Chapter 74: One step closer to victory
Sirius and Marlene’s talk went well. They set lines and boundaries under the watchful eyes of Rick and Lily. Marlene was ready to try. Sirius did his very best to contain his joy and pretty much promised anything Marlene wanted.
On the second day of term, everyone celebrated the sorting of the children. The Blacks were of course delighted to know Draco was in Slytherin, especially Narcissa. She knew that it would be hard for Draco considering the family he was part of. That and because most death eaters’ progeny that got scott free with the excuse of the imperius curse were currently in Slytherin. She had faith in her son however and Severus, as the head of the house and his godfather would be watching closely. Rose being in Gryffindor was a happy moment and Rick couldn’t be more proud of his girl.
He was at the manor teaching Bill Weasley a bit more about advanced wards and how to get through them without pulling them down when he got a Patronus from Lily.
“Minerva’s done it! Rose has been chosen as Gryffindor team’s seeker! I have class so I can’t argue the decision.”
The lion faded away and Rick didn’t know if he should be proud, furious or amused. He turned to Bill who spoke before he could say anything.
“I’m good. You can take care of this.”
“Nah. You’re coming with me. It’s the perfect opportunity to have a look at the Castle’s wards. There is a lot to learn by just observing them.”
A bit surprised but not willing to miss the opportunity, Bill took the old Storm-Breaker Rick handed to him and they flew to the castle. It was still in the middle of the afternoon and most students were either still in class or had free time. They went to see Albus to his office and he was pleasantly surprised to see Bill with Rick.
“I’m learning advanced wards, sir. I’m good on all other subjects for curse-breaking but the last dig I encountered a ward I couldn’t make sense of, so I ask Rick to instruct me a bit more.”
“If we could have a look at Hogwarts’. Most notably the ones Salazar put on, that’d be great.”
“Of course. I just hope you’re not going into that room again in the scriptorium.”
“No. Once was enough.” Rick chuckled sheeplessly under Albus' patronizing gaze. “We will study the ward on that door from the other side though. By the way do you still have his grimoire? I’d like to make a copy for Regulus and add it to the library.”
“Well, not me but the castle does. It’s Hogwarts property. I’ll lend it to you if it doesn’t leave the grounds.”
“Got it.”
They left the office and Bill was amazed by the way Rick talked to Dumbledore like he was an old friend. He was also curious about what they were talking about.
“It's a sensitive subject that will require an oath of silence from you. Where we’re going is… Technically dangerous even for a wizard of Dumbledore’s pedigree if you’re not careful. Students should never learn about the existence of that room.”
“Sounds really ominous.”
“It was created by Salazar himself so yeah.”
They stopped along the way at McGonagall’s office and Bill stayed outside as it wasn’t his business. Rick sat down in front of Minerva in silence as if he owned the place. She knew what it was about.
“Seeker? Really?”
“She is that good.”
“She is a first-year. And I’m aware.”
“... Gryffindor hasn't won the cup a single time since 83! Ross did her best and won a few times but… We had a good team! A really good one but…”
“You can’t expect to have an Eva, a Rhianon and a me, every generation, Minerva.”
“No! Although Eva’s niece is scarily good as a chaser. Now that Charlie Weasley graduated last year, we’re missing a seeker and the candidates are all bad. If at least they were half as good as Weasley! Rose is our only hope!”
“I’m not mad that she’s in the team. I’m mad because you appointed her. Making a special dispense for her to participate in the tryouts despite being a first-”
Minerva opened her drawer and produced a form she handed to him.
“Your daughter has been quite adamant she would be a seeker only if she proved to be the best at the tryouts. She insisted she wouldn’t join the team otherwise because it was unfair and a bit of nepotism.”
“...Gosh, I’m so proud of her.” Rick smiled stupidly.
It was something that Minvera shared. “You can.”
“What about the broom owning rule for the first year?”
“I was going to make my case about it to Albus before dinner today.”
“You know if you get that approved, the other heads of house would get it too. Draco is a very good flyer. He was trained by Regulus and me a bit.”
