Harry Potter and the Founders Vault

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

Note: I apologize for the long gap between my last chapter and this. As mentioned previously, my Beta and I are now in the middle of a series event on FanFiction (Crisis on Infinite Earths, if anyone is a DC/Arrowverse fan, please check it out) so that's been taking priority for my Beta to edit, but he got comfortable enough to get this chapter out for you guys. I can't promise when the next chapter will be released, but it shouldn't be a month's gap like last chapter and this.

Year 1: The Dragon

The Slytherin Common Room was strange at night – it was past midnight and Harper, along with her cat Daisy, were the only occupants of the Common Room. She had been having trouble sleeping recently, so she had decided to go over her homework assignments, hoping that might bore her to sleep.

The normally busy room was completely empty and, with the only windows giving views of the lake, there was no light from the moon coming in so the only thing that lit the Common Room were the candles and the dwindling fireplace. Harper was sitting on the couch next to the fireplace and Daisy was sleeping next to her. Sadly, going over her homework had not bored her to sleep, although she had managed to add a small amount to her Potions and Transfiguration essay. Now she had her deck of cards out and was playing Solitaire with them.

She heard the wall that led from the outside into the Common Room slide open, but didn't turn, figuring it was a Prefect returning from patrol. She was facing away from the entrance and wouldn't be easily seen by the person who entered – that was when she heard the voice of Professor Snape, at least.

"Of all the moronic things to do," Professor Snape was saying, "you leave the Common Room in the middle of the night and alert Professor McGonagall!"

"But the Gryffindors were breaking the rules!" It was Draco's voice and Harper knew she shouldn't eavesdrop, but she couldn't help it.

"You were breaking the same rule, boy," Professor Snape said out sternly. "Did you honestly expect her not to give the same punishment to you?"

"Can't you…?" Draco started.

"Get you out of detention? Even if I could, I would not," Professor Snape snapped. "You deserve this. You were rash. You didn't think through all your options. The way you acted wasn't like a Slytherin it was–"

"Like a Gryffindor?" Harper suggested, turning around on the coach and so she was facing the two and they could see her over the back. "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear."

"Like a Gryffindor, thank you Ms. Evans," Professor Snape said. "But what are you doing out of bed?"

"Insomnia," Harper explained. "I can't sleep. So, I was revising my homework and playing some cards. I came out here so I didn't keep my roommates up."

"Five points to Slytherin for being considerate and another five points for not wandering the halls like an idiot," Professor Snape said, giving Draco a glare before turning to leave the room.

The two Slytherin first years stayed in silence for a moment.

"Why do I feel like those points he gave me had more to do with what you did than what I did?" Harper asked Draco, a smirk on her face.

"Shut up," Draco said as Harper turned back to her game and he walked around the couch, giving her a look. Daisy gave him a lazy meow. "You hang around Gryffindors." It wasn't a question.

"My brother and a couple of others yes," Harper said, not sure where this was going.

"What do you know about dragons?" Draco asked.

"Dragons?" Harper asked. "I don't know the connection to Gryffindor but I know quite a lot about dragons. My mom's reserves has a couple. What breed do you want to know about?"

"Not dragons in general," Draco said. "The dragon."

"I'm not following," Harper said shaking her head.

"The dragon!" Draco cried. "The dragon! Hagrid's dragon… you really don't know, do you?" He paused at this looking at Harper.

"You lost me back at Gryffindor," Harper shrugged as Draco rolled his eyes, looking back to where Professor Snape had been.

"What's your deal anyway?" Draco mused.

"I'm still lost," Harper stated, bemused at the boy now.

"I mean, why does Professor Snape seem to favor you?" Draco insisted.

"Oh that," Harper actually chuckled at this. "Well, he was good friends with my aunt."

"Your aunt?" Draco frowned at this. "But you're American."

Harper sighed at this. "By aunt, I meant Harry's birth mother," Harper explained, "I reminded Professor Snape of their friendship on our first day; my family even sent him some old pictures of him and Harry's mom for Christmas – he's been nicer since."

"Oh. Of course," Draco had a weird smile on his face now. "It's not what you know, but who you know."

"Says the sole heir of the Malfoy estate," Harper pointed out.

