Chapter 25: The Secret Buildings
Harry and Ron found Neville hand in hand walking with Hannah in the hallway on the first floor of the East Wing of the castle – on the Marauder's Map, Harry and Ron had saw quickly the dot with Neville's name above it. It was no wonder that Neville had chosen to spend his time here with his girlfriend, because only Switch or Mrs. Norris could usually be met here on Sunday, which meant that this part of the castle was especially quiet and peaceful if someone didn't come here on purpose.
Seeing his Gryffindor classmates, Neville looked quite surprised.
"Hi, Neville," Ron and Harry greeted him, "Oh, and hi, Hannah." When the friends had also greeted them back, Ron began, "Look, Neville, I really need your help."
"How possibly could I help you?" Neville asked in surprise.
"You see, it's about Hermione," Ron said, not really wanting to tell him about his problem in Hannah's presence, so he gave her a significant look. She seemed to understand his hint.
"Neville, I'll leave you with your friends. I have some girl things to do anyway. See you again after lunch, okay?" Hannah kindly suggested as she looked at Neville.
"Um, okay, then after the lunch," said slightly confused Neville, and then Hannah smiled at him and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek as she said goodbye, then she released his hand, turned and walked away to her own business.
"Well then, what's the matter… with you and your Hermione?" Neville asked Ron curiously as his friend was looking at Hannah going away with a strange grumpy expression on his face. Harry guessed that he was a little jealous that even always shy Neville had a happier love life than he did.
"Yeah, well, you see, I and Hermione had some kind of disagreement," Ron began awkwardly.
"Shortly," Harry interrupted him, wanting to explain the situation to Neville more quickly, "they both had an argument about some, so to speak, nonsense, so Hermione now asked Ron to bring her a bouquet of real flowers every day for a whole week."
"That's why we came to you," Ron said. "I have no idea at all where I could get even a single flower in such a crazy winter frost. We hoped you'll know how to help me."
Neville scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully. "Well, it's not easy with flowers at this time. I think there isn't any kind of flowers blooming in the greenhouses now, in any case, there aren't such flowers that could be given to a girl."
"So it means you can't help me?" Ron asked sadly.
"There're other ways to get flowers," Neville said with a smile. "They could be bloomed. There're some species that can be bloomed in a few days."
"In a few days? But aren't there ones that could be blossomed in a couple of hours; aren't there such ones really?" Ron asked, feeling hopeful.
"You see, there is such a thing with the blooming that if you want the flower to keep its blossom for at least a day or more, the plant must be grown slowly. If the flowers are bloomed quickly, they also wither very quickly," Neville explained.
"But it is technically possible to bloom the flowers though they last for a short time, right?" Ron asked to be sure.
"If you're satisfied with the option that they'll wither in a few hours, then the answer is yes," Neville confirmed.
"That's great – how can we do that?" Ron asked, already feeling excited.
"We just need to get such a plant that's able to bloom in general, but whose blossoms haven't flowered yet. We probably need to go to look somewhere near the Forbidden Forest, and then we could try to blossom it," Neville explained.
Ron looked very happy about it and was ready to go look for such a plant right now. Harry decided to wait for Ginny indoors – he was sure that Ron and Neville both will be able to deal with their flowers, so he went to the library to spend some time with Hermione while Ginny discussed the Quidditch matters with Alicia.
In the library, Harry found Hermione right away. She was reading her Arithmancy textbook so intently that she jumped in her seat as Harry pulled a chair from under the table and sat himself opposite her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Harry apologized.
"It's fine," Hermione said as she waved her hand. "Sometimes such a thing happens to me if I read something too intently. And now I finally managed to find one corner of the library, where there's peace and quiet. These mad Ravenclaws are always discussing their Philosopher's Stone."
"Yeah, it seems they're very excited about it. But you know Arithmancy so well. Are you really so worried about those five percent that Professor Vector took of your mark?" Harry asked – he understood her desire to always be the best and do everything as best as possible, but sometimes her thirst for knowledge, in his opinion, was very close to some kind of obsession.
"You know, it's not those five percent that worries me so much, but the fact that Professor Vector has left me a clear hint that I was wrong about something, that I haven't fully understood something," Hermione explained. "There's a saying that when you don't admit your mistake, it's a double mistake. And, as far as I'm sure, it's exactly the negligence and indifference, including not admitting your own mistakes, that's the main cause of all the world's afflictions. Starting to understand and correcting your own mistakes is the first step to a better world."
"Well, yeah," Harry said confusedly – it wasn't often when Hermione was reflecting such deep philosophical thoughts, "you're probably right, as always. And yet – it's impossible to read all the books in the world."
Hermione laughed at it. "It's true, so I suppose it's my crazy Ravenclaw part in the action. Oh, and there's Ginny coming to us," she said as she looked sideways at her redheaded friend.