“It’s fine. I have faith in Rose's skills and talent.”
Rick nodded and wished Minerva a good afternoon. He exited her office, joined Bill and made their way towards the dungeons.
“I always wondered. Are the snitches in Professor McGonagall’s offices the ones you caught?”
“Yes. When I started on the team in my second year… I was an orphan at the time and had no money for anything so a broom? She bought me a Nimbus 1000 so I could play. Now, it was a five years old broom on the market but its price was still three hundred galleons.”
Bill was astonished. “Quite the sum to spend for a second year.”
“Quite. That’s why as a thank you, I dedicated all the snitches I caught to her. Gave them to her because without her, I wouldn’t have been able to play quidditch. At first they were just Christmas presents but once I got a bit of money I sent them to her without any occasion in mind.”
“Some are more important than others.”
“You should ask her, some have quite the story.” Rick chuckled.
They arrived at the main hall of the dungeons and Rick pulled out his map. Bill noticed the names of people walking on Hogwarts’ grounds and found it clever but wondered how it could work when the castle was unplottable.
“Good question. The unplottability is a ward that works on the boundaries of the property or space you put it on but it has actually no effect on what’s inside. That is why I was able to map Hogwarts. You can even put another unplottable ward on a room inside a place which is unplottable. In one case that I witnessed, the ward was working both ways. I think you could use the map charm and the homunculus charm to create maps of ruins to help you avoid some nasty surprises.”
“That’s what I was thinking when I saw your map. I wonder if it’s possible to modify the charms to display not only humans but creatures too.”
“Almost anything is possible with magic, so probably. Okay, so no one is around but just in case let’s disillusioned ourselves.”
They both did so and Rick used Muffliato around them.
“Let’s take a look at what Albus did to seal that back entrance.”
With his wand, Rick poked at the stone wall and began to study what charms were blocking it. When he found out what it was, he almost laughed then touched the stone to make sure he was right. Once he was sure he was, he invited Bill to study it too.
“That’s… weird. It’s a simple locking charm that I don’t recognize. At least… the base is familiar but the rest… It seems foreign. A type of magic I do not know.”
“Good, very good. It is foreign and at the same time it’s not. It’s parselmagic.”
“Parsel? As in-” Bill exclaimed with wide eyes.
“Parseltongue yes.”
“I didn’t know Dumbledore was a parselmouth.”
“He isn’t. He just spent a few weeks with a tribe of them in India during his youth. Learned to understand it and speak a few words. I supposed he learned how to do a bit of parselmagic from Salazar Slytherin’s grimoire. Come on. I’ll tell you everything once we’re inside. I see you have questions.”
Rick opened the door to the scriptorium by saying $open$ and hurried Bill inside.
“This is the back entrance of Salazar’s-”
“Chamber of secrets?”
“No. This one, the entrance is in the girls’ bathroom a dozen feet away. No, I’m not kidding.” Rick added when Bill gave him a look of disbelief. “This room is Salazar’s scriptorium. The lectern over there is where we found his grimoire.”
“When was that?”
“72.”
“You found that place in your second year?!”
Rick nodded and began to tell Bill about his adventure with Amelia during that Winter Break. The twenty year old young man had stars in his eyes as he listened.
“Now the ward we’re going to see… Is an awful one. The kind of thing you may encounter in a dark wizard or witch’s tomb.”
They walked down a set of stairs and stood in front of what Rick called the ‘door of agony’. When Bill tried to see the other side, Rick caught him by the back of his robe.“No matter what, don’t go through that door. It will lock you inside the corridor and the only way to get out is to make someone scream by using the cruciatus on them. Since you’ll be alone…”
“Right. No going through the door. Got it. How did your group make it out?”
“I cast it on myself before they could do anything. It was stupid I know.”
“... But brave. I’m surprised you knew the incantation in your second year.”
“I actually didn't. It’s marked on the floor, look.”
Rick pointed out at the red carving on the ground and Bill had a good look.
“Quite perverse and sadistic.”
“Quite, yes. Now it’s a bit late, so let’s study this ward, then tomorrow the chamber of secrets. And by the way. Oath please.”
