Pieces of a Soul

After speaking with Albus Dumbledore's portrait in the kitchen of the Hog's Head, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny set to work with renewed vigor, determined that if the heirlooms of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were still in existence, they would find them. They begin, predictably, at the Hogwarts library. This time, however, it was not the Restricted Section they were interested in.

"I'm dreadfully sorry for waking you," Hermione said timidly and apologetically to Madam Pince. "Professor McGonagall told me..."

"What assistance do you require, Miss Granger?" Madam Pince snapped. Harry privately thought she looked more like a vulture than ever before as she glared down her nose at Hermione; all the same, she looked rather less threatening without her feather duster in hand.

"I…" Hermione began, "We were looking for information on the Hogwarts founders."

"The Hogwarts founders?" Madam Pince replied dubiously. "What in the world do you need with the Founders at midnight, Miss Granger?" So far, she had not acknowledged the presence of Harry, Ginny or Ron, all of whom she regarded as little more than troublemakers who had no interest in books or the sanctity of the library itself.

"Please, Madam Pince," Ginny chimed in. "I'm sure you've noticed that we have often come to the library after hours to avoid becoming distracted by other students. We always put everything back, and we've never bothered you before, have we?"

Madam Pince squinted her eyes and pursed her lips. Harry was reminded violently of Aunt Petunia, and wondered suddenly how his aunt was doing.

"I have never agreed to the necessity of searching the library unsupervised and after curfew," she told them tightly. "But as the Headmistress wished it…" Her voice trailed off, leaving them in no doubt as to her opinion of the Headmistress daring to infringe upon the inflexible rules of the library, rules which had been set generations previously and which had been upheld without fail until this school term.

"But you noticed that we never left a mess, didn't you?" Ron persisted, much as if he had been part of the nightly visits to the library, which he had in fact avoided as much as possible all term.

"Miss Granger has always treated the books and the library with respect," Madam Pince agreed reluctantly, not willing to say the same about the others.

"Look, this is all about why we're here at night and why we woke you up," Harry broke in, seeing that this conversation was going nowhere. He was already tired, but was as eager as the others to find any information possible about Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. "Can you help us?"

"What is it you want to know about the Founders, Miss Granger?" Madam Pince seemed resigned to her sleepless fate, but would not address any of them besides Hermione.

"As much as we can find out," Hermione answered quietly. "How Hogwarts was magically bound, what descendants there were and are still surviving - " She stopped when she saw the looks on the others' faces. She knew she had almost said too much, and no one had ever been sure just whose side Madam Pince was on.

"The binding of the Hogwarts Charter is a subject upon which very few know anything of import," Madam Pince snapped.

"We've got to find out what we can," Hermione persisted.

"The information you are requesting cannot be found in traditional books," Madam Pince said irritably, after a long pause during which she had clearly tried to stare Hermione into intimidation.

"Where might we find it?" Hermione asked politely, standing slightly on Ron's foot to remind him to keep his temper.

Madam Pince sighed, and her right hand twitched. Harry wondered if she wished she had brought her feather duster with her when she was roused from bed. "Very well," the librarian snapped after another long pause. "Follow me, and be quiet!"

Not daring to say another word, the four teens followed her past the high shelves of books, back into the Restricted Section and past the bloodstained and horrifying volumes they had spent so much time perusing over the past four months.

Hermione looked nervous again. She had been into the Restricted Section countless times and never before had she seen any entrance or exit to it other than the roped-off walkway from the main library. She had never seen a cupboard, a door, or anything else that led her to believe there was anything in the section other than books. Still, just because you can't see something around here, doesn't mean there's nothing there, she reflected, thinking of the Room of Requirement.

Madam Pince stopped suddenly, causing the four teenagers to collide with one another in an effort not to knock her down. Taking her wand from the pocket of her midnight-black robe, she pointed at a dark green volume near the top of the shelf she was facing. "Accio," she muttered, and even her incantation sounded irritable. The book flew into her hand. She handed it gingerly to Hermione and again pointed her wand at the space where the book had been. A jet of blue light found its way into the space, and the bookshelf creaked as it slowly moved aside, seeming to dissolve into the shelf next to it.

Behind the absent bookshelf was a space that reminded Harry of one of the larger vaults at Gringotts. Curved stone walls, dark with age, arched over a wide space that was filled not with treasure, but with stacks and stacks of yellowed parchment. Some of the pages were bound together with leather thongs, others were loose, but none of them moved. Not the slightest breath of air seemed to stir in the alcove.

"Preservation enchantment," Hermione muttered as she surveyed the stacks of parchment.

"What - " Ron began, but stopped when Ginny shot him a quelling look.

