Chapter 17: The Come and Go Room
The dust had settled but the British Minister of Magic was still in the Great Hall dealing with the headache of disciplining his own rogue employees and sending off letters to his peers. It was going to be a very long week. The paperwork was going to be astronomical. Somehow the scene reminded Kakashi of a similar one that, he felt, took place not so long ago.
"I suppose we'd better go let Luna know that the coast is clear," Professor Jones said brightly.
At this suggestion Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the cheerful Headmaster. Neville just shook his head. "I'm telling you, you two have got it all wrong and have been suspicious of each other for nothing."
Still frowning at each other, Kakashi and Professor Jones followed as Hinata began leading the group to where she'd tracked Luna earlier. Professor Jones glanced at the Hokage. The wizard could smell a quiz a mile away. He was not disappointed.
"Why were you at Leaf Tower that night Professor?" Kakashi queried lightly as they ascended some stairs.
Headmaster Jones didn't have to ask what night the Hokage meant. The awkward professor shrugged. "I'd placed an extra layer of enchantment on your door, overtop of Dumbledore's original one. It alerted me that someone had tried to force entrance into your wing shall we say? I went to investigate. From what you described, it sounded like they used darkness powder to cover their escape."
Kakashi hummed thoughtfully. "We now have a couple of guesses who the culprit was, obviously, but what my sensor picked up didn't seem normal…" He looked around at the magicians at large. It was Hermione who answered.
"They could have done an animal transfiguration. It would have gotten them away faster and confused your sensor," the witch said.
"Like an animagus?" Harry asked thoughtfully.
Hermione shook her head. "Sort of but not all human-to-animal transfigurations are that advanced. Remember when Viktor did a half transformation into a shark during the lake task? He did that on purpose. When you do an animal transfiguration, a complete one, you take on that animal's intelligence level. The animagi retain all of their human intellect which is why they have to register. By only doing half of the transfiguration, Viktor got the gills and fins that he needed, but also retained his human mind so he was capable of transfiguring himself back. Some wizards have done full transformations without anyone knowing and remained in their animal forms forever, not having the intelligence to change themselves back. If you do a full transfer, you should really have help, but Viktor wasn't allowed it for the tournament.
"I'm guessing that whoever your intruder was transfigured themselves, or someone else did it. When they ran into Professor Jones's spell they panicked and returned to their teammate."
This information was mulled over as they continued to follow Hinata all the way up to the seventh floor. When they reached a solid stone wall, Hinata stopped, looking puzzled.
"I don't understand," Hinata explained to the group assembling around her. She was standing facing the impenetrable surface. "Miss Lovegood is behind this wall but I haven't been able to find a way to the other side yet. I don't want to break it." The implication that she could indeed smash down the wall was clear. Harry, Draco, Neville, and Hermione gulped and looked at Professor Jones.
"It's the Come and Go Room," Professor Jones said in full teaching mode. Hinata's comment about possibly destroying a wall in his school didn't seem to faze him at this time. "There is no door unless you already know how to get in."
"The what?" Harry, Neville, and Hermione asked simultaneously. Harry himself was especially surprised that the Come and Go Room had never shown up on his map of the castle. Hogwarts itself was unplottable but since the Marauder's Map showed only the location of things inside of the school grounds, and not where the school was in the world, it was still a functional map. But Harry had never considered that there might be another location inside of the school itself that was unplottable as well.
Jones shook his head absentmindedly, "Peeves mentioned it once so I asked the house elves about it. They know everything about the castle, some things even the ghosts don't know." The wizard looked at the wall fondly, a small smile on his face. "It doesn't surprise me that Luna found out about it." Then he frowned and turned to Hinata, "although it is odd that you could find her if she meant to hide." He looked at Hinata's eyes with polite interest.
"Not if Luna only meant to hide from enemies," Kakashi commented lightly.
Professor Jones caught his eye and smiled a small smile. "I'm afraid I've been overly defensive." He turned to Naruto, "your power, I don't understand it but it is quite overwhelming. I have spent my entire life developing my skills for defense against the dark arts and then you arrived with something in tow that I could never hope to defeat. You left me at a loss which made me suspicious and defensive."
Naruto beamed. "You aren't the first person to be afraid of me Professor."
"Naruto always wins everyone over in the end," Sakura commented, smiling at her friend.
Jones quirked an eyebrow, a frown forming on his lips. "That doesn't make me feel better."
"Not in our job description, sorry," Ebisu ribbed. Then he turned to the wall. "So how do we contact Luna?"
"Oh," Professor Jones jumped as if waking from a dream, "of course of course, one moment." He turned to the group, there were eleven of them in all. "If you all wouldn't mind following me please? Um, just think about how we need to collect Luna, safely."
The ninja and wizards nodded but were instantly confused when the Professor, instead of leading them to a door, started pacing back and forth before the wall that Hinata had indicated. When they just stared at him he stopped and looked at them. "Follow my movements please, or it won't work. And remember, concentrate on getting Luna back."
Shocked, the ninja and wizards followed the man's instructions. After three turns in front of the wall, a wooden door appeared with an iron handle. Professor Jones stepped forward confidently and opened the door.
