Chapter 11

Buried in the heart of a magical castle in northern Scotland, was a chamber that no one really believed existed. That is because it was said to contain a magical diamond that was ten feet across, and that stored part of the souls of each of the founders. Some had said that imbuing your soul into an object was evil, and if they had used the ancient Egyptian spell that split your soul at the cost of another's life, then they would have been right. But there is another process that causes the soul to split that is a part of everyday life. That process is the creation of a child, where both parents give up a little of themselves, so that their child can live and grow. This is the process that the four founders used to pass parts of their soul to their oldest child, but instead of having one set of parents, Hogwarts had two. She had the love of Helga along with the cunning and protectiveness of Salazar. From Rowena she had a thirst for knowledge, with a tempering of wisdom and perseverance, and from Godric, she got his bravery, sacrifice, love of fun, and his need to defend all who were in need of protection.

Over the generations, her personality grew along with her power as her walls absorbed magic from the ley lines she was built on, as well as the excess magic from thousands of students as they passed through her halls. She began to think for herself and grow in her abilities to guide the students who came through her doors. For eight hundred years, she helped turn the thoughts of certain students away from the dark and to the light. She gave projects to Ravenclaws, hard work to Hufflepuffs to serve the community, puzzles and riddles were given to Slytherins, and quests were handed out to Gryffindors; then came the two dark ones. One came to her school a first year, and used a spell from his family library to limit her watchful eye on him and those he chose. Five years later, another transferred in from Durmstrang, minutes before he was to be expelled. The two dark souls instantly felt a kinship to each other, and they began to shackle her soul even more in an attempt to learn her secrets. They finally graduated, both sharing top honors, and then they left, with her spirit still silenced and unable to communicate with anyone about what she saw coming. Many years later, the first boy returned as a professor, spending his days manipulating all of the students who came to her to learn.

A great war broke out, which was started by the muggle puppet of the other dark one, and since the one hiding behind her walls was pretending to be light, he was urged to go and help defeat his friend. He refused at first, and hatched a plan to use a weapon of his creation to do the job so he didn't have to. His plan was to use this weapon and then destroy him once his usefulness was past. He chose an orphan who came from a once great family, and then proceeded to drive him to the dark from their very first meeting. Hogwarts wept for the soul of the young boy. She saw the true nature inside of him and the fact that he could have grown into being the protector that Hogwarts had not had since Salazar himself was there. The dark one steered his weapon into every dark corner imaginable, including forcing him to use the Basilisk that Salazar had put in place to protect the students that he loved from invaders, to instead kill a student. The young man was horrified at first, but then he pieced together the manipulations of the dark one and pretended to go along to ensure his survival.

The dark one's pawn left the school and hid himself in mediocrity as a store clerk. It was a chance meeting with a woman while on an errand for the store that drove him to the path he would take. He admired her collection of founder's artifacts, and inquired whether or not she would care to sell them. She named a price that he knew was out of his employer's range, and so he tried to haggle with her. She told him that she had already been offered that amount for them and was planning on selling them that very afternoon to Albus Dumbledore. The boy, whose name was Tom, left quickly rather than stay and see his hated former teacher. The next morning he awoke to the paper proclaiming that the lady had been killed by her house elf, and the elf was immediately executed for her crime. What disturbed him was that the two items that he had admired, were sitting on his kitchen table. He realized at that moment, that he would never be free unless he was strong enough to beat the evil man who pretended to be light. He left that day, searching the world for rituals and magic that would make him strong enough, but with each step, he lost a little bit more of his humanity, until one day, there was none left and Lord Voldemort was fully born.

Back in Scotland, the soul of a castle sat dejectedly as her messenger and companion flamed in and related to her what had transpired. Her spirits were uplifted for a time when the dark one left her halls, only to have them dashed when he returned a hero, and the new Headmaster of the school. His first act as Headmaster, was to use a dark ritual to bind her friend and make him do what the dark one commanded, thereby convincing everyone that he was truly a champion of the light. Slowly, he dumbed down the curriculum, saying it was for the best since some of the pureblood students were having trouble. Then he got rid of the classes that taught you how to actually live in the real world. Subjects such as Latin, Math, English, Foreign languages, household finances and upkeep, intro to the wizard and muggle worlds; all were cut from the curriculum. He kept the history teacher on after he died, making sure that the ghost would only teach fear of the goblins and not actual history. It wouldn't do for the students to learn what their rights and responsibilities really were after all. He then used tricks and the ministry to limit the intake of muggleborn students, since having too many of them caused him headaches since they tended to question him and his decisions about the path that the magical world should follow, unlike the sheep in the wizarding world. He had taken over the wizarding world completely, first with the school, then with the Ministry, and finally as head of the international Conclave of Wizards. He acted like he was just a figurehead, having no real power, but his fingers were in every pie and his strings directed his puppets without them even noticing, whether they were from the families associated with the light or dark. Everything was going His way, until his one-time pawn returned.