Bill gave him one and they spent the next few hours studying the ward. It was difficult because it has been done in parselmagic but not impossible. The point wasn’t to see how the magic was constructed and weaved but how to recognize it and find possible weak points. When dinner came they checked the map and seeing that no one was around exited the scriptorium, Rick telling it to $close$.
They went back to the first floor and saw Lily at the entrance of the castle, speaking with Rose.Discreetly, he arrived behind his wife and surprised her when he took her in his arms.
“Hello, dad. Bill.”
“Hello, Rose.”
“I guess you’re here because mom told you about quidditch?”
“Hmm, partially. I was also here to show Bill a few wards for his job. We arrived quite late so we’ll be back tomorrow and perhaps for the rest of the week. Good job for declining the position the way you did. I was very proud when Minerva told me. I wish my wife did.” he looked at Lily with a fake glare.
“I just heard about it while listening to the students gossip. I didn’t have all the details.” The Lady Potter defended herself.
“I’ll make it to the team. I just didn’t want people to think that I got preferential treatment for being your daughter.”
““We got it.””
“Neville is waiting for me at the hall, so I’m going. It was good to see you, dad! You too, Bill.”
The Weasley gave her a nod and Rose left for dinner. Lily got on Rick’s broom since she came to the castle on foot in the morning. Back at the Manor, Bill wished them a good evening and took the floo to go back to the Burrow.
The whole week he went to Hogwarts with Bill and studied the wards Salzar made. The sight of the Basilisk’s skeleton made Bill’s jaw drop to the ground. They both learned a great deal about them before they continued the Weasley’s education at Lions’ Pride Manor.
By mid-October, he was ready to go back to work. He wasn’t on vacation per say but had requested the goblins, for whom he was working for, some time to increase his knowledge about wards. When he brought forward that his teacher was Rick, the goblins gave him as much time as he needed. Rick had sold them some of his own wards and they were quite interested to have an employee in their ranks that was taught by him. They believed it was a good investment.
Rose had made it to the team in her own right and Rick gifted her with a Storm-Breaker that he made himself, specially tailored for her. Her first game had him and Lily quite worried when the broom behaved strangely and nearly threw her off of it at fifty up in the air. He thought he had messed up during the broom’s creation but Severus recognized that it was a dark curse and began to chant its counter.
Lily and Rick began to search for the one responsible. An impossible thing to do, so Rick discreetly used a flash spell up in the air which blinded everyone for a bit. That had been enough to desorient the unknown caster and Rose caught the snitch in a fashion that even Rick had never done before. With her mouth. He facepalmed and laughed at the same time when he saw that.
After the game, they went to have a few words with Dumbledore. Someone had tried to kill their daughter after all. They had no reason to unless they knew about the prophecy, which was improbable because Voldemort told no one as far as Severus and Bella knew.
“Albus.” Lily began with an authoritative tone.
“I know. I know.”
“How could he be here? And why?” questioned Rick.
“I… may have asked my good friend Nicolas Flamel to let me borrow a fake philosopher stone to draw Voldemort out.”
“What does it got to do with-”
“There is no renovation! You hid the stone in the third corridor!” The disbelieving shout Lily let out didn’t help Rick’s confusion until he remembered that the corridor was ‘off limits’ this year.
“... Please tell me you were not planning the opportunity to test Rose and have her face him?”
“No.” Albus immediately reassured them. “Although the idea crossed my mind, I dismissed it quickly.”
“He’s in the castle then?” asked Lily in mama lioness mode.
“I don’t know. Today was the first time something happened. He could have been among the spectators.”
Rick thought for a bit then brought out his map of the castle and laid it down on Dumbledore’s desk.
“Is that… My, that’s quite clever.” the Headmaster admitted.
“Thank you. Now I never pried from you Voldemort’s real name because I never really had a need for it but do you see him anywhere?”
Dumbledore hummed for a moment and looked closely at all the names. He passed over the seventh floor in the Astronomy tower when he got back to it.
“There!” he pointed at his finger.
