The Founders Awaken

Chapter 4: Warding Room

The four of them were in the warding room of Hogwarts. It was a room hidden to most in the heart of the school's dungeons. The only ones allowed entry to the room were them, their descendants, and the Headmaster/mistress of the school.

It was a relatively plain room, just the castle's stone walls and floor, other than the stone dais on which rested the four warding stones of their House colours. The large warding stones which both contained and exuded the magic that protected the school and the students/staff within.

And the green stone was broken.

It was shattered into what must be hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny pieces.

They were staring in shock at the state of it.

How dare someone come down here and destroy the protections of the school in such a way.

"Can we repair it?" Draco whispered desperately.

"I mean, we must be able to, right? We can't just let the protections from my stone remain broken," Harry said, just as desperate as Draco.

"And we most certainly need to find out who did this, and ban them from the room. As well as make sure they no longer have access to the wards themselves," Neville said.

"We should be able to, if we all work together like we did when we created the stones," Luna said, and the three of them nodded.

"Will the protections still be in place when we have fixed it, or will I need to create them again?" Harry said.

"That I am unsure of. We will have to wait and see. In any case though we all will need to check our stones and see what has been done to the wards. We will probably need to strengthen them and add more at the very least. It will take time, but the school will be as safe as it once was, eventually," Luna said.

"Right," Harry said, "Let's get to work, then. And remember to rest between large bouts of magic usage,"

They all nodded and walked closer to the dais. Harry hovered his dominant hand in the air above his smashed stone, palm down, and the others laid their hands over his, their fingers linking together in their smaller pile, but he felt more alive than ever as their magical channels truly connected with his and their magic ran through his veins.

"Reparo," they chanted together, letting their joined magic flow out of Harry's hand in a wave of gold that blanketed the chips of jade and they watched in awe as their combined power mended the stone perfectly.

Magic never seized to amaze them, no matter how old they got.

Family never seized to amaze them either.

Especially Salazar and Helga.

There was no greater magic than bringing a child into the world.

There was nothing more powerful than that either.

Harry and Draco shared a smile as their magics worked to fix the stone.

When the stone was stable the other three let go of Harry's hand and he hated the loss of feeling them inside him, not that he would ever say as such, he never did. They seemed to know, though, because every time they did magic together with him at the core, as soon as they were done they would stay close to him for however long he needed them to.

So they stayed huddled together for what felt like hours but in reality was only probably ten minutes before Harry let out a shaky breath as everything settled and he called for a house elf to get them all some water and fruit, for which the elf was thanked profusely by all of them.

They sat on the floor and ate their snacks mostly in comfortable silence, replenishing their energy so they could move onto actually examining the wards. And when they were ready they stood and took their places at the dais in front of their respective stones. Harry's was between Draco's and Neville's, Luna's was opposite his.

They smiled hopefully at each other, though it was rather a dim hope at that point given the state that Harry's stone was in when they arrived. Then they were hovering their hands above their own stones and letting their magics flow and reading the state of the magics they had left.

The magics that were meant to protect every being in the school, and yet were barely holding at that moment.

Harry's wards were weak, incredibly so, but at least they were still there even after the stone tethering them to the school was destroyed. He could build on them, though, with time, and add more as necessary.

When they were done with their readings they pulled their magics back into themselves and stood back, all breathing rather shakily and looking rather distressed.

And angry.

More than angry really.

The children of this school were meant to be safe, and yet they weren't.

"I would really like to know why the wards haven't been recharged since nineteen twenty-five," Draco growled.

"Apparently Dumbledore and his predecessor didn't see fit to do so," Harry snarled, honestly, did they not want the inhabitants of the castle to be safe.

The wards were barely clinging on. As far as the four of them could tell they were, at the very most, two years from collapsing entirely and leaving Hogwarts open to everyone and everything.

"Armando Dippet didn't enter this room at all as far as I can tell, and he did nothing to the wards. But at least he didn't actually remove wards we put up, and add his own that hindered everything and everyone inside the castle," Luna said fiercely.

"How long is this damage going to take to fix?" Neville said, trying to remain calm and yet he was the one with the worst restraint on his temper.

"At least a year depending on how much spare time we have. Given everything going on in the school this year, however, I don't think we'll have all that much time, and yet it is of the utmost importance that we get at least some of it done before the Tournament starts," Luna said.