Ginny joined the two of them as she sat on the chair next to Harry with her back to the exit of the library. She told them that she and Alicia had made the training schedule for the next month ahead.
"Of course, Alicia was surprised why I went to her only now at the end of January; Ravenclaw and Slytherin teams are now practically fighting for free training times – they are seriously preparing for their next game at the end of March. Then I explained to her that our Keeper was out of order for certain reasons…" suddenly Ginny fell silent, looking anxiously at Hermione. "I'm sorry, I suppose you don't want to talk much about him now."
"No, it's all right. This morning, Ron even was able to explain his madness in a way it seemed kind of sweet to me," Hermione chuckled. Harry looked at her suspiciously, so she explained in more detail her statement, "In a way, Ron even was right about the thing he was reproving me for. When I thought about it more, Terry indeed was flattering me, but on the other hand, who doesn't like it when someone admires your work and achievements? What made me most angry at Ron was that he made a mountain out of a molehill, like – I don't know – like he had caught me with Terry kissing somewhere. It's just that Ron could have made his resentment clear to me in a much calmer manner. If I'll allow myself to be attacked like this, what will happen next – in a couple of months he'll chide me just because I'll look at someone in not the way he likes."
"Yeah, and in the end he won't let you go out of the home at all," Ginny joked.
"You're right, aren't you?" Hermione laughed.
"I'm sure Ron will come to his senses," Harry said hopefully. "But besides Terry and the fan club of the younger classes, has someone else said to you a get well wish?"
"Actually, since you are asking about it," Hermione said with a grin as she leaned closer to her friends, "Malfoy approached me just a moment before you came and asked me about my health."
"No way!" Ginny exclaimed. "The very Malfoy the Moron?"
"Yes, yes. I suppose Harry have already told you…" she paused as she saw Harry shaking his head.
"What Harry had told me?" Ginny asked suspiciously.
"Oh, you really didn't tell Ginny about it," Hermione concluded, realizing the situation.
"Because you made me promise not to tell anyone," Harry excused. "Besides, it's Malfoy's secret."
"Well, well," Ginny said strictly in a low voice, "Malfoy has a secret that you both know about, but you haven't uttered to me about it even a half syllable? And I considered both of you being my friends."
"Don't be angry, I'll tell you too, but, please, keep in mind that Ron shouldn't know it, at least not now," Hermione explained, giving Ginny a significant look. Now the redhead seemed utterly confused and intrigued, because she couldn't imagine how Malfoy's secret could relate to Ron.
"You see, Malfoy's doing rather poorly in his studies this year, especially in Arithmancy, Potions, and Transfiguration. So he asked me to give him private tutoring on Saturdays after our regular duty," Hermione explained. "So now he wanted to know when he could have the next lesson with me again. As far as I understand, he is quite bad with the new studying subject of Transfiguration."
"Quite bad – it's an understatement," Ginny laughed. "In the last lesson, when we had to practice the vanishing of the animals, he was the only one who had left on his desk a disgusting, moving rat's tail, about which Pansy began to scream like someone was killing her. Switch ironically told him that he won't be able to buy everything with his Malfoy gold; sometimes there're things he still needs to learn by himself. Then our ferret went as red as a beetroot."
"Then it's no wonder he was so interested in additional studying. But please, do promise me, Ginny, that you won't tell Ron anything about it. Otherwise, he'll start making a big fuss about it again," Hermione asked Ginny seriously.
"Okay, all right, I'm not going to tell Ron anything about it, although I think you should find a time when to tell him it," Ginny promised. "But why do you help that evil Malfoy at all? I wouldn't mind if he would fail every last of his exams."
Hermione sighed sadly at first, but then replied to her friend, "Because I don't think he's evil," but then as she saw Ginny's puzzled gaze, which told that she didn't really know now whether she should laugh at it or not, so Hermione explained it in more detail, "That is, Malfoy, of course, is unbearably arrogant, proud, snobbish, rude, selfish, and his presence is hard to endure in general, but I don't think Malfoys are evil in the depths of their hearts. I think they're more like using any kind of options to increase the wealth of their family, which means that they are disloyal and selfish, but their main goal is to take care of themselves, not to harm others. If you ask me about the evil people, then I do not understand from which hell can crawl out such a monster like Lestrange."
"Lestrange is a completely insane psychopath with some serious issues," Ginny agreed, "but the thing you mentioned that one is willing to increase their wealth over the dead bodies doesn't seem anything good to me – so I think I wouldn't help any of such a jerk."
"And the fact that we're pushing away those who want to come over to the good side only raises hatred and chaos," Hermione insisted, "until the next war with the Death Eaters."
"Okay, okay, I see your point. I know the justification of this your opinion and I even support it. I just think that the plain "I'm sorry" is not enough to make up for such abuses," Ginny added.
