Harry Potter and the Rest of the Story

Harry Potter and the Rest of the Story

Chapter 4 - Accepting Heritage

Thu, 10-Jul-1997 continued

"Hello, the house," was heard from the direction of the fireplace. Ginny Weasley headed for the living room saying, "Yes? Oh, Professor McGonagall! Mum is in the kitchen, I'll go ..."

"Wait, Miss Weasley. I actually need to speak with you," McGonagall interrupted. "I'm coming through," she said. As Ginny stepped back to leave plenty of room around the hearth, the headmistress came into the room with a rare smile. "Kneeling for any length of time like that can be most uncomfortable," she said, vaguely referencing the lingering stiffness she sometimes experienced from her injuries a year earlier. "Now, then," she began as she took a seat on the couch, patting the space beside her for Ginny to join her.

Ginny said the first thought that came to mind: "What's happened to Harry, Professor?"

"Now, now, Miss Weasley, Mr. Potter is neither in trouble nor in danger," McGonagall answered gently. "He is, I will admit, magically exhausted and under a great deal of emotional stress at the moment. He is at Hogwarts. I may not give any details just yet, but it was decided that a single visitor, you in particular, would be most helpful at this time. Are you willing to come with no more information than that?"

Molly Weasley had just entered the room, hearing this last part. "What has happened to Harry? Where is he? Take me to him at once. Is it those horrible Dursleys? What ..."

"Calm down, Molly," McGonagall snapped, before the Weasley matron could get up enough steam to be unstoppable. "As I said, Harry is in no danger, but we believe he needs your daughter alone at first."

"Who is 'we'?" Molly asked sternly.

"Myself, Poppy, Filius, Remus, and Albus ... his portrait, that is," she answered with a no-nonsense tone. "Once Harry is feeling more himself, then additional visitors will be possible. However, any visitor will need to be briefed on the situation so as not to upset Harry."

"Situation? What situation? I ..."

"Not now, Molly. I will first take Ginny to see Harry. Ginny?" she addressed the student, surprisingly by first name, "Please pack an overnight bag, just in case."

"I understand, Professor," Ginny said as she headed for the stairs. "I've been on Harry-watch before."

Before Molly could get started again, McGonagall insisted, "I will not tell you any more at this time. I will explain more to Ginny at Hogwarts, then she will see Harry. Once we see how that progresses, I will return here and tell you more. If, and I mean if, you do not overreact to that information, then you will be allowed to see him." Seeing the rebellion in Molly's expression, she conceded, "I can see that I must go a bit farther than I wished ... Harry, with our assistance, conducted an information-gathering ritual at Hogwarts tonight. Some of that information caused him a great deal of distress, causing all of his old insecurities to flare up. Until he can resolve at least some of that distress, and unless we can be assured that his visitors will not rekindle that distress, no other visitors will be permitted. Is ... that ... clear?" For the first time in thirty years, Molly was seeing her strict Transfiguration Professor, rather than her friend Minerva.

"Agreed," whispered Molly. "How long?"

"I hope to return to speak with you, and whichever other Weasleys are available, in less than an hour, but I can make no promises," she answered in a kinder tone now. "What of Ron and Hermione, Molly?"

"They're out on a date, a Muggle cinema. They planned to be back in about an hour."

McGonagall considered. "Well, best to get it over with once. I'll give you what information I can when I return. Each person's reaction will determine whether they are allowed to see Harry tonight, or some later time."

This cryptic conversation was very troubling to Molly, whose imagination was going into overdrive. McGonagall sensed this, but thought, Perhaps if she imagines some extreme nonsense, the truth may be less disturbing by contrast. She softly declined a cup of tea, waiting for the young Gryffindor to return from her room.

