Sorry about the wait, I'm not dead I promise.

Enjoy :) SuchaNarcissist

~~#~~

§Parseltongue§

Bold is notes or screaming, it should be pretty obvious which.

~~#~~

My eyes are wide open,
I see the enemy, the hypocrisy,
Your cover is fading,
Secrets pouring out, castles falling down.
My Songs know what you did in the dark – Fall Out Boy

~~#~~

It hadn't even been a week back at Hogwarts and Hadrian was bored, the teachers were running around the school desperately trying to find six missing children who apparently had come to Hogwarts and been kidnapped by something so awful that the deputy headmistress had had to have a medicinal obliviate to save her sanity. It was hard not to laugh watching them, as it turned out if the children weren't found within a five day period then the ministry would be called in to evaluate school safety and to decide whether or not to keep the school open. The one thing that the school valued most- its autonomy- could be taken away so easily.

It had taken a full two days for Hermione to snap and ask where they were, Hadrian was honestly surprised she'd lasted that long.

"Hadrian you must know- otherwise I'd never find you because you would be all over the castle looking to find them so you could know how they'd hidden so well."

"Just because I don't go wandering off to look for a group of dim-witted first years does not mean that I know where they are."

"Look Mr Evans I think I know you well enough by now to assume that you always know where the bodies are buried so fess up."

"Look Hermione even if I did know, what makes you think that it would be something you would like to know?" Hadrian queried, the endless questioning was getting annoying and within a five minute period Luna would almost certainly join them, meaning he had to either explain or change the topic and fast.

"I put a high price on knowledge Hadrian you know that, and I'm guessing it's not pretty- but tell me anyway? Please?"

"Hermione if I tell you, and I might not, you will not be able to forget it and you will never look at this castle the same again."

"So you do know!"

"Yes Hermione I knew as soon as it happened, I've kept it quiet because although it used to be a well-known fact it fell out of favour as more non-schooled muggleborns came into Hogwarts."

"As it happened, an event then. A covered up well known fact indicates undesirable, scary or somehow dark. What does non-schooled mean though? I went to school before Hogwarts, oh wizarding education then. But surely the teachers mustn't know this fact or else they would have informed the ministry by now. So a fact that fell out of fashion for purebloods more than a century ago, hence predating all available copies of Hogwarts: a History, therefore censored, therefore indicating something bad about Hogwarts not the teaching in of itself. Can' be the chamber of secrets- too well known- I don't know what it could be, my knowledge of Hogwarts only extend to copies of Hogwarts: a history contained within the school library." The brightest witch of her age almost went cross eyed with concentration as she tried to recall other sources of knowledge from her mental library. "The only thing that comes to mind is the location of Crosnos the sours' body, and his family."

"Very impressive and quite correct considering. The only mention left in recent textbooks that I have found in the last two days is the vanishing forces of armies attacking or invading Hogwarts, most often put down to internal defences- but never actually verified in most textbooks. The simple fact is that Hogwarts is carnivorous."

"Carnivorous- a meat eater- but Hadrian, a castle, Hogwarts-castle, rock, no teeth, how?!" Was the confused response.

"Hogwarts is the most magically powerful building in existence. That energy could not come from a singular ley line, or even the intersection that Hogwarts stands on. Those power the unplottable wards over Hogsmeade and the Forbidden forest as well as the lesser siege wards. The real power of the castle comes from what it was made from, granite- a strong magical repeller that when infused holds ward schemes perfectly, but requires huge quantities of energy and oak a magically powerful wood that when doused in pure magic can shift its structure and form, creating an incredibly stable building. If combined and coated with raw magical potential as Hogwarts was, the very fabric of the building takes up a life of its own- adapting to suit the needs of its people, in this modern bathrooms, secret passageways and bedrooms with the right number of beds. In the past Hogwarts has shifted to resemble a fort or keep in times of war and only sprawls when relatively safe."

"So Hogwarts is sentient, believable with magic- after all portraits. But Carnivorous?"

"Due to the magic resistant nature of the materials Hogwarts is made from and its transitionary nature I presume that the castle steadily depletes its resources, additionally past headmasters all add on to Hogwarts wards, overlaying them until they are not just useless but incredibly power hungry. From what I can tell the latest overlay of wards pushed the castle from the positives into the negatives, thus it required a new power source- or six."