"Actually, about that," Hermione said with a grin, "I asked Malfoy if he could get me that powder from his parents' pharmacy store, which Lavender was advertising so much. He said he'll ask them, and if they'll have it, he'll bring it to me as a payment for his tutoring."
Ginny also grinned about it. "It turns out you could actually benefit from that ferret."
"Listen, but what are we going to do next about the Diadem?" finally asked Harry, who had previously sat silent and just listened to the girls' conversation.
"I'm not sure," Hermione said reluctantly. "I haven't got any more sensible thought than that we need to somehow amplify more the Locator Spell."
So the three of them continued talking for a while, not really getting to any exciting conclusions until Hermione suddenly froze with her eyes wide.
Harry and Ginny didn't understand what had happened to their friend, but then as they followed her gaze, they saw Ron entering the library doorway holding a bouquet of some branches in his hands.
Ron hurried to the table where Hermione was sitting by; then as he shyly lowered his eyes to the ground, he finally muttered, "I'm sorry I behaved so stupidly."
Hermione rose to her feet with a warm smile on her face and reached with her arms to take the blooming twigs out of Ron's hands. "You really did it."
"Yeah, it wasn't easy at all," Ron said as he looked into her eyes.
"Thank you," she said as she took the flowers, and then leaned closer to him to kiss his cheek, but she was disturbed by a sudden yell.
"Wet flowers in the library!" exclaimed Madam Pince slipping out of her cover behind the closest bookshelf. "Is it really that hard to remember a few simple rules during all these years – no wet things or food in the library! Now, quickly get out of here; I don't want to see you here anymore today!"
The friends looked at her anxiously and saw her face was scorched by an ugly scar, apparently cut by a dark curse in the Battle of Hogwarts. Hermione began stutter confusedly, but the librarian just shouted, "Get out!" and pointed with her finger at the door. Without trying to object her, they grabbed their bags and hurried out of the library.
Ron looked at Hermione worriedly, because he had inadvertently caused her such trouble, but she laughed as she looked at him. "I didn't know flowers are also restricted to bring in the library. Who could have guessed?" Hermione said and then leaned closer to Ron and kissed him quickly on his cheek.
"So now everything's all right?" Ron asked hopefully.
"Don't be so quick, this is only the first day. I expect a bouquet of flowers from you for the following six days, too," the girl with bushy hair said as she winked him with both of her eyes.
In the night, when Harry entered the bedroom, he had a big surprise. It looked like Ron and Neville had filled their dorm room with twigs of all sizes – some of them looking bare like they were withered, but some of them had dark green leaves. Though, there were no flowers on any of the branches.
Somewhere in the middle of all this enormous amount of twigs were Neville and Ron.
Seeing his friend's confused and amazed look, Ron began to explain, "Neville and I went to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and he said that these could be blossomed with beautiful flowers. Only it'll take a while."
"But did you really have to bring full dorm room with them? Now it almost looks like it's some kind of a school greenhouse here," Harry laughed.
"We just thought we'd bring enough branches for a whole week," Ron explained as he scratched the back of his neck. "Besides, Neville was very interested in this project. What did you tell me earlier – what did you manage to find here?" the redhead asked as he turned to Neville and pointed with his hand to the bundle of twigs with green leaves.
"This is the Rhododendron ponticum, called pontic rhododendron. It's an evergreen shrub that has outgrown the native flora throughout Scotland, so it's even considered undesirable, invasive species. But its flowers are especially beautiful – so full and violet-purple," Neville shared his extensive knowledge. "And since Valentine's Day was not very far away, I'll gradually bloom these until then, so that I can give them as a nice present to Hannah."
"Remember, you promised I could get some of them too," Ron recalled.
"Of course I'll give them to you, too. We've brought here so many branches we'll be able to give them to all of the girls in our year," Neville said with a laugh.
The next morning, when Harry woke up, none of the twigs had shown the slightest sign of life, but Neville explained that the plants still needed to wake up from the freezing winter frost, so it would take several days to get really gorgeous and lasting flowers.
The non-persistence of the quickly flowered blossoms was soon confirmed by Hermione, who began to express her dissatisfaction as the both young men met her in the Common Room.
"The flowers you gave me, Ron, turned out to be of a quite bad quality. After lunch, they were rather limp, and in the evening they withered completely."
"Yes, Neville said they need time to wake up. I hope these are going to last and smell nicely until evening," Ron said as he handed her a new bundle of freshly blossomed branches of a wild apple tree, for which Hermione thanked him with a smile.
In the next few days, Ron gave Hermione more and more beautiful and fragrant twigs, and in a blink of an eye there was February already. The frost wasn't so harsh anymore, and the sun lingered over the treetops of the Forest for a while longer, giving the school more light.