Upstairs, Ginny was tossing a change of clothes, toiletries, and her stash of Bertie Bott's Beans and Chocolate Frogs. "Good thing Ron and Hermione are out," she muttered. "They'd both go spare to hear I'm allowed to go and they aren't. I wonder what this information is that she won't tell us yet." With a quick glance around the room, she grabbed a text book and a 'fun' book to read, in case Harry was sleeping off a Calming Draught or something.

Trotting down the stairs, Ginny slid into the living room, "All set, Professor. I'm ready when you are, Ma'am. Now don't worry, Mum. I'll send word as soon as I'm allowed, or someone else will, I'm sure." Giving her mother a quick hug and a peck on the cheek, she headed for the floo powder before she could be interrupted.

McGonagall had to hold back a smile. Yes, Ginny would probably be good for Harry. It hadn't gone unnoticed among the staff that the two had been dating for much of the latter part of the past term. Hopefully her experiences in her first year will help, not hinder her willingness to help Harry accept his heritage, the headmistress mused. "He is not in the infirmary this time," she cautioned before Ginny could call out the wrong floo address. "He will be found at 'Hogwarts, guest quarters, Lupin', Miss Weasley." Glancing once more at the agitated woman they were leaving behind, she cautioned, "Please do not attempt to follow us until after I have returned to speak with you. Please ... for Harry's sake."

Poppy Pomfrey had settled Harry in Remus Lupin's bedroom, then shooed everyone out as she gave her most-frequent-patient a thorough physical examination. She also focused her irregular and slight empathic abilities in an attempt to gauge his emotional state ... for once, the talent seemed to be cooperating and she compared her perceptions to other times Harry had been distraught. This appeared to be the worst condition she had ever seen him in, even beyond his condition after the headmaster's death. Minerva hadn't given her the details of the information that had affected him so badly, but had promised to explain to her when she returned with Ginny Weasley. She only knew that Harry and Minerva, Filius, Remus, and that new portrait-Albus had been present and knew what happened. She went to the sitting room, where Remus, Filius and Albus were quietly conversing. They had apparently decided to use a pensieve to go over the relevant parts in more detail, using the projection option to view the werewolf's perceptions, since his were the most acute. "The Heritage Ritual? What an amazing activation aura he produced!" gasped Poppy. "How could that distress him so ... but wait, aren't those squibs and wizards on Lily's side of the chart?" She sat down with a thump, glancing back through the open bedroom door to ensure Harry still slept.

The floo flared green as Ginny and McGonagall stepped through, dusting themselves off. The pensieve image flickered out. "When can I see him, Madam Pomfrey?" asked Ginny the moment she regained her balance.

"First, Miss Weasley, we need to prepare you with the information that has so distressed our Harry," said Dumbledore, who smiled at the look of shock on Ginny's face. "Hello, Ginny. I am a spare portrait prepared especially for Harry for when the time came, as it did last month. But, as Harry has been saying, we'll leave discussion of that night for later. To summarize, Harry has been showing some evidence that he will receive a magical legacy sometime between now and his birthday in three weeks. Some magic he performed earlier today involved ability that was not part of an expected legacy. We decided to perform the Heritage Ritual. Suffice it to say, it was a particularly potent ritual. The Heritage Canvas was of record size and it revealed potential for multiple legacies. I had suspected, and it was confirmed, that Harry has some Gryffindor blood and will probably receive at least some of the Gryffindor legacy gifts. The unexpected information came from his mother's side of the family."

"But Lily Evans was a Muggle-born ... wasn't she?" Ginny's mind was spinning, but coming to what seemed the obvious conclusion. "She wasn't pure Muggle, after all," Ginny stated then.

"Far from it," answered Lupin with an odd smile. "To put it bluntly, Lily had Slytherin blood. Her Squib grandfather was first cousin to one Tom Riddle."

"Sweet Merlin," whispered Ginny, falling back heavily into her chair. "No wonder Harry's going round the bend ... there's more than the curse scar connecting them ... there's a blood connection. All those accusations during the Chamber year must be coming back to haunt him. He's expecting everyone to turn against him, isn't he?" she asked, her voice breaking slightly.

