Hermione slowly released Severus' hand when they came to the center of the entrance hall. Her heart was beating excitedly. The castle's first floor was nearly intact, aside from some dust looming in the air it looked suspiciously maintained. The entrance hall was brightly lit with beautiful colors that came to life from the rounded glass ceiling three stories up. The designs too far away to clearly discern from the first floor. The grand winding staircase was broken but the debris had been cleared away to someplace unknown. Two large golden doors sat straight ahead on the first floor gleaming in the light and calling to them both.

Two large circular stones held center stage, one black the other white. Inside each one stood the eye Hermione had seen from Severus' ancestry book. The black held the seers' eye while the white held the legilimens' eye. Her mind cycled through the blueprints before she was able to guess what lied just beyond.

"It's...the Oracle's room..." Hermione kept her voice a low whisper, she didn't know why but she it didn't feel right to speak too loudly in the otherwise silent hall. She turned her eyes up to gauge Severus' reaction but his face was only furrowed with concentration.

Severus only gave her a sage nod before turning his head toward the east wing, or rather where the east wing should have been. It appeared as though the stone steps missing from the staircase had been used to block off the large archway. As amazed as he was, there was a niggling in the back of his mind. Who or what had done it, more so, why was this room so well maintained?

"We're not alone here...keep on your guard."

Hermione nodded slowly and took a small step forward, the feeling of stone shifted to tile underfoot and she turned her head down to the elaborate design that had been made on the floor. Her brow furrowed as she recognized the lunar and solar designs and she lowered down onto one knee to touch one of the embedded stones. Her brain clicked away for a long moment before she gasped softly and turned her head up towards the skylight.

"This... this is what places the wards over the entire town...look Severus." Hermione pointed to one of the stones just ahead of her that was partially glowing from the light that shined down from above.

Severus turned his head away from the west wing to join in her observation, his head tilted to see the same patterns and sigils she had, "You're right..." Even for a learned man as he, he couldn't help but appreciate with quiet awe at the magical power held just beneath their feet. So many ancient magic lost to the ages hidden away here.

"We must be sure to be out before sundown." He kept his voice just as low as hers as he came around to look at the design from a new angle. His eyes narrowed as he followed the winding paths in the design, "I don't think we'll be able to leave the castle after that..."

"Noted..." Hermione swallowed slowly, coming back to her feet, "Do you...do you think they would have put the orb or stone inside there? They didn't exactly hide this one..." She pointed behind him to the golden doors.

"It's possible..." Severus nodded his head turning to look at the doors while Hermione came back to his side. The entire air of the place felt heavy, as if something very powerful and very dark had happened there. Severus took a deep breath and placed his hand on the door, a quick glance to his side brought Hermione's focused face into his line of sight. He let out a small noise as he tried to turn the handle but found that it wouldn't move an inch.

"It's locked?"

"I don't know, alohamora." Severus pointed his wand at the door but it still didn't budge, he released it with a small sigh turning his head up to try and decipher the markings over the frame.

Hermione pursed her lips too and took a small step back looking over the door. Her eyes caught on the large stones on each door and her brow furrowed just a little, "Severus...try this one." Hermione pointed to the door that held the legilimens' eye and stopped out of his way.

Severus did as he was asked taking hold of the handle, the eye inside the stone glowed green for a moment before the door gave way. He smirked and glanced at Hermione who was sharing his excitement before he let the door fall open just a bit more.

"Ignatus," Hermione smirked just a bit wider when the dark corridor sparked to life, the torches on the sides heeding her command to light.

"Know-it-all," Severus said his words with kindness though he did receive a weak backhand to his side when she passed. He cast one more glance behind them before stepping into the large hallway.

They both walked down into the darkness, the light of the central room dying out quickly. The further they went the stronger the pressure inside Severus' skull became. They took a small winding bend that led to another long walkway before they found themselves standing in front of another elaborate door.

Hermione couldn't resist reaching out to touch the ornate design before trying the handle for herself. To her great surprise, the handle gave way, allowing her to reveal the secrets hidden within.

The room was large and circular, a complete sphere made of stone with a narrow walkway that led to the center. The smell of stale water hit them both and they each let out a small noise of disgust. Hermione brought her sleeve up to her nose and took a small step into the room turning her head up to the small circular windows that allowed just a small beam of light at different angles highlighting the old dusty looking pillows that sat at the end of the walkway. The holes were no larger than a dinner plate, and there were only 12. They appeared to be placed strategically as well so that the room would be naturally lit at any time of the day.

