Harry Potter and The Heirs of The Founders

Harry Potter and The Heirs of The Founders

Chapter One

Wedding Night Blues

The boy who lived surveyed the house. He was no longer a boy. He was now a man. He no longer went to school. He was now a Professional Quidditch player.

Harry James Potter stood in the lounge room, inspecting the sight. They'd done all right out of the deal they had made with Sirius. He had offered them either his house or Chrystal's after the wedding. Unbeknownst to anyone else they had ended up taking Sirius' because most of Harry's things were already there. And because of the security that was already in place. Not that they really needed it. He and his girlfriend Hermione Granger were placed under a very powerful charm, known as the Fidelius Charm. This meant that even if someone searched and searched the house they would never find them, unless their Secret keeper revealed their whereabouts. That was unlikely given that the person who was their Secret Keeper was someone that everyone but a select group of people thought was dead.

They were hiding because Harry was part of a prophecy, The Prophecy of Saoghal that foretold the fate of the Wizarding world.

It wasn't that he couldn't handle loneliness. He wasn't alone. Hermione, having found out that he intended to go into hiding, had refused to allow him to go alone. The thing Harry hated was the uncertainty. There was a future laid out for him, which someone knew the outcome of, yet he himself did not know what would happen. Waiting was not one of Harry's fortes.

They had just come back from Sirius Black and Chrystal Àille's wedding. They had had an exhausting night and both of them were ready to head straight for bed. Harry remembered that it was their first night in their home together. He walked over to Hermione and nuzzled his face in her neck.

'Sweetie,' he whispered. 'Do you realise that this is our first night totally alone since Christmas break?'

'Honey,' he replied. 'Do you realise that this is our first night alone in our new house?'

Harry picked her up and carried her upstairs.

*~*

Lavender Brown stared out the window of her room in the staff quarters at Hogwarts. She had spent the evening gazing into The Orb hoping that she would see something different. But every time it was just the same thing over and over again, the same horrendous nightmare.

She was all alone.

Her friends had all left Hogwarts permanently. She had broken up with Seamus. It had ended quite nastily in fact. Her father had been killed in one of the London explosions. Her mother had been dead for years.

She was cursed with the ability to see the future. It was absolutely dreadful knowing exactly what was going to happen and being unable to prevent it. Like last Christmas. A week before the Shrieking Shack Explosion she had gazed into The Orb. She was scared about the future. She had looked into The Orb and had seen her then boyfriend Harry Potter, snogging her roommate Hermione Granger. Lavender had instantly blamed Hermione, walking around the house cursing her and calling her a slut, but it had made Lavender face facts. Harry Potter didn't love her. His thoughts were otherwise occupied and had been for quite a while, even though he'd tried to deny it.

Worse was the fact that she knew what would happen in the final confrontation between the Heirs of the Founders of Hogwarts. It was a secret that she could not tell anyone. She was already burdened with the knowledge. She knew how terrible it would be to burden someone else with that knowledge having carried it herself for almost a month. She just hoped that when the time came, she and the others could be strong.

She looked out the window gazing at the stars.

'Come what may,' she whispered.

*~*

Chrystal Àille and Sirius Black had just reached their honeymoon destination.

Chrystal turned towards her husband.

How lucky she was to finally snare him after all this time, and she hadn't even had to use her Celtic powers either.

'Sirius, you've got to get me out of this dress, I can barely breathe,' she said. 'I think the others might have been a bit younger when they wore this dress.

The wedding dress was a white and gold medieval gown, made out of chiffon and silk that had been worn by the Àille women since the days of Rowena Ravenclaw. Chrystal, at the age of thirty-six was probably the oldest bride in the family.

'No darling,' Sirius replied untying the laces of the corsetry. 'The others just haven't had about eighteen years of professional Quidditch playing behind them. They were all anorexic twig thin women like your mother and probably got married as soon as they finished at Hogwarts. Now, the other side of the family's much more interesting. Tell me about this fairy relative you have.' He had finished with the laces. She took a deep breath in.

'Finally,' she said with a smile on her face. 'I think I'll tell you about the fairy later.'

She ran over and jumped on the bed next to where Sirius had been sitting.

'Thank you for this perfect day,' she whispered.

'Anytime my dear,' he replied as he dimmed the lights with his wand.

Not another word was spoken until the early hours of the morning.

'Are you frightened Sirius?' Chrystal asked somewhat hesitantly.

He looked at her quizzically.

'Why would I be scared?' he asked.

'About Voldemort,' she replied. 'About what the future holds. About The Prophecy.'

'I don't see the point Chrys,' he replied. 'I've spent too many years wallowing in self-pity to waste time now. It's true that I may not have very long with you, and if that's the case I intend to enjoy it.' Sirius saw the look of apprehension on her face. 'Listen darling, I know you think that you're the one who will die if Voldemort is to be defeated, but you don't know if that's the case. Lavender's character could be the same as Voldemort's. I struggle to believe that you are evil, despite your family background. There's far too much good in you.'

'But Ravenclaw and Slytherin,' she began but Sirius interrupted her.

