Chapter Three

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled. He watched the spell hit its mark and saw Ron go down, and then summoned his wand. Godric grinned proudly at him as Helga revived his friend.

"Wonderful! Your reflexes are amazingly fast!"

"Wish I'd been faster," Ron muttered bitterly. Hermione sighed and patted him on the shoulder.

"You've not had as much practical application as Harry," she explained quietly. "Remember, he had to duel Voldemort. If he wasn't this fast, he could've died. You haven't had the need to be faster than you are yet."

"Until now," Ron corrected.

"Why don't we see Harry and Hermione now?" Salazar suggested. Rowena nodded her agreement, and the two children moved silently into position. Godric gave the signal, and they started throwing spells.

"Expelliarmus!"

"Protego!"

"Levicorpus!"

"Rectumsempra!"

"Impedimentia!"

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

"Protego!"

There was a slight pause as Harry held the shield before he decided his final attacks.

"Stupefy! Levicorpus! Diffindo! Silencio! Expecto Patronum!" Harry gasped, sweating as he dodged her attacks while firing. He sent his Patronus flying after Hermione, who was so surprised that she hesitated, at which point Harry finally managed to disarm her.

The room was very quiet for a long time, and Harry just focused on catching his breath. The last attack had taken a lot out of him, especially with his magic acting so odd, and he was getting tired. A few minutes later, he finally noticed the deafening silence and looked up at his friends, who were now standing with the amazed founders.

"What?"

"When did you learn to cast like that?" Hermione breathed. "We're not supposed to learn how to cast multiple spells at once until next year!"

"Really?" Harry blinked. "It just seemed logical. You could predict one spell or another, but not a string of them."

"And the Patronus?" Ron asked, looking somewhat amused.

"Yeah… I was getting desperate," Harry admitted with a sheepish shrug.

"That's what that was?" Rowena asked, awe coloring her voice. "A Patronus?"

"Er- Hermione?"

The girl winced. "The stories said that they found old records of a spell to hold off the dementors. They found the Patronus, but…"

"It was you," Godric finished for her. "But what is that spell exactly?"

"It's pure happiness and Light," Harry said quietly. "It drives away the Dementors- er, Hermione?"

"Yes, they know what Dementors are," she told him.

"You found a way to fight Dementors?" Salazar asked with wide eyes. Harry shrugged.

"They were here in our third year, and I kept passing out, so I asked our teacher to help me learn the spell."

"That is amazing," Salazar told him with a kind smile and making a mental note to ask about his third year.

"Would you teach us?" Helga asked softly. Harry hesitated, frowning.

"Do you have a boggart?"

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"I don't know if this is a good idea," Hermione sighed. The founders had found whatever they needed in the duels they'd had, and had decided to practice the charm sooner rather than later. "They're supposed to learn about it on their own."

"And you said this mob mental thing made everyone think Slytherin was evil," Ron pointed out. "Obviously, history isn't completely accurate."

"Mob mentality, Ronald," she corrected. Harry shook his head and tuned them out, falling to the back of the group. They had, by good chance, recently found a boggart, but they'd not had the time yet to dispose of it, so they were heading to the dungeons to find it.

"Harry," a voice muttered. Harry jumped, turning to find Salazar directly behind him. He hadn't even noticed the man and wasn't actually sure if he had been lagging behind everyone before or had come to find him. He shook himself of the thoughts and raised an eyebrow. "We have decided that it would be best if I were the one to…"

"Adopt me?" Harry asked. He kept his voice carefully even, making sure he didn't reveal any of his extremely confused emotions.

"Yes."

"I had a conversation like this once," Harry told Salazar. "Two years ago. My godfather, Sirius. I get why it hasn't happened and I don't… I don't blame him at all. But I'm still with the Dursleys." Harry frowned at the man walking by his side. "I still don't have a father."

"I am not your godfather, Harry," Salazar's voice was quiet and gentle. He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew there was something extremely important about the boy and about adopting him. So, he gathered all of the fatherly instincts he'd buried long ago and tried to show Harry how serious he was. "Only once in my life have I made a promise that I broke, and I refuse to do that again."