"In this area you will find any information still preserved about the school, its founders, and various other subjects about which there are stories to tell that have not yet been bound into books," Madam Pince whispered, sounding reverent.

Harry glanced at her sharply, wondering if she had been through the stacks, wondering if she knew what they would find. She did not seem inclined to say anything else, but returned abruptly to her previous mood of irritability as she turned to glare, once again, at the four former Hogwarts students.

"The items in this cupboard," she began sharply, her eyes seeming to spark with vehemence, "have been enchanted. They may not be removed from this immediate area, and they cannot be destroyed but by the darkest of dark magic."

Harry, who was caught up in wondering how she could possibly call this gloomy space a cupboard, glanced at her in surprise. Why would she believe for even a moment that they intended to destroy anything? And why in Merlin's name did she glance significantly at him when she mentioned dark magic?

"We will be careful," Hermione said respectfully, seeming almost as awed as Madam Pince herself as she continued to survey the treasure trove of records.

"See that you are," Madam Pince cautioned. "I will return at dawn to see that this is still in order and to close the entrance before the library is opened for the day."

"Dawn?" Ron whispered so that only Harry could hear him. "We're going to stay here all night?"

Madam Pince swept past them, her robes billowing behind her much like Snape's did when he moved quickly through the corridors.

"Right," Hermione said briskly. "We don't have much time."

"You can't really mean we're going to stay here all night," Ron said disbelievingly.

"Oh, so I suppose I'm the only one who gets the pleasure of poring over dark books all night and not getting any sleep," Hermione said waspishly.

Privately, Harry agreed with her. She had spent many nights in the library while the rest of the remained at the Hog's Head or Grimmauld Place, sleeping. Still, he reasoned, it wasn't like we made her do that. She chose to.

"Okay," Harry said, willing himself to stay awake and alert throughout the night. "Where do you reckon we should start, Hermione?"

Casting him a grateful look, Hermione said, "Why don't you and Ginny start at the back?" She pointed at a barely-discernable space between the stacks of parchment, through which they could get to the back if they were extremely careful not to brush into anything. "Ron and I will start at the front, and we'll meet in the middle. If you see anything noteworthy," she continued, suddenly rummaging in her bags, "use these to copy it."

She handed Harry two quills, one black and one blazing red, and kept an identical set for herself. "Use the red quill to mark the beginning and the end of what you want it to copy. Set the black quill atop some blank parchment," she stopped and rummaged in her bag again, bringing out a large roll of clean, blank parchment, "and it will copy what you marked with the red one."

"Where did you get those?" Ginny asked with interest. If everyone at Hogwarts had a set of quills like the ones Hermione had just given them, study time in the library would have been cut at least in half.

"Dervish and Banges," Hermione answered, using her wand to gently move aside some of the old documents to make a small workspace for herself and Ron. "Really, it's a little hard to work in here. I suppose that's the point, though," she said.

"The point of what?" Ron asked.

"Not being able to remove the documents from the alcove," Hermione said with the slightest twinge of irritation in her voice.

"Why haven't I ever seen you or anyone else with these quills?" Ginny persisted. "It would have made studying a lot - "

"They're forbidden to students," Hermione explained. "Too easy to cheat with them, I suppose."

Harry took Ginny's hand and they began to weave their way carefully to the back of the alcove. Using her wand like Hermione had, Ginny fashioned a similar workspace for herself and Harry against the cold back wall.

Harry settled in with Ginny sitting cross-legged beside him, taking a bundle of parchment from the pile nearest to him. He shivered slightly as the cold from the wall behind him seeped through the back of his robes, and with a deep breath, began to read.

Two hours passed uneventfully, the only conversation having to do with requests for more documents and comments that, so far, the parchment seemed to hold nothing more interesting than records of requisition, some of the more mundane spells used to keep the castle in order, and records of employment going back over the centuries. The alcove seemed to grow colder and colder as the night deepened into its darkest hours and Harry's fingers felt stiff when he jumped slightly at a soft touch from Ginny.

"I could do with some coffee," she said, stifling a yawn.

Harry looked at her quizzically, wondering what she thought he could do about it. He wasn't very adept at conjuring spells, and he certainly didn't know how to make it himself, even if he had the equipment to do so.

"Wonder what Dobby's up to," Ginny continued nonchalantly. "Bet he'd love to see you, Harry." She said the last part quietly, her intentions plain. It was equally plain that she didn't want Hermione to know she was thinking of calling Dobby at this hour and requesting coffee from him.

Harry smiled at her. "Dobby doesn't work for me," he said, feeling a little uncomfortable as he thought of the small elf's affection towards him. "I don't even know if he'd hear me if I called him." He had never been sure of the exact spells and magic involved in the relationship between a house-elf and its master.