At first it was just things going a different way than he had planned, then resources of the traditionally dark pureblood families fell out of his control when the head of the Parkinson family was killed. Next, the minister began to believe that she could govern the Wizarding world without his directions or say so, and a few of his followers just vanished from their world. By the time he realized that he had lost control, it was too late and the wizarding world had broken out in civil war. He felt that it was pure irony that the two of them had remarkably similar goals in their limitation of lesser bloods coming into prominence in their world, yet he was called a muggle lover. He gathered the light families together to fight this new darkness, and when he could arrange it for them to will their fortunes to the fight of evil if they died, he would conveniently arrange for it to happen since it was their wish to help him further his vision of the wizarding world. Albus was willed fortune after fortune as he facilitated the Death Eaters killing off the light families, but he realized that if he didn't step up, he might lose it all. That was when he decided that he needed another weapon, only this time, he would create a spare in case one rebelled. In his organization, there were two young couples from families with immense wealth and breeding, who were perfect for creating his weapons. First, he Imperioused a hopeful History of Magic teacher who was descended from a famous seer to spout out a prophecy in a dirty pub that the death eater scum liked to visit. He made sure that it was heard and passed on to Voldemort, and with proper planning, he would fall for it. Next, he needed the two couples to get pregnant at the same time. A few simple fertility charms and lust potions with delayed reactions, and presto, two gravid women due at around the right time. Then he made sure that Lily got access to some ancient magic texts that talked about the power of sacrifice and love, knowing that she would share her research with her friend Alice.

Everything went according to plan until little baby Harry disappeared from his crib before he could get him. It took him most of the following day to trace the portkey that had whisked Harry away, and when he did, he was livid. How dare they think for themselves and ruin his plans. He needed to get there immediately before he lost both weapons to that psycho witch and her friends. Arriving with a loud crack, Albus strolled into the living room of the Longbottoms, expecting to have to fight at least one or two death eaters. Instead, he found Alice sitting on the ground playing with two baby boys, while Frank and Alastor Moody made sure they were secure and unmasked.

"Well done in keeping yourselves safe, I am happy that Alastor was able to arrive here in time to help you. I am so glad to find you safe after I heard that the Lestrange's were coming for you. This was a close call and I think that I should take Harry and place him some where safe." Albus stated with a twinkle in his eye.

"No," Alice stated emphatically! "I promised Lily and James that if we survived and they didn't, that I would raise the boys like brothers, just as she would do for my Neville."

Albus sighed internally, before pasting a smile back on his face. "Of course you are right. Just let me help you with these Death Eaters and then I will be on my way." Bending over he picked up the wands of Bellatrix and Rodolphus, and then pivoted so he was behind Alastor, Frank, and Alice. "I am sorry, but I cannot have you interfering with my plans." A red spell shot out of each wand and hit the two adult men before they could react, followed quickly by another hitting Alice as she threw herself between the mad man they thought was on their side and the two baby boys. Once the three were stunned, Albus moved the boys out of the way and then began to set the scene as if a great battle had been fought here. He noticed that there was a ritual circle on the ground, and furniture had been arranged as if to set up an ambush. He needed information about what had taken place, and so he enervated Barty Crouch Jr. So he could ask him some questions. Not giving him a chance to do anything, Albus cast a spell that had been used in magical courts to get the truth from accused before veritaserum had been invented.

"What happened here before I arrived?" Albus questioned his prisoner.