The door led to a large room with a fireplace opposite the entrance. On the right hand wall there was a spout with water trickling out of it into a font below where it splashed happily. There was a row of beds on the other side and near the fireplace there were several armchairs on an area rug. Bookcases lined the stone walls.
In one of the armchairs sat Luna Lovegood, reading a book from a nearby shelf. She closed it, smiling up at them. "Everything alright now?"
Draco looked exasperated. He started to tell her off but stopped himself and instead said, "we were all very worried about you Luna. When I couldn't find you-"
Luna smiled, her eyes kind. "Draco, you should have known I would hide. I'm the only way that the Elemental Delegation can return home. Now wasn't the time for me to fight even with you there to protect me."
Draco took a deep breath but instead of yelling he let out a quiet, "I know."
Guy chuckled, reaching up to pat Draco on the shoulder. "Just let it go my friend." As an aside he continued, "and your restraint has greatly improved, I'm proud of you."
Draco gave him a weary smile. "Use makes master."
"I can't believe Sirius never told me about this place," Harry said, a little annoyed. He looked around the spacious room. It would have been the perfect place to study for his NEWTs when the first and second years got to be too annoying in the Gryffindor Common Room. Harry had been able to find his own niche of course, every upper-classman did, but still, the sheer convenience of the room was astonishing.
I led a team to guard this school for two years and didn't know about an entire room? Kakashi sweat dropped. Guy patted his arm in sympathy, as if reading his mind.
"Did it never occur to you Mr. Potter that there were some things in Hogwarts that your father and godfather did not know about? And consequently, could not put into their fantastic map of the establishment?" Professor Jones said, not at all star-struck when he looked Harry in the eye.
Harry was again reminded of Dumbledore and how Headmasters tended to know much more than they let on. It unsettled him that Jones knew about his map but not sensing any malevolence from the man, only gave him a questioning look.
"The house elves really do know just about everything, you should talk to them sometime," was Jones's only answer. Hermione nodded in smug agreement.
Feeling embarrassed, Harry tried to think of something to say. "Ah, Teddy speaks very highly of you," he said awkwardly. What Teddy had actually said hadn't sounded so formal but was just as positive as Harry's rewording.
Jones looked at Harry for a second, wheels turning in his head. Before Harry could correct himself the Headmaster had connected the dots and smiled. "Mr. Lupin? He does Hufflepuff proud. We expect to see great things from him in the coming years."
"He doesn't have the map," Harry blurted. He wasn't sure how but somehow Professor Jones's look made him feel like he was in school again himself.
The Headmaster smiled, trying to put the man at ease. "I never said he did."
At this point Luna stood up to join the group. They were gathered at the door like guests who had yet to be invited in. "Shall we stay here or leave?" Luna said, trying to change the subject for Harry's sake.
No one spoke, not wanting to make the first move. Draco, of all people, walked over to an armchair and plopped down into it. He didn't say a word.
"It's been a long day for everyone," Guy commented. Eventually they all made their way over to the fireplace and sat around it. As luck would have it, or rather magic, there were just enough armchairs to seat everyone.
Abruptly Jones turned to the Hokage. He opened and closed his mouth several times. Finally he just decided to jump right in, for better or worse. "I know it must be a touchy subject but…Friend-killer Kakashi?" The Professor trailed off, unsure if he should have asked at all. The comfortable silence became heavy.
Guy pursed his lips but waited. Ebisu straightened in his cushy seat.
Kakashi hadn't even stiffened at the name. Finally he spoke. "A very long time ago, my…friend ran herself through on my blade. This blade," Kakashi ran his hands through the familiar signs and his gloved hand glowed and sparked with lightning chakra. "It's a technique that I invented myself when I would have been school-age here. It's designed to kill instantly."
The same type as his shield, Jones thought. He used his killing weapon and turned it into a protective barrier. "Circumstances?"
Kakashi appreciated the straight forward interrogation. "She'd been turned into a-" he struggled for a way to explain it to an outsider without revealing Naruto's weakness, "weapon to be used as soon as I rescued her and returned her to our village. She would have killed a lot of people and destroyed our home. She couldn't make me understand. She-" Kakashi stopped abruptly, realizing that he was rambling.
"I see," Professor Jones said. Somehow, Kakashi thought that Jones actually did see and wasn't just saying that to be comforting.
The former ANBU ninja cleared his throat. "Afterward it was an especially dark time for me. I had been closed off before but after that incident I was unreachable. The nicknames sprang up and I did nothing to deter them, it kept people away."
Naruto and Sakura were completely still, drinking this information in. They had heard the rumors and knew them to be true. Guy's non-responses and quick shutdowns were confirmation enough. However, no one had ever been willing to tell them exactly why or how the names had come to be. "Son of the White Fang" was easy enough to figure out. Similarly "Copy-ninja" and "Hero of the Sharingan" were simple to deduce. But the two in question had always disturbed and puzzled them. Sensei was quiet, calm, and efficient, but cold-blooded? It hadn't made sense. On the bridge in Wave Country he'd gone from fighting Zabuza to the death to carrying out the man's last wish. Kakashi wasn't cold-blooded nor did he enjoy killing.
