put in Ravenclaw?" Harry whispered to Blaise and Professor Flitwick and after a moments laughter and a long sigh of resignation he got down to work when something else came to mind. "Oh, are either of you leaving anytime soon?"

"No, we are going through the rest of these books to see what if any could help us. That alone will take some time. Why?"

"Because I changed the password on the main door back to parseltongue to prevent anyone else from coming down here while we're working. It would be a bad idea for anyone to find out that Blaise is a parselmouth as well, even other members of the Order." Harry explained as he settled himself into a chair with a book in his hands and propping his feet up on the table as Professor Flitwick responded sagely.

"A wise decision. The wizarding community as a whole as well as individuals have many prejudices and misconceptions of magic that would cause problems." With that said everyone began their work. The two older men conjured a table for themselves while Blaise took a stack of books and moved over to the desk as Harry remained in his place at the work table. Opening the first book his eyes were confronted with what looked to be nothing more than various wavy lines, mush like the tracks a snake makes in the sand. Concentrating hard on the lines Harry squinted his eyes hard but still could make no sense of them whatsoever. Taking his glasses of, he cleaned them up and then rubbed his face before turning back to the task at hand. After putting his glasses back on he was hit by a sudden idea.

'Hey, if it works with speaking it maybe it will work with reading it.' He thought to himself as he pulled out a piece of parchment and drew a crude looking snake on it before placing the parchment on the page next to the text. Concentrating on the snake he began thinking about what it was like to speak the language as opposed to simply reading it. After a moment he looked back to the text to see the lines seemingly rearranging themselves. After nearly a minute all movement stopped and it appeared, to Harry at least, that he was looking at English script. After quickly relaying to Blaise how to get started he turned back to his own work and began reading.

If you haven't already, read the author's note at the top, it is very important.

TBC