A/N: This story was posted very nearly 14 years ago and damn has a lot changed in my life. Through all the changes this story has remained in the back of my mind, I actually had outlined the entire story during my last update period in 2017 with the intention to finish it. Flash forward years and I had only made sporadic progress and I promised myself I wouldn't update again until and unless the story was complete in order to prevent anyone from having to read unfinished drivel. That time is now.

I will be posting regular updates over the next couple months. The completed story is 17 chapters, and I'm hoping to drop one a week (in order to give me final revision time). I have revisited a LOT of the early story in order to streamline the plot and get rid of the fat so I'll recommend everyone re-read from the beginning.

I hope all the best for everyone returning or finding the story new.


Chapter 10

A couple weeks had passed since Remus had found the article showing exactly where Peter had been hiding. Sirius had almost stormed to the Burrow that very night, but calmer heads prevailed. While the Weasley's did not have the most extensive warding on their property when all were part of the Order, their oldest was a cursebreaker, and it was unknown to either man if the property protections had been upgraded in the past fifteen years.

Hedwig had been sent off to Harry with a letter to watch out for any of the Weasley family with a pet rat. Said rat would quite possibly be Pettigrew. If he could be captured at Hogwarts, it would be for the best. If that turned out to be impossible, then it would be necessary to look into other means. Neither man wanted to scare the Weasleys with a home invasion, but that option was on the table.

In the meantime, it would be necessary for Sirius and Remus to do a diagnostic of the existing wards that were on the Weasley family property. That meant a trip to Ottery St. Catchpole.

It was a small town in rural Devon, England. The biggest risk to both Sirius and Remus were the relatively large number of Wizarding families that lived nearby, including the Fawcetts, Diggorys, Lovegoods, and Weasleys amongst others. Apparating into a dilapidated farmstead, Remus and Sirius chose to take the scenic route through the forests and farmlands towards the location of the Burrow.

The muggle presence in the area had vastly expanded from the last time either had seen it, and it was with some amount of bemusement that the two realize that the Burrow now sat within viewing distance of a newly built muggle leisure centre.

Of course, the magic protecting the property would prevent the muggles from expanding any closer to the ward lines as well as from seeing the Burrow itself. This, Sirius thought briefly, was probably for the best. The house was as odd looking as any wizarding dwelling he had seen, and that was saying quite a bit. No less than seven stories tall, the Burrow leaned further than the famous tower in Pisa and was appeared more like a tiered cake than a home. The house was, he reflected wanly, an accurate representation of those who lived inside.

As both Sirius and Remus approached the property border, they began to cast detection charms, which lit up the area with the magic which was uncovered. It appeared that the Weasleys had upgraded their defenses and that it would not be easy to gain access to the home by force. After taking several measurements, Sirius and Remus apparated back to Potter Manor with the hope that Harry would have more success at Hogwarts.


As it so happened, while that bit of reconnaissance was happening in Devon, Harry was participating in a lecture about wards and curse-breaking in the highlands of Scotland. Harry found the bits about warding rather uninspiring. He had learned everything the lesson was about and more through his work with Remus over the last year. The curse-breaking bit, however, was intriguing.

"Curse-breaking, as a profession, is among the most dangerous in the wizarding world," the speaker noted. Her name was Emmeline Vance, and she worked for Gringotts as a curse breaker. "When on a job, I am usually working with wards that contain magical energies far in advance of anything I would be able to safely channel. This prevents me, or any other, from simply using our own core to drain the excess energy.

"Wards are established to protect something," she added, somewhat unnecessarily. "Usually something valuable to its owner. However, because wards, unlike the channeled magics, do not rely on the caster's own core, it is possible for them to last beyond the death of their caster. This is why Gringotts is the largest employer of cursebreakers. The goblins have a desire for treasure, and over the years quite a bit of it has accumulated on this planet. Much of that wealth had been owned by wizards.

"Before the Statute of Secrecy and the modern wizarding era, wizards ruled over muggles, sometimes as gods. This is especially true in Egypt, where the line of pharaohs was definitely of magical stock. I know this first hand because there are some wicked curses protecting the tombs there despite the fact they died some 3000 years ago.

"The primary method of anchoring wards involves a ward stone. This is usually not a stone, but in fact a crystal. For a reason that is not entirely known, crystalline formations can trap and hold magical power. The more complex the crystal, the more power it can hold. The denser the crystalline formation, the more power it can hold in an equivalent volume.

