A/N:I've been trying to work hard during the holidays to get this finished (so I can work on another idea!) but I've still got a ways to go. I've still got some major points to get through. If nothing else, I want this done before I go on vacation in late Feb!
Story Arc 5, Chapter 8
The floo flared in Minerva McGonagall's office Monday morning spitting out two adults and one student. Sirius Black was the first to step out followed by Harry Potter and Remus Lupin. She opened the discussion once they were all seated and had a cup of tea.
"You said that you needed to access both the Slytherin and Gryffindor quarters. Do you know where they are, Mr. Potter?"
"Yes, Ma'am. The Slytherin quarters are part of the Chamber of Secrets. Gryffindor's quarters are near the Gryffindor common room. Alastair said he would guide me if I needed him."
"And who is Alastair?" she asked.
Right on cue, Fawkes flamed in with the Sorting Hat. Once he deposited the hat in Harry's hand, he decided to go along for the ride on Harry's shoulder.
"I've got to get used to traveling while being flame-broiled," said the Sorting Hat.
Harry laughed, "Ready for a trip to the Chamber, Alastair?"
"Only if you promise that everyone will come back up."
"Not to worry. We're just going down to visit Slytherin's quarters and see what he wanted me to know."
"Well, lead the way!"
Minerva muttered, "But I thought the Sorting Hat's name was Godric. That's what Albus always calls it."
The Sorting Hat chuckled, "That's what he calls me. He's never bothered to ask if I had a name. He just presumed. If he'd bothered to read Hogwarts: A History, he'd have known my name is Alastair."
Harry led the group down to Myrtle's bathroom. Luckily, the ghost wasn't there. Harry hissed, "Stairs." As soon as he stepped on them, they began to wind their way down. He was quickly followed by the three adults. When they got to the site of the cave-in, it took the two wizards and one witch only a few minutes to remove the debris and shore up the area further than what Professor Snape and Tonks had done. Harry led them to the vault door which opened into the Chamber. It opened and they all stepped inside.
Only Sirius had seen the basilisk before, so Remus and Minerva were stunned when they saw the size of the beast. Remus reached out for Harry and brought him into a tight hug, "How did you ever survive that thing?"
"Fawkes," was Harry's simple answer.
Harry stood there and repeated the words the apparition of Salazar Slytherin had given him in Parseltongue, "Lord Slytherin demands my Chamber return to its original form".
It was as if there had been an illusion cast on the Chamber. It quickly faded away. The water on the floor quickly drained out. At the base of the statue was a door. Harry put his hand on it and felt it sense his magic. They then heard a click and the door opened.
They walked into what must have been a sitting room of sorts. There were chairs and a sofa with tables grouped near the fire. Against one wall was a desk surrounded by cases containing various scrolls and parchment. Off to the side was a table that could seat four. Over the fireplace was a picture of Salazar Slytherin.
Harry walked over to the portrait and hissed, "Hello Grandfather."
The portrait Salazar shook his head and said, "And who might you be, young man?"
"I am Harry James Slytherin Peverell Gryffindor Potter, sir."
"Well met, grandson. What year is it?" asked the portrait.
"It is 1994," replied Harry.
"Amazing how a thousand years can go by in a flash. What brings you to my humble chambers? And who are these people with you? Professors, I presume?"
Harry smirked, then introduced Minerva, knowing it would cause an explosion, "This is Professor McGonagall. She is the Professor for Transfiguration, Head of Gryffindor, and Deputy Headmistress."
"Impossible! The By-Laws specifically state that she can hold only one of those positions unless she is just a part-time professor," said the portrait.
Harry laughed and then introduced Sirius and Remus. After giving Salazar a brief history of his time at Hogwarts, the portrait was even more incensed.
"You have got to fix this, my heir. You are going to have to take control of the school!"
"But I'm just thirteen," said Harry.
"In my days, some boys were married at that age. Magic has declared you of age when you put on that ring. Now you're going to have to act on that responsibility. You have the beginnings of a good advisory council that can help you. We need to get Godric involved. He is more familiar with the wards than I am. Take me with you as we need to put together a path forward."
Harry thought to ask, "Is there another entrance besides the one in the bathroom?"