“Tom Riddle?” Lily said aloud.
“Not a pureblood name.”
“No. Now that’s curious, he’s very close to Quirinus.”
“The movements are the same and there is only one set of footprints. Possession?” wondered Rick.
Albus considered it. “Possible. He did lose his body after all.”
“Then we catch him.”
“Not like that, Lily. Not with all the students around. Who knows what he could do.” Her husband's refusal had merit and she didn’t press on.
“I’m more curious about where he came from. Their names suddenly appeared out of nowhere.”
Rick and Lily exchanged a glance and wondered if they should talk or not about the Room of Requirement. It was a room for the students after all.
“You know something.” Albus remarked and almost accused. Rick sighed and Lily nodded.
“In my third year I found a special room created by Rowena Ravenclaw. It is called the Room of Requirement. It’s the origin of ‘One would always find help at Hogwarts.’ motto.”
“In it whatever you think of, the room provides. As long as it respects the laws of magic.” Lily explains further. “The room has many… aspects? Version of itself. Rick and I used it to…” she blushed a bit remembering the good times she spent there with her husband, Marlene or Amelia.
“Study. Mostly.”
The headmaster looked at her with an eyebrow raised and arched in curiosity. “Mostly?”
“Albus, do I have to tell you what a young teenage couple madly in love gets up to when they are unsupervised?” Rick said with a deadpan tone.
“Oh! I see.” Albus began to chuckle. “Quite naughty of the two of you.”
“Well… Hormones and all that. Anyway that’s where I was actually studying and please don’t tell Minerva. I’d like to keep the mystery.”
“Of course! Now, you said there are many versions of the room?”
“Yes. It’s like it’s… a subspace that can be manipulated at will. It’s unplottable as you may have already guessed but it’s also connected to the whole castle. The night of Sirius' disastrous prank in fifth year, I actually used the room to get out near the entrance of the castle but I digress. The room can be anything really, from a simple broom closet, to a bathroom, to the room where the elves put the lost and forgotten objects.”
“The elves know about this room?” The surprise in the headmaster’s voice was genuine.
“Yes. They know the castle better than anyone. I think it’s inherent to their magical bond with the castle.” Lily commented.
“Voldemort and Quirell clearly know about it too.” Rick pointed out.
“The question is what did they do with it?” wondered aloud Albus while stroking his beard.
“That’s easy to know.” replied Lily and again Dumbledore was surprised. “We just need to open the room wanting to know what Voldemort was doing or hiding or wanted from it.”
“I… don’t understand.”
“To make the door of the room appear, you must really need it. In less abstract words, you need to pass in front of it three times while having the same thought.”
“Oh! It’s that room!” Realization dawned on Albus. “A few years into my schooling, I was desperately searching for a chamber pot. I found the room but never found it again. I thought I may have imagined it. So that’s how it works? Rowena Ravenclaw was truly a brilliant witch.”
“Grandfather said it was her greatest feat of magic.”
“Quite a feat it is” Albus nodded in agreement. “Did he let slip where his sword was perhaps?”
“Inside the sorting hat, I think.” Rick replied and even Lily looked at him with googly eyes. “One of the evenings he was telling stories to the children, he talked about leaving his sword with the best judge of character at Hogwarts. Since the sword can only be found by a true Gryffindor of heart…”
“The sorting hat should be the only one who knows who’s worthy of not.” The headmaster finished Rick’s sentence.
“That makes sense.”
The three looked at the sleeping hat up on a shelf in the corner of the office.
“We can be sure Voldemort didn’t find it to make one of those.” commented Rick.
“Wait! I just had an idea!” Lily had grabbed Rick’s arm and gripped it tightly. “What if he put one there? In the room? It’s a secret room that can take multiple forms, it belonged to a founder and it’s in the safest place in Britain. Right under our noses too.”
Albus considered the thought quickly. “That’s possible. Tom visited me in 71 to ask for the job of DADA professor. I refused him of course but since then the position has been cursed. Who knows how long he was in the castle at the time?”
