Chapter 2 Ilvermorny

As Harry gathered himself the taste of vomit prominent in his mouth he registered two things. They were now across the Atlantic on a different continent and he could now make out the features of the stranger that led them from Paris. Professor Agilbert Fontaine was slightly taller than Harry with Greying Dark Hair and a medium length grey beard and green eyes. "Please place these Gordian Knots around your neck it is the only way the castle will grant you entrance" Professor Fontaine reached into his robes and produced a handful of these Knots, took three and gave them to Harry who distributed them.

"I had been travelling to France to meet with the International Confederation of Wizards, they had something in which to inform MACUSA and I volunteered wishing to visit Madame Maxime at her school, however now I can make an educated guess at the nature of the confederations information. That would be the death of the Chief Warlock, how long as Albus been dead?" "Over a year" Hermione replied it seemed her reflex for answering questions was still strong "Oh, that's troubling I thought they would have informed us of that a year ago. Tell me what is the state of the Ministry in London?" "the minister is under the imperious curse The Dark Lord has taken over the ministry very quietly, people are sure of what is happening but unsure of who to trust so keep their suspicions to themselves" Harry replied. "We shall discuss this further in my office. First I'd like you to disillusion yourselves I would rather no one saw Harry until I have informed my teachers of what is happening then I'll inform MACUSA." "MACU-" Ron started to ask before Hermione interjected "The Magical Conference of the United States of America, the American Ministry" "you read too many books" Ron muttered. "We never finished school or even started 7th year but we have an invisibility cloak" Harry told the professor "okay put on the cloak and follow me. I will disillusion your friends".

It was midday judging by the position of the Sun in the sky. Students were roaming the grounds which were surrounded by high colourful bushes, large trees, statues and fountains. Harry could see a Quidditch pitch off in the distance. As the group approached the entrance of the granite castle they could see marble statues of the two founders of Ilvermorny on either side of the entrance. The Headmaster gave a running commentary of the grounds and was unheard by the students roaming the grounds as they were making quite a racket. As they approached the great doors opened at the gesture of the Headmaster's hand.

Inside, at the entrance hall Professor Fontaine informed the group about the four large wooden statues of the four houses: Thunderbird, Horned Serpent, Wampus, and Pukwudgie. "There is a wooden circular balcony where the older students watch in silence as the new students are sorted and is topped by a glass cupola. The Entrance hall is made of stone and has the Gordian Knot in middle of the floor. There is also a large hall where students select or are selected by a wand. A haggard looking Witch came running toward the Headmaster, "I am sorry Professor Rowand I have a prior engagement I will however be gathering all the professors together in the evening I have news from Europe and you can raise anything with me afterwards." Looking quite disgruntled at being brushed aside the professor stood there as Fontaine led the trio up to 5th floor and into his office and lifted the disillusionment charms from Ron and Hermione.

Professor Fontaine's office was remarkably unlike Dumbledore's, Harry did not know why he thought it would be the same. It was closer to the shape of a rectangle where Dumbledore's was round. There was the odd whizzing instrument and the room mostly consisted of a rather large personal library. The thing that remained the same as the Headmaster's study at Hogwarts was that the portraits of all the former Headmasters were hung on the wall. The Headmasters were either feigning sleep or actually sleeping, Harry felt they were pretending to sleep in order to eavesdrop having experienced this in his 5th year.

"How did you know who I was professor?" enquired Harry as He, Hermione and Ron sat across the desk from the Professor "Mister Potter, everyone in the wizarding world knows who you are, I wasn't sure at first, after I had followed you for a couple of hours and gotten a decent look at your face I was sure" "you were following us?" Harry said a touch of anger creeping into his voice. "You apparated into an alleyway on the 4th Arrondissement that houses several wizarding shops, I saw, disillusioned myself then followed and when you went to enter the Ministry in Paris I revealed myself. I was sure no good reason could have led you to be in Paris and decided to act. I believe it was for the best you will be safer here for longer than in France and we can prepare longer here before I send you to the MACUSA." "You're sending us to MACUSA? " Hermione asked "yes I will teach you myself in advanced transfiguration, charms, potions and defence against the dark arts before my successor at the auror department gives you the experience necessary to retake Britain from The Dark Lord. Now please tell me all that has happened since Albus' death".