"You may wonder, then, how do we contend with such batteries of power?" Emmeline queried and paused. "The answer, in most cases, is that we don't. That is, we do not contend with it directly. It is much easier to subvert a ward than it is to break it.

"It must be remembered that the warders themselves were also human, and like all humans, they suffered from shortsightedness. That is, they could not have accounted for all possibilities. It is our job to come up with the possibilities they did not account for. Many warders, for example, did not entirely account for tunneling. Some have not accounted for the ways in which their ward stones can be directly impacted through localized shifting of soil. Many have not accounted for the ways in which non-magical items can now destroy the stones."

She paused again. Harry was sure she was speaking of muggle weaponry, but would not give that thought voice in a class so crowded with purebloods. Emmeline did not elaborate. Instead, she continued for another ten minutes talking about specific instances where she and a crew either broke or subverted very elaborate wards in Egypt and then opened it up for questions.


Having received a recent missive from his godfather and honorary uncle regarding the wards at the Burrow, Harry gave some thought to how to best approach the Weasley siblings. It had been relatively trivial, over the past few weeks, to determine that none of the Weasley progeny had a pet rat at Hogwarts. That was not to say they could not have left it at home or that the pet did not belong to another of their siblings, of which there were five more.

The only two children currently attending Hogwarts were Ron and Ginevra. Their older twin brothers, by all accounts, had been infamous in the school as pranksters. Post NEWTs, they had started their own joke shop and were currently rivaling the powerhouse Zonko's for British supremacy in that space. Any pet of theirs would likely have been a lab rat for their experiments, Pettigrew would not have wanted that.

Their older brother Percy had graduated Hogwarts University only the year before with a mastery in legal magic and was currently an undersecretary in the Department of International Magic Cooperation. He was certainly a possibility.

The two oldest brothers both lived out of the country, and Harry found it unlikely Pettigrew would be content to be that far from home. So his efforts were to be focused on the younger siblings. With only two present, Harry gave some thought to which of the two would be easiest to approach. Ron, as his roommate, would likely be easiest so long as he could initiate some small talk around family pets.

Easier said than done. Harry's only experience with pets was his Aunt Marge's bulldog, Ripper.

Of course, if the opportunity arose with Ginevra it would be foolish of him to pass it up.


As November advanced Harry frequently found himself taking advantage of the professor's office hours. His favorite teacher, Septima Vector, found her office hours occupied the most.

She had been hesitant, at first, when Minerva had told her she would be having a delayed arrival into her NEWT class. It was rare that a student would be able to keep up with the material, given how it built off of the OWL lessons as much as it did. When she had been told the child who would be joining the class was Harry Potter, she grew frustrated.

It was clear that this was a legacy student of Hogwarts and that the school was humoring him with his class placements. Septima did not deny that there was a place for legacy in a school like Hogwarts, but she objected to her class being used for it.

Arithmancy was not a class in which a legacy would thrive without a keen interest and ability. Harry Potter had not been a part of the Wizarding World for his entire life, how could he possibly have either? She had never been more pleased to be wrong. In fact, Septima often found herself wondering about the boy who was rapidly becoming her favorite student. Against all odds, it seemed, he was amongst the top students in his class, only rivaled by Hermione Granger – and that girl had been defying expectations her entire Hogwarts career.

It was a blessing to have one such student in her class, to have two? It was truly a gift. Unlike Hermione, who preferred solo study, Harry was much more collaborative, and Septima very much enjoyed the time he spent in her office. The boy was consistently working upon his own project – she had not seen exactly what he had been working on, but many of the questions he asked were about constructing runic forms based on mathematical formulae. She had answered his questions in multiple ways to the best of her ability, but he always seemed to be reaching for something more.

"Professor," Harry started, interrupting her musing. "Are there runes that account for time passing?" She considered his question for a moment and he expanded upon it. "I'm thinking about runes that would measure the passing of time in order to trigger some effect down the line?"

A moment passed and she admitted that he had her stumped. As far as she was aware, there were no runes that did that very thing – and that seemed strange to her. "The only runes I know that work with time, Mr. Potter, are those that were involved in the construction of time turners."

He looked eager. "Those runes are very different from the ones we learn about here in class. I've seen them, once, when I was pursuing my masteries in the subjects, but I'm afraid I do not know much about them. All I can tell you is that all the time turners that were made were constructed by a single individual who was employed by the Department of Mysteries. Obviously, I do not know the name. I only know that whomever he/she was, they are deceased now."