It was a nice day of February, when the four of the friends wandered through Hogwarts on their own, discussing some mundane things.
"Oh, the one-eyed witch," Ron said as they turned into the well-known third-floor hallway. "You've given us a lot of good moments."
"Oh yes, the glory to the one who built the secret passage to the cellar of Honeydukes," Harry agreed with his friend with a grin. "It's a pity that now it's closed with fallen rocks. Hmm, maybe we should fix it?" he thought out loud.
"I'd say we've enough things to do," Ginny said with a smile. "Let's leave this job for the next generations."
"You know, but I find the spell that opens the secret passage rather strange," Hermione objected thoughtfully.
"You mean the spell Dissendium?" Harry asked.
"Yes," Hermione confirmed, "you see, I haven't read about it in any of the books, and it almost seems that someone had created it specifically for this passage."
"I don't see anything strange with it," Ron replied with a shrug. "You just want to descend into a secret passage, so you say Descendium, or when you change the sound of it a little bit it comes out like Dissendium."
Suddenly a thought popped up in Harry's mind. Because this was the exact thing they still hadn't tried yet. When at the beginning of the school year they were suspicious about the disappearing step not being just an ordinary staircase step but an illusion that hided a secret area instead, then they had tried practically everything to get through the illusion someone had cast so perfectly and skilfully, and they had failed. But what if it wasn't necessary to get through the illusion; what if they actually needed to open a secret passage?
Ginny quickly noticed Harry's unfocused gaze and sudden disorientation in the space. "Harry, what happened?"
Harry swiftly jumped back to the present and told his revelation to his friends. "Remember the disappearing step with which we struggled so much at the beginning of the school year and we didn't succeed?"
"Well, yeah," Ron replied, confused, but the two girls just looked at their friend intrigued.
"Both you and Hermione now just gave me an idea. We didn't succeed seeing anything under the step because we were trying to make it transparent, but what if we don't need to make it visible, what if we need to open it?" he suggested excitedly.
"Open it?" Hermione said, puzzled. "Like a secret passage?"
"Exactly! This we haven't tried yet," Harry said.
"Then let's go and try it," Ginny immediately agreed. "It's very quiet in the castle right now."
They all hurried to the exit of the staircase hidden behind the tapestry on the third floor, unable to really believe Harry's suggestion – could it really work? Stopping at the disappearing joke step, the guys stood a little below it, but the girls stopped on the stairs just above the intriguing magic hole.
"Then get on with it," Ron urged, unable to wait for what would happen now.
Harry drew his wand out of his robes, aimed it at the false step, and uttered the spell: "Dissendium!" The guys' eyes widened in surprise, but the girls just stood in their place, carefully switching their gazes between them and the step.
"Harry, don't be so sad about your failure," Hermione said, apparently misunderstanding her friends' expression. "It's most likely that this step's purpose is only to prank the Hogwarts students. There're a lot of such things all around here."
"Hermione," Ron said, barely able to believe his eyes, "I really didn't think that such a day will ever come when I have to tell you that you really don't know what you're talking about. Don't you see it?"
"Don't see what?" Hermione replied grumpily, looking at the step and the guys from above. "Harry tried the spell and nothing happened."
"Then maybe you need to come here and look at it from here," Harry said when he had regained his voice.
Hermione and Ginny climbed down from the above steps, stopping next to the guys, and they also stood gaping.
"You don't say!" Ginny said in admiration.
"This is something, isn't it?" Ron replied to his sister, starting to grin. Harry had succeeded – he had managed to open the step!
From the place where they, it looked like as if someone had lifted one step above them up like a sheet, creating an arc through which one could enter the secret passage. They saw only a few steps that led further down, but the rest was hidden by the darkness.
Before going inside the dark, dusty passage full with spider webs, Ron wanted to see how it looked like from the place above, where the girls had stood before. He made his step like normally climbing up the stairs for a few steps, but from the bottom it looked like he was jumping with a really huge jump up on the raised space of the stairs.
He walked a bit along the upper part of the disappearing step, wondering, "I really don't see anything from here like there was no passage at all. It's amazing." Then he came down back to the entrance of the passage, and it seemed like he's making an extremely and impossibly long step.
"It's the Extension Charm, only it's partial," Hermione said admiringly. "Rather, I could say it's linear, because the space itself hasn't been expanded in principle, but there's kind of a cut made in it, which opens a secret passage. It's really clever."
"So then – let's try to go in?" Harry suggested. The others agreed with him determinedly. They lit their wands and took their first steps on the dusty ancient staircase. The layer of the dust was so thick that Harry could hardly tell that the steps were made of the same yellowish-brown stone from which the rest of the castle was built. It seemed no one had walked here for decades, possibly even hundreds of years.
