Harry Potter and the Secret of Gairech

19. The Secret Room

Harry and Hermione made their way thoughtfully back to the dungeons. The new information was so astonishing that they were still hardly able to take it in. They reached the hall outside the common room and Harry gave the password.

The Slytherins' dungeon was bigger and more complex than the Gryffindor tower, as they had since discovered. Behind the secret entrance in the wall they first came into a high room with fireplaces on each side and green armchairs and sofas on thick dark rugs. One wide doorway led to a round hall with several other doors leading into more rooms, including a second common room and a library, which was rather shabby but which contained books that were normally quite hard to come by when they had to be borrowed from Madam Pince. Another doorway led into what looked like a long, dark corridor. As yet Harry hadn't bothered to explore it, but according to Max it only went on for a few metres and then came to a dead end. And of course there were the dormitories. On the left was a passage which took them down another floor to the boys' dormitory, and the girls' dormitory was on the same level, on the right. Violetta had broken the spell on the connecting door that had prevented the boys from entering the girls' rooms, as no one liked the idea of sleeping near Malfoy on the boys' side. After being more or less kicked out by Pansy, the members of Viribus Unitis moved into the girls' dormitories.

Together they sorted out their luggage and settled into the rooms. Lavender, the Patil twins, Aicha Chamllal from Slytherin and Alina Mieleck, a fifth year from Hufflepuff, took the first dormitory. Next to them were Robert, Lisa, Amir, Mirza, Cho and Michael. Harry dragged his suitcase past the third room and saw that it was also full. Ginny, Dean, Seamus, Anthony and Zacharias were already drawing lots for who got which bed. There was space in the fourth dormitory. Harry peered in from the doorway. "Any room in here?"

"Sure, come in," said a voice from behind one of the beds. Violetta Ziob appeared, heaving her suitcase onto the bed. "So far Max is the only other person in here. Come on in."

Harry looked at Hermione, who shrugged her shoulders with a grin, and both of them dragged their suitcases into the room. They chose two free beds next to each other and had just started unpacking when they heard something drop down in the doorway. Ron was eyeing the last free bed, then he saw Max come past him into the room. "Oh please," he moaned. "More bloody couples to kick me out. You're infesting every room!"

Harry threw a pair of socks at him, laughing. "Stop whinging and come in."

Ron threw his bag onto the bed next to the door and flopped down on top of it. "Is it just me or are these dungeon ceilings a bit oppressive?"

Max looked up at the heavy grey stone of the ceiling above them.

"It echoes sometimes, but actually I think it's quite cosy here."

"It's draughty," Ron complained, folding his arms across his chest.

"Incendio!" Violetta pointed her wand at the small fireplace, and in an instant a warm fire was crackling there.

Ron turned over on the bed and stared. "Awesome - you've got fireplaces in the bedrooms?"

"Of course," Max laughed. "We couldn't get through winter without them, down here."

Harry had just taken his books out of the suitcase when his eye fell on a thin, old volume - "A Chronicle of the Oldest Magic Settlements in Britain". Heck, he'd completely forgotten about that!

He put the book on his bedside table to read after he'd unpacked. There would be plenty of time before the evening meal.

"Robert told me you argued with Snape?" Violetta asked. She was sitting cross-legged on her bed sorting through rolls of parchment with various pieces of homework. "I hope he didn't take points off you for telling the truth." There was a slight bitterness in her voice, but if Harry hadn't known the cause he wouldn't have noticed it.

"No...He didn't. He was about to, but Professor Sesachar interrupted us."

Violetta merely nodded, and Harry watched her out of the corner of his eye. However hard he looked for a resemblance to Snape, he couldn't find it. Her hair was as black as his, but neatly-arranged and silky. Her eyes were just as dark, but not at all cold and piercing. She was very pretty, and that was the last characteristic which Harry would ever have associated with Snape.

He settled down on his bed and reached for the book on the bedside table. But before opening it he looked around the room. The Slytherin colours bothered him, and it was a strange feeling to be lying in this dormitory. He must have been staring too intensely at the Slytherin coat of arms, because Max followed his gaze and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "The décor's not ideal, is it?"

