Chapter Text
Harry wasn’t sure how no one noticed the blood on his hand as he made sure to drag it briefly across the rough stones of the Entry Hall’s wall. Ron and Hermione were bickering with each other again, though he wasn’t actually all that upset as at least that meant they were finally leaving him alone. He’d been alone all summer, with little contact from anyone from the wizarding world and what contact he had had hadn’t been from them. Harry was, to put it mildly, pissed off.
For once the blood he was shedding at Hogwarts wasn’t from an accident or an attack of some sort. This was totally self-inflicted and was hopefully the next to last step in a ritual he’d been working on since returning to the Dursleys’ after the end of his fifth year. The silver lining in his desertion was that he’d had both plenty of time to think about things as well as plenty of time to complete the ritual.
Hearing Hermione’s voice go up a notch in volume, he rolled his eyes and moved slightly further away from them as he made his way through the mass of returning students to the Gryffindor table. He took his seat, smiling at Neville who settled across from him, as the other sixth year students arranged themselves around them. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes and counting to five slowly, when Ron pushed his way in beside him and Hermione took the seat beside Neville.
Harry still hadn’t spoken to anyone since entering Hogwarts; that was part of the ritual as well. Though calling it a ritual made it sound much more complicated than it actually had been. He’d found it in the Library the previous year when he’d been camped out in a dusty corner to avoid Hermione’s questions about how he was or Ron’s constant whinging about studying.
The book had been in surprisingly good condition considering where it had been located and had a number of interesting spells he’d made note of to look into further. This one though had been listed as a ‘ritual’ due to the very specific timing of it as well as the steps involved in completing it. It could only be completed before your sixth year and it was supposed to help you figure out the answer to your most difficult problem, though that might be a bit of a simplification of the actual description.
It didn’t involve any actual ‘magic’ as far as Harry could tell. It was mainly a lot of thinking about things interspersed with a bit of bleeding which he was all too familiar with. Happily this was more along the line of a paper cut and not ‘bitten by a basilisk’ or ‘used to resurrect a Dark Lord’ levels.
Knowing that the last step needed to be completed soon, he pressed his still bleeding hand to the underside of the table and closed his eyes to focus on what he needed to say.
“Harry, are you okay? You’re being very quiet. You’re not still upset about this summer are you? We really…”
He pushed Hermione’s voice from his awareness and focused on what he’d come up with over the summer. ‘I need to take control of my life, but I don’t know who I can trust and how to make it possible. Please, Hogwarts, I humbly ask for your help with this.’ It was broad but it covered quite the list of questions and issues he’d come up with over the summer.
He could feel Ron’s tugging at his arm and Hermione’s increasingly shrill requests to tell her what was going on begin to fade out, along with the other normal sounds of the students returning from holiday and catching up before the sorting began. He kept his eyes closed until it was completely quiet, focusing on his request fiercely. When he finally opened his eyes it was to a very changed Great Hall.
Neville was sitting across from him, eyes wide and looking a bit freaked, though also strangely euphoric. Seamus was a seat down from Neville, staring around him in shock, mouth open slightly. He heard a muffled sob from his right and turned to see Lavender, hands pressed tightly to her mouth, eyes glistening.
“Oh thank Merlin,” she whispered, “it worked.”
Harry pulled his hand from beneath the table and looked at the uncut palm. The blood was gone, the cut was healed completely. Final step completed successfully. He too felt a bit weepy in the moment but took a deep breath and startled when the doors to the Great Hall opened, sounding louder than normal in the abnormally silent room.
The woman who entered was both someone he’d never seen before, but also someone he felt he’d known forever. She was dressed in wizard robes and her brown hair fell long and wavy down around her face and shoulders. She smiled at them then, a friendly sort of sideways smirk, before coming to stand at the end of the Ravenclaw table.
“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen so many petitioners at one time. While I am happy to see so many who believe in the power of asking for the help they need, I hurt at the fact that there are so many of you that need to.”
Looking across the Hall, Harry could see Draco, looking rougher than his normal well put together appearance, and Blaise Zabini sitting at the Slytherin table. At the Hufflepuff table he could see Susan Bones and Justin Finch-Fletchley, both looking a bit pale as they turned in their seats to stare at the woman.
Peering around his own table he didn’t see any additional 6th years. Eight of them had trusted an unknown ritual to help them with whatever issues they had in their life.
He turned his attention back to the woman, who had yet to introduce herself, and watched as she finished her perusal of his classmates. She gave a decisive nod and took a deep breath.
“Okay, first things first. Unless you’ve suddenly decided not to go through with the ritual you just completed, we need to leave this room. If you have decided not to, just stay seated and all will return to normal momentarily, otherwise, please come with me.”
There was no hesitation in any of them as they quickly got to their feet and headed back to the doors. They followed her out into the Entry Hall and into what appeared to be a Sitting Room just off it, though there’d never been one there before.
The room was brightly lit and cozy with a fire burning in the fireplace and a number of comfortable looking couches grouped around a table in front of it. Harry took a seat in the corner of one of them, with Neville and Lavender joining him. Seamus settled with the two from Hufflepuff while Draco and Blaise shared a third. The woman took a chair to herself and simply smiled at them until they were all settled.
A house elf in a strange looking uniform popped in once they were settled and left a tea tray and a line of eight potion bottles.
“Thank you, Jacks.”
He bowed silently before popping away again.
“Excuse me,” Susan said hesitantly, “but I have to ask. Who are you?”
The woman laughed. “Have none of you figured it out? After the whole ritual you all just completed?”
“You’re Hogwarts,” Draco said quietly. “You’re who we requested help from.”
“Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it,” Harry whispered to himself, remembering when he’d heard the Headmaster say that his second year.
“Yes, Draco, you are correct. I’m not surprised you figured it out, all things considered. And Harry, while I don’t believe Dumbledore meant for you to take it this literally, he was still right in what he said then. You have all asked me for help. Spent a lot of time actually over the past couple months going through a process to get that help and here I now am.
“The founders knew they wouldn’t live forever, no one ever does, and they wanted to be sure that their students were always to be cared for. They hoped that the processes they’d set up would lead to the students having good teachers and a trustworthy Headmaster to go to if they had problems, they but couldn’t depend on it. As the period going from 5th year to 7th year can be so traumatic for students, they created the ritual for the beginning of 6th year. After they’d come of age in Magic, but before they were officially adults in the wizarding world.
“They made it so you had to find the spell yourself, many do but they don’t believe. They don’t want it hard enough, believe in it strongly enough, to go through with it. You can’t share it with anyone, you can’t even talk about it until after it’s completed and even then only with someone else who went through it as well.”