"Ugh, whatever," Draco moaned, turned, and then paused before tossing her cards on the floor and heading towards the boy's dormitory.

"Very mature," Harper muttered as Daisy gave a hiss at the retreating form of Draco. "Guess I am playing Fifty-Two Pick Up," Harper knelt on her hands and knees, going to pick up the cards.

"Does young mistress need help?" A voice spoke and Harper nearly hit her head on the table as she was surprised.

"What?" Harper asked, turning, and seeing a small creature, with tiny hands, big bat-like ears, and a long, thin nose, standing there. A House Elf. She'd known a few in America, although had never seen any in the unusual outfit this one wore – a tea towel with the Hogwarts symbol on the chest. "Oh, hi there. How are you doing?" Harper asked.

"Tippy is well," the House Elf that Harper assumed was named Tippy replied. "Master Snape has sent me here with this for you."

Tippy held out a vial with a potion in it and a note. Harper took both and looked at the note. 'Go to your bed and take a sip of this potion. It will help you sleep. I don't need you being tired in class tomorrow. Don't worry about your allergies; this won't activate it.'

Harper was surprised Severus Snape knew about her unusual and rare allergy to certain potions – some well-known potions gave her a bad reaction and most of these were medical potions, and strangely also weirdly Veritaserum, the truth potion. She was good with many muggle remedies, however. Shaking it off, Harper figured her head of house must have had access to her medical history, after all.

"Thank you, Tippy," Harper said. "I just need to pick up…" Harper didn't finish her sentence as Tippy snapped her fingers and all the cards flew from the floor and stacked back on the table. "Once again, thank you."

"It's a pleasure," Tippy said and vanished. Harper sighed as she took the deck of cards and put them back in their box. Then she grabbed them, her homework, and the potion. "Daisy, come on, let's go to bed."

-Harry Potter-

The next morning the Great Hall was abuzz with chatter and Harper could see why: The Gryffindor house points were down 150 points! Harry, and Hermione were waiting for her at the Ravenclaw table; the trio rotated between the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin tables – every once in a while, sitting at the Hufflepuff table with their Hufflepuff friends too, occasionally.

"What happened?" Harper asked.

"Overnight Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin all lost a lot of points," Hermione explained. "Ravenclaw is now in the lead – not that I am complaining – but it would be nice to know what happened to all those points."

"Gryffindor lost the most with 150 points, Hufflepuff lost 50, and Slytherin lost 40 points," Harry informed Harper.

"50, I think. Snape gave me ten last night," Harper clarified, making the two frown at her. "Don't ask. But Draco was out of bed. So, that explains Slytherin points."

"So, if we assume 50 points were taken from each person who was out of bed, it means three Gryffindors and a Hufflepuff was caught out of bed as well," Hermione reasoned.

"Possibly something to do with a dragon," Harper added in thoughtfully, remembering Draco's insistence.

"A dragon?" Harry asked and Harper shrugged.

"Harry!" It was Fred and George coming up.

"Congratulations!" George added.

"You're everyone's favorite," Fred continued.

"First year Gryffindor boy," George completed, making the small group look at them.

"Well, I am the best of the four, but what's going on?" Harry asked, bemused.

"You're the only first year boy who can stay in their bed," George and Fred said together.

"Ronny-kins, Dean, and Seamus were caught out of bed," Fred added darkly.

"Lost us a ton of points," George added. "The only way Gryffindor can get near winning now would be Quidditch."

"But our Seeker sucks," Fred said.

"Our current one is terrible," George continued.

"Our team hasn't been good since Charlie left last year," Fred added.

"Charlie?" Hermione asked at this.

"Weasley – our brother," George stated, knowingly.

"Sucks for us," Harry spoke up, shrugging but not caring one bit.

"Still no interest in playing for us?" Fred asked, a little hopeful. People had heard of James Potter talent at Quidditch and had been hoping maybe Harry had inherited it, but Harry wasn't interested much to Oliver Woods, the Gryffindor team captain, dismay.

"Never," Harry stated.

"Besides, first years aren't allowed," Hermione reasoned as the Weasley twins shrugged at this.

"Good point," George sighed.