"How can they be a long term power source if Hogwarts is eating them? Their magic would fade- and how do you know this?"

"The simple fact is that they and 3,000 others like them are entombed within the very walls of Hogwarts, sustained to generate a steady supply of magic for Hogwarts to use on portraits, stairs, shielding, elves, heating etc. Most of those 3,000 are from the besieging muggle armies form the dark ages. They were allowed to attack by the founders so as to provide a strong power source. There was never meant to be a need for more, but as the population grew so did the need for magic and more had to be added. There was a failsafe in place though, the founders in all their wisdom devised a device to 'kill' criminals, a passageway of sorts, leading straight into the stomach of Hogwarts."

"Two birds with one stone, dangerous criminals incapacitated and Hogwarts gets extra energy. Why does Hogwarts need more then?"

"For one most of her supply is muggle energy and is not quite compatible so doesn't provide as well. For another many of the original armies are finally fading from what I can tell in the two thousand years since their entombment there has never been a real need, but with such an internal failure and with the ministry repealing most death penalties as too final-"

"There's no in source of energy! Only outputs and with muggle repelling wards up the only source is students, so she took a group of firsties- innocent and naïve and left unattended. The perfect prey, plus with their youth their bodies would hold out longer and their magical cores will adapt to the drain ensuring that the supply will be much larger than that from older students."

"I'm glad you understand. Worried about your mental state. But glad." Hadrian laughed "How the tables have turned."

"Why worry about my mental state, darling when yours is clearly so much worse, after all you felt this happen- and knew what it was! How did you know- for that matter, where did you find out all the details- and two thousand years?! The recorded start date for Hogwarts is just over one thousand years ago." Said Hermione, all previous worry had fled from her expression at the idea of forgotten knowledge.

"Muggle technology can do many things, but breaking through a broad span ignorance ward covering the entire world, cast with the life force of four hundred wizards is not easy." Here Hadrian paused waiting for the reaction he knew it would cause. Surprisingly the only reaction was a dropped jaw and a hand motion from Hermione. "The reason for this spell was the period of time known as the dark ages, during this thousand year period several wizarding warlords came to power- completely destroying all muggle resistance and leading to a period of bloodshed that the wizarding world willingly forgot."

"So the spell..." Trailed Hermione, her extraordinary brain unable to find the answer in any of the texts she'd read.

"The spell was performed with the ideal of blocking those years from muggle minds forever, as a side effect it hits most muggleborns and weaker witches and wizards, with the true facts it is easily overcome. The spell needed so many to give their lives in order to cover the entire world, in equivalence it condensed a thousand years of history into a period of time approximately a decade long, worldwide. This resulted in a sudden surge of intelligence of muggles as their minds tried to encompass the inventions created to counter wizard kind, as muggles become more interested in history the spell struggles more and so more knowledge 'leaks' resulting in things like the muggle 'industrial revolution' all based off ancestral ideas for detecting and preventing magic, but bastardised; which is why they do not work in the presence of magic or explode violently."

"So muggle invention is reliant on interest in the concealed period of history. And modern day inventions are unable to work against magic because the ideas from a thousand years of work were jumbled into the minds of scientists." Fear and wonder were evident in her eyes but she never once doubted the history she was learning.

"Yes, more worrying is the constant innovation of muggles, it indicates the spell needs strengthening- like Hogwarts its energy source has grown thin. I wouldn't be surprised if buses full of tourists start disappearing around wizarding monuments like Stonehenge."

"Why Stonehenge? It has little to no significance in the wizarding community just an old pile of rocks."

"Stonehenge and several other stone circles were erected as anchor points for the spell, which is why their origins are unknown, muggle minds cannot comprehend the time period they come from. Other monuments exist at other locations across the world. Typically they are as mystical sites or sites of natural beauty where the high levels of magic have kept the plant life alive. As for relevance to wizards, they hold little significance especially to the weaker legions who are fooled by the spell as well as the muggles are." Deciding to leave before Hermione could ask more questions Hadrian grabbed his bag and escaped from the library, ducking down a side corridor and stood behind a suit of armour. Less than two minutes later hurricane Hermione followed, heading straight along the corridor.

Still hidden behind the armour Hadrian turned around and came face to face with a tiny etched snake.

~~#~~

Thanks to all the loyal, loyal minions who have put up with the long wait.

Enjoy :) SuchaNarcissist