“But how would a spell, or ritual even, be powerful enough to do something like this,” Justin asked. “Nothing we’ve covered in class would seem to support this amount of…” he sighed. “You’re apparently a living, breathing avatar of our school. Even with magic, how is that possible?”
“Well, only slightly living and breathing, but yes, I am a physical representation of the school. The founders believed that having someone to speak to would be more comfortable for students than simply talking to a wall. And, even in magical schools, walls talking back to you could be considered creepy.” She smirked at them as they laughed. “Are you aware of why the founders chose this location to build the school?”
“I always thought it was because it was remote enough to help keep it hidden from the muggles,” Lavender answered.
“That was certainly a consideration, but the real reason it was chosen was because we currently sit on the crossing of two of the largest ley lines in this area. While many magical areas form along ley lines, as they can be used to power wards for homes and businesses, most of those are small. They’re along the lines of streams. The ley lines we have here are the size of the Amazon River and Hogwarts sits where two of them intersect. Because of this, the founders were able to use that magic during the building and infused it into the very stones of the school. In many ways, the school is alive. Even during the normal school year, I can move the stairs when I want to, I can shift rooms and doors when needed. I power the portraits and support the ghosts that live here. Granted, I don’t physically manifest normally, that was specifically set up for this ritual so that I can more easily see what you need help with and facilitate you receiving that help.
“So, that brings us back to all of you and why we are all here. Each of you has asked for help with something very important to you, something that you probably consider very private. You might even be embarrassed by it, but despite that, we still need to discuss it. Now I’m sure you all noticed the potion vials Jacks left earlier when he brought our tea. They are what you might call a liquid wizard’s oath. They will ensure that your secrets stay within the group of us here and that none of us can use that information against you, whether to embarrass you or hurt you.”
Hogwarts looked around the room at them all and Harry felt that glance warm him. It was comforting and made him feel safe, though that wasn’t so odd as he’d always felt safe at Hogwarts even when realistically he knew there were things, or people, there trying to kill him.
With a deep sigh, Harry leaned forward and took one of the vials and tossed it back. Grimacing only slightly at the sour taste, he picked up two more and turned to look at Neville and Lavender.
Each reached out, somewhat reluctantly he thought, and took the vials he handed them and quickly drank them down. Neville grimaced at the taste as well and quickly handed back the empty vial and reached for his tea to try to clear the taste from his mouth. Lavender handed him hers as well and he returned them all to the table in time to notice that the others had drank too.
Everyone was quiet for a while as they refreshed their tea and tried to clear the taste from their mouth, but eventually Hogwarts must have decided that they’d stalled long enough.
“Thank you. While I don’t believe that anyone here would’ve used your secrets against you, now you all have the security of knowing that they can’t. Now, who would like to begin? You can simply tell us what your request was at the end of the ritual, or you can go into more details, whatever you’re most comfortable with.
When no one looked like they were going to volunteer to go first, Harry gave a mental sigh and decided to once again step up. “My request was around how I need to take control of my life, but I don’t know who I can trust and how to make it possible. Dumbledore has controlled my life since at least my parents died, and probably before then too. He’s keeping secrets from me, big ones that caused the death of my Godfather last June. There are so many things I don’t know about the wizarding world, and I’m supposedly supposed to save it from a powerful, crazy, evil wizard? Really? When was I trained for that? You know, this is the first time I’ve ever asked for help from someone and had them believe me and actually agree to help? And that ‘someone’ in this case is actually a magical castle.” He snorted.
“I think you’ll find that there’s probably a number of us here with similar requests,” Draco said wearily. “I too want control of my own life. I want to understand my options and be able to choose freely the path I want to take and be able to successfully defend those choices from those who would choose for me. I don’t want to take the Dark Mark and follow a ‘powerful, crazy, evil wizard’,” he smirked at Harry, who grinned back. “But the school paints all those in Slytherin with a dark brush no matter what our personal leanings are and our families can be just as bad.”
“Exactly. My family has always been neutral, neither dark nor light but happily in the grey.” Blaise took over after his housemate finished. “My mother has currently left the country as she’s not sure she’s safe and isn’t actually sure what side is more dangerous to her. She’s not sure she feels I’m safe here either, but I do have to finish my education. I want to be able to protect myself and her. I need to learn how to do that.”
Susan stepped up next. “My family wants my Aunt and me to leave as well. They don’t think we’re safe here since we were targeted before and my parents were killed. But my aunt believes in her duty and refuses and I understand and respect that. I chose not to leave either when she offered to transfer me to another school. I need to know what I can do to help, to make my home safe for myself, for my family and my friends. I’m tired of sitting back and expecting someone else to do it for me. It’s not right,” she said looking over at Harry apologetically.
Justin reached over and took her hand and she learned into him a bit. “I envy those of you whose parents are happy you’re here. My parents are muggles and the magical world has started to terrify them. They don’t consider Hogwarts to be a safe place for me to be after the unexplained death of one of our teachers first year, me getting petrified second year – without them being told it had happened, an escaped prisoner hanging around third year along with all the ministry’s Dementors, our classmate Cedric being murdered fourth year and then the announcement of the rebirth of he-who…” he paused and looked at Harry before continuing, “Voldemort last year. They blame me for the fact that they’re now in danger and they didn’t want me to return. But I am a wizard and I need to know how to control my magic and I don’t want to let fear of what might happen control what I do with my life.”
“You’re not the only one whose parents weren’t happy to let you return, mate,” Seamus said. “My mum was not happy about me returning, but agreed that it was best I continue my education. I’m hoping to figure out what I want to do with my life. I feel lost a lot of the time, like I’m not sure why I’m doing what I’m doing but not sure who I can ask directions from. No one here at the school really seems to take an interest in us, at least not in Gryffindor. We’re considered brash and thoughtless, outgoing and brave, without a logical thought in our brains between us and there’s no way to break the stereotype. I’ve lost who ‘Seamus’ is because of this and I want him back. I want to feel comfortable in my own skin again.”
It hurt to see the expression on Seamus’ face. Since he did live partly in the muggle world, he was one of the few people Harry was able to keep up with over the summer via normal post. While he knew he’d been unhappy about something, nothing of this had come up in his letters. He wondered if Seamus had said anything to Neville about it, though if he had Harry was aware that Neville would take those confidences to the grave; that was just the kind of guy Nev was.