"And Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw's best players graduated last year as well," Fred added.

"Leaving the Quidditch Cup open for Slytherin to take," Geroge continued.

"Oh well," Harry said with another shrug. "Besides, that solves Gryffindor's point loss. I wonder who was out of bed for the Hufflepuffs?"

"I hear it was your buddy, Neville," Fred stated, making the three look at each other.

"Thanks Fred, thanks George," Harper said with a smile, standing and giving both a one-armed hug before the three moved off to the Hufflepuff table.

Neville was sitting subdued, pushing his breakfast around with his fork. Susan was next to him, clearly trying to cheer the boy up. "Neville, is it true? Were you out of bed last night?" Harper was the one to ask as the three of them sat down opposite him.

"Yes," Neville said still looking at his food, not looking up.

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"I was cleaning Trevor's aquarium and he got loose. I went after him and ended up out of the Common Room after hours," Neville explained and Harry, Harper, and Hermione had to suppress a groan.

"Why didn't you just go back in?" Hermione asked.

"I tried but I always forget the combination… and the vinegar," Neville moaned. "I hate getting the vinegar."

"What?" Harry asked.

"It's a security system to stop non-Hufflepuffs entrance," Susan explained, "and Hufflepuffs who forget how to enter the Common Room."

"I went to find a Prefect or teacher to help me but with Ron, Dean, Seamus, and Draco all out of bed as well I got the same punishment as them," Neville said.

"Any idea what my roommates were doing out of bed?" Harry asked, honestly curious, but he wouldn't dare to ask them. Dean might tell him, but Ron seemed to be leader of their little trio and obviously Harry and he were not on good terms.

"Sorry, but they were caught coming in from the grounds. Maybe they were with Hagrid," Neville said.

"We're overdue for a visit to Hagrid," Harper said. "How about after classes we go see him?"

"He's been looking a bit cut up recently," Hermione mused. "Bruised and cut," she added for Harry and Harper's questioning glance.

"Maybe that's to do with the points loss," Harry wondered.

"Possibly," Hermione nodded.

"Oh, cheer up Nev," Harper added, seeing Neville was still disheartened. "It's not like you got detention on top of it."

"I did," Neville stated, actually looking up at this. "Tonight. I'm meeting Filtch in the Entrance Hall along with the other rule breakers."

"Damn, that's harsh," Harper sighed, sharing a glance with Harry at this.

-Harry Potter-

After their classes that day, Harry, Hermione, and Harper made their way out to Hagrid's little hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forst and knocked on the door.

"Oh 'arry, 'arper, 'ermione," Hagrid said with a smile as he answered the door. He did look a little worse for wear, with burns clear on his hands. "Want ter help feed some creatures?"

"Sure," Harry said with a smile, loving any chance to get near the creatures on the ground. With that, Hagrid brought them to where several Hippogriff were, grabbing a bucket of meat to feed them.

"Hey Hagrid," Harry said as they started throwing meat on the ground for the Hippogriffs. "We were told Ron, Dean, and Seamus might have been with you last night when they got into trouble. Is it true?"

"Aye," Hagrid said, a long face at this.

"Something to do with a dragon…?" Harper added.

"Who told yer about Norbert?" Hagrid asked, making the three pause at this.

"There really was a dragon?" Hermione asked, shocked – as a muggle-born she was used to the idea of dragons being fantasy, but knowing they were real and knowing one was close by was a little frightening.

"Hagrid, you might as well tell us the whole story," Harry said, seeing his friend seemed unsure.

"Oh, go on Hagrid, it seems to be over now," Haper added, the half-giant biting his lip now as he sighed.

"A'right," Hagrid groaned, leaning against the fence now which moaned at his displaced weight. "I was in the 'og's 'ead in 'ogsmead when this stranger came to me with an offer I'd always wanted – a dragon's egg."

"A stranger in a pub," Harper chuckled. This wasn't going to be good.

"Anyway, we got drinking, few card games an' I won the egg," Hagrid stated. "Seemed quite pleased to get rid of it, really. He was interested in magical creatures too. I tol' him all about these 'ere 'ippogriffs, Threstals, Fluffy… but once I got the egg, he was gone sooner than you could say 'Butterbeer'."

