Harry Potter and the Return of the Heirs
Harry Potter and the Return of the Heirs
By J.C. Vascardi
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Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in this story that relate to Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling, various publishers, and Warner Brothers. No money is being made on this story and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The only things about this story that I own are the storylines, places and characters that are not featured in the books.
Author's Note: This story takes place during Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts. I will be trying to follow the Order of the Phoenix canon as much as possible. I may however deviate from the canon occasionally if the story I am trying to tell would be better served by doing so. Even though this story takes place in Harry's sixth year, it is mostly AU because it was started before the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Now, I would also like to say that I'm an American, so while I will try to use some of the British terminology that I'm familiar with to make this story more real, there will likely be instances when the characters may sound a little more American then they would otherwise. For those of you who care about such things, I apologize in advance.
Feedback is very much appreciated. You may contact me by email at JCVascardi@yahoo.com or you can contact me at JCVascardi on Yahoo Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger. For updates on my writing progress, check out my writing journal at: http://www.greatestjournal.com/users/jcvascardi/. Also, feel free to check out my website at http://jcv.5u.com/all/jcstories/.
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Chapter Ten
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Draco's Journal -- September 25, 1996
I do so love being a Slytherin, because we Slytherins do tend to find things out before the other houses, and oftentimes, the information can be very juicy. For example, I've recently found out that shortly after his seventeenth birthday, fifteen days ago, Delaney started to secretly seduce Professor Weasley. Yet, they are not a couple as far as I know, but as usual, the betting pools have already begun, and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Blaise will have to pay me twenty galleons when Delaney is successful at seducing our professor.
Speaking of couples, I found Justin Finch-Fletchley snogging after hours with Ryan in a broom cupboard again. This is the second time in as many weeks that I've come across them. They really should be more careful, or one of these days, I fear that they'll be caught by one of the other prefects, or worse, a professor. Justin would be sure to lose his job as prefect, which would be a shame, since he only just got the position this year, after his classmate, Ernie MacMillan, decided to resign to concentrate more on his schoolwork.
My new friendship with Harry is going pretty well, all things considered. It's common knowledge in the castle now, that I've buried the hatchet with him. Some chose not to believe it of course. And still others, mainly my fellow Slytherins, seem to believe that I'm setting a trap for him. Pretend to befriend him, and then deliver him to You-Know-Who. The Slytherins aren't the only ones who think that though, because Weasley thinks it, too. Harry told me last night that Weasley hasn't said more than two words to him since the night he offered me his hand.
Harry Potter offered me his hand. I still can't believe it, to be honest. Of course, I haven't told him, but I wish it had been offering me his hand in marriage, instead of friendship. This, my dear journal, is something that you already know, but nobody else does, since I've kept it well hidden: I've had a major crush on Harry since fourth year. A crush which I'm sure has developed into love; well, I'm not totally sure, because I don't have much experience with romantic love, but I do know that my feelings for Harry are something which I've never felt for anyone else.
But, as I've already told you, I've fantasized about Harry on more than one occasion. Of course, I haven't told you everything; a few details about those fantasies I've left out, dear journal. To be honest, there have been times when I was having sex with Blaise that I found myself thinking about Harry, and pretending that it was him rather than Blaise, that I was doing the deed with. The fact that Blaise has the same raven-colored hair and sparkling green eyes as he does has certainly helped my fantasies. Blaise is of Latino descent though, so his skin is darker than Harry's, but I've found it easy to imagine that its just Harry with a very good tan.
To say that I haven't thought about telling Harry about my fantasies since we became friends would be a lie, since I have on many occasions. I do not, however, know if Harry is even gay, so I'm afraid to tell him, to be honest. There's also the fact that Harry was raised by Muggles, so I'm not sure how he even feels about gay people. As I learned on my first day at Cromwell Hall, however, Muggles are not as open-minded about same-sex pairings as wizards are. Charles said that his late wife, Katrina, would have probably killed Matthew if she had found out that he was gay, or dating Oliver.