Harry tilted his head curiously. "What are you promising?"

Salazar thought about it for a long minute. "A safe place to learn and good people to help you. You may even consider them family if you let yourself – you may consider myself family. I am promising to keep you safe to the best of my abilities. I promise that when you return home, you will be better fit to avenge your parents' deaths. I promise to teach you how to win a battle with more than just a wand. And most of all, I promise to give you a place to go when you need to talk and when no one else seems to understand."

They'd stopped walking by the end, and Harry just stared at him for a long while. He knew it was a lot to promise, but he also knew that he could keep it, and that his friends would help him. "Alright."

Salazar blinked. "Alright."

"Yeah."

"Okay then. We will talk about this when we finish with the boggart?" Harry winced at the reminder of what they were doing, but Salazar nodded and began walking again.

When they reached the closet in the dungeons, they found everyone waiting outside. Hermione and Ron were bickering still, and the three Founders were watching in amusement as Hermione explained something simple and Ron continued to try and convince her that he was right. Harry rolled his eyes at the pair. "Guys." Nothing. "Guys." Still nothing. With a resigned sigh, Harry smacked their arms. The pair turned to glare at him but said nothing.

"So, you still haven't explained why we need a Boggart," Godric said, looking like he just wanted to cut the tension.

"Oh yeah," Harry blinked. "It's because my Boggart is a Dementor. It's how Lupin taught me the spell," he explained. The Founders shared an unreadable look, but Salazar nodded slowly.

"Why don't you show us once more so we can really get a good look at it?"

"Sure," Harry shrugged, pulling out his wand. He waved it through the air and muttered the spell, smiling happily as Prongs jumped out of his wand.

"He's beautiful," Rowena commented. Harry grinned.

"It's my dad – he was an animagus. Lupin said that Prongs looks exactly like him."

"Prongs?" Godric asked.

"It was my dad's nickname, and it's what I've named my Patronus," the raven-haired teenager explained.

"Well, there's no time like the present," Helga said. They all filed into the room, and Harry pushed to the front of the group, standing in front of the small cupboard. "And you know the spell?"

"Yes," Hermione shrugged. "We learned it in third year – Riddikulus."

"Alright. If you're ready…" with a firm nod, Ron opened the door. Hermione stood on the other side, and Harry was directly in front of it. Behind him were the Founders, all ready to fight the faux Dementor when their turn came. Harry took a deep breath as the familiar sense of existential dread filled him. All the negative feelings he'd been feeling surfaced, and he felt sick. Before he could zone out, Salazar placed a hand on his shoulder, grounding him. He took a deep breath, thinking of his parents' voices and Sirius and Lupin and his loyal friends.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Prongs burst from the tip of his wand and pushed back the Dementor, shoving it back into the dark and dirty cupboard. He let out a sigh of relief when his friends pushed the door closed. "Got it?" He asked. He forced himself into teaching mode – the one he used with the DA students.

"I believe so," Salazar said. The others nodded their agreement, and Hermione and Ron opened the door. Harry pressed against his instinct to raise his wand, instead letting the Founders take the lead. He was teaching them, he reminded himself. But it was terrifying, he admitted, to let adults protect him, even if it was just from a boggart. They'd never done very well at it before, and he was too wary of them to relax completely. But he would soon realize there was no need to worry.

"Expecto Patronum!" The four said together.

From Helga's wand, a dog jumped out, sniffing around curiously. Her grin was filled with pure happiness.

From Rowena's wand, a Peregrine falcon flew away, circling the room quickly and watching each of them.

From Godric's wand, a tiger leapt, ready to act and defend.

From Salazar's wand, a black rattlesnake slithered away, coming to a stop in front of… Harry.

It took everyone a moment to recover before Harry remembered. "You have to will them to do what you need – in this case, getting rid of the boggart."

The boggart, though, seemed to not like what was happening. The presence of so many powerful Patroni was obviously taking a toll on the fake creature, and it was leaning back toward the cupboard already. The Founders nodded and soon all of their animals had forced the boggart-Dementor to fall back, at which point, Ron closed and locked the cupboard.