"Well, that doesn't sound bad at all," Hermione stated, Hagrid not noticing the sarcasm in her voice; he seemed to be enjoying himself, explaining everything now.

"Anyway, yer friend Ron found out about the egg and insisted on getting the dragon ter his brother Charlie in Romania. I always liked Charlie – 'e loved his dragons. But yeah, I didn't wanna part with the egg so I let it hatch. Lovely Norwegian Ridgeback, named 'im Norbert, but he got pretty big, pretty quickly, see? I 'ad no option but to let Ron get Charlie to take 'im. O' course, 'e planned to do it las' night, and just after Charlie took Norbert away, 'e, Dean and Seamus got caught. Such a shame. They never said why they were out o' bed, but I offered to take 'em on detention tonight. Professor McGonagall agreed. Them, the Longbottom boy, and the Draco lad."

"Well…" Harry stated, taking this in as he looked between Hagrid and the two girls.

"Why didn't you tell us, Hagrid? We could have contacted mom and had someone come and get Norbert," Harper explained deciding to ignore Hagrid calling Ron their friend this once.

"Wait, how exactly did Ron find out about this?" Harry asked. "I didn't know he and you were friendly."

"Well, someone told 'em about the you-know-what in Vault 713," Hagrid said, folding him arms now as Harper and Harry looked at each other, guilty over that. He winced as his burnt hands touched fabric. "They started coming 'round after that. Lookin' fer information an' I might have told 'em too much at one point. They were in me hut when Norbert 'atched."

The trio could tell Hagrid didn't want to say more, not that he needed to, so they let him off the hook – they didn't have much option anyway, they were just children, after all. Instead, they moved the conversation away from Norbert, and started talking about the Hippogriffs they were feeding before finally saying their farewells to Hagrid and rushing back to the castle.

"Why would Hagrid do something so stupid?" Harry bemoaned. "He may be half-giant, but I didn't think he was that ignorant."

"It's done," Harper stated, although agreeing with her brother. "Nothing we can do about it."

"Besides, we still need to figure out what book is the key," Hermione reminded them about their Founders' Vault mystery cipher. So far, they had no luck decoding the secret message – every book they had tried was complete nonsense and they really needed to figure out the clue to the book.

"Tomorrow," Harper said with a nod. They had been preoccupied today – they had to continue looking for the right book tomorrow.

"If we don't get distracted by whatever those five have to do for detention tonight," Harry said, and they laughed. How could detention be as distracting as a live dragon?

-Harry Potter-

The next day Harper was walking with Daphne and Tracey. The three dormmates had been in Defense class with the Hufflepuffs and Harper had noticed Neville had been mysteriously missing all day. "Coming back to the common room?" Daphne asked Harper.

"No, I am going to go find Harry and Mione," Harper said, and her two dormmates gave a nod at this.

"We'll give Daisy some treats!" Tracey grinned.

"Don't over-feed her," Harper called back, but the two had already ran off toward the dungeons. "They will make her fat with all the treats..." Harper mused, deciding a cat diet would be on order when they returned home for the summer.

Harper just started walking, not even sure where she was going, but she felt a tug pulling her in a direction and had no choice but to follow it. Something wanted her to move, and she found herself outside a girls' bathroom on the second floor that had an 'out of order' sign on it.

Harper barely took in the sign as she pushed the door open, walking towards the sinks in the middle of the room and going right to a sink and staring at it. Her eyes were on a snake carving on the tap – it was almost like she was enchanted by it, something telling her she belonged here. She had to do something. She needed to say something.

"What are you doing here?!" A voice called, shocking Harper out of the trance she had been in. Stepping back, a female ghost flew out of the sinks. "Come here to make fun of me, have you?!" She was a young girl, no older than fifteen, wore large glasses and had a uniform slightly different to the ones Harper recognized. She was also, noticeably, a Ravenclaw.

"What?" Harper paused, unsure what was going on. Not sure why a ghost was in a bathroom – part of her wondered how she'd ended up in a bathroom.

"Don't think I don't know. All the kids make fun of me…!" The ghost started wailing.