Well, I'm getting tired, so I guess I'll stop writing, and get some sleep. I have Defense Against the Dark Arts in the morning, and I should get some rest, since Severus' classes are turning out to be very tiring. So much so, that last week, I was glad that I had a free period after lunch, because I came back to the dorm to sleep. Thankfully, Blaise woke me up before I was late for Charms, or I would have probably slept right through it.
* * *
Later the next evening, after dinner, Hermione and Ryan were once again in the restricted section, pouring over various books, trying to find some shred of information that would tell them who the heirs were. In the last three weeks, they'd probably gone through about two or three dozen books apiece, but had to yet find anything. What neither of them knew, however, was that their persistence was about to strike pay dirt in a very big way.
"Hey, Hermione, look at all these books," Ryan said as he ran his finger over a collection of leather-bound books.
"Yes, they're wizard genealogy books," Hermione said as she looked at them. "I don't think they'll help us at all though, because remember what Professor Dumbledore said at the feast. The genealogical books in the Hogwarts library don't go back far enough to reveal any of the heirs."
"Well, could it be possible that when he said that, he was referring to the ones stored in the main library?" Ryan asked. "When he said that, students wouldn't have been allowed to look at the restricted section genealogical texts, because it wouldn't relate to any subjects."
"Hmm, well, that is true," Hermione said as she thought about it for a moment. "Of course, to be honest, I'm not even sure why any genealogical text would be in the restricted section. I would think that information would be harmless, and not need to be restricted, but you're welcome to look at them if you want."
"I think I will," Ryan said as he grabbed one of the thick leather-bound books, which was labeled, `A Genealogy of Noteworthy 15th and 16th Century Witches and Wizards, Surnames A through F.'
Hermione nodded as Ryan set the book down on a table and she went down one of the other aisles to look for a new book to research from.
"Oh my Gods," Ryan muttered about half an hour later. "Hermione come look at this."
"What is it, Ryan? Did you find something?"
"Yes, two things, first I figured out why these particular texts were in the restricted section."
"Why?"
"Well, it seems the author decided to include information on why some of the people in the book were considered noteworthy. For example, there's an entry in here for a Hilda Crawford, who painted wizard portraits of an adult nature, and there's a few examples of her work."
Hermione blushed as Ryan flipped the page and she came face to face with a picture of a wizard who looked to be in his mid-twenties, wearing a set of Quidditch robes and a smile. That probably wouldn't have been so bad, if it wasn't for the fact that the robes were open and there was nothing under them, thus bearing the subject's attributes for all to see.
"Yeah, that's definitely something that belongs in the restricted section," Hermione said after a moment. "I'm a little surprised a school would even have that, but then again, there are times throughout history, when nudity was thought of as fine art, and not something to be ashamed of. So, did you find anything about the founders?"
"I sure did," Ryan answered as he turned a few pages and then tapped the book in front of him. "Listen to this. Thornton Edmund Cromnvell, born 1470, died 1603; married 1497 to Fiona Cordelia Ravenclaw, born 1475, died 1621; one child, Edmund Charles Cromnvell, born 1500, died 1630."
"Cromnvell, is that?"
"Yes, it's one of the variations of my family surname," Ryan confirmed. "I don't know if my immediate family ever used the Cromnvell variation, but it certainly is possible, and someone changed it. Not to mention that, with the exceptions of Thornton and Cordelia, all of those names are in some of the more recent branches of my family tree that I've seen: my great-grandfather, Edmund William, my grandfather, William Charles, my uncle, Charles Matthew, my cousin, Matthew William, and my mother Alexandra Fiona Cromwell."
"Then that means that if you are descended from the Edmund Cromnvell that was born in 1500, that would make you Rowena Ravenclaw's heir!"
"Yes," Ryan muttered, shocked by this news. "Of course, that's assuming that this Fiona Ravenclaw is descended from Rowena, but Ravenclaw isn't a very common name, so I would think she probably is."