“Well, my parents want me here,” Lavender said bitterly. “How else am I supposed to make connections so I can marry well? They’ve been talking about marriage contracts since before I started here and insisted that I behave accordingly. I must be pretty and pleasant and not too bright because what man would want a woman who was too intelligent? I’m so bloody sick of it all! I’ve learned how to play the game to keep my parents off my back, but they’re now talking about setting things up without my consent if I don’t manage to arrange something ‘good enough’ before seventh year. I can’t do that. I need to find a way to get away from them. I aced my OWLs. My parents were horrified! I didn’t tell them that I plan to do some independent studies this year. I’ve already gotten permission from the necessary professors to help me out. I wish I could do one in Potions, but I know Professor Snape would never allow it. I think if I can get to graduation without them shackling me to some horrible man with the appropriate pedigree, I think I’ll be okay, I just don’t know that they’ll give me enough time.”
Neville was the last to speak and he was silent for a little while after Lavender finished. Finally he looked up and around the room at his fellow classmates before focusing on Hogwarts. “I grew up being afraid that I wasn’t magical, or at least not magical enough to make up for the fact that I lived while my parents were tortured into insanity. I was so happy to get accepted to Hogwarts and thrilled to be sorted into Gryffindor, though afraid I’d never be considered brave enough to truly fit in. But I did my best and I made friends and I started to believe more in myself. But it was hard. I always felt like I was fighting against myself to do it.
“This past year I went to the Ministry with Harry and a few other people to try to rescue his Godfather who we believed had been taken captive by Voldemort. Instead it was a trap and we had to fight our way out against some of the most powerful Death Eaters out there. During that, my wand was broken which meant that this summer my Gran finally took me to Ollivander’s for a new one. There I found that there have been some serious spells cast on me to affect my magical abilities, my emotions, my memories… you name it and it’s probably been done to me. Ollivander wasn’t able to remove them, because of who likely cast them, but he still fit me with a new wand as best as he could, with a warning that I needed to get the spells removed as soon as possible as it was hurting my magic.
“I didn’t tell my Gran as, while she’s not a follower, she does trust Dumbledore and I don’t know how she’d react to the thought that he’s played a part in what Ollivander believes has been done to me. I’d already started the ritual by the time I learned about this, so it helped me focus my thoughts on what I needed. I need to know how to fix what’s been done to me and I need to know what to do to fix the others he’s probably done this to as well. Because if I rated blocks on my magic, alterations to my memories, charms to affect how I feel about things and who knows what else; what would he do to someone important like Harry as ‘the-boy-who-lived’ or Draco as the son of Lucius Malfoy?”
Harry’s heart sank at the thought and looking over at Draco he could tell that the thought of having even less control over his life than he already thought he had was a devastating one to him too.
*-*-*
“Thank you all for being so honest about the issues that brought you here, that made you so willing to take a leap of faith on something you could not have known would have worked. Now, I know it’s getting late and you have not eaten yet, which needs to be corrected immediately. You also need to know where you’ll be living during the course of time you’re with me. So we’ll take care of both and I’ll have the elves serve your dinner there. If you would follow me.”
She rose from her chair and headed back to the door with the rest of them scrambling to get up and follow her. She led them to the stairs and up to the Fourth Floor corridor. Where there had once been a wall to the left of the landing, there was now the opening to a new hallway with a couple doors off to the right.
At the end of the short hallway was a large painting, the kind that often guard doors in the school. There was a man comfortably seated behind a large wooden desk with a burning fire in the fireplace in front of him. Harry could read the name ‘Myrddin Emrys’ on the plaque in the top of the ornately carved frame. While he could see the fire crackling and could tell the man in the painting was writing something, the man was otherwise ignoring their approach.
“This will be your home while you’re here and one last donation of blood will be needed before you can enter. If you’d place your palm here,” she pointed to a particular section of the frame, “it will taste your magic and you will be able to enter at will. No need for a password.”
“Who’s here to try to sneak in anyway?”
Harry could hear Justin whispering to someone behind him and grinned when he heard the sharp exhale of air signifying that someone had just elbowed him hard in the stomach. Probably Susan.
Blaise stepped forward and put his hand against the frame in the designated location. He gave a slight start as a green light traveled around the outside of the frame. He stepped back and Draco took his place. When it came to be Harry’s turn, he found out that there was a bit of a shock that occurred at the same time as the prick for the blood which was why they were all jumping a bit. Once they were all done, the man in the picture put down his quill and turned to face them.
“Welcome to Myrddin’s Tower. I am Myrddin and I will be guarding your entrance while you reside here. If you have any issues, feel free to come to me with them.” He gave them a slight nod before turning back to his work as the painting swung out to give them entrance.
Hogwarts led the way inside.
Harry was expecting something like the Gryffindor Common Room, comfortable and cozy, but sized appropriately for the number of people who would be living there. What he saw when he got inside was a bit more than that. It was at least twice the size of the Gryffindor Common Room and thankfully not decorated in any specifically house associated colors. There was a large fireplace on the far end of the room with an arrangement of couches and a coffee table set up in front of it. On either side of the fireplace, behind thickly hanging drapes, were large bow windows with window seats in them and an assortment of pillows scattered across them.
In the center of the room was a large table with seating for eight. Around the rest of the room were smaller seating areas for two to four people and areas where you could study at smaller tables. The wall the door they’d just entered from was covered in built in bookshelves, though Harry wasn’t able to read any titles from where he was standing.
There were arched openings on the walls to the left and the right of the entrance. The right one appeared to lead to a stairway based on what he could see while the other appeared to be the entrance to a hallway.
“Wow, I’m impressed. I didn’t know there was anything like this in the school,” Susan said softly as she joined the others in wandering around to look at things once their stupor wore off on entrance.
“Not many have ever been given the opportunity to see this tower,” Hogwarts responded. “This will be your common area. You can work here, relax, have meals as you feel like it. You are welcome to change things or make additions to the room as you like, though you all need to agree to them as you all do live here.
“To the left,” she said pointing to the entrance to the hallway, “there’s a bathroom, storage closet for cloaks, scarves, brooms – anything that you might need for going outside that you don’t want to leave in your rooms. There are also a number of… study rooms. There’s a bit of a trick to them, though I have a feeling you’ll have no problem figuring things out. If I’m wrong, let me know and I’ll tell you how to work them later.
“Your rooms are all off the stairwell to the right. One room per floor and you’ll see your names already posted. The house elves assigned to the tower have already unpacked you and set up your rooms for your use, but if you can’t find something or have any issues with how things are arranged or the way it’s decorated, just call for them and they’ll be happy to help you out. Their names are Marie and Baxter.”