"What of you, Ginny?" asked Poppy softly. "What does this information mean to you?"

"It means I'm going have to knock some sense into that boy's head," she said, sitting up resolutely. "Bloodline and legacies are what you make of them ... they don't make you. I just have to convince him that he's no different today than he was yesterday ... we just have a better idea why he can do some of things he does. He's going to think he's contaminated or something, the idiot." She was fuming, but all her anger was directed at reassuring Harry, not accusing him. The adults glanced at each other with quiet sighs of relief.

"So, Miss Weasley," McGonagall interrupted the girl's muttering. "Based on what you know of Harry and Harry's friends, how should we proceed?"

"Well, Mum and Ron will definitely go spare at first. They'll need to calm down before you let them anywhere near Harry. Hermione ... she might do the same, or she might go all analytical and insensitive. Give her time to get used to the idea, too. Dad and the rest of the boys except Percy will probably be ok after the first shock. Oh, and you'll need to decide if Phle... Fleur will be told; if not, don't tell Bill either ... he'd so hate to have to keep secrets from her. Don't tell Percy, or he'll be off reporting it to the Ministry in a trice. The rest of the students? Not any time soon, I'd say. Harry definitely needs to adjust to the situation before word gets out." Ginny paused, thinking. "Do you know yet if he's getting any Slytherin legacy?"

Dumbledore answered, "My guess is 'yes'. I suspect that the reason his magical development has been so inconsistent is that he will have legacies from multiple sources, an extremely rare situation. They may be fighting for dominance, at least until they completely activate. We will be examining the Heritage Canvas very carefully. It has details that, to our knowledge, have not been available in past Canvases. But based on the final activation of the ritual, our Harry will be gifted indeed." Dumbledore glanced at the other adults, then the pensieve.

Remus nodded. "Yes, I think Ginny should see that before she goes in there, so she knows how Harry reacted." Taking out his wand, he focused on the memory they had been watching a short time before. To Ginny, he said, "This is my memory of the last part of the ritual, where Harry activated the charting magic." A mist rose from the pensieve so they could watch the three-dimensional image, the emotional effect blunted somewhat compared to entering the memory.

Ginny watched in rapt silence, gasping in wonder at the pulsing golden aura, the rapid expansion of the chart, then choking back her own sobs as she witnessed Harry's hysteria. Remus was able to speed up the image, so that time passed more quickly as they waited for the spell to release the distraught young wizard. It went back to normal speed as Harry collapsed. Ginny's expression hardened as she heard Harry's self-accusations. Hearing Lupin's response brought a grateful smile and she met the werewolf's eyes, whispering, "Thank you," as the memory image faded. "Give me at least a half-hour, please, before you go back and tell the others. It might be worth taking some Calming Draughts with you." She sent a crooked smile at McGonagall, straightened her shoulders, stepped into the bedroom where Harry dozed, and quietly closed the door.

Remus waited in the sitting room while Flitwick, McGonagall, and the Dumbledore-portrait returned to the Room of Requirement to spend more time with the Heritage Canvas. They discovered that the spots linked by silver threads represented places where the same individual appeared more than once in the 'family tree'. Apparently both male founders fathered several children, as the result of multiple relationships. Godric Gryffindor appeared three times in the Potter side of the charts; Salazar Slytherin appeared four times, not all of them as Gaunt ancestors. Those that were blinking represented major legacies and, Dumbledore suspected, Harry's possible legacies. Looking at Lily's spot they noticed a minor legacy that they had missed. Checking the details, they discovered that Lily had managed to keep secret the fact that she had been a Parselmouth as well!

Flitwick was muttering excitedly, as he used a floating stool to see some of the higher entries. "My word! Will you look at this pattern!"

"Whatever are you talking about, Filius?" asked McGonagall in a distracted manner.