"Oh, you mean Sasha's entrance? That was an emergency entrance in case her exit to the grounds was ever blocked and she needed to assist the school. The primary entrance will bring you out near the Slytherin Common Room."
Salazar showed them a door in his quarters that led directly to the other entrance. Although they were far below the foundations of the school, the trip to the Slytherin corridor didn't take that long. Using hidden entrances known to Sirius and Remus, they made their way quickly to the corridor to the Gryffindor common room. Walking a little further, they spotted the painting that Godric said led to his quarters.
"Halt! Who goes here?" said the troop leader.
"I am Harrison James Slytherin Peverell Gryffindor Potter. I require entry," replied Harry. He caused his Gryffindor ring to show, which seemed to satisfy the guard.
"Password, young mage?"
Harry thought about it for a minute then said, "Marauders Rule."
While Minerva held her head, Remus and Sirius were high-fiving each other.
Upon entering, they noticed the layout was similar to that of the Slytherin rooms.
Once again, Harry said, "Hello, grandfather."
The portrait of Gryffindor also gave his head a shake before addressing the young man.
"Welcome, my heir. It's been a long time since anyone has been in these rooms. What year is it?"
"1994," all three said together.
They gave Godric the same synopsis of the state of Hogwarts they had given Salazar. They brought Salazar's picture and set it on a table. This was the beginning of a council of war to return Hogwarts to its former glory.
The elves brought them lunch as they worked through the problems that needed to be addressed and how to do it. Harry briefed them on the work they'd already done. Finally, Godric said, "I see no way around it. You're going to have to take control of the wards."
Salazar said, "Ha! I told you so!"
Harry started to protest, but Godric continued, "This is not permanent. You just need to do it long enough to fix some of the problems. There are wards to prevent magic in the halls and prevent dangerous creatures from entering the grounds. That troll should never have been within 5 miles of this school. Once you are connected to the wards, Hogwarts should help you."
"So how do I connect to the wards?" asked Harry.
"You need to go down to the Entrance Hall. The crossbar of the H appears to be made of tile, but it is actually a staff. Hold your hand over the staff and say, 'Lord Slytherin Gryffindor commands you – UP'. Once in your hand, you will see an indentation to place the bottom in. From there, you will be connected to the wards. I will warn you that it may be overwhelming at first, but I'm sure you will do just fine. Have someone with parchment and quill to take notes. You may not be able to fix everything at once. Some wards that are dormant may need to be powered before others can be raised or altered. Take me with you in case there are questions."
That's how three wizards, one witch, and two portraits found themselves processing to the Entrance Hall. Harry looked at the H and could see the tiling was a bit different on the crossbar. After doing as Godric told him, he placed the staff in the indentation. The top of the staff was actually a crystal. Harry suddenly had a flood of information coming in. He stood there for five minutes before saying anything.
"The castle wards are the weakest they've ever been. Since my first year, Dumbledore has progressively relaxed them. If an Acromantula escaped the Forbidden Forest, there would be no protection from it. I've already reactivated everything he's turned off. The ward to alert the teachers to magic in the hallways has been reinstated. The ward to detect dark objects has also been powered back up. The castle confirmed there's a black object in the Come and Go Room and wanted me to go get it out of there right now. I had to force it to wait until Wednesday when the goblins are here. Unfortunately, it thinks that Snape is a dark object, so I don't think he's going to be able to get back into the castle. I also found where the curse on the Defense position is. On the lintel above the door is a small piece of stone that's got a permanent sticking charm on it. That's where the curse is. All you have to do is unstick the stone and destroy it and the curse will be gone. There are some other spells that I've removed as well. There seems to be some type of compulsion to make Slytherin and Gryffindor hate each other. There seems to be a lot of tweaks other headmasters have done so that the wards have conflicting instructions. I've cleared out what I thought should go. I've also reinstated the anti-animagus ward but I've given it exceptions for Professor McGonagall and Sirius for now. If someone wants to learn to be one, you'll need to request the castle to add them to the list."
"How would I do that, Mr. Potter?" asked Minerva.
"In your classroom, you'll need to place your hand against the castle wall and have the student also place his or her hand on it. Then you say, 'I request an exception to the animagus wards for this student,' and say the student's name."
