Plans (4)

Bright and early Wednesday morning, Harry met Helena and the other two heirs in their common room. Hermione consulted with Helena for a few minutes before moving to the appropriate wall. A wave of her hand moved the bookcase out of the way, and Harry saw a small triangle carved in one of the bricks. Hermione cast a series of spells, and then sprayed a potion on the triangle before casting a few more spells. Finally, she called the others forward.

"Now, I'll take the top point, Neville you're here on my right, and Harry on my left," she instructed. "On the count of three we'll each place our hand on our point of the triangle. Then, together, say Revelare. It will only open for the three of us. Now, one… two… three!"

All three slapped their hands on the triangle and cast the spell. A brilliant flash of blue light filled their vision, and by the time Harry had blinked it away, he saw that the bricks wall had opened, revealing a hollow.

Hermione cast another series of spells to undo the stasis charms, before declaring that it was safe to remove their items. Neville removed a shrunken trunk, while Hermione began to pull out several. Harry had not placed anything in the stasis chamber, and so was waiting for the others to finish, when he heard a groggy voice.

"Isss it time to awaken?"

Harry had heard that voice just a few days ago in his skewed version of time, but it was impossible! "Adelyte?"

"Harry!" The small Zaltys snake wiggled out from among Hermione's trunks and quickly wrapped herself around Harry's forearm. "You have returned!"

"I don't underssstand, Adelyte." Harry stared at his companion, bewildered. "Why are you here? How are you here? I left you in the passst!"

"I did not want to be left." Adelyte informed him primly. "I wanted to ssstay with you. Salsss put me in there for you."

"Slytherin said she insisted on coming," Hermione said, unaware of what the snake had already told Harry. "He knew you weren't putting anything in the stasis field, but he brought her as we were performing the spell. He said that the stasis field wouldn't hurt her."

"Are you alright?" Harry quickly asked.

"I am a little hungry" Adelyte admitted.

"She seems okay!" Harry told the others gleefully. "We're meeting sssome people, and then eating. You can come with me and eat my food or go hunting."

Adelyte tightened slightly on his arm and laid her head on the back of his hand. "I will ssstay with you." she decided.

Harry couldn't wipe the smile from his face as they headed downstairs. His time in the past had been surrounded by people and animals, and he had grown quite close to many of them over the years. When given the chance to bring something back to the present, he had thought he had nothing to bring. Harry had never expected to have one of his companions come forward with him! He was practically skipping on the way to the Great Hall.

Once there, they split up. Hermione called for an elf to create the offices and meeting rooms they had discussed. She also grabbed a quick bite to eat, as she would be talking to the teachers over breakfast. Neville called for a Thestral and took off to survey the grounds (working in the Hospital Ward meant that all three Heirs could now see the spectral horses), while Harry greeted the aurors who soon arrived in the Entrance Hall.

If you'll come this way, please," Harry waved them towards one of the new meeting rooms. "We've got a space set up." The room held a large oval table with a dozen chairs around it. A plate of light pastries and a jug of pumpkin juice were in the center, and Harry discretely summoned a juicy field-mouse for Adelyte's breakfast. Harry was secretly pleased to notice that Bones and Shacklebolt had only brought six Aurors; the half-squad would allow him to keep ahead of them in investigating the forest.

Once everyone was seated and had grabbed a bite to eat, Harry began. "Now, as you know, yesterday Dumbledore confessed to having several illegal items within the school. I also have distressing news about the state of the grounds and forest, but that is a slightly lower priority."

"Now, from Dumbledore's confession, paired with the investigation of several of our ghosts, I can tell you that the third floor corridor on the East side is where the majority of the dangers are." A wave of his hand provided a holographic representation of the castle, and another wave highlighted the information the ghosts had confirmed, including the series of animals and traps on the third floor. "With the possibility of either the troll or the cerberus to escape and harm the students, I would like to prioritize that area."

"The ghosts have also confirmed the presence of a handful of dark artifacts in the dungeons, another handful in Filch's office, several in the defense suite, several in the Library's Restricted section, a few dozen in the Headmaster's tower, and over a hundred in a storeroom on the seventh floor. Fortunately, those brought in by the students this week were removed alongside their owners during the trials."

The aurors were staring at him in varying degrees of shock. Shacklebolt was looking like he wished he'd brought another squad. They were expecting to have a rather easy day of it, but Harry had just dropped a mess of problems in their laps!

"We might need unspeakables for this," Shacklebolt mused.

"Of course, you are welcome to bring in any assistance you require," Harry allowed. "Gringotts will be sending a delegation here after breakfast, and we will be borrowing several of their warding specialists and curse breakers. I recommend leaving the Defense suite until the curse breakers have looked at it. Better to know exactly what that curse is before you and your squad go looking for the dangerous artefacts. That said, there appears to be enough in the castle to keep you busy until then." Harry smirked.

The depths of Dumbledore's incompetence were becoming more and more apparent, as a school should not have so many dark items. One or two for the NEWT defense students and such were to be expected, but over a hundred items!

"Now," Harry drew their focus back to him. "As we will not know exactly what these items are until they are found, and as some of them might be useful for the NEWT students, I would ask that anything found be brought to one location - the room with the black door just down the hall - to be sorted through by a team including myself and the other heirs."

He quickly held up a hand to forestall their protests. "We will, of course, not touch anything, and will require specialists from either the Unspeakables or the Curse Breakers present at all times. However, as these items are in our home, we will examine them before any decisions are made."

"Now, are there any questions?"

There were several, and Harry spent the better part of the time answering them and arranging for ghostly guides for the Aurors. By the time they were ready to head to breakfast, his stomach was grumbling quite loudly.