"Look at these strong legacies, and the two generations back from each," the Ravenclaw Head observed. "The most powerful legacies in the past 500 years on this chart all appeared after the infusion of Muggle or Muggle-born blood. When someone with a legacy married a heavily pureblood witch or wizard, more than half the children were Squibs. If ever there was proof that the pureblood claims of supremacy are wrong, this is it. Even V-vvoldemort's legacy appears to have been triggered by his father's Muggle blood. Harry's branch, beginning with Morfin Gaunt's Muggle mate, may have produced two generations of Squibs, but the line was revitalized by their Muggle spouses, resulting in a very talented so-called Muggle-born in Lily Evans, who then joined with a very powerful Potter line. James Potter had a Muggle-born grandmother, and his father had a minor Gryffindor legacy ... a moderate ability for wandless magic. For centuries now, inbreeding has usually interfered with the appearance of legacies. We can even look at young Nymphadora ... the first Metamorphmagus in seven generations of the Black family has a Muggle-born wizard for a father!" The little half-goblin wizard was in scholarly heaven.

Dumbledore was staring at the large blue star in the center representing Harry, which still showed a bright but fluctuating white aura. "Minerva, would you please bring up Harry's detail for us?" he finally asked, something they seemed to have been avoiding by silent consensus. With a reluctant nod she complied.

The scroll-image appeared with a great deal of writing on it. Eyes widening in shock, Flitwick waved his wand, saying "Duplicationem," which caused a solid parchment scroll to appear. Minerva caught it deftly, and they took the scroll over to the table so Dumbledore could see.

"I've never seen anything like it, Albus," Flitwick bubbled. "Look at the detail: gift, source, and status of the gift. 'Dormant, Blocked, Suppressed, Transitional, and Active' ... suppressed?!" The three were almost breathless as they read the explanations for the ridiculously powerful ritual results.

Harry James Potter

conceived 31 October 1979

of James Godric Potter and Lily Rose Evans

born 31 July 1980

Gift Analysis as of 10 July 1997,

age 16 years, 11 months, 10 days

Gift / Legacy Source or non-Legacy Gift / Status

Animagus-black wolf / Gift / Transitional

Animagus-golden phoenix / Gryffindor / Dormant

Empath / Gift / Suppressed

Force of Will / Gryffindor / Transitional

Legilimency / Slytherin / Blocked

Mage-sense / le Fay / Transitional

Metamorphmagus / Black / Suppressed

Occlumency / Slytherin / Blocked

Parselmage / Slytherin / Active

Power Surge / Gryffindor / Transitional

Power Surge / Slytherin / Transitional

Unknown / Unknown / Dormant

Wandless Magic / Gryffindor / Suppressed

Without a word, McGonagall decided it was time to face those waiting at the Burrow and quietly stepped out of the room. Flitwick's eyes continuously skipped around the huge Canvas and back to the scroll, his brilliant mind theorizing at high speed. Dumbledore could be heard to whisper, "Power the Dark Lord knows not ..."

Harry had that odd hazy feeling in his head that told him he had been dosed with more than one Calming Draught. There was an odd but pleasant sensation in his mind. It brought images of a soft, warm blanket and imagined memories of his mother singing a soothing lullaby. As his thoughts questioned the source of the sensation, he saw a faint image of Hogwarts as he had seen it that first night during the lake crossing. The wards? Am I feeling the Hogwarts wards? Once acknowledged and recognized, the sensation faded into the background, in the same way that hearing would dismiss a background noise.

Eyes still closed, he next noticed two concentrations of magic not far away. He was alone in the room at the moment, but in the next room were two people, he thought. The stronger magic 'spot' was somehow both orderly and wild. Images of Lupin, alternating between his human and werewolf forms, flickered in his mind, then seemed to be filed away. The other presence was of lesser strength, but more ... fiery. That presence was coming closer. Just as the door opened, he whispered, "Ginny?"