"What do you think, who might have made this passage?" Ron asked as he touched the walls. They were also covered with a thick layer of dust.
"That's right, Ron, we should make sure we're safe," Ginny agreed. "First, we can't leave the step open, then anyone can walk in there," she said as she looked back at the lighted staircase where the passage of the secret step opened up. "Secondly, we know absolutely nothing about this passage. What if Voldemort had done something with it – then I'm certain he would have made sure the uninvited guests can't get out of here so easily."
"You're right, Ginny," Harry agreed immediately and climbed a few steps back, trying to figure out how to close the passage. He doubted that its creator would have intended to keep it open the whole time while he or she was staying in there – because then it wouldn't be a secret passage.
Hermione tried to help out with various spells, "Maybe you need to try something similar like opening spell, like, Close or Closium. Perhaps the simple Colloportus works."
"I think it'll be even much easier, Hermione," Harry said with a smile, and then he reached out and grabbed a thick iron ring, which he pulled down along with the hatch cover. It closed the entrance, leaving only a thin gap of the light in the width of the joke step. "The hatch should be closed now."
"And if you try to open it? I hope we aren't stuck in here?" Ron asked.
Pushing the iron ring up again, Harry very easily opened the hatch. Ron tried to get out of the passage and nothing was restraining him from that. It seemed that the step-hatch was hiding only the dusty and dark stairs from the curious eyes of the rest of the castle and wasn't meant for trapping purposes.
"So, Ginny, it looks like everything is fine with the exit," Ron said. "Can we go further now?"
"Let's go then," Ginny said. "But we had to make sure it's safe. You know – dirty, dark tunnels, probably centuries old, well, for some reason I still have paranoia from such places."
"Don't be so scared, Ginny," Harry said, smiling reassuringly at his girlfriend in the light of their wands as he took her palm. "I'm next to you and ready to protect you at any moment."
"Thank you, Harry. Without you I probably won't come in here at all," Ginny said.
"Relax, it's just a secret passage in Hogwarts; there're hundreds of them here," Ron said, but his voice didn't sound completely convincing. There was a hunch foretelling them that this might not be some common long-forgotten secret passage that lead, say, to the fifth floor of Hogwarts castle.
Climbing further down the stairs, Harry suddenly noticed that the steps ended in a flat, equally dusty floor. Looking back at the hole of the former joke step, Harry saw it had shrunk very tiny, giving no more light to such depth.
"I still think Ginny was absolutely right, Ron," Hermione argued. "Even if this is an ordinary secret passage which is unused for decades or more, we don't know if Voldemort hasn't set up something down here," Hermione said.
"That's right," Harry agreed. "Constant vigilance. It never hurts."
As he made a few steps forward in the dark tunnel, there was only pitch black darkness outside the circle of the light cast by their wands; also the light from the step hole was no longer visible. Harry felt that Ginny was gripping his hand more tightly – in any other circumstances he would find it a warm and pleasant feeling, but now she was so obviously scared. She practically jumped when she accidentally stepped on a mouse skull, which dissolved with an ominous crack seemingly echoing from the walls of the hallway.
Ron also seemed to become less courageous as the oppressive darkness and the unknown in front of them made a depressing atmosphere. "But if You-Know-Who has charmed something down here, how are we going to avoid his trap?"
"I don't know, but right now I just want to have some light here," Harry replied, and like a magic, a long row of torches lit up on both sides of the aisle. They crackled, illuminating the tunnel a long distance further as they created heat and a deep smell of burning dust. Harry felt that when the light showed up, the girl's tight grip on his hand became looser, and she sighed with relief.
Walking through the thick layer of dust and dirt and also over some mouse skeletons, they soon came to stop by the wooden arch top door made of the boards holding together by thick, wide, wrought iron slats.
"I wonder, what could possibly be behind this door?" Ron asked.
"Let's try to find it out," Hermione said with a smile and carefully tried to reach with her fingers closer to the handle. When her fingers touched it, nothing happened, so she grabbed it more surely. "Of course, it's closed," she said as soon as she pressed the handle, but the door stood in its place unmoving. Then she took her wand determinedly and tried the spell, "Alohomora!" But Hermione's long-favourite spell didn't help it either and the door was still closed.
They tried some more spells from Hermione's wide range of knowledge, but they didn't succeed – it seemed that the door wasn't ready to give up on any of the spells.
"Maybe they're just rusty?" Harry said. Following Harry's idea, Ron grabbed the handle with all his might and started trying to break the door open.
"Why art thou trying to break in, dunderhead?" suddenly a hoarse voice came from some indistinguishable source and a second later it coughed a few times. Ron instantly jumped away from the door as an area with like more branches on a door board had turned into a face with eyes and talking mouth.
"What did you call me?" Ron asked curiously.