She paused for a moment to consider, then continued. “Dinner will be served here tonight,” she gestured at the large table in the center of the room, “and I’ll rejoin you here in the morning for breakfast and to go over the rest of the details of both the ritual and how the next little while will go. That said, do you have any questions tonight? Oh! I forgot to mention, but the top of your tower is a garden space.” She laughed at Neville’s immediate expression of interest. “Try to wait until the morning to explore, Neville, you’ll have plenty of time to do so. Anyway. Questions?”
Lavender looked around before turning back to Hogwarts. “I think we’re all a bit overwhelmed for now, but this space is amazing, I can’t wait to see my room and I know I’m going to sleep well tonight for the first time in ages because there’s now actually hope that I can do something about my problems. Thank you!”
Hogwarts quickly crossed over to her and pulled her into a hug. “Oh Lavender, thank you. Thank you all for believing in me and yourselves. This was a leap of faith and I will do everything I can to help you all fix what’s wrong in your lives.” She stepped back and smiled at the students standing around her. “Now you relax. I’ll have the elves bring dinner in a few minutes then get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a very busy day.”
They were all still for a moment after she left before Seamus broke the silence. “You know, while I’m curious about how much time we have and what we can do with the ritual, I think my brain would explode if I had to deal with any more information today. I don’t know about you, but I was so stressed on the train and once we got here trying to make sure I did everything right that I’m surprised I didn’t bloody well faint once the Lady showed up.”
Harry started laughing, though it probably wasn’t as funny he was acting. He was soon joined by the others though so he figured they were all just releasing the tension. Seamus winked at him when he looked over at him and all he could do was grin as he tried to catch his breath.
Justin looked like he was having similar problems and he staggered over to the table, pulled out a chair and collapsed into it, still chuckling weakly. “Oh, did I need that.”
“Me too,” Susan agreed, taking the seat next to him.
The rest of them followed suit, trusting that dinner would be coming soon and they could at least be ready for it.
A minute or two later, two house elves in uniforms similar to the one Jacks had worn earlier popped into the room. The one Harry figured was Marie based on the fact that her uniform had a skirt snapped her fingers and plates, glasses and utensils appeared on the table. Once she was done, Baxter snapped his fingers and platters of food appeared on the table.
“Thank you, Marie & Baxter. Should we send word once we’re done with dinner?” Lavender asked.
“No need, young lady,” Baxter replied with a bit of a bow. “We’ll check back later and clear the table. Call us if you need anything else in the meantime.”
Marie gave a bit of a curtsey before they both popped out again.
“Well, ladies first?” Draco offered, picking up the platter closest to him.
Susan shook her head, “I say serve yourself from what’s in front of you and pass it on. Though I appreciate the consideration.” She smiled a bit tiredly and reached to pick up the serving spoon in the bowl closest to herself.
The others followed her lead and they were soon eating hungrily. It was strangely quiet for the first meal back after break, but it hadn’t been a normal day and Harry knew he wasn’t up to small talk and it was still a bit awkward talking about anything too personal around the non-Gryffindors. Things had gone incredibly well so far, considering how contentious relationships between at least Gryffindor and Slytherin usually were, but he’d wait to see if it stayed that way. He didn’t plan to start anything himself and without Ron around to stir things up they’d probably be okay.
“Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think I’m ready to head up for the night. I’d like to see where I’ll be staying while I’m still awake enough to appreciate it,” Blaise said, pushing his empty plate slightly away from him.
Looking around the table, they all looked exhausted and Harry figured he looked the same. Most were nodding in agreement and they had soon pushed themselves from the table to head for the stairs.
Despite the height of the ceiling in the Common Room, there weren’t many stairs up to the first landing. There was only one door off it and it had Harry’s name beside it. He now remembered Hogwarts saying there was only one room per floor so the seemingly short number of stairs would be appreciated by the others who still had to go further up.
“Goodnight, guys,” Harry said as the others continued up, waving and calling back ‘good night’s to him too.
The door appeared locked when he first tried the knob, but he noticed that the door frame had similar carving to the picture frame they’d come in through and figured he’d try the same thing that worked for it. He found what looked to be the appropriate area of carving and placed his hand on it, once again feeling the prick and small jolt of electricity as a green light raced around the outline of his door. With a click the door opened.
First thoughts upon entering… There were none. He was in total shock. Lights flared up around the space illuminating what was certainly not the basic dorm room he was expecting or even something like the guest room the Dursleys had for Aunt Marge when she came to visit. This was a flat. An entire flat that had his name on it. He ducked his head out the door again just to check that his was the only one listed. It was.
He softly closed the door to his new home and leaned on it while gazing around. He could feel the grin stretching across his face and was suddenly feeling wide awake as he pushed away from the door and started wandering around the space.
He had his own corner fireplace and sitting area with a couch and a couple comfortable looking chairs. There was an area with a small table and two chairs and cabinets that looked like ones he’d see in a kitchen, though there were no actual appliances for cooking.
Through some glass double doors he found an amazing office / study space with loads of bookcases along three of the four walls, only broken by a massive window. His school books and writing supplies were already unpacked and stored in the room, though the bookshelves were otherwise rather empty. He’d have to fix that.
Down a short hallway was a door that lead into what he thought had to be called a ‘Master Suite’. There was an enormous walk in closet to the right through some sliding doors. Glancing inside showed the embarrassingly small amount of clothes he owned either hanging from the rack or in the drawers of the large chest of drawers. Immediately in front of him when he exited the closet was the largest bedroom he’d ever seen. His bed was in front of the window with nightstands to either side. There was a loveseat and end table in another area. The entire floor was covered in a thick rug.
The only other door in the room lead to the bathroom. It had a large bathtub with what looked to be a similar number of taps as the one from the prefects’ bathroom. There was a walk in shower as well as the normal toilet and sink.
All in all, he was amazed at his new living arrangements. He couldn’t imagine what he’d want to change, but since he could, he’d consider what he’d like over the next couple of days and see what he came up with. But for now the adrenaline was wearing off and he was dragging as he got ready for bed. He had no idea what time it was – maybe adding a clock would be one of the changes he’d make – but he was ready for sleep. The morning would be here soon enough. He couldn’t wait.
*-*-*
“We discussed a number of important things yesterday, things that will certainly affect your time here and what you wish to accomplish during the time we have. What we haven’t yet touched on though is just how much time that will be.
“The beginning of the ritual is always on the first day of your 6th year, September 1st. The last day of the ritual is also always on the same day, the first day of your 6th year. If you checked the calendar, you would see that today is August 31st. You will continue to live through the days in reverse until the Winter Solstice. At that point time will revert to its normal direction and you’ll return to the time this all began.