"I'm here, Harry," she answered softly, moving quickly to the chair beside his bed. "Wouldn't you know ... I step out for a quick dash to the loo, and you wake up. You slept through the first twenty minutes I was sitting here. Or did you? How did you know it was me?"

"How did you end up here," he asked quietly instead of answering. "Not that I'm not glad to see you, mind. I'm just surprised."

"McGonagall came to get me," she reported. "Mum was having kittens that she couldn't come or get details of what happened." She could see Harry's body tense, his eyes close in a kind of pain. "Harry, they told me, and it's ok," she said, her tone both firm and calming.

"How can you say that, Ginny?" he said wearily, his voice rough. "You know quite a bit about my dear, wish-he-was-departed cousin or uncle or whatever he is."

"So? What does that have to do with you, Harry?" she insisted. "Yes, I know, you'll have to keep it secret for awhile from most people, but that's their problem, not yours. You haven't changed. I know what it's like to have to keep secrets about dark connections." She thought hard about what she was about to do ... reveal something that no one knew, because she had been so afraid people would say she was 'contaminated' or something. "I understand, Harry," she said, then continued in a hiss, "I underssstand. Doesss thisss change how you sssee me?"

Harry's eyes popped wide open when he realized what he was hearing ... Parseltongue? Ginny ended up being a Parselmouth even after the Horcrux was destroyed? He felt her magic flutter in agitation and realized she had misunderstood his shock. "Never," he said emphatically. "I'm just surprised you could keep such a thing secret for so long."

"So, what you've learned about your heritage, whatever legacies you may end up with, they don't change the person you are. It's only information; they're only tools for you to use." Ginny paused for awhile. "I'll tell you the same thing I told McGonagall and company, though," she said wryly. "At first, Mum and Ron are going to go spare. We both know that. I pity our dear headmistress, weathering that storm later tonight when she goes to tell them. But they'll see sense soon enough. They both love you dearly, you know, and the others will adjust as well. We did decide to leave Percy out of this for now, though."

"I wish I knew what to expect from Hermione, though," Harry said quietly. "This past year she's sometimes behaved so differently. Maybe it's just been her turn to go through 'teen angst' or something," he commented with a grimace. "I'd trust her to be fine if, oh, she found out I was a werewolf or something. She's always good about those she considers disadvantaged or downtrodden. But a blood connection to the most dangerous dark wizard in history, by Dumbledore's own estimation? A magical legacy, maybe, from Slytherin? She'll either go the same way as Ron, or get all analytical and try to research me and turn me into some kind of lab rat or something."

"Lab rat?" asked Ginny with a confused look on her face.

"It's a Muggle thing. Scientists study the behavior of rats in a controlled environment, testing them, watching them, then trying to relate their reactions to humans," Harry said. He shuddered at some of the images of himself in a miniature maze, and Hermione with a clipboard, looking down, watching, taking notes. Yikes, I'm going spare myself. He noticed, though, that Ginny was sniggering, probably with similar images, and somehow he had to laugh himself. Oh, this girl is good for me, he admitted to himself. Then, he realized he was sensing two other magical presences coming closer, entering the next room where Lupin had remained waiting. Focusing on each, he received flickers of images ... Flitwick and the portrait. Sighing, he mentally braced himself. "They're all out there but McGonagall. She must be back at the Burrow." He sat up. "I may as well get this over with before anyone else comes by."

He wavered a bit as he stood, but Ginny reached out a hand to steady him, wondering how he knew what was going on in the next room, despite the privacy charms that had been cast. Once she was sure he could walk unaided, she went ahead of him into the sitting room. "Did Madam Pomfrey leave any potions? He's a bit wobbly, still."

Remus grabbed a dose of Pepper-up and hurried to Harry's side as he came through the doorway. He was rewarded with Harry's wan, lopsided grin as the steam came out of his ears and his eyes widened with new alertness. Then he saw that Harry looked at him rather strangely, shook his head as though to clear it, then locked his eyes on the scroll that Flitwick had spread on the table.