Now, Harry looked incredibly curious. "That is very interesting, Professor. Thank you," he replied.


Harry woke early, a plan for getting the information he wanted out of Ron on his mind. Going through his morning workout, and morning drags, he finalized the details and returned upstairs at just after nine in the morning. Ron would wake in fifteen minutes to his alarm, and Harry would be there to take advantage of it. Upon arriving in the room, Harry found his other dorm mates had already left. Perfect.

As Ron woke to the shrieking of his alarm Harry began to change from his workout clothes to everyday wear. Exhaling deeply, as if in some small amount of pain he put the plan into motion as Ron rolled out of bed.

"Damn old injuries always act up as it gets colder," he spoke as if to himself. He looked up at Ron. "Never get a dog, Ron. I got bit by my aunt's quite a few years ago and have never been the same." He shook his head as if in frustration.

"You ever have a pet?" he asked, offhanded.

"Not really," Ron replied. "I mean, we have the gnomes. They bite sometimes too, he said with a smile. Not as bad as that, though." He put on his shirt. "Oh, and I got bit by Percy's rat, once."

A smile. Checkmate. "Oh? Parents get you checked out? Rat bites can have nasty diseases."

"No way, Scabbers has been in the family forever. He is as healthy as a rat can be. 'Course, he is getting a bit old now. Percy's left him at home with mum and dad since he can't really take him to work and he worries about the thing if it were left alone." He shrugged. "Our pets aren't so interesting, I think."

"Maybe that is for the best." Harry spoke with a smile on his face.


Lord Nott's residence did not have the elegance to it that Malfoy Manor had, Lucius idly thought as he entered into the night's meeting of political conservatives. Of course, the Notts had not married strong women, as had the Malfoys. The result was that the architecture and decoration were both extraordinarily masculine, all sharp angles and dark colors. The male Nott tendency to dominate a relationship was one that was not compatible with the Malfoy's tendency to find the best partner. To each their own.

As Lucius sat at the long table, deliberately choosing the seat that would seem placed for the weakest member, he thought about the agenda and allowed the others to arrive. He smiled at their confusion regarding his seating choice. It amused him to see their consternation when all knew he was the power behind the conservative voting bloc. It did not take long for the night to begin.

There was, of course, the usual agreements on how to vote regarding upcoming legislation and some compromises regarding proposed legislation. There was the usual bickering and bitching about members of the Commons, plebeians that were actually voted into their positions. Lucius had remained silent through it all. Finally, Lucius spoke.

"Yes, I'm sure that all know how much you dislike Bletchly, Barrett," Lucius spoke to the Head of the Falkner family. The other Lord quieted. "I would like to discuss only two quick matters," Lucius continued. All eyes were upon him.

"Firstly, I believe that there is some bit of revenge to get to in the winter session. I propose that next year's budget half the discretionary funds of the Minister and include no increases for the Department of Mysteries." The smiles that answered him told him that all were in agreement. Some had likely even forgotten about the events of several months ago. "I have already broached the subject with Madame Longbottom and she has agreed that the Progressives will support such a movement." Some of his colleagues looked scandalized, but all agreed to vote to pass the new budget.

"Secondly," Lucius continued. "I would like to discuss the matter of the Black family seat once more." There were sighs and grumbling from several of the members.

"Gentlemen," Lucius said, his eyes piercing Adrian Urch, who was grumbling the loudest. "It occurs to me that the new Lord Black will be eligible to take his seat, as would young Lord Potter. Whatever happens, if either should appear during the next session, I think it prudent to be prepared. To that end, I want us to prepare for whomever could have the Black seat. Even if that is Sirius Black."

An explosion happened at the table and it took another hour to adjourn the meeting.

Lucius held back, as was his custom, until the room had emptied of almost all and approached Tiberius Nott.

"Quite the theory, Lucius," Nott complimented him on the bedlam he had created.

"It was my son's," Malfoy answered proudly. Nott looked suitably impressed.

"Then you are grooming him well." The two stood amicably for a few moments and then Nott spoke again. "I have asked Rosier and Lestrange to stay for a while longer, and I'd ask the same of you."

Lucius hesitated only so slightly before answering in the affirmative. There could only be one reason for a second gathering that night, and it was not something that Lucius felt bid well for his family's future. Following the Lord Nott into his private study, he was offered, and accepted a two finger pour of the finest magical Scotch.