"Wow."

"Yeah."

The Founders studied their animals carefully, and everyone was somewhat surprised when the rattlesnake – which Harry assumed was female – came to a stop in front of Harry. The teenager got to his knees and bit his cheek, giving Hermione a Look. She nodded very slightly, and he sighed.

"Hello," he said in Parsletongue. The shock around the room was more than obvious.

"Hello, Young Speaker," the rattlesnake replied.

"Would you mind if I ask you a question?" He wondered. The snake dipped her head and he hesitated, wondering if he really wanted to know. He decided that yes, he did, and asked. "Why did you come to sit by me?"

"Because," the snake started slowly. "We must protect our Young."

"Your- what?" Harry blinked, not realizing he spoke in English. Godric set a hand on his shoulder, and he turned in surprise.

"Harry, you speak Parseltongue?" Godric asked calmly.

"Well, yes, but Dumbledore thought that it was because I have a connection to Voldemort."

"And have we not established that the man likely does not truly know the language?" Salazar asked with a raised eyebrow. Harry frowned.

"Then how did he tell Tessa what to do?" he asked. Salazar shrugged.

"It is not impossible to learn – just unlikely. And we've also established that Voldemort is not my heir, so what does that leave us with?" The Founder watched as Harry slowly worked it out and then whirled around to look at the witch behind him.

"It's possible," she said slowly. "that your mum came from a line of squibs that were, in some way, related to him."

"I do have a niece," Salazar told him hesitantly. Harry blinked up at him.

"It would explain why you two look so similar," Rowena murmured thoughtfully. "It would actually make a great deal of sense."

Harry sighed. It had already been a long day and it wasn't even two in the afternoon.

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Hermione slipped away from the group a half hour later to get some fresh air. The Dementors had always affected her badly, though not nearly as bad as Harry. She was shivering by the time she got outside and made it to her tree by the lake, so she cast a Warming Charm and sat down.

They were stuck eight hundred years into the past with only each other, the Founders, and Hermione's beaded bag, which admittedly held a lot of their important belongings – a precaution they thought up when Umbridge came to the school. The bag would also only open for the three of them and Ginny, Luna, and Neville. It had been a suggestion from Sirius to have the thing in the first place over Christmas break and he'd helped her find some of the things like potions or even given her books from his library.

Hermione sighed and pulled the bag from her pocket, opening it to take inventory.

Invisibility Cloak – check

Marauder's Map – check

Dittany – check

Muggle clothes – check

Robes – check

Polyjuice potion (six doses, minus hairs) – check

Shrunken food and water – check

Books – check

Calming Draught – check

Dreamless Sleep – check

Hermione had just grabbed the Murtlap essence for when Umbridge used her blood quill when a crack sounded behind her, making her jump and knock over the items piled beside her. She groaned inwardly and looked up in confusion. "Professor Gryffindor?"

"I am sorry for startling you," he told her, smiling slightly. He knelt to help her with her scattered things as she waved off his apology.

"It's fine," she promised, placing the Map in the bag again. She trusted all of the Founders – even Slytherin, to her surprise – but the Map was Harry's secret, and she wasn't willing to let it be revealed.

"What is all of this?" He asked curiously. She shrugged slightly, gathering the potions next and placing them carefully in their place in her bag.

"Umbridge – our DADA teacher in our time – is… we just thought it would be best to gather some things, just in case, so I charmed my bag and carry around some things we would need if we ever had to leave home," she explained, carefully avoiding the reason why they might need to leave. He seemed to understand, though, if the dark look on his face said anything.

"There's a lot of things here, Hermione," he sighed. "Food, clothing, potions, books. What could scare you enough to need all this?"

"Uh-,"

"Is that my cloak?" Godric asked, blinking down at Harry's Invisibility Cloak. Hermione's jaw dropped slightly as she stared at him.

"Your cloak? You owned- er, own this?"

"Well, yes," he shrugged. "It was my great grandfather- oh."

"And now it belongs to Harry," Hermione's eyes lit up. "It was passed to him from his father, and his grandfather, and his great grandfather and so on."