Harry was startled from his thoughts. "What?"

Max pointed at the snake emblem. "Why doesn't Viribus Unitis have its own coat of arms?"

Violetta picked up her wand and smiled. "Shall we design one?"

She turned to the four of them. "Any suggestions?"

Hermione considered the question. "It should have all four house colours in it," she said.

Max nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, and we need an animal. One that's specific to our club and that has nothing to do with our ordinary houses."

They started to cast spells on the Slytherin crest, changing the design. After a while, various other members of the group came in and joined in with the designing. They finally agreed on a blue and yellow pattern in the top left hand corner with a green and red bar underneath it. After some consideration Max separated the two areas with a silver stripe, which Harry turned into a cross. Since the cross was silver, Ron insisted that the right hand side should be gold. "And we still need the right animal," Lavender muttered. With a quick flick of her wand she made a series of animals appear on the right hand side of the coat of arms - everything she could think of. An owl, which they considered too boring. A dolphin, that was too exotic. A wolf, which didn't go down well because of the silverfurs, even though Harry pointed out with some annoyance that there were good werewolves too.

"We need an animal that symbolises strength," Katherine declared.

Violetta nodded. "And a sociable animal, not one that lives alone."

Dulce gave a melancholy sigh. "There goes my idea of a panther."

"Although black would be a nice contrast to all the other colours," Neville added, nodding at the now very colourful coat of arms.

Suddenly Robert gave a broad smile. With a flick of his wand he made a new animal appear on the coat of arms.

Ginny beamed. "That's perfect!"

Michael agreed. "Why didn't we think of that before?"

"We'll have that one!" Hanna clapped her hands enthusiastically.

Harry stared at the coat of arms. "Does it have to be that?"

Hermione and Ron tried hard not to laugh, and Lisa hid her face behind Robert, who was grinning broadly. "Why not? Can you think of anything else that's black and that fits in with what we've been saying?"

Harry sighed resignedly, his eyes still fixed on the rearing horse on the coat of arms. Hermione nudged him, smiling. "And it's such a beautiful animal too... We'll never think of anything better..."

"Ants live together too, and they're black," he muttered.

"Harry!" Dean laughed and threw a pillow at him. "You're so daft!"

Zacharias leant back. "Good, so we've decided. That's our emblem!"

Soon all the Slytherin banners in the room had been transformed to show the Viribus Unites coat of arms. Harry watched the changes moodily, and turned to Robert, the culprit. The Slytherin gave him a broad grin.

"Don't you like it?" He winked at him. "I mean... You're the one who started the club, so there's nothing wrong with paying you a teensy bit of homage now, is there?"

A sigh was the only answer, and Robert laughed.

***

It was time for the evening meal, and due to all the fuss with the banners Harry still hadn't managed to read the "Chronicle of the Oldest Magic Settlements in Britain". Resignedly he followed the others into the Great Hall and watched moodily as his classmates started transforming the banners in there as well, and with great enjoyment. But when he saw Malfoy's chin drop as he watched Violetta transforming the Slytherin emblem before his very eyes, Harry's mood improved considerably.

Everyone apart from Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy sat at one table. And unlike earlier that day there was a murmur of voices, and even the occasional laugh. Professor McGonagall stopped at their table on her way in. She looked at them all in surprise, and then at the strange banner decorating the wall behind them.

"Would someone care to explain what all this is about?" she asked.

Zacharias cleared his throat loudly. "That's the emblem of the fifth house in Hogwarts," he answered, and his classmates, as well as McGonagall, looked at him in bewilderment. Zacharias grinned and continued: "It's the house for everyone who doesn't care about houses."

"Your logic never ceases to amaze," Dean teased him, and everyone laughed.

McGonagall looked from one to the other. Of course she had noticed that the relationship between the students had improved. But now they all seemed very serious about forming a real community. "I think I should have locked you all up together years ago," she said.

Filch had come into the Great Hall and was eagerly taking down the banners near the entrance, when she stopped him: "Argus, please leave them as they are."