Lowering himself into a seat beside Nott and the other two invitees, he waited for Nott to speak.

"My friends," Nott began with a small gleam in his eyes. "I have been approached by someone who is working with Our Lord and he is asking for our help."

It was only with tremendous effort that no sense of the dismay he felt entered Malfoy's countenance.


"Thank you all for coming this morning," the university warding professor, Anastasia Hamilton spoke. "Today's challenge will test your personal ability to thrive when there is ambiguity. As such, this is a solo challenge." There were several groans as teams that had been together for years were suddenly broken up.

"This morning, Professor Vector and I hid three decorative jade urns in the castle." An image of said urns appeared. They looked oriental in make. "It will be your job to find an urn and return it to us. Your reward will be a bonus in up to three associated classes and a tour of Hogwart's wards with myself. You may go."

Most students simply milled about, waiting for more. Harry had already started moving. It was clear that the challenge had begun. As he left the Great Hall, he thought about likely hiding places for the urns. It seemed unlikely that the urns would be hidden in any populated area. He could likely rule out the ground floor of the castle, then.

It was moderately likely that at least one urn would be hidden along the northern wall of the castle. That wall housed the Runes and Arithmancy classrooms and would probably be the area both professors knew best. Harry quickly made his way from the Great Hall to the northern wall.

The seven floors on this side of the castle were mostly barren, but Harry knew of no active courses which used the sixth. Speeding up several flights of stairs, during which only one re-route was necessary due to a shifting staircase, Harry found himself at his target. The hallway here was long, and there were dozens of rooms to search. With the arithmancy and warding professors hosting the challenge, it was likely wards would be involved, and so first glances in each of the rooms would not be enough. Haste was required, but so was care.

Harry began with the first door on the left. The room was abandoned, and clearly had been for some time. A thick layer of dust spread over everything in what had once been a classroom. He was tempted to simply leave the room at that, clearly it had not been disturbed in some time, but thought better of the decision and ran some basic diagnostic spells to detect magic.

There was quite a bit – there always was in Hogwarts. There was not, as far as he could tell, any unusual magic, however. After casting the same diagnostic spells from several different locations in the room, Harry was satisfied that there would be no urn here. Returning outside into the hallway, he continued into the next room.

He checked several rooms this way, making no more progress than he had with the first. It was shaping up to be a long day, but Harry was determined to find an urn. After nearly forty-five minutes of searching, a loud voice rang through the castle halls.

"The first urn has been found."

Swearing, Harry vowed to search quicker. Between his current room and the next were several paintings. They appeared to be unmoving, which was odd in Hogwarts. Casting his diagnostic spells again, he found that they were held under a painting stasis charm. With a wave of his own wand, he dispelled it, and immediately the paintings came back to life.

"Good show there lad!" came a cheer from a rather portly looking man. The painting was labeled Benedict Fudge. Harry wondered if he was related in some way to the current Minister of Magic.

"Thank you, Mr. Fudge." Harry went with sugar. "By chance have you seen a couple of Hogwarts professors come by this way recently?"

"Well that all depends how long I've been under that stasis!" the man spoke, sounding a bit blustery. "Those two tarts masquerading as professors that put me under that spell were the last thing I saw! But I couldn't tell you if it was recently."

"I suspect it was," Harry replied, smiling at the painting's characterizing. "Did you happen to see where they had come from or went to around here?"

"Oh, yes. They came out of the room down yonder. Four doors down, I believe. Started to spell everything on this floor. Hooligans, I say. I hope that you're ruining whatever they've done."

Harry's smile had broken into a grin. "I dare say I hope so too, Mr. Fudge. Thank you for your assistance, you are a credit to your family."

The painting puffed up as much as was possible for a painting, and looked extraordinarily chuffed with itself. Harry headed down the hall to the door fingered by Benedict. He found it locked. Finite Incantatem did not unlock the door. Running his diagnosis, he found the door warded. 'Of course it is,' he thought.

It would not be too difficult of a ward, of course. Hogwarts students learned very little about wards and cursebreaking until University. Harry ran a few more diagnostic spells, looking for the wardstone. It was unlikely to be behind the door. He found it in a small alcove a dozen or so feet away from the entrance to the room. Sending a surge of power through his wand, he split the wardstone in twain and returned to the door to find it unlocked.