The excited little half-goblin couldn't wait to share his news. "Mr. Potter, we went back down to check a few things on the Canvas. It is as Albus guessed, and much more. You are, indeed, descended from Godric Gryffindor, several times over in fact, and have quite the legacy from him ... and from several others."

"Several others?" Harry answered in shock, sitting heavily on a nearby chair. "More than Slytherin?"

Remus waved at Flitwick to hold off the babble and picked up the scroll, passing it to Harry. "A bit more, Harry," he answered wryly.

Harry read the scroll carefully. Then he noticed Ginny hovering nearby, petition in her eyes. He smiled and nodded slightly, and she eagerly pulled a chair closer so she could read as he reread ... and reread again, looking pale and confused. He looked up, catching the eyes of each in turn, then said in a strangely compelling voice, "Explain, please." Blinking, as though he didn't recognize his own voice, he more normally said. "I've heard of most of these, but I'm not sure I understand these statuses, or what 'Mage-sense' and 'Parselmage' mean. And how can I have two animagus entries? I thought one was the limit."

Flitwick almost began, but decided to defer the initial explanation, glancing at Lupin, who looked to Dumbledore. "The notion of the ritual reporting the status of the primary caster's legacies is unique here, Harry," began the portrait, chuckling at Harry's snort at being unique once again. The reaction, though, was encouraging. "The obvious states of 'dormant' and 'active' I think we can pass over for now. 'Transitional', I believe, indicates a gift that is sporadic, occasionally activating, but not necessarily under conscious control. Or, in the case of the wolf animagus, the ability is ready to begin training, but you have not yet experienced transformation. 'Blocked' ... this is purely conjecture, you understand ... this may mean the ability is prevented from activating by an outside source ... perhaps the curse scar is responsible for your difficulty in learning Occlumency, for instance ... you should be a natural. The last, 'suppressed' ... you are best able to provide more information, but have you, during your childhood perhaps, experienced fleeting ability in those areas, with highly negative results, such that you did not want to have that ability, so suppressed it?"

Harry looked back at the entries marked 'suppressed', murmuring aloud, "Empath, Metamorphmagus, Wandless Magic ... As you said earlier, those accidental magic incidents after first year ... yeah, I can see I may have been fighting to suppress those. Metamorphmagus ..." he thought back to the haircut incident, "once I grew back my hair overnight after Aunt Petunia butchered it ... she was absolutely furious. Empathy ... that's feeling emotions, right?" He received nods from the others present. He thought back to some of his earliest memories, feeling as though he would be crushed under the hatred and disgust and sometimes fear aimed at him, while he knew his aunt and uncle were unconditionally loving and accepting where Dudley was concerned. That they feared him ... after one terrifying time those odd sensations seemed to be barricaded behind a wall, so he only had to deal with the outward signs of their disregard. "I think I know about when that happened," he said softly, the pain evident in his eyes and in his voice. Ginny's hand reached for his, and he held tight with a grateful smile.

"On to the gifts themselves," continued Dumbledore in a gentle lecture, "you are correct that there are no documented cases of a multi-animagus. Parselmagic is, I believe, what you used this morning, which prompted this ritual in the first place. What you previously experienced as a Parselmouth was simple communication, or triggering of pre-established charms. This morning, you performed magic, wandless magic, uniquely raised and directed by casting a spell in Parseltongue. Your last question I can answer the most comprehensively, since I myself had the legacy of Mage-sense from none other than Morgana le Fay herself, which you have received from your father's side. The simple answer is ... the ability to sense magic, though there are quite a few aspects to the gift depending on the extent of the legacy."

"I didn't feel it before, but I'm sensing things now, since I woke up." Harry described what he had sensed as he awoke, "Is that how you see ... saw past my invisibility cloak? How you always knew who was at your office door? How you traced the magic in the cave? How you were able to trace ... those artifacts we talked about?"

