SUMMER OF FREEDOM

The first thing on the elder's mind that summer was the loss of the philosopher's stone. They cussed Dumbledore to set a trap easy enough for eleven year olds to figure out, but that was of no use. No use crying over spilt milk they say. They needed to see how far the Goblins had progressed in destroying the Horcruxes. So they set up a meeting.

Three days after returning from school, the group portkeyed into a private room of Gringotts for the meeting. Rubober and, to their surprise, Goyle greeted them. The goblin ritual masters briefed them that they had determined that there were only other five such pieces of soul containers which needed to be destroyed, all inanimate. They already found four. The fifth was unreachable as it was at Hogwarts. Severus decided to get it as, if anyone could fool the Headmaster it would be him.

The Goblins suspected that it would be the lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, as they had found an artefact of Helga Hufflepuff among the Horcruxes. Once all the pieces would be in their possession, they would be able to determine the location of the main soul piece roaming about this plane and they could exorcize that soul piece at the same time as they destroy the Horcruxes. That would end the Dark Lord once and for all. Severus decided to hurry. It needed two weeks to brew the elixir of life and Voldemort's minion has had the stone for almost ten days now. They only had four days to obliterate the soul or the task will be made more difficult if he was successful in conjuring a body for himself.

They spent another hour brainstorming ideas about where the diadem could be. Caerwyn suggested to talk to the ghosts, as they have been at Hogwarts longer than anyone else. It was also decided that Caerwyn would come with him as will Elix. Their excuse, Severus forgot to take the list and supplies of the potions he had to brew over the summer for the infirmary. Caerwyn did not want to stay home alone so he tagged along and Elix will be staying with them this summer on the order of Madam Pomphrey so that he doesn't over exert himself.

When they reached Hogwarts, met Dumbledore and proceeded towards the Hospital wing, they changed their tracks as soon as Dumbledore was out of sight. Elix took up the Gryffindor house ghost while Severus moved towards the Dungeon to talk to the bloody baron. Harry, rightly so, decided to seek the Ravenclaw ghost, the Grey Lady. He found her in the foyer of the Ravenclaw tower.

It was difficult to get the information from the Grey Lady as she was very mistrusting of anyone asking for the Diadem. Turned out she was Helena Ravenclaw, the last known owner of the diadem. It was said that the diadem contained immense knowledge and she was already deceived once and the Diadem was now defiled. Caerwyn understood that the one to defile the Diadem was Tom Riddle. He said so. He then proceeded to explain the whole scenario to her, including how the same person had defiled him too but now he was free and he wanted to free the Diadem too, of the evil that lurked within.

She stared at him for a long time, as if searching for something, maybe his truthfulness. As if finding what she was looking for, she said to him, "It's here, in the castle, in the place where everything is hidden. If you have to ask, you'll never know. If you know, you need only ask."

Caerwyn thanked her and left. He did not know what she meant but he was sure his dad would know. So he rushed to find his father. He found him agitated on the corridor leading away from the dungeons. On asking, he said that he could feel the bloody baron knew something but was uncooperative.

"Don't worry dad, I found something. But I need you to decipher it."

And he repeated what Helena had told him. Severus stood there for a long time repeating the verse in his mind but could not put his finger to it. He knew what it meant, it just was not coming to him at that moment. Elix found them in that contemplative silence. When Severus did not answer her, lost in his thoughts, Caerwyn repeated the verse to her too. She immediately said, "Doesn't it coincide with the rumoured room of requirements?"

Severus jumped. "Oh Elix. You are a life saver. Yes, yes, it would definitely mean the room of requirement, but how to find it?"

"With the help of a house elf of course. You high and mighty wizards do not think very highly of their power of service."

"That's great aunt Elix. Pompeii." Caerwyn called.

"What did young master need?"

"How are you doing Pompeii? Do you miss your little snakes?"

"Oh Pompeii misses them all very much, specially young master Caerwyn, who is so kind to her."

"I miss you too Pompeii. Now, will you help me with something?"

"Yes, yes master. Pompeii will be happy to help."

"Thank you Pompeii. We are looking for a room where things are hidden. It is called the Room of Requirement."

"Oh yes. We elves call it the come and go room. It is in the seventh floor. Pompeii will lead you to it."

"Thank you so much Pompeii. Please lead the way."

And thus, Caerwyn led the gobsmacked elders behind Pompeii to the room of requirement. Severus knew that Pompeii served the Slytherin dormitories but to see his son interact so effectively with the elf stunned him. Even house elves liked him. Of course they would. His son was very lovable after all.

Finding the Diadem was not difficult. Difficult was to stop oneself from giving into the lure of the knowledge, coupled with the evil soul practically calling you to wear it. Elix helped. She had brought a moleskin bag with her into which she shoved the diadem before she could give into the temptation. Women were emotionally stronger after all. Both the males were useless in this as they were pushing and fighting to get to the Diadem. When the enchantment broke, they felt really ashamed that they could not control themselves. They left the room, heads bowed in submission towards the oh so mighty Elix.

Things after that went back to normal. Voldemort was no longer their concern. The Goblins would see to it. They were paying a hefty amount to them for the job after all.

Epilogue:

It's been five years since the exorcism of the evil Dark Lord and the subsequent death of Quirinus Quirell at the hands of Goblin warriors when he tried to stop the rituals. The funny thing was, fanatics like Malfoy didn't even know and were still lying in wait for the resurrection of their Master. How stupid of them. Caerwyn spent the last five years in relative peace. After Voldemort's ultimate end, Severus declared him his adopted son, though the back story remained as it is, for security reasons.

Right now, Caerwyn was enjoying his summer holidays before his last year at Hogwarts. His now best friend, at least according to his father, Gregory, was visiting. They always shared his room when he visited. Severus was woken up by a nightmare and wanted to check on his son so he walked up to the fourth floor, where his son now resided alone. As he got near the door, on silent feet, so as not to disturb his son's sleep, he heard noises from his room. Turned out he would not be disturbing his son's sleep but something else.

"Ohhh… Caery… . Love… yes… harder… yeah… yeah… . Ohhhhh my godddd" that was definitely Gregory.

Heavy panting and a deep voice said in reply, or rather purred in reply, "Yes Greg… ohhh yes… take it love… yessss… oh you are so tight Greg… .. Fuck… . I love you Greg… . Fuck... my cock feels so good inside you."

If Severus had any doubts before, the last comment cleared it up. He hastily retreated to his own room on the first floor that he now shared with Remus. As he entered, he found his now husband wide awake and worried.

"Is everything alright Severus? Where did you go?"

"Yeah everything is fine love. I just had a bad dream and wanted to check on Caerwyn."

"Is he alright?"

"Oh absolutely. Couldn't be better."

"What do you mean?"

"Let me show you what I mean love."

With that, Severus divested both of them of their clothes and proceeded to show Remus what he meant. Needless to say, Remus loved it, as was Greg loving it three floors up, judging by his screams every now and then that could be heard by even the house elves sleeping underground.