"We arrived here, and there was no one home, so the Lestrange brothers set Bellatrix and me as look outs while they prepared for the resurrection of our Lord. Everything was set, and we had moved the furniture around so that we could ambush the family when they arrived, only it all went wrong when Moody and Longbottom came through the door that the incompetent bitch was supposed to be watching. Before any of us could respond, we were all bound and immobilized, and then that traitorous bitch walked in to the room behind Alice, carrying Harry Potter. It was obvious that with the Master being killed, his spells that kept her in line were broken or at the least, were so weak that she was no longer forced to obey her husband and his brother. She even convinced Moody to secure her just in case they were able to take control of her once more. Moody and the Longbottoms were stunned that she was not a willing death eater, and had not been marked by our Lord, as if he would bestow his mark on a lowly woman. It provided great amusement to all of our Lord's followers that she was known as his most loyal follower, when she hated everything that we stood for and was as much a blood traitor as her sister Andromeda or her cousins Sirius and Regulus Black. They were about to call the on-duty Auror squad when you arrived." Albus was surprised about the information about Bellatrix Lestrange not being a willing Death Eater, but he needed more information about the attempted ritual, before he proceeded to finish his arrangement of the bodies here in his masterpiece of misdirection. He stunned Barty and moved on to Rodolphus Lestrange to get more information, once again casting the percontatio spell to get the answers he needed.

"What ritual were you and your brother setting up, and what was its purpose?" Rodolphus struggled against the spell cast upon him, but Albus poured more magic into his spell and easily overcame his prisoner's will.

"We were following the orders of the Dark Lord that he taught us in the instance where he appeared to have been killed. It is an old ritual that he called Kheper Oko Sa, which with one of the objects of power, would bring him back from death itself. We were all set and ready to use Harry Potter, since one of our people in St. Mungo's told us that the Longbottoms had taken him to see a healer to be checked out. We would have succeeded in ambushing them if that bitch who is my wife hadn't betrayed us. If it wouldn't cause the Goblin Nation to wipe out my family for breaking the marriage contract, I would have killed the stupid blood traitor bitch and been done with her a long time ago."

"Explain the ritual to me." Albus commanded.

"We were to place the baby in the ritual circle, with his head at the point that pointed strait South, with his arms and legs contained in each of the other points, and then we were to place the artifact upon his chest where it said his Sa was centered. Once the artifact had gained enough power to overcome the will of the vessel, the essence of our Lord would transfer in to his new body and then we could use spells to bring his age up so that his new body could contain his power."

"What happened to the artifact you were going to use?" Albus questioned in his excitement at discovering a way to extend his own life so he could guide the world for the greater good forever. He would need to examine this object and learn its secrets, since the Flamel's wouldn't give him their stone, and they wouldn't teach him how to make his own.

"When I saw that we were going to be captured, I banished the chalice back to the family vault in Gringotts so that it could not be destroyed by my Lord's enemies. I swore that I and my brother would defend it with our lives, and I have no intention losing my magic. I intend to retrieve it as soon as I am released from ministry custody and then my Master will rise again."

Albus stunned him once again, and then looked around while deep in thought, trying to figure out the best way to stage the room so that his plans would work out the way he wanted them to. With a flick of his wand, he began to move the adults around into the way he wanted them to be for his enforced memory to work. Albus was a master at obliviating and adjusting the reality and memories of his pawns and knew that the most effective way to make sure they had no flashes of true memory was to use the things that would stick out as unusual from their original memory and incorporate into their new scenario. Therefore, he would have to use Bellatrix in a fashion that would show that she was reluctant to be there and involved in hurting Neville. It wasn't hard to put the memories of torturing the Longbottoms into the heads of the male Death Eaters, but it took more power than he could afford to use to get Bellatrix and Moody into the proper frame of mind. When he got to the Longbottoms, he realized that his job had become harder than he had imagined.

Frank and Alice Longbottom where wearing the rings that denoted them as Lord and Lady Longbottom, and the ancient magic of the rings made it impossible to alter or control their minds in any way. He had been lucky that Death Eaters didn't wear their family rings on their raids as they could be identified by them, but now he had a dilemma as only the wearer could remove them before death, and only with their spouse's consent. If nothing else, Albus Dumbledore was one who could think on his feet, and with no hesitation, he picked up the wands of Barty and Rabastan and began casting the cruciatus curse on the two parents who had once shown him their trust.