“This gives you over 16 months to work with. There are limits, of course. While there are ways to access the ‘real world’ during this time, it’s obviously easier to do while we’re not going backwards. There are also limits to what we can access. The main contact is through Gringotts…”
“Gringotts?” Neville interrupted, blushing slightly. “I can see it being useful, very in fact, but I’m surprised they allowed it. How is that even possible?”
“It’s possible due to the ley lines I mentioned yesterday. Many people forget that the Founders weren’t just important because they created Hogwarts, they were involved in many other events in the wizarding world. One of which was coordinating the opening of the Diagon Alley location of Gringotts. Due to that relationship and the fact we’re connected by the ley lines we both sit over, we have a very unique opportunity to work with the Goblins during this time and, through them, with many other areas outside the bank.”
“Wizards don’t like to think about it, but Goblins have their hands into everything and they are loyal until you cross them,” Draco said. “And luckily, while they can hold grudges against families due to actions of some members, they shouldn’t have issues with any of us specifically due to our age. So I don’t have to worry about being treated badly due to my father’s actions.”
“Very true, Draco, and your relationship with me will help you even more,” Hogwarts explained. “There is an alliance between Hogwarts and Gringotts that many have forgotten. The last few Headmasters certainly haven’t been aware, nor have they cared to look to find it, but the Goblins haven’t forgotten. They just aren’t going to remind anyone who hasn’t made an effort.” She smirked a bit, “And it doesn’t help that they absolutely despise Dumbledore. He’s luckily they do business with him at all, though he does generally go through someone else when he needs things done.”
“Like when he had Hagrid pick up the stone out of the vault before our first year,” Harry asked.
Hogwarts groaned, “Don’t get me started on the stone and what that man was thinking when he brought it into this school! But yes, using someone like Hagrid, whom the Goblins have nothing against, to do business for him.”
“So what are our limitations when working with Gringotts? If they’re to be our intermediaries for this time, what can they do for us? Or, maybe the better question is what are they willing to do for us?” Blaise asked.
“Wait! Hold on, don’t answer that yet,” Lavender broke in. “I’m sorry, I need to take some notes and I didn’t think to bring anything down when we were just planning to meet for breakfast. Give me a minute to get something.” She started to push back from the table they’d all been sitting at since breakfast ended.
“No need. Marie?”
“Yes, Lady?” Marie popped into the room to the side of Hogwarts’ chair, doing her usual slight curtsey.
“Lavender needs some materials from her room, could you collect them for her?”
“Of course, Lady.” She looked over at Lavender.
“Oh, thank you! I have a blue journal and pen on my desk, if you could bring me those, I’d greatly appreciate it.”
“Actually,” Harry broke in, “I’d really appreciate it if you could bring me my school bag as well. It should have what I need in there already.”
She nodded and disappeared.
“You two are actually going to take notes?” Seamus teased.
“Humph! See if I let you borrow my notes in a month when you’ve forgotten all the details,” Harry joked.
“That’s okay, Lavender will let me copy hers. Right, Lav?” They laughed when she simply rolled her eyes at him.
Marie returned with their belongings and handed them off. Harry pulled out a pen and a notebook he’d been using over the summer to take notes on the ritual and turned to a new section.
“Okay, so you said that Gringotts will be able to do things for us outside of normal banking type things, but I have a number of banking questions as well, so hopefully that won’t be an issue. Do we send them a letter to let them know what we need? How do we communicate with them,” Harry asked.
“Quick questions, things that can be answered within a couple of hours can be done at any time by letter. Anything that takes longer than that will need to wait until the second half when we’re once again moving in parallel time streams. Also, during that period, in person meetings are possible from very specific locations. You can’t actually go to the bank, so you can’t visit your vault for example, but we do have a way to ‘overlap’ in a manner of speaking that does allow face to face interactions if they would be helpful.”
“And we can place orders for books or other items through them, for example, since we can’t leave?” Susan asked.
“Yes, they actually do that for some clients normally, though most don’t think to ask. In fact,” she paused, looking thoughtful, “I’ll request that they send over lists of what they do offer and the rates they change for those allied with Hogwarts and that will give you the chance to consider what you might request from them and when to do so. Jacks!” Seconds later the house elf silently arrived. “Thank you, Jacks. Could you bring me supplies so I can send a letter to the Goblins?” He nodded and popped away, returning fairly quickly with paper, pen and ink.
It took little time for Hogwarts to finish her letter. She folded it once the ink was dry and laid her hand over the outer flap for a minute. When she lifted it there was what looked to Harry like a purple wax seal, though he wasn’t close enough to see specifics.
“If you could see this gets to the Goblins immediately, I would appreciate it,” she said handing it to the elf.
“I will handle it immediately, Lady,” he said before bowing and disappearing from the room.
“There. I think you’ll all be surprised by the range of services they offer to those who know enough to ask.” She smirked.
“Would it be easier to hold off on the rest of our Gringotts related questions until after we get the list? No need to ask a bunch of questions if a number of them will be answered in a few hours if we just have a bit of patience.” Justin peered around the table where most were nodding in agreement.
“Okay, fine with me. We can revisit this topic later on in the week as needed. Now,” she said, smiling brightly and rubbing her hands together in what appeared to be glee, “for the next topic of discussion: health checkups!”
Harry groaned and mock glared at her when she laughed at him.
“No, really, it is the next step. It is the school’s responsibility to make sure you’re as healthy as possible while you’re here and that is even more important for anyone here in your situation. While we’re checking for things like illness, vitamin deficiencies, or anything else physical that might affect your ability to perform magic or learn, we’re also looking for things like your vision, Harry. While magic can’t fix everything, sometimes it can, so there may be a chance to fix your vision so you don’t need glasses anymore.
“Also, Neville mentioned memory modifications, magical blocks, emotional manipulations… those need to be fixed! It’s horrendous that they happened at all, worse that they were possibly done by someone connected with Hogwarts and I refuse to leave them be. So, a full magical workup will be done to see where the issues are. They’re not as straight forward to fix, but I have access to the best people there are and there’s been nothing yet they couldn’t correct. We do the assessment early on so we have the time and I can arrange additional help if it’s needed.”
Harry had already started his mental list of things he wanted checked out when he remembered that he had his notebook right there and started jotting down the mental list – fixing his vision, what’s up with the curse scar hurting all the time, is there any way to make him taller, did the Dursleys’ treatment of him mess anything else up… He noticed it had gotten quiet and looked up to see everyone watching him.
“Sorry, I didn’t want to forget my list. If I’m spending even more time in the infirmary, I want it to be worthwhile.” He shrugged and grinned.
