A/N: Still not getting any mails from ff_net. I hope they fix it before I want to post the last chapter. Luckily there is still some way to go with this story.
Preparations and Discoveries
Sunday, the last day of the Yule break, started rather relaxed much to Severus's relief. He spent the early morning showing Narcissa ins-and-outs of the Hospital Wing. For the rest of the morning, he finished his plans for the lessons he wanted to teach the next weeks. The complaints about his teaching methods had struck a chord. Even if he was only partly at fault because of the effects The Spell had on him, it hurt. So, he had reviewed his lesson plans and there was nothing about safety, ingredients lore, the materials used in the equipment, and the other rules of potions brewing. Not even the textbooks spoke about the reasons why things were done a certain way.
Severus remembered how he had hated the textbooks Slughorn had used when he had been a mere student, and what did he do after he became a teacher? He used the very same ones!
So, for the first week, he planned to teach the same lesson to all seven years. He would just vary them a little in detail and depth, in accordance with the age of the students, but in the end, the lessons wouldn't change much.
He also thought about all the letters Remus Lupin had written to the school, asking for a job over the last eight years. It seemed he was quite down on his luck. The man was lucky that this Umbridge woman got laughed out of the Wizengamot when she proposed the new legislature regarding werewolves.
He had shown the letters to Lucius in the morning when they talked about the open Head of Gryffindor post as well as the open Defence Against the Dark Arts teaching post. Lupin had a Mastery in that subject, and he had been a Gryffindor, after all.
The main problem was his affliction. Severus still remembered his meeting with Lupin's alter ego in vivid detail.
The man had also been a cowardly lion, never standing up to his friends when in human form. On the other hand, Severus could understand the motivation behind it more, now. Lupin hadn't wanted to lose his friends, who stood by him regardless of his life-altering curse.
Lucius had informed Severus that he could extend the anti-werewolf wards to the grounds so a transformed werewolf wouldn't be able to enter them or would be transported to the ward line when they transformed within the castle or on the grounds but would not get hurt by them.
That sounded perfect and they had written a letter to Lupin.
He mused about all the posts they were scrambling to fill. They had lost five in less than a month. The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, the Matron, the Headmaster, the Deputy Headmistress, and the Head of Gryffindor House. Luckily only one was a teacher's post.
The only unusual thing today was the Unspeakables, who were searching the castle once more. And because Lucius was much more accommodating than Albus had been, they had come en masse. They were even checking the kitchens and had gotten part of the house-elves involved.
Severus looked around his classroom and nodded. He installed necessary safety features, cleaned up some, and fixed the lights. He also hung up some posters about safety protocols, potion equipment, and the first five fundamental brewer's rules.
That would have to do for now.
His office still contained the jars and vials with all the scary and vile things in them. They and the effects they had on others still amused him very much. So sue him.
He decided to visit Narcissa and see how she fared.
When he entered the Hospital Wing, he was greeted by the new Matron, who now was wearing fashionable, green healer's robes. Not the old-fashioned nurse clothes Poppy preferred.
The room looked different as well. Gone were the long open rows of beds with no privacy. No, she had installed multiple cubicles that let light through, but one couldn't see inside. He guessed that she could, though. She even managed to make them look elegant.
"Severus, welcome back! So, what do you think?"
"It looks good, Narcissa."
"Come to the office, I was just going to order some lunch."
Severus nodded and followed her.
As soon as they had taken some of the sandwiches and prepared their tea to their liking, she said, "I started to go through all the files and noticed that she only generated one if the student in question came in with a medical issue. She also didn't keep the older files for the required time. Or, if she did, I cannot find them. The most urgent thing to do therefore is to open a file for each child and get their baseline diagnostics down. And address any issue that I'll find, naturally."
"That's a tall order."
"It is, but I like having something meaningful to do once more."
"Understandable. So how and where will you begin? House-wise? Age-wise? Youngest fist? Oldest fist?
"Well, I thought I would do the seventh years first, then the fifth years, so I'll interrupt their study time as little as possible. – And then I want to start with the first years."
"Hm, that sounds like a plan. I've some good news for you, though. I have a medical file for every student in Slytherin, with their yearly diagnostics. I always thought it to be a little redundant, but it seems it was well needed."
"You do? That's amazing! That leaves only three-quarters of the student body. That sounds more manageable."
"I'll send copies of my files up here. Just the current students I take?"
"How long do you keep them?"
"Well, I've yet to dispose of any. I've not taught for that long as of yet."
"True. Hm, where do you think she might've stored the files?"
"I've no idea. Why don't you ask a house-elf?"
"Now I feel stupid. Hogwarts house-elf, I need service."
A little elf popped in and asked, "Does Miss Healer need more tea?"
"No, thank you. The reason I called you is that I have a question."
"Milli will do her best to answer!"