"Well, we have weekends," Draco said quietly, "But there is an imposter in our school. An imposter with bad intentions that aren't their own,"

They looked at him in shock.

"Who?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, the magic won't tell me, it is too weak to do so. But we can keep an eye on things. Whoever it is isn't in their own mind. They are being controlled by someone. That is all I know," Draco said solemnly, wishing desperately to know so that he could protect the children, especially the younger ones.

Harry sighed shakily, "Good news is that my basic wards are still there, but they are about a month from collapsing entirely they are so weak. I have charged it as much as I physically can at this time, and will continue to do so whenever we are able to come and check on things," he wasn't able to charge it much, though, given the power he used when they were fixing it. He didn't want to completely deplete his magic. He also just wasn't feeling great, not that the others knew that, if they did they wouldn't have come today and it was a bloody good thing they did.

"And the bad news?" Neville cringed.

"Before the stone was destroyed a number of my more intricate wards were broken completely," they others gasped, "I assume he didn't want there to be a chance that those wards would still work given how powerful the four of us were purported to be in our original lives. But it pains me that he thought of the need to destroy such essential wards anyway, and I want to know every child who has been hurt because of the destruction of these wards," he growled protectively.

"What wards did he destroy?" Draco asked hesitantly, both desperate and dreading the answer.

"The ones that banned dark artefacts from the school, as well as the casting of extreme dark spells. The one preventing sexual assault from occurring. The one keeping out animagi with bad intentions from entering the school in their animal form, as well as their human one. The one preventing mind magic from being used on anyone without their consent. And that is just to name a few," Harry ground out.

"He also removed the wards on the common rooms that prevented intruders that weren't invited on my stone," Neville said.

"Merlin, it's all such a mess," Draco said, his face somehow paler than usual.

"Yes. But we'll fix it," Luna said, and even though her voice was dreamy and soft there was an edge of determination to it.

"We had better. The students of this school deserve better," Harry muttered.

The others nodded in agreement.

"I think that is enough for all of us today. We have recharged the stones as much as we can for the minute, we are all still young, after all, and we should go and get some rest," Luna said before leading them out of the room.

Harry locked the door with a strong locking charm and a ward that only allowed the four of them in. They didn't want Dumbledore messing with their school's safety any longer.

Harry linked his fingers with Neville's as they began to walk back to their rooms. They walked in silence so as to not draw too much attention to themselves, but also to ensure they weren't overheard saying things that shouldn't be heard just yet.

But their peace was broken by a screech from one Ginevra Weasley that pierced their ears rather painfully.

"Harry!" she screeched, "What are you doing holding Neville's hand like that?"

Everyone in the vicinity stopped and stared at the red-headed girl who was angrily glaring at the joined hands, and everyone was looking between her and the four of them, noticing the joined hands of both pairs with wide eyes.

"Hello Ginny," Harry grinned, "I don't think I have introduced you both properly, but this is my boyfriend, Neville Longbottom. Neville, this is Ginevra Weasley,"

Ginny gaped at them, but it soon turned back to anger.

"How could you do this to me?" she squealed, sounding rather like her mother, and looking like her as her hands went to her hips.

"Do what to you?" Harry said with genuine confusion.

"You are supposed to be with me, Harry Potter. Not some weak excuse for a Gryffindor like Longbottom. You are not gay,"

Harry tried to stop the snort from escaping, he really did. But it didn't help when both Draco and Luna snorted also, and Neville was clearly trying to hold in a laugh.

"First of all, I am gay. Second of all, I don't have to be with anyone I don't want to be with. You can't decide who I date. Only I can decide that. Third of all, I am dating Neville Longbottom and I fully intend on marrying him one day. And point number four is that Neville is the most Gryffindor person I know at this time. He is chivalrous. He is loyal. He is brave. He is larger than life. And I love him. It wouldn't matter to me what House he was in, because I love him. Not his House. He listens to me. He knows me. He looks after me. And in return, I do the same for him. You don't listen to me. You don't know me. You don't look after me. I don't love you. And I never will. I am gay. You have entirely the wrong parts. And you wouldn't be able to provide me with the family I desire above all else," Harry said honestly.