“Don’t worry, I doubt Madam Currie has designated a bed for you quite yet, though depending on the length of your list, that may soon change.” Hogwarts smiled as she rose from the head of the table. “We can get a start on the assessments before lunch. If they run long we’ll complete them this afternoon and discuss them tomorrow.”
Harry and the others trailed behind her as they made their way down to the third floor. On the little bit of the castle they passed, Harry was surprised to see slight differences in where things were located from what he was used to. ‘I wonder if the Marauder’s Map will work here and, if so, if it can show me what’s different? Because I didn’t see the humpbacked witch in its usual spot. Though I guess that could be because we’re sorta stuck in the castle for the next sixteen months.’ Good thing he was used to not going places!
Madam Currie was obviously waiting for them. Harry’s first thought upon seeing her was how he was never going to get her confused with Madam Pomfrey. The next was that this was what Parvati would be aspiring to look like in a couple years, once she stopped trying so hard to look beautiful and just let it happen on its own.
“Come in, come in! I’ve been waiting for you all morning. I thought you’d gotten yourself lost on purpose to not come.”
“Never, Madam Currie, we simply had a lot to discuss and a lot of details to touch on first.”
They were all pointed to take a bed and were soon settled comfortably sitting to see what would happen next.
“The need the full work up, Madam Currie, as thorough as possible. We have proof that at least some of them have memory blocks or changes, blocks on their magic, spells to affect their emotional state and general health issues.”
“Dear Merlin! That’s horrible. We haven’t had a bunch that bad in centuries.”
“I know, but I’m counting on you to get them straightened out. I’ll leave you to it and let me know if I need to arrange for specialists to deal with anything you discover. It’s important to do this right.” She smiled at them all before leaving the room, shutting the double doors firmly behind her.
“Well,” Madam Currie said, “At least she didn’t lock us all in here. Now, I have your basic infirmary records already and have reviewed them, but what we’ll be doing now will be a much deeper scan. What we’ll start with is a general overview then we’ll go deeper where issues are found.” She moved to the potion closet and returned in a few minutes with a tray. There were eight vials filled with a red potion and a pile of parchment and quills.
She started handing out one of each. “I’m sure you thought you were done with the bloodletting once you got here, but you were wrong. At least you have lots of experience in safely drawing your own blood as you all need to add five drops of it to the vial. Swirl it around until the color changes, it’ll be somewhere in the blue to purple range. Dip the quill in it once. They’re clean, I promise,” she said and smiled at the face Susan made at that. “Set the quill on the parchment somewhere flat, you can use the bedside tables, then drink the potion.
“You may want to lay down for that as I don’t know how long it’ll take the potion to work and it can feel quite odd as it does so. Ignore the quill for now, but it will be documenting what it finds that we should look into fixing. It can be very picky, so don’t be concerned if the list is really long. The parchment will grow to fit.”
She gestured at them to get moving and Harry pulled out his wand to make a small cut in his finger. She was right. He’d gotten really good at this over the summer. He carefully dripped five drops of blood in before healing his cut. He swirled it about twelve times before the potion turned a deep navy blue color. Looking around the room, most appeared to have medium to dark shades of blue, though Justin’s was more on the purple side, maybe a deep plum? And Lavender’s, amusingly enough, looked like a darker shade of lavender.
Figuring he’d put it off long enough, Harry put his parchment on the table and dipped the quill into the vial. It soaked up a bit of the potion, causing the quill itself to take on the deep blue shade. He placed it on top of the parchment and got comfortable on the bed. Taking a deep breath, he tossed back the potion.
It wasn’t as horrible as he was expecting, not really having a flavor at all actually, but there was a full body shake afterwards like he’d had something incredibly sour. He put the vial down and slid down until he was lying flat and closed his eyes.
There was an uncomfortably warm sensation running throughout his body and he could feel twinges occurring occasionally as it moved. He thought he could hear the quill scratching, but refused to look. He didn’t need to know. Not yet at least.
Despite the slight discomfort, he was actually able to nod off for a bit until a sharp pain in his head had him bolting upright in the bed.
“Mr. Potter, are you all right?”
Harry looked up into the concerned face of the mediwitch. “My head. The scar. Sharp pain. Hurts.” He took sharp breaths between every other word, trying to speak past the pain.
“Oh dear. I can’t give you a pain potion during this, but let me see if I have anything else that might help.” She moved away from the bed while Harry continued to press on his forehead. The pain wasn’t as sharp now, but it had left behind a throbbing that was just as bad.
“Here you go.” She handed him a cool cloth that smelled of peppermint. “Put that on your head and lie back. Take deep breaths and try to relax. You’ve understandably tensed up and that’s not helping anything.” She looked over at the parchment. “I think you should be close to finished. If you’re not feeling better by then, I’ll be able to give you a headache potion.” She gently urge him back down and positioned the cloth where she wanted it.
Harry focused on taking deep breaths, enjoying the peppermint scent which was a nice change from the medicinal smells he usually was subject to while here. Slowly his muscles un-tensed and the throbbing in his head receded. It wasn’t completely gone, but it was much improved.
He was feeling quite lethargic when he finally heard Madam Currie tell them they were done for now.
“I’ll need to review these in more detail,” she explained as she silently summoned all the parchments from around the room. “You’re probably feeling rather tired now and you need to eat. Head back to your Common Room and I’ll have food sent to you. Relax this afternoon, explore the castle or go outside for a bit, or simply read something fun for a while. Whatever you do, don’t worry about these,” she said brandishing the papers she was holding in the air. “I’ll send an elf with a time to come discuss and it won’t be until tomorrow. So forget about them for now. Now, Mr. Potter, how is your head?”
“Hard,” he said grinning.
“I have heard that about you,” she responded as the others laughed. “Has the headache improved? Do you need something to help with the pain?”
He considered it for a bit before shaking his head. “I think it’s okay. If that’s not the case after lunch, I’ll send you a message?”
“That would be fine. Mr. Longbottom, how are you doing?”
Harry looked over to see that Neville looked like he’d had a serious nose bleed at some point while they’d been there. He was still looking rather pale, but nodded that he was fine.
“I’m okay, Madam Currie. The bleeding appears to have finally stopped.”
She walked over to peer at him closely and cast a quick spell to check something before giving a short nod. “You seem to be back to normal, but take it easy for the next couple hours. If you feel light headed or start bleeding again, contact me immediately. You should be fine though.
“Okay now, be off with you all. I have way too much work to be doing to be spending my time entertaining you lot.”
