Chapter Fifty-Six

"You are certain this is the correct path?" A larger bearded man asked, pensive. It had been a hard year and much of his optimism that had been ever-present at the beginning of their quest had been tempered vastly. Namely, his companions thought wryly, it had been the dragon incident that had truly robbed the man of his assurance that everything would always turn out fine.

"Godric," their dark-haired guide warned. "If you complain about the length of our trek once more, I will transfigure you into a toad and feed you to Satha."

The redhaired man, Godric, winced at the threat. "I shall endeavor to keep my thoughts to myself, Salazar."

"One day the both of you will be without our company to keep the peace," a plump woman known to her companions only as Helga sighed. "Rowena, do you perhaps have a notion of our intended rest spot for the night?"

Rowena was tall, with flowing dark hair braided down her back and a simple diadem upon the crest of her head. The diadem was a family heirloom, one of the few of them that had survived a vicious attack that had ended in the complete destruction of her ancestral home.

This was not an uncommon story, sadly. The group of four each shared a similar story. Salazar, the current guide to their next planned destination, had lost his little sister and mother to the mobs that had destroyed their home. Helga had watched as her brother, an ungifted that had grown bitter towards their parents, had led the mobs to their doorstep and joined those that sentenced their parents to death. Godric had watched his childhood friend turn on him and bring death to his family's doorstep.

The crime that they had committed was that they had been born with magick. For that, they had been killed.

They had all been lucky to have escaped. Helga's brother had loved her and made sure she had not been home when he'd brought the mobs. Rowena had been out gathering herbs and had come home to find it destroyed. Godric had been hidden by his parents when the mobs had come, spelled with magic so that they could not find him. They could have lived, had they not been stripped of their wands, which had been their only way to avoid the fires.

Salazar had been getting medicine to treat his sister, who had fallen ill. He had returned to find the bodies of his mother and sister handing from the rafts of his house. It had been a young boy who had the gift that had turned them into the mobs. The boy had been hanging there as well. His deeds had not saved his own life.

The four had met not long after.

First, it had been Godric, who was seeking the ancestral land of his ancestors. He planned to make it a safe haven for those who wanted to escape the ungifted who hunted them. In his search, he had met Salazar, who had been wandering, acting as a healer for those that needed it. Saving everyone he could of their kind. A great addition to Godric's plan. Made more so as Salazar could read maps far better than Godric had ever managed. It was for that reason that it was Salazar who guided their group now.

Afterward, they'd wandered into Helga, who ran a smuggling ring to save gifted children born to ungifted parents. She had heard Godric's plan and had decided to help, so long as they saved all they could. He had easily agreed.

Last had been Rowena, who had brought the idea of instructing the children they rescued. Many of their kind died due to not knowing the spells that could save their lives. The three had thought that was a wonderful idea and Rowena had joined them.

"We should be nearly there, now," Godric answered in Rowena's stead. "According to the map, this forest should be the last we need to trek through before we reach Gryffindor Castle."

Said map was currently in the possession of Salazar, the only among them that knew all the symbols and their meanings. Godric had lost the privilege of map guide in a most spectacular fashion.

"Hogwash," Helga sighed. "You have claimed so for the last three days and yet still, we walk."

"We shall make camp just over this hill," Rowena interrupted, her voice clipped. "Your map, Godric, is very old. The landscape has changed since it was drafted. We shall set off again in the morn."

"Aye," Godric agreed, reluctantly. It was true enough.

"Recall that it did not warn of the dragon," Salazar reminded Godric, the very event that had lost Godric the privilege of map carrier. "We shall not have another repeat of that incident. Nor shall we risk your genius response should we happen upon another dangerous creature."

Godric huffed. "How was I to know it was a dragon? I thought it a rock!"

"Why, exactly, did you decide to tickle what you thought to be a rock?" Helga asked, humor in her voice.

Godric grumbled and said nothing. His three companions all knew that Godric had been drunk at the time. It was not worth another round of teasing by stating this aloud once more.

Thankfully, for Godric, they reached the top of the hill before such things could continue without his input. There, they were stunned silent by the beautiful tree that turned the barren forest into lush greenery. "Oh my," Helga breathed.

It was a magnificent tree, surrounded by grass and life that spread as far as the eye could see along the path. A herd of unicorns grazed not far from them, content to ignore their presence. Mayhap they did not even know what a human was, for Godric's ancestors had not lived in this castle for a century. According to the family records, the woods around the castle had become unfertile and yielded no crop no matter what magic was cast. The hope had been that the land would become rich again should it be given time.

It seemed that his ancestors had been correct, Godric grinned as he looked around. He had been unhopeful, as they moved through the dead trees these past three days.

They would not be camping outside until morn, either. There, just past the horizon, was the peak of a castle tower.

"I said that we would arrive soon," Godric told the other three, smug. "Welcome to Gryffindor's Castle and the Warts woods."

The ward stone was nothing like the name implied. It wasn't a stone, for starters.