For what felt like most of the day Harry recounted everything that had happened since that night on the lightning struck tower almost a year ago. How the Ministry had been corrupted from within, how the Order had went into hiding and the battle for Hogwarts. Harry had felt his vision blur a few times during the telling and attributed this to a lack of sleep. Harry had left out the information regarding Voldemort's Horcruxes still unsure if this man could be trusted or if Dumbledore would have approved. "Ahhh okay thank you for sharing this information with me now I wonder were you ever going to tell me about the Dark Lord's Horcruxes?" Harry, Ron and Hermione looked horrified "how did you know?" Harry asked suspiciously almost confirming outright that this man was untrustworthy. "Legilimency Mr Potter" "that's why my vision blurred!" Harry looked extremely miffed, having had his mind invaded so easily by a stranger. "I shall have to teach you Occlumency as well, it would bode ill should your future plans be detected this easily. It is an obscure branch of magi-" "I am aware of Occlumency"Harry interrupted. Great more mind invasion Harry felt like he had suffered quite enough intrusions of his thoughts first Snape then the connection with Voldemort and now this "I have had lessons before now". "I see I gather Albus wanted the connection closed, a wise idea" "how did you know about that?". "I just told you, I had to be sure of everything that has happened. Although I do not know how the connection occurred, I could hazard a guess, however that it is unimportant against closing the connection whilst you are at my school to protect my students and staff, we shall start that in the morning for all three of you."

The sun was setting and Professor Fontaine had gone down to the Great Hall for the evening meal not before ordering Harry under the cloak and re applying the disillusionment charms on his friends. The three friends had entered into a frenzied discussion upon the Headmaster's departure and had agreed that they felt they could trust him. The trio were however unsure whether they should remain in America whilst muggles, muggleborns, friends and families were in mortal danger. "He is returning with the heads of houses" a Witch with curly black hair informed them breathlessly as she ran back into her portrait. "I would vacate your seats and stand in the corner if I were you three". Professor Fontaine entered his study followed by one Wizard and three Witches. The Wizard was very tall, with ginger hair and was very slender Harry had quite felt he was gazing at Ron's future self. One of the Witches was quite stout and smug looking with curly jet black hair and a protruding mole on her left cheek, the other two Witches were rather tall with medium length dark brown hair, Harry thought the only way he could tell them apart was the fact they were wearing different robes.

"I have news from Europe. I thought I would inform you three first as the heads of houses before I inform the rest of the faculty". "Well what it is Professor?" The stout Witch with the mole demanded "The..." Professor Fontaine seemed hesitant to portray this news as disturbing as it was. "The British Ministry has fallen to the Dark Lord". The four professors looked shocked "what about the Potter boy? I thought he was the rallying point for any British resistance?" The tall ginger Wizard asked. "He has survived and escaped" Professor Fontaine replied "and how do you know that?" one of the tall Witches asked. "Harry please take off your cloak" Professor Fontaine requested, Harry was hesitant but felt as though there was nothing to lose by revealing himself. He stepped out from under the cloak and the heads of houses stood there with astonished looks their jaws slightly agape. "I first encountered Harry as he and his two friends apparated into an alleyway in Paris, I pursued and once I was sure it was him I approached him. Harry Potter I would like to introduce you to Professors Valentina Woodburn our potions master and head of Pukwudgie house" He gestured towards the stout Witch with the mole who nodded. "Pardus Poole, Head of the Horned Serpent house and Arithmancy professor". The first tall Witch smiled. "Professor Clipeum Cage, head of Thunderbird House and our Defence Against the Dark Arts professor". The tall ginger Wizard gave a sort of salute in Harry's direction "and finally professor Solis Salacia, head of Wampus House and our Astronomy professor". The other tall Witch bowed her head. Harry could now see that there were blatant differences between the two witches Professor Poole was considerably paler that Professor Salacia and had dull brown eyes where Professor Salacia's where a pale blue colour. "Professors this is Harry Potter the Boy Who Lived" Said Professor Fontaine.

