Please reread Chapter 23, content was added to that chapter, after it was originally posted.

Into the Founder's Library

Before Neville could speak a word of protest, Harry stuck his hand through the golden gleam of a ward on the white marble archway that was apparently the entrance to the Founder's Library. Harry inspected his hand, "Looks like a heavy duty cleaning spell, but no abrasion." And he stepped through the arch.

Neville shook his head, and stepped through as well.

Rows and rows of dark wood bookshelves spanned from floor to 20 foot ceiling on the left side of the room. Harry was mildly surprised that the shelves were so close to each other, and that there were no ladders to access the higher books. The right side of the room had five desks built into the walls. The room was c shaped, apparently following the curve of the central shaft, with 4 marble pillars, two flanking the doorway they entered through, and 2 on the opposing wall. Directly above each of the five desks was a mirror, above which a tapestry hung the rest of the distance to the ceiling. Though the one at the far end of the room, had the Hogwarts seal, the rest were the signals of the houses.

"Guess we don't have to guess who owned what."

They wandered over to the desks, Harry heading toward Ravenclaw, and Neville to Gryffindor. Harry noticed dark stains on one corner of the tapestry; something all the more remarkable in a room as clean and as well preserved as it was. Lifting the corner, Harry revealed a set of shelves and drawers. On the lowest shelf there were stacks of parchment, an inkpot, and scraps of what might have been feather quills. Quills were useless if spelled with any sort of preservation spell near the nib, as it would repel the ink. Harry still didn't know why wizards didn't use fountain pens, and Neville hadn't known they existed.

"Neville, look under the tapestry." Harry had moved on to the next cubby, and sure enough there was a similar arrangement of shelves, with loose parchment.

"Wow, Harry, he's got the designs for security in the Forbidden Forest here." As Neville used his wand to gently turn the pages of the parchment, Harry inspected the other desks, verifying the shelves were there for all the desks, each with their own materials to explore.

Harry came to a stop next to Neville, starring at a list for plantings for the Forest, and requirements for the diets of magical creatures. "Who would have thought that Gryffindor would be a doodler!" Harry pointed at the drawings around the margins.

"Aren't doodles supposed to be off topic? Looks like this is a picture of a witchfinder being strangled by devil's snare."

"Witchfinder?"

"See the cross there, and the pointy scarf? That's about how they are depicted in the storybooks Gran read to me. Looks like the village that used to be on the other side of the Forest had nearly drowned some girls, testing them for being witches. That's why they planted the Forest between the village and the school."

"Wow. I'd have thought the Forest was the reason the school was built here, rather than the other way around, but I guess a thousand years would be enough time to change an orchard of sorts into a wild forest."

"I wonder if there is a copy of what was actually done. It would be amazing to compare to a map of Hogwarts grounds today."

Binns flew into the room, the doorway making a ringing noise that Harry hadn't heard when Neville entered. The boys turned in time to see the ghost enveloped in a purple haze as he went through the cleaning ward. "There's a locked door on the lower staircase, with snakes as the lock, could you please open it, Harry."

Though the ghost's words were polite, the tone was more of a command. Despite that, the boys followed the ghost out the door, after Neville levitated the pages back on the shelf behind the tapestry.

Perhaps it was the lack of security on the Founder's Library that made Harry a bit nervous as he approached the vault door. It was thicker than the other doors that lead to the chamber, with snakes locking it, but with the addition of a dragon in the center of the door. (What do you guard?)

To Harry's amazement the snakes answered in English. "The experimental laboratory."

Unable to control his parseltongue, Harry asked, (Open up, please.) The door swung open, and Harry and Neville moved forward only to be stopped by a golden ward. (Silly, Humans, there is no oxygen in there. You must wait for fresh air.)

Neville nudged Harry, but the snakes repeated the chastisement in English, before Harry could try to translate. The professor decided to go back to the library to create an inventory. After casting a cushioning charm, Neville and Harry sat on the landing outside the lab. "What time is it, Harry?"

Harry did a quick tempus, which showed it was nearly 9.

"Are you sure you don't want Dumbledore charged yet?"

Harry swung his head to look at Neville, "Where did that come from?"

The other boy sighed, "We've barely left the Room, are exploring one of the most significant historical finds in ages and are watching the clock…"

"Even if I trusted whoever the Headmaster was, I don't think I would tell about this. If this got in the wrong hands… Voldemort would definitely be interested in this."

Neville sighed again. "So after the inventory, did you want to go back to the Room and go through the books we haven't read?"

Harry shrugged, "They are part of the Castle, right? Maybe that is why the Room of Requirement was created, to be able to access their library without coming down here."

"Maybe the general shelves, but I doubt the ones behind the hangings were available."

Harry nodded, "The bindings seemed different on those – maybe their research logs? And we haven't really gotten any loose parchments. Getting down here is such a pain, but there wouldn't be any distractions from students."

"If they were concerned about keeping their work private, we might not be able to remove them from the library."

Harry shook his head, "Maybe on the general collection, if the Room tie in is right, but I don't see them doing any experiments in the library there. Especially with this lab here."

The snakes from the door interrupted them, "You may enter."

In the lab there was an entire wall of potions ingredients, and other supplies behind glass cabinet doors. Whatever process the lab had gone through had preserved the room thoroughly, as it looked nearly brand new. Harry began looking though the ingredients, which were in glass jars with colored lids – green ones said good and a few red ones that said stale.

"Neville, I don't think we need to wait to brew our potions anymore."

For those wondering, the library itself was evading description for quite a while. Sorry for the delay.