Disclaimer: The same as the previous chapters.
Chapter 74
When all heads snapped at it, Sorting Hat hummed and muttered," They came...they came...so someone really summoned them...someone was eligible enough, strong enough to call for their aid...Oh, dear, oh dear, could this mean…"
Snape leaned forward, but Minerva urged the Sorting Hat," Could this mean what, please, please, Hermione's life is already in danger please tell us?"
Instead of giving a straight answer, the Hat muttered," So, Arywn...Arywn came...to guard this office….I didn't quite believe it...Miss Granger...could it be? so, Iona too..."
It looked at Potter squarely and mumbled, "Nathara, I see, her distinctly…"
"Who?" exasperated the Headmaster shouted.
The Hat snapped, "Mind your tone, Headmaster. Mind your tone, you are speaking to a piece of Godric Gryffindor's Spirit."
"My apologies, Sir. But it's my daughter…," Snape grumbled.
"And it so happens, that your daughter is my heir. What makes you think that I will put my descendant's life in danger when fragments of my spirit are already guarding her for all this while!" the hat bellowed.
"Your heir? I mean Godric Gryffindor's heir? Hermione…" Harry trailed off.
"Could it be possible? Could it be possible...Iona lived to bear a child…," The Hat rotated on its rim and barked at Draco Malfoy," You! Don't you dare stop looking in your library, don't you dare skip Salazar's books. He will know. He must have known...he alone could have joined the dots. Find the journal of Godric, son of Griffey Duir. Why of course, when I sorted her into Gryffindor I had felt it, only I could understand. When I sorted you into Gryffindor, Mr. Potter, why! I did feel it as well. But now, I do!"
Draco gulped and asked politely," Uhm, how are we going to find Salazar's books? I am quite certain the Manor does not have them. There was a journal probably written by Gryffindor, and stolen by my Grandfather from Hogwarts, but that too is unfortunately missing." The man looked quite ashamed.
The Hat was thumping around the Headmaster's desk quite in the fashion of an agitated man pacing around the room.
"Nitwit, Blubber!Ah! Now, now, now, There is yet another possibility. Tell me, tell me, why would Salazar built the chamber of secrets, keep a monster. Think, Mr. Malfoy, why did he want the heir to open it? Just to kill the muggle-born witches and wizards! Do any of you Slytherins have only one purpose in mind when you plan, plot and scheme?" The Hat shouted in frustration.
Snape ventured," No, never. Are you asking us to look further below?"
The hat twisted itself and turned at the Headmaster," Think."
Minerva was speaking all at once," Quite possible, Salazar built the chamber of secrets, I won't be surprised if we find a chamber below the existing one. After all, legend has it Salazar had planned the foundation, while Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw…"
"Gryffindor Witch, don't waste your energy recalling what roles each founder had played to build the school," the Hat chastised," instead, find the secret Library of Salazar Slytherin."
Draco had noticed the portraits were stunned by the revelations. It occurred to him, maybe this whole thing had surprised them as well. He thought hard, 'if not the portraits, then who could possibly be so old to throw some light on the way to get to this library'. He turned and urged Snape," Can you summon Bloody Baron? Probably he could know…"
Severus didn't have to call the resident ghost of the Slytherin house. It had already appeared in front of them, looking down at its misty feet guiltily. When Snape arched his brow, the ghost pursed its lips and confessed," Well, I thought, the young master was going to save the Slytherins from getting wrongly persecuted. I might have shown him the way...behind the serpents climbing the volet creepers...well then I simply forgot about it. The battle began."
Snape asked his voice livid," And who was this young master?"
"Forgive me Sir, I don't quite remember, but he was a Slytherin, an 8th Year. A survivor of the war and he looked like a vulture. Now, I know that could be a glamour," the Slytherin ghost replied in a pained voice. It all but fled, when Snape had hurled a curse at it.
Minerva tried to pacify him," Severus, once we are able to get Hermione's condition stabilized, we can hunt for this passage and the secret library. Right now, Hermione is our priority."
Snape growled," what if the answer to helping her heal in that bloody library, what if…"
"Now, Severus...stick to the plan, and once you come back, we can all go down and look today itself. I am certain Bloody Baron will show us the way without wasting any time." McGonagall reasoned.
Harry self consciously dared to ask the Sorting Hat, while the others were brooding," Who were Iona and Nathara?"
The Sort Hat replied with a fond whisper," The twin younger sisters of Salzar. Godric met Iona first. Fell in love with her, the wild girl who had lost her way in the highland woods. Toaded faced bandits ambushed them and their party of Knights. Stole the sword and kidnapped his beloved. Enraged, the young warlord hunted for the one who carried the crest of coiled serpents."
Draco exclaimed," Salazar Slytherin Crest!"
Yes! Mr. Malfoy, found the young proud wizard, dueled with him, defeated him. But Salazar was cunning. When lionhearted Godric happened to notice Nathara from a distance, he leaped with joy and ran to him. The girl had drunk back, and the brother was quick. He blocked the excited lover and readily arranged for their marriage." The Hat retold pensively.
Minerva asked heavily," And Iona?"
"Much later, much much later, Godric found he was tricked. By then, it was too late. Salazar had left Hogwarts. You see, Deputy Headmistress, Iona was righteous, and didn't quite agreed with the cunning ways of her family members. She was thus banished away. Both sisters were identical, so it was easy to fool Godric. The fall out between the two was not just because of muggles, Mr. Potter. Love and Hatred, greed, and jealousy never quite allowed them to be true friends. I don't quite remember much, you will have to find the Journal of Godric to learn more, but all I know, as long as I sat on his head, he could only love one woman, Iona."
Facing Harry, the hat hummed," Mr. Potter, you speak parseltongue, not because Voldermort made you into a Horcrux. It is in your blood, it is in your soul. You are a descendant of the slytherin bloodline as much as Miss Granger is. If my intuition is correct. You hail from the line of Nathara, whom I couldn't bring myself to love. And Hermione must hail from Iona's lost line, whom I never stopped loving."
Turning at Malfoy, the Hat mused softly," Salazar doted on his twin sisters when they were young. He always kept a tapestry of a pair of serpents coiled around violet creepers. probably, with time and tide, the animosity inherent among the two houses will die. But we will have to love unconditionally to achieve something so monumental."
Snape had already thrown in the floo powder, and once both Harry and Draco were by his side, he gave a curt nod to Minerva McGonagall and shouted," Head Auror, Kingsley Shacklebolt's office."