"Would you try, love?" Ginny whispered, rubbing her hands to keep them warm. "I'm freezing and sleepy, and warming charms don't seem to make a dent on this room."

"That's because the room is charmed to be in the exact conditions necessary to preserve the parchment and the ink, and to keep them from fading or disintegrating," Hermione said, and they both jumped, thinking she hadn't been listening to their conversation. "Harry, I hope you're not thinking of waking Dobby at this hour."

"Dobby?" Ron said, looking a bit more alert. "But Hermione, that's brilliant. If we had a bit of tea or coffee in here, we'd be warmer and more awake, wouldn't we?"

"Dobby doesn't work for me," Harry repeated.

"So," Ginny said with a smile, "that means that if you call him, he has a choice whether or not he wants to come, right? I mean to say, if he wants to roll over and go back to sleep, he can?" She looked at Hermione, who looked doubtful.

"In theory, that's true…" Hermione said, trying and failing to think of a counter-argument to this bit of reasoning. "Still, it doesn't seem fair to wake - "

"Come off it, Hermione," Ron said. "You know how Dobby is. He'd likely love the chance to see Harry again."

Hermione still looked doubtful, and no one wanted to make her angry, or to cause a change of their focus from the documents in the alcove to house-elf rights.

"Wouldn't a cup of coffee be just the thing?" Ginny asked gently, knowing that Hermione was just as tired, if not more so, than the rest of them.

"It would be nice," Hermione admitted. "Okay, Harry, I suppose there isn't anything wrong with asking him if we could have something hot to drink, is there? As long as you make it perfectly clear that he can tell us to sod off he wants to go back to sleep."

"I don't even know if he'll be able to hear me," Harry repeated, feeling a little frustrated with everyone's lack of understanding on this point. "I've never been his master."

"Just try it. If he's going to hear anyone, it'll be you, won't it?" Ron said eagerly.

Harry looked at them, and even Hermione looked a bit hopeful. "Okay," he said, hoping he wasn't about to make a fool of himself. "Dobby!" he called clearly, without a real hope that the elf would hear him all the way down in the kitchens.

A loud 'pop' sounded directly outside the alcove. "Harry Potter calls Dobby and Dobby always comes!" a cheerful and squeaky voice proclaimed. "Dobby is proud to help and serve the noble and great Harry Potter. Dobby is -"

"Hi, Dobby," Harry said uncomfortably, knowing his face was likely as red as the copy quill. He wended his way carefully through the parchment again until he was standing just a foot or so away from the elf.

"Harry Potter!" Dobby bowed so low that his nose seemed to brush the stone floor. "We hasn't been expecting you, sir, not at all! What is you doing in this place, sirs and misses?"

"Just doing some studies," Hermione answered quickly and kindly. "We're still planning on taking our NEWTs in June, you know."

"What has you been doing, Harry Potter?" Dobby wanted to know. "Why isn't you at school? Hogwarts is the safest place in the world, sirs and misses. Harry Potter and his friends should be here at Hogwarts where they is safe." He nodded vehemently, causing one of Hermione's knitted hats to fall off his had and land on the floor near the other side of the room.

"Could we…erm…" Harry began, wanting to change the elf's topic of conversation, but feeling as awkward as ever to be asking him for service.

"Anything Harry Potter wants," Dobby proclaimed. "Dobby is a free elf, but Dobby is pleased to serve the great and noble Ha -"

"Something hot to drink?" Harry finally asked. "Coffee, maybe? I mean, if there is any already made," he said quickly, catching Hermione's warning glance. "We don't want to inconvenience -"

Dobby's huge, ugly eyes filled with tears. "Harry Potter wonders if he is inconveniencing Dobby. Harry Potter does not know that Dobby would do anything, yes, anything to serve him while he prepares to fight He-Who-Must-Not-Be -"

"Dobby!" Harry said with a bit of alarm, realizing their error. Before tonight, nobody but the Hogwarts professors had known about their nightly roaming of the school and the library. Catching Hermione's gaze again, he quickly added more gently, "Can you keep it a secret that we were here, Dobby?"

"Dobby will keep your secrets and your silence, Harry Potter," the house-elf replied solemnly. "And now, for something to warm Harry Potter and his friends while they work." He disappeared with a crack before anyone could say anything else.

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione barely had time to glance at one another with a mixture of relief and amusement before Dobby reappeared, holding a tray containing two silver pots, four teacups, and an assortment of biscuits and breads.

"Dobby, you're a lifesaver," Ginny said gratefully, looking inside the pots and finding that one held strong tea and the other coffee. She quickly filled cups for each of them, adding sugar and heavy cream from small containers on the tray, and they sat in a semi-circle on the floor outside the alcove, taking a moment to enjoy their after-midnight snack.