Severus hissed when the pressure inside his head came to a crescendo. He turned his head down looking for the source of the smell as well as any possible reason why his head felt as though someone was holding it in a vice. His eyes caught sight of water that looked as though it had been meant to be filled halfway up along the sides of the room, though time appeared to have evaporated it to a small puddle just below the center platform. There were no railings or any other manner of safety precaution along the path either which further led him to believe the room had been filled halfway with water in its original state.

Hermione was careful with her step, keeping her head down and her wand out just in case she would need to break her fall. A small glimmer of metal from inside the pillows had caught her eye and she desperately wanted to investigate. The path was wide enough for two but she was mindful of its age as she walked. When she finally made her way to the center and stepped into the small den of pillows she was greeted with a small circular band that to the untrained eye would have looked like a decorative headpiece. It was laying on top of a pillow possibly left there by its former owner.

Severus could not bring himself to go further into the room. The entire design felt as though its only purpose was to amplify his natural power of seeing into the mind. He could feel it pressing dangerously against his shields that he used to keep the world out. Even still, he could almost see through Hermione's eyes and feel everything she was thinking at that moment. It was enough to make the room spin.

"Severus... are you alright?" Hermione had picked up the headpiece, after checking it for curses of course, and had turned to show it to him only to find that he hadn't fully entered the room and was holding his head.

Severus ground his teeth as voices, faces; that he'd never seen before started to assault his inner eye. Greyed flashes of people whose faces held no name and spoke in a language that he did not understand. Like a psychic echo lost in time.

"Fine...I just..." He closed his eyes tighter trying to push back the overpowering feeling of concern wafting off of her. He took another step back, through the doorway hoping that would ease the pressure. It had but only just, it was like her mental field was bouncing all over the occlusion walls, even though there was no sound it was disorientingly loud.

Hermione pursed her lips making her way back as quickly as she dared. Though the room had no obvious effect on her it was clear that it was doing something to Severus. She slipped the headpiece over her wrist and gently guided him back into the hallway before she pulled the door closed. "Let's get you out of here okay? Severus? Severus, can you hear me?"

He could, in fact, hear her but the noise of her rampant thoughts overshadowed her voice. Instead, he allowed her to guide him by his arm back through the hallway as he was still unable to open his eyes. When he felt the sun and smelled the clearer air of the entrance he felt the power from the Oracle's room waning. He'd never felt anything so powerful before, not inside his own mind. He wasn't even a full legilimens, he couldn't ha e imaged what that room would have done to someone with a stronger power than he.

"There we go...shh that's it..." Hermione guided him to rest against the wall before reaching up to thumb his cheek. When he finally pulled away the hand that was shielding his eyes she gave him a concerned look. "Are you okay? What happened...was there a curse or...?"

"It was the room...the design...maybe I don't know..." He grunted softly rubbing his temple one last time before the calm and quiet returned to his inner thoughts. He let out a slow breath before catching sight of the headpiece hooked around her elbow, "What's that?"

"It was in the room, I checked it for spells..." Hermione trailed off, reaching down to pull it from her arm and show him, "I thought it might have been a crown at first...but I don't think it is... I'm sure I've seen one of these before, I just can't remember where."

Severus took it from her hands turning it in the light above, he too recognized its design but it took his scrambled brain a few moments to find its name, "It's a suppression shield."

"A what?"

"Seer's and Legilimens use them to focus their power." Severus turned it again seemingly in the proper direction, "But this one... actually looks like its designed to..." Severus trailed off turning it in his hands again. The more he looked at it the more he was sure he was wrong. He glanced at Hermione's eager face awaiting his response He had an idea but the only way he could be sure was to do what he was about to do. If he was wrong it should have done nothing, but if he was right... "Hold still."

Hermione blinked dumbly for a moment and only turned her eyes up when Severus brought the headpiece down over her hair. The ring was large, as though designed for a man but her thick hair more than made up for the difference. He turned it just slightly, aligning two green stones against her temples.

Hermione was confused for only a second before she felt her inner thoughts suddenly cluttered. She swayed slightly before she was able to bring a little focus to the thoughts moving around her head. Then, something familiar, something she had only been able to feel when they were wrapped in each other's arms, joined together in the most physical of ways. Her eyes widened when she felt his thoughts lightly grazing over the top of her own, she'd felt it before, of course, but it had always sounded outside her mind in the air between them. Now, she could feel him in her heart and her mind all at once.

Can you hear me?

Yes. But how? I'm not looking at you..and were not...well...

It's the headpiece, it amplifies natural psychic abilities. I would imagine that if you used it inside that room you'd hear a lot more than what I'm projecting to you now.

Amazing...is this...what you feel all the time?

Sort of.

How do you keep thoughts straight?