Entering the classroom he scanned the area and found it empty. That seemed unlikely, but perhaps the room was left as a decoy. Walking about, he cast several more detection spells. They came back positive, but Harry did not believe any of the magic he felt could hide the urn.

"The second urn has been found." The same voice rolled through the castle and Harry felt himself grow antsy. The urn was not here. He'd have to move on. As he searched the next room he felt a moment of disorientation. 'Did I check the front of that last room?'

Walking back to the room pointed out by Fudge, he glanced around again. His eyes seemed to roll over the front of the room without perceiving it. Harry blinked and shook his head to clear it. There was another ward in this room; a rather more subtle one. Again searching about, Harry found small wardstone towards the front of the class, very near where the magic did not want him to approach. As he cracked the stone with a second surge of power, he found the last urn on the desk at the front of the room.

Shrinking the urn with a flick of his wand, Harry palmed it deftly, disappearing it into his robes with a fluid motion that would make any pickpocket proud. He made his way out into the corridor and to the stairs thrilled with his success. He only had to make it back to the Great Hall and third place would be his. The scuffling of robes and a shout above him jerked him from his reverie.

"There he is!" came an Irish brogue Harry was familiar with. Seamus was pointing down from the floor above and suddenly the male faces of the two other members of Neville's group showed up. As they began to move, they suddenly tripped and stumbled. Harry smirked, a telltale hand gesture beside his leg, leaving no doubt to himself that the tripping jinx he had cast was mastered wandless. His pursuers, however, had no clue as Harry's wand was out and casting, causing all three boys to duck behind the stair railing. Harry sprinted off towards the ground floor, taking the stairs down three at a time.

He was forced to take cover on the fourth floor as a spell suddenly shot upwards from below him. Neville Longbottom looked fierce. "Come on, Potter!" he yelled in challenge. "Quit running!"

Harry, still with urn in hand, sprinted down the fourth floor corridor towards the northeastern most tower. Footsteps thudded behind him and he ducked spellfire as he quickly made it to tower. Jumping into the eastern classroom, he cast a colloportus on the door and ran for the window. Opening it, he tossed a broken quill holder out the window and watched as it flashed out of sight. He prayed that he was remembering Sirius and Remus' memories correctly and backed up to get a running start.

As he sprinted for the now-open window, the door to the classroom was blown off its hinges and Ron Weasley stepped through just in time to see Harry Potter dive out the fourth story window, which just happened to be overlooking a cliff face that descended some two hundred feet to the Black Lake below.

"No!" he yelled in terror as Potter descended to his inevitable death. Running to the window the red-headed boy peered out and down to the water below. There was no sign of his quarry.


The letter from Harry regarding Pettigrew's likely location once again sent Sirius into a flurry of activity. Remus very nearly had to physically restrain the Azkaban escapee to prevent him from attempting to raid the Burrow directly. Instead, he had convinced him to act in a slightly more subtle way. The two would place a series of wards around the house designed to detect an animagus crossing them and alert the pair. They would set it up so that the ward would only trigger if the animagus was alone on the off chance that Peter was carried across the wardline.

It was a little known fact about being an animagus that it was impossible to maintain one's sense of self if one stayed in animal form forever. Magical theorists had guestimated that within a matter of months a wizard would become more animal than human without periodically transforming back. Though Sirius had regularly transformed back into a human while in Azkaban, he had flirted with those limits nonetheless having spent well over 95% of his time as a dog for fifteen years. Remus and Sirius both thought that Peter must occasionally transform back into a human, and he certainly would not do so around the Weasley property.

The series of wards Remus and Sirius would establish could help them catch the rat as he left alone to transform back to a human. It had not taken long for the two to find what they would need, but it had taken Remus a few days to carve out the proper wardstone. Now that the preparations were ready, the two apparated to Ottery St. Catchpole once more.

Arriving in the dead of night, it took Sirius and Remus several hours to establish the wards, something that they did just beyond the existing wards. It was Remus' hope that by placing the ward so close to the others any cursory examination of the wards of the house would leave his addition undetected.

The job was completed at nearly four in the morning, and the two marauders returned home exhausted, but determined.


As Harry took the leap out of the window he suddenly found himself flying back into one. Tucking and rolling as he hit the floor, Harry sighed in relief. He had remembered correctly. The room Harry had just fallen into was exactly two floors below the one he had jumped out of. Back in Remus and Sirius' day, this classroom was used for study by some particularly ornery upperclassmen. The marauders had spelled the windows to be linked and used that connection to throw chaos into study sessions in a variety of ways. It did not take long for the upperclassmen to find another room, but in the meantime the Marauders had had a lot of fun.