Taller than Harry, the ward stone was a gorgeous blue crystal that coated the room in magic. It was weight of the magic in the room pressed down against Harry's skin. There was no doubt that the magic which had gone into making this was immensely complex, far more complex than Harry had though the founders capable of. This looked nothing like the ward stones that had been more commonly used during the time of the founders. In fact, this looked nothing like any ward stone Harry had seen used in this world.

The magic here, while strong, was not nearly what it should have been. Harry could see the weakening of it, the magic within the crystal dimming further with each tendril that left it to fuel the wards surrounding the school. Those black spots upon further inspection were not parasites but parts of the crystal that had lost all magic. Not as problematic as a parasite, yet just as bad a sign.

"Oh, my," Dumbledore said, his voice filled with wonder and the beginnings of understanding. Harry glanced to the older man, confused by the tone. Relief was not the first emotion that the black-haired boy would have attributed to the sight of the dying ward stone. The gleeful twinkle of blue eyes told him that there was more to this Harry knew.

'I might have an idea,' Gabriel whispered, the voice of the archangel oddly subdued. 'I think, though, it would be better for Dumbledore to explain.'

"My boy you might have just saved everyone within this castle," Dumbledore told him, as if in response to Gabriel's words. Harry knew better than to think it anything other than a coincident. If Dumbledore was like Luna, Harry would have known about it much, much sooner than now, nearly three years after Gabriel had become a dominant part of his life.

"Why is that?" Harry asked, knowing that he could expect an answer now that Dumbledore didn't think that he was just a child. Being an Archangel reincarnated came with perks like that.

'More downsides than perks," Gabriel snorted in response. Harry ignored him, attention completely on Dumbledore.

"The Ward Stone's location was recorded only in a book that was burnt in a fire hundreds of years ago," the Headmaster explained. "Afterward, only the Headmaster knew the location, passed down by word of mouth."

"And then the Headmaster who knew died before he could pass it on," Harry guessed, confident that he was right. Really, what a stupid way to do things. They should have included it in another book, made sure that something like that never happened. Relying on word of mouth was dooming the whole thing to failure.

"Exactly right," Dumbledore hummed. "Exactly right. Headmaster after Headmaster has searched the castle for the Ward Stone's location and found nothing. The once-powerful wards, sustained by magic given by each new Headmaster, started to lose power."

Until it was possible for trolls and horcruxi to make it through, putting all the students at risk. Harry wanted to groan, maybe go back in time and smack someone. This explained everything that Harry had been wondering about the school. In his past lives, there had never been as many problems arising in the school as they did now. Aragog and his brood would never have been allowed this close to the school, for one. The forbidden forest, while still forbidden, had been nothing like it had become today. It had been more like the areas near his Tree, filled with green life to go along with the deadly monsters. As it was, Harry suspected that the Ward Stone was drawing power by draining the magic that had once kept the forest green.

'If that's the case,' Gabriel began slowly. 'Then this stone wasn't placed here. In fact, none of this was dug by humans. I think that we're in what used to be a natural cave system. That stone is part of a ley line. It's not a crystal at all. Can you get closer to look at those black spots?'

Harry moved, curious as the implications of Gabriel's words started to sink in. Dumbledore made a noise, probably about to ask what Harry was doing, falling silent when Harry gestured at him to wait. It felt weird to be the one Dumbledore deferred to, even now so long after being something far more than 'just Harry'. As he walked closer to the crystal, Harry could see what Gabriel wanted to know. Those dark spots, part of what appeared to be a crystal, were made of the same rock that adorned the hallway and studies of the founders. It was the very same rock that made the 'elevator' leading to these room.

"What does this look like to you?" Harry asked Dumbledore, a suspicion forming as he started putting the clues together.

Dumbledore gave him an odd look before answering. "It's a stone carved with the most complex runes I've ever seen," the old man said.

Harry turned back to the stone, narrowing his eyes in an effort to focus past the shimmering glow that screamed 'crystal' to him. Just beneath the glow, Harry could see what could have been runes.

He had forgotten that his sight was far greater than a normal human. Harry could see magic in a way that mortals weren't supposed to be able to. The runes concentrated the magic of the ley line into the stone, where it was siphoned into the Hogwarts wards. 'That doesn't explain why the Headmasters need to add their own magic to it,' Harry thought in confusion. If this was drawing from a ley line, it shouldn't need additional magic. It definitely shouldn't be running out of magic to the point that it was draining the magic of the nearby forest.

'They did something,' Gabriel said. 'When the founders made this stone, they did something more than just drawing on the power of ley lines. If we could just see the runes…'

If they could see the runes, Gabriel would be able to tell what it was that required the contribution of a Headmaster's magic. "You don't happen to know what the process for adding your magic to the ward stone is, do you?"

Dumbledore's expression turned from curious to grave. "I'm afraid that information was also lost," he admitted. "The only thing that we know is that a Headmaster must contribute magic to the Ward Stone. My boy, what is it that you see?"

Harry debated it, trying to figure out if telling him everything would help or not. Deciding that he needed to try to trust the man, Harry filled Dumbledore in on what they knew, the way the Ward Stone looked to Harry, too bright to see the runs underneath. As Harry told the man their theory, Luna joined them.