"I think it would be way too much of a coincidence for there to be that many similar names, but there might be a way to figure out for sure, if you are or not," Hermione said as she walked over to the neighboring table, picked up a large book, and brought it over to Ryan.
"How?" Ryan asked as he looked at the book that Hermione had just set in front of him.
"Well, this is a logbook of previous headmasters, and I've found an entry made by Headmistress Dilys Derwent in 1750 about a rumor that the founders did not sleep in the staff wing. According to her notes, it's thought that each founder had their own private suite of rooms, near the locations of their houses, which possibly even connected to the common rooms of their houses. It was thought that when the founders died, the rooms simply vanished, and only an heir would be able to relocate them. It seems Headmistress Derwent thought that because she was headmistress, there wouldn't be a single place in the castle she couldn't access, and dismissed it as nonsense after an extensive search of the areas around the four houses turned up nothing."
"So, you think I should start exploring near Ravenclaw Tower, and see if I can find some secret room that's supposedly been missing for centuries? Hermione, that could take forever, and we don't even know if they ever existed to begin with. Headmistress Derwent might have been right about it being nonsense. Not to mention the fact that there have been other heirs of the founders in the school since 1750, if the rooms existed, surely they would have been found by now."
"Not necessarily, Ryan. True, there have been heirs in the school since 1750, but if they didn't know to look for such a room, it's entirely possible that they would never have found them. Tom Riddle found Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, but from what I've been reading, that's been mentioned a lot throughout Hogwarts history. The only record I've found of these Founders' Suites is this note from Headmistress Derwent."
"Hmm, well, I suppose that makes sense. It is rather hard to find something when you don't even know it's there. I suppose the founders could even have laid some sort of magic into the rooms, to make it so that the heir had to know it existed before they could find it. Headmistress Derwent knew of the possibility that the rooms existed, but never found anything because she wasn't an heir."
"Yes, that's what I was thinking."
"Well, the library is due to close soon," Ryan said as he looked at his watch. "Let's get these books cleaned up, and then I'll do some sneaking around tonight with my grandmother's cloak, and see if I can find anything near the tower."
"Okay. Well, just so you know, Justin and I are set to patrol that area this evening," Hermione revealed. "So, if you come across anything, I'll be in the area."
"Well, if I find anything, I'll let you know."
* * *
By the time that Hermione returned to the Gryffindor common room, it was nearly empty. Harry, who was asleep in one of cushy red armchairs, was the only person left in the room. Hermione knew that Ron would be upstairs in his dorm, having retired early, rather than spend time with Harry. Ever since last week, when Harry had announced his intention to be friends with Draco, Ron had barely spoken two words to him.
Hermione, however, was much more open-minded about it. She trusted Harry, so when he decided to become friends with Draco, Hermione decided to try it herself. The fact that Professor Vector's seating chart for Arithmancy class placed Hermione and Draco next to each other, only helped her in realizing that Draco had definitely changed since his mother's untimely death. He still called her Granger, although she much preferred that to what he used to call her, and while they weren't quite the best of friends yet, Hermione at least thought that they were on their way to it. Draco had even asked Hermione for help on their Arithmancy homework, something which the old Draco would never have done.
Hermione quickly crossed the room and laid a hand on Harry's shoulder and gently coaxed him to wake up, "Harry, it's Hermione; wake up."
When he awoke, Hermione sat across from him, pulled out her wand and cast a silencing spell around the two of them, so that no one who might come into the common room would be able to hear them talking.
"What's up, Hermione?" Harry asked sleepily. "You and Ryan find anything tonight?"
"Yes, Harry," said Hermione excitedly. "We did! It's quite possible that we hit the jackpot."
"Wow!" Harry said, blinking, suddenly wide-awake. "Tell me what you guys found."
"To make a long story short, we think that Ryan might be Rowena Ravenclaw's heir."