Practice. Severus gingerly pulled the headpiece from her head. He lifted her chin and waited for her to come back to reality. He could hear her mind turning, scrambling to orient itself. After a few calming minutes she was able to clear her thoughts and open her eyes.

"We're taking that with us."

"Whatever for?"

"What better way for me to learn occlumancy than with something that actually makes it worth learning. Besides, I don't think its fair that you're the only one between us who can actually read the mood."

Severus smirked a little and offered it to her, "I think you've done just well without it but I won't argue."

"You are a clever man." Hermione gave him a cheeky grin before pulling her small bag from her hip. She slipped the band safely inside before turning her head slowly down the west wing hall. "I wonder what else we'll find..."

"Only one way to find out." Severus rubbed his temple absently and made to follow her, he glanced briefly at the door they'd just passed through before putting his focus back forward. If there was an amplification band, perhaps there was a suppression shield as well. What he wouldn't give to have true silence.

oOo

They'd made their way down, opening doors that were able to be opened along the way. There hadn't been anything really worth investigating as they went. They'd passed what appeared to have been a music room, partially collapsed, the second floor seemingly having been a storage room for old furniture. They hadn't been able to enter as the door had been jammed by something neither of them had the inclination to move. They'd also passed what appeared to have been a kitchen but the smell alone had kept them from going inside.

The further they went, the more in decay everything seemed to be. When they'd finally made it up to the second floor, after rebuilding the partially collapsed stairs, Hermione had pulled out the blueprints she had copied from the archives at the ministry. The part they were supposedly in should have held the private rooms and parlors of the castle's past occupants. Though neither of them felt up to digging through the deceased private rooms, she kept them on course to finding the hallway that was meant to lead them to the library.

"It should be...down the hall beside the...throne room."

"Throne room?"

"That's what it says." Hermione turned the map towards one of the large windows lighting the hall before pointing to the ancient runes written on the map, "They were royalty...I mean what Prince doesn't have a throne room?"

Severus snorted slightly turning his head down the hall, he could see a large opening at the end and could only assume they were headed in the proper direction. "That was probably the room at the top of the central staircase. The one we couldn't get to."

Hermione hummed and nodded her head folding the map back into her back pocket. The air was a bit thinner on the second floor, but she too was starting to feel a weight inside the castle. "Do you think they had crowns?"

"Logic would assume." Severus took the lead, making his way back to where they'd started. His eyes looking out the windows from time to time. It was still a lot to take in that something so grand was by birthright his to claim. All the history inside its walls, his to call his own. He'd never thought of himself more than a lowly outcast, forsaken by those who had been meant to protect him. Had his mother even known?

Hermione kept her focus, even as they passed another door, their small experience inside the Oracle's room had left her hungry for more. Hungry for something amazing. Something truly magical. She didn't really care about monarchs or crowns or anything remotely relating to anything so prestigious. She would have loved Severus no matter where his rung hung on the social ladder. It was just exciting to learn about the past.

"There, that hallway should lead us to the library."

"I thought you wanted to go to the throne room?"

"Later, maybe on the way out? It's not going anywhere right?" Hermione had already started down the hallway she'd pointed out.

Severus grinned and turned on his heel with a shake of his head, that woman, and her books. He was already mentally preparing himself for how he was going to convince her not to try and teleport the entire library into their small little home.

Hermione was starting to think she'd taken a wrong turn when the modest hallway opened up to a grand atrium sized hallway. The walls grew from one story high to three stories high and two large two-story doors appeared out of the golden light that poured in from the windows. Beside the doors stood two ravens, nearly the same height as Severus, one to each side as though guarding the entrance; their eyes white and black respectively. The entire hallway must have been extremely intimidating in its time, though now, it just looked like a secret hidden away garden. The windows towards the second half of the hallway were broken and large vines had started to grow their way up over the vaulted ceilings. The floor leading up to it was covered by a sunbleached runner that looked as though it might turn to dust as soon as it was stepped on.

"I hope the books faired better than this hallway..."

Severus hummed his agreement turning his head up to make sure the vines that were growing weren't magical in any way. He didn't have anything to save them from a poisoned thorn. A soft underlying scent hidden beneath the strong smell of earth and dust told him they must have bared fruit, though it wasn't yet time for any fruit to be growing he could make out some small buds along the sunnier patches. Reassured that the vines were harmless he motioned them on taking care to step over the crawling branches.

"They really liked ravens..." Hermione felt a small chill go down her spine when she got close enough to see into one of the eyes, it was spiraled just like the doors. She swallowed down the lump of ambivalence and joined Severus at the doors where he was patiently waiting, a small smirk hidden in corner of his lips. Taking a deep breath to steady her excitement, she placed her hands on the doors right beside his and together that gave the aged wood a heavy push.