"Oh," the Ravenclaw breathed, eyes filled with wonder. "It's so pretty. Is it supposed to be yellow?"

Harry blinked, startled. "You see yellow?" he asked, his eyes still focused on the stone. The color remained the same light blue it had been since he'd first laid eyes on it.

"Like the sun," Luna agreed, her voice still dreamy.

"Ley lines shine blue," Harry whispered to himself. He wasn't sure why he knew that, couldn't bring up the memory that told him as much, it was just another odd fact that the teen just knew was true. "Luna, do you see any other colors?"

Harry experienced the world on a different wavelength than normal humans did, but it wasn't to the extent that he had when he was Gabriel. Everything looked different in those memories, where physical forms hadn't even been thought yet. Luna was a human gifted with the Sight. She saw more than normal humans and less that an Archangel. If Harry was right, she was seeing a layer that Harry hadn't regained the ability to see.

"Yellow," she said. "Bright and blazing like the sun."

What kind of magic was yellow?

"I know very little about magic color theory," the Headmaster sighed. Harry must have said that out loud then. "I've never had need, such things are usually reserved for those who practice curse breaking."

"The glasses!" Harry yelped, the niggling memory finally coming to him. It felt like so long ago.

"We need to call Bill Weasley," Harry said, grinning even as apprehension began to curl within his stomach.

"It is peaceful here," Salazar said as Godric joined him. They sat in the tower of Gryffindor castle, gazing out to the lands around them. Magical creatures roamed the grounds freely, never straying too close to the castle. Even abandoned for generations, the wards still held strong. Rowena was over the moon about it, determined to discover just what Godric's long-dead ancestors had done to keep the wards in such a pristine shape so long after the last human graced these walls.

"Aye," he agreed. "Tis more than I thought it would be as a young lad."

That was true, even. As a child, Godric had always wondered about the castle, the reasons it was left abandoned, the image of a dark and dreary place the only option his young mind could conjure. This was nothing like that, filled with life and beauty, a large lake filled with fish and creatures that Godric had only ever heard tales of. Untouched by the ungifted, a sanctuary for the magical.

The idea of children running with the herds of unicorns, singing with the merfolk, safe to be who they had been born to be filled Godric with hope. Hope for a better future, where gifted and ungifted lived in peace, however it may come to be.

"Helga wishes to invite gifted born to ungifted families," Salazar said. The route of the problem that brought the other man up here.

"Aye," Godric agreed, solemnly.

Helga meant well, they both knew that. She had not thought her words through before she was speaking them, forgot who they were talking to when Salazar protested against such a thing. It was not something that Salazar would have ever taken well. Not with the image of his family, hanging dead from his home after being betrayed still fresh within his mind.

"I propose a compromise," Salazar said, glancing toward Godric. "She is right, in a way. Risking them being trained as a weapon against us would put everything we hope to achieve into danger."

That was not, exactly, what Helga had said. Godric fought down a laugh, knowing that would only incite further argument. Salazar was not one to compromise often, he did not wish to risk his friend changing his mind.

"You said that there were natural cave systems underneath the castle?" Salazar asked.

"Correct," Godric nodded, intrigued to see where this was going. "They were sectioned off after an infestation of Boggarts took over the tunnels."

"My proposal is clearing the caves and creating a siege hold," Salazar said. "One that can only be accessed by our descendants using the magical gifts unique to us. Should we be betrayed and should the wards fall, we would have a place to keep safe from the mobs."

Godric thought about that. Thought of the threat that had sent them all exploring, the danger that the ungifted were, and smiled.

"I think, my friend, that would be the perfect compromise."

The two watched as the sun began to set, it's like reflecting off the dark lake.

On the morrow, they would start to bring their dreams to life.

I live!

Holy hell, it's been nearly a year since I last updated this. It really doesn't feel like it's been that long. College makes everything go by faster I guess. I'm going into my last year of undergrad now, picked up another concentration, and then minor as well. I can't remember why I thought that was a good idea but I did it anyway. Even now, I'm still in classes (online obviously) so I don't even really get a summer break. Which is probably for the best considering the new lack of options for anything else. I can't even go to work every day. Not something I thought I would ever complain about but here I am.

I hope you all are doing well in the chaos that the world is currently going through. Jokes of leaving the house aside, please be safe. The threat is very real, no matter what protestors might think, social distancing is necessary right now. I, myself, have had family infected. Thankfully, they got one of the lesser strains and are better now, but it happened because she was taking care of her mother on the day her dad died. All it took was a hug from a hospice worker. That's it, that was her only exposure. She was wearing masks and gloves and that still wasn't enough. Staying home and being laid off might be horrible now, yes, but would you really want to risk it? And even if you didn't get sick, you can still pass it on. The woman who hugged my family member wasn't ill, had no symptoms, hadn't even known she'd been exposed. So please, please be careful and follow social distancing. If we don't, we could find ourselves right back where we are right now come fall.

Sorry for the heaviness but I felt like it needed to be said. I hope you all enjoy the chapter and keep safe.

~MisteryMaiden~