'Don't spoil our honeymoon Chrystal,' he said somewhat coarsely. 'Don't worry about it. Soon enough I will be searching for Prongs and you will be flying around on a broomstick. Lets enjoy the little time we have.'

He breathed a sigh of relief as she snuggled closer to him.

'Great way to start a marriage,' he thought.

*~*

The man known as the Dark Lord stood in his castle. He was weaker. He had lost so much in the past twelve months. The main blow had been that a vital link to his immortality had been destroyed. In fact his immortality had been destroyed. The bells were linked to his immortality.

Damn Lucius for taking them there. Damn Lucius for failing and damn Lucius for receiving a Dementor's kiss. Now he was without his right hand man for the second time, given that Wormtail had also received a Dementor's kiss.

Worst of all Voldemort cursed himself. He kept overlooking things that were important. He had overlooked the protection that Harry Potter would receive by his mother dying for him, he had overlooked the Phoenix tears, and now he had Harry Potter's blood in him. Had he overlooked something there?

He did not know what his next step would be. His loyal Death Eaters were out reaping havoc in the Wizarding and the Muggle worlds but he had still remained silent. His recruiting process at least was working, at the next full moon he would initiate two more ex-Hogwarts students, thanks to Lucius' son. Perhaps he could groom the young boy to take over his father's position.

He glanced down at his hip.

He wondered if he should worry about the snake that had just appeared there, the day after Christmas.

*~*

The final chapter in the saga of the Founders had begun. None knew when the actual day would come.

*~*

The entire British wizarding community seemed to have gone mad in the wake of the upcoming European Cup. Profiles of players were splattered all over the pages of the Daily Prophet, miniatures became on sale and not a day would pass when Ginny Weasley would not hear some mention of the Cup. She herself was looking forward to it, but with each day that passed, the excitement could not bring a smile to her brother Ron's face.

He's been like this since Sirius' wedding.

It wasn't very difficult to figure out why.

He had been moping around since Harry and Hermione had disappeared, and it didn't help that his girlfriend, Rose was also Harry's sister. He seemed to be pushing her away more than trying to get through this rough patch.

Ginny wondered what she could do to help him. If Quidditch didn't excite him, she didn't know what would. And he would be off for his Hit Wizard Training soon. He would be in confinement for several months, and given Ron's state of mind, Ginny wasn't exactly sure that would be a good thing.

She sighed as she pulled out a piece of paper to write a note to her Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, who would surely be able to pass it onto Harry.

Dear Harry,

I'm not sure whether or not you will get this but I'm writing to ask you if you could hang around for a couple of minutes after your first European Cup match. Ron is really depressed you see and I think if he could just talk to either or you for a couple of minutes it would improve his mood.

Hope that everything is going well,

Love Ginny.

Ginny hoped it would work.

She got ready for bed thinking of the upcoming match. It brought a smile to her face. Not only was it a chance to cheer Ron up, but she would get to see her boyfriend Draco Malfoy again.

*~*

The morning of the first match of the European Cup descended upon Scotland much quicker than anyone anticipated. Soon enough the players had gathered from all over Europe for the most coveted trophy bar the World Cup. Only the top four teams from each league is invited to play. Harry's team was fourth ranked in the British and Irish Quidditch league. Today would be his first game. His first professional game, his first game for Puddlemere United and certainly the first game he would play in the International Arena.

He hoped he was ready.

Last night he and Hermione had performed the charm that protects Animagi from being killed with the Avada Kedavra Curse. But Harry was aware that there were far more threats than just that curse. Earlier that morning his mother removed the Fidelius Charm on Harry and would remove it from Hermione just before the game. Once the charm was removed, anyone would be able to find them.

He looked at Ginny's letter one more time. Ron was depressed. Harry would linger for only a short amount of time after the game and hoped it was long enough to get some sense out of Ron.

Harry looked up and Oliver Wood was by his side.

'Well Potter you scrub up well in those robes,' he said referring to Harry's brand new navy blue robes. 'You ready?'

'As ready as I'll ever be,' Harry replied. He swallowed and followed Wood out. At least he was playing at Hogwarts where at least the ground was familiar.

Because he was the Seeker his name was the last to be announced.

'POTTER' resounded through the grounds.

The sun streamed into the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as Harry made his way onto the pitch.

There were many more people here than any game Harry had played before.

Harry mounted his broom, then the umpire blew his whistle starting the game.

Harry caught the Snitch in a matter of seconds, leading to disgruntled crowd members. It was a freak occurrence actually. The Snitch was released, the whistle blew and Harry caught sight of it as it flew past the side of his ear. He raced after it and caught almost instantly, before any Chaser had a chance to score.

Harry knew he was lucky.

He was playing in the big leagues now and he knew it would be virtually impossible to keep his win-loss record to what it had been at Hogwarts. All the same he was relieved when the game ended, it meant that he could get out of the public eye and perhaps have a heart to heart with Ron.

He slowly changed out of his gear and went into the player area, where Hermione, Ron and Rose were waiting for him. Hermione had an access pass and had brought Ron and Rose with her.