"That'd be so cool. Now, you said you think; does that mean you're not sure?"
"Well, not totally, no. But, Ryan's going to do some exploring tonight, and see if maybe he can find the final proof."
"What do you mean final proof?"
"In addition to finding the info that made us think Ryan might be Rowena's heir, we found a note that talked about a rumor that the founders had their own suites outside of the staff wing. The note said that it was believed that the founders' quarters might actually be near their houses."
"Then, wouldn't they have been found by now?"
"That's what Ryan thought, too. After a long discussion, we finally agreed that it's possible that only an heir could find their ancestor's quarters, and that the heir would have to know the rooms existed before they could find them. From what I saw, these rooms weren't mentioned nearly as much as the Chamber of Secrets, so it's entirely possible that Tom Riddle heard of the Chamber, but never of Slytherin's quarters, which is why he never found them."
"That makes sense."
"Yeah, well, I'd better get going. I'm set to patrol the halls near Ravenclaw Tower with Justin tonight. I'll see you in the morning, Harry."
Harry nodded and watched as Hermione left the common room. Once she was gone, Harry quietly snuck upstairs to his dorm, went over to his trunk, grabbed his cloak and map before he, too, left Gryffindor Tower.
`Maybe Ryan could use some help,' Harry thought as he donned his cloak, activated the map and headed for Ravenclaw territory.
* * *
Two hours later, Ryan snuck down the stairs from the sixth-year boy's dormitory and into the Ravenclaw common room as quietly as possible. The only light in the empty room emanated from the dying fire. Ryan threw his grandmother's old cloak over his shoulders, pulled the hood over his head, and made his way over to the exit.
As he exited the tower, he saw Hermione and Justin patrolling the hallway, just as Hermione had said they would be. Ryan simply couldn't help himself, snuck up behind Justin, and wrapped his arms around his waist. In doing so, the hood of his cloak was dislodged enough for Hermione to see Ryan's face, and she just grinned as he leaned down and planted a kiss on Justin's neck. Justin had been a bit startled, but realizing that it was his boyfriend, he just smiled and craned his neck a bit to give Ryan better access.
Ryan continued to suck and kiss Justin's neck for a couple of minutes, before they heard a sharp grunt. Hermione looked towards the direction of the sound, and Harry revealed his face just enough to mouth the word, "Filch," before disappearing back under his cloak. Ryan quickly released Justin and made sure he was completely covered by his cloak.
Seconds later, Argus Filch came around the corner, and a smile spread across his face when he saw two students out of bed.
"Well, well, well, two students out of bed after hours. Oh dear, we are in trouble."
"Mr. Filch," Hermione said as he neared, "you can't do anything to Justin and me for being out of bed."
"Oh no? That's what you think."
"We're prefects," Justin said as he adjusted his robes so that his prefect badge was more clearly visible.
"What a pair of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff prefects would be doing at this time of night in the Ravenclaw hallway is what I'd like to know."
"Performing our duties," Hermione answered. "Justin and I are only performing our scheduled rounds, Mr. Filch. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to get back to work."
With that, Hermione and Justin walked calmly down the hall and turned the corner that Filch had just come from. Filch stood there for a few minutes, clenching his fists, mumbling about students being out of bed and not being able to do anything about it, like dragging them down to the torture chamber and punishing them, before he continued to stalk down the hallway. Once Harry was sure he was gone, he walked over to where the map showed Ryan standing and said, "Its okay, he's gone."
"How'd you know he was coming?" Ryan whispered as he pulled his hood back just enough to reveal his face.
"This," Harry said as he held out the Marauder's Map to Ryan to look at. "It's a magic map of the castle, shows every floor and every room, well, except for the Room of Requirement. It also shows were everyone in the school is."
"Wow, where did you get it?"
"From the Weasley twins in my third year," Harry answered. "My dad and his friends actually made it when they were students."
"Cool!"