Narcissa nodded, smiling, "Do you know where the former Matron, Madam Pomfrey, has stored the older medical files?"
"Milli knows! Miss Poppy asked elvsies to store them each year. We be bringing them to the Files Room."
"The Files Room? Where's that room? I never heard of it," Severus asked.
Milli giggled, "It is at the same place as the Room of Hidden Things. We just call for it. It is all be called the Come and Go Room."
"Fascinating. And where's this Come and Go Room?"
"At the Seventh Floor, opposite the tapestry with the trollsies. Master is to walk three times past the wall there and think of finding the Room of Hidden Things or the Files Room."
"I see. And what is in the Room of Hidden Things?"
"We elvsies put anything in it that we be finding."
"That sounds amazing," Narcissa said, "did you tell the Unspeakables about it?"
"We did not! But Milli will!" And with that, the little elf disappeared with a silent popping sound.
"Hogwarts is truly fascinating. Want to look for this elusive room, before the Unspeakables swarm it?"
"Narcissa chuckled and said, "Let's get Lucius too. If I remember correctly, this is close to his office."
"Good idea."
A quarter of an hour later, two Unspeakables, the Malfoy couple, and Severus met in front of an empty wall, with the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy at their backs and decided to join forces.
"Well, let's try the Room of Hidden Things," Severus said and walked past the empty wall three times in measured steps.
To their surprise, a door appeared on the wall and Lucius stepped forward and carefully opened it with his wand drawn.
When the door was open, they all stood there staring inside. It was huge and filled with rubble, it seemed. But Severus could also see stacks of books and some potion-making equipment, which looked rather expensive.
Lucius was looking at a pile of empty sherry bottles right next to the door and wrinkled his nose a bit, "It seems like a drunkard used or uses the room to hide the evidence of their addiction as well."
Severus had an idea who that could be, but he said nothing for the moment.
Narcissa, on the other hand, was looking at some chairs, which looked like they had once belonged to a lady's boudoir but were now looking rather sad and dilapidated. "There are hidden treasures here. But also pests. I saw something scurrying off. One would need to cast a vermin exterminator spell onto anything first, I think. And the house-elves."
Lucius nodded and strode through the room looking at everything. "I'm a little unsure how to proceed. This is a safety hazard waiting to happen. On the other hand, it's good for children to find mysterious places like this, without us adults removing all the obstacles in their way."
Narcissa huffed delicately, "We'll never see eye to eye on this."
"Maybe a middle ground?" Severus said, "We send the house-elves to get rid of any critters, we look through it for any poisonous substances and dark magic artefacts, and we look through the books and ask Irma to take what she wants to add to the library."
Lucius nodded, "It's still a daunting task. Just sorting everything would be a work of years, maybe decades."
Severus nodded and thought about it for a while. "I think I have an idea. But we all would have to leave the room. I don't want to lock anyone in. Where are the Unspeakables anyway?"
They looked around but couldn't see them anywhere in this towering mess.
"Hm, probably focused on their task of finding you-know-what," Lucius guessed. "Let's let them do their job. Sorting out this room can wait."
The other two nodded and walked the small paths between the mountains of things keeping one another in sight.
When Severus heard Narcissa exclaim, he quickly moved to her, as did Lucius.
"What did you find?" her husband asked.
"A long-lost heirloom of the Black family," she pointed to a long dagger in its scabbard. It had the Black family crest on its hilt quite visibly. "I believe some Minister was stabbed to death with it. I have no idea how it got here."
"Well, it's the perfect place to hide any evidence," Lucius pointed to a stack of magazines with the one on top having two scantily clad women adorning its cover.
Severus couldn't help but chuckle.
"Better leave it here, for the time being, darling. We can ask No. 15 what to do with evidence in long-ago murder cases later."
Narcissa nodded.
They looked some more until they heard the Unspeakables calling for them.
They followed the call and soon were back outside the door.
"Did you find anything?" Lucius asked.
"It's hard not to, in a room like this. But yes, we found another one. We've contained it for now, as it reeks of Dark Magic of the evil kind. It might contain more than a you-know-what." No. 15 said while their colleague, No. 13, nodded along.
"Very good. Did you find any other dangerous magics in there?"
"Yes. There are plenty of them. But it would take much more time to find them all. Which we will. Do you have any idea how to proceed with this room?"
"I think Severus has an idea he wanted to try. Severus?"
Severus nodded and said, "Please step away from the door, I want to see if I can call for only parts of this mess."
"Good idea!" Narcissa said and they stepped away from the door, which then disappeared from the wall again.
Severus walked past it three times again and a slightly different-looking door appeared.
When he opened it, they saw rows and rows of black-stained, wooden bookcases filled with thousands of books of all sizes. Even Magazines seemed to have found their way in. On top of each bookcase was a plate with the overall subject engraved in old-fashioned lettering.