The screams of Alice and Frank woke the two boys and set off their own screams, and Albus paused to stun the two children before continuing. He debated for a moment, and then used a curse that he had learned from his friend Grindelwald which trapped a person inside of a prison in their own mind, bypassing the protections on their rings by physically locking them out of the control of their bodies. This would leave Frank alive which meant that he wouldn't have to stop Augusta from taking Neville and leaving England. A small compulsion on her would have her constantly comparing Neville to Frank, but with the bind he planned to put on Neville and Harry's cores, neither would ever live up to their fathers unless he let them, and that would not happen unless they dedicated themselves completely to him. Finally done, he sent Harry back to the home he had left the previous night, and then sent Hagrid a message to go pick him up. He then apparated to where he could make sure that no one else interfered with his plans.

It was at that moment that Hagrid was having an argument with Sirius Black about Harry. Hagrid insisted that he take Harry cause Dumbledore, great man that Dumbledore, told him to come take him. When Sirius asked how Harry had got back to the house, Dumbledore stepped out of the shadows and explained that Harry had performed accidental magic which took him out of their world and into a pocket space for almost thirty six hours. While Sirius was looking in amazement at little Harry, Dumbledore cast multiple compulsion charms on him, driving him to seek revenge against Peter and then confess his crimes when he was caught. Dumbledore then apparated to Privet Drive, where he had to adjust his deputy's mind again as she was fighting him about his plan to leave Harry there. She even offered to bring Harry to her nephew and his wife, so that they could adopt him and raise him in the muggle world. These all would have been good suggestions, if he actually had Harry's best interests at heart. He mildly wondered while waiting for Hagrid, if constant use of compulsion and memory charms could cause brain damage. Well, only time would tell, but he had a perfect test case right here with him. With that done, he calmly pulled the time turner he had taken for himself from the Potter family many years before and turned it to give himself enough time to attend the emergency Wizengamot meeting where he would need to delay Augusta Longbottom from leaving before his past-self could finish his tasks.

The years passed, and Hogwarts lost more and more of her abilities as the Dark One placed more and more restrictions on her. She wondered if this is what dying felt like, and set herself to pondering what would happen to her soul when she no longer had the magic to sustain it. It seemed as if only moments had passed since she started her existential debate with herself, when something alerted her that change was coming. Now it should be pointed out, that time is different to a 1000 year old sentient castle than it is to most humans. So what was to her point of view, barely enough time to get herself mentally dressed and ready to meet this change, was the span of time from when Hedwig first appeared to Harry, till the time when he, along with Dora, Hermione, and to all of their surprise, Susan, appeared in her Legendary heart chamber; just as Harry's magic began to unleash itself from his control.

It was like drinking ambrosia direct from Mount Olympus, at least that is what Hogwarts likened it to. Pure energy was pouring out of him and into her heart, strengthening her once again and breaking the restrictions that had been placed upon her by the dark one. Fawkes flamed out of the chamber, and then flamed back in with Hedwig in her two day old form. Hedwig spread herself across his chest, trying to get as much contact as she could, and Dora and Hermione got the same idea. Susan was a little scared as they had just appeared in this strange place, and now Harry was glowing. She suddenly heard a voice telling her that she was safe and that she needed to hug Harry from behind pressing against him as much as she could. Susan didn't know why, but she trusted the voice, and besides, Harry would never let her get hurt. When all four females were surrounding Harry, with all of them sitting directly in the center of Hogwart's heart-stone, Harry's magic fully released. Wave after wave, pulse after pulse, power flowed out of Harry as the five females, three human, one phoenix, and one sentient magical castle, helped him to contain his rage and grow instead.

It seemed to take an eternity, and yet be over in an instant; but eventually it was over and Harry was back to normal. Well mostly normal, with some slight bits of abnormal thrown in. Hedwig sat in front of them, full grown and back to full strength thanks to her bond with Harry. Harry also got something from the transfer as there was a beautiful tattoo like discoloration of a phoenix covering his entire chest. If one had taken a picture of Harry right before his outburst of magic, and then right after, there would have been distinctly noticeable changes between the before and after. Gone completely were the left over effects from his deficient upbringing, including all of his scars minus one. He also appeared to have grown again, though it was more that he now looked a couple years older than his true age, complete with the start of the muscles that normally came with the exit from adolescence toward adulthood.