"Hermione told me what you'd be up to tonight, so I figured you might need some help."
"Thanks, Harry," Ryan said with a smile. "If Hermione is right you won't be able to actually search for the room, since you aren't an heir, but if you could just watch that map and warn me if anyone is coming, I'd appreciate it."
"Sure thing, Ry," Harry said with a smile.
Starting near the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower, Ryan started to run his hand over the stone walls; working on the assumption that if the room really did exist, that it would be on the same side of the hallway as the entrance to the tower. About an hour later, Ryan had found nothing and was about to give up when he thought he felt something under his hand. Stopping to examine the wall a bit closer, he noticed the initials R.F.R. appear out of nowhere, carved into the wall.
`Could that stand for Rowena Fiona Ravenclaw?' Ryan thought and almost immediately, the three letters started to glow. Soon, the whole brick was glowing. Ryan reached up, touched the glowing brick and looked on in wonder as a single, glowing line extended upward from the glowing `F'. Ryan soon realized that the glowing line was tracing the shape of a door, and as soon as it finished, Ryan heard the sound of stone moving against stone as the wall swung open.
Ryan smiled at Harry, who just grinned back. "Well, follow me, Harry."
The scent of dampness and disuse hit Ryan almost immediately as he stepped over the threshold. The door soon closed, and Harry and Ryan removed their cloaks, pulled out their wands, and mumbled, "Lumos!" From the points of light on their wands, they saw that they were in a room that had obviously not been used in many years. Sheets were draped over what looked to be various pieces of furniture, and almost everywhere they looked, there was a thick layer of dust and a multitude of cobwebs.
"Ron certainly wouldn't like this place much, especially if the owners of those webs are still around."
"Afraid of spiders, is he?"
"Deathly afraid," Harry answered.
"So, someone has finally found me, I see."
"Who said that?" Ryan asked in alarm.
"Whose there?" Harry asked, equally startled.
"Behind you, my boys," the voice, a female, said. "No need to be afraid. I couldn't harm you, even if I wanted to."
Turning around and raising their wands, Ryan and Harry saw the source of the voice. A large, life-size portrait of a woman wearing a flowing black cloak with a bronze clasp over a fancy blue silk gown, which looked to be from about the ninth century, was hanging above the fireplace. The woman was quite beautiful to behold, with long brown hair and piercing blue eyes.
"Who are you?" Ryan asked.
"You mean you haven't figured that out yet?" the woman asked. "Why, I am Rowena Fiona Ravenclaw, founder of Ravenclaw House, and one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You two don't appear to be related, so I shall assume that only one of you is my heir."
"Your heir?" Ryan asked.
"Yes, my heir; I assure you that were one of you not my heir, you never would have been able to get into this room. The other founders and I all charmed our quarters so that we would be the only ones who could access them. When we died, the rooms disappeared, and were charmed so that only our heirs would be able to find them. Now that you have, I do hope that you will consider cleaning up; this room could certainly use it. Now, I assume that you two have names?"
"My name is Ryan Cole Cromwell, ma'am."
"I'm Harry James Potter, ma'am."
"Please, call me Rowena. Now, we must figure out which one of you is my heir."
"I think that would be me, Rowena," Ryan answered. "My friend Hermione and I were searching through some books in the library, and found a book that said one of my ancestors married a Fiona Ravenclaw in 1497."
"Tell me, what year is it? It's really rather hard to keep track of time when you're a portrait hanging on the wall in a forgotten room with all the drapes closed for... well, I don't know how long."
"It's the year 1996," Harry revealed.
"1996 you say? Hmm, well, that means that I've been dead for 1129 years. That really is quite a long time to be alone."
"Surely you haven't been totally alone? I mean, you're a portrait; can't you visit other portraits?" Ryan asked.