"So very malapert I am, but this way thou art going to tear mine own handle to fine shreds," the door explained in a low, hoarse voice.
"Oh, we just wanted to get through the door," Ron said, shrugging. He wasn't very surprised for meeting a talking door, and yet such doors weren't common in Hogwarts.
"I have long been the guardian of my own master's chambers. Thee shall ne'er breaketh in there with applying all thy force," the door pointed out.
Ron looked at Hermione in confusion. "Thee shall ne'er breaketh in – what does it mean?" he asked her in a whisper.
"I assume the door meant that it would never let us break in there by force," Hermione explained. "Apparently it's very old if it's speaking in such old language."
"Dear guardian door, may I ask you to reveal the name of your master?" Ginny spoke kindly. Harry thought it was very wise of her – there were both kinds of doors in Hogwarts – ones that talked and ones that needed to be asked kindly to open. So maybe these were both kinds combined – talking and kindness encouraging doors?
"Oh, fair maiden," the door began as it seemed to make a smile on its branched face, "I thank thee for thy kind words and answer thee yond I have the greatest honor to be the guardian of the school chamber of my dearest master Gryffindor."
"The Gryffindor chamber!" Harry whispered to Ginny as his eyes widened. As far as they knew, Voldemort had never been able to access any of Gryffindor's treasures or secrets, so now they were interested with this secret because they just wanted to know more about the legendary founder of their House. And truly – could they have found a secret room of Gryffindor? This would explain why this hallway looked unused for so long.
"Dear door," Harry said cautiously, following Ginny's example, "perhaps you could allow us to look into your master's room. Great Gryffindor founded our House. We are all from the Gryffindor House."
"Without doubt thou art a gentle young sir," the door replied, "but without the knowledge of my dear master, I am strictly forbidden to allow anyone in. All I can do is save thy message of thy visit for my master so I could announce thy visit for another time. Prithee give me the name of thy family house."
"The name of my family house?" Harry repeated as he looked at his friends perplexed.
"I think it just means it wants you to tell it your last name," Hermione said.
"Oh, the door wants to know who I am," Harry chuckled.
"Dear door, the guardian of the Gryffindor chamber," Hermione now said, "could you tell me how long have you been guarding your master's chambers, please? You see, it's been a long time since Hogwarts was founded."
"Thy words soundeth weird – what is this pleasure? I say thou I have been on my guard here since the very beginning. Fair maiden, doth thee hast the knowledge to say a lot of time hath passed?"
"I'm sorry – with the word 'please' I meant that would you be so kind to tell me about your master. You see, it's been a thousand years since Hogwarts was founded," Hermione explained. "There has passed a long time since the death of Great Gryffindor."
"My dear master is dead – does it say my master hath gone hence into the spirit world?"
"Yes, a thousand years have passed since the castle was built, and none of the castle's builders are alive anymore, but the castle is still standing and the students are still studying. And we all four are from the House of your great master Gryffindor," Hermione explained as kindly and gently as she could.
Upon receiving this news, the door looked utterly sad. "My dear master rests in the spirit world, oh nay, oh nay," it grieved quietly.
"Dear door, but maybe you could let us in?" Ron spoke.
"But if it be true my dear master lives no longer …" the door sobbed.
"You see," Harry said gingerly, "we adore the great Gryffindor very much. We have also received the help of his own Sword in our dire need, so we would gladly learn any knowledge and courage from the great Gryffindor to spread it to other people."
"Gentle young sir," the door said sadly, "thy words move me deeply. If it be true the Sword itself has shown thee the loyalty, I'm nothing to stand in thy way. Learnst the knowledge and courage and dost spread it further into the very wide world." Then the door lock finally clicked, and the door slowly opened with a squeak and a creak as it made a cloud of dust as well as it drew a circular streak in the dust on the floor.
"Thou art welcome, gentle young sirs and fair maidens," the door said as it opened fully.
"Thank you," Ginny replied and as she took Harry's hand, she stepped inside – if it was really true – into the long-forgotten chamber of the legendary Gryffindor.
As the all four of them entered, several torches lit along the walls, igniting the thick layer of dust and spider webs that had accumulated on them for centuries. The room looked like a square, but the corners were filled with sections of sloping wall, each decorated with a golden Gryffindor lion on the background of a red shield, which made the chamber look a little bit roundish. In the middle, there was a solid wooden desk on which, under a thick layer of dust, was an inkjet with eagle quill not so thick anymore, various wooden boxes, and some unreadable sheets of parchment. Behind the table was a wooden chair, which would look very splendid unless the worms and mice weren't eaten and bitten all over it. Torches burned brightly on the side walls, and the far wall was covered by a huge bookcase with doors and shelves. Harry saw that Hermione was holding her breath – and it wasn't because of the dust – the shelves of the huge bookcase showed also some backs of the books that had been laying deep into the spider webs.