Harry carefully got to his feet and grabbed his bag, following behind the others as they walked out chatting. He caught up with Neville who was walking a bit slower than the others.
“Are you okay, Nev? I didn’t see what happened, but it looked like you were bleeding pretty badly there for a while.”
“I have no idea what happened, Harry. One moment I was lying there deciding what sorts of plants I want to add to my rooms, the next there was this horrible feeling of pressure then all of a sudden it feels like my face was covered in blood.” He shivered a bit. “I have to say, not a feeling I want to become familiar with. It took a while to get the bleeding stopped. I was feeling a bit light headed to begin with, but it’s better now. How’s your head? You gave us all a bit of a scare when you shot up like that. I don’t know how you didn’t scream, based on how inflamed the scar looked when you moved your hand. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it that bad.”
Harry gingerly felt his forehead and agreed that the scar did feel a bit more raised than normal. “I can imagine. I don’t know that it’s ever felt that bad before and it’s been pretty painful at times in the past. I really hope she can find a way to do something about it,” he said wistfully.
“I’m sure she will. Even if they have to call in someone to help. This is our second chance, Harry. We can’t fix everything wrong in our lives, but as much as we can fix will be. I already have a wish list and it’s only the beginning. I think we both are going to have to learn how to dream big here. We’re too used to being forgotten and overlooked in all the wrong ways.
“You’re right. It’s too easy to be overlooked. All they see is the image they want to see and it’s been easier for us both to not challenge that view. But part of taking control of our own lives will be acknowledging that we have to fight it. Make them see where they’re wrong and, more importantly, believe they’re wrong ourselves.”
“Well, that’s easy. And what will we do for the other fifteen and a half months?” Neville said sarcastically as they both laughed.
“Enough serious talk, you two,” Seamus popped up in front of them as they reached the entrance to their tower. “You’ve had a rough morning and need to eat.”
He tugged them into the room and pushed them into seats before settling down beside Harry.
Lavender smiled at them before calling for Marie. “We’re ready for lunch whenever it’s convenient.”
*-*-*
The afternoon was spent in the rooftop garden. They’d had to remind Neville of Madam Currie’s instructions on relaxing as he was immediately wanting to race all over looking at things.
To be fair, it was a pretty amazing place, even considering they were in a magic castle. The garden was as large as Harry’s flat and had a number of greenhouses along the one side while the rest of the area had various sitting areas and containers with plants growing out of them at sometimes odd angles.
Closest to the covered entrance to the space was a fire pit set up with comfortable seating that looked like it had been carved out of logs. It was surrounded by low growing bushes and flowering plants.
There was an area in the center of the roof with a series of benches that crisscrossed each other. It had containers around it with what looked to be various herbs and had overhead screens that could be moved to offer shade or not to wherever you might be sitting on the benches depending on what you wanted.
Other areas were scattered about that had seating for anywhere from two to four people, sometimes as many as six if you got cozy. They were all surrounded by different types of plants and Neville had pointed out a number of interesting specimens while they explored. Blaise, of all people, pointed out a number of plants that could be used when brewing potions and Lavender stepped in with the more medicinally oriented ones.
Harry pointed out the pretty ones and Seamus helpfully critiqued the arrangements of how they were planted – ‘Look how they artistically arranged this green plant here next to that green plant. And that lighter green one looks nice placed beside the variegated green one, though perhaps they might consider adding something in a nice darker green shade…’
Neville helpfully pushed him into a small fountain they found a little further in.
They made Neville promise to wait to explore the greenhouses at a later date. They reconvened at the fire pit, though it was warm enough a fire wasn’t needed, and took a seat.
“Dear Merlin, what have we gotten ourselves into,” Draco said with a sigh and a slight smile.
“Whatever it is, it’s not my fault,” Harry teased.
“Like I believe that, Potter,” Draco responded with a sneer as the others laughed. Harry just smiled.
“It’s a good question though,” Susan said, once they’d got the laughter under control. “This was definitely a whole ‘leap of faith’ thing we all did – very Gryffindor of us, wouldn’t you say?”
Blaise simply studied his nails and Draco rolled his eyes.
She smiled at them both. “Sometimes you just have to be brave and hope for the best. Based on what it looked like Madam Currie was finding, I think that alone would make all this worthwhile. I only got a brief glance at mine and didn’t understand all the terminology, but I saw quite a few things with the notation ‘memoria’ or ‘sensus’ which seems to me like someone’s been playing with my memories and emotions. I am not okay with that. I’m hormonal enough on my own without someone screwing around in my head or messing with how I feel about things.”
“Do you really think Dumbledore is behind all this,” Lavender asked, looking at Neville.
“I don’t know. I know he has to have done some of it based on what I found out this summer, but I have no idea if he’s been playing with only a couple of us or if it’s more wide spread. Or if maybe there’s more than one person doing this. And if there are, they have to be good because, Susan, your aunt runs the DMLE. If anyone should be able to figure out that there were spells being cast on you, it would be her so if she isn’t aware…”
“So what should we do about this? Do we just wait until Madam Currie figures out how to fix us?” Draco sounded a bit frustrated.
“Well,” Harry said thoughtfully, “while I can’t say I believe it, considering my experiences here the past five years, I’ve been told by many people that ‘Hogwarts is the safest place there is’ maybe even safer than Gringotts. Now some of that may be based on people’s impression of Dumbledore being this all powerful wizard, but some of it has to be based on the castle itself and the defenses it has. Its wards or something.
“Now you would think those would be set up to prevent someone, even the Headmaster, from altering people’s memories or casting spells to affect their emotions or magical abilities. Or, if they can, it has to be in very specific ways and situations. I suggest we try to figure out how this is being done. Partly to see how it happened and fix it, but also to figure out how to stop it happening again.”
“You’re right, Harry. If it was done to us once without us noticing it, there’s no reason it couldn’t be done again unless we figure out how it was done and make it so it’s no longer possible.” Seamus leaned forward in his seat, staring blindly out across the garden. “I’d think the wards should protect us, but it’s obvious they haven’t been. Who has the ability to change them or add to them? Can we do it? Can we get Hogwarts to do it, mention it over breakfast or something?”
“I’d think if she could do it herself, she already would have,” Lavender said sadly. “I can’t see her sitting back and letting things like Trolls and Basilisks run around the school freely.”
“Okay, so that’s what we can be working on while we’re getting fixed up. We can research the school, its history. How were the wards set up and who can make changes to them? What should they be able to protect us from? When, historically, does it seem like they changed? The Chamber was opened fifty years ago and the Basilisk killed a student. It seems like there were issues at that point already, and Dumbledore was here by then, though not Headmaster. Maybe he’s just taking advantage of something that someone else started.”