"Well, Ryan, I can now. You see, until you found this room, the magic that hid it from view also prevented me from visiting any other portraits, as well as other portraits from visiting me. Of course, after all the time that's passed, I assume the only portraits left in this castle that would even know I'm here, are Godric, Helga and Salazar's portraits. Tell me, have their quarters been found?"
"No, they haven't. According to the Sorting Hat, all four of the founders have an heir at the school now, but as far as we know, Ryan is the only one who knows that he is an heir."
"Hmm, well, we'll have to remedy that. You see those doors across the room there? Yes, the large oak doors; go through them."
As Ryan stepped towards the doors, he couldn't help sneezing from all the dust, and turning back to Rowena's portrait, he said, "In a moment. I think I'll just cast those cleaning charms you mentioned first. All this dust is making me sick."
"Yes, I can see how it would. I'm rather glad to be a portrait now; the dust doesn't affect me as such. Hmm, you will have to extinguish your wand light to cast those charms, but if you light a fire in the hearth, that should provide a nice amount of light until the candles are found. But please be careful. Make sure your wand is pointed at the fire grate before you cast the charm, and not me."
Ryan nodded and pointed his wand directly at the fire grate, before he mumbled, "Nox," followed shortly there after by "Incendio!" The flames in the massive fireplace did indeed provide a nice amount of light; more light then Ryan would have even thought possible, in fact.
Harry and Ryan then set to work casting cleaning charms and vanishing the dust and cobwebs. After about twenty minutes, the room looked a lot better then it had, though it was still not perfect. Rowena smiled at Ryan from her portrait and said, "Much better. Now, did you want to clean up the other rooms, or did you want to see about finding out the identities of the other heirs?"
"Would it be possible for me to summon one of the house-elves to take care of the rest of the cleaning?"
"Yes, Ryan. The house-elves haven't been in here to clean while the room was hidden, but now they should be able to find it if you or your friend called."
"Okay, good," Ryan said before glancing to Harry. "Know any of the house-elves by name?"
"One," Harry answered, before calling out, "Dobby!"
A loud pop a moment later signaled Dobby's arrival, and as he looked around, he seemed rather confused. Looking over at Ryan and Harry he asked, "Harry Potter sir, were is we?"
"The private living quarters of Rowena Ravenclaw, Dobby," Harry answered. "Ryan and I only just found them after many years of being hidden."
"Rowena Ravenclaw?" Dobby asked with wide-eyes.
"Yes. Dobby, is it? Hello, I'm Rowena Ravenclaw, and Ryan is my however many times, great-grandson."
Dobby had not noticed the portrait above the fireplace, and looked scared for a moment before Ryan pointed at the portrait. Dobby turned toward the fireplace and looked up at the portrait for a moment before dropping to his knees and bowing. After a moment, he stood and said, "It an honor to meet you, Mistress Ravenclaw."
"And you, Dobby," Rowena said with a smile. "Now, Dobby, if you could be so kind, Ryan and Harry have taken care of cleaning my common room here, but the other rooms could really use a good cleaning."
"Of course, Mistress Ravenclaw," Dobby said with a bow of his head.
"Oh, and Dobby?" Ryan said before Dobby left, "For the moment at least, I'd prefer that nobody knew about my being the heir, or that these rooms exist. So, please refrain from telling any of the professors and students. You can tell the other house-elves if you need help cleaning, but that's it. Just make sure to tell them about my wish that nobody know for now."
"Yes, Master Ryan," Dobby said before popping out.
"Now, how do we find out who the other heirs are?"
"Those large oak doors over there, Harry," Rowena said as she pointed at them. "Enter the room behind them and I'll move to my portrait in there and give you more instructions."
Harry and Ryan nodded and then went over to the massive oak doors that Rowena pointed at and opened them. Walking inside, they found themselves in a cavernous room filled with bookshelves. Walking over to the fireplace, Ryan quickly lit the fire to provide more light, and then looked up at Rowena's portrait. She smiled and said, "Welcome Ryan, Harry, to my private library."
* * *
To be continued...
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