"Myrtle!" A voice spoke, and another female ghost floated through the stalls. It was unusual with ghosts; they were all white and see-through, but if their skin was a darker in life, one could tell in death; this girl had definitely been dark-skinned when she was alive. She was wearing a Hogwarts uniform that indicated she was had been a Hufflepuff. Her uniform was a more recent uniform than the one worn by the girl she called Myrtle. "What have we talked about?"

"Don't yell at students unless they give you a reason," Myrtle mumbled and sighed before flying back through the sinks and into a stall.

"What just happened?" Harper asked, confused.

"You wandered into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," the other ghost explained, and Harper paused for a moment.

"That's real?" Harper asked in disbelief. Some older Slytherin girls had warned them not to go into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, but Harper had thought they were pulling her leg. What ghost would want to haunt a bathroom?

"It is," the ghost said, "I'm Rowan Khanna. I died a couple of years ago. Knew Myrtle when I was alive so decided to be her friend in death as well; keep her from harassing students and flooding the bathroom so much. It's a good distraction from death. Besides, I think Dumbledore is thankful for that. And you would be?"

"I'm Harper Evans," Harper said.

"Should have known from the accent. There's only two Americans in the school, after all, and only one of them is a girl," Rowan surmised. "All the ghosts are talking about you and your brother, Harry Potter. I've been thinking of coming by and meeting you two. Well, you're free to use the bathroom, if you need?"

"Um… no I just need to wash my hands," Harper said, going to turn on the sink but it didn't turn on.

"That sink never works," Rowan sighed, turning on the other one for Harper, who quickly washed her hands.

"Thanks Rowan, I'll…." Harper stopped as she headed for the door and turned back to the ghost. "No one ever comes into this bathroom, right?"

"You're the first person all year," Rowan stated.

"So… no one would be able to overhear if a couple of students were talking about something they didn't want anyone else to overhear?" Harper asked. It was hard to talk openly about the clues and ideas they had, since they didn't want anyone to know they were looking for the Founders' Vault. "In fact, you two could make sure to keep people out…?"

"I'm not against students' secret missions," Rowan said with a smirk. "When I was alive, I helped a friend find the Cursed Vaults."

"Seriously? So, you know Barnaby?" Harper asked.

"Yes, how do you know Barnaby?" Rowan questioned, genuinely surprised by this.

"He works for my mom at the magical creature reserve she runs," Harper explained, and a smile appeared on Rowan face.

"Good for him. I always knew that was his career path. Well, any friends of Barnaby is a friend of mine. Feel free to use the bathroom as a secret headquarters. Myrtle and I will make sure no one annoys you," Rowan said.

"Thanks Rowan, thanks Myrtle!" Harper called out to the ghost in the stall before walking out, forgetting all about how she had been led here and how the sinks had enchanted her for a moment. She had to find Hermione and Harry and tell them she found a place for them to work from.

-Harry Potter-

Harry and Hermione were sitting in the courtyard with Susan Bones and Neville.

"Harry, Mione!" Harper said, coming up. "I got… Oh, hi Nev, Susan. Where have you been all day? You skipped Defense Against the Dark Arts. Not that we learn anything there, but still, it's not like you to skip…"

"Professor Sprout gave Neville the day off because of what happened in detention last night," Susan explained.

"What bad can happen in detention?" Harper asked.

"We were just about to ask," Harry told his sister.

"We went into the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid," Neville said.

"Seriously?" Hermione groaned, all three probably thinking the same thing: The Forbidden Forest is forbidden… unless you get detention? It didn't make sense.

"Yes," Neville said, his voice sharking. "We had to look for a missing unicorn. Hagrid took Seamus and Dean while me, Draco, and Ron went a different direction with Fang. Draco and Ron were bickering with each other almost the entire time and then we came upon it... a unicorn, dead on the floor and this… this… cloaked figure drinking its blood!"

"Seriously?" This time it was Harper who asked this.

"Draco and Ron ran; I was going to follow but tripped over a root or something. It came right for me – the hooded figure – it would have gotten me, but a Centaur came and scared it away. I could have died last night." Neville was shaking by the end of this explanation. "There was something wrong with that figure… I don't even know."