Godric said, "You need to let the castle know that only you may make changes to the wards for now. And it must confirm you are not under any type of compulsion before making the change. Otherwise, Albus is going to come in and try to undo everything. Did you also restore the anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards?"
"They were already active but had an exception for the Headmaster and Professor Snape. I removed those. Nobody should be able to portkey in or out of the wards. You'll have to go out the front gate or through the floo. I did make an exception for portkeys into and out of the Hospital Wing, but only those made by the Headmaster or Deputy will be accepted."
"What about when we have apparition training? Normally we lift the wards over the Great Hall during this time," asked the Professor.
"The castle has a better place for that. The Come and Go Room, as the elves call it, is actually a creation by Rowena Ravenclaw. It can become anything you need. All that needs to happen is for the Headmaster or Deputy to go up there and pace three times in front of the wall across from the tapestry of the idiot trying to teach trolls to dance and tell it you need a room for apparition training. It will configure itself for that. Once you leave, the normal wards will be restored."
Sirius asked the portraits, "Can you think of anything else that needs to be done now?"
Salazar asked, "Can you check the environmental charms on the Potions Laboratory? People like to play with them and it makes the laboratory dangerous."
Harry placed his hand back on the staff and thought for a minute. Then he said, "There were none. The castle understood what I was asking and asked me which potions lab. I guess there's one on the first floor as well as in the dungeons."
Salazar fumed, "What idiot put a potions laboratory in the dungeons? The dampness is bad for the ingredients. It's difficult to ventilate to the outside. The lighting is all wrong. I can give you a dozen more reasons for it not to be there. The first-floor laboratory is the one designed for Potions. It's near the Hospital Wing and has several brewing stations for more advanced students or apprentices. Have the elves clean it and then move everything from the dungeons to it."
Professor McGonagall immediately called the Head Elf and had him delegate the task to his staff. The little elf bounced up and down then said, "Thanks you Professor Kitty! The castle bees so much happier!" and then popped away.
At that time, all four house ghosts appeared to the group. The Fat Friar spoke, "Greetings Lord Slytherin Gryffindor. We would like to request another change to the wards if you would. While there are restrictions on males going into the female dormitory, there are no restrictions on females going into the male dormitories. There used to be the same restrictions on both. Could you possibly restore them?"
Harry concentrated for a moment, then nodded his head, "That was easy. Is there anything else you think we should change?"
The Bloody Baron spoke up, "The ghosts are currently restricted to reporting any problems only to the headmaster. If he isn't in the building, we have no other options. We'd like to be able to report to any faculty or staff member."
Sir Nicholas said, "I think it's time to send Cuthbert on to his final reward. Can you see if there is something in the wards keeping him here?"
Once again, Harry thought for a few minutes, then smiled, "That restriction on the ghosts was pretty hard to find. It's fixed now. You are free to use your judgment on who you report what to. I didn't find anything in the wards for Binns, but I had the castle search and it appears there is another curse located in the History of Magic classroom. It's a containment ward. According to the castle, it's embedded in the wall behind the blackboard. If you remove the blackboard, you should be able to remove it. It was installed while Binns was still alive so I don't think I'd warn him you were removing it."
After further discussion, they decided to leave things as they currently were. Harry placed the staff back in its holder and they adjourned to the staff room for a light lunch. Harry used the time to recharge a bit. Then they went to the History classroom where Remus and Sirius were able to remove the blackboard and find the ward. Since it was etched in the stone, they needed something to smooth it out. Remus remembered a sandblast charm and quickly had the ward erased. As they were putting the blackboard back, the ghost flew through it.
"Who did it? Who took down the ward? Headmaster Fortescue put that there. He didn't want anyone learning anything but goblin wars. He hated the goblins so he thought everyone should learn to hate them too," said Binns.
"But that doesn't make any sense. The goblins handle all of your money. Why would you want to anger them?" asked Harry.
"Apparently his grandfather was killed by one in one of the wars. He wanted everyone to learn about the atrocities done on wizardkind. I thank you for removing it. Now I can rest in peace," and with that, the ghost faded out for the last time.
With that accomplished, they placed both portraits back in the Gryffindor rooms and told them they would be back on Wednesday. That would give the two founders time to think of other changes that might be needed.