"While headmaster, I felt the wards in a similar manner, though not quite as ... personally. Minerva now anchors the wards, but she does not feel them in the same way since she has not that legacy."

Looking back down at the scroll, Harry's hands began to tremble. "Power surge from two sources ... Empathy, Force of will, Legilimency ... is that how I'll be able to use that power you told me about? Force it at him the way I must have that night at the Ministry? But lethally?" Harry knew he must not be making sense to the others, but he was sure that Dumbledore understood precisely what he was asking. Then another item caught his eye. "Do you know what 'Unknown' means?"

Flitwick answered, "Since you are not quite of age yet, Mr. Potter, I believe that even the ritual cannot comprehensively identify your legacies. Those marked 'dormant' will probably shift to 'transitional' between now and your birthday in three weeks. I believe the 'unknown' entry is a catch-all for those portions of your legacies that are still hidden. A year ago, I'd wager this would have said no more than 'Parselmouth / Slytherin / Active' and 'Unknown / Unknown / Dormant'. Speaking of Parseltongue, the Canvas reports that your mother, Lily, was secretly a Parselmouth as well, and that your father's father had a moderate legacy from Gryffindor in wandless magic. Let's see, what else ... oh yes, your connection to the Black legacy is on your mother's side, but not through the Gaunt line ... there was a Black squib over on the other side of her chart six generations back. Are there any other details you'd like to know about just now?" asked the professor eagerly. Harry couldn't help but smile at the small wizard's enthusiasm.

"No, that's more than enough for now, I think," answered Harry. "You know, I think the castle wards are helping me deal with this. Is that possible, sir?" Harry asked the portrait. "I have this feeling of being protected ... cared for ... and it isn't from those of you in this room," he said, then thinking about what he had said, continued. "I'm not saying I don't appreciate the support you all are giving me. I know that you are all worried about me right now, and your concern helps a whole lot as well. It's just this is from ... something other than a person."

Minerva had quietly entered the room, though they could tell there were others waiting outside, and commented, "From what I can tell from the wards, Harry, I believe the castle is ... happy to recognize someone who is heir to two founders. I felt the difference when I returned, so I assumed you were awake and had ... interacted with the castle. Am I reading the situation correctly?" At Harry's slow nod, she continued. "Miss Weasley ... Ginny, I am pleased to report that, though your prediction of your family's initial reactions was spot on, the duration of the negative reactions was blessedly short. Harry, the Weasley clan, sans Percy, plus Miss Granger would like to see you as soon as you allow." She smiled a rare, comforting smile and finished, "They understand, Harry, better than we hoped for."

Harry closed his eyes a moment, sighing in relief, and feeling Hogwarts' pleasure on his behalf. I suppose if a magical portrait can have enough sentience to be a ritual witness and to have a person's memories and thought processes, why can't a magical castle have a personality and a protective streak for her founders' descendents and her inhabitants ... her ... yep, no question ... the castle is a 'she'. Harry smiled and looked around. "Let's head back to the Room of Requirement. There isn't really room in here for so many people. They, especially Hermione, will want to see the Canvas." He stepped over to Lupin's fireplace, grabbed some floo powder, tossed it in and said, "Room of Requirement" and disappeared.

As Lupin went to the door to get the others, Minerva looked at Dumbledore in surprise. "Albus, I didn't know you could floo to the Room of Requirement."

Dumbledore's portrait almost had his twinkling eyes as he said, "To my knowledge, it wasn't possible before. Perhaps Hogwarts is rewriting the rules for her new-found youngling. If someone will try a firecall to Harry to check that it will work for the rest of you, I'll head for my other portrait until everyone is relocated. I anticipate that flooing as a portrait will be as disagreeable as Apparition. Call me when you get there, will you please Minerva?" And with a smile, he left his frame for his former office.

to be continued