"Why would it be drinking unicorn blood though?" Susan was the one to ask this.

"Because Unicorn blood has healing properties," Harper was the one to say this. "But at a terrible cost – it also curses you as it shortens your life."

"Which kind of makes drinking it pointless," Harry was the one to state this. "Yes, you get better if you're ill, but you'd die a lot sooner."

"So, who was drinking the blood?" Hermione asked, looking from Harry and Harper to Neville and Susan.

"It was horrible…" Neville stated. "I don't even know. But I wish you had been there with me Harry," he looked to Harry at this.

"If I had been with you, I'd have made sure I was behind you as we ran," Harry pointed out.

"Nev, please, why don't you go to Madam Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing for a Calming Drought? You really need it," Susan spoke up at this.

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea," Hermione stated, glancing to Harry and Harper at this.

"Yes, definitely," the pair chorused as Neville nodded, getting to his feet, not really seeing what he was doing. Susan, however, mouthed a 'thank you' to the three as she moved off with Neville, not even asking why they weren't following.

"I think Susan's been insisting he have a Calming Draught all day," Hermione stated, looking at the other two. "Our agreeing with her must have helped."

"It obviously did," Harper sighed, frowning at Neville and Susan's retreating forms.

"Detention in the Forbidden Forest!" Harry snapped now. "What were they thinking?"

"It was Hagrid's idea," Hermione stated. "Don't forget what Hagrid said yesterday: he got Professor McGonagall to agree to let him give them detention. He probably thought it would be better for him to take them since he was at fault for most of them getting said detention."

"That sounds like very Hagrid-logic. The fact that it was in the Forbidden Forest though…" Harry muttered, and Harper had to nod her agreement.

"And what was that hooded figure?" Hermione asked, still frowning.

"Probably some poor soul desperate enough to try anything," Harper shrugged. "And in the dark, in the forest, with Draco and Ron already screaming in the distance, it was probably scarier than it initially was."

"Not to mention whoever was drinking the blood probably didn't want to be seen," Harry added to his sister's musing. "The perfect cocktail for terror at midnight for poor Neville." They had started walking toward the Great Hall now, with nothing else to do and had fallen into silence at this, their guesses as to who had been drinking the blood already concluded.

"Well, we still need to decide between the two of them. Susan or Neville," Hermione stated as they reached the Great Hall and placed themselves on the Ravenclaw table. "But Harper, you came running up so excited, like you had something to tell us…?"

"Oh yeah," in the excitement of Neville's disastrous detention, she had almost forgotten about her unexpected trip into Moaning Mrytle's bathroom. "I found us a place where we can work on you-know-what without anyone overhearing us. Well, anyone alive that is," Harper stated, the pair grinning at her for this. They had been looking at empty classrooms and other places to have a headquarters, but the hard part was finding a place no one would easily walk into.

"Where?" Harry asked.

"Ever heard of Moaning Myrtle?" Harper asked; Hermione groaned though as Harry looked confused. Harper gave a smirk. "Come on Mione, it's perfect."

"Can someone fill me in? I'm lost," Harry said.

"Of course, you're lost. You wouldn't know of the ghost who haunts a girls' bathroom," Hermione explained. "But yes, Harper is right. No one ever goes in there. It is kind of perfect." Harry looked between the two and then shrugged. If the two girls thought it was good, who was he to complain?

"Score!" Harper chuckled as she finally helped herself to dinner.

Post Chapter Note: Okay, yes, this is sort of a filler chapter, but I do have to get some book plots in – especially regarding Voldemort – and giving Neville Harry's part in the book here was perfect. Neville is needed for the book side of the plot, which is the reason why the trio are still deciding which Hufflepuff to join them.

Now, I do want to mention something: If you can't, tell I love the game Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, and have decided to include characters and the plots from there as having happened before Harry started (like the game anyway). I already included Barnaby Lee and just got to include Rowan here. More characters will be brought in as the years go by though, including MC (main character) – that being the character you play as when you're playing the game. And while MC won't appear for a while, there are a couple of things you can tell about MC from this chapter. So, anyone who plays the game have any idea as to what these may be, regarding MC?

Tell me in a REVIEW.

Karry Master OUT!