Taking a quick moment to ensure the urn was unbroken, Harry quickly left his new room on the second floor and made it the rest of the way to the Great Hall unmolested. It was with great pride that he listened to Professor Hamilton's voice ring out again.

"The third urn has been found. This challenge is now complete."


"I am hearing some disturbing rumors, Croaker." Minister Fudge sat behind his desk, looking scared.

The man on the other side of the desk remained calm. "And what rumors might those be, Minister?"

"You know damn well what rumors!" Fudge's fear fed anger and Croaker leaned back in surprise. It was rare that Cornelius raised his voice at all, it was the very first time he had ever done so with Croaker.

"My… apologies, Minister. I was not being purposefully obtuse. I merely wanted to ensure we were speaking of the same thing. I suppose that you are particularly worried about the rumors regarding the budget for next year?"

"Of course I'm worried about the budget! I'm hearing that my discretionary funds are going to be halved! The vampires in the Lords are going to suck me dry. That would be bad enough if not for the other rumor."

Now Croaker really was confused. He had assumed the politician was merely afraid for his political future and his pocketbook. "What other rumor, Minister?"

"That Sirius Black is the one that claimed the Black lordship!"

"Impossible!" Croaker exclaimed as blood rushed to his face. "Who is spreading these lies?"

Now it was Cornelius' turn to lean back from the fury in Croaker's face. "I'm merely hearing it through the grapevine from some concerned supporters of mine, Croaker. There is no proof, one way or the other, but it appears that some of the Lords have come to that conclusion independent of any corresponding facts."

Croaker felt his rage subsiding and for the first time since concocting the plan, felt some measure of fear regarding its failure. "They must not have been able to figure out who claimed the seat. Occam's razor may have led them to the belief that Black is still alive. But that is impossible! The wards must have killed him!"

"What if they did not, Croaker? What would we need to do?"

"Minister, if Black is still alive, and if he remembers anything regarding us, we are completely and utterly fucked." He let that sink in for a moment. Just as he saw the panic rise to a boiling point he continued. "I find that sequence of events to be unlikely, however. While Black may have survived, he did not know anything about what we wanted him for. And if Black has survived, then he is an Azkaban escapee. The minister would be remiss if he did not issue a kiss on sight order for such a dangerous man.

"I'm sure the Commons will support you."


The extra credit was certainly a nice bonus, Harry thought, but it was absolutely nothing in comparison with the tour of Hogwarts' wards. Harry, along with Professor Hamilton and other challenge winners Padma Patil and Hermione Granger, stood some one hundred feet beneath the Headmaster's tower in the figurative heart of Hogwarts. Before them stood a work of absolute art.

It stood four feet tall and two feet wide; a perfectly smooth four sided column with a metallic, blue gray color. It certainly seemed to be a homogenous material, but Harry could not immediately identify it. What drew his eyes, however, was not the physical perfection of the wardstone, but rather the runes which adorned it with an unearthly glow.

"We do not know how the founders came about the wardstone," Professor Hamilton spoke quietly as if in awe herself, "but we do know that it ranks amongst the most powerful wardstones on the entire planet. The only known stones that can store and channel more power than this are at least eight times larger, making them far less efficient.

"The runes carved upon its surface were mostly placed by Rowena Ravenclaw, but many of Hogwarts headmasters have added to the wards throughout the years, and occasional touch-ups have been needed throughout the centuries as the wards weaken due to precession, continental drift, or a particularly serious earthquake such as the one in 1668."

She stopped and allowed the three students to approach the wardstone and examine its runes before continuing. "A wardstone with this many wards tied to it would normally peter out, but this wardstone has been placed directly above the nexus of two leylines. These leylines power all of the wards of Hogwarts and have repelled all which would do Hogwarts harm throughout the years.

"I, personally, cannot see that these wards could ever fall, but cursebreaking is not my specialty."

After taking a few minutes of questions Professor Hamilton led the three thoroughly awed students back up to the ground floor and held them back as she reset and changed the protections to access the wardstone's room.

"There is one additional benefit to winning the most recent challenge." She reached into her robes and pulled out three sheets of paper. "I am giving the three of you access to the Arithmancy, Runes, and Warding segments of the Restricted Section. Use the passes wisely."

Harry thought the gleam in Hermione's eyes was particularly scary.