'Rose and I are going to have a little chat,' Hermione said, breaking the silence. 'We'll go and get a drink and meet you two back here in an hour.'

After they had left the room, Harry took a good, hard look at Ron. His best friend looked extremely worn and tired.

'What's up Ron?' he asked. 'Don't be ashamed, you know you can tell me anything.'

Ron looked at Harry slowly.

'I never thought I'd say this, growing up in my family, but I'm lonely,' Ron replied. 'I miss simply being able to owl you and Hermione. You're my best friends and it's really quite difficult to envisage life without you. You've no idea. On top of that, I start training in a couple of weeks, and we'll be in confinement for at least a month, which is a month of Rose's holidays, and when I get back, she'll be back at school and I won't be able to see her frequently either. I mean what am I supposed to do Harry? Immerse myself in work. I'm not that sort of person. The Cannon's don't even have training for a while, given that the pre-season tournament is cancelled due to the Cup.'

'It's hard for us too Ron,' Harry replied. 'Look, we've been in confinement for two weeks. At least you've got something to do. The only thing I've got to look forward to is Quidditch training, and every time I break the spell I have to worry about someone trying to kill me. So I'm bored. Hermione is doing Mediwizard training by correspondence, but she's not finding it very challenging at all, so she's bored. I feel like I'm holding her back, I don't want her to resent me for the rest of her life because of it. On top of that I've just found out I have a sister, and I can't spend any time with her, and when I finally get to see her, both she and my best friend look like hell. I know it's difficult Ron. We never said it would be easy. We just have to do the best we can to get through it. You need to be strong for Rose, I need to be string for Hermione and we both need to be strong for each other.'

'I know you're right Harry,' Ron said. 'I feel better just being able to talk to you. I'll try and see you after each Quidditch match, except when I'm in training. Give you an update on what's going on in the outside world.'

Harry laughed.

'We'll need it,' he replied. 'We can't even get The Daily Prophet, the reliable source that it is.'

At that moment Hermione and Rose reappeared.

'Come on,' Rose said. 'Butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks, my shout. You two need to be seen in public and besides I believe the rest of the Puddlemere team are going, so you should too Harry.'

He looked at Hermione who nodded, before the four headed to Hogsmeade for a Butterbeer.

The Three Broomsticks was unusually rowdy for this time of year, but it was a good chance to catch up with everyone they hadn't had a chance to speak to for a while.

They walked in the room and immediately spied a table at which Fred, George, Lee, Angelina, Katie and Alicia were sitting. They beckoned for them to come over.

'Harry, Hermione,' George yelled. 'Haven't seen you for a couple of weeks. What have you been doing, hiding?'

Harry didn't quite know what to say.

Wood appeared at that moment to save Harry.

'Nah,' Wood said. 'We've just been working him hard. How are you anyway Weasley?'

Harry breathed a sigh of relief that Oliver had managed to detract George from that question, so that he didn't have to try and explain where they had been for the last couple of weeks. George and Fred began rabbiting on about Weasley Wizard Wheezes, for so long that Harry almost became bored with it. It took Angelina to come over and distract Fred to end the conversation. But given that Angelina was there, the talk immediately turned to Quidditch, which Harry wasn't so sure Hermione wanted to listen to. She hadn't been too keen for Harry to play in the Cup at all, but she had supported him, given the protective charm he had cast. As long as he wasn't hit with the Avada Kedavra curse Hermione said she would support him playing. And to be honest, he had been quite nervous walking out on the pitch. Enough people had already tried to kill or harm him during a Quidditch match, and he wasn't entirely sure that he was doing the right thing. But he did seem to have the support of Sirius and Dumbledore.

'What do you think Harry?'

'What?' Harry looked up and was torn out of his contemplation. George had obviously asked a question and Harry hadn't been paying attention. 'I guess I'm just knackered, I didn't sleep much last night.'

'Well,' George replied. 'We were thinking of having a farewell party for Ron, before he goes off for his training. Night after the cup ends. What do you think?'

'Umm,' Harry replied. What could he say? He hadn't really thought about what his reply would be to question would be.

'It's a nice idea George,' Hermione interrupted. 'But Harry and I are going on a bit of extended vacation after the cup. Gift from my parents for doing so well in my N.E.W.Ts.'

Fred and George raised their eyebrows at each other but didn't question it.

'Don't worry,' Harry replied. 'We'll be back in time for the League. I think our first game's against the Cannons. Couldn't let my team face the Weasley's without me!'

Harry and Hermione quickly made their apologies after that and apparated back to their house.

'I hated that,' Harry said to her as soon as they had arrived.

'I know,' she replied softly.

'It's not fair to lie to friends that,' Harry replied. 'I bet Fred and George are thinking that we're really rude now.'

'Look Harry,' Hermione said. 'Once it is all over and we explain it to everyone I'm sure they won't hold it against us. Anyhow, I think Rose is right about us making an appearance. It's important. If people don't think we're hiding, then they won't go looking for us. So let everyone think we're going on an exotic holiday somewhere.'

'You're right,' he conceded. 'You're always right Hermione, I don't know why I bother disagreeing with you.'