“But… Why would he check on it if there is one there to begin with? Or perhaps… It’s because he doesn’t know it’s there.” Rick said in sudden realization and confused Lily.
“What do you mean?”
He took a deep breath and ordered his thoughts before starting his explanation.
“Because of the Fidelius he doesn’t know what a horcrux is or what it looks like. He does know however, that he did something to reach immortality and where he hid them but he would be incapable to recognize them!”
“It must be maddening for him. It’s like having a word on the tip of your tongue but never being able to remember it. He knows he left something there, related to his immortality but not what.” added Dumbledore.
“At least we know my precaution worked.”
“Indeed. We have a huge advantage over him.”
Rick stood up and Lily did likewise. “We’re checking this, right now. And Albus?”
“Yes?”
“No abusing the map nor watching the room. Children are children.”
“Of course. I won’t punish a student because I catch them being out after curfew with the map.”
They made their way to the seventh floor and Lily opened the Room thinking ‘Show me the room Voldemort and Quirinus used’. To hers and Rick’s surprise it was the Lost and Found version of the room. Dumbledore’s eyebrow reached his hairline when he saw the size of it.
“That will take a while.”
“Understatement of the last thousand years.”
“Or…” Rick began to say but hesitated because Lily wouldn’t be happy with his idea.
““Or?””
Rick sighed and removed his lords’ rings which he handed to Lily. He didn’t feel anything but it didn’t mean an Horcrux wasn’t here.
“I wasn’t here often but I usually went that way.” he pointed to the right. “I would have felt it if it was there. Unless it’s far beyond the furthest I've ever been.”
Albus used his wand and tried to summon brooms thinking that maybe some students may have lost or forgotten them over the centuries. He was right to think so as no less than fifteen showed up. Only three of them were still usable. Albus got on one, side-saddle while Rick and Lily shared one, just in case he felt the Horcrux and passed out mid-flight.
After an hour of flying at relatively slow speed. Rick felt something. He shared the news to Albus and pointed out the direction. Bit by bit Rick played on his nausea getting better or worse before calling for a break. He was sweating profusely at this point and Lily was worried. Never before has he been affected for so long by Dark Magic. Never mind that it was the worst of them.
“Here.” she said, handing him his rings which he quickly put on.
“Thank you.”
He took a few minutes to recuperate for the ordeal then stood up on his feet.
“It’s that way.” He pointed to the path behind Dumbledore.
They walked for twenty minutes, Rick correcting the way as they got closer. Finally they arrived at a spot where he knew it was right there.
“Are you going to be alright?” Lily asked as she was supporting her husband by the shoulders.
“Yeah. Just… let me sit down and go help Albus. Remember, we’re searching either for an object belonging to the founders or-”
“I think I found it!” Dumbledore’s voice came from a dozen feet away.
He turned around and some kind of crown floated up in the air thanks to his wand.
“The Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw?” Lily exclaimed in excitement and bewilderment.
“Not so lost anymore.” Rick shared his wife’s feelings.
“Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure. It’s really it.” read aloud Albus.
“Eh. For being the brightest witch of her generation she sure was quite dumb.”
“What do you mean?” Inquired Lily.
“Children are a man’s greatest treasure. At least that’s what I believe.”
“Quite true.” agreed Albus and put the diadem inside a pocket of his robe after putting it in another black box with carved runes that Rick had designed. It must have been quite expanded because Rick didn’t feel the effect of the horcrux anymore. He sighed in relief and got on his feet.
“Did you and Regulus find any leads on how to remove his soul pieces without destroying the objects?”
“Alas, no. We found methods to destroy them though. The killing curse, Basilisk’s venom and Fiendfyre. Our research on exorcism didn’t bring up any results.”
“What about… Goblin magic? Elf magic?”
“Lily! That’s genius!” She was pulled to her husband for a kiss.
“Thank you.” The very pleased smile on her face could have lit a whole room.
“I’ll send it to Regulus tonight. I think we all deserved a bit of rest.” Albus suggested.
The Potters agreed and after exiting the room, went back to the manor through Dumbledore’s floo in his office. Rick was way too tired to make the walk or fly back home.