Approaching the desk, Harry dug his fingers into the thick layer of dust and he found another sheet of parchment. But it was so dusty and spotted that he couldn't understand if there was written something on it at all. According to Ginny, they could be just empty sheets of parchment.
"Look at how they have moulded and have been bitten by mice. I doubt there was written anything at all," she concluded wisely.
Meanwhile, Ron began to browse the drawers, which easily yielded to the Unlocking Charm. "But there's something readable here," he said as he took out a small wad of parchment sheets. "Only I don't understand a thing about it."
The rest of them turned their attention to Ron's discovery right away.
"Could you show me it, please?" Hermione asked Ron. Ron immediately handed her the papers carefully.
She took them even more cautiously than a raw, cracked egg, and judging their fragile condition, she tapped her wand to the parchments to strengthen them, so she could be able to read them.
At first, Hermione read them silently, and as Harry and Ginny peeked over her shoulder, they couldn't understand much of the writing – the letters seemed so strange that they had to wonder whether it was English at all. The only thing seeming familiar to Harry was the structure of the text – it resembled a correspondence.
A few moments later, Hermione exclaimed happily, "Eureka! It's simply the Old English."
"And what does it say?" Ron asked.
"So, I'll try to read it to you," Hermione said excitingly. Then she cleared her throat and found the page she thought was the first one of the correspondence.
"Dear Helga,
I long for thee endlessly beyond my own expression of how much I love thee. The waiting for thy return from the far journey to London is an endless torment.
To-day I'm joyous to tell thou that both mine and dear Slytherin work on the Astronomy Tower was complete. Anon we are working vigorously with the North Tower.
Still endlessly longing for thee in desperate waiting for thy return.
Thou dear
Godric Gryffindor."
"What a thing!" Ron said amusedly.
"So it turns out Gryffindor was in love with Hufflepuff," Harry concluded.
"Actually, it's no big wonder. The tables of both of Houses also are placed next to each other in the Great Hall," Ginny simply stated.
"It may be, but there are a few more letters. As far as I looked at next ones, it will only get more interesting," Hermione said with a smile.
"My dear Godric,
I express mine gratitude endlessly upon hearing the news and thy deepest love.
Rowena did accompany me to the Diagon Alley where we were successful with our discussion to Ollivander so that he agreed to hand out a wand to each of our first-year students.
I wish the work of thee and honourable Slytherin to keep going on smoothly in such desire the school is ready at fall for opening to students for their learning different kinds of knowledge and magic arts. For now I and dear Rowena are struggling with the school posy. Mayhap thou and Slytherin hath any worthy thoughts on this matter?
With my endless love and longing, I am sending thee mine most passion greetings,
Thou dear
Helga Hufflepuff."
They stood in their places gaping as they listened Hermione reading – the correspondence obviously was from the time the Hogwarts founders planned to open the school. Hermione took a breath and turned the next page as she was going to read the next letter.
"Dear Helga,
I do feel so fain to hear from thee, expressing thee my deepest love in my unimaginable longing for thy return.
I am very excited by knowing Ollivander hath agreed to hand out his wands for our schoolchildren. Thee and dear Rowena have done a wondrous job forsooth for making the ability and opportunity to teach our children fully.
The castle building work is truly coming to the end, but a tiny obstacle has appeared – a green dragon has made its housing in the Castle Forest. But fear it not, my dear! I and stout Slytherin shall banish the dragon before the return of thee and Rowena.
Expressing my endless love
Forever thou Godric Gryffindor."
"A dragon in the Castle Forest?" Ginny asked.
"I suppose the Forbidden Forest had a different name then," Harry pondered.
Hermione just flipped the next page and continued reading.
"Dear Godric,
I express my indescribable joy once again upon receiving thy letter, my dearest lord Gryffindor. I am so glad to tell thee that I and Rowena are on our way back to Hogwarts within a several day journey.
I am very delighted to hear about thy and Slytherin's success in the building of the castle. But I am flooded with worries about the dragon. I am having such thoughts that the banishing of the dragon is needed to be done by all four of us together. The dragon hath long been known as a very magically stout beast, so I am exceedingly afraid of thy health.
Thou beloved
Helga Hufflepuff."
Hermione flipped a page again.
"Dear Helga,
It is beyond my abilities to express my joy upon the knowledge that thy return is going to happen just after a few days when I shall be able to hold you close in my hands.
Considering the dragon, my dear, doth not be afraid. The dragon had just landed and is sound asleep for a one whole day. There is no need for all four of us, nor even Slytherin for helping me. Thy dear Godric has strength and might enow to banish one sleeping dragon out of the Castle Forest.
Still thinking of thee
and of the school posy,
thy dear
Godric Gryffindor."