"Why have you brought him here Headmaster? Where are his friends?" Professor Cage looked curious as to the Headmaster's plan. "They are here" Professor Fontaine waved his wand lazily and the disillusionment charms lifted as Hermione gave a small shriek. "Professors this is" "Hermione Granger" Hermione squeaked "Ron Weasley" Ron said will a small cough. "I have brought them here as they will need to be trained further than their school educations in order to attempt to dethrone The Dark Lord." The Heads of Houses nodded their acknowledgement and Professor Fontaine informed the professors not to disclose the trios' presence at the school and that they would be staying at the castle for time being.

Daily Prophet 8th May 1998

Wanted!

Harry Potter Hermione Granger Ronald Weasley

By order of the Ministry of Magic the warrants of arrest for Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley have been issued and a Forty Five Thousand Galleon reward for the capture and subsequent delivery of Harry Potter to the ministry has been placed. A further Twenty Thousand Galleon reward is granted for the captures of Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. A small reward of 100 Galleons is offered for any information that leads to the capture of the three. These three perpetrators have been placed at the top of the Ministry's most wanted list as of 11:49 pm of the 7th May 1998.

The article droned on and on in the same fashion for most of the first page. Neville Longbottom scoffed at the article as he gazed at the pictures of his three friends and the boy he thought would have saved them from the scourge of He Who Must Not Be Named . He had barely escaped Hogwarts with his life luckier than most thought Neville but he had been on the run since and the last five days had been hell. Sleeping in alleyways, scavenging scraps from bins and collecting rain water from puddles to drink. He didn't know if his Gran had survived the battle or if anywhere was safe to hide. He wondered to himself if the order was still resisting the Dark Lord and decided to put that to the back of his mind, if they were or if they had been eradicated mattered little at the moment Neville's main priority right now was survival. He had been sitting in a doorway around fifty feet from the dustbin he had seen the wizard drop the copy of the Daily Prophet reading the headline and the first half of the article, He got up and walked on. How could Harry abandon us all like that we were all fighting for him "got you now Longbottom" the Wizard Neville had seen drop the paper into the bin was now behind him as he realised he must have been being followed. Neville turned and screeched "Stupefy!" the Wizard blocked it, Death Eater or Ministry official they were both the same now and he had to beat the man in front of him. His opponent fired of a Hex, He had never been great at duelling and his blocking ability was near non-existent. He dove out the way as the hex grazed his jeans, scrambled to his feet and yelled "expelliarmus!" The man deflected the charm easily as he mocked Neville "is that all the son of the great Aurors can do, almost not worth my time tracking you". Neville's anger burst from him at the mention of his parents and fired off a hex that was deflected again. The street Neville had been on was an old industrial estate that had seemed abandoned, he had only seen a handful of people go down the street all day, he should have realised that any wizard that appeared in this street would have been looking for him. Neville's attacker was jeering and had moved into an archway of a derelict stone building that had warning signs littered all around the entrance. Neville saw his chance as his opponent took his eye off the prize to mock him more. "REDUCTO!" Neville pointed his wand at the archway above the wizards head and it crumbled smothering the man completely under dust and rocks leaving the face of the building looking like it had been hit by a wrecking ball. Relieved Neville went over to the rubble pile and levitated some if the rocks away, the man was unconscious at best with a deep gash on his head and his leg was at an odd angle. Neville raised his wand and pointed it at the wall next to the wizard and carved out a Phoenix satisfied Neville turned on the spot and disapparated with a loud crack.