Lavender had pulled out her notebook again and had been quickly making a list as Draco spoke. “Do you think we’ll be able to find information on this in the Library? It seems like they’d have that sort of information hidden away where students couldn’t find it.”
“Hogwarts says she access to all sorts of things, I would think that should include the history of the school and how it was built. And information on wards can’t be difficult to get. I have a number of books myself, though they probably aren’t as in depth as we’ll need. Though,” he paused then smiled, “I bet Gringotts has some amazing information on wards. I doubt they’d give us anything on theirs, but in general, maybe.”
“Do we want to do this then? It would be something to do for now while we’re getting settled. It can’t hurt to know either and I’d think that the Founders’ work on building the castle would be fascinating.” Lavender flipped the page in her notebook and quickly started writing again. “Should we start in the library or talk to Hogwarts first?”
“Why not do both?” Justin shrugged. “There’s eight of us, we can try different approaches or different areas of research. Anyone have a preference?”
“I’d like to research the wards,” Lavender said eagerly.
“I’ll help,” Draco offered. “I can check the books I have as a start, but we’ll probably need more advanced texts than I’ve had access to so far. My father hasn’t been willing to let me into the parts of our library where there are books that I could use against him and Flourish and Blotts only carry a limited selection of some things.”
“I know, it’s very frustrating,” Lavender sighed.
“You should try used book stores or second hand shops,” Harry mentioned, brow furrowed slightly, “I’m pretty sure I’ve found some really interesting things there that you can’t get in normal stores.”
“Like what?”
“That… is a really good question and I don’t know why I can’t give you an answer.”
“Well, I think you mentioned something about an old potions journal in one of your letters last summer,” Seamus said after considering it. “And this summer there was something about… spell creation?”
“Yes,” Neville agreed, “You mentioned reading a book on the spell creation process and how to use arithmancy to predict what approach to take when developing them. I remember because you said you were going to send something to the twins about it to use in their shop.”
“I don’t remember that at all, Neville. Seriously, this summer? We’ve only been back a couple hours, and those were on the train, how could I not remember something I wrote to you guys about this summer?”
“Could something have been done on the train? We were thinking Hogwarts, but maybe it’s more widespread or starts earlier.”
“Or maybe it’s just me.”
“It’s not always about you, Potter,” Draco sighed.
Harry laughed. “No, there are many things in this world that have nothing to do with me, I agree, but how else would my memory of this summer be full of holes? I remember that I can find interesting books at junk stores, but not remember what they are or that I’ve had conversations with people about them? And I’ve apparently done it for at least the past two summers based on the letters I sent Seamus, yet no one ever says anything to me about them during the school year? It’s just a bit suspicious.”
“Well, based on that it really isn’t just you since Seamus and Neville appear to forget to mention your conversations during the school year as well.”
“True,” Harry conceded the point with a smile.
“So, Harry, do you think you still have the books? You could have something useful in there if you’ve been collecting odd finds.”
“Maybe,” he said a bit doubtfully. “I can’t imagine that I’d get rid of them, but I don’t know where I’d store them because I couldn’t leave them at the Dursleys’ and they didn’t seem to be in my trunk since I would’ve thought they would’ve been unpacked with the rest of my belongings.”
“You said you found a case for them,” Seamus trailed off, trying to remember what he’d read. “This is ridiculous! Baxter?”
A moment later a house elf Harry had yet to really speak to popped into the fire circle.
“Yes, young sir?”
“Hi Baxter. I was wondering if you could bring me something from my office? It’s a dark blue letter organizer. I believe it’s in the top left drawer.”
“Right away, sir.”
He was back in a couple of minutes and, after handing over the organizer and asking if there was anything else he could bring them, he disappeared back to whatever he’d been doing before.
Seamus opened the organizer and expanded one of the sections within, flipping through a large stack of letters.
“Just how many letters have I sent you?”
Seamus was distracted, still trying to find a specific letter. “Oh, fifty or so over the past couple summers.”
“Fifty? I don’t remember that. At all. That’s creepy. Oh, not the letters,” he quickly clarified at Seamus’ hurt expression, “just that I can’t remember writing that many. Or receiving that many from you either. I know we’ve written each other via muggle post, but not to that extent or about anything too serious.”
“Do you remember getting letters from me then? Or Luna?” Neville looked at him curiously, mindlessly playing with a leaf he’d pulled from one of the nearby plants.
“I know we’ve exchanged letters, but I don’t remember a lot about them and I don’t remember ever hearing from Luna. I just met her really last year, in the DA, right?”
“No, not at all actually. We’ve been friends with Luna since our fourth year,” he said softly.
Harry closed his eyes tightly, feeling tears threaten.
“Found it!” Seamus was a welcome distraction. “You mention finding a boundless case that fits in the bottom of your trunk. It has been tuned to you and therefore can’t be seen or opened by anyone else. Which explains why it wouldn’t have been unpacked by the elves.”
“What exactly is a ‘boundless case’? I’ve never heard of one.”
“I have one myself, to hide my books from my parents. It’s basically a bottomless box that you can use for storage. They’re various sizes. It sounds like you have one that fits the dimensions of your trunk. They’re not actually ‘bottomless’, but they’ve been expanded greatly to allow storing lots of stuff in what appears to be a small space. Since it’s been tuned to you, you should be able to see it if you look in your trunk and it should open for you.”
“Thanks, Lavender. I appreciate the information. And thanks for checking for me, Seamus. I can’t wait until I find out what’s going on with my memory. Look, I think I’m going to go look for this case and see what I have in it. Depending on that, I’ll take looking into the history of the school, how it was created and how things have changed over the years. Does that work for everyone?”
No one disagreed, so he got to his feet to head back down to his room.
“I want to put this back in my room, do you want some company? I’ll even help shelve books if you have too many. As long as I can borrow anything really interesting.” Seamus grinned at him.
“Sure, I wouldn’t mind some company. You guys catch us up later at dinner, okay?”
With a final wave the two headed back to the stairs. They stopped off briefly to allow Seamus to return his letter organizer to his office, before continuing down to Harry’s room.
As they reached his door, Harry realized that this was the first time he’d ever been in a position to have a friend come over to his home for a visit. The fact that this really was a ‘home’ and not just a dorm room was slowly sinking in as well, leaving a lingering feeling of awe. He was getting excited at the thought of personalizing things. He’d never had the opportunity to before.
He opened the door wide and gestured Seamus inside. “Welcome to my home.”