The next page was flipped again. This time the writing seemed to be done in a hurry. The letters looked more skewed and messy than in the first pages.
"Dear Godric,
In the name of our love, dost not square the dragon alone! It is not a bear hibernating in winter, but a fearsome dragon which upon a disturbance and scare becomes a fierce and devastating fire beast. It spits fire innumerable ells long and it has a tail more perilous than a whip of a slave trader. Bethink of the proverb – Do not play with dragon's tail!
I bide thee to wait for me and Rowena afore thee wend into the forest!
Being in very fear
of thy life
thy Helga Hufflepuff."
Hermione quickly turned the next page. Godric's writing now also looked hastily, kind of clumsy – with scribbles and wide spots.
"Dear Helga,
It is an exceeding shame for me to tell thee this, but thy words were completely and utterly right. The dragon is not a bear sleeping through all winter forsooth.
When with all my care and caution I did approach the green beast, I saw it very sound asleep. For this I needed to make sure, so I tickled the dragon by its nose, but it woke up from its sleep and gave me an unexpected and wondrous fight.
But be afraid not, my dear, I succeeded in banishing the dragon after all. Only mine own nice hair has suffered a great deal.
With my deepest regret I am to say that thee did express the very truth. I think the proverb Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus must be displayed and made known to everyone.
Still longing after
thy presence,
thy dear Godric Gryffindor."
Hermione turned over the last page on which the letter was shorter.
"Dear Godric,
I think thee hast found our long searched school posy, so be it the knowledge for us all: Never tickle a sleeping dragon!
And I have one good spell for thy beautiful hair. To-morrow thy head shall regain its former look.
Softly chuckling
about thy look,
thy dear
Helga Hufflepuff."
"Then that's how Hogwarts got its motto," Harry laughed.
"Yeah, it turns out Gryffindor himself had started a rather rash fight with a likely full-grown dragon back then," Ron said as he looked at Harry with a smile.
They stayed in the Gryffindor chamber for a long time, but they didn't find anything more remarkable than his correspondence with Helga Hufflepuff. Unfortunately for Hermione, the books turned out only to be the building material delivery magazines or construction plans for the Hogwarts castle. She had hoped to find some long-forgotten knowledge and magic arts, but instead she had to read with disappointment about exactly how many hundreds and thousands of stone carts had been delivered from the nearest quarries.
For the rest of the evening, they talked only about the Gryffindor's secret study room.
When the March came, after the first week of the spring month, they were surprised by some other intriguing news, that is, without the fact that Hermione had already started talking annoyingly often about the making of their studying schedule for preparing for their exams.
It was breakfast time on Monday morning, when Hermione's speculations on whether to allocate more time for Potions or for Defence Against the Dark Arts in their schedule were interrupted by the usual delivery owl of the Daily Prophet, who always provided her with the latest news.
At first it seemed that there wasn't anything relevant in today's newspaper, but then at one moment, when Hermione seemed to be reading intently an article, Ron asked, "Is there something interesting today after all?"
A moment later, Hermione raised her head as she pulled herself away from the newspaper, and said with confusion in her voice, "Hm?" But then a second later she understood his look, since he was gazing at the newspaper. "Oh, there's one article; actually it's very interesting. But, it's not about Lestrange or any other Death Eaters."
"So then, what is it about?" Harry asked before he stuffed in his mouth the big rest of his jam bun.
"Listen," she just said with a smile as she straightened the newspaper with a shake so that the corner of it wouldn't bend.
"Local residents of Hogsmeade are aware about the unprecedented amount of construction activity. Of course, after the Battle of Hogwarts on May 2nd last year, Hogsmeade had also suffered certain damage, so it was needed to take action from the local residents in the restoration works of their environment. But the large-scale construction on the outskirts of Hogsmeade now has nothing to do with post-war damage repairs. On the contrary – at the construction site could be seen the foundations of an entirely new building, which is in a form of a strange shape.
According to the surveyed locals, construction works have begun two weeks ago and now the outline of the unknown building has made a very clear form of circle.
Aberforth Dumbledore, the owner of the Hog's Head Inn, commented to the Daily Prophet the following, "I've lived here for long years and have seen a lot of weird stuff, but living in a round house? Only Xenophilius Lovegood is so insane; who has had the opportunity to visit his psychedelic house will know what I'm talking about." Therefore, it could be said that the locals had already named the new building – some of them calls it the Summer House of Xenophilius Lovegood.
For now, the Daily Prophet has managed to learn that the plot for the new building has been purchased by Hogwarts Professor Philip Flamel, who is known by the students of N.E.W.T. level studies at the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as their Alchemy professor. The interview with Mr. Philip Flamel is due on one of the next issues of the Daily Prophet."
"Wow, then it means Flamel has already started building his laboratory," Ginny said cheerfully.