Harry, Neville, and Hermione too sat quietly, absorbing the information. It was one thing to hear it from Ebisu, who apparently had glossed over some details, but it was quite another to hear it from the guard captain himself. And this had all been going on before they'd even met Kakashi, when he'd arrived to lead a team not much older than themselves. They considered Kakashi to be a friend but there was so much they didn't know about him.
Some friends were like that, Harry reasoned to himself. He thought of Sirius and the things his godfather had done when he'd been younger. You didn't need to know every inch of someone's past to know them. Their current actions could be enough. The boy who lived looked at Professor Jones thoughtfully.
"This school is very special," Guy said simply. It was clear no one wanted to press Kakashi further. The silver-haired Hokage had sat back in his chair, closing himself off but not completely.
"Even though it's absurd," Kakashi added. He was not disagreeing.
After several minutes of silence, Luna spoke up. "Draco, I know you suspected the phones long ago-" She left the statement unfinished.
The blond shifted uncomfortably. "It was more than a suspicion," Draco said.
"Go on," Harry prompted, annoyed at being the last to know.
Draco sat forward and tented his fingers. "The ministry suggested the idea for magically modifying the muggle's telephone system under cover of the muggle-integration initiative. Really though, it was an easier way to monitor people's conversations. There are many ways to protect the floo system from being watched. Its enchantments make it almost impossible to interrupt or intercept an exchange without being in the physical room on one end or the other. The Muggle Phones in Wizard Homes was the ministry's pet project; they could do practically anything to them and it would be legal. The second you agreed to have it put it, you agreed to their conditions."
Harry turned to Professor Jones. "Tonks was upset that you didn't have a phone put in at Hogwarts."
A flicker of past confrontations sparked in Jones's eyes and he puffed himself up like an owl shivering in the cold. "I run a school, not a nursery! If students want to communicate with their parents, or vice versa, they can write letters like they always have. Unless their children are incapable of writing…" The Headmaster's sentence faded away into an angry grumble.
Luna repressed a snort. Harry cleared his throat and said, "when did this grand migration scheme begin to pick up steam? This was the first I've heard of it."
Luna immediately frowned. "I wasn't the only one interested in Dumbledore's writings."
Draco sat up, face solemn. "I can see where they're coming from." Ebisu raised an eyebrow at the Slytherin, eyes flashing dangerously.
"Draco doesn't mean about the invading your land part," Hermione said soothingly. Guy watched Draco intently as the man pulled his thoughts together.
Malfoy spoke, "they're just so sick of hiding. Some wizards still dream of a land of their own. They don't want to hide from the muggles, but live freely with them as you do with your civilians. They want to ride their broomsticks openly from town to town. They don't want to be apprehended every time a spell goes amuck and gains unwanted attention.
"This wouldn't be a problem except they also want to reign supreme, not answering to the muggles in the slightest. We wizards still rely on non-magical beings for many things. Food, for example, can be conjured or transfigured into being but when it's made that way it will not sustain a person for long if at all. Some wizards grow their own food but the majority of our population relies on provisions from muggle farmers. Still, by muggle standards even the needs of our largest settlement go completely unnoticed. We have a different power but the muggles still outnumber us.
"The wizards who spearheaded this movement would like to rule your world in the open, using the non-magical people as slaves. Since your people have to be trained to use your power, rather than it naturally sparking among wizards or muggles as magic does, they could be easily oppressed in time. They would, depending on how strong you are, attempt to either cut you in or cut you down."
"It's not a bad idea, for them," Kakashi commented. "But they were rash and didn't have enough information. Continued communication would give them the knowledge they'd need to take us down." He frowned in thought. Even Naruto had his weaknesses.
"We'll protect you from our end," Neville vowed, surprising everyone. He looked each of the ninja in the eyes.
Harry recovered first, "of course."
Hermione nodded, smiling through her misting eyes.
"With everything in our power," Draco added sincerely.
"We promise," Luna said.
Everyone turned to look at the Headmaster. He shrugged, "you'll always be welcome at Hogwarts. But I'm not sure what aid I can provide beyond that." Even with this humble statement, plans were forming in the Headmaster's mind.
Kakashi could think of several things, things he knew the Headmaster must be aware of. Influencing an entire generation or two of students was one example of a way that he could help. "Sometimes a good teacher can make all the difference," Kakashi said. The Hokage looked at Guy, and Draco couldn't help but smile. Naruto and Sakura, however, were looking at their silver-haired sensei.
Author's Note: Just one more chapter folks and that'll be that!
If my calculations are correct, Teddy Lupin is heading into his second year at Hogwarts. This story takes place in the summer so he'll be returning, along with his fellow Hufflepuffs, for the coming fall term. Professor Jones knows his students (including their nicknames) and their family connections as well, especially when someone has a famous godfather like Harry Potter. But, keep in mind, just because Harry frequently sees his godson, doesn't mean that Remus and Tonks are dead. It's not really relevant to this story so they won't be coming up in the narrative but they are indeed alive in this universe.