They entered the room in wonderment and went to the bookcases, looking at the subjects first. They found subjects like Medieval History, Runes, Light Magic, Necromancy, Magical Theory, Erotica, Hogwarts, Muggle Literature, and many more.
"This is amazing," Lucius said with a smile. "The magic of this room is quite stunning. And a good idea, Severus, to just ask for the books and to sort them beforehand."
"You've got some titles multiple times in different editions. For historians alone, this is a treasure trove," No. 13 said. "Please think of us if you decide to get rid of some of them. We'll take any you can spare. Just not multiple books with the same title, of the same editions." He pointed to some rows of similar-looking astronomy textbooks.
Lucius nodded, "So noted. I think we'll let Irma Pince have the first pick, the teachers the second, and you the third. There might not be much left, but who knows."
"Just don't show the books to Irma in their totality. She would never recover from her shock, or never come out of this room ever again," Severus warned.
"Maybe we should fill a trunk with books of one subject and give it to her. Then she can process them one at a time. And when she's finished, she gets the next?" Narcissa suggested.
Severus nodded, "She would need help, though. She's complaining about her workload already. I don't want to think what she would be like with even more to do. I also think she would be much more into sorting through the books and never have any contact with a student ever again. She's rather abrasive to them, as you might remember."
Lucius nodded thoughtfully, "So we need a bibliophilic, hardworking, and outgoing person, who can work with Irma Pince. And we need the funds to pay them."
Narcissa said, "The funds shouldn't be a problem. Just ask this room for all the pieces of jewellery that have been amassed in it. Bring it all to Gringotts, let them look if any of the pieces are heirlooms and have those returned, and sell the rest."
"You've thought about this in quite a bit of detail in such a short time, darling. I'll do that right away before the one who stashes their empty bottles in the room gets any ideas. Let's move out."
This time Lucius was the one walking up and down the corridor of the Seventh Floor and after the door had appeared, they went in and found two trunks filled to the brim with pieces of jewellery.
"That's amazing," Lucius said in awe, closed the lids, and then levitated the trunks towards his office.
"He's such a magpie," Narcissa commented fondly while smiling lovingly at the back of her husband, who was walking away with a spring in his step, the trunks full of gold and jewels floating alongside.
The rest chuckled and Severus added, "Well, I'll tell him when he returns that I think I know the perfect candidate for assisting Irma. A Muggle-born Hufflepuff, who loves books and people, and always had to be chased out of the library. He graduated last summer if I'm not mistaken. And I think even Irma liked him and vice-versa."
"That sounds perfect," Narcissa nodded. "And the plates with the subjects written on them on top of each case would be a good idea for the library as well, don't you think?"
"Indeed. I know Irma has wanted to reorganise the library for a long time now. I'll suggest it, should she be tackling that in the future."
Severus looked up and down the corridor and asked the others, "Well, that would be it for today, don't you think?"
"No!" Narcissa said to their surprise. "I'll look for the medical files now."
Severus chuckled, "Right, that started this adventure, after all."
The two Unspeakables reluctantly took their leave. They really wanted to keep investigating the Room of Requirement some more (which they had concluded its name was, after looking it up in the Book Room in a first edition of Hogwarts A History), but they needed to return with the Horcrux they found. They had dallied long enough as it was.
Soon Narcissa and Severus stood once again at the door of the room, looking inside in wonderment. Rows and rows of 20 foot high cabinets made out of birch wood, filled with medical files from the last thousand years, stood there majestically, files sorted by year.
"Perfect!" Narcissa walked to the cabinet with the latest files and a spherical-shaped little platform came and hovered next to her. She stepped onto it and was slowly moved up to the years before Madam Pomfrey had taken over.
Severus, on another one of those spheres, looked at the earliest files from the eleventh century. The parchment had been thicker back then, it seemed, but the diagnostic charms had not changed all that much. The terminology had changed though, so he decided to bring a dictionary next time. This also was a treasure trove! There seemed to be some long forgotten medical procedures they could reimplement.
The hovering platform he was on even sprouted a little stool with a backrest for him to sit on and a bookstand where he could put the file that he was studying, for easier reading.
After quite some time, they got interrupted by Milli, who was rather anxious as the train had just arrived, bringing the returning students.
"Oh, dear! Is Lucius back?" Narcissa asked. She hurriedly stuffed the file she had been reading back into its compartment, had her platform bring her back to the ground, and stepped off of it. Severus did the same and the platforms changed back to their basic forms.
"Curry is being getting new headmaster, just now."
"Very good. Thank you, Milli!"
The two rushed to the Great Hall to await the returning students.
A/N1: I had such a hard time, not naming the second house-elf 'Vanilli'…
A/N2: The RoR has sooo much potential. It's fun exploring it a bit.