"Of course I would. I am a Weasley and a Prewett. We are very fertile. I am very fertile,"

Harry outwardly cringed at her words, "Yes, you may be fertile. But you are entirely the wrong kind of fertile for me. I won't physically be able to get you pregnant. I wouldn't even want to try. That is besides the point, though, Ginny, because you have no say in who I date. You can't force me to love you, and if you attempt to, you are committing a crime. It's called line theft. Now, myself and my family are rather tired and we have work to do, so if you will excuse us," Harry said, trying to manoeuvre himself and Neville around the girl, and failing as she stepped in front of them both crossly.

"You can't do this to me, Harry. We belong together and I will show you that," she said determinedly.

"And if you try and force me to love you, everyone will notice and do something to help me. Especially since they now know I am gay. And when I am free I will gladly have you arrested for attempting to control my mind and heart. And for breaking me away from my soulmate," he said, grinning at the growing look of anger and shock on her face.

"I'm your soulmate, Harry," she said.

"No, you are delusional. I got tested. Maybe you should, too,"

"I did. My test said you,"

"Funny that, because mine certainly didn't say you. I can provide goblin authenticated evidence for my test, can you provide that for yours?" he raised an eyebrow at her.

She was shocked into silence, at last, and he smiled knowingly.

"I thought not. Now, if you would please move out of our way, we have places to be and things to be doing,"

He pushed past her and led Neville and the other two back to their rooms where he promptly collapsed on the sofa, feeling terrible and yet not wanting to show it to his family.

"Harry, are you okay?" Neville asked worriedly as he sat next to Harry and rubbed his back gently. Draco knelt next to the sofa and looked at Harry with concern in his grey eyes.

"Just tired," Harry whispered shakily.

Luna covered him over with a thin fleece blanket and he snuggled into the warmth.

"What's the date today?" Neville said, a hint of fear in his voice.

"Sep-September third," Draco said, eyes widening in shock and understanding.

"My back hurts," Harry muttered, not paying attention to anything even as Neville started rubbing his lower back.

"The curse," Neville whispered, "The curse came with him,"

"Maybe we can find a way to break it this time?" Luna said uncertainly as Harry curled in on himself with a whimper, "Things are more advanced now. Maybe there is a ritual or something we can do to get rid of it,"

"I certainly hope so. I can't keep watching him in this pain, once a year, in this life, too," Neville growled, though there was a lot of pain in his voice as well as the anger at the one who had done this to his soulmate.

Draco ignored the other two and climbed behind Harry, laying down next to him and pulling him close, clearly in pain, too, though not physically, just emotionally as he also remembered the day. Thankfully Helga hadn't been cursed to relive this day on all levels, every year on the day it happened, but she remembered it for the rest of her first life, and he remembers it now.

The wizard who had captured the two of them was killed by Godric before the man could curse Helga, too.

But the lack of a curse didn't make what happened to them both hurt any less. Just because he couldn't physically feel it as well, it didn't hurt less. Especially as he watched his best friend live through it all over again and it forced him to relive that terrible day in his mind's eye.

But he, too, was hoping that they could find a way to break the curse in this life so that Harry, and he, could truly heal from it.

Hiya, how are you all?

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I do wonder what the curse on Harry is. What are your thoughts? Where do you think the story is going? I will hopefully be updating this story in the next month or so, depending on how hectic life is. And the next story I will be updating is The Founder's Secret Garden.

Also, if I were to set up a Spotify and make playlists for all of my stories would anyone be interested? They would include songs that remind me of the story in some way, give away little easter eggs for what is to come in the story with some of their lyrics, or songs that just fit. It will be a very eclectic mix of songs because I listen to a variety of music. But I have so many songs that make me think of my stories and I want to share them, if people are interested anyway.

I also have a Facebook group called Maraudering_Paige which you are all welcome to join if you would like to and are able to. It is where we can talk about Harry Potter, fanfics, life, share memes, and more. It is also where I have an update schedule of sorts and will be keeping you up to date on what I am working on, both with original stories, fanfics, and with everything else I do and want to do. So if you are interested in joining then I am more than happy to accept you into the group, we are nearly at 200 members now which is both shocking and amazing, so thank you all so very much for the support.

I hope you are all having an amazing day!

Kind regards,

Paige xx