Chapter 5

As Severus walked through the rotted wooden doors that separated the library from the rest of the castle, he stopped and stared at what he saw. Rows upon rows of bookshelves littered the ground, wood was smashed everywhere. It appeared as though an earthquake had happened. He looked on in dismay and started rifling through the papers that littered the ground when he noticed one key factor. The papers were all students' papers. Some were essays, some were potions homework, even a few were love letters to one another. None of the papers, however, belonged to a book.

When he took a closer look he realized that there were no books in the library, not a one! The closest thing to a book he found was a stack of papers that some Ravenclaw girl had decided to write chronicling the adventures of her time and day. He scanned over them quickly, hoping to find some kind of information as to what had happened. Boys, robes, girls, one teacher who seemed out to get everyone… Ugh, this was nothing more than a teenager's dribble.

He threw the papers to the side and roared out in frustration. That's when an idea struck him. The homework! He started rifling through the papers again, pulling out anything that explained how to do spells and potions, anything at all. He even stacked beside him papers on divinations; the one class he thought was absolutely useless.

Harry made his way to Romi's group first, checking on their progress. He found that they weren't able to cut the wood off, so he transfigured axes from some of the rubble lying about. He then went to Livius' group to check on how they were doing. Things were not going as planned at all. The only thing that Livius had really been able to teach them was the swish and flick movement. "What's wrong, why aren't they getting it?" He asked to the young man beside him.

Livius shrugged. "I told them to do the movement and say the words, but they're just not doing it right." He said before returning to levitating the rocks from the floor. "This is brilliant though." A smile crept on his face. "I've never been able to control magic before and it's just… it's so- I mean look at that!" He made one rock arch high and another take only straight movement. "Can you believe it?"

Harry patted him on the shoulder. "Yeah, I can believe it." He said before looking back to the other group. "Alright you guys, listen up. I hear some of you pronouncing the spell wrong; just remember that it's levi-OH-sa, not levi-oh-SA. Swish and flick, watch me." He went over the same routine with them, getting them all to follow along. It only took him another 15 minutes, but they all did finally grasp the concept of the spell, though one boy's wand simply wouldn't produce anything.

Harry went over to examine the wand and found much to his disappointment, that the boy had dropped his wand earlier and picked up an actual stick by mistake. Since Harry knew little to nothing about making wands he decided to take the boy with him. "You, come with me. What's your name?"

"Walter Ollivander, age 15, skill 1." The boy replied, looking down to the ground as he followed along behind the strange man.

Harry stopped and thunked his hand against his head. "Ollivander, you don't know anything about your family, do you?" He asked stopping and looking back to the boy who shook his head in response. "Alright, I suppose it's time I start letting someone in. Ollivander was the name of the most famous wand maker in all of Wizarding Europe. People from France and even Romania would come to Diagon Alley just to get fitted for a wand from Ollivander. It was something the family had been doing for centuries. I think that if you put your mind to it, you can make a wand for yourself, a good wand."

"I don't- I mean I'm only 15, Sir. I think you're putting too much faith in me." The boy said, stepping back some. He looked as though he might run at any moment.

Harry shook his head and took the boy by the shoulders. "I don't think I am. I think that you don't have enough faith in yourself. Will you at least try it for me?" He requested, receiving a nod.

Harry led them outside and he started in on transfiguring several of the trees. "Now the only thing I remember from what I was told when I was fitted for my wand is that nearly any wood can be used." He stated, looking around at all of the different kinds of trees that stood tall before them. "You have to pick the wood that you think works best with yourself. Go on, touch the trees, feel the wood, and pick one that calls to you."

The boy nodded and went through the trees, feeling each and every one. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to feel, but when a spark came to his fingertips as he raked his hand across the rough bark of a cedar tree he knew that was the wood for him. He recalled seeing what Snape had done to craft his first stick and looked back to Harry. "Would you please strip a piece of bark from that?" He asked as he started searching the forest floor for a core that he connected with.