Harry looked at Dobby in time to see the elf stifling a yawn. "Dobby, would you like some coffee?" he asked, earning himself a smile from Hermione.

Dobby's eyes brimmed with tears as they always did when Harry said or did something kind, but he shook his head, his long ears wagging. "If Harry Potter is requiring nothing else, sir, Dobby will return to the kitchens. Breakfast preparations will start soon."

"Breakfast preparations?" asked Hermione with a frown. "But breakfast isn't for another five hours."

"Even though many students isn't coming back to Hogwarts this year, miss, the house-elfs is needing enough time to cook so much food."

Hermione looked disapproving, but said nothing else.

"This was great, Dobby," Harry said sincerely, putting his empty cup on the tray. "Thanks."

Seeing that Ron wasn't quite ready to relinquish his cup or his small plate of cookies, Dobby bowed and said, "When you is finished, Mr. Wheezy, sir, just vanish everything. The cups, the tray, the pots is all charmed to return to the kitchen sinks."

Feeling considerably more cheerful and awake after their break, the four teenagers returned to the alcove to renew their search. It was nearly four in the morning when Ginny suddenly stood up with a squeal.

"What did you find?" Hermione asked breathlessly, knocking over a stack of the precious parchment in her haste to get to the back of the alcove.

"I'm not sure, but it's got Gryffindor's coat of arms on the front," Ginny said, showing them all an especially thick stack of parchment with a cover of red and gold charmed ink.

Hermione barely restrained herself from grabbing the parchment from Ginny. Instead, with barely-concealed restraint, she gingerly took it and sat right down on the floor. Realizing that they would need more room, Harry quickly charmed some of the remaining rolls and stacks to move aside and make room for the rest of them to sit next to Hermione.

It didn't take long before Hermione found the first hint of what they were looking for. "Look!" she said excitedly, pointing to a passage midway through the tenth or eleventh sheet of parchment. They all bent in close, Hermione carefully holding her lit wand tip so they could all see the shining black ink, which looked as though it had just been penned recently even though all four of them knew it must be ancient. Hardly noticed by any of them, the copy quill, after having been given its instructions by Hermione, scratched away at another piece of parchment, copying word for word what Hermione had found.

A small golden dagger, one of the four objects known to have sealed the Hogwarts charter, was forged for Godric Gryffindor's grandfather by Scottish goblins two hundred years prior to the opening of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Forged of pure gold and embellished with a single ruby in the hilt, this dagger was known to have magical properties and to lend great physical strength to its bearer. Perhaps for this reason was Godric Gryffindor considered one of the two best duelers in Wizarding history, comparable only to Salazar Slytherin, another of the four founders.

The precise, spidery handwriting continued through many explanations of the dagger's various powers, but never made mention of exactly how it had been used in the binding of the four founders or the chartering of Hogwarts. Harry was not as concerned about this as Hermione seemed to be, for it seemed to him that their primary goal was to find and destroy the object.

"Even if it requires the blood of one of the founders to destroy it," Harry argued, "we've already figured out that my link with Voldemort allows me to take advantage of his status as the last remaining Heir of Slyth -"

"Be quiet," Hermione said absently. "Harry, I'm not certain why, but Dumbledore seemed to believe that there was importance in how each of these objects sealed the binding and the charter. Lupin thinks so, too," she added, seeing that Harry was not going to be completely convinced by what Dumbledore's portrait had to say on the matter.

"Maybe they used the dagger to cut themselves when they used the cup," Ron suggested.

"Hmmm," Hermione replied, "it's possible, I suppose, but that would seem rather elementary for four such great wizards. Then again, the cup seemed rather crude in and of itself. Just how different was magic in their day?"

"Everything changes," Harry pointed out reasonably.

"But magic…" Hermione said ponderingly, but before they had time to continue, they all four jumped when Madam Pince pounded the handle of her feather duster against the entrance to the alcove.

"The library will be opening soon," she said crisply, looking strangely at them. Did she think they would have been gone before dawn? Harry wondered.

"Please, may we -" Hermione began tentatively.

"No records may leave this cupboard," Madam Pince interrupted, brandishing her feather duster. "All of you, out!"

Sighing, Harry led the way out of the alcove. It was perhaps Ginny's bad luck that she brushed against a small stack of loose bits of parchment just as she was leaving, causing them to scatter and sway slowly to the ground.

Madam Pince's face turned an indescribable shade of red. "Priceless…" she muttered, chasing them out of the library with her feather duster in one hand and her wand in the other, "no respect…"

They barely had time to make it to the gates before the dawn broke upon Hogwarts, the sun reflecting brilliantly off the lake's shining surface as the Disapparated together with a 'pop'.