"So, he really is my descendent?" Godric asked in awe. The possibility had been there, but he hadn't truly thought about it.

"I think he's yours and Professor Slytherin's," she said excitedly. "This is amazing!"

"It's…" the man trailed off, his thoughts gaining his attention. Hermione hesitated but decided to just finish putting her things away. By the time she was finished, Godric had managed to shake himself and offered her a hand. She took it and he helped her up. "I came to see if you were alright – you disappeared."

She gave him a small smile. "I'm fine. I was just a little overwhelmed. I guess I needed a moment."

"Understandable," he smiled back, kindness evident in his eyes. "Would you like to talk about it?"

She paused, considering that offer. She did want to talk, but she wasn't sure how much she could say. "When I first got my books when I learned I was a witch, I read through Hogwarts: A History as many times as I could. It was where I first learned about all of you.

"I read that Ravenclaw House was where the wise went – where knowledge was almost more important than any currency. I loved that idea. Then I read that Hufflepuff House was where the kind and loyal went – where everyone was included and friendly. I wanted to go there because…. Well, I'd never had a friend before, and I thought that maybe, just maybe, I could make a friend there. And then I read that Slytherin House was where the cunning went – where people used their knowledge to do what they needed and that they made true friends there.

"But then I read about Gryffindor House. Where the brave went, with daring hearts. I thought to myself, I am nothing like that. I am not brave. I loved the idea of your House, Professor, but I just didn't think I would go there. I was never brave or daring.

"And then I was Sorted. I was so surprised and slightly disappointed. I just didn't understand it. But I kept quiet. The first month of school was awful. I was bullied, to be honest. Everyone thought I was an obnoxious know it all – even our potions teacher called me that. And then on Halloween, or All Hallow's Eve, Ron made fun of me. I ran off crying into the bathroom and stayed there through the feast.

"A troll showed up. I hid in the stalls, but Harry and Ron came to save me. We became best friends after that – it's kinda hard not to, when you fight a troll together. And I found out something interesting about myself that year.

"I am a smart person. I am a loyal person. I am a cunning person. But more than that, when I have a reason to be, I am so very brave. Harry and Ron are my reason to be brave, Professor. So, us being here, being here with you guys, it's overwhelming, but we'll be fine because we have each other. I'll be fine because I have them."

Godric listened quietly the entire time she spoke. When she finished, he smiled softly at her, a proud look in his eyes. "I am very proud to have you in my House, Hermione. And remember – you now have us, too."

"Thank you, sir," she dropped her bag across her body and sighed, feeling much better than before.

"It is no problem. Now, why don't we head inside? Our friends are probably getting worried."

"Of course," she said, eyes wide. She hadn't even considered how long they might have been out there. "And thank you for finding me. I think it was just what I needed."

"Anytime," he told her, before pausing. "And I mean that. If you ever need to talk…"

"I'll keep it in mind," she promised. He nodded, satisfied, and they walked back to the castle together quietly, each considering their conversation.

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"Harry is a good teacher," Rowena commented.

"It is because he has been teaching his friends Defense," Salazar commented idly. Helga raised an eyebrow and the man shrugged. "They have, as usual, an abysmal teacher, so Harry began teaching his friends and classmates."

"Their teacher was so awful that Harry had to teach for her?" Helga asked, horrified and shocked. Godric frowned.

"Hermione mentioned that she packed and always carried an emergency bag around in case they had to leave in a hurry," he told his friends. "She had a lot of things. Potions, clothing, food, books."

"Are things really that bad in the future?" Helga asked, wide eyed. "For children to fear their teacher so much…"

"To fear a teacher at all," Godric corrected quietly.

"It is awful," Salazar agreed, grim. "But what can we do about it other than teach them?"

"I do not know yet," Rowena said, a gleam in her eye that would make any sensible person pause. "But we will find something."

"I agree," Godric said. "They need help. We will give it to them."

"Agreed," Helga nodded firmly.

"Alright," Salazar sighed. "I will see what I can find. Rowena?"

"I will go to my library once they are settled. We will find some way to help them more. We must."

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