The caretaker stared at her in disbelief. "But Professor...," he rasped, continuing to pull one of the banners off the wall.

"They should stay as they are." McGonagall looked at him strictly. "They're a part of something that we all need, Argus. You can go." Cursing audibly, Filch hobbled out of the hall, and the students grinned at each other.

Before the meal started, a group of strange wizards entered the hall. There were seven of them, and most were sturdy and muscular with weather-beaten faces. The only slim one among them, a blond giant of a man, seemed to be their leader, as he was the one who stepped forward to shake McGonagall's hand. "My name is Azi McKenzie. The Minister of Magic must have told you we'd be coming."

"He did, Mr. McKenzie. Welcome to Hogwarts. I'm sure you must be hungry."

The men grinned at each other. "Well, the journey here from the Dolomites was no picnic, that's for sure!" one of them said with a laugh.

"I'm afraid your stay here won't be either, gentlemen," McGonagall sighed, waving them towards the empty Ravenclaw table. The men sat down, shaking the snowflakes from their coarse clothes.

"Who are they?" Hermione asked, as Professor Sesachar joined them unexpectedly at their table.

"Harpy hunters," Pithormin answered. "They know exactly where and how to find those monsters. Harry, I'd like you to come to Snape's office this evening at half past nine."

Harry frowned, but Professor Sesachar would have none of it. "No questions. Come at half past nine." He took at meatball from the plate in front of him and stood up again. Without saying another word he walked over to the teachers' table and took his place there.

***

After the evening meal, Harry sank down into a green armchair near the common room fire and opened the "Chronicle of the Oldest Magic Settlements in Britain". He looked in vain for an index or glossary, then started to leaf through the pages. He came across quite a few maps - street plans of old magical villages - and found the place names in the accompanying text. He had almost reached the end of the book when he found it: an old map of Hogsmeade. To his disappointment it dated back to 1849. Harry was sure that a lot had changed in the little village since then.

But when he looked more closely at the map he saw the station where the Hogswarts Express arrived at the beginning and end of each school year. Few buildings were shown, but Harry recognised some of them: Honeydukes which still had the same name 150 years later. The post office was also there. These three points of reference gave him a good idea of where he was on the map. He found a few buildings in places where there were certainly none today. But one drawing in particular attracted his attention. An isolated hut, surrounded by forest, on the hill south of Hogsmeade. He screwed up his eyes to make out the tiny writing on the map.

"Gairech," he murmured finally. "What a strange name!"

He scanned the text next to the map, but the word "Gairech" didn't appear. He went on to the next page... still nothing. And back to the page before. Not a word. He couldn't find the smallest explanation. Frustrated, he clapped the book shut, glanced at the clock and stood up. He might as well make his way to Snape's office - it was already after nine. He put the book down on the armchair and left the common room through the moving wall. He wondered what Professor Sesachar wanted with him, especially in Snape's office!

He climbed up the few steps to the corridor and almost bumped into Professor Sesachar.

"Oh Harry, here you are already!" He looked pleased, and gestured down the corridor. "Come along with me."

When they entered the office, Snape was nowhere in sight. The room was lit only by a greenish light. Sesachar guided Harry inside and shut the door behind him. A doorway was visible in the wall opposite, and beyond it, a tall basin which gave out a green light just bright enough for them to see the black silhouette of Snape's desk as they walked past it. Sesachar guided Harry through the hole in the wall - into the hidden room.

The glowing basin was at the centre. There were no windows or carpets in this room, and no candles, but there were rows of dark, ancient bookshelves, filled with equally ancient books.

Snape was standing beside the basin, facing them. His already pale skin looked paler in the ghostly light, which gave it poisonous green hue. Harry swallowed.

There was something in this room that didn't just unnerve him - it filled him with dread. As Sesachar pushed him further inside, closer to the basin, Harry realised what it was that he was afraid of.

In the basin - floating in the viscous green liquid - was a hissing snake, winding through the pale head of a corpse.

Harry jumped back and bumped hard into Professor Sesachar.

He was staring at the Dark Mark of Voldemort...