Snape had a rather large pile of papers that he towed behind with a levitation charm. He would have to go through them later to sort them by class, then if all went well he could teach them to the people that were currently in the castle. "I was going to retire after this year." He muttered to himself as he walked along.

When he got to the Great Hall he sighed and placed his papers on a table. He looked around in relief that at least one room was looking as though it hadn't been touched by time, if one were to overlook the mound of dirt and stone that seemed impenetrable. Suddenly the ground shook and Hogwarts itself rattled. Snape clung to a table but found that there was no need as the shaking stopped as soon as it had begun. On the center of the mound there sat a book, the first book that Snape had seen since he'd been there. He furrowed his brow and went over to investigate, leafing through the pages. It was Ollivander's only published book; a journal turned instruction manual on choosing wands of the right woods, cores, lengths, and sometimes secondary cores and woods. "Wonderful!" He muttered, closing the book and looking back to the mound. He placed his hand on it and closed his eyes once more. "Did you do this?" He asked, receiving no response. He frowned and felt for the core. Panic set in when he realized that the core was draining fast. The castle had used the magic that they'd been pouring into it to relocate the book that was needed most. This filled Snape with both dread that the castle could die and hope that the books were all safe somewhere. He quickly scrambled to his feet and put his wand to his throat, casting a sonorus. "Everyone to the main room, IMMEDIATELY!" He bellowed before casting a quietus and waiting for them to start filing in.

Romi's group was the first to return, everyone covered from head to toe in black markings. She explained that when the castle shook it toppled the coal that they were stacking and it had marked up all of them. Luckily, though, none were hurt and it was only a mild setback, but they had managed to clear the entire ground floor of the Grand Staircase from the mess and they'd just started on the steps themselves. He sent Lika out to gather some of the coal and bring it into the Great Hall. It was already too dark and the only light they had was moonlight seeping in from the windows that had been cleaned.

Livius' group was the next to return, minus the one boy, and they reported progress as well, though unfortunately they had been breaking windows that didn't need to be broken in an effort to find somewhere to put the rubble. Severus decided that he would scold them for breaking Hogwarts property later, but then chose not to. The castle wasn't really anyone's property anymore.

When Harry and the boy Ollivander returned, Severus finally started in on what he had to say. "The castle is dying. This room holds the core and as such it needs the most magic." He mentally slapped himself when he realized that this was the reasons the feasts were always so grand, candles were always floating, and the Headmasters had never done much about non-offensive spells being cast in this room. "One person is incapable of delivering the magic that this room needs, however if we all work together we can keep this room sustained. It only takes a very minute amount of magic and energy to set a candle to float permanently until one's death; however the magic put off by such a permanent thing will undoubtedly help to sustain the castle. Potter, first tell me, why did you take the boy away?"

Harry cleared his throat and looked back to Walter. "He's an Ollivander, Sir. I was having him make his own wand."

Severus looked intrigued. He took the book over to the boy, seeing his escape from having to learn to craft wands himself. "Study this. Learn it inside and out until you could recite any passage at any time. This is your legacy; this is your family's area of expertise." He told the boy quietly before returning to his spot. He started in on teaching the group how to apply a sticking charm alongside a levitation charm so that the candles could float without needing to be concentrated on after the initial spell. He also set in to teaching them how to transfigure coal into candles.

Harry took this time to go and do what the house elf had told him to. He snuck out of the room and made his way up the treacherous Grand Staircase, at one point even having to grow several vines so that he might climb up them. He nearly stepped on a small rabbit once, but he did make it to the Headmaster's office. Casting a Lumos from his wand to lead the way as night crept on, the darkness sweeping the entire castle, Harry went searching in the Headmaster's office for the history that had been lost. He found himself, instead, face to face with a pensive that held a single silvery strand inside of it. Harry fought with himself for a few moments but ultimately he decided to dive in head first, so to speak.